I've been a poor correspondent since Thanksgiving Day, 12 days past, when I mentioned surgery the next day. I've been on crutches ever since and my patient dog waits for those fabulous outings I've promised his deserving, devoted 13 year old (91 dog years) soul; and my patience, of necessity, changes depending on the situation. Winter has set in with a tenacity that won't allow my ususal "wait for the sun to melt it before planning on shoveling plan" to suffice. I do love to shovel snow, however. For me, it's a meditation, out at night in the still, quiet; nothing but the rhythmic, physical effort of lofting shovel after shovel...and the the evidence of your breath, and life, hanging in the air... and I feel the reality of being just another animal on earth, strong and healthy, and Scandinavian in this climate as that is my ancestry, for the physical exertion. 'WE' like it like this! In fact, we even sold our snowblower in a garage sale last summer despite my husband's intermittent back complaints. He 'gets it' about the physical connection to our existence sans fossil fuels.... Anyway, I regret that I'm missing that snow shifting experience which to me is as much a seasonal delight as picking strawberries. .....but the greater annoyance of just changing my clothes or taking a shower overwhelms. That, and local politics, finally forced me to go for the handicapped parking pass last Friday at 5:15pm just before the license bureau closing and another LONG weekend. My limit was met at the County TnT hearings the day before when the crowd was so thick that I crutched at least a block to City Hall. Ouch! It was cold, I didn't have mittens, and I was winded on arrival. Most people feel a little embarassed being late and this was no exception...especially when, as I loudly struggled the door open, someone was perched there blocking my path and Paul Wilson stopped what he was saying to allow this individual the courtesy of MOVING OUTA THE DOOR! My message that night, while so many expressed their sense of outrage and shock at the high percentages of tax increase on commercial property following the high property valuation following the state's determination that commercial property had been undrvalued in Olmsted County was this: The Chamber of Commerce needs to have as part of its legislative agenda a recommendation that commercial property tax increases be held to a maximum such as what has been done for agricultural property being held at 15%. As an afterthought, let's include residential property at a lower level exempting those newer properties that are easing into their full valuation. Let's keep residential properties for retirees at COLA levels or even freeze them at retirement. Also, we need to stop putting so many people in prison for drug crimes and instead divert them from prison for mental illness treatment and chemical dependency treatment as needed. Prison is expensive. This will require legislative action to effect changes in sentencing guidelines. I also don't want to live in the kind of society that 'starves the beast of government' such that when a child needs rescue from abuse we delay because we are over budget, or when there is someone who is a threat to public safety we pass because we are over our quota for the month. Let's be wise about our initiatives! We CAN do better...but we CAN'T do it the same old way! We are experiencing now the results of tax policies enacted in 2001 that allowed the highest income earners unneeded tax relief. Now, the rest of us are pitted against the least of us in these sorry and sad local 'battles'. We must accept responsibility for the fact that we do get what we vote for...and we also do get what we pay for. That's the price of civilization.