Leaving the city

I've been collecting links to articles about people leaving the cities. Here are a few:

 • Free to Work Remotely, Young Americans Are Covid Road Tripping

• The Slow Suicide of New York City

• Wealthy Britians flee cities, send rural real estate sales soaring

• Report: More than 300,000 People Have Fled New York City Due to Coronavirus, Crime 

• Apartment Prices Are Crashing In Major Cities Worldwide 

 • San Francisco Rents Crash Most On Record Amid Mass Exodus

• The Urban Exodus and How Greatness Goes Bankrupt 

 • Suburban Rents Rise As Urbanization Trend Reverses

• 'The city will be on fire': New Yorkers prep to flee homes to avoid post-election rioting

• Can you blame anyone for fleeing what cities have become? 

• The Great Conservative Migration And What It Means For The Future 

• Massive exodus from NYC leaves apartments empty

• New York City Residents Flee In Mass Exodus – So De Blasio Doubles Down With Call For ‘Redistribution Of Wealth’

• Why There’s an Exodus From California Cities

• Escape From San Francisco: Sales Tax Revenue Plunge "Worst In The State" Amid COVID Exodus

• America's Summer Exodus: Thousands Flee The Cities Every Day Because They Don't Feel Safe

• Shaken by summer looting in affluent neighborhoods, some Chicagoans moving away

• New Yorkers are leaving the city in droves. It will be decades before the city recovers(video)

• "A Lot Of People Are Leaving": COVID Shutdowns Have Turned San Francisco Into A Ghost Town

• Mass Exodus: People are Fleeing Democrat Cities

• The Great California Exodus

• Businesses LEAVE PORTLAND After DEMOCRATS FAIL To Secure The Streets For Months

• "She Hasn't Done Her Job": Looting, Riots, & Mayoral Ineptitude Prompt Mass Exodus Of Chicago Residents

• Residents fleeing North are voting against 'policies of blue state America,' economist says

• New York exodus accelerates amid pandemic as some residents head south

• Portland’s Endless Riots Are Destroying Lives and Businesses

• New York City exodus and de Blasio’s response

• California is a failed state. How do we know? They're moving to Arizona in droves.

• Housing boom: Lumber Spikes To Unprecedented Level After Soaring 240% In 5 Months

• "Pent-up Supply" in San Francisco Turns into Record Glut of Houses & Condos for Sale. Prices Weaken

• From 'I love New York' to 'I leave New York'

• Affluent Chicagoans Fleeing Due to Leadership Inability to Calm BLM Violence

• Slammed NYC Movers Turning Away Business As Residents Flee City

• People And Voters Leaving As Democrat-run San Francisco Crumbles

• New Jersey Is Becoming The Most Hated State As Households Flee In Record Numbers

• Bill De Blasio Says NYC Indoor Dining May Not Happen Until June 2021

• Businesses leaving downtown Portland over 'lawlessness'

• "Demand Is Insane": NYC Movers Turn People Away, Suburban & Rural Housing Snagged Up, As Big City COVID-Exodus Accelerates

• Chicago Store Owner Spent $300,000 To Reopen Destroyed Business After Riots, Only For It To Be Struck Again By Vandals

• NY Subway Windows Being Smashed At Such Rate The MTA Can't Get Glass Fast Enough To Replace Them

• Haunting Photos Of San Francisco's Desolate Financial District During Morning "Rush Hour"

• Americans are fleeing the nation's great cities in droves

• San Francisco curbs virus but once-vibrant downtown is empty

• The NYC exodus

• Movers in N.Y.C. Are So Busy They’re Turning People Away

• Urban Exiles Are Fueling a Suburban Housing Boom Across the U.S.

• "White Flight Is Real" - Hollywood's Apocalypse Triggers Mass Exodus

• A Mass Exodus Away From Big Cities On Both Coasts

• Portland Companies Are Fleeing Downtown Area Because Of Black Lives Matter Riots

• All Federal Buildings in Portland Evacuated Amid Car Bomb Threat

• Zillow Exposes Dramatic Exodus Out Of San Francisco Real Estate

• Americans say there’s not much appeal to big-city living. Why do so many of us live there?

• Hollywood's Apocalypse NOW: Rich and famous are fleeing in droves as liberal politics and coronavirus turn City of Dreams into cesspit plagued by junkies and violent criminals

• When Authority Vanishes: Chicago’s leaders have surrendered to vandals

• New York: Is a Great Exodus Imminent?

