Be vigilant

If you have never been to a large organized run or other type of event, you might not know how much security is involved. The Shamrock run in Oregon, the Chicago Marathon, etc. are a lot larger than Boston, but the security is still seemingly over the top.

It's a reminder that if someone wants to be a criminal, they can plan and plot and basically do whatever they want regardless of how many police officers or security guards are around. It means we need to be vigilant and observant, and while we don't need to be living in a bunker, we should be aware at all times.

I've been working my butt off and had to take a break from blogging and even reading other blogs. I'm still living a prepared life, I just had to focus a little more on work and leave the rest of the world to itself. I was feeling a little prickly over all the legislation, political rhetoric and world news. The breaking point was a local politician coming into my office at work and handing me a donation envelope. I've supported him in the past as he is a great voice for equal rights, so I asked him if he was a supporter of the 2nd amendment.
"I'm a supporter of the 2nd amendment but I'm also a supporter of sensible gun control"
I told him that I'm held accountable each day at work and politicians needs to be held accountable as well. Passing legislation based on emotion, special interest groups and out of state pressure when the majority of your constituents oppose it, means you get a recall effort against you. Especially when the legislation only means law abiding citizens do/pay more and it doesn't stop anyone else from doing anything.
He said, "I disagree that it wont do anything, especially when it's paired with the mentally ill list, something that doesn't exist just yet. I think these issues will be number one in the next election."

He's damn right they will, walk into my office and give me a line of political bullshit and tell me he wants a mentally ill list. Make one list, make more, no stopping that juggernaut once it gets going. I'm keeping his donation envelope so I can put some money in it and hand it to his opponent. The legislation, today, is talking about mental health issues and how they can detain mentally ill.
So it begins.

My plants are doing great and almost ready for a transplant, I've got bread starter that will be cooked tonight, half the things I've used in the kitchen over the last few weeks were expired and I've only gone to the grocery store once in about 3 weeks.
It's going to be a big trip when I finally take the time to go, maybe this weekend. It's not an experiment, it's just how it worked out. We are house and dog sitting currently, talk about not having much of a time block for ourselves.

The working out is going great, I've slimmed down some via diet and feel a lot better about myself. I hit a few goals in the gym that I was struggling with and I'm managing to get some running and hiking in still. I'm hopeful this week is the last of the cold weather, I'm about done with it.

I switched over my get home bag to the new eberlestock pack I ordered in a few weeks ago. It's a nice pack and holds everything and then some. It's also not too bulky and changing from black to multicam means it blends in in this high desert foliage.