Elise Sereni Patkotak

My friend Grace turns a very old age today. I can say this because she will turn that age before I will by about two months. We’ve been friends since we were about 3 and I spent a good deal of our childhood jealous that she got to do everything first because she was older. I no longer think that way.

Whenever I see Ben Carson I feel like I’m watching a Saturday Night Live skit and at any moment it will end and he’ll open his eyes and be a normal human being. Because if this is really him as he is… WOW!

Asking all the students at his university to carry concealed weapons so as to fight off anyone trying to shoot them. Yep, what could go wrong… guns in the hands of young men who are still in the midst of impulsive behavior. And, of course, it being a Christian university, no one would ever drink at a party and use the guns inappropriately. This man is truly an idiot. 

The national news outlets report that Donald Trump’s numbers have fallen into the low 30% and view this as good since he is down from the 40% or so he’d been polling. And all I can think is, “In what world is it good news the 30% of Americans think Donald Trump is qualified for anything other than looking for a new wife since his current one must be close to her mid thirties and that puts her in the too old range for him?”

I don’t know how the national news is not yet covering this. Murres, a sea bird, are dying at record numbers in California, washing ashore starved to death. Here in Alaska, Bird TLC has had over 30 admitted in the past few weeks, all starving, and none of them anywhere near where they should have been.

So what’s happening? And why isn’t the national news interested? Oh, that’s right. No Kardashian is involved.

As I lay in bed last night, warmed by the two little doggies bodies curled up close against me, I wondered again how people without pets survive. Kids and spouses may be ok substitutes but they will never equal the real thing.