Friday, November 23, 2012
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Tumbling Trees.
The latest reports are out on the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture) eradication of the Asian longhorn beetle. The numbers are staggering, and those of you living in neighboring counties to those mentioned -- or neighboring states -- might want to take a long hard look at the numbers before you decide that it's not really anything you need to worry about.
New York, 1st detection in August 1996. They found 6,275 infested trees. They have removed 18,467 trees. That is roughly three times the amount that were 'sick'.
New Jersey. Since October 2002. 729 infested, 21,981 trees removed. This is 30 -- yes, 30 times the number of injured trees.
Massachusetts, August 2008. 22,264 infested, 31,925 removed.
Ohio June 2011. 9091 infested trees, 8809 removed.
The good people in Bethel, the most affected area in Ohio, are fighting to save their trees. They acknowledge the need for infested trees to be removed, but are objecting to the destruction of the healthy. For most tree owners, they would porefer to have the trees vaccinated.
Yes, that can be done.
It is even less expensive than tree cutters, and chippers, and mulchers, and cherry pickers and earth movers and fuel for machinery (checked the prices on the fuel lately? -- bet you have.)
I want you, wherever you are, to go out in your backyard, or to your closest, favorite public park.
Look around.
Pick a tree, any tree, since this is an exercise in imagination.
The tree you have selected is sick. It has a bug. This bug is not airborne (as they say about viruses). But the tree is sick.
Say "Good-bye, favorite tree."
Now look around and see the other trees.
See the three closest trees.
Say "good bye" to them.
They must be assassinated because their neighbor was sick.
But wait, the neighboring trees have neighbors too. Pick any number, 3 or 30 or any other number, of the neighboring trees' neighbors.
Say "good bye" to them, too. They are neighbors of the neighbors of the sick tree, so they, too, must die.
Now, look around your back yard, or your park.
Are there any trees left?
Is there any shade left in your yard?
Are there any windbreaks left around your house?
What will hold the soil in your yard when the snow melts or the rains pound down?
My friends, this can happen to you. Yes, you may live far away -- but with the likes of Superstorm Sandy, (and the USDA wasted no time laying down the law in New Jersey afterwards,) is anywhere far enough away? Yes, you may not have the specific species of bugs that are eating these species of trees.
But you DO have a government agency that says it can come in and remove and confiscate your personal property (trees) because they can.
Infested trees need to be removed. No one is arguing with that. And the government has every right to take those down at its expense for the public good.
But they are claiming the right to take down all the trees that might become bug-sick. Not just likely, but "maybe perhaps someday might."
If they are allowed to do that here, in the heart of Ohio, in the nation's scenic heart, why do you think they will stop when they get to your back yard? They will be able to point to New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, and Ohio as having established "THE" precedent.
Goodbye backyard.
Goodbye parks.
Goodbye trees.
Help the Bethel ALB group stop this trampling of property rights.
Before it becomes your rights that are lost.
http://us4.campaign-archive1.com/?u=d9ab319101533a13ab1c45685&id=587ea78b12
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Blacker than Friday
is 'Black Thursday'
is the early Black Friday sales.
I don't know which I despise the most.
Yes, I said despise. As in disdainfully hate, loathe, and dislike. ALL.
Years and years ago, back in the last century, Black Friday sales used to be FUN! Hurtling through the dark early morning hours to go to stores never worth going to at other times. Hitting the 4 am openers, and then the 6 am early bird stores. Buying gifts that could not be afforded otherwise.
It wasn't even too bad when the "Black Friday" thing became part of the annual routine. The sales weren't as spectacular -- usually they are ordinary mark-downs of last year's leftovers -- and the fun wasn't there because too much traffic was taking its place. Everybody that wasn't working was hitting the sales.
Even the hysteria of 'limited number of items' (because they are selling last year's no-sells) was somewhat tolerable from a distance. Stupid, but tolerable. No one should be assaulted over a toy.
Now however, the whole thing has morphed into blatant money-grubbing. The stores started opening late on Thanksgiving Day, then they started being open "All Day" on Thanksgiving Day.
