I am trying to figure out what is making me so grouchy this winter. Even though I no longer enjoy the cold temperatures, I actually enjoy using my new three-stage snow blower. It’s powerful, works great and I recommend it for anyone that doesn’t mind using a heavier snow blower.

Maybe I’m grouchy because of snowstorms coming days instead of weeks apart. Maybe I’m grouchy because so many drivers love to tailgate no matter what the weather is. I even suspect that all the presidential debates that both parties are having are making me grouchy and less likely to vote for any of them. However, I did like one viewer’s comments when he shouted something like, “Anybody but Hillary.”

Maybe I am grouchy because of Sean Penn’s interview with Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the drug lord who escaped twice from a Mexican prison. It may even be ironic because the Mexican government is claiming Penn’s interview with El Chapo was the reason that they found him and threw him into a prison once again. Unfortunately, our laws, as stupid as some of them are, allow someone to interview a wanted criminal as long as they don’t assist them in avoiding law enforcement. Penn claimed he could do the interview because he didn’t witness El Chapo doing illegal things like murders, but I have to guess that Penn was upset because the article didn’t state Americans were at fault for our country’s drug problems.

Maine has a drug problem with heroin, meth and only God knows what else. I never thought I could agree with his position but there is something to it because if Americans wouldn’t buy illegal drugs, they wouldn’t be here. But then again the mental state of drug abusers comes into play and I will leave it there.

But I have to guess that the one thing that ticks me off the most is our country’s dealings with Iran. It is my personal belief that the present administration in Washington is so Hell-bent on avoiding a serious confrontation with any nation that I wonder where in Hell we are heading. Watching the Iranian video on the capture of American sailors on their knees with their hands over their heads infuriates me. Then, to add insult to injury, our government congratulates Iran for their release. Of course the kicker here is that the recent nuclear agreement with Iran is about to become fact and I am sure the president doesn’t want that to fail, even if he has to take a black eye in the process.

Then there’s the release of five Americans taken hostage in Iran in exchange for seven Iranian criminals released by America, plus $100 billion of frozen Iranian assets because of their nuclear program. Any questions who ended up at the short end of that deal? There are still some Americans possibly being held by Iran if, in fact, they are not already deceased.

It’s no wonder so many nations on this planet no longer fear the power we used to have. A Chinese navel vessel has sailed into the territorial water of Alaska. Russia bombers and fighter escorts have flown into the airspace of European nations. Only one NATO country reacted to that and surprisingly it was Turkey when a Russian fighter flew into its airspace. It was shot down.

But I have to state that if anything makes me the grouchiest, it’s our lousy television of today, which runs from the bad to absolute garbage. It’s more than obvious which television networks support a particular presidential candidate and gives that candidate more air time in their news. I am talking about candidates from both parties, just in case you wonder. It’s so blatant it makes me sick that those of us on either cable or satellite are paying for the very biased coverage. And if that isn’t bad enough, most of their programming is far worse than that. Many of the programs run somewhere between dumber and dumbest and it makes me mad to think I am paying for them.

Lane Hiltunen of Windham feels much better now.