Dog days of summer.

Washington fiddles while the world economy burns.  ~  Pat

Today was another 100 degree day with humidity to  match.  There are no children on the streets riding bikes or scooters.  I assume they’re inside trying to stay cool.  My grass is brown but the weeds are nice and green.  A neighbor teenager mowed them for me early yesterday before the thermometer climbed too high.  And he took a break midway to hydrate and rest.  (I have a small yard.)

Despite the oppressive heat, the neighborhood is a beehive of activity, mostly Latinos doing repairs to the homes that were damaged in the hail storm back in April.  Latinos replaced my roof and many others in the area.  They are putting in a pool for the neighbors.  Soon they will be cleaning, sanding, and painting my deck and pergola.  I spoke with a man from Mexico while he was here to fix my roof.  He told me he had been here for one week.  He knew no English yet.  He commented on how much work we have here.  (It’s all in your perspective, isn’t it?)  We can’t get our lawmakers to pass fair guidelines for our immigrants, yet we can’t do without them.  Who else would work 12 and 14 hours a day in this heat to restore our houses?  The Peruvians, Venezuelans, Mexicans, Hondurans, etc., will.  And they do it with smiles on their faces, so grateful to be here in the land of opportunity.  We allow them to join our military, fight and die in our wars, but we won’t grant them citizenship.  Well, on occasion, after one dies in Afghanistan or Iraq, we sometimes grant it posthumously.  That’s a little late, no?

I recognize that the dog days of summer are starting to get to me.  But our legislators in Washington are behaving like a**holes and I have zero patience.  They are playing games not only with the US economy but that of the entire world and apparently don’t have enough intelligence to see what they’re doing.  Or worse, they don’t care.

If this weather doesn’t break soon, I’m heading for the hills.  Meantime I’m hoping for rain in DC to cool off all those hot heads up there.  And that’s the end of this tirade for now.  Sorry.