Vote on CDC nominee clinched with change to CDC’s website on vaccines and autism

https://archive.ph/FhCUw#selection-2817.7-2817.87

By Sarah Owermohle

35 min ago

Dr. Erica Schwartz has been nominated to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

(Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images)

The Senate’s health committee on Thursday pushed back a vote to advance two top health care nominations to the Senate floor but indicated that one, the pick to lead the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, would win the necessary votes after some assurances by the Trump administration — including a change to the CDC’s website on autism and vaccines.

In a statement Thursday, Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the agency “needs someone who understands that the way to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases is to reassure the public that vaccines are safe and effective.”

After speaking with CDC nominee Dr. Erica Schwartz again and reviewing the transcript of her hearing, Cassidy said, he’s confident “she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who don’t.”

“As a sign of good faith, [the US Department of Health and Human Services] modified the CDC’s autism and vaccines webpage,” Cassidy said. “There is more to do to repair the damage that has been done to the U.S. public health response, but this is a start.”

Cassidy had previously voted to confirm HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after the nominee assured him, as Cassidy said, that “CDC will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”

The CDC did not remove that language but in November added a sentence: “Vaccines do not cause autism is not an evidence-based claim.”

As of Thursday, the website reads, “Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism. HHS continues to support rigorous scientific research and will update this page as reliable new evidence becomes available.”

On Thursday, Cassidy also suggested that he had lingering concerns about Sean Kaufman, the nominee to lead the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response.

Sen. Bill Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said the CDC “needs someone who understands that the way to prevent vaccine-preventable diseases is to reassure the public that vaccines are safe and effective.”

(Al Drago/Reuters/File)

Cassidy grilled both Schwartz and Kaufman at a committee hearing last week, questioning whether Schwartz would have autonomy in her role after CDC upheaval last year and raising Kaufman’s past remarks about vaccines.

“Any time there is somebody contributing to confusion on immunizations that gives me concern,” Cassidy told reporters on Thursday, referencing Kaufman.

Cassidy lost his reelection bid this year after President Donald Trump endorsed a rival contender and the Louisiana senator sparred with the administration over vaccine rhetoric.

The committee had been expected to vote on Thursday, but the vote was delayed due to attendance issues. At least one Republican, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, was not at the Capitol on Thursday. The committee is expected to reconvene for votes on the health care nominees and the nomination of Keith Sonderling to be secretary of the Department of Labor next week.

Whether Kaufman has the votes to advance remains unclear.

“There are ongoing conversations with the administration on the path forward for Mr. Kaufman’s nomination,” a HELP Committee spokesperson said.

House rejects amendment banning transgender individuals from serving in military

House rejects amendment banning transgender individuals from serving in military

by Sudiksha Kochi – 07/21/26 10:24 PM ET

The House on Tuesday rejected an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that would codify President Trump’s executive order preventing transgender individuals from serving in the military.

The lower chamber voted 212-217 to reject the amendment, sponsored by Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.). Four Republicans sided with Democrats to kill the measure.

The executive order, implemented by Trump in January, states that “consistent with the military mission and longstanding DoD policy, expressing a false ‘gender identity’ divergent from an individual’s sex cannot satisfy the rigorous standards necessary for military service.”

The order also states that the armed forces “shall neither allow males to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for females, nor allow females to use or share sleeping, changing, or bathing facilities designated for males.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia voted 2-1 in June that Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to expel people who are currently serving was motivated by animus against transgender people, violating their constitutional rights.

However, the court’s ruling did not cover people wishing to enlist in the military; the court ruled that it involved different considerations.

Republicans have spent years pushing policies targeting transgender Americans as a central part of their legislative agenda, arguing the measures are intended to protect women’s sports, parental rights and military readiness. Democrats have broadly opposed the efforts, arguing the measures discriminate against transgender people and infringe on their rights.

The NDAA is an annual, must-pass bill that establishes policies and authorizes appropriations for the Department of Defense’s military activities, military construction and the Department of Energy’s defense activities.

Zach Schonfeld contributed to this report.

Parents speak out after their teen died by suicide: Idaho’s anti-trans extremism took a toll

https://www.lgbtqnation.com/2026/07/parents-speak-out-after-their-teen-died-by-idahos-anti-trans-took-a-toll/

When asked if anyone wanted to harm her daughter, her mother said “The whole f**king country” did.

