Summer is winding down, kids are heading back to school, and the political silly season is getting underway.

This time, we escaped the summer’s weather madness — raging wildfires out west, heatwaves on the South and East coasts, and especially in Europe, where air conditioning is nearly non-existent. Back home in Indiana, raging floods took over towns after rogue cells dropped nearly a foot of rainwater overnight, sending rivers into record territory, surpassing records set in 1913. This summer, there were so many strange weather events that TV weathermen could hardly keep up with the feeds from the national weather services.

This year, the Maine political silly season seemed to begin right after the primaries, as both sides opened with a series of political fumbles, interceptions, booted grounders, and dropped fly balls.

Democratic Senate candidate Graham Platner ran away with his party’s nomination, earning some 190,000 votes, then slinked away from view after descriptions of past abusive relationships with women came to light. Did anybody bother to check his background before jumping on his bandwagon? That sent the Democrats into a tizzy as they raced to find a replacement, picking former state senate leader Troy Jackson, a logger from up north.

Meanwhile, Republican Senator Susan Collins, who has represented the state since 1997, cruised along touting her record of bringing home the bacon to our towns, communities and businesses. She played the good guy, as the well-heeled super PACs hammered Jackson and other democrats as Spawns of Satan or worse.

Recently, as she tried to tap-dance away from the usual White House madness, she was caught in the crossfire as POTUS lashed out at Canada, for, well, being Canadians. He imposed up to a 50% tariff on Canadian exports. Unlike some European and South American nations, who smiled and kowtowed, our northern neighbors lashed back, imposing tariffs on American exports — exports like lobster. Much to Sen. Collins' dismay, her party’s president triggered a massive hit to her own state’s signature fishing industry, and to her campaign, as about half of the Maine lobster catch finds its way to Canada. Somehow, cooler heads prevailed, and Canada pulled the lobster tax.

But, again, much to Sen. Collins' dismay, Vice President JD Vance showed up in Brewer to bolster the Congressional campaign of former Gov. Paul LePage, who praised the presidential tariffs and data centers, a position that is opposed by 3/4 of Mainers on both sides, according to a University of Massachusetts poll.

Republican gubernatorial candidate Bobby Charles, who seems to be running for Mayor of Lewiston on an anti-crime platform, jumped into the strange political scrum when he told a crowd he was a close pal of ICE Border Czar Tom Holman. When Charles made his remarks to a group of Young Republicans in Arundel, someone recorded it and leaked the tape to the Bangor Daily News, and this is what he said: "I’m going to ask Tom — three or four weeks before the election, maybe three — I’m going to make an appeal for ICE and marshals to be at our voting booths,” Charles says in the clip. “Do you think the illegals who are being paid money are going to like that?” Recent polling data shows most independent voters, who make up about 40% of the electorate, disapprove of ICE’s aggressive tactics.

If that was not enough, Canadian officials reminded us that much of Maine’s and New England’s electrical power comes from Canada. As we try to remember where we packed the sweaters away last spring, even the thought of a U.S./Canadian trade war involving electrical power is enough to hammer our family’s budget making the effects from the closure of the Strait of Hormuz look like child’s play.

Meanwhile, gasoline prices are $4-plus per gallon, and heaven knows what fall’s first fuel oil delivery will cost. Canadians fought back, called POTUS a schoolyard bully, and Trump ordered Lake Ontario renamed Lake America, and this action triggered a series of online cartoon posts. Some are cute, others are funny, all are worrisome, as Mainers have lived at peace with their northern neighbors since the end of the War of 1812. Has the White House forgotten that a Collins victory could determine the makeup of the Senate? Or are they still mad at her for voting to impeach Trump?

On a somber note, as some of the kids head for history class, it seems right to wander back 25 years into memory land. Do you remember Sept, 11, 2001? What were you doing at 8:30 a.m.? What did you do when you learned of the 9/11 attacks on New York City, the Pentagon, and Shanksville, Pennsylvania? I’ll never forget that day. Do you remember? And how do you explain it to the grandkids? Just a thought ...