Sunday, January 15, 1984

The eight Democratic Presidential Candidates were enlightening on TV, each with their different philosophies. Several impressed me, Senators Hart, Cranston and Mondale, but the one that impressed me the most was Reverend Jesse Jackson. Many times during the debate, after each candidate had given his answer to a particular question. I thought that Reverend Jackson's answer to any particular question was the only answer I understood. Every President since President Eisenhower has spoken double-talk or George Orwell's "newspeak" to me. Senator John Glenn appeared to be a milquetoast. I especially understood Reverend Jackson's feeling that Japan and Europe should pay their fair share for the protection we try to give them, but I wonder if he would react favorable to the churches in this country paying their fair share of our taxes. If the churches were taxed just one year, the national debt would certainly be a lot less, if indeed, there were any debt left.

Looking out of my kitchen window, I see that it hasn't snowed anymore as forecasted. I'm not tired of winter yet, as everyone else seems to be. I truly love the four seasons, and would be bored to death living in another climate. Winter seems to be the only season when I'm totally organized. I don't know if that's because winter tends to make people more foresighted because of it's severity, or if there's too many things to do in the other seasons, especially keeping-up a house. There is something essentially secure about winter, at least living where I live. Maybe it's because I've always been a homebody or recluse, if you like, and winter rather forces that upon one. I should hate winter because I am never warm enough. When I was small, I had surgery and have been uncomfortable in cold weather ever since. I go to extravagant lengths to get and stay warm. I wear twice as many clothes as others. I do dishes a lot, in hot water. I take two or three hot soaking baths every day (you won't find my water heater set on warm). I sleep in a heated waterbed. I practically wear two hot water bottles. If I don't do these things, my feet and hands (and my other extremity, my nose) get so cold that I lose feeling in them. When I get too cold at work, I break equipment and can't physically feel other frequently-used equipment. I also can't feel my foot on the gas pedal and brakes or hands on the steering wheel and turn signals when I drive. When I start warming up, my hands and feet literally throb, so much that I've cried many times during my 'thawing out' period. There are many things my coldness keeps me from doing, winter sports, driving a car a lot, shoveling the driveway and scraping car windows. I am better prepared than most people for winter. I thrive in ninety degree weather, much to the dismay of anyone in the same household. I seldom perspire, and only run the air conditioner on extremely hot, over one-hundred degree, days when I'm cleaning house. I save a fortune of air conditioning in the summers, but can't financially afford to keep warm in the winter.