John Russell (He/Him)July 20, 2026, 1:00 pm EDT

The parents of a transgender teen who died by suicide earlier this year are speaking out about the toll Idaho’s anti-trans laws and the Trump administration’s anti-trans crusade took on their daughter.

“You worry about that hatred being internalized, and that’s what happened to my kid,” Elyse Thorpe told NBC News in a recent profile. “It got inside.”

Thorpe and ex-husband Joseph Pollard describe their late daughter, May Pollard, as an energetic and curious child who loved sloths, video games, and writing poetry. She just wanted to live her life and experience the same things any teen does. But she was also keenly aware of the wave of anti-trans laws and sentiment that have swept Idaho and much of the U.S. in recent years.

According to NBC News, May, who had also been diagnosed with autism, came out as trans when she was in eighth grade. She began receiving gender-affirming medical care in ninth grade. But due to Idaho’s ban on such care for minors, passed in 2022 and upheld by the Supreme Court in 2024, her parents were forced to travel to Portland, Oregon, every six months to get May the care she needed. Following President Donald Trump’s return to office in January 2025, Thorpe began making the 13-hour round trip by car to avoid creating a flight record amid the administration’s relentless crackdown on gender-affirming care for young people.

While the treatment improved things for May, the obstacles placed between her and the care she needed by anti-trans legislators continued to weigh on her.

Then, in July 2023, Idaho’s law banning trans students from accessing single-sex bathrooms and locker rooms that align with their gender identity took effect. Lambda Legal filed a lawsuit challenging the law on behalf of Boise High School’s Sexuality and Gender Alliance, and in July 2025, May joined the lawsuit under the pseudonym Jane Doe. In court filings, May described feeling stigmatized by being forced to use her campus’s two single-occupancy restrooms, which came to be referred to as the “trans bathrooms.”

“It is scary having to look around before to see if anyone will see me going into the single-user restroom, as I worry about people gossiping and speculating about me being transgender,” she said. “I don’t want people to know I am transgender without my consent — even students who might be friendly. For me, it is not a part of myself I talk about or that I feel is the most important part of my identity.”

Her parents told NBC News that May would avoid eating and drinking during the school day, hoping to not have to use the school’s bathrooms. “I just want to fit in,” she wrote in her affidavit in the Lambda Legal case. “It is upsetting to think that I may have to go through the rest of high school without access to something as basic as the ability to use the same restroom as everyone else.”

May’s parents say she became more troubled last fall and winter, according to NBC News. She attempted to run away to Oregon, and at least one of her poems seemed to reference self-harm. Then on the morning of January 27, Thorpe woke to find May missing from her bedroom. She later found her daughter’s body in a downstairs bedroom. May was just 16 years old.

When a detective asked her parents whether anyone might have wanted to harm May, Thorpe responded that “A lot of America” did.

“There is a huge amount of animosity, every single day, thrown at trans kids,” an angry and grieving Pollard told the detective. “The whole f**king country. The whole f**king administration, every single f**king day.”

As NBC News notes, over the last few years, Idaho Gov. Brad Little (R) has signed 15 anti-LGBTQ+ laws. In April, Little signed a pair of bills, one of which made it a criminal offense for trans people to use the bathroom associated with their gender, while the other banned Pride flags on government buildings.

As for Lambda Legal’s challenge to the state’s school bathroom ban, at the time of May’s death, she was one of just two plaintiffs left in the case, as all the others had graduated high school and no longer held standing. Earlier this spring, Lambda Legal moved to dismiss the case after the final plaintiff graduated.

But Thorpe has continued to protest Idaho’s anti-trans laws. According to NBC News, she stood outside Gov. Little’s office during a March 31 protest holding a photo of her daughter.

“I wanted to support the protesters and remind everyone, including the governor,” Thorpe told the outlet, “that the stakes are real.”

“The parents go and testify, and we say, ‘Children are going to die,’” she said. “We tell the legislators that, and they dismiss it. I guess they think it’s hyperbole, or they think it’s hysteria, or they think it’s an acceptable outcome, probably some mix of those things. So I don’t understand why there is an unwillingness to connect these laws to these outcomes. It was right there from the start.”

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John Russell is a writer and editor based in New York City. In addition to covering politics and entertainment for LGBTQ Nation, he has written for Vanity Fair, Slate, People, Billboard, and Out. He also writes about film, TV, and pop culture in his free newsletter Johnny Writes…

Happy Pride Week Halifax!

