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Gretchen begins volunteering at an abortion charity
Sunday, March 3 2024
Today Gretchen began a new volunteer gig where she communicates with women in New York State seeking abortions (they've called a hotline), approving money to pay for the balance of an abortion expense in cases where the women do not have enough money to afford the procedure. The idea is to keep women of marginal means from making a terrible mistake and ending up with a baby they do not want and cannot afford (which is bad for the baby, the mother, and our society). In a sane world, society itself would pay for such abortions and be better off for it, but we live in a crazy-pants world where, in many states, babies serve as a just punishment, a blessing, and an obligation. The organization Gretchen is volunteering for pays for the abortions by privately-raised funds (Gretchen herself has contributed to such funds), though it's possible New York itself pays in part for some of the abortions (because it's not run by crazies). The logistics of connecting women wanting abortions with available funds initially was driving Gretchen kind of crazy, as the training had been more about feelings, empowerment, and getting pronouns right than about the technical details of what needed to be done. But after some practical exposure to the job, she started to get it.
Meanwhile, I was replacing a one of the lights in the living room. Our living room has been severely underlit ever since the ceiling fan crashed to the floor while we were in Portugal. More recently, a 120-to-12v transformer started failing in lamp mounted high on the wall above the place on the couch where Gretchen likes to read. I'd replaced the original halogen bulbs with the LED kind a long time ago. But the whole system was limiting the kind of bulbs I could use. So today I climbed up on a step ladder and replaced the transformer and pointable lamp holders with a simple duplex outlet. Then I plugged in a couple Chinese gooseneck lights with conventional bulb sockets into which I put two very bright LED spotlights. The goosenecks kind of give it a Art Noveau look, especially since I threaded one through a hole in the decorative bracket of the cat balcony directly above it.
Meanwhile outside it was a gorgeous sunny spring day with temperatures in the 60s. I went on two separate walks in the forest, and both Charlotte and Neville accompanied me both times. (During a pause in her very event-filled day of abortion volunteering, Gretchen also went for a walk, and that time only Charlotte went.) On my second walk, I headed down the Stick Trail a little after 3:00pm, but saw Crazy Dave and his brown dog Brigitte (the one who doesn't get along with Charlotte) off in the distance. So I slowed way down, hoping they'd make some progress down the trail away from us. But then Charlotte saw them and started barking like a manic jackal. Crazy Dave hollered for his dogs to come back, and it sounded like a war for a minute or so, but the two groups of dogs never actually came into contact, and I managed to convince Charlotte and Neville to join me on a hike up the Chamomile to the Farm Road (there's no trail to do this, but the route is fairly easy).
Neville and Charlotte and the mighty roaring Chamomile some distance above the Stick Trail on the way to the Farm Road. Click to enlarge.
Neville. Click to enlarge.
Charlotte on the Farm Road. Click to enlarge.
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