So Much Going On....

Wow.   The Chicago Cubs won the World Series last night; the last time they won the baseball championship was in 1908.  My four grandparents were less than 25 years old then, and neither of my parents had been born.  I guess that if Thomas Magnum, P.I., were a real person, he'd be celebrating like mad!

    The Colorado Buffalo football team is hosting UCLA tonight, and the Buffs are looking for a win.  I never thought I'd see them ranked one notch below my Florida Gators in the NCAA Top 25 poll.

    Beatrice was hired as a temporary assistant at the Boulder County Elections Office for this, our national election.  Today was her third day at work, and with the checks and balances features that she has described to me, I can't see any cheating or stacking or rigging of the polls possible in our election.  I worked as an Elections Judge in 2008 and 2012 - and I know that we had to follow rigorous, non-partisan regulations.

    The Breeders Cup will start their races tomorrow - 13 horse races at Santa Anita worth $26.5 million in purses.  As always, I wish I could be there.

    We have found one of our new friends to be quite a narcissist, as well as a drama queen.  We hope to slowly disengage from her friendship, and just be acquaintances.

    Sunday will began "regular time" again - Daylight Savings Time will end, and we're to set all clocks and watches back by one hour at 2 a.m.  I set all of my clocks back early Saturday evening so I don't forget....   Did the law makers ever consider what happens in the hospital, when the time gets turned back?  It was always a nightmare when we had to turn the clocks back in Labor and Delivery!

    One of the local tax amendments that we, in the city of Boulder, have to vote on, is Proposition 2-H.  It adds a 2-cent per ounce tax to "sugary" drinks sold within the city limits.  The list includes soda pop, fruit juices, Gatorade and Power drinks, chai teas, kombucha, Snapple, etc.  This tax is supposed to "fight childhood obesity."  (Don't most children need juice growing up?)  The list does not include beer, wine, alcoholic beverages, or Red Bull.  Supposedly, the companies that produce and sell the listed items are to pay the taxes without raising any consumer prices.  Now, that is laughable.  I suffer from terrible migraine headaches if I don't get enough caffeine into my body.  I don't drink coffee or tea, and I am border-line diabetic, so I drink Diet Coca-Cola for my caffeine fix.  It has no sugar in it, but contains a chemical artificial sweetener.  My Diet Coke is subject to the tax.  Local public schools stopped selling sodas from vending machines on campus several years ago.  It's a common scene, before school, to see students fill their backpacks with 6-packs of soda to sell at school.  Somehow, I don't think the tax will work well.

    Then, finally, there's the Presidential election.  I hope there is a huge turn-out for early voting between now and Tuesday, and that a tidal wave of votes is cast on Tuesday.  Trump still frightens me.  He has a fraud trial date set for 28 November; he has a child rape trial date set for December; and he has 73 other pending lawsuits (all against him).  The FBI Director sent letters to Congressmen stating that Secretary Clinton's e-mails were being looked at, again, because of an investigation of another person.  The FBI Director stated that he feared the information would be leaked, otherwise, and that it might have an effect upon the Presidential election.  Yes.  It certainly has.  Even though no charges have been brought, or sought, against Clinton, many undecided voters are now saying they will vote for Trump.  Director Comey has definitely changed the election with his hints of wrong-doing, whether the perpetrator is Hillary Clinton, or not. (And considering the investigation was into a sexting scandal involving a man named Weiner, I don't think this is about Clinton.)

A Few Short Notes

We've been much warmer than usual for the month of October - it was breezy yesterday afternoon with highs in the 80s; today it was in the mid-70s, but it was downright windy (with gusts up to 63 mph).  The bat decorations broke loose this morning, but we caught them before they flew away.  Have had to fold up and place all other balcony items inside - but the poor honeysuckle vine has had almost all of its leaves blown off and away...  Due to be cooler the next three days, 60s and 50s, and then return to the 70s for the weekend.  Not true Indian Summer, not a true fall experience, either.
    The thought of Donald Trump as President of the United States scares me.  While the state of Colorado is largely Republican in the rural areas, most of the cities are Democrat.  I was quite surprised yesterday when the local newspaper announced that Donald Trump , Jr was holding a campaign stop/rally on University Hill in Boulder, at a restaurant named The Sink.  It's a pizza parlor and tavern combination - and President Obama stopped there and ate and drank and chatted with the students a few years ago.  The City of Boulder consists of less than an 8% Republican membership.  Why would Trump, Jr decide to stop here?  Well, the owners of The Sink were not told before the announcement of the intended stop.  This morning, Trump, Jr and the campaign office were told that the owner of The Sink did not want to be visited.  This afternoon, Trump, Jr appeared in a venue on Pearl Street - a mile or more away from his chosen spot.
   Today Melania Trump appeared in an interview with Anderson Cooper and declared that Billy Bush had egged her husband on in making his egregious comments about his sexual predatory behavior.  She stated that it was just "boy's locker room talk" and that, while she found his words on the tape offensive, it wasn't "the real man,"  and that he had been led into making all of those remarks in 2005.  I was OK, hearing that statement, but then an announcer stated that Melania Trump was a "very private and shy person."  The Diet Coca-Cola I had just sipped shot out of my nose in astonishment.  This woman, who has exposed every part of her body to photographers, is private and shy?!?  Her photos could be a spread for Slut of the Year, and no one would blink an eye.  (And yet Michelle Obama received abuse for daring to wear a sleeveless dress?!?)  Talk about double standards...
    My other comment  is about Trump's complaint that the election process is rigged.   Was it rigged for Nixon?  Was it rigged for Reagan?  Was it rigged for Gore?  I think NOT.  In the first Presidential debate, Trump said he would accept the voting of the American electorate.  Since then, he has whined that the election is rigged, almost every single day.  Pence, Trump's running mate, says they will accept the vote of the American public.  Paul Ryan, the head of the Republican party, says that the election process is clean and proven.  Trump says the voting is rigged - a month before the election.   Between 2000 and 2014, over 3 billion votes have been cast in thousands of elections.  During that time, only 31 cases of voter fraud have been found - with searches made on all levels of the voting and accounting hierarchy.  I think Trump just doesn't want to accept the fact that he will probably lose on 8 November