The rat saga and the primaries

The rat saga continues. I've not found any more, knock on wood, nor have I heard scratching in the walls. But sometimes when I walk into the kitchen, I think I catch a faint sniff of that odor you get when something has died in the walls. Fortunately I have a humongous head cold and can't smell much. The exterminator is coming tomorrow, and since he told me last week he could smell the rats (their urine), I'll ask him about this whiff I'm getting. I did notice that the floor of the bird feeder--empty until I'm sure the rats are gone--is covered with droppings. My neighbor told me she saw a rat inside my feeder. No wonder the bird seed disappeared so fast. Jordan and Christian are still declining to put my Christmas things up in the attic--they may be in the guest room until spring!
The primaries in New Hampshire have left me feeling a bit more hopeful. Iwaffled--I admit it--when Obama seemed on such a roll. Several editorials suggested that a newcomer would indeed be a good thing, bringing no political baggage. But my brother suggested that he heard echoes of Jimmy Carter, who has been so much more important to the world as a former president than he was effective as a president. And when I thought Hillary would lose, I ached for her--and then realized I ached for us as a country. She knows that pulling troops out of Iraq will not be an easy thing to be accomplished in months; she knows the world of international politics. And maybe, like a lot of other people, I became a full convert after her emotional talk in a cafe in NH was broadcast, showing her as very human and very concerned. Yes, she can be calculating and strong--but is that necessarily a bad thing in this world? I'm going to do what I can to work for her campaign. And, though this sounds bipartisan, the Republican candidates scare me, because they would all carry on the Iraq war and the belligerence of the Bush administration. So I pray for peace.
I saw a wonderful email--one of those that is forwarded thousands of time--but this one was photos of a polar bear playing with sled dogs. When the dogs' owner saw the bear coming, he thought he'd lose his dogs. But the bear was apparently just lonely--he frolicked and hugged and played with the dogs, coming back every day for a week. Why can't people be like that?