What's in a Vote?

There was a primary election here on Tuesday.  I waited patiently for our sample ballot to arrive, and a write-up on the candidates.  California was good at that.  They sent information out to every registered voter, in several languages.  But I waited in vain here.  Who is running?  What do they stand for?  Since no information was forthcoming, I asked around.  No one I asked knew any more than I did, and that was practically nothing.  We organized a political discussion at our Empty Nest Family Home Evening on Monday night.  No one there knew anything either.  I looked online for information and found very little about the candidates and no sample ballot.  I was so upset by this.  We did the best we could with the election, then I made some calls to the election board and the state rep over elections.  I told them what I thought about the lack of information.  How easy would it be to put a sample ballot along with candidate information and propositions online?  Little or no cost would be involved and voters could access the information easily.  I told them so.  They listened politely.  But I didn't feel that any changes would be made anytime soon.  I could be pleasantly surprised.  And that may partly explain why voter turnout is low.  At this critical time in our history, when so many rights are being lost, we need to speak up...and vote!

Our last singing performance was last Thursday.  It was much fun but by the last day we were feeling very done.  Part of the reason is that Layne caught a giant cold and was feeling pretty lousy.  He pushed himself through but Friday he absolutely crashed.  He sat around all day, staring off into space.  It was so "un-Layne-like."  Our neighbor came over that evening and massaged his feet.  I think he liked it.  Of course he was so out of it we could have done anything to him and he would tolerate it.  Poor baby.  He's on the mend now I'm happy to say and, today, feels just about normal.

Tomorrow we begin our drive to Colorado, via Salt Lake, where we will spend some time with Layne's twin, Lynn and his wife Camille.  On the way home we will check in with my sister Maryanne and hub Bob.  We will be driving Layne's old truck, which I'm not looking forward to.  But we need it to haul some stuff from the Colorado ranch.  I had to work over many days of suggesting and nagging to get Layne softened to the idea of driving to Colorado.  I'm grateful that he has finally agreed.  So I'll put up with the discomforts of truck travel.


I'm just about ready to leave for our addiction recovery meeting.  It is spring in the yard and so beautiful.

Our cat Cherry must be with us when we are in the yard.  Here she sits between me and friend Phyllis Salsedo, on the bench in our back yard.