I haven’t been sleeping well this last week. The neighborhood stray keeps showing up at 3:30 or so in the morning, stressing the cats and awakening me. Usually I’m able to fall right back to sleep, but I haven’t been as successful this week. The brain just has a hard time turning off right now.

There’s too much going on right now at work for a vacation to be convenient.

But work is so stressful that I really need a vacation.

And, of course, our vacation is designed to keep us moving for 10 straight days. I hope I won’t return home more tired than I left.

The Supreme Court is going to go ultra-conservative. People will forget (or forgive) Bush’s inadequacies. The Democrats will kow-tow. The Republicans will grovel. Few will notice. Fewer will care.

People from Louisiana and Mississippi have lost everything. People are lying dead in the streets. Others are waiting to be allowed to start cleaning up and removing dead bodies. No one will let them. Animals are dying. Animals are in shelters. People are in shelters. Life just seems so sad for so many.

And while we pay attention to those who’ve been hit by major upheaval, minor upheavals uproot smaller pockets of people all over every day. No one throws a benefit for them.

I just feel so … weary.