Tuesday, February 15
Today I am grateful for:
Reasonably nice weather.
A short conversation with my Trainwreck sister. She's had furnace issues, issues getting out of her yard because of too much snow, and that means not being able to haul water (they have a water tank, not town water or a well). She said, again, that she would like to move and not have to live there next winter, because living in an isolated shithole is awful. She said that last year too, but couldn't bear to part with her hoard, which she either has to sell or just leave behind to rot. She really couldn't move it all with her, and there's no one left who will help her move it anymore (her partner moved a lot last time, but he died. Other members of our family used to help her move, but they all said "no more").
A fairly short conversation with my sister E, who now seems to be in the habit of not having any time to talk when I call. I try to only call about once a week, but that might be too much.
I went to see River, and that was good. He was relaxed and focused today, and I felt like we had a good session. We had a very nice moment trotting where he was very collected.
There was a new person at the barn having a session with R, mostly in the barn talking about the theory behind the way she teaches. I'm not sure if this person is going to have regular lessons, but she was there tonight anyways.
I came home and had a nap in the big blue chair.
Today I learned, in conversation with the man who owns our local gas station, bits and pieces about conflict between Israel and Syria mainly. So I went to read more about it so I could understand better what he referred to. He was referring to something known as The Six Day War in 1967. He then later talked about other conflicts. I am not sure that I really understand anything, I've tried many, many times to understand what is happening in the Middle East, and it always ends up being SO COMPLICATED, and I have nothing personal to help me remember the names of everyone, or the conflicts.
In brief; Syria is a fairly new country established at the end of WWI, which ended the Ottoman empire. It was arbitrarily created by two Allied diplomats in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. It's capital city is Damascus, which kind of helps me remember because that is a name that I recognize.
The Six Day War was an attempt by Israel to get Egypt to allow it to use the Straights of Tiran for shipping. Syria and Jordan allied with Egypt.
Egypt had been letting Israel use the Straights for shipping (after another conflict in 1956 resulting in the Suez Crisis).
Blocking the shipping routes again in 1967 was Egypt basically just asking for a war, because it was a vitally important shipping route for Israel. The pacts made in the Suez Crisis were openly violated by Egypt. At the same time, some of this was about the Israeli occupation of Sinai, a region of Egypt.
Extreme Oversimplification Alert! All Hell broke loose, Israel kicked everyone's asses big time. After six days, the UN called for a cease fire, which everyone agreed upon. In that short period of time though, Israel established that it could kick everyone's ass big time. Israel's casualties were about 700 to 19,000 from the other countries involved.
After trying and trying, I can't find out if Israel now uses the Straights of Tiran for shipping now, or not. I'm assuming it pretty much has to be using them.
Reasonably nice weather.
A short conversation with my Trainwreck sister. She's had furnace issues, issues getting out of her yard because of too much snow, and that means not being able to haul water (they have a water tank, not town water or a well). She said, again, that she would like to move and not have to live there next winter, because living in an isolated shithole is awful. She said that last year too, but couldn't bear to part with her hoard, which she either has to sell or just leave behind to rot. She really couldn't move it all with her, and there's no one left who will help her move it anymore (her partner moved a lot last time, but he died. Other members of our family used to help her move, but they all said "no more").
A fairly short conversation with my sister E, who now seems to be in the habit of not having any time to talk when I call. I try to only call about once a week, but that might be too much.
I went to see River, and that was good. He was relaxed and focused today, and I felt like we had a good session. We had a very nice moment trotting where he was very collected.
There was a new person at the barn having a session with R, mostly in the barn talking about the theory behind the way she teaches. I'm not sure if this person is going to have regular lessons, but she was there tonight anyways.
I came home and had a nap in the big blue chair.
Today I learned, in conversation with the man who owns our local gas station, bits and pieces about conflict between Israel and Syria mainly. So I went to read more about it so I could understand better what he referred to. He was referring to something known as The Six Day War in 1967. He then later talked about other conflicts. I am not sure that I really understand anything, I've tried many, many times to understand what is happening in the Middle East, and it always ends up being SO COMPLICATED, and I have nothing personal to help me remember the names of everyone, or the conflicts.
In brief; Syria is a fairly new country established at the end of WWI, which ended the Ottoman empire. It was arbitrarily created by two Allied diplomats in the Sykes-Picot Agreement. It's capital city is Damascus, which kind of helps me remember because that is a name that I recognize.
The Six Day War was an attempt by Israel to get Egypt to allow it to use the Straights of Tiran for shipping. Syria and Jordan allied with Egypt.
Egypt had been letting Israel use the Straights for shipping (after another conflict in 1956 resulting in the Suez Crisis).
Blocking the shipping routes again in 1967 was Egypt basically just asking for a war, because it was a vitally important shipping route for Israel. The pacts made in the Suez Crisis were openly violated by Egypt. At the same time, some of this was about the Israeli occupation of Sinai, a region of Egypt.
Extreme Oversimplification Alert! All Hell broke loose, Israel kicked everyone's asses big time. After six days, the UN called for a cease fire, which everyone agreed upon. In that short period of time though, Israel established that it could kick everyone's ass big time. Israel's casualties were about 700 to 19,000 from the other countries involved.
After trying and trying, I can't find out if Israel now uses the Straights of Tiran for shipping now, or not. I'm assuming it pretty much has to be using them.