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The final election night tally shows me trailing by a single vote. More counts to follow as mail-ins are recieved. Check back every morning (or noon, or night) to see the status of my campaign. I am preparing a letter to send to the county auditor asking for a recount.
Weather News:
As Florida gets a drenching from Tropical Storm Fay, here in the Great Northwest we're getting hit with the first coastal storm of the season. My cukes are loving it! I haven't watered my plants since Saturday. And apparently Lucy enjoys the smell of wet dog. She's the only dog I know of who doesn't shake off as soon as she comes in from the rain.
Last night I was part of a group of 15 people for the Twins-Mariners game at Safeco Field in Seattle. The last place Mariners were victorious in knocking the Twins a full game behind the White Sox in the AL Central. It was a very exciting game, with the lead changing 3 times, twice in the eighth inning. The Twins went up by 2 in the 2nd on a wild pitch and sac fly. Seattle took the lead with a 4-spot in the 3rd, then extended their lead to 6-3 in the 6th. It looked like things were beginning to unravel for the Mariners in the 8th when the Twins scored 4 times to take a 7-6 lead. But the M's were able to make their own comeback in the home half of the inning, spoiling yet another game for Mark, who is here with Debbie from Minneapolis visiting.
The Twins blew a 6-0 lead in Monday night's game, losing 11-6. Raul Ibanez had a team record 6 RBI's in that game, and added 5 more last night. Today's game saw the Twins winning 7-3 to salvage a win in the series.
If you're ever thinking of going to a Mariner's game (or Seahawks even) and you're in the South Sound take the bus from Tacoma. You can take Sound Transit from Tacoma Dome Station and they drop you off 2 blocks from the stadium complex. It's $3 a person each way and you don't have to worry about traffic except crossing the streets.
Last week I had the opportunity to look at someone else's coin collection. I've been hearing about this collection (I'll call it the Martin Load) since getting married. No one knew what the coins were or even where they were stashed. Finally, they surfaced a few weeks ago. I was invited in to have a look.
I saw many things I've never seen before. There were 4 Confederate $10 and 2 $5's. There was a 10 cent note drawn on the Bank of South Carolina (1862), a silver 3 cent coin (1850's), and a nickel 3 cent coin- 1868 I think. There was a gold $50 Bahamas coin. My favorites were the 1878 Carson City mint Morgan dollar (rare-ish) and the sparkling roll of 1904 New Orleans mint Morgans.
There were tons of silver Franklin and Liberty Walking ("Walkers") half dollars. Quite a few Peace and Morgan dollars. There were even some silver Ikes. There was a silver Bicentenial set and 1950's and 60's mint and proof sets. There were a lot of silver quarters from the 60's and handfuls of silver Mercury and Roosevelt dimes from the 20's to 60's.
There was a box full of miscellaneous stuff, mostly pennies. There were some old Canadian coins and even some Japanese coins with the holes in the center. The newest coin I saw in the entire box was a Canadian penny, dated 1984. Most likely the last thing dropped in there before the Martin Load was stored away and forgotten.
When you look at an old coin, try to imagine who may have spent that money. It's possible Lincoln spent that 1850's 3 cent coin. That Carson City Morgan dollar may have been plunked down on the bar at some saloon in Tombstone. Maybe those Confederate $10's were meant for some private in Robert E. Lee's army.
Maybe you've been hearing Iran in the news lately. Apparently the Bush policy is to take all the old reasons for invading Iraq and change the Q to N. Let's have a look at the situation there for a minute.
Way back in the 1950's we removed Iran's popularly elected leader and replaced him with a puppet ruler, the Shah. After about 20 years folks in Iran got tired of the Shah so they threw him out and replaced him with the Ayatolah. In the middle of this regime change (as Bush likes to call these overthrows) the Iranians took some hostages. They were very angry at the US for 2 decades of abuse. Since then things have been tense between us and them. Most people just assume the Iranians are nuts who want to kill us all just because they're nuts. Not many people know that we drew first blood.
Next item: nuclear capabilities. We have 'em. Pakistan has 'em. Lots of folks have these things. Is anyone crazy enough to actually use one? Yes! The United States is! Yet we refuse to allow Iran to have any. "They are building the bomb right now!!!!!!" is the word from the White House. They have no proof, and in fact evidence shows the opposite is true. But how hypocritical is it for our government to say someone else can't hyave something that we have, because they're a threat, but we're the only country to ever actually drop the bomb on someone. Not once but twice.
Think McCain and Obama are different? They both want Iran dead, just like Bush, who they both claim to not be like. Our irresponsible leaders even issued a Joint Resolution that expresses the sense (or senselessness) of Congress. It has very harsh words and suggests a naval blockade (act of war).
Iran also speaks aggressively to the US. However, they have yet to act aggressively since the hostages in 1979. President Ahmedahmajad (spelling?) talks tough because that's what a president should do. How would the people of Iran feel if their leader cowered in the face of belligerent behavior from another country? I'm sure every night his last thought is "Will tonight be the night the bombs start falling?"
The moral of the story: Every time the government tells you someone else is bad, ask yourself why and do a little research.
The trading deadline is nigh upon us and the Phillies are back in first! It looks like my prediction of Braves in the lead won't happen. Seattle baseball god Ken Griffey Jr. seems to be on his way to the South Side of Chicago.
In TriCounty news, Limeport wrapped up the top seed for the playoffs. Gabelsville is in unfamiliar territory as the #4 seed. They played to a 9-9 tie against the ICC Pirates in game 1, then tossed a 1-hit shutout in game 1 beta version. The Northern Yankees won their series against Cetronia 2 games to none and will next face the Fleetwings.
Sticking with the Lehigh Valley, Adam Eaton is the latest Iron Pig since being demoted from the Phils and the Eagles are holding training camp at Lehigh University. Football is right around the corner!
