This morning’s MSNBC discussed Sarah Palin’s resignation. All I can think of is now perhaps wolves in Alaska will have a chance to survive. Unless the lieutenant governor is also an animal sadist.

MSNBC ran a clip on the Ed Schultz show that showed Gov. Sanford during his campaign in 2002. In it, he, with wife and children by his side, spoke with great feeling about family values, the truth, commitment. It was awesome. It is astonishing to me that people can run on family values, trash them, and then see nothing in what has happened to suggest they might not be fit to lead. If he hadn’t been blatant about morality, his behavior would have been, “oh well, more of the same – he’s a politician – it’s up to North Carolina to deal with him.” His constant explanations and soul searching on camera only get him in deeper. He’s beginning to sound retarded, or on something.

Meanwhile, I tried to catch up to Susil’s enthusiasm for “True Blood” and managed to watch a little a few nights ago before Ed grabbed the remote (that he believes it is his princely right to control). In the scene I saw, a lovely young woman walks into a bar, spies someone interesting, sits in a booth near him. He is intrigued, gets up, asks if he may join her and she says yes. He wants to order a drink for her and she hesitates and finally takes the leap. “True blood,” she says and waits for him to freak. But instead he says something like, hey, cool, you’re a vampire. Dang. What a way to meet people. The dating game ain’t what it used to be.

Yesterday, I put on long polyester pants a cotton turtleneck with long sleeves, a head band, sunglasses, garden gloves, and went to trim the bougainvilla. Next time I will wear two pairs of gloves. The needles went right through. Also, in spite of my clothing, insects bit me through the cloth in places where the sun don’t shine. It was very hot working this way, but better than being covered with bites. I used huge shears, but not good enough. I did the sides, but couldn’t reach the top and it really needs to get cut down. Ed said (who knew?) he had bigger shears in the tool shed. Well, sheesh. I guess I’ll have to dig those out. It was very hard work. Then Ed gets ballistic if I don’t bag the cuttings, so I did that.

There’s a guy named Cemetery Gary (he digs graves and does headstone work) who used to do odd jobs for us but lately he is unavailable. I see him working in other yards. We chat. He says he’ll come by to talk about doing stuff, he promises, he smiles and calls me baby -- he knows I'm old, but he can't help himself. The last time we talked he said, “tomorrow between 2:30 and 3:00.” That was so definite, I nurtured a small hope. Well, that was a fantasy. I never bug him about it but I would like to pin him down to work on that #$+!@#$%^& bougainvilla, using a chain saw or whatever he uses. I’ll have to look straight into his beady little eyes and threaten.

On our pool deck, the original owner of the house had planted a century bush. It has razor sharp needles on the end of its leaves. We had a pro uproot it. Some time later I saw a couple of resurgent ones, tiny, tiny, and ignored them, thinking it was not a big deal. Big mistake. Now there are three bushes, crowding out everything else and all larger than the original, reaching at least 4 feet high. Ed says he will chain saw them down. I am thinking, cut each leaf down with a scissors to see what happens. The cats go out there all the time. They are smart enough not to jump into these bushes.

Last night Ed and I ignored our neighbor’s 4th of July part that he “forgot” to invite us to. His daughter, who lives nearby, said she’d see us there, but that’s not the same as him inviting us so we didn’t take it seriously. We were happy not to be there because his other guests are not that interesting. Plant life comes to mind. He sets off fireworks and that is too much noise for me. So we watched the Macy’s-sponsored fireworks on TV. They are set off from barges in the East River, off the section of Manhattan beginning below 34th Street. They were spectacular. There was a band and singing and a huge crowd. My old pal, Sally Ann, and I, went to watch it close-up one year. I was reminded of how much I love New York and a lump came to me troat.

If I ever win the lotto I will buy a condo in New York and go every other month for a least a week or two at a time. I need my city fix big time.

Years ago a friend’s dog rarely got to go out because the friend was an alcoholic and always partying and leaving her alone for hours, if not days, and always calling up some friend or other to go to his apartment and feed the dog. Whenever anyone took pity on her and took her out (she was a long-haired dachshund named Kookie) she strained at the leash and gasped and never slowed down. That’s the sensation I have when I watch anything set in New York – gasp, sob, choke, me, there, there. Please.

xx, Teal