Today was busy.
A getting stuff done sort of day.
Adventures and chores.
Voting.
A trip to the farmer's market.
Received our last 200 get out the vote postcards to write and mail to South Carolina.
I managed to finish fifty cards.
Homemade chili burgers and fries for dinner.
Lots of Summer cuddles because when she is feeling like she needs scritches she makes herself very available. It is hard to ignore a Summer in your lap.
The sunset was lovely.
Today I was happy to be me in this place with Summer and her pal.

Fall flowers

#bloomscrolling #garden #flowers #fall

Yesterday I responded to Indigenous Peoples Day by sharing some of my family's history.
I have one more story for you.
My mother was born Wailaki and lived on the Round Valley Reservation.
At least seven families lived on the ranch. Three generations of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.
My mother always said that while the country was starving during the depression they had ample game to hunt, fish in the Eel River and a massive garden. But when she was sent to Indian Boarding School she starved.
I tell you this because her later health issues were likely the result of malnutrition as an adolescent.
I was her end of life caregiver.
The doctors were convinced that the atrophy of her brain was from alcohol. She was Indian but never a drinker. They wouldn't believe us and didn't help.
Prejudice can manifest in so many different ways.
She deserved better.
This is why I seek out care for myself at my Indian Health clinic. They believe me when I tell them the truth

If you use Bumble I'd recommend finding a different dating service and deleting your prior data if you don't use it now, as it sounds likely it is being purchased for AI training data.

"Dating app Bumble has been bought for $1.3bn (£980m) in what the new owners called "a bet on the future of humanity"."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm9qzwjgnjxlo

My new album came out last week. It's a jazz piano trio augmented by orchestral, synthetic, and world instruments. All instrumental, true stories. Give it a listen if you're curious. Making Peace With My Ghosts:

https://deepgraysea.com/making-peace-with-my-ghosts-album/

Pax's sleepy time is here! 😴💤
Goodnight, or good day, to you.

Life hurts sometimes, but we hope today has brought to you renewed strength to keep on keeping on. Please take good care of yourself and be safe! 🤗💗😺

#Pax #CatsOfMastodon #CatsOfFediverse #Catstodon #MastoCats #FediCats #Cats #Cat #Animals #Pets #Katzen #Katze #Chat #Gatos #AdoptDontShop

Summer says that she isn't really political.
She does have opinions and is very smart though.
When we go to the beach she will sit down and wait for me to write something in the sand.
It's almost like she needs to get this done before she can commence with stampeding around and fetching sticks.
So because I love her I oblige.
Today she wanted everyone to know that as a high IQ dog she has always known that dumb is spelled with a b.
Summer for President 2028.
#Summer #DogsOfMastodon

Sailor’s delight

Today is Summer's day for sure.
We accumulate lots of cardboard to recycle because we buy food at Costco to give away and because her pal's medical supplies come in the mail.
Her favorite thing in the whole world next to a trip to the beach is breaking down cardboard.
Between us we got the job done.
Summer is the best helper.
#Summer #DogsOfMastodon OfMastodon

A couple of no Summer photos from today's adventure.

More Summer beach adventure.
#Summer #DogsOfMastodon

Summer does love an afternoon at the beach. The tide was high so we had less beach than usual.
The weather was perfect.
Lots of sticks just waiting for Summer to fetch them.
So she tells me.
#Summer #DogsOfMastodon

The good news is the we got outside for an epic adventure today.
The ocean was perfectly beautiful, the wind was mild, and there were no mishaps.
Summer was ecstatic to be have both of her humans along.
I will post more happy dog photos later.
We had so much fun.
#Summer #DogsOfMastodon

This morning I woke up determined to go directly to the elections office as soon as it opened.
I wasn't positive how my voter registration was signed because it was updated when I renewed my driver's license.
I wanted my vote to count for this most important election of my lifetime. I have voted in every election since I was eighteen years old.
My grandsons have already voted too.
Now to pester my friends to get their votes in.
Summer says that next on our list is an adventure.
We will see.
Good morning Mastodon.

🚨 Currently there is a spam wave going on many #Fediverse servers

DO NOT click on the links send in the DM

Instead REPORT the account so we can take care of them ❤️

Thank you! :boost_requested:

I know my grandkids are who I vote for anymore.
#USpol

CNN projects Democrats will win the Senate 54-46 on November 3.

That means full control of both chambers, and Trump's dictatorial rule will come to an end.

Dear Americans, please make that stick. 🙏🏽

My father was white
Blue eyed, blond, glow in the dark white.
He had spent part of his childhood on my mother's reservation. His parents who were very poor followed the railroad construction along the Eel River canyon and through the Round Valley Reservation. My grandfather was a railroad worker.
While attending the one room school house on the rez he got to be friends with my mother's family.
She went off to Indian Boarding School and he to Alaska until they were adults. They were pen pals for years.
He left his world for hers because she wouldn't fit in his.
He had to stick out like a sore thumb living on the reservation.
They moved to town before I was born.
This photo is my mother's uncles on each side of my dad.
It isn't lost on me that ICE would stop my family because of their skin color these days.
Things haven't changed so much.
Unfortunately.

I am an indigenous person.
My mother called us Indians.
So did my classmates.
In the pecking order that existed at my elementary school that fact put me squarely at the bottom until the first black people came to our school. At that point I shared the bottom of the order.
Being Indian was lower than being a poor white person.
Meet my grandmother.
She was sent to Carlisle Indian Boarding School with her siblings. They were all tough as nails.
She didn't stray far from the reservation again after she made it home.
She did live with us one summer.
All of my cousins came with.
She taught me that life was too short to waste it hating the people that hated us.
Instead she taught me to write poetry.
The Wailaki people were almost exterminated.
But not entirely because here I am.
She would have been amused that we have Indigenous Peoples Day now I think.

Little basket with dandelion stems & reedgrass
Handmade.