;)
I am too tired to write ANYTHING - but I will try to write a little bit, anyway. The thing is, I got to bed somewhere between 1:30 and 2:00 AM and then, as always, it took some time for me to go to sleep and no sooner had I then I was awakened... oh hell.
I am too tired to tell this story about why I am so tired.
But I am.
I had planned to work very hard today and to get a huge amount done, but I didn't. Mostly because I got distracted by the debate leading up to the House passage of the Health Care Bill. Once I took in one scene, I was so fascinated by the process that I could not pull myself away from the TV.
And as I watched, there was always between one and three cats blanketing me, so I was warm, cozy, comfy and drowzy as I watched the debate.
I did not try to photograph the scene until near the end, when Nancy Pelosi was speaking.
Many Republicans said they could not support this flawed bill and it is flawed, but, it's a start to hopefully fix a far more flawed system.
As many readers know, my health care insurance company took my premiums for 15 years and, despite their promise when I bought my insurance that they would cover an air ambulance out of rural Alaska if I ever needed one, refused to pay any of the $37,000 + when I shattered my shoulder and actually did need one, and then didn't pay tens upon tens of thousands of dollars of my hospital bill and then recently jacked up my "cadillac" priced premiums for clunker service by 20 percent overnight.
This followed a long process of regular increases and then, in December, I could not make my payment and they deactivated my policy immediately.
If I had been able to make two payments in January, they would have reactivated, but I couldn't make even one.
I am very glad that, however flawed it might be, the process has finally begun.
As I am too tired to say anything intelligent about this myself, I will quote Paul Krugman from the New York Times:
"But it is also a victory for America’s soul. In the end, a vicious, unprincipled fear offensive failed to block reform. This time, fear struck out."
Senator Murkowski, this is why I am so disappointed in you. You have the intelligence and the natural compassion and you said some things a year or so ago that told me that you understood the damage that this current system is wreaking upon people.
I understand that you need to listen to your constituents, but when you hear them spouting nonsense and fear, you also have a responsibility to educate them. Instead, you joined in with the mob in this "vicious, unprincipled, fear offensive."
This is why I am disappointed.
You might find it unfair that I am not equally disappointed in Don Young. But Don Young is Don Young and we all knew from the beginning that on this matter nothing more could be expected of him.
But you, Senator Murkowski, are capable of so much more.
;)
Of course, the day did not begin in front of the TV. It began at Mat-Su Valley Restaurant, where Margie and I got together with Lisa, Melanie and Charlie and Charlie bought breakfast for the lot of us. They were a little late, but soon Charlie's parents joined us as well.
It was the first time that we had all gotten together like this.
;)
Yes, I took pictures of Charlie's parents at breakfast, but I want to get this blog done so that I can go to bed, so I will move straight to the house, where the important stuff happened.
It all involved cats.
Here is Jim, accepting a pet from Jim.
Yes, Charlie's dad is also Jim.
Charlie's dad is the furless Jim.
;)
Here is Jim meeting Royce.
;)
And here is Cyndy meeting Royce. Jim, the furless one, told us how their 16 year old Siamese cat Oscar suffered ill health about a year ago and lost weight just like Royce has. Furless Jim has a super-sensitive nose and it told him there was bad stuff in the store-bought dry cat food Oscar had been eating.
So Jim put Oscar on a raw-meat diet with a quarter can a day of Friskees and now Oscar has made a magnificent recovery.
We must try this with Royce - after I return from the East Coast.
;)
Cyndy and Royce.
Furless Jim also told us how he and Charlie had once come upon some cougars in the mountains of Wyoming, where they had been hunting deer not far from the town of Atlantic City. Yes, Atlantic City, Wyoming.
He had been entranced by the quiet, graceful, beautiful, fluidity of their motions as the lions hustled silently past.
Charlie was pretty young then. His dad was carrying all the guns: a 30.06 rifle and .22 pistol.
Charlie asked if he could carry the .22 after that.
It's funny. I am always happy to be in Alaska, but after I heard that story, I wanted to go roam around somewhere where cougars hang out and see if I could find some.
Cougars don't really hang out in Alaska, although one was spotted on our side of the Canadian boundary not too many years ago.
;)
Charlie and Jim - the furry one.
;)
Furless Jim and Pistol, who warily came to check him out, but quickly warmed up to him and gave him maybe ten seconds of attention.
Look closely at Pistol and you will see that he is very much a little mountain lion himself.
;)
It occurs to me that Furless Jim's face does not really show in the photos with the cats, so I will hop back to the restaurant take real fast, so that you can see his face.
;)
If I am going to show the face of Furless Jim, then it is only fair that I also show the face of Furry Jim.