(Some politician or another. Photo AP)

There is a firestorm in progress downtown. Something about the prospective third most powerful figure in Washington deciding he really wasn’t that interested in pursuing the job, after some interesting and scurrilous information was spread around by means of some salacious edits on the Wikipedia pages of some prominent politicians involved. The changes to the pages were made from a computer with an IP address that maps back to the Department of Homeland Security.

A pal observed that he suspected it was done by a politicized civil servant at the office, since that is about as dumb a thing as I can think of. I think it is about time to reform the civil service- again. Last time was in the Garfield AdministrationI honestly have no idea why people go into politics these days.

I don’t know what to make of it all, so I think I will just keep my eyes and keep moving. There are other things going on, too, more executive orders from an increasingly dysfunctional government- thousands of people being let out of federal jails in the interest of “fairness” or something. With crime rates spiking in New York, Baltimore and Chicago, I am pretty sure that undoing the progress in reducing violent crime is not one of the things I would put high up on my list of things to accomplish.

It is local, too. I heard in the finance committee meeting last week that there is apparently a gang stealing catalytic converters from the cars in the lot around the building. Apparently they sell them for the platinum used in their construction, and the police say they are really good and really quick. I am keeping an eye on where I park the police cruiser, and I am glad the Panzer lives in the garage.

So, there is a lot not to think about this morning, and I am working hard on not thinking at all. The workers have been hard at the pool project. I came back from running errands and discovered they had done the pour of concrete on Joe’s patio, and the one next to it that I used to own.

I wondered if that was gong to be it, or how they were going to put the expansion joints in, and mixed an adult beverage to enjoy while the workers worked. I like this phase of life, and they were speedy about it. Here is how they finished the project:

It looks pretty slick. I saw Ann, Queen of the Canines, as she walked her Airedale Kerry. She invited me over to take a look at what had been done, since the pipes from the pool down to the basement where the filtration and heating equipment is located runs directly under her patio.

The trench is deep and formidable. She is going to be living with this for a while:

I am lucky I can still get in and out in case I need to take action against someone torching the muffler off of the police car.

These are strange times, aren’t they?

Copyright 2015 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com
Twitter: @jayare303