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Wednesday, April 21, 2021

A mere four inches

A lot of us went to bed and woke up expecting snow. I pulled the curtain aside and saw the grass covered with snow. Eventually, after cat duty and breakfast, I got out to see what I could do with the broom.


This load of snow was so wet and heavy I could only leave a streak of bristle marks along the top. Of course the snow shovel, as well as the tote of salt, is in the shed. I was expecting a delivery and common decency meant I must clear the way. I puzzled for a minute, and remembered the short, short shovel behind the door. Don't ask.


After I'd pushed a lot of snow through the rails I thought to put the camera down by the deck and take a picture. It's about four inches of cold, wet stuff. Enough I was not about to go in for a ruler. All I have to say is, this time last year my bulbs were up and in bud.

I expect to read a lot of blogs tonight with the topic of the Chauvin trial. How far there is to go, but justice was met here. The distance to go is the change in policing tactics. And so much more. What can change to make decent housing possible and good parenting possible, and good education possible. 

A sea change is still required.

37 comments:

  1. Sadly, in some cases, exemplified by Chauvin, you'd have to change people's nature first. If you're a racist bully, you do what comes naturally, training or no training.

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  2. To me it seems that housing is at the root of all our problems. Certainly here. We'd have a much fairer society if government policies hadn't deliberately stoked up property prices.

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  3. abolish the police based on a racist premise in the beginning and allowed to be a brotherhood for way too long, Phones are the best invention!
    SNOW!!! Oh please! Stop, it is springtime!!

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  4. So yesterday they killed a 15 year old girl, today they killed a man driving away, no threat to the police. There is something inherently wrong either in the training, or the people who want to be police. What ever happened to Officer Friendly. I despair of it ever being better.

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  5. Looks like you got quite a bit more snow than we did; there was just a dusting here. As for the Chauvin verdict, one can only hope that this is the beginning of a long road to "together and equal" not "separate but equal". It is going to be a bumpy ride I fear.

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  6. Hari Om
    Yikes, that's a pile of white stuff... we are having the icy feels but apart from one brief shower, nothing else.

    A paradign shift is required in society. The sort that kinda feels like revolution... YAM xx

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  7. Too much snow! You put the shovel away too early! Spring is coming back again soon - stay warm!
    I was relieved to hear the verdict. The prosecution had it right, "Believe your eyes, You saw what you saw." Thank goodness the young woman was brave enough to film it.

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  8. "the short, short shovel behind the door" -- do you mean the cat's poop scoop?

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  9. There is hope yet. Like your winter our summer keeps making encore appearances- I think it’s finally decided to move on up your way.....not sure how long it’ll take though.

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  10. Yes, m'am. All of those things must change. This is not a problem that one thing will solve. We need to remember that.
    I cannot believe your snow. Truly. I can't. I can't even believe it's going to get into the forties here tonight but snow? My Lord.

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  11. Cops must stop protecting the bad among them. And the bad, if found guilty, deserve a harsher punishment than a civilian of the same crime.

    We just got a dusting.

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  12. Police departments need to stop hiring nasty pieces of work. And a fired cop should be red flagged so as not to be hireable in other police departments a few miles away.

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  13. About the snow. That's just wrong.

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  14. Late April snow is horrendous. Last week I shoveled 4 inches. In a day all the snow was gone. We desperately need systemic change in police departments. Justice was done in the Chauvin trial. Thank God. The 17 year old girl that used her i-phone and caught the entire incident on camera proved to be important in court. She is a hero in my eyes.

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  15. You got more than we did. We are sometimes of a borderline. The centre of this one was more to the south around Lake Ontario.

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  16. snow! this has been a crazy year. even we are experiencing nights in the upper 40s...in late April! and yes the look of fear and disbelief in that smug bastard's eyes when the judge read the verdict was as good as the verdict. I think all police forces should be disbanded and rehired with higher standards and background checks for racism.

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  17. A sea of change is required but a tidal wave is against that change.