This year the Black Friday sales all were 'leaked' early, and have been underway for at least a week. There's still a week before Thanksgiving.
I haven't shopped any of them, and there are stores I won't shop, even when it is actually time to do so.
These stores -- Target is one of them -- are making it mandatory for their workers to come in on the holiday day. Yeah, they'll pay time-and-a-half (maybe) but that isn't the point. To many people, especially minimum wage workers, time spent with family is more important than all the money in the world. At least for that one day that is supposed to be about appreciating who and what you have.
I have no problem with the stores being open -- if the people working there want to be there. I always wished I could go to work, maybe, after the meal and the dishes and the guests went home, and the only thing on tv is football games. I'd have volunteered.
There are people to whom Thanksgiving is yet another lonely day, and they'd work or not, however it works out.
And if a store doesn't have the staff to work that day -- that special, family holiday -- then they shouldn't open, or should perhaps only have some areas open (no coffee shop, no fresh-sliced deli, etc.) They should respect the employees who want to respect their families -- not drag them out and demand they deal kindly and patiently with rude and demanding people.
Yes, I categorize the precious customers that way, because for the most part it is going to be the greedy people out grabbing goodies. The "real" people will be at home with their families, especially during the early part of the day.
And if you do go out, after your family's festivities, please remember to thank those who serve you in any capacity. A heck of a lot of them are there because they have to be, not because they want to be, and that's just not fair.
is the early Black Friday sales.
I don't know which I despise the most.
Yes, I said despise. As in disdainfully hate, loathe, and dislike. ALL.
Years and years ago, back in the last century, Black Friday sales used to be FUN! Hurtling through the dark early morning hours to go to stores never worth going to at other times. Hitting the 4 am openers, and then the 6 am early bird stores. Buying gifts that could not be afforded otherwise.
It wasn't even too bad when the "Black Friday" thing became part of the annual routine. The sales weren't as spectacular -- usually they are ordinary mark-downs of last year's leftovers -- and the fun wasn't there because too much traffic was taking its place. Everybody that wasn't working was hitting the sales.
Even the hysteria of 'limited number of items' (because they are selling last year's no-sells) was somewhat tolerable from a distance. Stupid, but tolerable. No one should be assaulted over a toy.
Now however, the whole thing has morphed into blatant money-grubbing. The stores started opening late on Thanksgiving Day, then they started being open "All Day" on Thanksgiving Day.
This year the Black Friday sales all were 'leaked' early, and have been underway for at least a week. There's still a week before Thanksgiving.
I haven't shopped any of them, and there are stores I won't shop, even when it is actually time to do so.
These stores -- Target is one of them -- are making it mandatory for their workers to come in on the holiday day. Yeah, they'll pay time-and-a-half (maybe) but that isn't the point. To many people, especially minimum wage workers, time spent with family is more important than all the money in the world. At least for that one day that is supposed to be about appreciating who and what you have.
I have no problem with the stores being open -- if the people working there want to be there. I always wished I could go to work, maybe, after the meal and the dishes and the guests went home, and the only thing on tv is football games. I'd have volunteered.
There are people to whom Thanksgiving is yet another lonely day, and they'd work or not, however it works out.
And if a store doesn't have the staff to work that day -- that special, family holiday -- then they shouldn't open, or should perhaps only have some areas open (no coffee shop, no fresh-sliced deli, etc.) They should respect the employees who want to respect their families -- not drag them out and demand they deal kindly and patiently with rude and demanding people.
Yes, I categorize the precious customers that way, because for the most part it is going to be the greedy people out grabbing goodies. The "real" people will be at home with their families, especially during the early part of the day.
And if you do go out, after your family's festivities, please remember to thank those who serve you in any capacity. A heck of a lot of them are there because they have to be, not because they want to be, and that's just not fair.
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
The Great American Temper Tantrum.
Or how to look more of a fool to the rest of the world.
The election is over! One man won, a lot of others (not just Mr. Moneybags) lost. Time for life to get back to normal, or at least head in that direction, right?
Nope. Not right.
