#Yellowstone #Bison
DO NOT try to pet the bison! GIVE THEM SPACE!
RantWoman is always OUTRAGED to hear about some dumb tourist not respecting wild animals.
This video is much kinder but also blunter about realities.
#FIFA #FIFA2026 #CopaMundial
Inspired by all of RantWoman's connections who watched the World Cup final.
Was it a good game?
For the side that won. The other side played badly.
So RantWoman heard.
Also, President #StableGenius got booed. He also fell asleep. He was rooting for Argentina. Was this because Argentine president Javier Milei is a giant groupie of #DonSnorelone while Spain has firmly said "No" about lending airspace to ill-advised military campaigns? Is the curse of the President's team preferences? On the bright side, someone managed to herd #DementiaDon off camera during the trophy presentation.
RantWoman loved the idea of turning whole sections of cities into giant watch parties. RantWoman also avoided travel around watch parties she did not care to attend. RantWoman loves the idea of nerding out about one sport and getting more fulsome national stories than the olympics where there are dozens of sports and hundreds of athletes.
Dear World
Thank you very much for coming.
Lots of people in the US hope that next time around we will have a better-behaved President.
Also, please take home some Ranch dressing.
Apparently the RantParents are just going to be particularly on RantWuman's mind on the 18th of every month for a while. In honor of that, RantWoman offers a tribute to various flavors of transportation realities.
RantDad: never talked about gas rationing during WWII but probably experienced it. The Righteous Rev. RantGrandad's job involved driving around WY and doing multiple church services in different small towns. RantDad, his sister and their mother all set the musical tone.
RantWoman has the impression that the WY town where RantDad grew up was compact enough that RantDad and his sister probably just walked to school. No horses for sure.
RantWoman has no idea how RantDad traveled between the University of WY and home, most likely by car.
RantDad's first car, something green or the first family car, bought used a 1955 red and black Plymouth affectionately known as the Red Rocket. The red Rocket served faithfully well into RantWoman's childhood but got totaled when hit broadside while the family was out on snowy streets looking at Christmas lights.
The next car a red and white custom Travelall. "Custom" meant split doors in the back, heaters under the BACK seat. Previously the Travelall belonged to a florist. The RantFamily toted around a lot of timpani, a harpsichord, and assorted other family musical instruments. Eventually, after timpani rolling around loose cracked the back windows a couple times, "secure your load" sank in.
Childhood involved a couple trips over the rive and through the woods for family holidays or in one case for medical consultation in Denver.
RantDad probably flew at most two round trips in his life. One trip was travel with the college band where he taught to the 1965 World's Fair in NY. That MAY have been a bus trip. The other was while RantWoman was in high school, round trip to Denver for eye surgery because the family ophtahalmologist told RantDad he did not operate on friends or relatives.
Eventually the Travel-all yielded to a Cutlass Ciera. Through most of the RantParents' marriage, only one parent drove the family vehicle. RantMom took over driving duties shortly after a road trip where RantDad got ticketed for driving too slowly at dusk on a two-lane road in SD.
RantDad was never much of a walker; for aerobic fitness he relied mainly on being a woodwind player. For his final years, he relied on RantMom to drive him around. He sometimes complained to RantWoman that RantMom's driving rattled his nerves though at that point RantMom's driving seemed fine to RantWoman.
As an aside, RantWoman finally got a learner's permit and drivers license as a senior. Finally, because in MT people can get a learner's permit at 14.5 and a license at 15 if they have had driver's ed. RantWoman has NO memory of either parent riding with RantWoman in student driver months. It must have happened. RantWoman got a license albeit while losing points because of a vision issue.
RantMom's transportation story was more interesting. Growing up on the farm, the family went to church in a horse-drawn cart. RantMom, her two sisters and a aunt who was close in age all rode to school on a horse until high school High school was far enough away that RantMom, her older brother and a cousin piled into a pickup.
RantMom's parents dropped her off from college at her first teaching job from then on, RantMom's transportation was pretty tied up with RantDad for a LONG time. RantMom got to be basically an old hand about flying.
The most heroic part of RantMom's transportation story: RantMom moved from MT to Seattle while still recovering from back to back cancer treatments. RantMom also quit driving.
RantMom confessed that she had been running about 1 fender bender a year in MT, often during the spring when. She did not really have budget for a car. Her first apartment was along Rainier Avenue, a lot narrower and with much heavier traffic flow than the "busy" streets near the rantFamily home in MT.
Instead RantMom IMMEDIATELY took to the bus. She was not super adventurous but quickly fond a church on a doable route. She also learned how to get to the Fred Hutchison cancer care center where she volunteered, as well as to the RantSisters' places. RantWoman still beams about the pluck of all that.
