I installed a new toilet today. Oh what fun! Nothing quite like getting splashed with vintage toilet-leavings and rediscovering the, er, unique construction habits of the builder (and previous owner) of my home. Why leave a two inch gap between the drain and the floor? Did he LIKE having sewage gases venting into the space between the levels? Oh well. It only took four hours, but I am done and we no longer have an ugly blue no-flush toilet for guests to use. I for one am happy not to have to hand out the plunger to everyone who uses that bathroom.

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So we’re up to five calls this week from the Rebublicans. Our nation’s security and future are at stake. If we don’t vote in the narrow-minded hatemongers that make up the bulk of their candidates, we’ll be overrun by terrorists, liberals, gays and abortionists! Gasp! The only terrorist threat I’ve experienced so far has come from the White House, so I don’t see how voting in people who actually care about the constitution and the American experience is really all that bad an idea.

Taxes. Dirty word, that. Around here, every GOP candidate is anti-tax. I assume we’re going to have a hell of a lot of bake sales if they win. Or do they plan on cutting out education, defense, transportation and everything else our taxes support as well?

And on that note: Have a good weekend, everyone!

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Well, this can’t be good. A pair of Great Horned Owls (GHO) have been nesting in our back yard. One of them ended up getting sick a few months ago and after a day of just sitting in a tree looking ill, it fell to the ground. While there’s nothing quite as exciting as getting GHO drool all over your hands and jacket, we felt kind of bad having to capture it and send it off to the local raptor rescue, where we assume it died. Now it appears the second one is sick as well. It’s hanging out in the trees in our front yard and definitely not looking like the happy owl it should be. Crap. Considering the snow and generally miserable weather, hopefully we’ll spot it before it actually freezes to death when it falls out of the tree. So, I wonder which one of our neighbors is poisoning the rodents in his yard. Get better, you stupid owl! Eventually I’ll post pictures of the first owl . . .

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I live in a red state. We believe in regressive taxes, small government, not funding education and promoting intolerance. Yay, Idaho! We also believe that poverty is the ideal state for workers and that businesses shouldn’t be burdened by much in the way of regulations or taxes. Yay, Idaho! And if Idaho state legslator Bill Sali is any example, we believe that our beliefs are much more important than facts. Not content to be just another anonymous member of the party that believes lying about being blown by an intern is worse than lying about a war, Sali is the genius who claims there is a link between abortion and breast cancer. Yay, Idaho! I should find the exact quote, but when confronted about his belief, he defended it by saying that he may not be right, but it’s what he believes, so it must be valid. Yay, suspension of logic! It’s hard to believe his family tree actually branched.

I got my third call of the week from the Grand Old Pedophiles last night. You’d think they would do some research and realize that they have no chance of getting my vote. I have children; there’s no way I am going to vote for a group of morons who are willing to sell my and my childrens’ futures just so they can make the world a more dangerous place. Yay, Republicans! With all their talk of making America stronger, it is rather disconcerting to watch their actions destroying the nation.

Screw politics — let’s talk about the weather. It’s getting warmer! Monday night we hit a low of 1f. Last night we didn’t drop below 9f. A virtual heatwave. At the moment, it’s snowing, but hopefully it will stop soon so I can put the cover back on the pool. Anyone up for a swim?

Halloween was a success. The kids went out as a witch (girl-child) and a haunted shower (boy-child). If I can overcome my overwhelmingly lazy nature, I’ll toss up some pictures. Now that Halloween is over, I’m just coasting until spring, when I can get back to doing all those household maintenance things I put off this year. Yeah, I’ll get right on those.

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I’m getting old — I forgot to mention that it snowed last night. Our first snow of the year per my wife (considering all the snow we had January through April, I’d say she is getting old too), or the first snow of the season per me. In my book that means we’ve passed straight through fall and are now in winter. It’s a good thing I’ve got almost a week’s worth of firewood and only 21 more days until this season’s wood gets delivered. I really should be more on top of this stuff, huh?

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The economy’s rosy . . . so why does America’s accountant (I really should remember the links when posting this crap, shouldn’t I?) have to do a nationwide tour explaining that we are fucked, economically speaking? Hmmm, maybe sending all our money to Halliburton, et. al to screw the war on terrorism was not such a wise idea after all. Speaking of bad ideas, Dickhead Cheney will be in CDA to speak soon. The public is invited. Guess who is not getting a ticket? Pricks. The GOP is willing to sell my childrens’ future, but won’t give me a chance to call the Vice President an asshole in person?