Now that the election is over and approximately (an ironic) 47% of people were on the losing side, it's time to show the world that we are populated by whiny ass crybabies who, when they lose, throw down their tools and holler "I Quit" while the world laughs.
This is, of course, the members of the moneybags teams doing this. The first rumbles of the secession story came from Texas and Louisiana. Now, what does Texas and Louisiana have that's so special?
Oh yeah! That's where the OIL is! And the oilmen! I suppose I should say oil barons, or perhaps oil profiteers, because MEN do not quit when they have a setback. They stand up, shake the dust off the seat of their pants and their hands, and get right back to work. (oh but these people don't get their hands dirty, and they can't reach the seat of their pants because their big fat wallets are in the way!)
And work there is for all of us. The NorthEast is still lights-out in many places -- they could use a whole lot more of that oil that Louisiana and Texas are wanting to hold hostage until they get their way. There are homes and no homes, food spoiling, damaged factories, stores, streets. There's work for each and every person who can get there to do it. There are many who would be doing it if they could get there. There is even work for leaders in the field, because the Corporate Chairs are fighting like preschool siblings over who is in charge of what, while friends and neighbors are opening their houses and cupboards to their neighbors. Some of them are even feeding people with no ID, no proof of address. "When I was hungry, You gave me food."
Not a ticket to go somewhere else and get it from someone else because that's just not your job.
It surprises me how many people are jumping onto this secession bandwagon. Yeah, we'd all like to be our own country, especially when we don't like public policies. Yeah, when we have to pay the piper in April, we wish we were our own realm.
Most of us outgrow this by the time we reach double digits. It's hard work making rules and enforcing them and trying to make other people abide by OUR rules because it's our country. If they don't like it, they can go make one of their own.
I have to wonder if these people have thought this through. Who will repair and maintain their roads? Their schools? I suppose with agreements like the once-famous NAFTA they won't have to worry about tarrifs on foodstuffs, or factory-built parts. But who will pay the governing bodies? How?
There will still be taxes; there will still be public policies that displease individuals. There may be even fewer jobs if interstate commerce becomes international..
In the meantime, the public face of America is showing itself to be the "Ugly American" in truth.
The real Americans are in New Jersey, working.
The election is over! One man won, a lot of others (not just Mr. Moneybags) lost. Time for life to get back to normal, or at least head in that direction, right?
Nope. Not right.
Now that the election is over and approximately (an ironic) 47% of people were on the losing side, it's time to show the world that we are populated by whiny ass crybabies who, when they lose, throw down their tools and holler "I Quit" while the world laughs.
This is, of course, the members of the moneybags teams doing this. The first rumbles of the secession story came from Texas and Louisiana. Now, what does Texas and Louisiana have that's so special?
Oh yeah! That's where the OIL is! And the oilmen! I suppose I should say oil barons, or perhaps oil profiteers, because MEN do not quit when they have a setback. They stand up, shake the dust off the seat of their pants and their hands, and get right back to work. (oh but these people don't get their hands dirty, and they can't reach the seat of their pants because their big fat wallets are in the way!)
And work there is for all of us. The NorthEast is still lights-out in many places -- they could use a whole lot more of that oil that Louisiana and Texas are wanting to hold hostage until they get their way. There are homes and no homes, food spoiling, damaged factories, stores, streets. There's work for each and every person who can get there to do it. There are many who would be doing it if they could get there. There is even work for leaders in the field, because the Corporate Chairs are fighting like preschool siblings over who is in charge of what, while friends and neighbors are opening their houses and cupboards to their neighbors. Some of them are even feeding people with no ID, no proof of address. "When I was hungry, You gave me food."
Not a ticket to go somewhere else and get it from someone else because that's just not your job.
It surprises me how many people are jumping onto this secession bandwagon. Yeah, we'd all like to be our own country, especially when we don't like public policies. Yeah, when we have to pay the piper in April, we wish we were our own realm.
Most of us outgrow this by the time we reach double digits. It's hard work making rules and enforcing them and trying to make other people abide by OUR rules because it's our country. If they don't like it, they can go make one of their own.
