1.  By the end of this post I’ll have officially written the most words in any one 36 hour period since corona started. Yay me.

2.  It was time. I needed to write about the Graham protest for lots of reasons but it was way too long for one post.

3.  Plus that would have meant staying up until the wee hours of Thursday morning and that’s a hard no for me.

4.  Five-hours-of-sleep Laura is very nonfunctional.

5.  Now for some lessons learned through writing about the protest.

6.  Yes, it really was as bad as I remembered.

7.  Local peeps have been quiet about the post.

8.  The energy at a march is invigorating.

9.  It’s terrifying to have your child beside you when things go horribly wrong.

10.  Voting is a basic right in America. Saying that out loud should not be controversial.

11.  If you live here, you know. There were way too many Black people in our crowd for some folks’ comfort.

12.  Local neo-confederates have been wildly unruly without even getting a citation. Around here your cause affects how police respond.

13.  How in the holy hell are we going to get rid of this sheriff? Apparently the new Graham police chief isn’t much better.

14.  In later days rumor was that local law enforcement coordinated with the neo-confederates. Their behavior was exactly opposite from the July march so it wouldn’t surprise me.

15.  I keep thinking about that sweet little girl in a princess costume, joyfully dancing as we walked by then joining the march with her mom. I’m pretty sure from the news reports that she caught pepper spray and it breaks my heart to picture her crying.

16.  THERE ARE NO “OTHER PEOPLE’S KIDS.”

17.  There were so many times when law enforcement had the choice between facilitating and interfering. They chose disruption 99% of the time.

18.  You have to want things to be peaceful for them to stay peaceful.

19.  Then again it hasn’t been my experience that people packing pepper spray guns and gas masks are striving for peaceful.

20.  SO.MUCH.RAGE.

21.  Okay, shake it off, let’s finish out with something else.

22.  Finally got around to making Homemade Turkey Breakfast Sausage and they’re a hit. Even the girl who doesn’t eat breakfast will devour these with biscuits on remote learning days.

23.  I make mine with Italian seasoning instead of marjoram and cook about 3-4 minutes per side. Now that I know how much the kids love them I’ll make a double batch to freeze individually so we can have them throughout the week. Just defrost in the microwave and they’re ready to cook.

24.  This hasn’t been a great week health-wise. T-man fractured his toe about a week ago and is decidedly not enjoying his time in a boot. Mostly because it means no driving until it’s off. Boo.

25.  As it turns out I am decidedly not happy we lost that extra driver in the family. As stressed out as it can make me there were times when I had to be doing three things at once and asking T-man to drop Bear off at practice was the best.

26.  Bear’s PT hasn’t really helped her hip pain. Ugh.

27.  Phoebe needs an echocardiogram of her heart/lungs but most animal hospitals are booked out until the summer so it looks like I’ll be driving two hours in January so she can have it done.

28.  And me? Eh, I’m just old. Creaky bones and whatnot.

29.  I find myself swinging between it’s fine, Biden’s doing the transition work regardless and is Trump just being tRump or is he placing sycophants for a coup?

30.  Then I realize the coup is already happening. Every time they say something to undermine confidence in our elections and a peaceful transfer of power they’re chipping away at democracy.

31.  We see you, Republicans. We’ll remember who sat by silently while this happened.

32.  Listen, in the big scheme of things I’m not losing sleep over this or anything but it turns out the latest SAVE AMERICA donations might not be going where those folks think they are.

33.  Emailed solicitations have big print requesting money to challenge the election results. Fine print shows most donations will go to a PAC and the RNC, both of which have broad leeway in using the funds.

34.  I guess I should feel bad about this, especially when those “regular” Americans Trump claims to champion sacrifice to send in a donation during the pandemic.

35.  Then again, most of those folks have spent four years calling me a snowflake and a libtard. I’m struggling to find that empathy.

36.  We have to drive to an appointment tomorrow during morning rush hour. Have I mentioned how much I hate the interstate during rush hour?

37.  These people drive like nut jobs and that’s the truth.

38.  Bear’s beginning a really strange basketball season. The teams have gone to fully remote learning to avoid exposing teachers and other students to unnecessary risk.

39.  Her first game is today – no spectators allowed. I’m waiting to see if we can watch via livestream.

40.  Covid’s changed a lot this year and athletics is no exception. Here’s hoping we all have a healthy season.