Kind of an odd sort of poetic justice that severe thunderstorms helped ruin the 250th birthday of a country grappling with one of the worst world leaders in history sham his way through running that country?
I’ve put in a conscious effort over the more recent decade to not gloat about bad decisions leading to death and destruction brought on by climate change. Even in 2026 it’s still more common to listen to people around me downplaying something as unnatural as the July 2026 severe thunderstorms and heat sweeping across the 250th birthday celebrations. It’s really uncool to openly mock those who have believed that insane weather patterns are “not that bad” or even those clinging to the outdated “climate change is a hoax” ideas. Especially when there’s been actual death, costly financial results, and enormous inconvenience to the about half a million people without power.
In real life, I don’t gloat. My existence as someone with high immunity to gaslighting and not buying into confirmation bias based misinformation is punishment. Being an asshole on the internet, that’s an entirely different story. And I’d like to think I wouldn’t be blogging this now if it weren’t for this nugget of bullshit conspiracy nonsense I heard a couple of days ago:
There’s a bit more AI gave me about how it was meteorologists saying it was natural summer heat domes. I dismiss that since my initial search DID bring up that it was climate change related, but a simple rephrasing allowed it to alter the results to a more friendly “this happens all the time” theme. That immunity to gaslighting thing. It IS hotter all the time. It IS windier all the time. My personal experience adds to scientific reality based on actual experts. And if the best you have is a ridiculous and fictional weather warfare narrative that magically only affects Republicans and/or the overheated Pacific Ocean super El Niño is now “natural”? Fuck off.
No, I’m not gloating about the death and destruction. Or even the ruined Independence Day celebration in D.C. That was already dead. Nobody around my area was in a celebratory mood. Too hot. Too many weirdos clinging to being a cult member instead of admitting Trump is a failure. Not enough money for proper celebrations even if the mood would have been better. But I’ve got a personal experience and receipts to prove I was prepared for the worst. Call it one of my greatest hits regarding my predictive capabilities. Prediction based on critical thinking skills and certainly not a gematria decode or any insanity about anthropomorphic climate change being a hoax.
I had my tree trimmed in late June. A little more than a week before the storms which put where I live right at ground zero for some of the worst of it.
Part of my bitterness about not feeling comfortable adopting a pet is things like the tree. I’ve been here long enough and it’s been trimmed several times before. It’s always real expensive, and a huge pain in the ass to get multiple bids to make sure I’m getting a competitive price. I’ve considered having it chopped down, but maybe the tree trimmers are right. There is a lot of shade I’d lose. And trying to live with leaving the thermostat at higher temperatures than I previously lived with, maybe it’s for the best it stays.
The tree is perpetually overgrown. It was overgrown when I bought the house. It’s no fun. I can’t take it for a walk, or teach it tricks. All our conversations have been completely one sided. When the flyer was slipped in my door, an advertisement for tree trimming services in our area, I thought about how I’d been putting it off for too long. Maybe I really need to bite the bullet here and get it done.
And what elevates this to near impossible prediction status is the way I talked about the tree prior to the actual trimming. My favorite phrase was:
“It’s an accident waiting to happen.”
This is a prime example of why my mere presence is annoying. The OhNoMyInVeStMeNtS! crowd is busy filing insurance claims and not having their favorite breakfast nook open for business even days later. All the many, many leaves strewn across the back yard are from other trees. There are two modest branches in my back yard that need to be disposed of. One of them isn’t even from my tree.
The entire crew that did the job was Hispanic. <GASP!>
Well, we will never know how bad it could have been. Accident waiting to happen was avoided by doing something common sense and the occasional elimination of my tendency to procrastinate. In theory, my stupid tree could have wind grabbing on to least branches and be the tree that ruined the power lines for my entire neighborhood. My power was out for about two minutes.
Yeah! No ruined food in the freezer! No struggles to sleep in a hot, stagnant oven called a home! No emergency hotel room stay! No angry neighbors because my tree fell on their roof! It’s lovely when you get to take credit for things that might not ever have happened. I should probably take up a new hobby like…conspiracy theories?
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