Warning: I get ranty about a very controversial issue in this post. Read at your own risk.

Yes, we are relieved that the federal government did not shut down. The GG is a career computer mad scientist over there at “that darn” EPA. He is an emissions testing expert and is directly involved in all the stuff that goes on behind those stickers y’all get whenever you buy a new vee-hickle. The truth is that a shutdown would not have caused our household much hardship. We are not rich but we don’t live paycheck to paycheck either. And anyway, there’s *my* paycheck. The main thing I was worried about was having the GG haannnggging around not working. That would have made me get twitchy. How do I know that? Because been there, done that. In 1995. When the whole thing was quite a bit more worrisome, since I did not have a paycheck.

Now. People have been throwing the word “mandate” around a lot. Here’s the mandate this taxpayer would give her elected officials: get your butts in gear and work *together* to figure out how to balance the budget and devise a plan to eliminate the deficit.

<rant>And here’s a special message to the GOP. I am an independent socially progressive FISCAL CONSERVATIVE!!! I want to see smaller government just as much as you do. But I possess two (count ’em) X chromosomes and I will not entertain the idea of voting for any one of you until you promise to keep your filthy hands away from my body. (I wish I could quote how the GG stated it last night but I’d like to keep this somewhere near the vicinity of a PG rating.) You can be anti-abortion if you want. That’s okay with me. I am pro-choice but with VERY complicated feelings about the whole issue that I don’t want to argue about here, now, tonight. BUT. Planned Parenthood (which cannot use taxpayer dollars to perform abortions) also provides services geared toward preventing unplanned pregnancies!!! Guess what? If we can prevent more unplanned pregnancies, fewer women will seek abortions. I think that’s a good thing. Don’t you? I guess not. I do not get why you folks don’t get it. Or is it really just that you don’t want women to have any control over their own reproductive lives? Well? Is it? If so, you are not getting my vote. Ever.</rant>

Ah yes. I love the smell of wood smoke in my hair. And even though I have showered the smell of wood smoke off my skin, it still lingers in my hair. It is from the campfaarrr the north country trail folks had going when we arrived over at Betchler Lakes for the monthly hike this afternoon. Managing one of these hikes is always a bit like herding cats (and I’m glad I don’t have to manage them). You never quite know exactly how many people will show up. Or whether they’ll arrive at the right time or even at the right place. Sometimes there is car-spotting to organize. And we have folks of *all* ages, speeds, whatever on our hikes.

Today, we took a simple approach. Everyone walked in as far as they wanted to and then turned around and walked back out. Yes, there was snow. There wasn’t always as much snow as in the photoooo (it’s about, I dunno, 6-8 inches deep there). There were long stretches of trail that were dry. Or wet but not snowy. Fortunately, there was enough snow at the trailhead that I got smart and switched out my sandals for boots. I needed them. The “group” I was with walked almost five miles total. We finally turned around when the drifts started to get deeper and more frequent. We decided we weren’t really interested in doing a death march.

I am feeling that nice, fuzzy-around-the-edges kind of exhaustion now. Having a glass of whine, surfing the ‘net and writing my blahg. And my hair smells like wood smoke.

Good night,
— KW

This entry was posted on Saturday, April 9th, 2011 at 9:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.