Peeling the Onion

Peeling onions usually makes one cry. The unraveling of Bush' team however much it is like peeling an onion does not make me cry unless I think about how long it is taking and how long there is still to go.

Another cohort of Bush bites the dust. Gonzalves is now gone, Rove is gone. The only ones of the old guard are Rice and Cheney still hanging in there. So what? Bush is going to stay with the program till he is ousted in '08. The up coming "report on progress" of the surge will come and go and nothing will change. The muck and mire is so thick it disallows any "solution" in the normal sense of the word. When the swamp is so large and the visibility so short it is impossible to make an intelligent course change. All the Dem. challengers are blowing in the wind. The fear that they will misstep hinders any valid ideas from emerging.

A recent article defined "time" in various ways. To us it is linear and we are in a hurry. To the Muslims "time" only has meaning relative to the significant things that
happen. No recent 9/11 type attacks does not mean our security system is good, it simply means it is not propitious for the Jihadists to mount one yet. It makes me think of the fellow who was questioned about his throwing salt over his shoulder frequently. His reply was: "it keeps the elephants away". Scoffers chided him that it did not keep elephants away!. His reply was: "do you see any elephants?".

Despite the volatility of the stock market our luck is holding very well. On our trip to Alaska we were in that lucky 10 percentile that got to see Mt. McKinley on a clear day. Most all our 10 days were sunny and mild. Our whale watch was successful in that the naturalists aboard were amazed that we saw as much as we did. Obligingly, the day we went to the "rain forest" it rained. Not to worry we were provided with "rain jackets and rain pants". Riding in an open boat we enjoyed the rain through and through and as we trudged through the 1 1/2 mile hike in the raining rain forest the rain trickled down our backs and legs and anything else it could trickle on or down. So we now have a great story to tell everyone who will stand still long enough and listen.
Ever since reading "The Call of the Wild", years ago, the thought of Alaska has intrigued me. As our one guide said, "you are getting a very small taste of Alaska"
Actually we got the very best taste of Alaska. I doubt that I'd enjoy the eight months of darkness, or the hoard of insects in the Spring; Then there are the 40' below zero days that are fairly frequent in Winter. Our accommodations aboard the cruise ship were very luxurious compared to the "dry" cabins in the "brush" that have no water or electricity.

So, the Summer is quickly receding and we are looking forward to cooler weather and Fall colors.