Every vote counts!

Another Thursday has come and gone.
The days are getting a little easier for me.

I think Cowboy misses his Squeaky as much as Badger and I do.
He came into the bedroom before he went to work talking about how Squeaky would paw him for a bite to eat, something none of the other cats do.
They won't even sit and watch him eat.
That was just a Skunk thing.

As Badger says, these other cats don't talk.
Skunk was a talker.
Carl and Sasha sometimes tear through the house yowling.
Lucifer is getting kitty dementia and occasionally starts crying.
Fox and Coyote yowl when they're locked in a room.
But none of them carry on conversations with you like Skunky.

None of them are cuddlers like he was.
Badger trained that darn cat to be carried like a baby.
If you stood near a chair, he'd hop onto your freaking shoulder for a ride.
Skunk was a very unique cat.

We did get to town and got groceries.
We're never breaking Cowboy of that habit.
At least we'll have food put back if Tennessee surprises us with another rare blizzard.
We just have to remember to use it before it goes bad.

Then, I did something today I've never done in my life.
I went and voted.
I usually vote in presidential elections, not local ones.
However, Badger made it perfectly clear that we were voting today.

We ran into a bit of trouble because four of us have the same initials: J.A.A.
The person at the book couldn't find Badger's name among all those look-alike names.

I finished casting my ballot and noticed Badger wasn't in line to cast hers.
I walked over to the sign-in table and saw they had pulled her aside and were on the phone with someone.
They said they couldn't find her name.
I waited until the woman finished her call, then told her Badger absolutely was listed in the poll books.
We went over, and I pointed it out.

It seems to me that the person checking the poll book needs to be able to see the names clearly and flip through the pages without trouble.
The woman helping us appeared to have difficulty with the small print and handling the book.
It slowed everyone down.

Oh, and the reason we voted?
Spite, pure spite.

One of the people on the ballot has been in office for about fifteen years.

He’s been active on the town’s Facebook page, and when someone asks a fair question, nothing hateful, like “You promised this, that, or the other. Why haven’t you followed through yet?”

He keeps coming across as snarky and incredibly unprofessional.

He was downright rude to me over what was simply a perfectly polite question.
He posted a video promising to do this, that, and the other in town.
I asked why he hadn’t done it in all his years in office and what he planned to do moving forward.

And he popped off with “Well Idk Where You’ve Been for the Last 16 years.”
I'm like, I’m not an elected official, so how is that relevant?

So, you know what?
Off with his head, sort of.

I climbed out of my little hermit shack, tugged my little turtle shell around me, and went over to vote his rear end out of office.
Badger and I must not have been the only ones who were tired of his smart-aleck attitude and all the promises he never kept.
He lost by a landslide.
I’m still not sure why he wasn’t voted out before.

Power to the people, I guess.

Now Badger is threatening me with having to go back in November to vote for governor.
This is all Peacock and his wife’s fault.
They’re very involved in politics, and it seems they’ve decided it’s time for me to become a card-carrying member of the responsible adult club.

While Cowboy took his before-work nap and Heron watched his farm show, Badger and I went into her room to watch a really, really weird King Arthur show.
She's the only one with a DVD player now.
That show, oh my gosh!
She said it was a waste of nearly two hours.
I say it was two hours well spent.
Merlin stole the show.

We got Cowboy off to work, and the evening slowly wound down in the usual way.
Mostly TV, with a little computer time for me.

I'm heading to bed.
It looks like Heron is ready to go to sleep.
He's still on my couch, and I wish I could move him into Raven's room.
He could use the privacy, but Raven has never fully moved out.