quiet

All quiet on the Western Front. Funny to think we're about to become the Western Front in PA! With one offspring in New Hamster and the other two in down-east Maine, that's what will happen. Anyway, it's quiet here today. I'm in the third week of the chemo cycle, and at my best. I do feel pretty good. I have a little discomfort in the left lung, but nothing serious. Thinking about trying the Y again today.

Does anyone else think McCain is self-destroying himself? I think the Palin thing was a big pander- I thought better of him. He should have stood his ground and held out for Leiberman or Tom Ridge. Ridge was a governor too, in PA which is a battleground state. Only trouble was he's pro choice, as are most Americans, who are moderates, but not the right wing lug nuts who think Palin walks on water. And now McCain is just making a fool of himself over the latest financial crisis and the bail-out. Obama, on the other hand, is making all the right noises at the right times, in my view.

I studied economics in the MBA program, and was pretty much up on what was going on, but they are starting to confuse me. Only think I can figure, after reading an explanation in The Economist, is the value of the assets the companies hold are declining, since they are mortgages in real estate. And of course when a companies assets decline past the value of their liabilities, they are technically bankrupt.

Yesterday when the dog and I went down for the paper at 7, the crows across the street in the Mark's pasture were carrying on, cawing and flying around. So we stopped and watched, and sure enough a big hawk flew out from behind the trees. No, I don't know if it was a red tail or not, but the red tail the most common hawk around here. I guess the crows took exception to the hawk hanging around. Don't think they are nesting at this time of year.

I see Rep. Barney Frank is getting some air time about the financial bail-out. Nice to see him not being castigated because he's gay. He's just another politician, and you can agree or disagree with him. Sometimes I think society is actually making progress. As Queen Victoria is said to have said, "I don't care what they do, as long as they don't do it in the streets and scare the horses." Amen, Vikky. Or should that be Queeny?

I made a killer batch of chili for dinner last evening. I've discovered that Wal-Mart, of all places, carries meat by grade. They have ground chuck, sirloin and round. Nobody else I've found has that; they all have just "beef" with no comment on the specific source. The Wal-Mart sirloin is particularly good- good taste, better, IMHO, than the generic "beef". it's also labeled as to ft content- 10% in this case. Anyway the chili- I browned the beef with onion and garlic in olive oil, added frozen green peppers and a few pieces of Jalapeno, cooked it down, and added a can of diced tomatoes. Cooked down a little and ate with some grated cheese and sour cream on top. Yum!