I watched this three times because the message is so good. The fact that the reverend of this faith can rejoice in diversity makes me wonder what hater preachers and haters get out of their faith, out of their hate? I have been listening to the book Separation of Church and Hate by John Fugelsang. He is like Dan McClellan in that he is a biblical scholar; he knows the original manuscripts, times of use for each edition, and where different translations screw things up, and Fugelsang is a comedian, so he can throw it all out there with humor. I recomend everyone try to find the book or the audio book. He has whole chapters taking on the different haters and the clobber verses of the bible. He shows what the original meaning, as far as can be known of each of those verses was, correcting the misunderstand and hate. He like me feels that Christians follow Christ, biblcians follow the bible and they get that wrong because they don’t know the subtext or original intent; they hear only what the weekend preacher said who is preaching his version of the bible, not Christ’s. Happy Pride week Halifax. Long may your flags fly. Hugs

Trump Crashes Spain’s World Cup Moment & Jon Examines Team Trump’s “Meritocracy” | The Daily Show

An update on my procedure to shave the spinal cord in my lower spine. The people at the surgical center were grand. I can’t describe them any other way. One nurse even joked with Ron and me that she would love to spend time with us off work hours because she loved our sexual innuendo banter with each other, stuff like we can’t even think straight after 36 years together and that we don’t say move straight forward we say move gayly forward. But work required her to only join us around the fringes but we had her laughing so hard. All of the staff were wornder and one even walked me to the bathroom when I felt I needed to pee. It was relatively embarrassing, but as I had worked in ICUs before I realized it was totally every day normal for the nurses to see my butt. She did hang the IVs and give me privacy which was more than we were able to do for the ICU patients.

When they took me into the procedure room, I was worried that I might not be out enough and would feel pain. The anesthesiologist asked me if I had ever had a colonoscopy. I repiled yes. He said do you remember it? No I replied. Same here he said, once we get you positioned, you won’t remember anything. They got me positioned, and then he told me that once they got me an arm rest for my right hand he would administer the aniestha. I was gone even before the arm rest was set up. Totally out. Woke up in the recovery room, and once I was awake they went and got Ron.

I have a list of do and don’ts. But on the way home we stopped to eat, I had a large breakfast for me. Then we got home, and I went to bed until 12:30. Got up, ate again, and locked the Majority Report into the fun half so I can watch it free, and went back to bed. Then I slept until nearly 5 PM. Got up and started working on the cartoon / meme / news post that was to go out today. I will go out tomorrow. Sorry about that, the spirit is willing, but the body is very weak right now. On the plus side the pain in my right leg I have been living with seems to have diminished greatly and in some cases gone away.

The video below is very funny and points out how tRump is now just a befuddled grandpa who thinks everything must be about him and how he is the greatest even when he is clueless about what he is talking about. The host points out the mistakes and money interests of the entire cabinet. Hope you enjoy. Hugs

Testosterone-Fueled Troops? Hegseth Says Military to Begin Testing Hormones.

Kegseth is hyper fixated on the the male physique and the idea of a white male hyper agressive toxic masculinity that he thinks the Russian military has. But while our inclusive military is considered one of the best Russia’s hyper all white military is getting its ass handed to it by the inclusive diverse Ukrainian military. I posted earlier that Kegseth has again blocked the promotion of well qualified female and black officers to two star rank in his goal of an all white male military. This guy won’t be in charge of the military in two more years if the people are allowed to to have a free election and his successor hopefully won’t be such a misogynist bigot. But the damage will be done and the careers of these officers damaged. Kegseth couldn’t take serving a full career of at least 20 years, but these people who he is denying promotion to have well more than 20 years in the military. How come testosterone for trans kids / people is somehow in Kegseth’s view bad and trans people taking hormones are unfit for military service, yet having straight white men all on testosterone some how makes the military better? Hugs

https://www.notus.org/defense/testosterone-troops-hegseth-testing

Service members 30 and over will test annually and can choose to receive testosterone replacement therapy if they are recommended for treatment.

“We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation,” Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said. Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo

By Angie Orellana Hernandez and Hamed Ahmadi

July 15, 2026 01:26 p.m.

Updated: July 15, 2026 06:57 p.m.

The Pentagon will begin annually testing service members 30 and over for testosterone deficiencies, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced Tuesday.

