Smudge on the Sky

My morning dog walk to the lake (3 hr later than normal) was marred by a smudge of smoke across the sky. It was a long night here in the city. I went to bed at 1 or 2, and JP was up till 4:30, watching the news and listening to the choppers and post-curfew traffic. Our backyard security camera went off at 12:30 and, for the first time, it really spooked us. It was only a moth that set it off. Then a bit later it went off again - the neighborhood cat cutting through the yard.

We are a few miles from it all, but there's a general feeling of tension in the air (and smoky smell, too). Neighbors strolled around before the 8:00 curfew, checking out the group gathered at 50th & Penn, wondering what they could/should do to further the cause. We are all engaged in this and want to help, but what does a lot of shouting and destruction do?

Fortunately, our little corner of restaurants and shops was spared. There's some graffiti on one of the buildings, but no broken windows. We love our community corner; they have been struggling to survive through the pandemic, and they certainly don't need any vandalism piled onto their burdens.

One of the city/county D.A.s lives down the street from us and there was a group protesting outside his home. Why?? To terrorize his wife & kids?? The violence has taken over any message of hope that the peaceful protests were sending. Outsiders have descended on the city with the sole purpose of stoking the fires and fueling the already bad scene. Apparently, everyone that has been arrested is from out of town. They are not Minneapolis. They are not even Minnesotans. Please leave. Now.