Bacon is duct tape for the kitchen.

A week ago today I bent over to pick up a small piece of wood and wrenched my back. For the first two days afterward I had trouble moving and was in some significant pain. It gradually got better - pulled muscles eventually do - and by Monday I was back at the gym.
Late yesterday, after doing chores outside all day, I bent over to pick up some yard waste to take up to the compost bin and it happened again. Same muscle, only this time it's significantly worse. It hurts even when I'm not moving, which I can't do without more pain that I want to deal with. After trying the bed I spent the night in my chair, and have been here almost all day. That bottle that says "Pain Relief" lies.
I confess that between the pain and the forced inactivity I am in a foul mood.

My one activity for the day was driving into a Starbucks in Eugene to meet with the pastor of the church we've attended the last two weeks. It was a good and helpful conversation.

Twice in the last two days I've read the following quote from Alexander Hamilton:
"If we must have an enemy at the head of government let it be one we can oppose, and for whom we are not responsible, who will not involve our party in the disgrace of his foolish and bad measures."
I doubt that sentence made it into the current Broadway musical but it expresses my thoughts about voting for Trump.
And now he has reversed yet another of his early commitments; he will not release his tax returns. Sorry, but there's the smell of too much bad fish here.

Oregon's economy was pretty much trashed by the restrictions the govt. put on the logging industry in an effort to save spotted owls and little fish. Last night we went back to the Noti Pub for "taco Tuesday" but didn't stay because they were so busy it would have been an hour before our food came. On our way out we saw an old pickup in the parking lot with a bumper sticker that said, "Save a tree and a spotted owl; wipe your butt with an environmentalist." Yeah, Noti is a very small town that's been hit hard by the collapse of the timber industry.

The Oregon economy may, however, have found a savior: cannabis. The state legalized medical marijuana in 1973 and recreational pot beginning Oct. 1 of last year. (The fact we moved here on Cot. 12 is just coincidence; promise.) Beginning June 2 licensed shops will be allowed to sell marijuana edibles - think brownies and bon bons. All of this pot, except that for medical uses, is taxed at a state rate of 17%, but that can go as high (pun intended) as 20%depending on any additional tax levied by the particular city where a shop is located.

That tax income has turned into a boon for the state at a rate that has jaws dropping in Salem, the state capital. The legislature put together the budget for 2016 anticipating the income from pot sales to be between $2 and $3 million. In January (!) the tax receipts from the various portions of the pot industry brought in $3.48 million, more in one month than they expected for the entire year.

But wait! There's more!

The commercial real estate market has turned the corner, climbing out of its depression thanks to pot (again, reverse pun intended). I heard a story yesterday on the local public radio affiliate that talked about how quickly prices for warehouse space have climbed. Eugene has gone from glut to shortage in less than a year. The state set up rules saying growing operations have to meet requirements that include the size and partitioning of the building and their distance from retail shops. The same is true for wholesale operations, including those that will produce the edibles. The real estate broker they interviewed said the wise entrepreneurs saw this coming and snapped up the available spaces months ahead of time while the johnny-come-lately's are having trouble finding options and driving prices up.

So, is legalized pot in its various forms good news or bad news for the state of Oregon?
I suppose that depends on how big a place you give to the dollar in the overall welfare of society.
Me? Not much.