Lynnwood City Center on the Light Rail.

 RantWoman would in principle like to pen a sunny "I love you all and I am sure life is going to get better" holiday greeting. That, alas, is not going to happen, or at least not before RantWoman just gets some opinions off her chest. With that in mind, RantWoman is going to offer a Christmas tree of posts assembled in such form as to give readers options to pick and choose which RantWoman eye views of the year sound most enticing, entertaining, elevating, ... Get the idea.

Lucky Lynnwood City Center Sound Transit station, the first window into RantWoman's year, and luckily for someone the topic RantWoman can most concisely summon rants about.

Start with Thanksgiving. 

There was an invitation to family for feasting in Lynnwood. There was also an offer of a ride all the way that was going to involve too many people, a dog, and a vehicle specially lifted for off-roading. RantWoman owes the world a whole post about getting in and out of cars. In this case, RantWoman was still flirting too easily with some post-surgery crabbiness and wanted simply to take transit and, if needed be fetched from a transit end point.

RantWoman should have somehow been able to ask her info sources "which light rail station is closest to the address?" The answer: Lynnwood City Center is about a mile away. Instead RantWoman got various unhelpful suggested routings wound up having to ask Irrepressible Nephew to fetch her from an intersection before the one suggested by the trip planner.

Nephew was EXTREMELY good natured about this.

Family feasted well, petted a cat and two dogs, and did fine about many things.Then came time to go home. Nephew dropped RantWoman off at a station entrance inside the parking garage. Another woman in the same boat joined RantWoman in fogging around until we found the hallway with elevators to the platform. Some signage in the parking garage would definitely not be a terrible idea.

Next comes Christmas Day. The RantFamily did Christmas Eve church gathered around a laptop at the rehab where RantMom is currently in residence. The laptop does not do justice to a church organ but that was the celebration needed for this year. It also left RantWoman free on Christmas Day to invite herself over for takeout Thai food with her buddies The Weed Whackin Wenches who also live in Lynnwood. RantWoman would have been happy to take Zip to their house, but WingNut was itching to drive a few days after several days of heavy pain meds due to a dental abscess.

This is now the second try for connecting with the Wenches and their car. The first time was opening day. There were crowds and crowds. RantWoman got to a point where the only thing that made sense was to stand still somewhere amenable to car traffic and act tall. 

Christmas day is SUCH a mellow time to travel on Light Rail. BIG shout-outs to everyone working on holidays. The train was not crowded. RantWoman found an elevator to "surface." The only problem: RantWoman does not consider it "surface" if there are 10 steps between the pedestrian path and what did turn out to be an acceptable driveway. RantWoman is not sure what signage would have provided more helpful guidance about how to connect with cars.

In any case, the day was a blast. The Wenches have been working on re-doing their kitchen. One appliance quit and then something else had to be moved and then another thing needed upgrading. Christmas saw the work paused in mid transformation. Hence the interest in take-out, along with a grand tour: new stove with an induction cooktop, big round tactile controls as well as the possibility to do all kinds of things from a smartphone app. Some electrical work is still needed to ensure the wiring is appropriate and now there is talk of a new exhaust hood to go with the new sink, new dishwasher, and new compact overhead ceiling fan. Never mind that the refrigerator is currently around a corner into the dining room. The Wenches just had so much fun talking about their kitchen. Everyone agrees that moving around the appliances opens up LOTS of ideas.

The Wenches also have two new cats, intriguing but not as snuggly as previous household felines.  The cats emerged for dinner. RantWoman appears to have passed muster. After supper, the more standoffish kitty sat at the other end of a long hallway and just observed for quite awhile. The other more adventurous one visited RantWoman's dangling fingers several times. RantWoman got two nose touches, a leg brush, and a tail brush. Apparently this is high praise for this kitty around strangers.

Now an awkward confession: the Light Rail plus one bus is easy peasy for RantWoman. The Wenches like to drive RantWoman all the way home. RantWoman is always glad for car ride conversations. RantWoman is A LOT less glad about rides in the dark involving a lot of headlights from oncoming traffic. RantWoman is going to have to find some way to...

