Well, it's been another long while. We had a too-warm winter, with a deep freeze near the end of February, that totally destroyed Blueberry crops around here. I lost virtually all of my own early crop, and the late crop came early. Only a few berries left, and they are not getting ripe. I probably will spend the next couple of days pruning the plants to allow for more growth for next year's harvest. And the mosquitos are fierce. I neglected to buy fish because my seasonal pond was virtually dry at the start of the season, but then we got some rain, and the pond looked more normal, and I still failed to buy any fish to stock the pond, and now I can't stand to be outdoors for long.... Trying to get a cell phone repeater working in order to have internet access at the house. AT&T has the best signal, but I can't afford their internet. Second best should be Verizon, but even though they are getting better plans, I still can't afford theirs either. Sprint and T-Mobile are decent plans, but no worthwhile signal at my place.So it's time to try to boost the signal. I have an outside antenna, with a Wilson cradle to transfer the signal to the phone. There is no real amplification with this setup, but I pick up 6-7 db, going from -113 to -106, which still is not good enough. So I'll have to find the best amplifier, or see what kind of performance I can get from the cheapest amplifier???? And the election is heating up. I work in retailing, and I always mention that the price with tax is after we pay Rick--as in Rick Scott, the governor of florida. This is the guy who is hurting the people of the state by refusing to go along with the Nation's health care law, and who, after being elected on a pledge to bring jobs to the state, laid off 4000 state workers, and increased payroll deductions on all who remained, and who has 4000 more teachers in fear of losing their livelihood, and his line item vetoes on the state budget affected contracts that were already signed, and resulted in layoffs of people hired to perform the work. He's probably got a 10,000 jobs deficit before he creates the first new job, and he has yet to do that. Anyway, I have only talked to about eight people in that whole time who admitted to having voted for this guy, and two of those said that they were sorry they did so. WE NEED RECALL! But of course, the republic controlled legislature won't give it to us, so it will have to be done by voter initiative. You can tell if a republic candidate is lying (and by the way, if they can shorten the name of my party, I can do the same to them) by looking at his lips. If they are moving, he is lying. Far too many of them support this clown who murdered Trayvon Martin, and we still would not get any support to renew the automatic weapons ban, even after Aurora. This has got to stop! We must make sure that we get the elderly and porr people, including minorities to the polls this year, even if Rick Scott pulls the same shit jeb bush pulled with the state troopers in 2000, intimidating minority voters on their way to the polls. Scott has already gotten in hot water over his attempts to drop "non-citizen voters" from the rolls, and his photo id law. republic candidates are saying now that voting is not a right, but a privilege. There is already case law in Massachusetts, I believe, that says that driving is essentially a right. Voting certainly falls into that category as well. This state is doing everything it can to remove that right from anyone who might be tempted to vote for the Democratic party. The most important thing in November is to strengthen Democratic control of the Senate, to at least sixty votes. If we get enough voters to the polls to do that, we should also be able to ensure an Obama victory. I am not particularly fond of Obama, as I prefered Hillary Clinton, and I believe the health care reform should have included VA-style health care for everyone who wanted it. During Katrina we heard that a new combination VA and charity hospital was being built in New Orleans. We need a lot more of those. But I don't want to see anyone waste a vote on a liberal third party candidate. If only a fraction of those who voted for Nader in 2000, in Florida alone, had cast their vote for Gore instead, we would not have had eight years of the George W. Bush problem. So I am prepared to cast my vote for Obama, even if I have to hold my nose to do so. Because NOTHING would be worse than to see someone named Mitt in the White House!