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We watch little Annie

 Asleep on the floor. Legs twitching.  She’s dreaming; running in her sleep.  She’s old now; fifteen and a half.  She doesn’t get around like she used to.  It’s hard for her to see.  She doesn’t hear much.  She can’t jump.  So we wonder.  While she is sleeping, dreaming, is she young again, running free in the yard, leaping over obstacles, ears flying in the wind?...........   Good chance. 
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I have no sense of direction

 That never happens.  I always know where I am and what direction I’m pointing; but not here.  If I can’t see the water, the only way I can find my way around is with the navigator.  Every time I guess which way I’m headed then check the compass heading, I’ve got it backwards.  We’re lost in the hills and valleys. Once in a while though, Mount Rainier pops up to tell us which direction is south. That helps. We walked into a teriyaki restaurant yesterday, and the girl at the counter looked up, looked at me, and said “chicken bowl.”  “Spicy.” Of course she was right. We’ve been here long enough 
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Why I love Donald Trump

 He is totally busting every candidate for how campaigns are financed now; by billionaires.  Trump is the only one willing to point that out and make the candidates answer the charge.  Answer the question we all know is there but no-one wants to talk about. Every major candidate has a billionaire.  Having money doesn’t guarantee getting elected, but you can’t get elected without money.  What is a candidate’s first priority?  Getting elected.  Once they get elected, what is their most immediate next priority?  Getting reelected.  What do they have to do to get elected or reelected?  Please their billionaire.  So, really, when we elect a candidate, we’re actually just picking which billionaire’s interests get served. That sucks, and Trump says so.  It’s not right.  Trump doesn’t need a billionaire so we should elect him; except he does have a billionaire.  He’s his own billionaire; he just cut out the middleman.  If Trump gets elected, we’ll get what Trump wants. If Trump does get elected, he’ll probably plunge the United States, and maybe the entire world, into chaos trying to keep up with his disconnected ramblings.  If, in the process of not getting elected, he can trash the billionaire model of political elections; make it a liability to be sponsored by a billionaire, he’ll have done the country a great service.  
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Asymmetrical sailboat

 Really, sea otter aside, this is an interesting sailboat. It’s a nice sized boat; 36 feet long.  It’s kind of a catamaran, but with the mast on one side.  Or a mono-hull with an outrigger, but only on one side.  I had to go home and google it.  Its name is Jzerro.  It’s a design called a proa and is taken from early Polynesian sailing craft.  (not my photo) It is such a strange boat, it is always sailed with the outrigger upwind.  In order to tack, you have to exchange bow for stern!  Proas have two bows and can sail in either direction.  You can sail it with yourself out on the outrigger providing ballast like a catamaran, or I think you can take on water in the outrigger to provide ballast against the sail power and ride in the cockpit.  It would probably suck in a tacking dual, what with having to douse a jib, then raise one on the other side every time, but I read it is well suited for ocean cruising. 
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Henry went for a swim

 That’s noteworthy because he has never had any interest in going in the water.  This trip, he played along the stream at the family reunion, collecting sticks out of the shallow water and dragging them back into a pile onshore.  Periodically he would come back to the pile and chew off some bark; perfecting his beaver skills.  He did everything but make a mud dam, and not only got his paws wet, but his entire legs too! This time he played at the shallow edge of a lake and got his legs wet again but there were no sticks in the water.  We tossed one out a little bit.  He splashed out to get it and brought it back.  No problem.  It wasn’t long before he was bounding out to get thrown sticks, retrieving them, and swimming back with them.     At five years old, Henry is now a swimmer.  He doesn’t come from a long line of swimmers.  I’m told his parents won’t even go on the grass if it’s wet!