Rural Thoughts

Several days ago, Kristi came home from work and said that she heard that there was going to be an event at the Carson Center that night that we might want to go see. It had something to do with the University of Louisville, but she wasn't sure. She thought there would be music, and maybe theater. But she had heard that it would be good, so we cleaned up quickly and headed there. I'm so glad we did.

There wasn't a lot of new stuff in the sunday news show. They doted over Gov. Christie of New Jersey. Is he or isn't he? Going to run for president that is. Didn't they just go thru this with Gov. Perry of Tex, who has turned out to be all hat and no cattle, at least thus far?

Isn't it interesting that Herman Cain wins the Florida straw poll, and granted, that is a very small sample, but that as soon as that happens, no one in the media really takes him serious - instead, in the days that follow - it's all about whether or not Gov. Christie of New Jersey will get in the race.

There is one thing I wanted to comment on that I heard on the Sunday News Shows this last Sunday. That was on "Inside Washington." It was Colby King stating that he agreed with James Carville that the Obama administration should in fact "panic" about the administration's public acceptance in relation to their re-election chances. It is very unusual to hear King come down as hard as did on the administration. He usually is very defensive about Obama and doesn't agree with a view that the administration is that far out of a mainstream and may be in trouble.

I was out of computer from Friday afternoon until yesterday afternoon. The power cord on my computer went out. I went to Radio Shack, which had one item which would replace my power cord - for a hundred bucks. I walked next door to Wal Mart - not to buy a replacement, but to see what they had. They had the exact item (brand name and all) that Radio Shack had, except it was 20 bucks cheaper at Wal Mart. I ended up buying a power cord for my computer on Amazon.com for (yes, this is no typo) $1.75, plus shipping. I opted for expedited shipping, which made my total bill about $12.75.

I saw Sen. McConnell on TV yesterday, dismissing Obama's jobs plan - saying that nothing he has done has worked. He's getting hard to take - his demeanor is awful and he's just so disagreeable. Well, actually he has been hard to take all along, but he's getting exceptionally so lately. He has been against everything that Obama has been for. In fact, it's his opposition in the senate that kept many of the things that Obama had wanted to do the first two years of his term from getting done.

Today is "Labor Day" in the U.S. This is one of the major holidays in the U.S. Even though it doesn't close down as many businesses as Christmas, or Thanksgiving, the business world of the U.S. pretty much shuts down on Labor Day. Also, Labor Day also roughly symbolizes the end of the warm season for that year. The actual end of summer is still a couple weeks away, but Labor Day represents the beginning of school seasons, (although most now start ahead of that) the beginning of a new TV season, the end of the summer vacation season, and the beginning of preparation for winter.

The news shows basically had the same things: Obama needs to "go big" with his jobs plan; Romney and Perry are going to be criticizing each other; the economy and who is going to get the blame. Yawn.

Mr. Flutterby and Little Birdie discuss the future of their organization, VOTE (Vegetables organizing for the Earth). Because both can fly, they are able to realize the scope of the situation from on high.

Little Birdie surveying rising tides from climate change.

Mr. flutterby addressing VOTE (Vegetables Organizing for the Earth) about his commitment to stopping human use of herbicides and pesticides.

Tater receiving the Cherry Tomato Award for her promotion of growing organic, heirloom tomatos.

Tater and Spud together enjoying an afternoon. Spuddy loves to play on the many human utensils in the garden.

Yesterday, I went to the Heartwood website's action alert page http://www.heartwood.org/action and used it send comments to the Indiana Dept. of Environmental Management on their proposed rules for confined feeding operations. These rules are going to govern how these large livestock facilities will handle their wastewater - thus, very important to the long term water quality of Indiana.

This is the clutch that was successfully fledged right outside our window. It happens fast - within a couple weeks. Amazing to watch it happen.