As the sunburnt skin, flakes and peals away...

Monday morning, get ready and return to the world of work, the prison, the library. There are a large looming banks of dirty gray clouds rolling in from the West, but I ride my Trusty Triumph to the Credit Union to turn in the sixteen dollars of rolled coins. The ride is cool and good, the weather has turned to Fall, we used the Sun and heat up too quickly and need reminded of what is normal. Florida was pretty but seems ages not just a week ago.

The three man crew and I get to work, I change their duties for the next two weeks and so I am in answering questions and teaching mode. One of the best workers understands that the other two aren't jumping into what needs done like he does, he remarks on it, I blame his sense of responsibility. I did mention he was one of the best workers? It is a long day, open 4.75 hours of the eight and the last two periods are overbooked and there aren't any rain checks.

In the processing today I found that Rolling Stone couldn't find a musician nor artist for their cover, President Obama is highlighted since Rolling Stone is going into political commentary and is being graded by that cultural magazine. I always wondered if the title of the magazine came from a Heinlein story but have decided it couldn't have. I notice The Advocate has also taken the popular pre-election image of Obama and HOPE and changed the color and the meaning, another group not very happy with where he is now. Weren't we supposed to have a great unification of all the People? Wasn't that what his election symbolized?

I am worn out by working, turning in all my reports and thinking about this job. Did some good stuff, found the things that the patrons couldn't, hoping it will make life better for all these under the rock creatures. I close and lock up and walk out dropping off the distribution. As the door opens to the outside I see the rain, light and wet, waiting for me (yes, I remember deciding not to pack the rain gear this morning). It isn't a bad rain, just constant, the gray skies filled with the clouds matches the gray waters of the Puget Sound surrounding the island, we have a dead whale dragged to the beach to decay so the Wildlife people can take samples and study the decomposing mass, science what we do for science. There will be lots of well fed little creatures.

Our flag pole is flying our flags at half-mast, in the rain, and I hear taps. The governor has honored another fallen soldier in our war against our terrrors. Concrete Washington has honored him also. I notice that he wasn't alone in his dying, the link is full of other great passings. I am not doing enough, I watched "The Fog of War" and know what happens when our country doesn't go to war - united in the effort, but then I was inside of that Vietnam War, the one they (those that didn't serve or served us ill) still lie about. Wasn't this current conflict also part of the pile that our President was going to get right? It could be a good thing that I think he is way over his head and will one day figure it out, but then what will I do to clean up that bigger mess, since he won't? Lucky that I am just a library keeper and all my problems are small ones.