Jill Rants and Raves: now the rapture is over

I've been very quiet on my blog - don't say you haven't noticed. But now the rapture has died down, now that Caroline Kennedy has withdrawn in the New York Senate seat debacle, now that the conservatives have decided to pronounce loud and clear 'we hope he fails', now that 50% of my friends on Facebook have changed their profile pictures to that blue and red Obama type poster graphic, and now (oh, happy day) that Marisa Tomei has been nominated for an Oscar, I feel that I can venture out from under the rainbow cloud of cloying adoration and get back to my rants. Oh, one more thing. I'm a little tired of all the black dogs at the White House. And now the Obama's are considering a black labradoodle or a black portuguese waterdog. I say a white dog for the white house. C'mon now.

I think Obama's speech was one of the weakest inaugural speeches I've heard, as though even he were overwhelmed by the symbolism of the moment and didn't want to over-reach. It was not a speech of broad optimism and vision, but one which while not filled with the fear mongering which characterised W's years in office, set the scene for four years of sacrifice by the same bunch of us who've been doin' the sacrificing for quite a while now. But hey, who needs a soaring Obamatory speech if you can have the greatest female soul singer of all time, Aretha Franklin, singing 'My Country Tis Of Thee'. Have I told you that I have had a signed photo of the Queen of Soul hanging on my wall since 1968? 'With my sincerest and best wishes, Aretha' she wrote and there's a little smiley face she drew. The ink is smudged where she dripped her vodka tonic. Well, could have been vodka.

On another note, I'm still looking for a home for the fab Ajax, a 15 pound sheltie/terrier/american eskimo mix who is pretty perfect except he doesn't like to poop outside in the rain. Who does, you may ask. What is that about dogs - they love playing in the rain, just not pooping in it. They love diving into the Bay but scream when you hose the sand off them, love playing in the sprinklers on a warm sunny day, but bite you when you rinse the mud off their feet, love scrambling up a rocky cliffside but wince in agony when you dry between their toes. That small matter aside, Ajax is a prince - great with other dogs, cats, kids, stupid adults, doesn't chase bikes, rides well in the car....he is not staying with me for the long haul...let's get that straight.

Meanwhile, I continue to batter my body with clumsy falls, and having punctured my left elbow with a nail while falling into a house carrying someone else's TV, and crunching my left little finger so that it is now permanently bent, I decided to switch to the right side and fell down a small rocky incline while walking my dogs. My wrist is agony, I'm watching it swell and thinking I should move to different body parts and give my arms a rest.....