Some welcome relief from the searing, unrelenting sun. It has been very chilly today, and we have had several hours, starting early this morning, of very heavy drenching rain. I was talking to Phyllis this evening, who has just got back from the Motherland, and was telling me it was cold there, it didn't get above 75.
I haven't been out at all, I've stayed indoors engaged in my handwork projects. Memo to loved ones. You are all going to get home-made/hand-made Christmas presents.
And I'm also keeping up with the news, and my goodness there is so much of it.
FINALLY, after two years we are hearing what happened in Benghazi when the Consulate was attacked, and the US Ambassador and three others died. Three of the men on the ground that night have come out and told their story. They were security contractors hired to guard the CIA annexe which was situated a mile away. When they saw the Consulate under attack they wanted to go immediately to their aid, but the guy in charge of them told them to wait, to "stand down". There is a bit of a dispute going on centering around the semantics of "wait" and "stand down". But whatever - after thirty minutes when they saw the Consulate on fire they disobeyed orders and took off. They recounted the story of the 13 hours of fighting, and their efforts to bring the Ambassador and Sean Smith out, but as we know, they were too late.
I don't understand - and they didn't tell us - why it has taken all this time for their story to be told. Why the State Department and the Administration clammed up and refused to talk about it. When Hilary Clinton, Secretary of State at the time, was pressed by the media to explain she threw her hands in the air and asked, very irritably, what does it matter. It certainly matters to the families of those who died, and I think if she were to run for President that video footage will come back and bite her.
This is Donna's cat Chaos, making herself at home on my porch this evening. I wish I had the camera in my hand when Bubbles spotted her, and was staring her down in some astonishment.
Three years ago Chaos belonged to Donna's neighbour on the other side, she moved house and asked Donna to look after her. Recently the owner asked for her back, and I gather Donna told her that after three years she couldn't have her. I also understand that she is, allegedly, quite a valuable cat and Donna said she is going to try and sell her for $250. I can't see her getting any takers though. Unless a buyer has turned up and that is why she has fled to my porch. I'm interested to see if this is a one-off visit, or if she comes back.
The goings-on in this neighbourhood. The pit bulls behind me (it's a puppy mill) have quieted down recently. Donna has been on to Animal Control because they had too many, and one was taken away. But I had a phone call this evening from Linda, the other neighbour behind me, who said they had just sneaked it back. Their living conditions are appalling, and the poor bitch has had twenty puppies in a year. I suppose that is two litters, I don't know how long it takes to produce a litter. And three of them drowned recently in their kennel, in very heavy rain. All rain in this country, or this state, is heavy, they don't have gentle showers. It runs along my street like a river in full flood. But I now seem to be rambling, so I'll call it a day.
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