• Chicago Shuts Down Its Business District Overnight This Weekend Due To Continued Riots And Looting

• "Ghost Town": Shocking Dystopian Video Of NYC Shows An Abandoned And Boarded Up 5th Avenue

• Illinois' Demographic Collapse: Get Out As Soon As You Can

• Lake Tahoe Real Estate Booms 'Like Never Before'

• 49 People Shot In Last 72 Hours In New York As City Hits Its "Expiration Date"

• Real Estate Expert Warns 'Exodus' From Cities Will Last Two Years

• Murders Spike In NYC As Residents Flee For Suburbs

• San Francisco Rent Drops Most On Record As People Flee For Suburbs

• U.S. New Home Sales Plunge To 10 Year Low As Exodus From Cities Accelerates

• Downtown business decides to shut down due to city council's decision to defund Seattle Police

• NYC Has Lost All Population Gains for Last 70 Years – People Finally Waking Up

• Police Warn 'Portland Is Lost' if 'Failing' Mayor and DA Don't Stop Riots

• Chicago Store Owner Spent $300,000 To Reopen Destroyed Business After Riots, Only For It To Be Struck Again By Vandals

• A mad rush for the exits as New York City goes down the tubes

• NYC Is Dead Forever… Here’s Why

• ‘Straight out of a Movie’: Portland Cops CHARGE Antifa shield wall in FULL-ON STREET BATTLE

• Macy’s Looking to Leave Chicago After SECOND ROUND of Mass Lootings – More ‘Protests’ This Weekend

• Seattle BLM protesters demand white people 'give up' their homes

• N.Y. businesswoman: New Yorkers are fleeing because of Bill de Blasio

• BLM mob beats white man unconscious after making him crash truck

• Escape From New York: Wealthy Residents Flee In Droves As The City Degenerates Into A Hellhole

• Lawless NYC: Shootings skyrocket by 140% compared with the same week last year as 76 people are injured in seven days - including a man who was killed lighting a candle for another shooting victim

• Trash Piling Up Over NYC After Sanitation Department’s Budget Slashed By Over $100 Million

• Chicago Alderman says businesses leaving Magnificent Mile

• Oregon State Police Pull Out Of Protecting Portland Courthouse After City Refuses To ‘Prosecute This Criminal Behavior,’ Department Says

• Upper West residents furious after homeless junkies and sex offenders are moved into luxury hotels

• Black Lives Matter defended the Chicago looters, saying looting i their "right" as crime skyrockets across the U.S.

• Maybe if we ignore the riots, they will just go away?

• New York City Is 'Dead FOREVER' Says Proud New Yorker

• Charles Payne on 'mass exodus' from NYC: The snowball is turning into a 'boulder'

• Am I Being Too Upbeat If I Know American Cities Might Never Be the Same?

• NYC Homeless Visibility and Violence Skyrockets Under Mayor de Blasio

• Chicago looting videos spread on social media: See the footage

• Widespread looting in Chicago caught on video after police-involved shooting

• Chaos In Chicago: Bridges Raised To Prevent Gun-Toting Looters Getting Downtown

• Black Lives Matter DEFENDS Chicago Looters, Say Looting Is Their RIGHT As Crime SKYROCKETS Across U.S.

• Seattle Rioters Ransack Amazon Store, Whole Foods, Bank Ahead of Defund the Police Vote

• New York City Rifle Permit Applications Surge by 340%

• Chicago mayor considers property tax hikes as residents fear exodus from city

• People are fleeing leftist run states: fleeing high crime, taxes and leftist policies

• The Economy Is Struggling, but Gun Sales Are Soaring

• Guess What Happened When New York Put Homeless People In Luxury Hotels

• San Francisco – the Last Chapter

• A Stay-at-Home Mom on Her Reasons for Leaving Portland

• Shootings, Murders Spike By Record In Portland After Disbanding 'Gun Violence Reduction Team'

• How America’s future is changing as a result of anarchy in Democrat cities

• Survey: Two in Five New Yorkers Want to Leave the City 'Because it’s turning into a sh*thole'

• Flight from Democratic stronghold cities accelerates; disease transmission, violence and hostile governments helps lead to exodus

• More than 60 overnight calls to 911 couldn’t be responded to right away because of Portland rioters

• The Death of New York City

• Wrecking the American Dream. Yes, suburbanites, Democrats plan to destroy your community

• Democrats Are Destroying Their Own Cities, and it all Makes Perfect sense

• Seattle Defunded Police. Now Businesses Are Leaving, and Rioters Still Aim Explosives at Cops

I'm sensing a trend here. Aren't you?

Picking peas

This time of year, the focus on the garden has shifted from weeding to harvesting. So far we've harvested strawberries, raspberries, and peas. Right now I'm picking blueberries, which I'll do for the next few weeks as they come ripe. Garlic is next, but it's not quite ready yet.

Last week it was peas. While not my favorite vegetable, it's one of my favorite garden plants. I dunno, I just think they're beautiful.

I only have two beds for peas (remember, not my favorite vegetable), but they invariably bear heavily.

I mean, look at that!

I picked this crop during a heat wave, so I started before dawn and continued as the sun peeked over the horizon. The rising sun illuminated how not every pod was ripe.

