October 12

It has been raining for a week. It began with morning fog which would burn off my late morning, then the rain came in earnest, biblical amounts, flooding, trees falling – that sort of rain. It let off for two days to a steady, soft drizzle but this morning the heavy rain is back and the lights are flickering as I write this, no doubt because a tree somewhere has fallen and is leaning against the wire and any moment now will come crashing to the ground ushering in a few hours of power-free living before the New York Electric Authority (or whatever it’s called out here) sends a crew to repair the line and clear the trees. His Holiness had asked for pancakes this morning but may have to settle for cereal.

On a completely unrelated matter … I woke up this morning wondering how it was that we elected George Bush to two terms as President of the United States. I really don’t understand. I like to think of myself as a person who pays attention to the world around him – but for the life of me I just can figure out what might have brought over half of the voters in the recent election (and slightly less than half in the first election which was stolen – not won) to vote for this numbskull. He is the most corrupt, incompetent half-wit to occupy the office of President in history … (I went through the list of Presidents to see if I might have missed someone, but no, Bush is the dullest of them all.) The only explanation I can think of is that the voters looked at Laura Bush and thought to themselves that anyone with a wife as smart and attractive as she is can’t be a total looser – WRONG!

The siren at the firehouse has just started – it is blaring wildly – cutting the pre-dawn calm like a butcher knife and calling the volunteer firemen to their trucks … Whatever it is – I hope everyone is safe – I hate to hear that wail.