With that, may there still be feasts ahead as we kick 2025 out the door.

Speaking of Go Bags, Holidays, and Bouncing around like Tigger.

#wawx #AtmosphericRivers

First RantWoman sends heartfelt holiday wishes to everyone displaced by recent flooding and / or struggling with cleanup. May there be joy in spite of all the struggles.  Closer in, RantWoman knows two people having lumpectomies for the holidays, a friend having a root canal, on top of what RantWoman is about to recound about RantMom. This year, all this is just going to be what is.

RantWoman feels VERY lucky to live warm and dry and far away from flooded roadways, communities, and agricultural fields. RantWoman watches evacuation orders and sometimes checks in with people who might be affected. RantWoman realizes she can be more robust in meeting the moment as far as one part of her network and has filed the observation for now. Mostly RantWoman listens to news, exchanges weather info with a couple friends. RantWoman is also collecting such data as others want to share about travel disruptions, extra long paratransit rides, and related experience.

And then a family member has a medical emergency. RantMom has been showing signs for awhile that a chronic condition is wearing on her. Friday after monitoring some concerns for several days, Little Sister decided that "bouncing around like Tigger" and hands fluttering sounded sufficiently odd. Little Sister persuaded RantMom to call the consulting nurse. The consulting nurse told RantMom to call 911. RantMom lives far away from direct flooding risk but in an area where a lot of first responders are dealing with flooding related deployment. RantWoman has no idea of the response time. RantWoman just needs to offer the following observations:

--look up Go bag via your favorite search engine and plan accordingly.

--if you are a senior with recurring reason to need to be scooped up by paramedics, don't wait around for disaster weather forecasts. Consider having a Go bag just in case of more specific first responder needs. Maybe also have a list of things to grab at the last minute.

In RantMom's case, her Go bag needs to include charger for phone (or other devices) and charging container for hearing aids. One may be able to grab such things before the paramedics arrive but it is probably not wise to expect paramedics to be able to help grab necessities, but having some kind of a plan seems like a good idea to RantWoman

In RantMom's case, it took a couple days before Irrepressible Nephew, the only driver in the family was able to take Little Sister to RantMom's to retrieve the needed items. The next parts of the story get to be told another day.

"Bouncing around like Tigger" makes RantWoman smile. Ads for ridiculous sugary cereals were one reason besides mindrot programming that RantMom for a number of years had strict limits on the Rant children's consumption of Saturday morning cartoons and weekly series. More recently, RantWoman notes that 20 years ago RantMom was finishing chemo for her second cancer treatment.

Conversations on the menu at Christmas dinner: HEALTH CARE

One of RantWoman's favorite YouTube channels. 

Let's talk about healthcare for all, entitlement, and a dad....

And only one of MANY reasons almost the entire #GOP just deserves LUMPS OF COAL for Christmas, and RantWoman definitely means nasty polluting COAL, not some clean energy alternative

Let's talk about Trump and the GOP caving too late on healthcare....

Flood waters. Flood waters. And magnificent Snoqualmie falls

#wawx #AtmosphericRivers

Snoqualmie Falls, WA flood stage 12/10/2025

RantWoman has the luxury of being warm and dry and in a comfortable position to watch water gush across Snoqualmie Falls.

Below RantWoman is offering a TINY fraction of the YouTube links available along with some pointed commentary.

LIVE: Gov. Ferguson provides details of emergency declaration after federal approval

President Trump grants emergency funds amid floods across Washington state

Flooding in MT and ID too.

How you can help during the flooding

For more options, check out kiro7.com/flooding

Western Washington faces historic floods that stranded families, damaged homes

They Were Told to Leave: Raw Stories of Flooding in Western Washington

Race to rescue people trapped in Washington floods

Coast Guard rescues people in Sumas trapped in attic by floodwaters

Western Washington faces historic floods that stranded families, damaged homes

Flooding devastates western Washington after atmospheric rivers pummel the region

100K pushed to evacuate due to ‘catastrophic flooding’ in Washington

CNN reporter unfamiliar with local pronunciations

Someone needs to say this and RantWoman ardently hopes other people also say it:

EVERYONE who needs or offers help deserves respect REGARDLESS of nationality OR immigration status. 

