On the 16th Day (NOT "home watching Netflix or whatever")

morning run

Yes, Tom the federal worker has been home these 16 days of shutdown of the United States, but except for our usual internet-accessed film viewing through Roku in the evenings (saw 56 Up last night on POV; League of Denial on PBS earlier in the week), he has not been vegging, as Rep. Ted Yoho (R-FL) imagines federal workers doing all day while they've been locked out of the work that pays the bills. Tom has continued chopping and splitting the wood from the downed water oaks, and the newly built wood rack is filling up. I spent yesterday cleaning up the mess of having two water oaks expire on our lawn, picking up all the limbs not big enough for firewood and stacking them on a pile for burning (which is legal to do in this small Louisiana town as long as the fire is out by night), raking all the dead leaves and spreading them as mulch around our little citrus grove, and then mowing the yard. The lawn mower gas tank that Tom ordered was delivered, and Tom repaired the lawn mower for me. He also sharpened the blades. And he expanded the wood rack. It was a busy day.

Today has been much the same.

Tom has also begun training this week for the Rock and Roll marathon in New Orleans, scheduled for February 2, 2014. When he is working and being paid by the government, he runs in the evenings, with longer runs on weekends. But since he has been home on weekdays during the shutdown, he often runs in the mornings. I accompanied him on my bicycle this morning for a four-mile run. Although rain is forecast for this afternoon and later in the week, it was a beautiful clear morning, with a light breeze. Fall-blooming flowers brightened the edges of The Tammany Trace.

I especially love the fall-blooming mist flowers and the dainty asters forming delicate, lacy sprays. The south portion of our property is full of fall-flowering plants: dog fennel, mist flower, asters, goldenrod, clematis (probably an exotic).  Before we bought the property, the area was kept less weedy by the presence of azaleas. We allowed the previous owners to remove many azaleas after we bought the lot, and, unfortunately, the man who did the work for them created deep, compacted ruts in muddy soil, making the area impossible to mow with an ordinary lawn mower. Last year, I cut down all the weedy growth twice with a swing blade, but this year, I didn't, and the area is almost impenetrable. It wouldn't be so bad except that exotic mimosa is also growing freely among the native plants. In very early spring we marked with pink flagging all the native plants and azaleas that we wanted to keep, with plans to clear the area, but we were too busy with other projects. I imagine that we could keep many of the fall-flowering plants--even the dog fennel, which Tom doesn't like much--to create a soft weedy edge to the lot, but it will take a lot of work and planning to do so--maybe during the next government shutdown--which seems as likely to happen as this one has.

Dog fennel and goldenrod on the edge of the south lot

The day is not over as I'm typing this, and while a debt ceiling deal seems to be in the works, the votes aren't in. But the government shutdown isn't the only threat to paychecks of federal workers. Sequestration has already negatively impacted federal jobs and will continue to do so. All the brou-ha-ha and crocodile tears of some Republicans over national monuments being closed was laughable to anyone who has been keeping up with the effects of sequestration.  It's just so much theater for people whose jobs and livelihood aren't affected.

Meanwhile, here in southeast Louisiana, Tom is still waiting for that call (on his personal phone since he had to turn in his work phone before leaving the office October 1st) directing him back to work. We sure are getting a lot of chores done.

limbs too small for the wood rack go up in smoke

the wood rack complete, with two stacks full

How many more government shutdowns do we need to get this wood split?