Yes, I am in a foul mood. I got back from beautiful San Carlos (great views of U.S. 101 and CalTrain, if nothing else) and immediately headed down to Moscow for a swim meet. I need my weekend, dammit!

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Yay! I get to travel again tomorrow! Yay! Does my smile look real still, or is it obvious I’m grinding my teeth an getting a wee bit tired of spending the week in San Francisco and the outlying areas?

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I got back from yet another business trip this Friday and spent Saturday watching soccer, prepping the yard for winter, stacking firewood and finally putting the new front brake on my scooter. It wasn’t that difficult, but I did have to disassemble the entire front end to get the damned thing in there. That done, I slapped all of the panels back on, put on the left mirror, started to put on the right mirror and discovered that either the threads were stripped in the new brake cylinder/mirror mount (brilliant idea, combining those two items. Dammit, where’s my sarcasm tag?), or the manufacturer had made the brilliant move of switching thread counts for the hole. Son . . . of . . . a . . . um, scooter? A quick search of my toolbox showed that I’ve misplaced most of my tap and die stuff over the years (most likely somewhere in the yard, used by the boy-child to practice his golf swings). So, off to Sears to pick up some new tools. Once I tapped out the hole, the mirror mounted perfectly and I finally got to take my first real ride on my scooter. Which ended abruptly when I decided to test out the anti-lock brakes on some wet grass. The brakes locked, I took a dive, and now I have no windscreen. Oh well. I am following Jennie’s lead and switching to a motorcycle next year — too much plastic and too low a center of gravity for me to feel comfortable on this thing.

I noticed that Idaho made the news again last week. My town, even. Seems we’ve got a fellow up here running a landscaping business who misses the good ol’ days. The good ol’ pre-Civil War days, that is. His rebel flag flies high, and his big sign out front (which seriously needs some editing) is a beacon of ignorance and intolerance. Oh how I love the common folk (yes, you Blazing Saddles fans can continue on with the line).
His sign: Peds, fags and queers your in Idaho now
I guess that is in case anybody crossing the state line missed the big “Welcome To Idaho” sign. I could be wrong about my earlier intolerance conclusion; maybe he really likes pedestrians, small burning sticks and odd people and thought he’d give them all a shout out. Um, yeah.

So, the title. Where did it come from? Well, I spent one night this week comforting the ill: Holding her hair back while she puked, bringing her water to drink, turning off the light, putting her into bed and trying to correctly decipher her statements. The ill asked me if I’d turn on the shower if she climbed in the toilet. I agreed. She then climbed in the tub. So confusing for me. Later, after I rolled her into bed, she fell into a fitful sleep, punctuated by frequent odd outbursts. My favorite was the following, made in a rather upset voice: “Oh no, Jesus has no penis!” Which begs the question: What was she doing with naked Jesus?

And let us now end this thing on an uplifting note from Donald Rumsfeld regarding the Iraq war:
“The enemy has brains and knows how to use them.”

Well gee. I thought we had brains as well. Perhaps it is time we start using our brains.

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Wow! What an incredible news week: Woman beats boyfriend with baby (baby lived, although hopefully mom will be convinced to be sterilized), Joseph Duncan offers to plead guilty to all charges if death penalty taken off the table for state case (still on the table for Federal case, pretty much guaranteeing he’ll receive a death sentence), prosecutor decides not to accept plea deal (must not like the idea of saving us millions of dollars and a certain conviction if it is going to interfere with his political grandstanding), and a bunch of people died. Fortunately, most of them were in other countries, so they don’t really count as people in our NeoCon world. Cut and run: Not the solution for Iraq, but the perfect solution for taxes and social responsibility?

Anything else? I’ve been having a blast cruising on Jennie’s motorcycle, although I could use some warmer weather. Fall fell a week or so ago, and now it’s just a bit too nipply for early-morning rides.

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Correct me if I am wrong, but isn’t getting fired what happens when you don’t do your job well? Or do a completely different set of rules apply if you are in the U.S. armed services? I shouldn’t have been so surprised when I read this; after all, we are dealing with the same military that decided General Shinseki had to go when he suggested adequate troop levels for the Iraqi invasion. Loyalty to the President’s beliefs trumps loyalty to country and doing your best.

[Update 10OCT2006: Maybe I should include a link, eh? http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/nation/15710000.htm ]

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