Elise Sereni Patkotak

I am still embarked on a seemingly futile quest to get the rescued Conure that I am fostering to eat healthy food. In bird world, that means something other than seeds. So, being a human and therefore inherently brighter than the average bird…one hopes…I devised a method of mixing his seeds with some high potency fine Harrison’s bird food. This food is tiny little round pellets, maybe the size of a very small BB or the tip of a pencil. I sneakily mix the healthy food with the seeds. Since many of the seeds he eats are also round and

…that there are many more lethal and dreaded diseases than the common cold. But when you are in the midst of that common cold, it seems as lethal as you can get and still survive. So from me to you, cough, hack, snort, cough cough.  Oh god, my soul for a decongestant someone with hypertension can take that will actually work without blowing my arteries out!

Wow. Alaska politics are nuttier than usual this year.  An indicted senator wins his primary. A forever congressman fights for his political life against a primary opponent with the charisma of Michael Dukakis.  Seems like half the state legislature is in jail or about to go to jail or fighting to stay out of jail.  And now, Sarah for vice-president.

My first thought was that if Sarah runs for vice president and Parnell ends up running for U.S. House, who exactly will be running the state?  That’s when I start smiling. What a wonderful solution to the problems caused by

I had tears streaming down my face last night as Barack Obama finished his speech. I remember seeing Dr. King’s speech forty years ago and having the same reaction. I am prouder to be an American right now than I have been for the past eight horrible years under The (OH-MY-GOD-THE-MAN-REALLY-IS-THAT-DUMB) Decider.  I am truly thrilled that I lived long enough to see this day happen. I hope to live at least eight more years and see a woman take her rightful place on that podium when Obama finishes what will surely be his eight years in office.

Have someone you haven’t seen for forty years, since you graduated from college together, come to visit. The visit is wonderful. But oh those moments at night before falling asleep when you remember how long forty years is…what you once dreamed of doing with your life all those forty years ago…how you once had a lot of curly hair on your head and only one rather firm chin….sigh…