Last Thursday, my stepdaughter Cass came for a visit... her excursions out here are never long enough. I was lucky this time, in that Scott found himself unable to take off work on Friday- so I had her all to myself. We went shopping at Tyson's Corner and the outlet mall in Hagerstown, and had a pretty good time. She got a bunch of new stuff for school, and I got some new jeans.

On Saturday we ate Frederick's Best Cheeseburgers at Wags, and went on a Candlelight Ghost Tour of Frederick. The ghost tour could have used a couple more spooky locations, and bit less chatting. The tour covers 7 places during about a one mile walk, and took over an hour and a half. It was okay, but there was enough standing around while listening to stories to make my back ache towards the end.

On Sunday we drove around, mostly through West Virginia and Virginia. We ate Sonic burgers along the way, and took back roads through the mountains. I suspect scenic drives may be a lot more enjoyable for Scott and I than for Cass. We will make a note of this for her next visit... Sunday night we rented Strange Wilderness, which was very funny.

Monday we had breakfast at the Mountain View Diner- home of the best freaking french toast ever. Then we piled all my gear on Cass, and Scott took her for a ride.
Later that afternoon, Cass and I made friendship bracelets (she made the green and pink one, I made the other).
And now here we are. Cass got on a plane 6 hours ago, and we already miss her. The sting of having to go back to work tomorrow doesn't help either. I predict emotional overeating for at least two days. Maybe three.

As If I Need Another Reason...

It's really hard to understand how people don't seem to notice the direction this country has taken. It's honestly disturbing. While waiting for my smoothie last night at Panera, I caught a glimpse of this headline. I thought, "That can't possibly be right." Later at home, I read the full article, and noticed that Keith Olbermann is pissed too. We all should be.

I don't have any formal education in law or political science, but I seem to remember going over the Constitution a few times in school. And I seem to remember that there is even a specific Amendment in the Bill of Rights that protects us from this sort of thing. A quick Googling tells me that this is, in fact, the case:

Amendment IV
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

Hmm. So much for the Constitution. It's not like the Bill of Rights is some sort of list of principles on which this country was founded, right? And we definitely shouldn't send irate emails to Congress.