Monday, March 3, 2025

Monday Musings - March 3, 2025

 

Old Washer Fill Valves
Tequesta, FL
March 2, 2025

Monday Musings is Back!


1. Overnight, it seems, March arrived and with it the promise of springtime. This is the first Monday of the month and there are 43 Mondays remaining in the year. 

2. I had success fixing a problem that has been nagging us for well over a year--the washer! IT was filling slowly--too slowly. I had taken the hoses off to ensure that they were clean and running freely and I cleaned the screens on the fill valves--but no joy. Yesterday, the new fill valves I ordered arrived and after about a 30 minute job they were installed and, amazingly, the washer now works perfectly. A 27 minute cycle took 27 minutes and not the 1h12m cycle that I measured before we left on our trip. I can even hear the water rushing to fill the tub now! It was a $27 repair and saved about $1500 for a new washer/dryer pair.

3. It was different being an American in South Africa. Questions about politics came up often with the other people I met and I have to say that while I am a proud American, I am embarrassed by the un-American turn in our foreign policy. Many don't realize it, but South Africa has been in the president's sights as he tries to recruit white farmers to come to America because he believes they are being persecuted. One thing I took away from my visit was that while our elected leaders are turning away from diversity and inclusion--South Africa still embraces it and it is working for them. Take note.

4. Where are our elected representatives who support the freedom loving peoples of the world? How can we turn our backs on Ukraine? How can we suggest that Ukraine started the war? How could we vote with Russia on the U.N. resolution? We are seeing, people, the very definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors!"

5. Wouldn't we feel better if J.D. Vance's threats about Harris getting elected and $4 dozens of eggs came true? Look where we are now--and they fired all the researchers trying to stop the bird flu!

6. Today in HistoryOn March 3, 1887, Anne Sullivan begins teaching six-year-old Helen Keller, who lost her sight and hearing after a severe illness at the age of 19 months. Under Sullivan’s tutelage, including her pioneering “touch teaching” techniques, Keller flourished, eventually graduating from college and becoming an international lecturer and activist. Sullivan, later dubbed “the miracle worker,” remained Keller’s interpreter and constant companion until the older woman’s death in 1936.

Sullivan, born in Massachusetts in 1866, had firsthand experience with being disabled: As a child, an infection impaired her vision. She then attended the Perkins Institution for the Blind where she learned the manual alphabet in order to communicate with a classmate who was deaf and blind. Eventually, Sullivan had several operations that improved her weakened eyesight.


Helen Adams Keller was born on June 27, 1880, to Arthur Keller, a former Confederate army officer and newspaper publisher, and his wife Kate, of Tuscumbia, Alabama. As a baby, a brief illness, possibly scarlet fever or a form of bacterial meningitis, left Helen unable to see, hear or speak. She was considered a bright but spoiled and strong-willed child. Her parents eventually sought the advice of Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone and an authority on the deaf. He suggested the Kellers contact the Perkins Institution, which in turn recommended Anne Sullivan as a teacher.





UK, France propose partial one-month Ukraine truce - Reuters

Zelenskiy says he can salvage relationship with US - Reuters

Trump trade threats compound global ocean shipping uncertainty - Reuters

Israel says it will block Gaza humanitarian aid until Hamas agrees to new conditions - CNN

Pope Francis is in stable condition but ‘risk of crisis’ remains, Vatican sources say Mar 3, 2025 - CNN

‘They are harming ordinary people’: Trump’s funding cuts are taking a toll in North Carolina - CNN

Government shutdown looms as Trump tries to assert new spending powers - The Washington Post 


-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL

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