Today the sign, at the Sheetz that I go to, is saying that gas is now $3.49 a gallon for unleaded. It cost me $84 to fill up the tank in the “Farm Use Only” pick up truck that I had to drive to town in order to run some errands that needed tending to before the weekend began. This isn’t getting any better any time soon, I’m afraid. With the coming of spring and summer we go through a lot of gas around this place, this isn’t sounding promising at all folks.
Tsunami Tide Takes A Toll On Santa Cruz, California
Every now and then I’ll get an email from my cousin, Larry, who I used to be so close to while growing up, but other than an occassional email I don’t hear much from him or any other member of that part of the family. Their house was just a few blocks up from us, we were close in age and had a lot in common with each other back then so we became pretty darned close there for most of our childhood. As with so many families, they up and moved all the way across the country to beautiful Santa Cruz, California, which has got to be the most beautiful place that I’ve ever set eyes on, and I rarely get to see him or anyone else in his family for that matter. The last time I saw them was a few Christmasses ago, when they decided to fly in from Santa Cruz, spend a week doing the traditional family festivities and events and then they all flew back home in time to bring in the new year, so they were here for a good long week or so.
Anyway come to find out that Crescent City, Santa Cruz has been hit hard by by the tsunami from Japan and now we are all concerned for all of their safety during all of this. My cousin always joked about the possibility of something like this, of course in the back of every one’s mind was playing exactly what we are experiencing right now. According to the online edition of the LA Times one person is feared dead, while four people were swept into the sea. The harbor is destroyed and Highway #101 is now closed down. We have been trying to contact any of my cousin’s family, but of course we haven’t been able to get through, so it is a waiting game at this point, and we are in it for the long haul for family.
WebHostingBuzz
A good New Year’s Resolution to adhere to these days is to try and make a better effort to become as “green” as humanly possible. Living on a farm most of my life I have learned many ways to help our Mother Earth in various ways. The good lord knows that we have been into recycling before it was the “in” thing to do. We have always tried hard to replace anything that we have taken from the land and have been open to ideas and suggestions.
One thing that we can all do is give our business to companies that are doing their part in the “green movement”. Did you know that there are website hosting companies that are making a huge effort and are doing wonderful things in order to participate in these practices. WebHosting Buzz is doing a tremendous job with their efforts. You can read more about them here at http://www.webhostingfan.com/reviews/webhostingbuzz-web-hosting-review/.
I’d like to really encourage as many folks as possible to check this out and see if they would be willing to switch over to a web host that is doing things such as WebHostingBuzz is doing. You can find reviews and ratings as well as a lot more information on a ton of web hostings at webhostingfan.com.
The 2010 National Geographic Photo Contest
National Geographic has always been known for their great photographs. I’m glad that I ran across this photo on Yahoo. Most of us have a soft spot for dolphins and this photo depicts the seriousness of what man’s trash is doing to so much of our wildlife.
Dolphin alert?- The archipelago of Fernando de Noronha, Brazil is considered a wildlife sanctuary, but today, even in this isolated archipelago dolphinsare victims of the bad habits of consumption.
I Didn’t Know That . . .
Antarctica is the only land on our planet that is not owned by any country..
Ninety percent of the world’s ice covers Antarctica .
This ice also represents seventy percent of all the fresh water in the world.
As strange as it sounds, however, Antarctica is essentially a desert;
The average yearly total precipitation is about two inches.
Although covered with ice (all but 0.4% of it, ice.),
Antarctica is the driest place on the planet,
With an absolute humidity lower than the Gobi desert.
Wild Life
We get all types of wild life around the place, but rarely do we see a bear. Well last night I saw one and he saw me and stood up on his hind legs for a moment or two and then decided to vacate promptly, which was best for the both of us.
Green Thumb Issues
Our mother was totally into having the house looking it’s best. My father was responsible for the outside work and my mother was in charge of inside the home. She never worked a day out of the house and was a dedicated mother and home maker. She was known for her Indoor Planters and Outdoor Planters as well. The neighbors were always so envious of her green thumb and she always received the highest compliments for her talents.
I on the other hand did not inherit her green thumb all though I have managed to keep her favorite plant in her favorite Decorative Planter alive and doing well these past couple of years. I do better with outside plants but I’m trying the best that I can.
My sister, on the other hand, does quite well with her Window Box Planters that she keeps looking good all year round. So for Christmas I’ve got my eyes open for a nice Planter to present her with on Christmas day. I think she will appreciate it and put it to good use. If not I guess she will re gift it like she does with so many of the gifts that she receives!
Earth Hour
I can’t believe that I wasn’t tuned in with the rest of the world concerning “Earth Hour” which was held all across the world last night, March 28th between the hours of 8:30 and 9:30pm.
The first I had heard of it was on last night’s news, I have to say that I’m impressed that so many people all across the lands participated in something like this. Just wish I had known in advance, but I guess I can’t be on top of everything that goes on all the time.
2,000 Year Old Seed
I was reading an article on the Internet about how a two-thousand year old seed has been sprouted and is now growing quite steadily. So far it has been growing for thirty some odd months and is now an amazing four feet tall. It is the seed of a Judean date tree which is now extinct.It seems that according to this article, several seeds of this type were discovered some forty years ago and have been stored until just recently, when a group of scientists decided to try to germinate it. I’m still not quite sure why they only tried one! Anyway, what is good and important about this is that they think (and hope) that the tree will have some medicinal uses. I’m all for that!
Cash for Recycling
Back in December, during Christmas dinner, the subject of recycling beer and soda cans came about, in which I found out that there is a local company that will pay you cash for these types of cans. The price just recently went down from sixty seven cents per pound, to thirty two cents a pound, what a drastic price drop, but all the same I am now making an effort of sorting these two types of cans into a separate container on the back porch and when I get a dozen big trash bags or so I will take a trip downtown and see what kind of cash it brings in to the household.I all ready sort and recycle, so it will not take too much of an added effort in order to bring in a few bucks now and then.