Eventually ACCESS and the vans from her different retirement communities replaced bus routes, but the key things were the horses and the sudden switch to the bus.
It's a MAJOR birthday for RantWoman. RantWoman will be celebrating by inviting herself to dine with a number of different friends because why stop at one celebration.
RantWoman has had a very celebratory day. Scratch that. RantWoman made a delicious omelet to use up things in her refrigerator before an out-of-town trip.
RantWoman received a birthday email and offer of celebratory cupcake flages (cupcake flags?) from her graduate alma mater. The offer makes RantWoman smile at least.
RantWoman has also made herself ANOTHER spinoff blog.
RantWoman will be easing slowly into what she wants to do so please bear with the bare bones presentation.
RantWoman is posting this item here rather in her other, more explicitly religion-themed blog because this voice from a blind guy is calling out the faith tradition he grew up in.
The themes here about blindness and otherwise are, in RantWoman's experience, not unusual in many faith traditions.
RantWoman is posting this here for other people who might need its messages.
Yesterday RantWoman set out on one of her occasional "OK, let's just try it" transit expeditions. Delivering something time-sensitive to Lynnwood in person sounded like, oddly, more fun than just using overnight mail. RantWoman also wanted to get back to Seattle for a late afternoon medical appointment. RantWoman was optimistic based on a late morning start.
RantWoman is a grown-up. MAYBE RantWoman could have planned better. Maybe.
RantWoman first used Google Maps to her destination or basically how to get from the Lynnwood City Center station to a street address in Lynnwood. Google suggested several bus routings, all of which involved some walking from the last bus stop.
The Lynnwood City Center station does not have great signage about how to find buses. Even worse, there is no sign at all marking a RideShare pickup area. More on that in a moment.
RantWoman does not have a great mental map yet of the Lynnwood transit center or of a path to the buses. There is wordy signage at the Light Rail station but RantWoman yearns for a more graphical presentation, with large enough letters that someone like her could read it, of course.
RantWoman does not know Lynnwood very well but has an overwhelming impression of many cars, wide streets, probably sidewalks and MAYBE accessible pedestrian signals. So RantWoman was NOT excited about any bus routing that did not say something like "Walk 50 feet to your destination" from the last bus stop.
At some point RantWoman realized that her destination was near enough to Alderwood Mall that it probably is in the service area for the Community Transit Zip service.
Clap clap clap. RantWoman has previously, a long time ago, had good experience with Zip and a friend also uses Zip. RantWoman knows how to find the Zip / paratransit pickup area. There are nice benches.
RantWoman also checked FindARide. Destination definitely in the service for Zip. RantWoman has not set up a full profile on Find a Ride, but RantWoman checked several categories that apply to her including age, disability, use of a white cane. Find a ride definitely suggested the Zip service.
None of those options appear to be available on the Zip app. File that.
RantWoman has previously, quite a while ago had quite easy positive experience with Zip except for that version of the app being useless in accessibility terms. The App is better now. RantWoman learned this after ring, ring, I would like to book a ride. The first call: we have no record of you and there is not a ride available. Try the app. Call back in 20 minutes.
The app is better behaved than long ago. The app also gave RantWoman the same set of routes that Google gave her. It took two more calls at 20-minute intervals to actually book a ride. RantWoman had to persuade the call taker that she is blind / low vision and intended to pay with her ORCA card disabled pass. Then a Zip vehicle showed up. The driver did not have the name identified. He waited but a rider never showed up. RantWoman also got a message that a driver had appeared but not found RantWoman and had gone away. So SOMETHING is confused and confusing.
By this time, RantWoman was climbing the walls. Summoning an Uber was feasible financially, if only RantWoman could find the RideShare pickup area. If only.
RantWoman and the Uber driver did manage to connect because RantWoman was able to tell him where she was. Yay Uber driver. Good tip.
Based on the length of the ride, RantWoman realized the distance might be walkable, if RantWoman were not feeling pressed for time and willing just to set out and trust Google walking directions. RantWoman has uneven experience with Google walking directions and did not feel like experimenting. If RantWoman makes the trip again, she will also try to summon more enthusiasm for one of the bus options.
The destination also turned out to be a quite non-descript office park with decent sidewalk but pretty subtle signage.
But Voila! RantWoman arrived, made one wrong guess about how to find the office she needed and at last connected with a very nice human she has been emailing with for a while.
RantWoman summoned an Uber for the return trip to Lynnwood City Center. Bravo. RantWoman now understands how to find the Ride Share pickup area. File that.
