thunder makes the puppy push up against my tummy as he hides in my lap; he doesn't like it. it's a fairly normal storm passing through i think, no tornados yet, and it's really good for a garden i just planted. i like to remember something i heard about rainwater being much better than hose water because of the electrolytes or whatever, i forget the details, but in that case i had pretty good timing because it rained right after i put in the first half, and it's raining now, now that i finished putting everything in. i still have to construct some kind of fence and maybe go get a couple of tomato rings, but then i can just watch it all summer and pick out the onion shoots.

in spite of the rain we were able to get two young girls, nine and ten, off to school like normal children, and i was surprised how normal the whole thing was. we lined up behind the other cars; when we got to the front of the line, i said, 'make like usain and bolt,' and they did, and off they went reasonably happy and optimistic for a new week of school. both have had their trials with school. but it seems that as they get more stable in their home and like the routine and the care that we have, things have actually calmed down a little.

ok here's my little political rant. how hard would it be for an unscrupulous administration to stage a shooting at the correspondent's dinner? here you take this gun. you shoot it right at the bullet-proof vest, you won't kill anyone. it'll make noise and there'll be a big fuss and you'll be arrested and the witness protection program will take care of you forever, and pay you handsomely. the world will forget about you. the president and his men will be heroes, actively saved by a careful secret service and they will get a popularity bump from sympathy for the victims of a ruthless attack by liberal academics. it doesn't hurt, of course, that the guy was an academic and voted dem at least once. perfect! the most important thing, he needs a million bucks and a new life.

the answer is, not so hard.

a big thunder came through. poor puppy, he's alarmed. everything else, though, is going back to normal.