I have to wonder if these people have thought this through. Who will repair and maintain their roads? Their schools? I suppose with agreements like the once-famous NAFTA they won't have to worry about tarrifs on foodstuffs, or factory-built parts. But who will pay the governing bodies? How?
There will still be taxes; there will still be public policies that displease individuals. There may be even fewer jobs if interstate commerce becomes international..
In the meantime, the public face of America is showing itself to be the "Ugly American" in truth.
The real Americans are in New Jersey, working.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Making Magic
Today, I made magic for a child.
It was a follow up to the magic I made last night, when I took cookies out of the oven, and promised her that tomorrow we would decorate them. She didn't know what decorate meant, I think, but was willing to take my word for it.
After all, a Mammaw who can get cookies out of an oven instead of a bag must know something.
Today while she was watching tv, I got my powdered sugar and my milk and food coloring and 4 bowls and 1 coffee cup that belonged to my dad and started mixing. When Hailey's show was over, she came out to the kitchen and climbed up in the chair.
"Mammaw, it's purple. And orange."
I showed her how to use the purple plastic knives to spread the frosting on the cookies, but it was still pretty runny, so I reached into my bag of powder and dumped another handful into each bowl. Then I picked one up and started stirring it in.
"Ooooh, Mammaw! You're making magic! I want to help! We can make a RAINBOW!"
So, I told her to pick up a bowl and stir it up. She said she was making green magic, and I was making purple magic, and blue magic, and yellow magic, and she was doing orange magic.
Then we painted the cookies.
I put sprinkles on the cookies after they were painted and she yelled at me that I was "Messing up" her magic paint cookies.
But she was liberal with the sprinkles and the candies herself afterward.
Sadly, we still have paint left, and nothing to paint on. My flour is nearly gone or I'd make a plain cake or something -- then we could indeed make a rainbow. I put the leftover frosting in jars in the refrigeratoe. She keeps telling me the food paint is getting cold. I have no idea if it will keep or if it is safe to keep that way, but if it goes bad, there's always the sink.
I could have a rainbow drain.
The real magic is in the child's simple belief that Mammaw can do magic -- and lets her help.
Surely there's no greater magic than feeding the children -- bodies and imagination both.
It was a follow up to the magic I made last night, when I took cookies out of the oven, and promised her that tomorrow we would decorate them. She didn't know what decorate meant, I think, but was willing to take my word for it.
After all, a Mammaw who can get cookies out of an oven instead of a bag must know something.
Today while she was watching tv, I got my powdered sugar and my milk and food coloring and 4 bowls and 1 coffee cup that belonged to my dad and started mixing. When Hailey's show was over, she came out to the kitchen and climbed up in the chair.
I showed her how to use the purple plastic knives to spread the frosting on the cookies, but it was still pretty runny, so I reached into my bag of powder and dumped another handful into each bowl. Then I picked one up and started stirring it in.
"Ooooh, Mammaw! You're making magic! I want to help! We can make a RAINBOW!"
So, I told her to pick up a bowl and stir it up. She said she was making green magic, and I was making purple magic, and blue magic, and yellow magic, and she was doing orange magic.
Then we painted the cookies.
I put sprinkles on the cookies after they were painted and she yelled at me that I was "Messing up" her magic paint cookies.
But she was liberal with the sprinkles and the candies herself afterward.
Sadly, we still have paint left, and nothing to paint on. My flour is nearly gone or I'd make a plain cake or something -- then we could indeed make a rainbow. I put the leftover frosting in jars in the refrigeratoe. She keeps telling me the food paint is getting cold. I have no idea if it will keep or if it is safe to keep that way, but if it goes bad, there's always the sink.
I could have a rainbow drain.
The real magic is in the child's simple belief that Mammaw can do magic -- and lets her help.
Surely there's no greater magic than feeding the children -- bodies and imagination both.
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Art will Out.
My husband used to say. when we'd go flea marketing, "I could do that if..."
He could be talking about wooden yard cutouts, or concrete statues, or handmade pottery, or plaster busts, or just about any handcraft.
