Sour grapes, Jan. 26, 2011

Changes

No one really knows what’s going to come out of Des Moines.

More specifically, what is going to come out of the capitol the next few months.

Things seem to be happening quickly and seem to follow one of my favorite Tom Waits quotes: The large print giveth, the small print taketh away.

Early action seems to focus on undoing and taking away. Voting rights. Health care. Preschool. A choo-choo train to Chicago. Marriage rights. Schools. Universities. Mental health.

I realize these are “nice” things that many feel we can’t afford now. The burden will be shared equally, only some more equal than others.

The legislature has two things going on now … taking a whole new approach to how state government should be run, while trying to preserve traditional values from the past. They can keep going back far enough to the time horses were stalled underneath the capitol, and the legislators had to leave in the spring, when the smell became too strong.

I’m afraid there might be a new smell now seeping out from the hill. And it’s not from horses.

Well, I guess there’s nothing you can do that can’t be done. But can you undo an undoing?

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I’m beginning to get the feeling I spend too many of my waking hours sitting at a computer or checking my phone. I say this as I type on my laptop computer while checking my e-mail.

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The snow just sounds different when it’s below zero and you’re trying to walk through it. I noticed that the other day as I shuffled across our parking lot like an old man. Wait. Call that early middle-aged man.

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A college student recently changed her hair color. She called it a quarter-life crisis.

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I was a bit envious of nephew Wes. For his birthday, he and his girlfriend went to see a screening of Chaplin’s “The Gold Rush” with the Chicago Symphony playing the soundtrack, penned by Chaplin.

Another nephew, Andrew, will graduate soon from flight school. Austin might intern in the Dallas area, helping to build a hospital. Reese is walking around the Wartburg campus with a boot, recovering from surgery and garnering sympathy. Emily is at the base of the mountains in Colorado Springs, helping students with speech therapy. Allison is living the married life in the party city of Madison, WI. Wes is a few years away from being a full-fledged doctor of clinical psychology. Making me proud.

And me? I just learned how to play Scooby-Do on the guitar.

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Late sister Jan helped sister Julie with the purchase of a cello, a dream of Julie’s for years. Julie was proud of it and hopes Jan can “pull a few strings” as she starts lessons on how to play it.

I gave it a try and found there was a magic note on it that if played just right, one of the dogs starts barking.

Jan would have liked that.