A Needed Cleanse, Etc.

 

We received some needed and abundant rain yesterday, and the earth is clean.

This morning, the earth is also cold because we also had a light frost overnight. 

I'll take both.  

It's nice to see true and brilliant fall colors no longer hidden by layers of dust. Plus, it was fun to walk on dry, firm ground during my morning walk with Bridie.  

We have a few remaining mud puddles, but those will be gone by afternoon thanks to a dry day ahead. 

And, so after a rain break, we'll go back to enjoying this amazing fall, albeit a bit cooler. 

This was a view on Forest Siding Road yesterday.  The horses needed a new supply of grain so I went to Co-Op, picked up a couple of sacks and dropped them off at Roxane's which is on this road. 

This is the cleanest rose hip I've seen in several weeks. 

Yesterday I saw this promotion on Twitter after I had already published my post, so I'll post it again today. 

Practice for SHS girls basketball squads will begin in less than three weeks, and, as with any team effort, some extra funds will help their cause throughout the season. 

So, mark Tuesday evening on your calendar, and plan to eat dinner at Sweet Lou's where I'm pretty sure you'll also meet the team and the coaching staff. 

It's a win, win situation.  

The best candidate will have the best chance to win an election. 

And, what's so wrong with that?

Don't we always prefer the best?

Think about the Olympics this past summer where athletes from different countries ran or swam in preliminary heats so that when the finals came, the very best competed for the medals. 

Imagine if only athletes from certain countries were allowed to compete in the preliminaries. 

Ridiculous, right? 

And, hardly representative of a worldwide sporting event. 

I see it the same way with politics.  In the general election, I want to choose the best possible candidate to win.  

If that candidate has already been barred from moving forward, thanks to strategically planned obstacles from a political party, it seems like a mass of voters lose out. 

I'm stubborn or ornery enough that I've never really wanted to affiliate myself with a political party because I consider myself an independent thinker.  

In fact, I have often voted on both sides of the aisle throughout my adult life.  

Heck, in some elections, I've even voted a protest write-in vote because, in my mind, neither party offered a choice that I would support. 

Like so many other voters, I prefer to vote for the best individual candidate, not the party. 

With open primaries, we can once again have this option in Idaho.

Whichever party offers the best candidate---that person should win---not the party. 

Simple as that. 

Besides, what's the big fear in offering every voter a choice?

Or, could it possibly be a concern about losing control?

Let's get back to primaries that mean something to ALL voters so we can ALL participate. 

Plus, if the best candidate does have a chance to win, that individual also takes on a bigger responsibility to represent a broader constituency. 

So, we not only win as voters but we also win as constituents. 

Win-win with a Yes for Prop 1.