His "if" was usually
"If I had the tools."
"If I had the equipment."
"If I had the space"
I was usually the penny pinching bully who wouldn't "let" him have the whatever he wanted for something he might do. Never mind that he probably never would do any of it.
I knew he wouldn't.
I made this judgement because he could have done many of the things using the tools at hand, but because they weren't specialty tools, he 'couldn't.'
Art doesn't work that way. If you have a need in your soul to create, you create. You don't wait for tools or stop for argument. If the need is in you and has to get out, you use what's at hand and do the best you can.
Period.
I know this, because I write. I write in all conditions, under any, many circumstances. I HAVE dived into trash cans for something to write on. I have used a mascara brush to jot down notes for a plot twist that just came to me as I was waiting in line. I have written with crayon, with full-fledged permanent marker, with broken pencils where I've chipped and peeled the wood away from the lead with my teeth and fingernails, because the words need to get OUT.
If I had no tools or equipment, I created some, I found some, I made some.
The same can be said for those who want to dance, or design, or act, cook, or do any other creative, expression.
There is no "if" in making art.
I'm reminded of this today watching my granddaughter.
She draws.
She paints.
She has taught herself to use the Paint program on the computer. She knows more of how to get it to do what she wants than I do.
If she finds an ink pen, a crayon, a marker, a burned stick, a charcoal briquet, she picks it up and draws a line or a circle with it.
If she has no paper to draw on, she uses a sidewalk, a rock, a board, a wall.
There is no "if" in this child when it comes to her art.
"If" she has no other legacy, I hope this is what she gets from Mammaw.
There is no "if" in "art."
He could be talking about wooden yard cutouts, or concrete statues, or handmade pottery, or plaster busts, or just about any handcraft.
His "if" was usually
"If I had the tools."
"If I had the equipment."
"If I had the space"
I was usually the penny pinching bully who wouldn't "let" him have the whatever he wanted for something he might do. Never mind that he probably never would do any of it.
I knew he wouldn't.
I made this judgement because he could have done many of the things using the tools at hand, but because they weren't specialty tools, he 'couldn't.'
Art doesn't work that way. If you have a need in your soul to create, you create. You don't wait for tools or stop for argument. If the need is in you and has to get out, you use what's at hand and do the best you can.
Period.
I know this, because I write. I write in all conditions, under any, many circumstances. I HAVE dived into trash cans for something to write on. I have used a mascara brush to jot down notes for a plot twist that just came to me as I was waiting in line. I have written with crayon, with full-fledged permanent marker, with broken pencils where I've chipped and peeled the wood away from the lead with my teeth and fingernails, because the words need to get OUT.
If I had no tools or equipment, I created some, I found some, I made some.
The same can be said for those who want to dance, or design, or act, cook, or do any other creative, expression.
There is no "if" in making art.
I'm reminded of this today watching my granddaughter.
She draws.
She paints.
She has taught herself to use the Paint program on the computer. She knows more of how to get it to do what she wants than I do.
If she finds an ink pen, a crayon, a marker, a burned stick, a charcoal briquet, she picks it up and draws a line or a circle with it.
If she has no paper to draw on, she uses a sidewalk, a rock, a board, a wall.
There is no "if" in this child when it comes to her art.
"If" she has no other legacy, I hope this is what she gets from Mammaw.
There is no "if" in "art."
Thursday, November 1, 2012
Thanks Giving
We all have a lot to be thankful for. What's "a lot" to me may be only a little to you, but it's the size of the thankfulness that counts more than what the thankfulness is for.
I bring this up for several reasons.
1)A Facebook friend posted a 'month of gratitude' status.
2)We have, mostly, survived a natural disaster. It could have been so much worse. Those where it hit the hardest and are still being hit -- one horror after another -- are a reminder to those of us not afflicted.
3)It's November. Halloween is over. It's time for Thanksgiving here in the US.
Do you hear that, people? Media? Advertisers?
Halloween is over. It's time for Thanksgiving.
Not Christmas.
