Sign Stealers

It's Sunday...the end of the weekend, the "day of rest." Actually, comparatively speaking, it has been at least less hectic. Went to one church hot dog luncheon and then to a spaghetti dinner, then home. I wanted to take a nap but thankfully, fought that urge, and got several signs out this afternoon. (More on signs later - hence, the title.) This evening, I need to inventory all the campaign paraphernalia I have left, go over my calendar, and get organized for the week.

My wife did get home from Haiti :) However, the East Coast was socked in with fog and she was flying American Airlines which had to cancel many flights late last week due to FAA inspection issues, so for all those reasons her arrival in Pittsburgh was delayed by more than 4 hours. She got home about 1:30 a.m. and I had to get up bright and early yesterday for ten different apperances. I did manage to stop by the house a couple times during the day and then made it home for good about 9:30 last night. I should have been dog tired but actually was in pretty good shape - then. I'm tired today!

I believe I've mentioned that some signs have been stolen. Well, today, I learned about two more, and both were in friends' yards. Also, something interesting...I put one sign out in a certain roadside location, an intersection, a couple weeks ago. I was by there on Thursday and my sign was gone - apparently stolen. I put a new one in its place. Yesterday, as I approached that same intersection from another direction, the newly-placed sign was still there, and I could see my other sign in a shallow ravine right by the road. It was a steep slide down almost into a creek to get it but I got it! Then today...again by the same intersection and my new sign was gone! You guessed it - it was in the ravine! I got this one, too, and replaced the sign once again although I did select a location several feet away this time.

Frankly, the mentality of the people who steal campaign signs has to be about zero. I feel sorry for them - truly - and while I recognize it happens to other candidates, and while a percentage of it could be youthful pranking, I feel rather certain that most of it is done by dull-thinking adults who basically cheat their way through life. For those folks who have robbed me, whether they have done so because they don't support me or because they support my opponent, I hope they are caught and prosecuted. By the way - I've talked directly to my opponent about these things and I never for a minute would consider that she has anything to do with this or any knowledge of it. She's an honorable person and I'm confident she feels the same about me. For our parts, we've run a clean campaign and I'm sure it will remain that way to the end - one month from today now! When we first spoke on January 14 about being opponents, we agreed that we would "keep it clean" and I'm glad to say we have been very successful as far as that goes.

My youngest is getting his Spring Break extended because there's a boil-water advisory in this area, so no school tomorrow. We had an EColi scare last week but all is getting back to normal now. The Water Board did a good job, I think, of getting the word out and imposing the advisory for safety's sake.

A busy week ahead - I have much to do at the office, not to mention three daytime appearances and at least three evening appearances before Friday. Then, when Friday-Saturday-Sunday rolls around, we'll do the multiple-appearances thing all over again. Four weeks and two days! Have a good week, everyone...