We went for a nice long drive yesterday to enjoy the warm weather. The arctic ice sheet is melting, and you can almost hear it from here in Rantoul. We put on bathing suits and started off. We stopped for a burger and ribs in Fisher at the Albanian place. I got to use my insulin pen in public for the first time. Much more suave and accurate!

But when we got to our little ‘Chernobyl,’ the lake was chock full of boaters with their snootiness and kids. (How we wish we had a yacht or a sailboat!) The damned swimming beach was closed. It IS after all SUPPOSED to be autumn. We watched the dogs and people, then decided to beat it up to Gibson City where we looked for the Bayern Stube. This will be the site of some future Weisswurst and insulin blowout.

We talked trash and politics the whole time, the two being barely distinguishable. The distinction is as follows, though: trash is spoken about people we know but dislike, and politics is mostly people we don’t know but dislike. There are some overlaps and exceptions. Del doesn’t know Obama, but she likes him. I don’t like him quite that well, but I don’t know him either. Del knows and likes David Gill, running for congress. As for our colleagues, we have plenty of tar and feathers. Occasionally, when we’re feeling slimy, we try to think of something nice to say. It’s not nearly as fun or funny.

Is there anybody we both know and truly like? Maybe. But where’s the fun in THAT?