Here's a link to a Wall Street Journal Op-Ed article by the Sci-Fi author Ray Bradbury. Give it a peek and see if he doesn't make you stop and think about things.

Don't be scared, now, thinking can be fun and shouldn't be a threat. Let yourself envision opening some windows in your mind and letting some fresh ideas blow through.
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Ernesto has come and gone, and slid far enough east of the predicted track that "all" we got was a bit of a blow and a lot of rain. But my tulip poplar trees were brittle as glass from the drought, so I was worried we might lose some big chunks. Fortunately, while we got lots of small to medium stuff down, nothing big fell. I just spent 5 hours ( Read more... )

Our lives continue to be about taking care of Hâle 24/7 ...
since the middle of March to now is 4 1/2 months.

Seems longer, somehow. No end in sight.
I'll have more to say if/when I have a life again.

Since my last post, we have been dealing with the unpleasant realization that our Hâle has descended into dementia to a truly alarming degree. Bad: she would always just ignore anything anyone said that she didn't like ... now she ignores everything because she has no short-term memory. Worse: she was always subborn and unreasonable ... now she ( Read more... )

Not to sound Scroogey, but Christmas can be quite a load and we had a rather frantic but successful Christmas this year. It sneaks up on you ... I had to work last Monday and Tuesday, so on my first day off I was wandering around the house with my first cup of tea and wondering what I should be doing when I realized that while I had got the ( Read more... )

Veterans' Day is a day dedicated to honor all men and women, both living and deceased, who have served in the United States Armed Forces. Some willingly, some reluctantly, but all served and to those who say they were stupid and wars can never be justified I can only say that those who served have bought your freedon to say and feel such things ( Read more... )

and so it's time for some relevant quotes on the subject.

Vote early and vote often.
-- Al Capone

In democracy it's your vote that counts;
in feudalism it's your count that votes.
-- Mogens Jallberg

A citizen of America will cross the ocean to fight for democracy,
but won't cross the street to vote in a national election.
-- Bill VaughanThe ( Read more... )

Now it's Rita's turn to expose the extent to which our mighty gummint is unprepared at all levels. Without the storm even getting close, the patched-up levees in New Orleans are failing (again). Great job, Corps of Engineers, I'm sure you will be campaigning to get a bigger budget next year.
We can all forget about waiting for the gummint to do ( Read more... )

... unto the hills, from which cometh my help" Psalm 121:1 ( Read more... )

I just got off the horn with the Old Man on the Mountain... he's feeling up both physically and mentally after a weekend with his eldest son up on the hill. It's always good to hear from him, and makes me hopeful that he will deign stay with us for a while.
My own weekend was pretty OK, too. Saturday I got a chance to see the new house
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