OVERCOMMITMENT
I got “sucked” in by all those incredible blooming plants at the discount store yesterday.. For years, I’ve let the hanging baskets…well….hang…! With nothing in them. Shamefully empty. This is the year. I decided to load them up with at least a few colorful Petunias and hope they enjoy our hospitality! Just one more thing on the to-do list, though!
We are enjoying RECORD high temperatures in the mid-80’s F (32 degrees C.). In fact, it was 93 degrees F. (that’s 32 C. for my international friends!) in town yesterday, but this evening will see an “adjustment.” We’re expecting a cold front to move in and ratchet those numbers downward. Undoubtedly, the weather change will create some fireworks in the form of lightning and thunder. Night before last, we had an awesome display. Lots of crash, boom, bang and jagged gashes across the sky. Our Great Pyrenees is a real wolf in sheep's clothing most of the time, but when thunder rolls, he becomes a sheep in wolf's clothing! He has amazing hearing and he wants nothing short of sitting in someone's lap at the first clap of thunder, even if it’s in the next county and we can barely detect it!
In a way, the change in temperature will be a relief. It’s kind of scary when the year goes from January to July instantly! T.S. Eliot called April the “cruelest month.” Indeed it can be. We’ve seen many a late frost—clear up into May, even—completely demolish a burgeoning fruit and veggie crop. Last year was one example, when we had everything imaginable the weather could throw at us, from April onward: cold, rain, sleet, wind, colder cold…it was awful! And, we didn’t harvest any fruit from our trees. So, hope, hope! No cold, now, please!
OUR MINING FAMILIES
Please do not forget the mining tragedy. Massey Energy has gotten away with (literally) murder in the past. They’ve never been held accountable for their actions. The public quickly forgets. Massey’s record is beyond all tolerance. Go to at least one of the links I list below and read the article. The New York Daily News also has an excellent piece today. Please send an email to your Congressional representative demanding action by the Justice Department for a full, open investigation. If companies are found to be negligent, executives should find themselves behind bars. This is an outrage and it has gone on long enough!
NBC Nightly News or NPR
APPALACHIAN BEAUTY
The unfortunate irony of West Virginia was eloquently described by an NBC correspondent last night when he commented on the breathtaking beauty of the Appalachian Spring in West Virginia and contrasted its above-ground splendor with the scourge of the black gold that lies beneath the surface. We continue to rip the heart from the mountains and sacrifice lives, all so we can send coal elsewhere to produce electricity which we waste massively. Every time you leave a light on needlessly, please remember one of these 25 needless deaths. The MSHA Administrator calls them "entirely preventable." And, you know what? Conservation does work. Green energy does work. The coal industry is a ghastly, dangerous business. And Massey Energy is the most profitable of the five largest coal companies in the U.S.. There is another way.
I'll leave you with this morning's Appalachian Sunrise... Peace.
Posts
93F !!!That's certainly a massive temp jump. We're slowly inching our way up past 10C. It all depends if the wind is blowing up from the south-west from Africa or North-east down from the arctic. We're lucky to get an apple crop but are too high for most other fruit trees.
ReplyDeleteElora -- Corporate power is dangerous -- for miners and all others in the country. Love your Appalachian sunrise! And, of course the dog, they are our loyal friends, even though they can be so big and want to sit in our lap! -- barbara
ReplyDeleteJust checked out world energy consumption per capita figures. The lowest is Bangladesh with Haiti not quite double. People in the UK consume 25X as much energy as those in Bangladesh and people in USA consume 49X as much energy. I think that says it all. God gave us a world that provides enough food,water and energy for all the people living on it. We just haven't learnt to share yet.
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