RantWoman also realized that she just needed to reschedule a medical appointment she had hoped to get back to Seattle in time for. Sigh.
And a closing note: the Zip phone line kept offering RantWoman a satisfaction survey at the end of the call. At the end of the third call, RantWoman asked the woman not to route her to the survey. RantWoman just figured the survey would not capture everything RantWoman was cross about. Word!
AfterParty The SemiQuincentennial a day later.
The Short Version:
Happy 250th Birthday USA
It's the Party after the Party!
Please join RantWoman and friends for an After the party Zoom open house
Sunday July 5,
5 pm-9 pm Pacific.
Zoom info on request: leave a comment /
Has it really been 50 years since the bicentennial?
(Will there be guests who were not alive in 1976? Please come.
Can we stare down our nation's current mess and possibly contemplate a few more centuries?
YES dang it.
The RantFamily observance of the bicentennial involved a lot of schlepping things around for a Billings Symphony concert in the park, a certain amount of helium balloon sales, and a thoroughly satisfying family picnic the next day.
In that tradition, time for a Zoom party!
Also, family circumstances got in the way of my customary holiday procrastination-themed Zoom open house so family time as needed.
Put on your best patriotic gear, irreverent or ironic T-Shirt or at least come dressed appropriately for Zoom.
Come meet characters from many parts of RantWoman's life
Bring a recipe or at least a vivid description of a favorite picnic food.
Bring something that makes you laugh.
Bring a reason to be hopeful, outraged, or just perplexed.
Bring a story of a memorable Fourth of July.
Come as you are for as long as you like.
There will also be a couple breakout rooms if people find something they want to chat about in a smaller group.
Readers who would like to attend and have not received an email invite, please leave a comment and Zoom info will arrive.
#Harvard #Graduation #Classof2026
Apparently this specimen from the genre "graduation speeches" has gone viral. For people who don't swim in the places it has gone viral, RantWoman presents it as is with no attempt to explain what must be Harvard in-jokes, no discussion of self-referentiality, and no comment on either What is Literature or What is a Book.
Iceland
RantWoman promises premium quality rant and ramble but invites readers to start out with their own media faves before RantWoman lets loose her inner child.
On the Road with Icelandair’s Bad Photographer | Icelandair US
The whole travel diary with links to a map and a bingo card must do list.
RantWoman is a grown-up. RantWoman made the grown-up decision to watch this entire video. Sorry Dear Readers, though. If you want to experience the Kai Trump goes to her grandpa's birthday party at the White House, please click on the link your own selves.
I went to the UFC fight at the White House
Neither Grandpa farmer nor the Righteous Reverend Rant Grandad needed a UFC fight for their birthdays. They did not need to surround themselves with (fake) gold.
They did not turn any rose garden into concrete.
There is NO WAY that RantChildren would have been permitted to kick a soccer ball around outside the residential areas of the White House.
If anyone in the RantFamily had the opportunity to tour the white house and the Washington monument, maybe they would have made some effort to share interesting factoids. Not Kai.
Kai and her aunt Ivanka both do breathy blond frighteningly well. RantWoman has a very good friend who is blonde and perfectly capable of exploiting people's assumptions about blondness; this friend is also a doctor with multiple published scientific papers. Apparently there is no hope of expecting anything like that from the Trump family blondes.
But anyway, Happy belated birthday Mr. President. Sorry you fell asleep at your own party though.
#TeamAlgae
 |
| The reflecting pool and algae homeland miraculously still reflects |
First a link to a Today Explained segment wherein algae experts are definitely having a moment.
The Reflecting Pool fiasco - Today, Explained - Apple Podcasts
There is a link to a transcript.
There are NUMEROUS scientists commenting about the wonders and persistence of algae. Any organism millions of years and photosynthesizes deserves respect.
RantWoman enthusiastically embraces the science and will henceforth strive to get a handle on every reflex that might prosaically be considered Trump derangement syndrome. RantWoman MAY also go look for the T-shirts that come in either "olive green" or "military green" imprinted with the words "American Flag Blue.
It is not like there are not floods of other things to doomscroll about or that President #StableGenius is going to run out of other ways to cause consternation and hopefully motivate people to rise up and GO VOTE.
Reflecting Pool’s “American Flag Blue” Turns Green Due to Algae - Washingtonian
As for "vandalism," former federal prosecutor Gleen Kirschner brings some receipts, er, evidence (?), along with a quote: "Cross examination is the greatest legal weapon for discovering the truth."
#NonDriver #KingCountyMetro #GoldenGardens
RantWoman has once or twice walked from Golden Gardens south to Ballard. Not in a few years.
