Concrete Dreamer

Now the negro is a human being, as well as an apprentice or a redemptioner, though the Constitution does not consider him as the equal of either. It is a great mistake to suppose that the Constitution of the United States, as it now exists, recognizes slavery in any manner whatever, unless it be to mark it as an interest that has less than the common claim to the ordinary rights of humanity. In the apportionment, or representation clause, the redemptioner and the apprentice counts each as a man, whereas five slaves are enumerated as only three free men. The free black is counted as a man, in all particulars, and is represented as such, but his fellow in slavery has only three fifths of his political value.

49 Degree Almost June First

Tonight feels weird. Not sure if it’s because I’m sleepy and it’s not even midnight. Maybe there was too much lemon juice in my hummus, and that’s why my belly is a little icky. Am I subconsciously worried about my mom or more empathetic to the worries my friend has about her grandpa than I had thought. It could be the rain. I looked outside and saw the neighbors back porch light shining on their sheds shingles and it felt like October. Tomorrow I’ll be doing a graduation rehearsal for kids I’ve seen around the church since they were in about 2nd or 3rd grade. Seniors. I don’t always like going to bed this early, sometimes it doesn’t feel safe, like if I did, something would be unprotected, like letting someone down. Strange.

He who covers and forgives an offense seeks love, but he who repeats or harps on a matter separates even close friends. (Proverbs 17:9 AMP)

Stupid Ants

Three trees in my yard and my garage have been infested by carpenter ants over the past few years. All the trees are now gone and the garage has issues. The last tree to take its final bow did so about a week and a half ago while we had very high winds, it happened while I was out to lunch with my mom and thought it was odd that there were so many branches in the front yard, then look to see the tree had landed on the house. So far house seems fine, just aesthetic damage. After much eyeballing the tree was finally cut down Tuesday, two weeks and a day since it had fallen. Now, now there is a stream of carpenter ants that have found their way into my living room. This makes my extremely unhappy. Due to the previous issue with the ants in the garage I had some of these ant bait things and put them in a few potential places where they could be coming from and it looks like they have found a way under the siding and into a slight separation from where the previous owner had installed bookshelves on both sides of a window. This little crack I was unaware of, maybe because of the curtain or maybe it didn’t look like a big deal. So they weren’t getting in under the door or through the draining holes (I’m sure they have some sort of technical name) like I was thinking. Nope, a crack in the wall. I decided to put a bait station in an ashtray just because I saw a few in that area. This makes me curious, did they build a nest somewhere in my wall? And, how long dose it take them to die? I want to caulk up this spot, but what if they have built a nest and they have laid eggs? If I caulk it up and the bait hasn’t killed them all or if they have built a nest and there are some eggs untouched by this bait will they burrow through my wall somewhere? It’s really disgusting watching them travel from my wall then congragate into this ashtray holding the bait station. There is possibly 30 of them in there at a time and I just want to kill them. I look at them and want to go all Comedian on them (think Watchmen, with a flamethrower) and not just the ones finding their way back and forth from the bait trap. All of them. Every single freaking one of them in and around my yard. What is the best way to get rid of them without burning everything down or poisoning my yard?

I think the horseradish from this years Seder dispelled any toxins in my head.