Good morning y'all. 76° and sunny.
Yesterday was wild, first of all oldest son is visiting with the grandchildren, so we have a house full. It also means our cat is exiled to our bedroom, because of the big family dog.
Cat has developed digestive problems, which necessitated an unscheduled trip to the vet...and an unscheduled heavy cleaning of the bedroom carpeting. Meanwhile, a line of storms passed over with lots of natural fireworks and a ¼" of rain. To top off the night, the kitchen sink drain decided it needed to leak. Back to HD for new pvc drain. After a late dinner, I turned on ESPN hoping to find a game of interest. Instead, we got a Cleveland @ Boston Rain Delay, with live look-ins of other games. They showed Washington - Miami, Tampa, LAD, the Yankees but somehow, avoiding any look-in at Camden yards.
So I missed the game completely. Sneaking off to watch it on MLB TV would have been construed as anti-social.
Needless to say, it was an interesting day.
As to the other "debate" recently concluded, When I moved from Pennsylvania to Delaware, I thought I was liberated from the oppression of the "Tax state", and it's twice per year auto inspection, and their border guard/revenue agents staking out the parking lots of all Liquor stores / Milk stores in Delaware and Maryland, searching for tax evaders buying untaxed milk and liquor. Then I moved from Delaware to Maryland, and found PG County interesting to say the least. DC was fascinating, like entering a parallel universe. The shock of returning to PA, reminded me of all the things wrong with Pennsylvania, plus some new twists added in my absence. After a five year exile, I returned to the Free State, to find all was not as free as before. However Harford County was nice, and Baltimore was (then) very civil, and we enjoyed living there, and participating in local civic activities. Jersey, was a shock, I cannot enumerate the twists and curved thrown at me in every dealing. Turns out there was a massive exodus, from Brooklyn and Staten Island, and the local Realtors, Lawyers et all, were taking full advantage of first time buyer's ignorance. Because we were from Maryland, we were dismissed as hicks, even though this was going to be our fourth house as a couple, my fifth over all. Took a lot of time / effort to gain a foothold here, although it turned out to be quicksand
. Point of the story, is that Everywhere is utopia to those who like where they are at, or think they are in control, and somewhat less to those on the outside. Same goes for every non railroad discussion that pops up here and there. Everyone has an opinion and everyone claims they are right. There are no winners in these discussions, but sometimes there are losers, if you get my drift. We are on medicare, with supplement, and Separate Part D. So much better than my MIL's plan, which is Managed PPO. In any event my only stake in the whole debate, is
my fear that some politician (s), will take what we paid for and replace it with a "privitized" plan that will cost me more and give me less, to the benefit of some Health Insurance Giant under the guize of "fairness" and "equality".
I'm gettin too old to start over, and I'm probably less healthy than I want to accept. The worst part of all of this is that I/we are helpless when it comes to protecting ourselves or influencing anyone. All we can do is hope for the best. I have never been more pesimistic about the state of affairs, and of the quality and priorities of our elected officials, regardless of affiliation, or any other demarcation.
Sorry for ranting and thanks for reading.
