The Oppenheimer Report 9/28/09

I begin writing this week’s report on the eve of Yom Kippur, the holiest of the Jewish holidays, and the Jewish Day of Atonement. I have not been to temple in a long time, so right away I have plenty of atoning to do. Traditionally, Jews fast from sundown to sundown for Yom Kippur, and I find that a meaningful gesture. Though I am not an observant Jew, I fast on Yom Kippur, and I think it is a pretty good practice. At least once a year, it’s not a bad idea to acknowledge my wrongdoings and to strive to do better in the coming year. While I am not likely to become an Orthodox Jew any time soon, the older I get, the more inclined I am to have some kind of faith. I realize that, at least for me, no comprehensive assessment of the world today is possible without some hope and belief that the future survival of mankind is not really in my control. One example of things that worry me: that bonehead Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. I watched him spread his special brand of ignorance on Larry King Live the other night, and the guy bugs me. Though I know very little about the dynamics of Middle Eastern politics, I know ignorance is dangerous. I also know everyone is worried about Iran developing a nuclear bomb, but has everyone forgotten that India and Pakistan already have them? And let’s not forget North Korea. Indeed there are enough bombs to incinerate the world one hundred times over, if anyone is foolish enough to use them. That’s I guess where the blind faith part comes in. Brief aside … I find it fascinating that, according to the all-knowing Mahmoud, there are no gay Iranians. Iran is probably the only country without them. It could be the Mecca for homophobes! I suppose Iranians don’t have the messy “don’t ask, don’t tell” problems we’re having in the American armed forces.

9/28/09 – It’s Yom Kippur and I am watching a storm and heavy rain creep up from the south over the lake. There will be no chinking done on this house for the next several days; we need dry weather, above 40 degrees Fahrenheit or the stuff does not set up properly. At this point, we are racing against time to finish this job. It’s hard to figure out where the summer ended and fall began, because the weather has been so strange of late. I am gun shy. Winter comes without much warning up here, and it is not uncommon to get snow in November. Now the storm is in full force and water is pouring off the roof like Niagara Falls. Maybe we’ll have water in the basement again. Big floods last week in Georgia, and the Philippines are also flooded from a recent typhoon. A quickly as it came, the storm is gone, for the time being.

Yesterday, I went out on my little folding boat and took a leisurely row over to a nearby point. A week last Sunday there had been a fire there. Some new owners had been burning brush from their recently cleared lot, and they left to go home without properly extinguishing the fire. Around dinner time we heard someone screaming Fire! From across the lake, and Shauna called the volunteer fire department in Burk’s Falls. By the time I drove the firemen over in my boat, our next door neighbor and his son had already put the fire out with buckets of water. There was so much dead wood on that property that the fire could have burned the house down had the wind picked up. I must say my adrenaline got pumping when I saw all that smoke in trees, just 300 metres from our house. There are laws about what can be burned up here and when. I’m guessing that these new neighbors will be receiving a visit from the local fire department sometime soon to remind them of the rules. Nice to know those firemen are ten minutes away (one of the captains lives on this lake), but a lot can happen in ten minutes.

With a growling stomach I sign off. Time to atone.

Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c2009 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED