The perfect summer

Tuesday's sun had been up for a few hours when a young whitetail doe paid me a visit. I sat on the patio behind our house, enjoying my morning coffee while she grazed on rotting crabapples. She eased within ten feet of me before trotting casually back into the woods.

The peaceful encounter happened at precisely the right moment, considering that just 90 minutes earlier I'd learned that my job had gone away.

That sobering development might seem incongruous with the title of this post -- it's not. I'd seen it coming since April, arguably even earlier than that. Although I gave nothing less than my best to the small enterprise, my efforts weren't enough to prevent the inevitable.

Life goes on from here, then, and life these days is rich beyond anything I might've imagined six months ago. My family and I are well and happy -- not without challenges, certainly, but we're creating a satisfying life in a wonderful place.

Be it ever so humble...

Readers who suspect that I remain engaged with current events would be correct. My observations simply haven't appeared here.

It's clear to me, for example, that our national economy is careening toward an even deeper ditch. The ecological damage done by oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico is obvious; the fact that Gulf Coast residents now are paying the tab for making deals with corporate devils has been under-reported.

Between the dysfunctional Tea Party and the anachronistic NAACP, the term "racist" has lost both its meaning and its impact. Mark Williams and Andrew Breitbart are equally simple-minded flamethrowers -- what separates the two is Breitbart's more pressing need for anti-psychotic medication.

Maybe Sarah Palin would be kind enough to share her prescription, since it's apparent that she's not using it herself.


The Supreme Court gave American gun owners a welcome precedent in deciding McDonald v. Chicago, and the issue of illegal immigration, brought to the fore by a new Arizona law born of frustration with the federal government's impotence, eventually will come before the high court as well. I hope that five or more Supremes have the judicial courage to uphold that law.

And so on.

Armed with common sense, critical thought and the Constitution, we battle an onslaught of mindless ideology, political correctness and institutional pussification. Should we become discouraged, we can remember this:

You can still get gas in heaven
And a drink in kingdom come.
In the meantime, I’m cleanin' my gun.

That lyrical consolation comes from Mark Knopfler. For now, I'll leave you with his video.