Everywhere I go I find a pal

Peter Weinschenk, Editor, The Record-Review

I ate the final butternut squash from our 2019 garden last week.

The squash, stored in a five-gallon plastic pail down in our basement, was a survivor.

During those bone-chilling January nights, the squash stayed edible, even when its brother and sister squashes, all harvested at the same time, turned squishy and moldy.

The squash was smallish. I decided it would be the perfect size for a pizza.

I chopped up the squash, boiled the chunks in some water and, with the addition of garlic and rosemary, turned the squash into a beautiful orange pizza sauce.

I ladled the squash sauce onto a whole wheat pizza crust and, tossing on some ham slices, mozzarella cheese and red onion, made a terrific pie.

I was happy to eat this pizza and sad that last year’s garden, which was one for the history books, had finally come to a close.

There is, of course, one answer for these blues. Think spring.

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Life has its ups and its downs.

But not in politics.

Somehow, this country has got itself in the place where we support top leadership that keeps the economy revved at top speed at all costs.

Thus, President Trump and the Congress are deficit spending $1 trillion a year to prop up the stock market and boost employment. With the coronavirus threatening the economy, the Fed has now lowered interest rates to within a whisker of zero. Others are now saying that this amount of stimulus is insufficient. The federal government, they say, must borrow and spend even more money to keep the economy growing.

This is dangerous.

People can muddle through economic life where times can be good and bad, but not through overstimulated economies that crash and burn.

Economies, like people, have to rest and regroup. The solution is not always another five-hour energy drink.

We are in the middle of a political year. We hear proposals, platforms and promises. The people yell and cheer.

Instead, I would like to hear from a candidate who is okay with an economy that rises and falls, not just rises.

Otherwise, I fear, we have a country that inescapably lurches from one crisis to the next.

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It’s always good to go for a walk. These days, however, we get a bonus.

We get to go crunch.

I love walking the sidewalks of Edgar and crunching the icy edge of snowbanks. The sound is so cool.

It’s always entertaining to walk the neighborhood. You notice this and that. Maybe there is a cardinal in a tree. Maybe a bluejay.

But the best is stepping on an ice edge and to hear a c-r-u-n-c-h underneath your sneakers.

It is the sound of retreating winter, a happy sound, indeed.