Not "the Holidays"
Thanks Giving.
Yesterday, a commercial for a local station's news had a cheery voiced woman announcing "Halloween is over. Time to gear up for the next holiday. This years must have-toys for Christmas. See our story at five."
I don't watch that station's news and very little of their programming anyway, but really? How many stories will they be doing four weeks from now on "Thanksgiving, the forgotten holiday?"
Hypocrites.
I tried to post a protest on their Facebook page -- it wouldn't take. Tried several times. Tried liking/friending to be able to post, still couldn't post. I undid that pretty quick, you can bet.
The media will all do/make/have big stories about the "rush to Christmas." I've already seen a few. The problem is -- they are a large part of the problem. If they didn't do stories on the top ten must-have toys. If they didn't preface miracle/ goodwill stories as early Christmas.
Imagine if the news (local, national, or its own private network) didn't run ANY Christmas stories until after Thanksgiving. The holidays wouldn't be so rushed in and pushed into our consciousness, and the stories themselves would be more special, more effective. They would have their own place to sparkle and shine and move people if they were treated as the seasonal treats that they are meant to be.
To help explain -- candy corn is available year-round, but it doesn't taste the same in April as it does in October. Jelly beans aren't the same in October. Because that is the time and the place for them.
Oh advertisers are more obviously guilty, but how would it benefit the advertisers if the media ignored their pre-emptive extravaganzas, such as top-ten lists? If those news people weren't attending these events, the advertisers would lose money and maybe even actually have to pay out for their ads.
Isn't that what they are supposed to do?
And the fourth item on my list has to be
4) Us. People.
We need to take this time, to make this accounting of our lives, our families, our things. We gripe and complain, true, but what effect can there be when we watch and buy anyway?
It is OUR power to change things. Let's stop talking and start thanking before we shop.
I bring this up for several reasons.
1)A Facebook friend posted a 'month of gratitude' status.
2)We have, mostly, survived a natural disaster. It could have been so much worse. Those where it hit the hardest and are still being hit -- one horror after another -- are a reminder to those of us not afflicted.
3)It's November. Halloween is over. It's time for Thanksgiving here in the US.
Do you hear that, people? Media? Advertisers?
Halloween is over. It's time for Thanksgiving.
Not Christmas.
Not "the Holidays"
Thanks Giving.
Yesterday, a commercial for a local station's news had a cheery voiced woman announcing "Halloween is over. Time to gear up for the next holiday. This years must have-toys for Christmas. See our story at five."
I don't watch that station's news and very little of their programming anyway, but really? How many stories will they be doing four weeks from now on "Thanksgiving, the forgotten holiday?"
Hypocrites.
I tried to post a protest on their Facebook page -- it wouldn't take. Tried several times. Tried liking/friending to be able to post, still couldn't post. I undid that pretty quick, you can bet.
The media will all do/make/have big stories about the "rush to Christmas." I've already seen a few. The problem is -- they are a large part of the problem. If they didn't do stories on the top ten must-have toys. If they didn't preface miracle/ goodwill stories as early Christmas.
Imagine if the news (local, national, or its own private network) didn't run ANY Christmas stories until after Thanksgiving. The holidays wouldn't be so rushed in and pushed into our consciousness, and the stories themselves would be more special, more effective. They would have their own place to sparkle and shine and move people if they were treated as the seasonal treats that they are meant to be.
To help explain -- candy corn is available year-round, but it doesn't taste the same in April as it does in October. Jelly beans aren't the same in October. Because that is the time and the place for them.
Oh advertisers are more obviously guilty, but how would it benefit the advertisers if the media ignored their pre-emptive extravaganzas, such as top-ten lists? If those news people weren't attending these events, the advertisers would lose money and maybe even actually have to pay out for their ads.
Isn't that what they are supposed to do?
And the fourth item on my list has to be
4) Us. People.
We need to take this time, to make this accounting of our lives, our families, our things. We gripe and complain, true, but what effect can there be when we watch and buy anyway?
It is OUR power to change things. Let's stop talking and start thanking before we shop.
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