The Endlock Series

 Life's fragile balance: I broke with my diet routine at brunch yesterday, eating an omelet with home fries and a couple slices of buttered toast with the young-man-who-could-have-been-my-stepson. That was it all day, other than a few pieces of fruit and a couple handfuls of peanuts. Afterwards, I didn't take my walk even though it was a walk/hike day, but instead chilled on a suburban deck with my daughter and the young-man-etc. This morning, my weight was up by 1½ pounds and my blood pressure was 10 points higher than yesterday's, moving above 120 into the "elevated" range (123). 

Life's fragile balance: A broad area of low pressure is likely to form in the next several days over the southwestern Caribbean, the same area that spawned Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Development of the system is possible while it stays over water as it moves slowly northwestward towards northern Central America. Locally heavy rainfall is possible across portions of Central America later this week. Meanwhile, a separate storm producing showers and thunderstorms is currently located in the mid-Atlantic This system is forecast to move generally westward toward warmer waters, and a tropical depression could form as it moves west-northwest toward the Leeward Islands. On its current trajectory, it may not get deflected away from the North American coast by the Gulf Stream.

Life's tenuous balance: FEMA and other government officials in devastated portions of western North Carolina areas have had to contend with a barrage of online conspiracy theories and falsehoods, including unfounded rumors about government plans to bulldoze neighborhoods to make way for mining operations. Those unchecked rumors have consequences -  FEMA had to direct its employees to stop going door to door to help survivors amid various threats of violence, and several agencies were directed to evacuate Rutherford County due to threats received by the U.S. Forest Service. On Saturday, a North Carolina man was arrested and accused of threatening emergency responders. The man was arrested at a supermarket where a FEMA bus was parked, and had a handgun and a rifle in his possession.