EVERYONE also needs to know "You drive a car, not a boat," though judging by some videos RantWoman has seen, the message is not necessarily sinking in.

Federal assistance matters and use of military resources in disaster relief is the ONLY appropriate use of the military within the US.

PS ICE, keep your clueless undertrained thugs THE HELL OUT of everything to do with this disaster. For one thing, there are so many dangers that RantWoman is speaking bluntly out of safety concerns. Swiftwater rescue is NOT a time to be checking people's documents and if people need to evacuate, they need to evacuate.

For another thing, RantWoman remembers all the accounts of essential but undocumented crews working very hard during recovery from Hurricane katrina. The same is likely to be true in Western WA.

Make America Great Again--FOR GERMS!

Trump SCREWS UP BAD as DISEASE SPREADS

The short version: FIGHT AUTHORITARIANISM get your babies vaccinated. Get advice from reliable sources. Reliable sources do NOT include either President #StableGenius or #BrainWormBob, the ghoul currently atop the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Via multiple posters on X, the WA state and West Coast Health Alliance about the Hepatitis B immunization for infants.

The West Coast Health Alliance (WCHA) strongly supports that hepatitis B vaccination continue to be routinely offered to all newborns, with the first dose of the vaccine given within 24 hours of birth for newborns weighing at least 2,000 grams (4 pounds, 7 ounces), followed by… pic.twitter.com/Re9qhqlmjP

— Washington State Department of Health (@WADeptHealth) December 6, 2025

Trump SCREWS Red States as DISEASE RAGES Out of Control

And more on HepB AND Measles

And SPEAKING OF the land of X / Twitter / Elon's sandbox: inexplicable reasons to carp about this strong recommendations:

A certain newspaper columnist from Spokane who takes offense at the phrase "Pregnant PEOPLE." 

What? Aren't women people??? RantWoman assumes in the case of this complainer that the issue is transgender people having babies. NOTHING about whether or not the person giving birth is transgender changes ANYTHING about the epidemiology or the dangers of Hepatitis B. NOTHING.

Then there are the voices who say that universal vaccination is a sop to the pharmaceutical industry because only people who test positive at the time of a baby's birth need to get their newborns vaccinated.

1. If a baby is being breastfed, the person doing the breastfeeding can acquire HepB while the baby is being breast fed.

2. RantWoman should go look for some numbers but RantWoman would expect to see that the money saved from cases of HepB that don't occur more than justifies the cost of universal vaccination.

Voyager 1 soon to be one light day away from earth

Somehow, no matter how exasperated RantWoman is getting about modern life, this craft travelling out into the universe beyond the reach of earth's sun, based on persistent technology and clever insightful engineering from 50 years ago fills RantWoman with hope and a sense of SOMETHING sustainable.

NEW RECORD! Voyager 1 Breaks the Cosmic Barrier: soon to be one light day away from earth

HerTake: WILL this be a regular listen?

Trump’s Ex-Terrorist Guest, Republican Chaos for 2028, and AI Afterlife ...

Since the 2028 races came up,

FWIW. DNC probably wouldn't listen to me but the ship has sailed about sending the #StableGenius in the White House to prison. That should have happened a month after #J6 and no one should have waited around for him to decide to run again before deciding to file charges. On the other hand. if #GrandpaSleepyhead where anyone else, he would already be a dementia patient with a court appointed guardian managing his affairs. If he doesn't leave office feet first before the end of this term, the goal needs to be secure, genteel, well-supervised retirement. And EVERYONE of both parties is going to need to focus on undoing all the damage his reign of error is doing to US democracy, US national security, and realities for ordinary hard-working people in the US.