WHAT A WEEK

I like summer, but I don't much like August in this end of the Willamette Valley. The valley is like two big bowls and all the junk gets trapped at this end. All the smog, dust from plowing grass stubble under, and the smoke from field burning. The hills are just a few miles away and you can barely see them for the brownish gunk in the air. Everybody including me is coughing and sneezing. This is our dry, very dry season. A nice little thunderstorm just to settle haze would be welcome. Heck, a nice little onshore flow from the ocean would even be welcome.

Got through the appointment with the cardiologist. I like him, his approach is fairly conservative and I got some questions answered. Good thing mom invited herself along because she had to park the car. Five levels in the parking structure and she had to make two trips up and down to find a space. The appointment was useful, I learned a lot and I was a nervous wreck at the end. I do not "do" doctors. Anyway, they're are no big tests in my future, just a lot of vegetables. That and my very own monitor. I do love Amazon.com. It sure beats running around town looking for something I can use from the get go. I didn't really come down until the wee hours this morning. It wasn't like my brain was chasing its tail or anything, I just wasn't going to sleep. The heck with it, just get up and read for awhile. Trouble is, tying myself in knots leads to certain "inner" repurcussions. I spent a fair amount of time in the "reading room" this morning.

Those entries I did last week were draining. That kind of writing usually is for me. It's like everything gets poured into the words and it takes awhile to get my balance back. Doesn't help that I'd really like to take an old fashioned Irish walking stick to the whole Washington crew. Both parties. Loved the court ruling earlier in the week. The Oregonian led off with the quote from the judge in big, black letters. Loose translation-you screwed up. Big time.

I look at all those pictures from the war zones and I keep putting my sisters or their kids in the shots and try to imagine how it would feel to know that this was happening to them. Too bad Bush, Cheney and company can't seem to do the same thing. And even if these "birth pangs of democracy" are worth it, you can only decide that the sacrifice is worthwhile for yourself. Nobody has the right to make that decision for someone else. And that may be the most draining thing of all.