(Being various wry comments I don’t have the energy to write more about)
I have come to the conclusion that Donald Trump is the most destructive force to hit Washington, D. C. since the British burned the Capitol in 1815. The East Wing, the Rose Garden, the Kennedy Center, a garish arch in the middle of the dignity of Arlington, the Lincoln Memorial and the Washington Monument, destruction of stately old trees in his quest for a golf course he doesn’t and won’t own—-
What vehicle best represents Donald Trump.? A bulldozer, but it’s a close race with a manure spreader.
-0-
Nothing like a 40 degree windy morning to make a convincing argument that summer’s gone.
-0
One of the loneliest sights at this time of year is a park board baseball diamond.
-0-
Nancy and I don’t stock up on trick or treat candy and we often hide out when costumed urchins are going round and demanding people give them sugary rewards for doing nothing more than knocking on the door. Sometimes we have gone to movies but the last time we did that, the sound was so loud that I turned to her midway through and said, “I can’t wait to see this on television so I can turn the volume down enough to know what they’re saying.”
-0-
One year in college when my roommate and I forgot about Halloween and kids came knocking, we sent them away with the only thing we had. Several moms and dads probably wondered later who gave them slices of baloney.
-0-
We’ll be watching returns election night to see how far down the ballot the blue wave rolls in Missouri, particularly to see if the grassroots citizens eliminate the Republican two-thirds majority in one or both chambers. Majorities are fine. Two-thirds promotes arrogance and laws that require rejection sometimes.
-0-
My monthly guest column for the Jefferson City News-Tribune on Sunday refers to the ballot next Tuesday as a “Hypocrisy Ballot” because one proposed amendment asks voters to ban something another amendment proposes.
-0-
If you were having trouble putting food on your table, would you open a 401K that will never benefit you. Or your great grandchildren. Or theirs? That’s the sovereign wealth proposal, offered at a time when the state budget office is warning agencies to expect at least ten percent reductions in their budgets for the next fiscal year.
-0-
Drove to Linn the other night for a River Region Library board meeting. If I hadn’t traded in my points from Nancy’s grocery shopping for cheap gas a day earlier, I would have tanked up in Linn, where the prices were about twenty cents cheaper.
-0-
Daylight Savings Time ends this weekend. It began as a system to conserve coal during World War I. We borrowed the idea from England. Why conserve coal? Well, in those days our steamships were coal-powered. The trains that moved war materiel and troops were steam=powered and coal fired.
-0-
As we grudgingly admit that summer is gone, we sometimes ponder the seasons as defined by author Kurt Vonnegut in a 1978 graduation speech at Fredonia College in New York. Four seasons, he said, make no sense. We should have six.
To him, spring was May and June. July and August constitute summer. September and October are autumn. The next two months, November and December, are “Locking.” They are pre-winter but people start locking down to stay warm. Winter is January and February. Unlocking happens in March and April.
In a few days we will enter Locking. We’d probably fire up the fireplace for he first time if we could. In our new place we just turn it on. It has three speeds. I’m not sure which is more exciting—our fire place or he YouTube videos of a fireplace.
The cats are fascinated by our fireplace, by he way.