….awhipping up the water in the bay.
Then April sighed, and said good-bye,
And along came pretty little May.
I know it dates me, but that music was popular when I was a kid. I can envision the classroom and the teacher.
The weather in Northern Illinois brought that music to mind. I’m sure you’ve heard about the tornadoes that struck the Midwest, through Kansas, Missouri, and Illinois. I’m sure there were other states involved. Most of the damage in Illinois was in the central area around Springfield, but we have our share of downed trees and branches.
We still have high winds two days later. I have chosen not to sit at our personal computer for a few days because the table it sits on is next to a wall of glass. On the other side of that glass is a very old grove of trees that are being whipped around by incredible gusts of wind. The noise of the wind is not the “freight train” sound of a tornado, but close.
And it’s cold….colder than it was in parts of January. Maybe it’s just the wind-chill factor. The sun is brilliant, but the winds blow away any warmth that develops.
I’m ready to hear April’s sigh.

I’m happy to tell you that my niece has had her surgery for breast cancer, and everything seems to have gone well. Her tumor has been removed, and they’ve found that only the first lymph node had been affected. The advances in surgery are so incredible that the only sign of surgery will be a small dimple, where the tumor was removed.
It’s been a difficult week, waiting for her to be able to proceed. I’m sure it was a hellish week for her. I don’t deal with waiting well. My often joked-about prayer is “Dear Lord, please give me patience, NOW!” Well….SHE was patient. She coped, and she has come out of this well.

I really should have started a new category and named it “Raccoons.”
I was sitting with the guys in the living room Thursday night, watching a sci-fi movie. The volume was up, and there was a lot of fighting on screen. I was sitting near the windows, at the west end of the room, at the computer.
I heard a noise, and my heart stopped for a second. “DH, mute the sound!”
We sat there, our heads cocked, quietly listening.
“I thought I heard a raccoon on the roof.”
Now, you know we have a brand new roof, in part because the raccoons had chewed their way into the attic last year. I’m more than a little jumpy because half a dozen of them are still living somewhere in the grove. It’s been such a warm winter that they haven’t hibernated as usual, and we see them nightly under the bird feeder.
So….we’re listening, and my stepson looks over at the window and laughs. There’s a raccoon climbing up a ladder not three feet away from me.
Dear Husband has been cleaning the bees out of the sofit. The windows at the end of the living room run from about two feet off the floor up to the cathedral ceiling. There’s a one foot spacer in the center of the window wall that has brick on the outside. DH left the extension ladder leaning there and a raccoon decided it might be a way to the roof. We’ve cut down all the other branches that might give them access (we think).
I’ve suggested to DH that he might want to put the ladder back in place so that he can clean the muddy raccoon prints off the upper windows.

Would you please tell me who came up with the bright idea of selling the management rights for our ports??!! For God’s sake, have that person run to his nearest clinic for an MRI, to see if he HAS ANY BRAINS!!
I suppose selling the rights sounds LUCRATIVE. And in these days, when government is having trouble making ends meet, I know they are grasping at any straw to keep from having to make cuts or raise taxes, again! But, did ANYONE suggest there might be a problem with letting the security of our ports out of our hands? Why sell the rights to another country, when, if it HAD to be sold, it could have been sold to an American company? Were they just a bit greedy when it was time to sell the contracts?
It seems to me that between the mismanagement of the disaster due to hurricanes in the south, and selling the contract for port management, our Homeland Security is in serious trouble, and SO ARE WE!
Perhaps ten years ago, I read that one in every four Americans earns their living through some form of government. Village, city, township, county,state and federal government, police, national guard, the military and our justice system. Three of us have to pay enough taxes to support one of them, AND the services and improvements we need. I don’t know about you, but that’s a pretty bleak picture to me. When is government going to figure out that it’s way past time to cut back? Do you think we could simply pick a percentage and cut back EVERYTHING? Less welfare, fewer cops, less pay for government jobs, less overseas aid, government documents printed in ENGLISH only?
And while we are at it, let’s privatize more of what needs to be done, with contracts to be let to American citizens only. Privatize the security for the ports, if necessary, but establish the requirements that every company must meet for every port. They can choose to do more, but they have to meet the minimums.
Is that unrealistic? We need to create jobs for Americans, and we need to cut back on costs to Americans. Couldn’t the two go hand in hand?
I’m rambling, I know. But what you should walk away with is my feeling that our government needs a serious overhaul. It’s run amok, and doesn’t understand that the people it serves are more important than it is. Rather than meeting the needs of the people, it prevents them from getting the help they need. Don’t you think it’s time for a change?

Good news!
The tech called me yesterday to tell me that Ed had his procedure done on Tuesday afternoon. In the following 24 hours, he ate all his wet food, drank all his water and ate some of his dry food. He gained TWO OUNCES by Wednesday, when she called me.
She called again tonight, and I may be able to bring Ed home on Friday evening.
There are restrictions for the next two weeks, but they are not quite as rigorous as we believed. I think the family can carry this off.

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