The 4th

 Happy the 4th is over.   It's the fireworks.   They terrify some of my cats. 

Not the old deaf ones.   Gigi hid under the cat stairs in the garage.  There was no consoling her fears.

She finally came out when they died down around midnight.

There will be more going on for a couple of nights.  They were extremely close and loud, the illegal ones, shot off by apparently people with a lot of money because not even the legal ones are cheap.

The police here do no enforcement.  Never have.

The people end of block had a party and littered every space with cars.  The usual.

There's been a white camry parked right out front of my living room, well this is the fourth day now.  Neighbors either side of me don't know whose it could be or where it came from.   I'm about to consider it a gift from summer Santa and claim it as mine.  No good as cat hauler but probably runs a whole lot better than my old thing.

I can't do anything with water like go kayaking or swimming for another ten days.   Wearing a heart monitor, can't get it wet, can't even shower.   Had a couple incidents in the night, in the two weeks prior, possibly stress related or related to me injuring my neck, back, shoulder once again.   I keep forgetting I'm old, and took in 20 cats to three clinics in that last weekend of cat work prior to going on break.

Anyhow, been sort of depressed over a lot of things, including the possibility of housing assistance loss.   And other losses, although most will be delayed for some time.

The state can't pick up all the federal funding losses.  I realize this, know its impossible.  I don't let this state off the hook for poor oversight, inefficiency and then they go ahead and try to pass a massive tax increase to fund the state transportation department, like 11 more fees (taxes) on all kinds of things including drastic increase in gas tax.  We already have one of the highest gas taxes in the country.   It failed to pass.  So what happens?   ODOT immediately says they have to lay off like 600 people.   Ok, but they would have not received any of that new fees money if that bill had passed for quite awhile.  Doesn't add up.  It adds up to blackmail and fear tactics by ODOT to get a special session called so they can get more money.  Cut it out!!  This state is already one of the most expensive places to live.  Do with what you have.

Trump admin wants to cut housing assistance funds by about half.   They would then block grant the smaller amount to states, who would be expected to create their own housing plans.  Section 8 is to end.   Housing authorities now get their money directly from the feds, so it would be a mess, to be honest, and counties able to be nimble would compete with all the other counties for the funds although counties don't typically administer housing assistance funds around here.  The state would have to create their own housing program and administer all really really fast too.  I know its impossible.  Here's Trump's requested housing budget, what went out in 2025 and what he is requesting for next year, which is pretty much almost nothing.

HUD funding request/change for 2026

Its enough to cause me a lot of stress, wondering, will I be cut.

In the meantime, I will do more projects and hope for the best, which is all one can do.  There's no plan I can make.  Can't worry too much about what I can't control at all.

I got my lawn mowed before it got hot.  It was really cool over the 4th and the day before which seemed nice.    We haven't had a lot of extreme heat so far.   That's good for the chronic wildfire issues.  Really hate to hear about the flash floods in Texas and the little kids and entire families being washed away.  Heartwrenching.  I hope they find some of those little kids alive by some miracle.