Maniac!

So, we have a maniac at large here. Yesterday, the Maternal Parent and I went to the county seat to pay our fall property taxes*. Just as we were going inside, two police cars went by with lights and sirens. As we stood in the Treasurer's Office transacting our business, you could hear more and more sirens going past. When we came out, just up the street a block or so there were police cars, the sheriff's SUV, ambulances, and a firetruck, all parked in the road in back of McDonald's. We speculated that McD's had had a kitchen fire, and the massive response was just "abundance of caution". By the time we got home, or a little later, it was on the news.

*****

I really, really like our county courthouse. It's this huge old late Victorian edifice, built in 1884, with lots of dark, nearly black woodwork, all of it heavily carved and decorated, high ceilings, and ornate brasswork on the door fittings. There's a clerestory beneath the dome, reaching up all four floors. The second story halls (which is where we went) are lined with these old, dark, wooden and glass cases, like one used to see in museums. One of the permanent displays is pictures and bound newsletters and sundry mementoes from the local branch of the Grand Army of the Republic. I'd love to be able to look through those newsletters, but I doubt that's doable.

* Doing appraisal appeals work has given me a new understanding of just how fair and reasonable our county rates are.