Today’s blog
Lynn Murphy Mark
0326
I learned how to use military time in nursing school. That was back in the day when the night shift documented in red ink. Anyway, here I am at this odd time to be awake. Our air conditioner has been on the fritz and it is too warm in the house for me to sleep. Besides, I have a heating pad of a dog attached to my hip. Tossing and turning and checking the clock every few minutes, I finally gave in and got up. Jan’s sugar level was dipping so she got up with me to get some carbs in her system. She’ll go back to bed in a bit, but I am so wide awake now that there is no sleep left in this night.
I’m through my routine of reading Richard Rohr’s meditation followed by Heather Cox Richardson’s “Letters from an American”. Today she brought some hopeful news based on the actions that the House and Senate took this week, passing bipartisan legislation to get aid to Ukraine as quickly as possible, among other things. Apparently the Department of Defense was able to immediately release military hardware to Ukraine. The Biden administration has said it will replace the billions of dollars worth of equipment by having it built by our own workers in this country. Another union has backed Biden for President: the North American Trade Builders Union, citing all the infrastructure bills passed in this administration. 45 had promised these things but never did produce anything that benefited builders.
I am, as usual, proud to be a Democrat. Despite my uneasiness that 45 could be re-elected I am keeping the high watch for a Biden/Harris ticket to succeed in November. I try to understand the reasons why people support 45, and I absolutely respect their right to do so. I just don’t get how all of his legal and financial troubles aren’t alarming to his supporters. It seems to me that, as President, he would be embroiled in those same legal problems and be unable to concentrate on running our country. Besides, he makes things up to suit his purpose. Allegedly, one prospective juror recently said she wouldn’t trust anything 45 says even if “his tongue was notarized.” That made me laugh out loud.
Today I will get in to work extra early. I have files that are just about ready to package up into Fedex envelopes and sent off to various offices of the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services. Two of the files are for a young Ukranian couple who are here on a special program called, “Uniting for Ukraine”. This allows them to stay for two years and get a work card so they can support themselves. It’s time to re-apply for this status. I also opened three files on Tuesday for another Ukranian couple and their young daughter for the same reason. I suspect that more clients from Ukraine will be contacting us. This last February marked two years since Russia escalated a war that has quietly been going on since 2014. In 2022, Russia started the largest attack on a European country since World War II.
It’s 0400. Mollie has been fed, because in her little mind, it is mealtime as soon as I get out of bed in the morning. Her clock did not say 0326 when my feet hit the floor. As far as she is concerned it is always appropriate to hope for a meal first thing – after I’ve hit the start button on the coffee maker. Her life is ideal. She doesn’t worry about politics or world affairs. She has enough to do to protect the perimeter of the condo.