Puffage

Birds puff up for a number of reasons, but chief among them are fear and aggression.  In extreme heat or cold, birds will puff their feathers as a way to regulate body temperature.  But blue jays...well, they seem to puff just for the sheer pleasure of it.  The puff lasts for only a few seconds - a few blinks of an eye and the same blue jay is sleek and slender again.  I find it very charming.  This individual was perched nearby, watching me, waiting for peanuts, calm, seemingly not  a care in the world - and suddenly - POOF.  I knew that I had my shot for today.

It drizzled most of the morning and into the early afternoon so I didn't get much done outside.  A poor night of sleep (again) left me without much energy, so I just did a few things in the office, took a short nap, chilled out.

Yesterday, Hubs and I got our Flu jabs and we also received our mail-in ballots, so filled those out.  Tomorrow I will deliver the ballots to the post office.  New Jersey has an online tracking system so that we will be able to know when our ballots are received.  We've been voting by mail for a while so feel perfectly safe with it.  

The first election I voted in was in 1973 when I voted for George McGovern.  Although Nixon was credited with getting us out of the hugely unpopular Vietnam War, many young people distrusted him and felt McGovern to be a better choice.  He was soundly defeated by the incumbent, Richard Nixon (the same Richard Nixon who resigned during the Watergate Scandal in 1974).  Since then, I have never missed a vote.  I have never been apathetic about politics, although I am not a diehard member of either party.  I consider my right to vote to be very precious.  

We plan to watch the first of the Presidential debates tonight - not that it will sway either of us, but we are both keenly interested.  

The world reached a grim milestone with Covid 19 with one million dead.  How this can't horrify everyone is beyond me.  

Stay safe, people.

xo
Debbi