I think this blog is going to be intermittent for a while. As I have said before I am really tired of the politics and after you have called BS on bulls$*ters a few (hundred? thousand?) times knowing that nothing you think or say will change the situation it is time to focus on something else. A friend mentioned a neuroscientist she knows who told her that people tend to get into ruts, can't find their way out and simply fossilize in place (which sounds too much like dementia to my mind). Everyone needs to shake up their patterns and blow the cobwebs out of their minds.

We spent a week traveling and staying in Denver to meet women I met and grew close to 25 years ago at Colorado State University. We have kept (sporadically) in touch in the intervening time. Seeing them all in person was wonderful and the multi-day trip definitely broke our normal routines. We haven't been away from home often in the past almost 20 years. We are planning on more but much shorter trips next summer.

We boarded the cats with our Vet. They opened a new office with much more space. We wound up getting their yearly shots and regular exam at the same time. The girls were not happy campers. The people we talked to said they were a bit stressed out but had settled down and were eating and drinking normally. They were concerned because these kitties who had been together for nearly a year and getting along well were suddenly hissing at each other. However they have settled down nicely and are back to their normal routines. We won't board them again unless there is some kind of emergency that will take us away for more than three nights.

We traveled interstates all the way to Denver and back. We were surprised that the speed limits were usually 70mph and in some cases 75mph. Only in urban areas did the limit drop to 65 or to 55 in some construction zones. Areas along the way I was familiar with through either living there (Columbia, MO) or frequently visiting (Denver) were unrecognizable due to metastatic growth. And if you are thinking cancer that is exactly what I am thinking. Denver had the worst traffic which was bumper to bumper for over an hour between the east side of the city and the west where our hotel was located. One of the friends I was visiting says the city is a mess suffering the effects of 12k new residents a month.

Colorado had the worst roads and I do mean really bad. We passed one sign telling us the road was rough just before hitting a dip and bump that made us glad we habitually wear our seat belts--otherwise we would have slammed our heads on the roof. One of the big questions on their ballot is a choice between two initiatives with differing plans to fix roads. I wonder how bad the lesser roads are given the state of the interstates.

We noticed that wherever we were the same issues came up and the biggest one was taxes. Everyone wants new tax cuts and/or to protect previous cuts but also wants services restored or expanded. Several of the Republican candidates hoping to unseat incumbent Republicans were promising just that but how thy would do that wasn't explained. And several of the Republican candidates, like Rauner in Illinois seem to have a "Jesus Complex". If they aren't elected (or re-elected) they swear the State is doomed to become hell on earth.

I am going to stop here and hopefully continue later.