Back again. Best laid plans etc.

When I wrote that it was time for a vacation I didn't just mean that I was sick and tired of the impasse in Washington and all of the rest of the political assholery going on.  We had intended to take an 8-day bus tour.  That was derailed when Mom got sick.  I know they say you can't get flu from the flu shot but within hours of getting her shot she was flat on her back and remained that way for the next three days and was weak for another three.  She gets her shot every year and generally has a minor reaction.  This one was far more severe.  I don't get flu shots.  Haven't since I had a bad reaction to one a bit more than thirty years ago.

So we stayed home.  Mom slept a lot and then slowly got back to doing a few things around the house until this past Saturday when we did did some shopping we had planned to stock up on foods we let go down before the aborted trip and Mom got the kitchen reorganized on Sunday.  I pulled some of the nearly spent tomato plants and disposed of some of the herbs I didn't want to try to overwinter inside.  I may get some more done today if the skies remain clear.  I can handle the cool with my sweaters.  I also managed to take inventory of my seeds.  That is a prelude to a full assessment of the garden this year.

I did read the blogs and news sites--I just didn't comment.  Just when I think I can't get any more disgusted and pissed with the government by extortion and crisis--I get more disgusted and pissed.  Der Spiegel's on-line edition says everything in its headline: America is already politically bankrupt.  Anyone who still believes in the myth of the U.S. as the world's only "hyper power" are delusional.  And it is quickly becoming clear that our status as a "superpower" is hanging by a very thin and frayed thread.

Oh, how I hope this story from Firedoglake is accurate and it holds through the mid-term elections.  With the way various state legislatures have gerrymandered their districts all too many of our elected representatives worry more about challenges from their own fringes rather than any real competition from the other party.  I have thought for a while that the only way this is going to change is if there is a political tsunami that results in voters throwing their own bums out of office.  And I haven't mentioned parties because, although the Repthuglicans have more safe districts than the Damnocrats, both parties have engaged in such activities.