WAS VOTING EASIER?

I ask the question, was voting easier?  In a word, NO!  I took directions from the newspaper. Turn on-to Stanislaus Ave. Turn right on Tuolumne Rd. Turn right again and you will see directions to the polling place. Nope. Turned up Stanislaus, dead ended into Cliff Rd. Turned right found Oneida Rd. Rt. again, Tuolumne Rd and signs for the polling place. Whoops, sorry, the polls don't open until 8:00. My protest: I called the County and they said 7:00 a.m. I did not get a mail ballot. They should have mailed one to everyone, I was told.

I went out for breakfast and returned approximately 8:45. The machines weren't working. After 15 minutes or so, the machines cooperated and they found that I was indeed a registered voter. I voted in less then 10 minutes and left. The poll workers were extremely nice and helpful. I'm still miffed that after 44 years in Murphys, there was not one polling place in our fair village.

Sour grapes on my part. I hope it is better organized in November.

MAKING VOTING EASIER?

Most of my news comes from my newspaper. I was under the impression that the powers that be were trying to make voting easier, by having more voting days, meaning more choices. What a shocker when I found out that there is NO PLACE IN MURPHYS to vote. I've lived here for 44 years and there is not place to vote in Murphys? How can that be. Guaranteed, voting will be down from normal with conditions I will list:

I can vote election day in Arnold at the Library. Take note, Arnold is an area with more vacation homes than permanent residents. They are only open election day.  Did I get something in the mail explaining all of these changes?  NO!  Arnold is twenty-five miles from me one way. Drive 50 miles to vote?  Not very practical for most people I know.

Tomorrow, on a Saturday,  I can drive to Angels Camp, only eleven miles from my house to go and vote. Is it in a recognizable hall? NO!  I was told over the phone, go to Stanislaus St until it ends, turn right , then another right on Tuolumne St. and signs will direct you where to go. Again, this is the only day that site will be open. When our voting ability has gotten worse, not better, turnout is sure to be diminished.

I'm really bummed about this and feeling helpless to do anything about it.  A letter to the newspaper may help get people riled up before the general election. Riled up enough to perhaps get some stability in our election process. Democracy depends on our right and our ability to vote.

I'm still stunned that this is so.

NO HOT WATER

Plumbing is for plumbers. A blocked sink that suddenly will not open makes me laugh, but the undrainable sink isn't really funny until I lie on the floor and try to fix it and get the giggles. I don't know who invented rubber gloves, but oh, how I treasure them for plumbing tasks. Living single is challenging. Getting up on a ladder to clean the screen on my wood stove pipe would give me a warmer, less smokey house.Getting on the roof at my age with a bum knee on the right and a bum ankle on the left is something I shouldn't try. If I get desperate enough I will. I'm frigorific and shrammed. (I'm into new vocabulary words.)  Yes, I'm showing off, because I'm fascinated by some of these old English words because they are so useless, or, as the old English say, bootless. I actually started collecting them because I wanted to wow my daughter with words she probably wouldn't know when we play scrabble. As busy as we are that hardly ever happens anymore. Such long words aren't practical anyway.  Loess will work when you have too many esses in your hand. It means windblown soil, like drifted desert deposits. Zolaf is good when you have a hard to use Z with combined with a hard to use  F. It is a tea spout sleeve. Just what everyone needs, but hey, in a scrabble game, it works. These daffynitions come from Merrium Webster. I swear they are real. How about saln, for peace and harmony. Or serac, a cut in the earth. Stupa, a mostly conical structure for storing bones. I have personal knowledge of stupas from my trip to Thailand. Too many N's?  How about nene. A Hawaiian goose. Xerus is a type of giant squirrel. Zeru is a humped bovine. You've heard the word capo. Sounds like a mobster boss instead of a moveable bar on a guitar.
Well, I've had my fun with words. I must heat water on the stove to wash my dishes and hope Monday brings someone agile and talented to my rescue. Ciao.