"Being in therapy is great. I spend an hour just talking about myself. It's kinda like being the guy on a date." - Caroline Rhea

I watched Hillary's speech yesterday while I was eating lunch. It was far and away the most impressive performance I've seen her deliver and she pretty much ripped Trump to shreds in the foreign policy department. When she was done you had to be thinking, "How can the Republicans even think about making him their candidate?" (To be fair, some of us have been thinking that for a long time.) And that was before he went off the rails on a federal judge from Illinois.

Hillary's obvious understanding of the dynamics of international relations and what's at stake would make me a supporter, if that's all there was to being president.
But it's not. I find her positions on social issues including abortion and health care, and economic issues, completely untenable. Never mind that I suspect she knowingly played fast and loose with the rules while Sect. of State. She fails the character test in my book.

So does the Libertarian Party provide a good alternative to Trump and Hillary? Only if you're OK with legalized drugs, an isolationist foreign policy, abortion rights, the abolition of all bank regulation...yeah, can't make that work.

The San Diego Union Tribune editorial board endorsed a candidate yesterday: Ronald Reagan. Yep, the decided voting for a dead guy was our best option.

Am I foolishly naive to continue to hope for an independent candidate to step forward?

Trump Rally

Yesterday's post was about death and dying, so we'll balance that with "Back From the Dead."
When we moved in the garden with its 8' deer fence had a grape vine at one end that hadn't been tended for years. Some of the vines were 20'-30' long. I talked to the owner of a winery a couple of miles away and he said I should wait until January or February and then cut it back to within a foot or so of the ground, so that's what I did.
When spring came and all the local vineyards had significant growth on their vines I had...nothing. A month later...nothing. We decided the old gal was dead and gone, but I didn't feel like putting in the energy to dig it up.
Then a week ago while Pam was up weeding the vegetables....

We have new growth! I figure these shoots won't put off any fruit this year, but next January I'll cut them back to a more normal level and look for grapes next season.
And a great season it should be. We'll have grapes (no idea what variety), the Marion berry vines will have their first crop, and the rhubarb will also give us its first edible stocks.

Josh and family are on their way. He just called to tell us they got a late start because of a hitch glitch, and then had a trailer tire blow up out in the desert, so they'll be here just before sunset tomorrow night. But as long as they get here safely!

We'll hit 95 tomorrow, but in Sun City it will be 116. Yeah, Oregon is good.