November Elections

Normally, off-year elections would hardly get a glancing mention on the news.  But this year is not normal.  Every pundit is watching local elections, especially in NY, NJ, VA & CA, with an eye towards gauging the Dem/GOP power balance.  With the shutdown in full swing and rapidly approaching the 35-day record from TCF's first term, one wonders which side will blink first.  Needless-to-say, a Democratic Party run will energize them and probably give the GOP pause to really negotiate.  

SNAP benefits went away and possibly are back at 50% levels, possibly with a weeks-long delay.  After all, 50 states plus various territories will have to modify their benefits distribution software.  Will have to up our contribution to little food libraries.  Already upped our donation to Roadrunner Food Bank.

Health insurance also is on the line.  ACA rates have been published and sent out for open enrollment.  How long before that makes an impact?  Many folks won't look at the numbers until the last week.  

Despite all this, life in my lane goes on apace.  Still consulting at Sandia and getting paid to label plants at the Botanic Garden.  Tagging the newly potted plants in the Lebanon Garden is my current task.  Will get back to the Lark labels with QR codes next week.  

All the tender plants are safe, like the Croton above.  But a few stragglers have been left to fend for themselves:  a couple canas, hardy Hibiscus, the Black Lace elderberry, and a geranium.  I'll probably move the geranium into the cold frame and then bonsai it next spring. 

Samhain

The thin spaces are at their closest tonight.  Tomorrow is Samhain and the Celtic cycle commences.  We had 2 groups of trick-or-treaters for 4 children in total.  They each scored huge handfuls of candy.  

Meanwhile, the shutdown continues, although a judge ruled that TCF has to release emergency SNAP funds.  We'll see what happens.  Health insurance premiums skyrocket and perhaps Head Start will have to close down.  Must ask Ty about that. 

Work at Sandia continues at my usual low level of effort.  Labels are going out into the Lebanese Garden.  Yesterday's early Halloween party saw us dressed up as a warlock with his familiar. 

The brimstone buns came out well.  

Fall has been gentle this year.  The garden is glorious and all the tender plants have moved to shelter.  Last night's freeze nipped the tops of Jane's basil, but I got enough mint today for a good batch of almond-mint-olive-feta pesto for Moreish Aubergines.  

The gold finches have been noshing their way through buckets of niger seed.  The other finches have been enjoying cracked sunflower kernels.  

Heists

A quiet Saturday morning with coffee and a personally delivered English muffin (butter and orange marmalade, thank you very much).  They'll be a run to the grocers and then some plant labeling at the Garden later on.  

For now, the topic is heists.  

Quote du jour re:  Louvre jewelry theft:  "Considering the loneliness epidemic and the anti-intellectualism we find ourselves traversing as a society, it’s nice to see a group of friends get together and make museum plans for a Saturday morning."  

The convicted felon continues his grifting by announcing the donors list for the new ballroom.  Amounts were not specified, so we don't know who's first in line at the presidential favors table.  But the deed is done the and East Wing is gone.  A perfect statement of what FELON47 is doing to America:  tearing down a functioning, historic government to replace it with gaudy, corrupt bunce of sycophants.  

Ditto for his demand that the DoJ pay him $230,000,000 for damages caused by his indictments.  The domestic emoluments clause of the Constitution clearly make this illegal and the entire top level of DoJ needs to recuse themselves for the obvious ethical conflict of interest.  

For the photo tax, here's a sculpture seen at the ABQ Museum on our last visit.

Another Estimate

 One other data point that I can add to the discussion of Saturday's "No Kings" march:  a direct count.  I took a 10 second video pointing directly across the street as marchers went by.  See how many people you can count walking past. 

I counted 39.  That's 234 per minute or 21,060 in 90 minutes.  We walked among the crowd from 12:00 starting at 6th & Central down to 2nd & Copper, then back up Copper to 6th St by 1:30 while the group continued to march by.  We never got to the head of the march and never saw the tail of it either, so we don't have a good time estimate for the complete group.  

If anyone was up at the front and can tell me how long it took to complete the circuit, that would be helpful.  21,000 is certainly in the realm of numbers I calculated from the drone footage yesterday.  

No Kings 2

Which of the simulated crowds best match that seen by drone today? If 3.5 persons/sq m, then we're talking about 28,500 people on Central for No Kings 2.

And finally, my CrowdMap polygon, refined to include the crowded sidewalks near 2nd St.

This item https://ash.harvard.edu/resources/the-resistance-reaches-into-trump-country/ from Harvard's Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation published on the 16th would have estimated the turnout today to be [ABQ metro population] * 0.65% protesters.  That would've been 5953 if the metro pop. is 916,000.  We easily tripled that value with my low-end estimate, which means we're turning out 1.95% of the population.  My middle-of-the-road estimate of 24,000 puts us at 4x or 2.65%.  That means the magic 3.5% isn't out of reach.  

After the June 14th No KIngs, it took until August 12th for a solid analysis to come out -- https://wagingnonviolence.org/2025/08/new-data-shows-no-kings-was-one-of-the-largest-days-of-protest-in-us-history/.  I look forward to their deep dive into numbers from yesterday. 

Autumnal Goings-on

The equinox has passed quietly and temperatures are cooling down, albeit slowly.  Terrance has stopped eating, but Tiberius still has an appetite.  Bike rides are pleasant.  There's water in the Rio and in the ditches.  

Political protests are in the wind and old friends from Lake Elsinore are coming for a visit.  Roger Guinn might be passing through town.  Sadly, Annie's Soup Kitchen is closing.  

Nature's Notebook this morning was extremely pleasant after the hot days of data collection this past summer.  No ants to speak of.  No rain (until late afternoon).  Lots of interesting phenophases and time to catch up with Sheila, who I haven't seen since August.  

Tuesday (tomorrow) Maria and I will discuss what to do about labels for the plants in the new Lebanese Garden.  And I still have about 200 of the Backyard Refuge labels to get in the ground.  

Also in the news has been my experiments over the weekend with croissants.  I call them a success, though not as light as some store-bought.  By my calculation, there were 162 layers.  

Fall is in the Air

We've had a low morning temp down to 47° in the past week.  While it's time to start thinking about winter homes for the tender outdoor plants, the forecast has low temperatures only in the 50's for the next 10 days (and only down to 60° for one night).  

While the old Ginkgo is starting to take on a faded green as it thinks about lemony glory in a few weeks, the ones under the Chinese pistache are still quite green.  Amazing how much protection that tree gives the plants beneath its branches.  

Meanwhile, Ty and family head to Cabo San Lucas, BCS and are likely to get some stormy weather.  Tuesday and Wednesday will be wet and windy due to Tropical Storm Priscilla moving by.  She could be a strong Cat 2 hurricane by then.  A potential Hurricane Raymond is about 10 days out and it could make landfall on Baja as a Cat 3. 

Here in ABQ, not only fall, but balloons are in the air.  Day 1 of the Balloon Fiesta was blown out due to high winds aloft that continued until late evening.  Sunday, however, was totally calm and even the complex, large special shapes got off the ground.  

Backing up to Friday, we were in Los Alamos for Barbara Ramsay's funeral mass.  Then we drove home through the Jemez.  Not much color on the east side, but near the Valles Caldera and points west, things were glorious.