Hegseth said in a video posted to social media that the new screening would become part of the Defense Department’s periodic health assessment for military personnel. The health exam has been mandatory since 2016 and is used to measure medical condition, behavioral health, mental health and readiness to deploy.

Service members who are recommended for treatment will have the choice to receive testosterone replacement therapy, Hegseth said. Personnel under 30 can volunteer for an examination.

Hegseth’s post referred to “High-T,” a social media fad pushed by influencers that encourages men to seek higher levels of testosterone to maintain their strength and masculinity. Discussions around masculinity have seeped into culture wars and national politics. In May, James Talarico, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Texas, defended his masculinity after personal attacks from conservatives about his physical appearance.

“This initiative — it’s not about artificial enhancement; it’s about restoring and optimizing your natural capabilities, protecting your longevity, and ensuring you have the biological foundation required to sustain the fight,” Hegseth said in the video. “We owe our warriors the absolute best medical care in the world, and this program delivers on that obligation.”

Testosterone levels in males decline about 1% a year after the age of 30 or 40, according to the Mayo Clinic. It is considered a typical sign of aging.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration does not approve testosterone replacement therapy for males without specific forms of hypogonadism, a medical condition associated with a malfunction of the organs that produce testosterone. Testosterone replacement therapy consists of injections, pellets, patches or gels that release hormones into the body.

Some medical groups, such as the Endocrine Society and the American Urological Association “recommend against routine screening” for hypogonadism in the general male population, according to Helen Bernie, a urologist and director of male sexual and reproductive medicine at Indiana University.

Bernie said testing could still be valuable in some military populations with symptoms or certain risk factors, but warned that a single low testosterone result should not lead directly to a diagnosis or treatment. Instead, testosterone levels should be measured twice in the early morning and considered alongside symptoms and possible underlying causes.

“Screening should open the door to a thoughtful medical evaluation, not automatically to a prescription,” Bernie told NOTUS.

Sleep deprivation, intense physical training, weight changes, illness and certain medications can temporarily lower testosterone, Bernie said. Doctors should evaluate those factors before determining that a service member has a testosterone deficiency.

Bernie said testosterone therapy is generally safe for appropriately selected and monitored patients, but it can “impair their sperm production or impair their fertility,” especially in young men.

She said service members should be counseled about fertility and other risks before beginning therapy and monitored throughout treatment.

“If the Pentagon moves forward with a screening program, I do think it’s important that there’s clear evidence-based guidelines in place so that every service member is evaluated consistently and safely.”

“The goal should be appropriate diagnosis, appropriate treatment, not simply increasing the number of men receiving testosterone,” she said.

The Defense Department declined to comment further on Hegseth’s video. It did not answer questions regarding the FDA’s guidance on testosterone replacement therapy.

The FDAdid not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Authors

Angie Orellana Hernandezis a reporter at NOTUS.Hamed Ahmadiis a NOTUS reporter and an Allbritton Journalism Institute fellow.

Doctors Roast Hegseth’s New Testosterone Policy

A funny call from the surgical center for my upcoming surgery.

So I was doing dishes as the call came in from the surgical center where I will be having my spine surgery. The woman was very indepth with my medications and past medical history. But then as we talked we got laughing about things and when she mentioned we were together 36 years I said they were wonderful years, and then Ron chimed in saying yes the years were great but the days were hell. The woman then opened up about how she couldn’t imagine the hell of two men living together. But before I could object she continued with how she has repeatedly told her husband that living with a man is horrible and as soon as he dies she will marry a woman. We went on to talk about how Ron had a gay bar and how grand the lesbians were.

Wow talk about how a conversation can flow and change. I thought she was about to go off on same sex marriage and then she went to how she was a lesbian struggling to deal with her male husband. The point is you never really know the issues others are dealing with unless they tell you. Hugs

Ro Khanna RIPS Bibi For LIES After IDF Detention

Ro Khanna details the abuses the Israelis commit against the palestinians and how the authorities do nothing to stop these abuses. Khanna gives numerous details and says that the israeli governments want to make it clear that no one should go to see the attractions and abuse done to the Palestinians but should only visit the Jewish parts of Israel. This is the best reporting of what happened to the congressman and the other US citizens. Hugs

Today and why things are the way they are with me and the blog.

