I conducted the same number of mammograms as Planned Parenthood did last year.

The Cubs have clinched a playoff spot. Life is good. Considering just how bad they have been for the past half-dozen years, making a one game do-or-die playoff is welcome.

The Pope has come to the US to lecture us on a variety of topics. When is he going to sell off church property, paintings, golden altars, relics, and antiques to start helping the poor? How many Syrian migrants is he going to allow to set up camp in St. Peter's Square? Is he going to quit traveling in that big jet plane and go coach? That's what I thought. A pointed hat does not always cover a pointy head. The United States Federal Government spent $949,000,000,000 in welfare spending in 2014. That does not include state and local programs or private charity. It does not include humanitarian aid we provide across the globe. This country helps the poor far in excess of a trillion dollars a year. Much of which we are borrowing, leaving the interest and debt to our children and grandchildren. When the Vatican can boast of similar generosity I will listen. Until then, the Pope can take his lecture and shove it.

The family will gather this evening to celebrate my kids' birthdays (is that the right syntax?). You read that right. All three of my kids have birthdays within a two week period. The boys days are actually just a day apart. The daughter had her day on the 14th. The boys will celebrate on the 30th and 1st. We are all going out to dinner for a joint celebration this evening. Life is good.

The sky is overcast this morning. I love this time of year. The days are warm without the humidity. The evenings and mornings cool and refreshing. It brings to mind campfires and cider. I remember the smell of burning leaves, a smell indelibly impressed on my mind that is as much a part of fall as pumpkins and Halloween. Alas, most people under forty have likely never smelled a leaf pile burning, experienced the low haze of smoke settling over the neighborhood. Kids today don't have to make a snap judgement -- do I ride my bike through that pile of leaves by the curb or are they smoldering underneath? Maybe that is just my memory and rampant leaf burning was just a tradition in my little hick hometown. I do know getting rid of fallen leaves was a little easier when you could just rake the leaves into a pile out by the curb and set them on fire.