Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving, Massachusetts! Happy Thanksgiving to the rest of New England too.

Our family Thanksgiving is actually going to happen on Saturday. The kids are at their dad’s today so we’re punting to the weekend in order to have everyone together.

For today though, Jen and I are going to have a mini Thanksgiving on our own. We found the tiniest turkey in the world and it’s going into the oven shortly.

When we decided to not have anything big today I had thrown out the possibility of me and my love going to New York to see the Macy’s parade in person. Clearly we didn’t go, but we’re watching the parade on TV and… well… thank goodness we didn’t go. It’s pouring rain in New York and everyone looks drenched and frozen and miserable. Bullet Dodged.

So, my New England neighbors, enjoy your turkey and stuffing and have an extra helping for me!

Go Out and Take Pictures

I have a “new” film camera and I haven’t gone out anywhere to take pictures yet. What the hell am I waiting for? Besides the weather to cooperate and the sun to cooperate and my schedule to cooperate and… and… and…

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Where Are You From

After the disaster that was the election last week I saw a handful of people on various social media sites posting things that looked a little like this:

Q: Are you from the United States of America?
A: No, I’m from Massachusetts.

Thinking back to the disaster that was the presidential election in 2016, I was thinking things like that all the time. I remember commenting that watching my country elect a fascist president instantly turned me into a states rights kinda guy who put my state, Massachusetts WAY ahead of my country.

The way it felt in 2016 though… it was nothing compared to the way it feels now. I am not going to say that I am now a secessionist, but if New England, New York, and New Jersey wanted to make a go of it on their own, I’d be down with giving it a shot. You wouldn’t have to twist my arm very hard to get me on board. I would have to check out a map of election returns to see if we could maybe add Deleware and Maryland to the team. I know Virginia went for Harris, but that feels a little like a false flag to me, though that state has been voting Democrat more and more in recent years. I worry about including any state that can be described as Southern.

Maybe this little Northeastern Alliance could work something out with the West coast, assuming the good folks in California, Oregon, and Washington State would want to join us in our brave new world.

Again, I don’t feel as though I am a secessionist. After the bullshit demonstrated in the election last week though, I also no longer feel like an American. Any allegiance I feel at this point is to Massachusetts, not to the United States. If the rest of the country wants to embrace fascism let them. Leave me and my home state out of it.

No Northern Lights for Us

The Northern Lights have been visible in my little piece of Massachusetts tonight! Did we see it?

No. Don’t be silly.

We did hop in the car and drive a couple of towns to the North and parked ourselves at a park with a big open field and very little ambient light. We waited, facing North, until it got too cold and then we got back in the car and just looked North. Then after half an hour or so we just drove home.

We tried, but we didn’t see anything. No Northern Lights for us.

Oh well.

Vote

We are less than a month away from the 2024 Presidential Election where We The People will once again show that fascist piece of shit that we don’t want him around anymore.

I had two questions come to mind that always come to mind just before a big election. One, what is the status of my voter registration. Two, when does the early voting period start.

Massachusetts has handy online tools to answer both questions. First, how’s my registration looking? I went here and found that I am active and all is well, as it should be.

Next, I went here and found the following early voting information:

Early Voting Periods

In-person early voting takes place during a designated early voting period, set by state law.

For statewide elections, early voting periods include guaranteed weekend voting hours for every community.


November Election Early Voting Period: October 19 – November 1

Okay, that sounds good. Now that I knew the dates involved I went to my city’s website to get specifics and found this:

There you have it. If you, like me, live in Methuen, MA… you’re welcome.