I'm sitting here in the early morning hours, keeping half an eye on the basement drains and half on the creek that forms the border of our back yard. After some record-breaking rain storms, Harrisburg is waiting for most of our streams and rivers to flood sometime today. I don't really expect much trouble from the creek itself. The lay of the land is a little difficult to describe, but I'll try: my back yard ends in a rather steep drop-off, but the other side of the creek just sort of opens out into a very shallow rise. It seems to me that any flooding that might occur would go that way and overwhelm the low-lying properties on the other side. The basement drain is another matter entirely; when those decide to back up, they just do. We have been fortunate in that this has never happened to us in this house but you never know. A good friend had to leave choir practice last night because his drains decided to flow upwards.
And yet in spite of the gray weather, the days of rain, the hassles of walking a dog who would rather pee on my armchair than go outside when it's raining...I find that my outlook has considerably improved from the last time I was here. Not sure why; must simply be adjusted brain chemicals. The world outside has certainly not improved any. Earthquakes in New Zealand and this morning in Japan, both places where I have people I love...but so far, they are all safe. Huge budget cuts in education as our new Republican governor jumps on the union-busting bandwagon and cuts funding to higher education by a whopping 52 percent. Governor Corbett hasn't been as blatant about it as, say, the governor in Wisconsin has been, but it's pretty obvious that this is a shot across the bow of the unions of higher education faculty. As a parent I can't wait to see what the jump in my daughter's sophomore tuition will be.
But I sit here appreciating that my circumstances are such that I was able to immediately replace my iMac when the old one failed; that my daughter and wife have safe and reliable transportation (as opposed to my old Corolla which seems to have a revolving door installed on the Check Engine light. Still, it keeps going out by itself after a day or two...so far....) So in spite of bleak weather, bleak events in the world both human and natural, and the imminent arrival of Daylight Savings Time (oh, how I loathe Daylight Savings Time!) I'm feeling...hopeful.
And yet in spite of the gray weather, the days of rain, the hassles of walking a dog who would rather pee on my armchair than go outside when it's raining...I find that my outlook has considerably improved from the last time I was here. Not sure why; must simply be adjusted brain chemicals. The world outside has certainly not improved any. Earthquakes in New Zealand and this morning in Japan, both places where I have people I love...but so far, they are all safe. Huge budget cuts in education as our new Republican governor jumps on the union-busting bandwagon and cuts funding to higher education by a whopping 52 percent. Governor Corbett hasn't been as blatant about it as, say, the governor in Wisconsin has been, but it's pretty obvious that this is a shot across the bow of the unions of higher education faculty. As a parent I can't wait to see what the jump in my daughter's sophomore tuition will be.
But I sit here appreciating that my circumstances are such that I was able to immediately replace my iMac when the old one failed; that my daughter and wife have safe and reliable transportation (as opposed to my old Corolla which seems to have a revolving door installed on the Check Engine light. Still, it keeps going out by itself after a day or two...so far....) So in spite of bleak weather, bleak events in the world both human and natural, and the imminent arrival of Daylight Savings Time (oh, how I loathe Daylight Savings Time!) I'm feeling...hopeful.
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