Everybody else in the family either has a cold or has had one within the last couple of weeks. Not me, I’ve been healthier than I have during any holiday period in years. And I’m still healthy, although I am now suffering. The icy wind that blew through the North Bay today brought out the worst of my allergies. It might as well be spring.

Thanks to late mail delivery, I had to take the long walk out to the mailbox twice today. The first was at the usual time, 3:45 pm, and I found the box empty. I knew it was impossible that I didn’t have any mail, so I again trekked out through the wind (not to mention the mud) an hour later. It’s a good thing I did, too, because I wouldn’t want to let my garbage bill spend the night outside.

To be fair to the mail carrier, I was already sneezing my head off and draining down the back of my throat before I even walked out there the first time. I don’t think the wind can penetrate the four walls that surround me, but sometimes I wonder. I did have to go to the office store this morning, and it was almost as cold (and just as windy) then, so I was bound to feel the consequences at some point.

But I’m not sick! At least, not any more than anyone else who doesn’t have a cold, period. Just because I feel miserable doesn’t mean a thing. And I am not getting that stomach flu that’s also been going around. Absolutely not.

What’s the worst thing the president has done in the last, oh, month or so? Well, that’s debatable, of course, but I’d like to offer up the signing statement he submitted when he signed the new postal reform bill into law last month. Among other things, the bill prohibits the government from opening your mail without a warrant, but President Bush declared that in emergency circumstances, he can open and read your letter to grandma, or anything else he thinks might have something juicy in it, on whatever whim he can dream up. All up to him, no oversight by the courts, the Congress, or anyone else. It’s just one more chunk of the Bill of Rights chiseled away by this administration. And apparently it’s okay, because he’s the president. I’m not sure that’s what the Founding Fathers had in mind, though.