AUTUMN LEAVES INSTALLMENT X, A DOLLAR SHORT AND DAYS LATE

Looking back at previous posts, I see that instead of a day late, I'm a week and a day late. How time flies when you're not paying attention....

Here's 2018's final edition of the autum leaves series. First, as usual, the view from our deck:

The pond is clearly visible, all the underbrush has died out, and fallen leaves cover everything. The same is true of the view of the fire pit  and down toward the road.

Leaves cover everything. I keep blowing leaves off all the walkways around the house; the leaves keep coming down. There seem to be an infinite number as there has been very little wind.

The house now is clearly visible from the pond path and there's nothing but inches of leaves on the hillside. The downed tree was left for erosion control, but the thick bed of leaves is actually more efficient.

The pond is finally (mostly) clear of fallen leaves, but the walking paths are riddled with them. They are going to require a lot of maintenance over the winter to clear them up for walking next spring.

The house and stairway (111 steps, if interested) are clearly visible, as is the walking path above the stairway to the dock.

Until next year....

I WAS TRYING TO WATCH THE MACY'S THANKSGIVING PARADE ... but the "talking heads" wouldn't shut up.

I gave up.

AFTER EVERY ELECTION:

After every election....

GET CYNICAL, GET ANGRY. Stay free.

MCSALLY CONCEDES: The 'meth lab of democracy' is just a meth lab.

Pity.

ADAM SCHITT SCHIFF SAYS if the acting attorney general doesn’t recuse himself from the Mueller probe, he’ll have to answer to Democrats.

Somehow I don't think Republican appointees answer to Democrats....

IT'S HARD to be dumber than a fence post, but progressives are up to it. Here's a brief history of Hitler vs. Trump that perhaps they can understand.

Godwin's Law is their last resort.

TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY: VOX co-founder Matt Yglesias gets doxxed after defending harassment of Tucker Carlson.

He'll whine, of course, but progressives are constitutionally incapable of learning from experience.

IT'S VETERAN'S DAY and Michael Ramirez says "Thank You."

So do I.

AUTUMN LEAVES INSTALLMENT IX

Timing is everything. These pictures were taken earlier today while it was bright and sunny; it's now very cloudy with rain on the way. Here's the view from our deck:

More leaves have fallen and the colors are mostly gone. Compared to last week, the pond is now completely visible from the deck.

The leaves from last week are gone - winter has begun.

Our house is now almost completely visible now that the few remaining leaves are gone. So is the fallen pine tree from last week's photo. We pulled nearly 30 feet of the trunk up to the road where it'll eventually be cut up for firewood; the remaining 20 feet or so have been used as a retaining wall to prevent the pond path from eroding.

The dock view isn't nearly as good as last week; the colors are gone and so are the remaining few leaves.

The pond view is washed out, as usual when taking pictures almost directly toward the sun. The angle is a bit different from last week. The bench has been moved by our neighbors, so it's no longer a good reference point. Even so, the leaves are almost all gone; our house and the stairs to the pond are clearly visible, and finally the ridge we live on is visible through the trees.

Last week's pictures are here, and I suspect next week's pictures will be the last for this season.

THOUGHTS FROM THE AMMO LINE: Tell it like it is, Ammo Grrrll.

Of all the crap that Obama delivered from on high unto us bitter clingers, perhaps the most ludicrous was his constant pronouncement that whatever we wanted – Voter I.D., secure borders, lower taxes, race-blind admissions – was “not who we are.” To which I always wanted to scream, “How would YOU know who WE are? You spent all your formative years either eating Curried Dog in a madrassa in Indonesia, or smokin’ dope in private school on an island paradise. Your experience as an ‘American’ carries exactly the same weight as Lizzie Warren’s experience as a Cherokee. Like Sgt. Schultz, you know nothing! You can’t even throw a baseball!”

We've tried European-style socialism for eight years and found it wanting. Now it's time to return to American-style capitalism.

CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION: Does diversity really unite us?

POWERLINE: The elections aren't over yet.

