"Fall Off the Perch"

I have written before that I have for decades had the feeling that I would die in the “dead” of winter. And, if I make it to spring, then I have some time to play. Well, today I planted potatoes, weeded the cabbages, watered the orchids and did it in shorts and a tee shirt. I have this feeling that I’m good for another 6-10 months at least.
I wonder where those feelings come from. Sometimes I sense real doom just around the corner, and wait, or look, and it isn’t there. I heard Sally Mann the other day talking about her husband and his muscular dystrophy and how it is progressing. They both affirmed that they didn’t want to know the details of when it would get near terminal. She said she would rather that he “just falls off the perch.” I love that. So would I. Rather just fall off the perch I mean. But my Sally wants some time to get used to it, and so do I if she is the one that falls first. Trouble is you can’t have it both ways mostly. I’m getting too old and cantankerous without being sick and I can’t imagine me being this way and suffering a long slide to the end. So I vote for a modified falling off the perch. Maybe a week of quiet sliding, sign some papers, some murmured nothings, time for family to gather to party, then fall, baby, fall.
Now that sounds like a plan. And it includes time for a few more IPAs.
Image: http://abstract.desktopnexus.com/wallpaper/45841/

Revolution Any One?

The news from Libya and Bahrain continues to be bad and good. Bad because protesters are still on the streets and being killed by their governments, and good because they are still protesting for more freedom. These people, mostly young but not all, are putting their lives on the line for an idea. I cannot express my admiration strongly enough, and my sadness for their losses.
Wisconsin is dealing with another kind of criminal leader. This is a Governor who is attempting to gut the unions of the state by voiding the collective bargaining contracts unilaterally. People there are protesting in the streets. Dying for your freedom and protesting for your rights are different in intensity, but not in character. In both cases despotic rulers have overstepped and need to be corrected somehow.
In America we can protest without fear of death or injury, usually. We can also vote out the offending politicians and vote in new ones. Not always better, but at least we can vote. In many places in the Arab world there is no alternative but the street and armed confrontation.
Killing your own people leads to revolution.
Unilaterally killing contract obligations can also lead to revolution.
Revolution any one?
Image:http://www.prwatch.org/news/2011/02/9944/live-reporting-wisconsin-protests