Still cold and dark

[altivo]

The sheepie got at least a temporary reprieve. Vet says it's probably one of three things, old age, injury, or Paralaphostrongylus tenius. He could find no evidence of injury, and the third choice is a parasite infection commonly called "brain worms" (ewww) that comes from deer. A typical parasitic worm, it has a two host life cycle that involves deer droppings, and slugs (ewww again.) Since none of our sheep have been on open pasture where deer pass through for over five years, I rule that one out. So old age and arthritis it is, and Shaun gets a series of three cortisone shots to see if it will get him back on his feet. He's also dehydrated a bit, so we're mixing molasses into his water to get him to drink more. He doesn't seem to be in pain much, and the vet agrees, so we didn't have him put down right now. We'll give him a week or so and see if he responds to treatment. If he has to be sent off to sheep heaven, what to do with the remains when the ground is frozen like iron becomes a major issue.

I did not watch the inauguration, though I did hear the oaths administered (complete with fluffs by both parties in Obama's case.) In spite of the raves from many quarters, I was disappointed in his speech, which ran far too long without saying nearly enough. The only good point, I thought, was when he said that Americans as a whole have been avoiding making hard choices that must be made. We can't have our cake and eat it too, in other words. This has been blatantly obvious to me for many years, but politicians and voters from both sides of the aisle continue to think they can do that.

Our library's 100th anniversary display of books is out in the case now, and I still find it interesting. We have the top ten best selling adult novels from 1909, reacquired from used booksellers in 1909 editions or as close as we could get. These were surprisingly inexpensive, in fact. All ten, including shipping, added up to about $50. We also have a set of nine modern reprints of children's books that were popular in 1909, including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Wind in the Willows, The Call of the Wild, and Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz.

Comments

[hellmutt.livejournal.com]

Ear scratches, or whatever he likes, to the poor sheepie.

Things that I liked about Obama's speech: direct reference to clean energy, knock against sacrificing rights for security, mention of atheists, and especially "restore science to its rightful place". Man, that was some yummy goodness right there. Things I didn't like: knock at cynics (I must offer my token protest on that, being named after one)... and other than that, dunno, I was at work and not concentrating fully. Thank goodness for subtitles.

At work, incidentally, almost everyone in my large room stopped to watch the speech. The world is excited. My mother thinks Obama's the second coming or something. She was so ecstatic. I admit I was mainly relieved that the oil-mad wolf-murderess didn't get in, but all the same... knee-jerk reaction, I feel there may be hope for the US now, whereas for the last 7 or 8 years I would probably have said there was none.

Besides. A guy who, first day in office, stops the Guantanamo military 'trials' and cancels everything Bush tried to squeeze in before leaving. Can't be all bad.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

It's telling that Bush is so despised by the rest of the world that his successor is being hailed as the Messiah. I'm afraid you'll all be sorely disappointed in Obama, though, as he can't possibly accomplish so much even given eight years (and he may well have less time than that.) Obama is a charismatic speaker, but I think he won this election mostly because even America grew tired of Dubya and his narrow sightedness.

As far as I can tell, he only "suspended" the military trials pending a re-evaluation. This amounts to adding as much as another 120 days to the already overly long captivity of those on trial, and very possibly to no practical gain. No wonder many of the defendants asked not to have their trials further delayed, even in the face of military trial which is a farce in most cases and not a trial at all. It's rather like being held by the Spanish Inquisition. After a while, even being burned at the stake probably sounds good compared to more waterboarding and other tortures. At least it puts an end to the misery.

Nor, alas, did he "cancel" all the last minute regulatory actions of the Bushies. I wish he had, but all he did was freeze them pending a "review." Hopefully that review will be thorough enough to stop some of the abuses typical of lame duck presidents. That would include things like awarding grants and lucrative contracts to cronies and pals, or in this case, executive orders letting the oil companies rape public lands freely and mining companies avoid the need to protect wilderness or prevent water and soil pollution.