We went to see Gerald Ford today, well we saw his casket and the changing of the guard outside it.

Why did we go? Well we went because I dragged the little lady. Why I wanted to go, I am not quite sure. But I was glad we did, because it was pretty cool.

It was strange going up on the Capitol steps because I remember a few years ago before this whole terrorism mess began, normal people could just walk up there without going through security. And maybe some of the security is just there for the funeral. But I bet a lot of it is now permanent. And that is sad. Because really that way of life is just gone.

But. Moving on.

What I would like to say about the changing of the guard is the uniform of the Merchant Marine is ridiculous. Moccasins- ridiculous. Giant scarf thing- ridiculous. At least I assume it was the Merchant Marine uniform.

And what I would like to say about the line is that it was long and we kept running into the entertaining people pictured below:

This woman got separated from her husband when she went to pee. Finding her husband was a major production as he had left the line looking for her and he had her cell phone. OK.

Quite a few people became involved in the search, from the police to the earnest tourists. Not us. We stared at her cynically. We gave her the look of death. We wondered if it was all a ploy to cut in front of us in line or what. We wondered how anybody could possibly have to pee that bad and if so why they wouldn’t just go in the street. We muttered skeptically to each other.

We lost track of them for a while, then as we hunted for the car- on the wrong street- we found them.

As you can see, he was holding both their umbrellas and her purse.

I had a teacher once whose husband carried her purse. She was named Mrs Sherwood. This could even have been her.

Holla, Mrs Sherwood.