up early this morning, a thunderstorm is rolling through. illinois thunderstorms are wonderful, and the rain is just now starting to pound; lightning has been fairly constant for about a half hour. i will write as the rain pounds. it's five thirty in the morning.

i read a little about the overturning of roe. all i have to say is, they should never have had to ask me, or clarence, what we thought. it's entirely a woman's business, not ours. but in the wider picture it's just a battle in a protracted war. once people have rights they don't like giving them up and will do what they have to to get them back, or at least i hope so. and the new pill will probably render the whole question moot.

in galesburg it's railroad days starting today, but it's not entirely clear to me, maybe it started yesterday and/or due to last all weekend. this is apparently a huge deal. but at the moment i'm glad we're in monmouth as i'm not entirely crazy about taking spoiled kids to such things. the money you spend is all kind of pointless except for the sugar and even that is, well they have more than enough sugar. we could go to see jugglers in the street, or in my case, go to a book signing of a friend of mine who is an author, but it's a lot of trouble and one huge side of me would rather just stay home.

my daughter plays anime movies on her phone or on the wide screened tv in the small living room, and the sound is annoying especially if i wear my hearing aids. so i often take off my hearing aids when i want to share the living room - obviously i can't sit outside now - and this makes me pleasantly deaf. but my wife hates that as she has to scream at me if she comes out of her room and wants anything. another thing that's happening is that i'm taking the dogs for longer and longer walks. a couple of them can use more than the half mile i committed to give them originally. no one else seems inclined to give them anything at all. they for their part love the flowers, the grass, the smells, the other dogs of the small town we're in. they occasionally run up against some social life. for example yesterday our black lab, who is very old, almost blind too i think, came upon an extremely aggressive unleashed black lab, only much younger. that lab was extremely excited to see her. but she stuck close by me and didn't step out much to explore that other dog. i think it was the first black lab she's seen in maybe ten years.

my son is similarly getting used to seeing other black kids around, and that's really unusual. like he can step out on the street and not have people stare at him. it's sad that it comes to this, but i think he's traumatized by years of being the only black kid in miles. and it may take a while to undo that.

another summer day dawns - this one a little wet.