So this starts from last night. Without being graphic or at the risk of oversharing, Ron and I decided to put Tupac on the far out side with me in the middle. Tupac prefers to be in the middle, which I understand but it interferes with Ron and me being able to show eachother intamaticy and touch / hold each other during the night. It has been a frustration since Tupac moved in because before that even though we have a king size bed we were always touching and entwined during the night.

Move to monday morning. I have a standing order for 4 cases (24 individual 2-liter bottles of soda) of Publix caffeine-free diet soda. Because I couldn’t walk Ron has been going to pick them up along with all the rest of our groceries. But it was taking a lot of time out of his day to do the remodeling we needed to get done.

So today I went for the soda and a few groceries. Now I go to the nearest Publix store but it wouldn’t matter they all have super happy employees who are eager to help anyone who asks them. I often remark if you ask a person in a different store where such item might be they will tell you what aisle and leave it at that. In every Publix I have ever been that I asked the employee, they stoped what they were doing and took me to where they thought the item might be. If it was not there they did not just walk away they kept looking with me.

So remember I just got back to walking, and I have fallen twice. So I go in with a cart and tell the person at the service desk who I am and what my standing order is. She makes the calls and then remarks she has not seen me in a while. I explained that my spouse was coming in to get the sodas. I always wear my pride hat and it is clear that my spouse is male. Again never a problem.

A young man who he later told me he was 22 yrs old came with my order in a cart so I asked him if I could switch my empty cart with his full one. He was sure. Then he noticed me taking my cane from the cart before he took it. He took my cart to the cart area and then stood by while I paid for my soda and then offered to take them to my car for me. I was grateful and explained that I just got the ability to walk again and was worried about lifting these heavy cases.

This young energetic happy so very young person who is to me very cute as all young people are to me at 63 years old and disabled. He pushed my cart out to the car and put them in it while talking a steady stream about things. I have often told Ron that my pride hat is a magnet for the young Publix boys. One of them told me he was in in the dinner theater scene and loved acting. So if anyone mentions to you that the Publix stores are / were founded by Christian people who wanted the stores to show a Christian application in the world, they are correct. They are the most progressive pro LGBTQ+ and helping the poor while taking care of the immigrant or minority store chain I have ever seen.

As the young man and I talked I told him I needed to go back into the store and get some groceries. He walked me all the way back into the store and offered to help me do my shopping. I declined while thanking him.

I had 18 items on my list and I admit I added Cheez-It snacks to it. By the time I was done I was limping and very tired out. This was the first time grocery shopping alone since I got the epidural on my spine dealing with my right leg that let me walk and the right foot was cramping.

I do not know how decrepit an old man I looked but when I pulled into the open checkout lane, the young woman at the end of the counter who would normally do the bagging walked up to the end of the aisle in front of my cart. I appoligised to her for blocking her way and said I would move my cart for her to get by. She smiled and said no I just wanted to help you unload your cart. She loaded everything on the converbelt and then I limped up to the pay pad device.

Again I don’t know how disabled I seem but as we chatted the bagging young woman kept asking me if things were going to be too heavy. When I paid she offered to take my stuff out to the car and load it in the back as the other young man had done. I demured, I guess I can manage, I said I don’t want to take you from your duties. Nonsense said the older woman chassier and the younger woman said it is what I want to do and she offered to push the cart.

The young woman took my cart out to the car and loaded the stuff into the car. I admit I was grateful, as I was pretty beat and dragging as I walked with her. I had offered the young man a tip and he refused, I did the same with this young woman and she also refused telling me she was very happy to help me. Ron tells me he finds the store’s prices slightly higher but I remind him the aisles are wide enough for people to pass and all I wrote above, far different from the walmart he thinks is saving us so much money.

So I got home and Ron carried the heavy things into the house while I carried the small stuff. Then after putting stuff away Ron showed me the current “kitchen / livingroom A/C unit” he had pulled apart to clean. Yesterday all day he cleaned the one in our bedroom and gods how full of dirt and crap it was. Ron had started the laundry of cat pee towels and then the dark load. So I took care of all that.

But it soon became noon and lunch time. I made him a large sandwich of the meats, lettuce, and the condiments he wanted. I had four cheese stuffed hot dogs … Sorry the steroids that got me walking also increased my eating and sadly my weight a lot. I went from 168 to now 182. It is a catch 22 situation. Do I want to walk or be thin? Right now I struggle to control the hunger beast which two months ago I had no hunger at all and would go days without eating.

