NOT ONE CUSS WORD, AND NO HEROES, EITHER

LOOKS LIKE RAIN LATER ON TODAY

Thursday, 8:00 AM.  64 degrees F, wind N, light.  the sky is mostly cloudy with mixed white and dark clouds, the sun peeking through now and then.  The humidity is 87% and the barometer is down at 29.90".  We will probably get some rain sometime today.
   We picked up Leslie and Allison in Duluth late yesterday afternoon.  They both had a long, long day of travel and they are sleeping in this morning.
   Buddy and I had a little adventure this morning.  As we were traversing the edge of the woods on Ninth St. we heard a small dog barking and yipping.  Thinking it was Jane and Sherman's beagle Rocky following us I whistled and waited for it to come out of the woods so I could take it back home.  As I whistled and the dogs barked I heard a faint voice call, "Help...I'm stuck in the woods."  Now you wouldn't think that much of a concern in the City of Bayfield, but this woods is a tangle of downed logs and brush and traverses a pretty goodly ravine.  Buddy and I eventually found Barb, a retired Bayfeld schoolteacher, and her little dog Mojo, who had run away from her and gotten his leash caught in the brush.  By the time we got back out to the road it was a tossup as to who was helping whom.  But outside of some muddy feet and a few scratches all ended well.  Barb is a true credit to her profession and her gender, as I heard her say not one cuss word.
   I have a lot of yard work catchup to do today... plant a few things, mow the lawn and attack the weeds.  I have spent most of the last week and more installing a landscape I designed for a large residence on the lake shore.  As my mother used to say, "The shoemaker's children never have any shoes," and my own  garden is out of control.
   No shoes, and no heroes, either: where have all the heroes gone?  There are few to none among the present politicians, or at least the bums and hustlers so overshadow them we can't see them;  pervert Anthony Weiner is one case in point.  Great choice for mayor of New York City, between a pervert and a swindler. There are few current high ranking military officers we can point to (thanks to the Chicago-Obama  Administration ).  Most sports figures eventually become mired in scandal, or outright thuggery (Ryan Braun of the Milwaukee Brewers being brought up on drug charges hits too close to home), and the Silver Screen and the music industry offer little but misogynists and drug addicts.
   We have to look to the common people to find our heroes these days, I guess: those raising decent families despite all the current odds;  the returning soldier and wounded warrior; the honest and diligent employee and businessman; our first responders, the selfless volunteer.  There are still heroes among us, but they are too often overshadowed and demeaned by the appalling amount of bums our society continues to spawn.