Dealing

We’re finally the recipient of some weather that is remotely akin to what we should be getting in April. Temperatures actually reached the sixties yesterday after starting the day in the twenties, ahhh New England. The snow is finally in full and headlong retreat. Walls are reappearing and only the remnants of major snow drifts remain. The snow drift on the back deck that reached over six feet at its maximum altitude finally gave up the ghost last evening. After dinner I checked on it and it was a fast fading ice puddle. I felt a sense of weird satisfaction to witness its demise. That drift had served as a torturous symbol of this winter of discontent. The pictures below of the front and back yards from this morning will be the last in that series.

24 of These Pests Were Hooverized Last Night

The warm temperatures also meant the annual invasion of the Asian ladybugs in the upstairs bathroom. They swarm in through the shower vent I think. Their fragrant removal via vacuum cleaner has become a spring ritual. While I was doing that, my wife continued her day long project of painting baseboards. I offered to help but was told I am not careful enough. This left me wondering, now that she’s opened the door, if this edict could be extended to other loathsome chores where my lack of precision could be a liability; food for thought.

We were talking with our daughter last night when I noticed that even after a full day of painting baseboards and the myriad other tasks she accomplishes each day, sans makeup she looked remarkably good.  Thirty-three years and counting and those brown eyes still flash.

As I’ve taken the Cantankerous Friend’s sainted president to task so many times I would be remiss not to comment of yesterday’s nuclear deal with Iran. I deeply suspect the motivation behind the timing but I think the fact we were able to sit down at the table with these intransigent foes and hammer out an agreement, any agreement, is a good sign for the future. If you look at the details of the deal Iran is giving up a lot. It’s an indication that the ayatollahs are perceptive enough to realize their revolution is in danger as a new generation of Iranians watch the rest of the world pass them by socially and media wise. The Iranians are a proud people and a nation to be reckoned with in the region, not pointedly ignored. If this deal is a first step in de-Satanizing the relations between us, I think it could be a good thing.

Obama’s very Carter-esque foreign policy has allowed the Iranians to assert themselves in the region more profoundly than ever before. Iranian backed militias are on the move in Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Yemen, and Iraq with unprecedented boldness. The lack of US effort created a vacuum that interestingly prodded the Arab Sunni “super-powers” of Egypt and Saudi Arabia to finally try to solve some of their own border problems. Interesting developments in unintended consequences.

Final Front Yard Picture

The Drift is Dead!