A weekly look at the Tampa Bay area and national politics from a conservative viewpoint – plus a helping of sports and lifestyle items. Warning: not everything printed here should be taken at face value!

Is the government shutdown all that bad?

First, President Trump’s reaction to not getting his precious wall is, to be charitable, juvenile. But a long stretch like this tends to show rational people that maybe, just maybe, there are some services and agencies in our bloated federal government we could do without. Our top candidates have always been, as presently constituted, the IRS and the EPA. If you’re a family with a modest five figure income, you shouldn’t need to hire outside help to pay your taxes. And the EPA has become little more than a device to shake down American business. We hope that there will soon be a resolution to the shutdown that is affecting many hard working federal employees; but we also hope that the shutdown might lead to some much needed trimming of fat from the federal government.

Great Tampa Bay, politics and stuff:

1. The tragedy in Broward County is only made worse by all the Monday morning quarterbacking by our governor, our sheriff and others.

2. Speaking of which, despite a knee jerk reaction to the Broward County report, the early report card on our governor – better than expected. But then we weren’t expecting all that much.

3. Wow! Now we know that the length of a day on Saturn is 10 hours, 33 minutes and some seconds. And just how much manpower and dollars did we expend on that little nugget?

4. Another year, another record number of passengers for St. Pete-Clearwater Airport. Still, you worry that virtually all of that growth is driven by one airline.

5. Speaking of the airport, you lived in the bay area a long time if you remember when airlines like Eastern and others would take off from St. Pete-Clearwater hop the bay and land at TIA to pick up or drop off passengers.

Sports, the media and other stuff:

6. So long Dolly. Few performers have been so identified with a single Broadway show as Hello Dolly’s Carol Channing who passed away last week at age 97.

7. Last weekend’s Disney Marathon had a cool (literally) ending as the stragglers finished to spirited applause. The reason for their somewhat tardy finish became apparent when the crowd noticed the margueritas they were toting.

8. Some spring training highlights – the Yankees visit both Clearwater and Dunedin twice - likewise the Rays. Clearwater gets the Astros while Dunedin will have appearances by the World Champ Bosox and the NL East champ Atlanta Braves.

9. Speaking of spring, we’d be very surprised if either Manny Machado or Bryce Harper wasn’t wearing a Phillie uniform this pre-season.

10. Factoid: The great Hall of Famers Stan Musial and Warren Spahn first faced each other in 1946 – Musial doubled. They last faced each other in 1963 – Musial doubled. Spahn on Musial – “he’s consistent.” - a snippet from Roger Kahn’s The Head Game – a treatise on the art of pitching.

Day trip to a bit of paradise

A few weeks ago, your humble blogger and sainltly wife made a long overdue trip to Mill Creek Farm in Alachua just a bit north of Gainesville. There we visited our adopted mustang Possum, a retired Army horse. He is just one of some 120 horses cared for on some 200 acres by Mary Gregory and her son Paul. Mary and her late husband, Peter, started this mission 35 years ago. Paul joined in when his father passed in 2014. Every horse on the farm was unwanted – either retired by the Army or police like the guy we adopted ten years ago, or given up because of hard times or just plain neglected or abused. Each equine has a heartwarming story and each will never be worked or ridden for the rest of their lives. You can find the story of Mill Creek Farm on line at millcreekfarm.org. Better yet, visit the farm (20307 NW CR 235A in Alachua) and see the wonderful works the Gregorys and their band of volunteers do. The farm is open only on Saturdays from 11 to 3. It’s a bit of a drive from the bay area but well worth it. Kids love it. Oh yes, bring some carrots and you’ll make a lot of new friends!

Next Up – Baseball Codes; Jackie Robinson; Saints get hosed

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