RantWoman is THRILLED to read this summer bus. RantWoman will check to see whether her ORCA Card and bus pass work to pay the fare, but RantWoman is THRILLED.
Stay tuned for more raves.
First a Waymo news item, posted without further comment.
#Solstice
There will be just shy of 16 hours of daylight today in Seattle. Some years RantWoman has been further north around the solstice. RantWoman finds it energizing to be awake almost full-time for a few days. RantWoman has never tried to do this with very small children.
This yea RantWoman has not gone solstice chasing at Stonehenge or paid attention to solstice observances for a favorite silly cat video series.
So here is a bit of Iceland, with a pointer to a series of who much light to expect every month in Iceland.
Actual grand opening set for #Juneteenth
One of the things RantWoman has noticed in run up publicity to the center's opening is all the rooms named after other people.
#USA250 #America250 #Semiquincentennial #Iran
Utterly Canadian response to the bland predictability of US brands corporate snacks.
Not to mention other hostile emanations in Canada's direction from certain delusional US political figures.
(Full disclosure: RantWoman is appalled that #DonSnoreleone is still making noises about assimilating Canada. RantWoman does think that each province would have to be its own state. That MIGHT cure a lot about Congress but it is still an AWFUL lot to ask of people some of us hope are still our friends.)
In the meantime,
ORDER SOME SNACKS.
Now that the Supremes, #SCOTUS edition have overruled President #StableGenius tariffs, RantWoman thinks fans of Canadian snacks absolutely SHOULD NOT have to pay tariffs.
The Canadian snack nightmare is coming for you next I promise
I said no Canadian snacks and you people made it WORSE!
I rated every Canadian snack, except the one that was literally farts.
Maybe the real snaccs were the Canadian brands we discovered along the way
Canadian teenagers invented the most unhinged board game, and I need you to see it.
And if you want more Tod maffin, subscribe to his channel your own selves.
Congratulations Blanche, recently proclaimed the Icelandair "World's worst photographer.
Readers who don't want RantWoman ramble, scroll down for comments specifically about this. Readers game for more piquant notes from RantWoman's life, moments from RantWoman's Instagram learning curve, and / or more contributions to crowd sourcing social media market research, stick with us.
1. RantWoman does not exactly have out loud conversations with Ambassador Thwack, the badly behaved white cane and anger management consultant. RantWoman does suspect need to note the following:
"Hot lava AND ice caves? You want me to do WHAT exactly?"
"Relax. We can handle it when necessary. Just Chill. Wait. Is that the wrong word?"
2. RantWoman thinks she has figured out how to do a like that is not just a reply with an emoji.
RantWoman, knock on wood, seems to have trained her instagram to skip the annoying thumbnails and always just open with a full screen photo that RantWoman can swipe about.
RantWoman has not figured out what a reel is, how to sort out who to follow into coherent streams, or how to fire up her phone's AI to read the itty-bitty text way too many stick in their posts. Sorry, but if it's too busy for RantWoman, RantWoman just swipes away fast.
RantWoman really likes Instagram posts with sound, either sound that tells a good story or sound that bears some relationship to the visual content.
3. RantWoman has not fully gotten into the reply vibe, but RantWoman is going to gripe anyway. Along with all the congratulatory posts for Blanche, there were people still trying to vote for Diane, the mom from Kansas who can't photograph her own children. RantWoman can relate. RantWoman did not submit her own "who are these people and why can't they take decent photos?" specimens.
Why? Because privacy. Even though a lot of the "who are these people?" faces have long departed to other realms, enough of the ones who are allergic to the internet are still around that RantWoman did not want to subject them to mockery. RantWoman has been looking at other older, pre-digital family photos and grumbling about all the times no one thought to note who the person is next to Aunt Tilley, or where the photo was taken. So maybe a nudge to everyone out there laying photo tracks in the digital sand: label your photos as soon as you can after you take them.
4. The chorus of voices looking for some Mom energy jogged RantWoman's memory about one thing. RantWoman has watched a ton of Iceland videos. She onley remembers seeing a child in one channel and the child was a toddler riding in his Mom's video. Surely children exist in Iceland. Surely some arrive as tourists.
Iceland is EXPENSIVE but RantWoman wonders whether some videos specifically about family friendly travel would put Iceland in a better position for the "planning a family vacation" market segment. RantWoman's mind also wandered to the question: do kids do pen pals any more? or what about some kind of teleconference learning and interaction? Understand, RantWoman is tossing out the idea without necessarily any capacity to work details out further, but there are so many interesting things about Iceland...
So now we get to Blanche. RantWoman thinks Blanche will be an absolute hoot to travel with. So again Congratulations Blanche!
