Southern Rural Life

In Jefferson County, Florida where we live, to vote early one must go to the office of the Supervisor of Elections which is in Monticello, the only true town in the county. The population of Jefferson County is around 16,000 people and is not that small in area. Its borders range from Georgia to the Gulf of MEXICO. 

If you locate Tallahassee up there in the armpit/panhandle of the state and go over a county, you will find Jefferson. It is the third most rural county in Florida. 
All of this to say that when my vote was registered today after Glen and I early-voted, I believe I was something like the 813th person who has voted via that route since October 19 which indicates, for us, a large turnout. There was someone in each of the little privacy spaces where you fill out your ballot. I believe there were five. Or perhaps six. Either way, I finished filling my ballot out with great speed, having no need to go over all of it. I had filled out the sample ballot sent to us last week after doing my research and so there was no hesitation on my part. 
I was not fucking around with this. 
There are some very strong Democratic candidates in this race and I honestly think there is a possibility that at least some of them will win. Our governor's race is quite unusual in that the Democratic candidate was a Republican until a few years ago but he gets a lot of bonafides from the fact that the candidate for Lieutenant Governor who shares the ballot with him is Gwen Graham, the daughter of a very popular Democratic governor and who ran for the office herself several years ago. Not perfect but not terrible. 
The Republican candidate however, is a sort of unicorn. First off, he's Trump-endorsed to the hilt. He was a member of the Tea-Party. He's as Maga-ed up as a person can be. He's held positions in Florida's law-making bodies for years. He has climbed the Leader Ladder with persistence and success. So voting against him would be a no-brainer for many folks in Florida and absolutely YES for others. 
Here's the deal though- Byron Donalds is Black. If elected, he would be the first Black governor of Florida. And the conundrum is, all of us left-leaning libtards and most of the entire Black population of Florida would be filling out that little circle by his name if...he wasn't a Republican, Donald Trump endorsed, Maga Cultist. 
It's all just odd. Did the Magas think that liberals and people of color would vote for him despite his political leanings just in order to finally and at last, get a governor who didn't look like a, well, southern politician? 
Despite my great desire to see a Black governor at Florida's helm, Byron Donalds (can you even believe that last name? Can we say Donald's?) ain't the person. 
And here's another thing- will the white Maga voters who have, practically by definition, racist leanings, vote for a Black man? 
I am quite curious to see how this turns out. 

After all of that, it's time for me to make our supper. I made another loaf of the high protein, high fiber bread and it's in the oven as we speak. I'm going to make clam spaghetti and a salad with lots of arugula and basil in it. And in some excellent news, we have heat.

I sort of want to adopt the technician who has taken care of us. He just spent over three hours working on our unit and was good-natured though-out  it all. 
"I'm gonna get y'all heat if I have to stay here until 3:00 a.m.," he said. 
I believed him. 
Glen seems to like him fine too. He's out there now, giving him some ducks to take home and cook. 
John said that duck fajitas will be on the menu. 
Oh Lord. Men. 

I asked him if I could possibly take his picture for my blog and he said that would be fine. So here it is.

I showed it to him and asked if that was okay. He said it was. 

I bet his mama is proud of him. And his daddy too. He has that confidence and ease that people who grew up good seem to have. 

I'm glad for him. 

And I'm glad we have heat. 

Love...Ms. Moon