Covid

My friend Lisa’s mom died today of a pulmonary embolism they believe was caused by Covid. The death was sudden and unexpected and I hope you are exercising care.

Usually when someone is grieving I feed them, but she is an excellent cook so I don’t know if sending her and her husband food makes sense. 

Samuel is sleeping deeply on his bed, curled up. He is moving his tail around. 

We got a couple more inches of snow last night but we take our snow plows and salting seriously in this state.

I still have my tree up but I notice that many of my neighbors still have their holiday decorations/lights up. It is my perception that when the years have been rough we’ve left our lights up longer and everyone decent I know is terrified about the year ahead. 

Ukraine captured two North Korean soldiers who did not immediately die of wounds. They do not speak Ukrainian, English or Russian, so Ukraine is using South Korean interpreters. One of the soldiers said he thought he was being sent to Russia for training. Despite his Russian “passport” he said he was 19. 


“Ukrainian troops fighting in the Kursk region have described waves of Korean troops appearing on the battlefield in mid-December with little apparent preparation for the conflict as it's being waged. They moved in large groups and appeared not to react to lethally armed drones hovering overhead. Unlike Russian soldiers, who typically move in small groups to avoid detection and flee drones, the North Korean soldiers plowed forward …” 


“Women from a Kyiv suburb traumatized by a 2022 massacre by Russian troops joined a volunteer air defense unit to take down Russia's drones — and deal with their fears. … The women call themselves the "Combat Witches of Bucha." The name comes from a badge one of the women have depicting a witch with weapons, though the women say the name isn't important. Their mission is. They are part of a female air defense unit training to shoot down drones in the suburbs of Kyiv. They live in those suburbs, where occupying Russian troops killed, tortured and raped residents early in the 2022 invasion.” There are currently about 50 women in the unit.