a pair of good decisions from the SCOTUS

Not only can millions of Americans keep their health insurance (by a 6-3 decision), but same-sex marriage is now the law of the land.

I've not yet jumped back into consuming a breadth of news after my month or so without the Internet. I am continuing to depend upon NPR for most of my news, and am trying to avoid getting hot and bothered about politics.

There must be something going on with our weather, for this afternoon I'm listening to WETS radio out of Knoxville, Tennessee. On my kitchen radio. And it is coming in clearer than WCQS, the Asheville station. I wanted to listen to WEPR out of Greenville, SC on my living room radio, but I couldn't find the station. Then I found a strong, crystal clear NPR broadcast: it was WCQS, which the living room radio rarely receives.

Not wanting to listen to classical music (which is what WCQS was preparing to spend two hours playing), I went to the kitchen and played with the tuner on that radio. Amy Goodman's voice came from the speaker and I knew that I had found WETS. And that made me happy, because on Friday afternoon WETS plays two hours of Science Friday. I can never get WETS on any radio inside my house, but I wasn't about to argue.

On the home front, I have been working six days most weeks lately, so I stay around the house. This year, the south side of the house has been my hangout. It is shady and cool over there, even on the hottest days. Cool air comes down the wooded mountain across the street and crosses my yard as it goes back into the woods on the downhill side of my house.

Speaking of the wooded mountainside across the street, logging has commenced. They say that they are only interested in the tulip poplars (tuliptrees). I don't know what the place will look like when they are done, but they have made an access road that should make hiking up into the Shining Rock Wilderness much easier.