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  18. Snow? Yikes. I wouldn't enjoy trying to deal with wet, heavy snow.(since I "shovel" with my garden rake) It's been sunny and warm here. We are feeling very fortunate.

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  19. We are still getting extra-hot weather in Perth (28 or 29 degrees C.) this weekend. There is something wrong with the climate.

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  20. I have to think that 4 years of a bully for president contributed to the negativity in the world. Yes, the verdict was right, but we need to learn our lesson and do better as a nation by removing members of the police force who show signs of racism/intolerance/bullying. More economic opportunities, better housing and education are first steps to eliminating the disparity between whites and people of color. Pray that things will improve from here on out. I have to hope this is the bottom of the barrel and we will begin to move up from here.

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  21. Four inches is too much snow.
    I was glad to read the guilty verdict in my newspaper yesterday, but I know there is still a very long way to go, with re-training police and trust to be learned and earned on both sides.

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  22. You did get a lot of snow! We had a couple of inches yesterday but it didn't stick around long thank goodness.

    Yes, there is much change that is needed but I am hoping the results of the trial will be a start for it.

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  23. The weather as always is behaving unpredictably. Many things in the garden have been frost bitten, the new growth hangs limply.

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  24. Oh, and you thought winter was over!

    I'm glad about the Chauvin verdict. But there's still a long way to go rooting out systemic racism in the police force and other organisations. Same applies to the UK.

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  25. I can't believe you are still getting snow. As for the Chauvin business, I don't know what to say. Here we are just beginning to realise that we have ignored all the dark skinned soldiers who fought and died in WW1, but the white ones all got memorials. We forgot all the Indians and Africans who gave their lives for the sake of the good of humanity and continued to abuse the survivors.

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  26. And here was a week of 40 degrees c.

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  27. uhmmmm - I thought y'all were having spring??

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  28. "What can change to make decent housing possible and good parenting possible, and good education possible
    Yes--what kind of education and parenting do white people like Derek Chauvin get?

    I have wondered, Did Chauvin's mother hear his victim crying out for Mama?
    (I think Chauvin had decent housing though.)

    What makes a person so twisted like him?
    I think 19 years beat on the mean streets--that's gotta twist a soul.
    Ugh.

    I wouldn't want to be George Floyd, but even less would I want to be Derek Chauvin.

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  29. I have always thought the Aga Khan nailed it when he said the solution to racism and poverty is to educate the women. He put his money where his mouth was and constructed 3 universities in the poorest countries for the women. Poverty drives lack of birth control and drug addiction.

    We expected snow here but blazing sun today and the icebergs are moving early.

    XO
    WWW

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  30. We are to have snow tomorrow, not as much as you had, I hope!

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  31. Wow! That is a bit of snow.
    I do hope that we can remember that each incident is separate and they are treated as such. Not all people are bad. Not all people are good. Not all law enforcement people are bad. Not all law enforcement people are good. Let's remember to examine each incident on it's own.

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  32. You did good keeping that little shovel behind the door. No comment from me tho I am truly happy about the results. A start.

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  33. I was happy to see that Chauvin was convicted. My nephews in the south totally disagree, as I am sure my sister would have. first time I saw that video and that smug look on Chauvin's face with his hand casually stuck in his pocket, I said it was murder! Over a $20 bill. I am glad my snow has melted!

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  34. We got the cold and not the snow and I am very grateful for that. Your bulbs should be OK. Your snow should melt quickly, and I hope you let Mother Nature take care of the rest of your stairs.

    I was so happy with the verdict but I am not sure this one case will change much. The racism is deep in the US and one policeman found guilty of a despicable act won't change that. However, hopefully it is a catalyst for justice.

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  35. I wondered to Carol if the conviction would mean that police officers might not be so eager to kill. She said she didn't think so. "There is something inherently missing in people who do these things."

    Love,
    Janie

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  36. Good gracious! Four inches? My daughter had a sprinkling of snow in Illinois. They've had to contend with too much snow damage this winter.

    As for changes in policing... It's going to take a lot of time and cooperation from government watchdogs. I'm hoping the present administration will be able to accomplish something.

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