It’s hard to believe that it’s November already! I had to turn the calendar page today, and saw the note I had written on it to give the pets their flea and tick medicines, clean the air filters for the furnace, and to set the clock back one hour when I go to bed tonight. I wish that the government would just stick to ONE time and not keep switching back and forth between “daylight” and “standard” time. It is hard to adjust to the time changes, and switching back and forth has NOT been proven to save any energy at all.
Snow making at Yellowstone Park
I was really surprised to read today on the LATimes website that Yellowstone Park is going to be using snow machines to make snow in the park this winter. I guess I never thought about why in the world a National Park would even think about doing something like that? Seems to me that the Park is supposed to be all about nature, and if it snows then fine, if it doesn’t snow, well that’s fine too! But the article was talking about how making snow in the park would allow snow coaches and snowmobiles to use the park in the winter. To be honest, I’m not so sure that is a great idea or not! I don’t have anything against snow coaches or snowmobiles, its’ just something I never really thought about in the context of them being in Yellowstone! What do YOU think? I’d like your opinion!
Third party candidates
There has been so much news coverage about the two major political parties presidential candidates, that it sometimes comes as a surprise to me when I am suddenly reminded that there ARE other candidates out there! For example, Ralph Nader is running for president, as is Bob Barr. I don’t know anything about Bob Barr at all, but I do know that Ralph Nader has been a big crusader for consumer protection. I think that Ralph Nader has good intentions, but the chances of a third party candidate ever being elected President of the USA are slim to none!
Hurricane Ike – a really big one
Watching the news, and reading about Hurricane Ike making its way towards land, I see that it has hit Cuba. Cuba has never seen a hurricane this bad, and the residents are making way towards safer ground as best they can. This storm is a really scary one – I am worried about what will happen when it reaches the United States. From what I understand it WON’T hit New Orleans, which is good news, but wherever it DOES land, it is going to do a huge amount of damage! I think that this is just one more example of what global warming is doing to our world. I don’t understand why the “administration” keeps insisting that global warming has nothing to do with this type of thing. I think it has EVERYTHING to do with this kind of thing!
Sinkhole in New York?
I’ve heard of sinkholes in Florida because the water table has been so badly abused by the rapid development of the state, but I was very surprised to read on the news that there is a sinkhole in New York City! Apparently the sinkhole is in the middle of a street and is one that has been developing slowly over the past ten years, and has finally reached the stage where it would really be a danger for a car to try to drive over. The street has been closed while the city tries to repair the sinkhole and the road. Seems to me that “we” as a society ought to be taking better care of good old Mother Earth to prevent these sinkholes from happening!
Schools just aren’t safe anymore!
I was sad to hear about the school shooting in Tennesse earlier today. Too often do I hear news like this nowadays. Most of the time the shootings seem to be random shootings, but this time it seemed like a personal grudge between two specific students. Sadly the victim has died, but the perpetrator was arrested and has been charged with first degree murder. I just can’t understand school kids getting so wound up that they start shooting each other! What is wrong with this world? How can we ever expect to have world peace when we can’t even have peace in our own neighborhoods? Seems to me that the only “safe” school nowadays is to home-school your kids, which is really a shame.
Bigfoot discovery?
I was hearing on the news (and reading on the Internet) a story about how a couple of guys in Georgia have claimed to find a Bigfoot, and that they have the corpse in their freezer. Now I think that is just a hoax, Bigfoot has never been sighted that far south, and the so-called corpse looks like a cheap gorilla costume! I will be interested to see how this story pans out! I wonder if there will be any kind of prosecution if it IS determined to be a hoax? I hope so, these kinds of things need to be nipped in the bud!
Harvesting corn
Well, this weekend I will be busy harvesting corn most of the time. It’s a really good crop this year! I’ve been harvesting a little bit and taking it to the Farmer’s Market over the past couple of weeks, and the customers have bought every ear I’ve taken to the market! They love that super sweet corn that I grow! I can’t blame them, I love it too! This is a great corn that you don’t have to rush to the table as soon as you pick it – it gets sweeter after a day or two so you can buy it today and eat it tomorrow and it tastes even better. I think that is why it is so popular, it is hard for people to get regular corn to the table fast enough to really enjoy it.
Drilling for oil
I was reading an article on the Sierra Club’s website about offshore drilling. The article I was reading was discussing how on Monday President Bush lifted the moratorium on offshore oil drilling. This moratorium was imposed 18 years ago by his father when HE was President. Up until this point there were two moratoriums against offshore drilling, one by the President, and one by Congress.
Congress is expected to maintain its moratorium against the drilling, so offshore drilling is not expected to take place. Congress is expected to maintain its moratorium because they have been advised that offshore drilling will NOT bring the short term relief to the skyrocketing cost of gasoline. According to the article I was reading, oil companies already have a lot of unexplored resources that they can access and don’t need to drill for oil offshore. The article did not detail what those unexplored resources are, so I was a little disappointed in that; I’d like to know what those resources are!
Afghan villagers kill two Taliban
I was surprised to read on the Time website that some Afghan villagers actually stood up to the Taliban and killed a few of them. According to the story, the villagers had invited some aid workers to come to their village to dig a well. While the aid workers were in the process of digging the well, some Taliban militants came along and tried to abduct the aid workers. According to the culture of the people, you cannot invite guests to your village to help you with something and then allow the Taliban to come along and abduct and behead them, so the villagers defended the workers.
The skirmish resulted in two of the Taliban being killed and the rest of the militants ran off into the countryside. The government has sent additional security forces to the village to protect the village from retaliation from the Taliban. I wonder how long those security forces will be there. Seems to me that they’ll have to be there forever and a day because as soon as they leave, the Taliban will be right there slaughtering the entire village!