In Washington DC, they fight about everything, even cooperation. I don't care which side of the aisle you root for, you've got to amazed at how unrepresentative our elected representatives are...especially of the majority of their electorates' wishes that they knock off ritual bickering and get some actual work done.

The roads in town are...better...depending on where you live and long it's been since the last big rain. Since I've had to repair more than one tire that was a casualty of Payran Street, the Petaluma Police Department, for whom Payran provides the nearest cross-town access, has my sympathy.

Looking into the river a couple of weeks back, a friend pointed to what looked (to me) like small, white doughnuts bobbing to the surface near the turning basin. At first they were hard to see in the brackish water, but once I knew what to look for I could see countless jelly fish rising and then disappearing.

Though biofuel holds the promise of a plentiful source of cheap energy, this promise is not without it's "price"...generally paid by those who live down-wind from the "fuel dumps."

Two fires in as many weeks highlight the need for "historic downtown Petaluma's" cherishing architectural heritage to join the 21st Century...at least in the area of fire prevention. The grace period that allows owners of older buildings to delay the expense of upgrading them to meet contemporary fire standards was ultimately of little benefit to two owners who will have to spend far more money in rebuilding their structures.

On warm nights the Petaluma air carries wafts of fragrant evidence that local cattle ranchers are collecting huge piles of (now) potenitally valuable biofuel. It may only be a matter of time before they create their own version of OPEC (Organization of Poop Exporting Cattlepersons), In addition to fluctuations on the per barrel price of crude the stock market will rise and fall on the amount of fiber in the diet of live stock.