Summer

Memorial Day weekend is typically thought of as the beginning of summer, especially in the South, where schools are out by now. This is true even though the official start of summer is not until June 21.

I have made no secret of the fact that summer is my least favorite season. The main reason is I can't stand hot weather. Also, I am reminded of more challenging times in my life that correspond with summer dates. It's silly to think that way, and I'm not big about remembering dates, but for some reason I'll have the occasional flashback. Again, that makes no sense.

So I make the best of it by dwelling on things I do enjoy about the season: fresh fruits and vegetables, occasional lake outings with friends, baseball and leisurely visits with Daughter and SIL, who are both teachers and have some extended time off.

And speaking of those two, they arrived at our house late yesterday afternoon, the first stop on a journey that will take them to Steamboat Springs, CO next weekend, where they will run in a half-marathon on Sunday. They will drive tomorrow to Little Rock and stay with Daughter's grandparents, and will arrive in CO on Thursday.

They will make it back here the following Thursday, June 9th, and on the 10th, Daughter and Wife will go the beach for a few days, while all three boys (Older Son, Younger Son and SIL) and I will go on our annual (if at all possible) baseball trip -- this year to Chicago (White Sox vs. Royals) and Milwaukee  (Brewers vs. Mets).

I also have a high school class reunion this summer, on July 4th weekend, and Wife and I have just planned a late August vacation to Glacier National Park in Montana, and the Canadian Rockies.

So while summer will never be my favorite season, if I can fill it with activities such as this and manage to stay cool as much as possible, I think I'll be OK.

Pretty silly

As national debates go, if there has ever been one as silly as the one regarding bathroom use for transgender people, I don't know what it is.

Talk about "borrowing trouble."

I don't know any transgender people, but I tend to believe they have been using public restrooms assigned to their current gender for years. I never thought about it before but I figure that's what has been happening and I strongly suspect, truth be told, they would just as soon carry on life without having attention called to them.

Here in Tennessee, our legislature considered a bill that would require schools to require students to use restrooms and locker rooms for the gender on their birth certificates. They wisely decided schools could address those matters without interference from the government and the bill died.

A teacher wrote to the local newspaper, stating just that, saying he didn't want to be checking birth certificates and he was confident the schools could handle it.

On the national level, President Obama pushed through another one of his executive orders, this one saying all public schools should allow students to use bathrooms for the gender "with which they identify" -- or something like that.

His extreme overreaching and abuse of the executive branch of government is every bit as absurd as what our state government considered and decided against.

He needs to stay out of it, just like our state government needed to stay out of it.

I bet, if we handle these matters on a case by case basis, it will all work out.

You want to boycott Target because of their announcement about rest rooms? Well go ahead and boycott Target. It's your right to do so.

I don't shop a lot at Target but, should I need something there, I plan to keep right on shopping there.

But I respect your right not to if their stance on bathrooms is too much for you. That's how the free market works and I can live that.

There are plenty of things to get worked up over. This isn't one of them.