This is nothing compared to last Friday
For us winter is not the time that tries souls and resources in normal years. The real trials are in hurricane season and to some degree in the summer when heat, bugs, humidity and plant growth (as well as a few hurricanes and storms threaten to wipe out civilization here each year and are resisted. But this is an unusual year for weather, it is a hard year for Barack Obama’s presidency and for the United States as well. I am writing this blog in the midst of a situation where ordinary life is rendered difficult because our planning designing and building here addresses other challenges than the cold. Elevated to avoid floods our insulated pipes only resist short light freezes and we must cut off running water to this and other houses when a hard freeze lasts for days. Nonetheless, things are not too bad, we struggle and prepare well. I get uncomfortable about the feeling of the US government’s attitude toward adversity. But to go into detail about how there is  a lack of realism is beyond the scope of this post. I sat home reasonably warm and safe and watched the State of the Union amid a day with unusual chores and regular chores and tasks made more trying by the lack of some regular conveniences and the presence of a storm. The storm is big news around the country. But we are being preemptive and are getting through it so far. Well, it is good we have been spared much of the ice storm so far. But an ice drizzle has been falling for an hour or more. A bucket I showed in my Facebook timeline and also here shows half an hour’s accumulation. The covers for orange trees are holding although the orange trees were hit earlier in the year and are weak. The horses came to the corral on their own and are not locked in but whether to lock them and when to feed them are tactical questions — all about optimizing limited resources. My mother Genie Summers made it home safely and is out helping John Paul Summers and Jill Thompson with their house. I made pigs in blankets for Dad and I. The Summers place is rolling with the as yet not so brutal storm in this area and trying to make the best of it.
I gave the horses hay again as I did last time the ice covered their grazing pasture five days ago.
Well, I watched the State of the Union and the Republican Response. Fewer Americans are gainfully employed to a significant degree than most people realize. The President proposed more not really responsible benefits. he did make some real points about jobs going overseas while he worked at programs that will make Americans less employable.
I do appreciate his attentiveness to Veterans in the speech and his desire to see a credible Presidency. I am not sure he is ill intentioned in all the things I disagree with him about but we do disagree. I liked Congresswoman and Representative Rodger’s response pretty well.
But my own response has mostly been laid out in countless posts and articles over many years. In addition we face many other issues besides labor force participation — but that is my issue tonight.
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