doing some writing about mcdonald's, which is a little harder to align with everyday-u.s.a. than walmart was. but i noticed one thing: i googled the new orleans mcdonald's, because i wanted to do new orleans, and got news about a huge shooting there one night about two years ago. so, i started that story, about two musicians who were recalling it, when what happens but the seattle mcdonald's, downtown, gets shot up on the very day i'm writing it.

now there's nothing more american than excessive gun violence, and basically, that's true of walmarts as well as mcdonald's. you write about everyday life in the states, some mcdonald's in downtown of a very fine city like seattle, with the pike market over there and the waterfront over here, and what you're writing about is today's news. the mayor says, there's been too much violence in that neighborhood for too long. the police responders, who were there in minutes, said, basically, we had gun victims all over the place.

as far as i can tell, it was a dispute like the one in new orleans. everyone's armed to the teeth, some drug deal goes bad, and then people are shooting each other up like there's no tomorrow. most of the victims are people who just happen to be eating in mcdonald's. there doesn't appear to be any other relation between violence and mcdonald's - it's not like addiction to french fries causes people to lose it and pull the trigger. it's more that mcdonald's picks center-of-town places, with a lot of traffic, and maybe trouble picks the same spots.

we are sitting out here, way out in the country, at the end of the road, and the winter weather has eased up, though it's still below freezing at night. what worries us most is the snow, which turns to ice quickly, and causes trouble on steep mountain roads with sharp dropoffs. but this is all part of our environment, so we have to figure out how to use the lower gears and watch out for deer and elk jumping in front of us unexcpectedly at any minute. we do hear gunshots, a lot. they'll happen on a weekend, during hunting season, when people seem to be testing out their guns and making sure everything is in working order, before they tromp into the wild lands. actually i'm not sure what it is - but it's a very tight rural area, so if was someone shooting their husband, we'd all know about it pretty quickly. there are a lot fewer people out here than you'd think; it's a little isolated. kind of the opposite of downtown seattle. and the gunshots don't bother me anymore.

it's an important time because, basically, you have people in virginia who are strongly worried about losing their guns. the rally there was large and peaceful, and i think we should listen to people. from living out here i know: the vast majority of people treat their guns like their cars, important, necessary, and deadly. you gotta take care of this stuff. and basically, you just don't go downtown, unless you absolutely have to.