"Never wear anything that panics the cat." - P.J. O'Rourke

In local news, the Eugene Opera announced they're cancelling the last half of their season because of funding issues. The productions of West Side Story and Carmen won't happen because the company is headed further into the red and can't afford the costs of those two high-dollar performances. West Side includes high fees for the rights, and while Carmen is public domain the staging is pricey.

That struck me as sad for a couple of reasons. We have friends who work with and for the opera. Gustavo and Karen are rehearsal directors, accompanists, and performers. Pam attends the UFC women's Bible study with a lady who sews costumes for the opera. I'm sorry for the hit they'll take.

We've also really enjoyed the two performances we've attended since moving to OR. We could only go because Gustavo and Karen graciously gave us coupons for seriously discounted tickets that would otherwise be way too pricey for us. (And maybe therein lies some of the opera's problem.) Both West Side and Carmen would be fun to see and we'd sure go if the opportunity arose.

It's sad that a university town like Eugene (U of O) that's as blue and left as this place is can't support the arts better. Yeah, it's not a great company, and we've talked with Gustavo and Karen about some of the more obvious weaknesses, but the third largest city in the state can and should do better than cancelling the rest of the season. The cynic in me says if they put into the arts some of the funding they put into the perpetually and habitually huge homeless population that makes it their life's goal to live on the public's dime we could have a pretty good arts community.

This skewed perspective is evident on local news sites - the Register-Guard (newspaper) and the local network affiliates.
No mention of the fatal crash on the main E/W thoroughfare, but a lead article about a recycling center collecting used Christmas lights for youth services, a start-up business building pot-friendly condos, and the Ducks assistant coach hired last Tuesday and fired Friday for a DUI arrest.

Last night I mentioned partitioning off part of the goat barn so only the kids could get in to the alfalfa hay I'll put there. Oops. Stella walked right in and hardly brushed against the edges of my opening. Added one 2x4's to narrow it, then a 1" cedar board, the combination of which seems to have done the trick.
Problem: now I can't get in. Hmmmm.

One upside (about the ONLY one) of Pam being gone is that I could watch live coverage of the Barrett-Jackson car auction as much as I wanted without feeling selfish. So except when I was watching the Australian Open I kept the TV on the auction.
Crazy!

The collector car market has fully rebounded. A Fiat Jolly sold for $80,000! There are lawn mowers with more powerful engines, never mind non-luxuries like wicker seats and no windows or doors.

It seemed like every other car was a Corvette of one vintage or another, some horribly "customized," and all bringing crazy money, most in the six-figure range.
Made me think about taking my truck down. (So long as I don't have to restart it along the way.)

I added 1/2 mile to my run distance today. Didn't feel strong when I left, but the confrontation with that aggressive dog 1/4 mile up the road gave me enough of an adrenalin rush to push me on. I've called Animal Control once already, but it's time for another.

We're past the election and now past the women's march. Hopefully we can now get back to more essential and significant matters like the Chinese Super Bowl (it's named LI) and why they're still making mustard containers with the dispensing hole at the top.