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES is excellent - and long - this week. My favorite:

Go see the rest - and don't miss Nacho moving to Louisana....

ENTITLED HIPSTER finds himself disenfranchised by his own arrogance and stupidity.

[T]his is the kind of ass who shouldn’t be allowed to vote. They have no sense of civic responsibility or respect for the law. They want what they want when they want it and get all pissy when that doesn’t happen. I’m sure he’ll get a better perspective on the importance of following directions once he has that nice PhD in military history and is working at Starbucks.

Agreed.

TECHNOLOGY: speeding up Darwinian evolution.

NEW AND USED POLITICIANS for sale.

This is a result of a boredom-induced Google search earlier today. I haven't tried it because I'm unwilling to give up my privacy but for those of you willing to give up a few cookies, it might prove interesting.

“YOU GOTTA LIKE A DISTRICT where voters prefer a dead brothel owner to a Democrat.”

HEH: CNN's Jim Acosta has press pass suspended by White House.

Well deserved.

JOY BEHAR IS AN IDIOT. Here's proof.

HOYT ON HEINLEIN ON HOYT: Vote No on Democrats.

I write SF/F and even my mind can’t imagine the new depths of crazy they’ll plumb next.

I've been a science fiction fan for well over 60 years and even in my extensive reading I can't remember reading anything at this level of crazy....

VOTE FOR YOUR LOCAL REPUBLICAN KNUCKLEHEAD. Even if you’d like someone better. You go to war with the underwear you got on.

RANDOM THOUGHTS on election day:

Vote as if Democrats hate you. They do.

Democrat tolerance is limited to the obedient.

Now go vote.

IF YOU'RE A MILLENNIAL, please don't vote. You're too stupid to be taken seriously.

YOU THINK liberals are miserable and paranoid now? Just wait.

AUTUMN LEAVES INSTALLMENT VIII:

Here's the usual deck view. What a change a week makes! We've had high winds this week, so the dead leaves are gone - and the ones still on the trees have dramatically changed colors.

Even around the fire pit the leaves have been blown from the trees. What few are left are those desperate hangers-on that will probably still be there next spring.

The house view has something new this week: a 53-ft pine tree trunk. The tree broke in two a couple of months back, but caught in other trees and was leaning, supported by the other trees. It finally came down two days ago, crossing over our pond path in two places. The remaining stump is a good 8 feet high, and I'd estimate another 10-20 feet of debris from the top scattered about.

The dock view is one of the best I've taken this year. Because it's low and surrounded by hills on three sides, it wasn't as affected by the winds. Still, the color changes are significant.

Finally, the pond view from the back side. It's a bit washed out because the sun is so low in the sky.

Here are last week's photos for comparison.

GUN CONTROL DONE RIGHT: South Carolina mother-of-3 shoots home invader.

BOB CORKER DEFENDS CARAVAN MIGRANTS: What would you do if you lived in countries like theirs?

Umm ... try to fix them, maybe?

POWERLINE'S WEEK IN PICTURES: pre-election edition. My favorite:

Choose wisely. Close seconds were my daily trek to school, the cat organizer, and the Democrats' post-election candy bar. Go and see them all.

VOTE BLUE if you want to see more nekkid women feminists.

BEWARE OF GEEKS BEARING GIFTS: The calculating philanthropy of Silicon Valley.

It's long, but read it all. My take: Silicon Valley philanthropy is about saving the world, not people, so if killing off a few million of the impoverished is what it takes to save the world, so be it. It's the old 'you have to break a few eggs to make an omlet' argument.

ENVIRONMENTALISTS: Save the world; dump your pets.

Frankly, I think environmentalists contribute more to global warming climate change than pets do.

TOM STEYER, CALL YOUR OFFICE: Caravan organizer admits failure in bid for Mexican buses to United States border.

Heh.

YOU'RE LOSING, AREN'T YOU? Bernie Sanders calls Trump 'most racist, sexist, homophobic, bigoted president in history'.

Pathetic.