Some late bloomers even still had flowers.

In my opinion, there are worse places to be than picking peas on a summer morning.

This is what I got for the first picking.

A couple days later, I went back and filled the basket full.

After shelling, I ended up with nine pounds of peas, which I bagged up and put in the freezer. When the weather is cooler, I'll can them.

Thank God for a bounteous garden!

More on becoming "anti-fragile"

Here's a piece I wrote for Daisy Luther (the Organic Prepper) called "How to Become Anti-Fragile." It's a follow-up to an earlier piece I wrote on the same subject.

I gotta hand it to Daisy. The very first comment posted on her site under the article was a snark, and Daisy put him in his place with firm professionalism. Woot!

Update: Squeee! This appeared on ZeroHedge!

Lots of comments!

Pretty porch

I have a penpal in Maine. She's been harvesting onions and garlic from her garden this week, and sent me a photo of her porch with produce set out to dry. I thought the photo was so pretty, I asked permission to post it.

(Oh, and the sign says: "Just one more trespasser and my windchime is done." She has a quirky sense of humor.)

Hummingbird wars

Who doesn't enjoy watching hummingbirds during the summer months?

I mean really, it's such cheap entertainment. An inexpensive feeder, a bit of sugar-water, and voilà: Hours of birdwatching.

But let me tell ya, it's a good thing these little guys aren't six feet tall or they would rule the world. Seldom do you meet such martial birds intent on dominating everything. Their fights around the birdfeeder can be vicious.

This little guy, perched so innocently and picturesquely on our yard fence, is cleverly positioned to watch and defend the feeder.

The moment an unacceptable hummer gets too close, the defender zooms into action, cheeping its outrage and chasing opponents away. Often the hummers will bodily smash into each other in fast motion. You get five or six of these tiny pilots duking it out, and it can be positively dangerous to step out onto the porch.

But watching them is just pure delight.

Here's a rare instance of full cooperation at the feeder. Needless to say, it didn't last.

As I said: What a blessing these guys aren't the size of ostriches or no one would be safe.

Irish dancing sensation

I came across a story the other day that made me grin from ear to ear.

I love Irish dancing. Don and I have seen Riverdance twice over the years, when it passed through Spokane. There's something about the precision of this dance form I find thrilling.

So when I caught wind of this article, I cheered.

It seems there's a 20-year-old African-American Irish dancer from Richmond, Virginia named Morgan Bullock who posted a TikTok video of herself dancing a jig.

The video went viral, and the Social Justice Warriors came down on her like a ton of bricks for -- get this -- cultural appropriation.

Then she got a call from Riverdance...

Woot! Go Morgan!

A little night music

I stumbled across this video yesterday. Cracked me up.



(If the above video won't play, here's the direct YouTube link.)

The benefit of multiple income streams

Here's a piece I wrote for Daisy Luther at the Organic Prepper entitled "Why Everyone Should Have Multiple Streams of Income to Survive What’s Coming."

Hop on over and take a look.

The passing of a legend

I received an email today from Glenda Lehman Ervin, VP of Marketing at Lehman's, as follows: "Dad passed way Sunday at the age of 91. I thought you would want to know."

She was referring to Jay Lehman, founder of Lehman's non-electric store in Ohio.

I never met Mr. Lehman, but he was so well-loved that the store put up a life-sized cardboard cutout so fans could take a "photo" with him. I think that says something about a person's decency, don't you?

Some obituaries for his remarkable life can be read here and here.

Rest in peace, Mr. Lehman.

Ah, the little dramas of life...

This is our garden gate.

At the base of the gate, lying in the shade, is our mighty hunter barn cat.

At the top of the gate is a wary chipmunk.

Bottom of the gate, cat.

Top of the gate, chipmunk.

Any questions?

Someone has "issues"

In the tribute piece I put up bidding adieu to actress Olivia de Havilland, someone left a comment that was so unrelated, so hostile, so out-of-the blue "huh?" that I decided to post it separately:

"You baby boomers destroyed your own children's future, and then laughed about it and blamed it on them. Do you realize that you are going to end up in a retirement home where you are going to get treated like total trash, and abused? Your children won't be able to help you, even if they wanted to. Karma's a bitch, you boomer scum."

Huh?

What does this have to do with Olivia de Havilland? What does this have to do with me? I'm not a baby boomer.

I'd say someone has "issues." How very sad. I pray he or she can get some professional help and find some peace of mind.

Rest in peace, Olivia

I just found out legendary actress Olivia de Havilland passed away yesterday at the venerable age of 104.

She was best known, of course, for her role as the doe-eyed beauty Melanie Hamilton in "Gone With the Wind," though her acting career spanned decades (from 1935 all the way through 2009, in fact).

Rest in peace, Olivia.