So to end this. Ron is sleeping and I will finish this and work on getting tomorrow’s cartoons/ memes / news post scheduled. I took out a porkloin for supper and will serve it with mashed potatoes, brown gravy, and a vegetable. If Ron is still working on the house stuff I will stop everything I am doing and do the best I can to make supper. If he gives up for the day I will save taking the extra pain medications and he will make supper as I do blog stuff.

It is 2:45 PM my time. If I remember my military training it is 14:45 for the rest of the world. Here again is an issue I want or hope everyone remembers. With my pain and my medications I get about 12 hours up time during the day. Right now that time is shrinking for me. It would be like most people coming home from work at 5 or 6 pm. They have about 4 hours left to do everything. I hope everyone understands my day is very compressed and at this point I have about 4 or 5 hours left in my uptime.

Please don’t feel bad about that. I am super lucky; I have limitations I can’t break. But I have a home to be in, a bed to go to, food when I am hungry, and pain medication to help me deal with my life. I feel bad for Ron my husband for 36 years who has to do the things I can’t, who heard me fall the other night and rushed to the room to help me up. But the truth is my life is constrained and limited. I got up at 5 am after a wonderful quality time with my husband. He can sleep in the afternoon; I can’t. If I try I am down for the day. So now I am back to putting tomorrow’s post together. I just wanted to share this part of my day with you. Hugs

Today and the plans and what will be.

Hello everyone. What a morning. I got up at 4 am and the plan was to power through the cartoons / memes / news post for tomorrow and then dive into the comments. I understand from what I have been told some are pretty contentious. However … the best laid plans of mice and men I think is the phrase. It is now 1:14 pm and I am just getting back to my computers since 8:30 am.

Ron got up late around 8:20 am and he was struggling. I offered to make breakfast which he really wanted me to do. But at 9 am my news programs via over the air waves broadcasts of Sunday news programs came on. But the TV in the kitchen is a very simple plain TV with no features. The apple box attached to that TV has bluetooth so I can use earbuds. However again I can’t for broadcast stuff so if Ron doesn’t want to hear it I can’t use the TV.

Nevertheless Ron said go ahead and watch the news and while I cooked a breakfast of thick sliced bacon, sausage links, and a large bratwurst sausage Ron wanted. Normally I would do potatoes, but I was not up for that today. Along with the meat I made 8 hard boiled eggs. And toast.

While I was doing this Ron tore apart the bedroom window A/C unit. It was a dirty mess even though he cleaned the filters regularly. But as he took it apart it was good he had asked me to order a special A/C cleaning liquid. Decon 30 I got from Amazon and what a mess he got into as he deep cleaned the unit and then cleaned everything up.

After I made breakfast and we ate he went back to working on the A/C. I started cleaning up and doing dishes along with setting up the coffee stuff for tomorrow. We finished at the same time. 1:20 pm about. Ron and I then discussed what to do for supper. It was decided I would make tacos with extra beans and other seasonings while Ron started doing the laundry, both to finish the stuff we had not gotten to and to clean the towels / wash clothes he used to clean the unit. Ron wanted me to get time to finish the post for tomorrow and I will. However the comments are a wait and see. However I pushed sharpening the knives until tomorrow but other than that I have no appointments so should be able to get to comments if I don’t today.

Last thing I want to mention. The week after the 4th I had many doctors visits. As I am a person who engages with the people behind the counters the question kept coming up “What did you do for the 4th”. Many people complained about the heat and how they tried to either go out or find other activities. However when they asked me what we did they were surprisingly supportive of what Ron and I did to celebrate the holiday with many saying they wished they had done so as well.

Ron and I stayed home and we did one of the things we enjoy. Something we have enjoyed all our time together but much more as we aged. Cooking and making things in the kitchen together. When we knocked the walls out and made the extra large kitchen, we did it with just this in mind. We used to make christmas gifts of baked goods we would work together on for days.

We made a meatloaf. I have never liked meat loaf before but Ron and James loved it. They would have it and I would have something else. But as I have aged my tastes have changed and in truth so has the way we make the meatloaf. So we made a meatloaf together with Ron doing the making work and me doing the seasoning work. I then made the potatoes and side dishes. I will admit at 63 years old it is one of the best 4th of July’s I have ever had. Hugs