The Shutdown

I want NASA back. I want the CDC back. I want the NIH back, the FDA, the national parks and monuments... The list goes on and on...

We put off our trip to the Black Hills because of the four foot snowfall. But we might not have gone anyway, because the Badlands are a national monument and thus closed. They are amazing, a high point of every trip. If we go off season, they are almost entirely empty, very lovely and peaceful. Well, the prairie dogs makes noise. I think it was our last trip there... We saw three bighorn sheep walking along a ridge at sunset, outlined against the western sky.

I grew up on stories of the Populists and the New Deal, the founding of national parks and government regulatory agencies. That used to be heroic. Government by the people and for the people. The post office is now selling off buildings that have WPA murals, and the question is, how to make sure the murals are not destroyed.