Sea Otter

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My nature calendar has the Sea Otter for this month’s animal.  They are just too, too cute. 

The article mentions that they are threatened by pollution.  Here’s the National Geographic page on them–explaining in a little more detail.

~~A side note~ they had the link to the manatee/sea lion deaths on the National Geographic page, so I thought I’d post it, too.  The poor manatees have been endangered for awhile–I used to vacation in the Sarasota, Florida, area, many years ago, and it was a problem for the manatees to get hit by boats, killing them or injuring them severely.

What this article doesn’t explain is how the cat feces is making its way to the oceans…is it the flushable kitty litter that enters the waterways?  Is it trash that contains kitty litter being dumped in the oceans?  It would be easier to address the problem if we knew the cause and made people aware of it.

I also think it is much, much more than the kitty litter.  The mercury/heavy metal poisoning is a problem, too.  And one has to consider that if they are finding prescription drugs in our water supply, it is likely to have made it to the oceans, as well.  According to this, they have made it into the other bodies of water. More here.

Here’s a more up to date article on marine pollution.  Would one say that selfish shellfishers are troublemakers? (sorry couldn’t resist).

As the article states, the sea otters help the kelp forests by controlling the feeding populations.  Without kelp, we humans would be in serious trouble as kelp is a natural source of iodine and other minerals.  The Native Americans would make trips to the oceans (if they were not along the coastline) to gather the seaweed because they knew of its value.  Our thyroids don’t function without iodine.

(And that picture is just gorgeous, too)

 

 

The winter scene

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At least six inches, baby!  (And probably close to eight if I really bothered to measure it)

The inner child in me wants to skip down the hallway.  I must be the only person in the entire city who loves snow.

It’s not all fun and games, as today is grocery day (account replenished) and that means trying to get a grocery cart across icy snow-covered streets.  Not fun.  I didn’t dare drive the Green Hornet in this stuff….with the kind of week I’m having, I’d end up in a crash….

So, I’m waiting to cross the street, having to practically be in the street in order to cross.  A lady in a van stops and asks if she can give me a ride.  I smile and thank her but told her that I just lived across the way.  She takes off, and I’m alternately pushing and pulling the cart across (it’s top heavy so it keeps wanting to pitch over), trying to get across before one of the leadfoots comes up the street.  I’m at the curb trying to get over it, not having much luck, when a guy in a huge delivery truck stops it in the middle of the roadway to help me get it onto the sidewalk.  He says something like “hope you get to where you’re going okay” and hops back into his truck.

Angels everywhere.  🙂

 

The people that you meet…

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(PERSONAL BLOG)

I’ve been trying to get my car squared away for the last two days-we are expecting a winter storm that will require the housing folks to clear the parking lot, which means you have to move your vehicle–or else they will tow it.

I finally told my son about my flat tire I got in December. He actually chuckled at the whole story…

Anyway, I got a used tire with some mileage left in it put on.  Meanwhile, my battery continues to go dead.  They say the battery is good, so my alternator may be slowly dying on me.  Can’t blame it–the car is sixteen years old and has over 200k on it.  While I was waiting for them to recharge the battery, I sat in the customer wait area.

You know how you meet someone and they just have a presence about them?  An older African American gentleman sitting in the area had that quality.

They had a TV on in the wait area with the new version of “Let”s Make a Deal” on.  Now, I don’t normally watch it, but it was already on when I walked in the room, so I sat back for a look.

The older gentleman said, “They certainly seem to enjoy themselves, don’t they?”  (speaking about the contestants)

I answered in the affirmative (yeah, I know some of that is acting, but what the hey).   We chatted a little, but it was later when the noon news came on about a devastating fire overnight that he started a conversation.  He said he used to fight fires. Forest fires.  I asked if he worked for the National Parks system, and he said that he fought fires for the CC camp.  He continued to talk as I was wondering if he meant that he worked for the “New Deal” programs.

Yes, indeed, he did.

He was paid $1 per day.  He had his clothes and his meals provided for him.

He later said that he also worked the loading docks–carrying cargo up and down the planks.  He said it was hard work (probably back-breaking, too). I was unclear on whether it, too, was a part of the CC camp or whether he meant that was what he went to after his two years of CC camp.

I mentioned a large park in Illinois that has been largely untouched by the modern world.  It is a beautiful area that is so far off the beaten path, you would not know of the traffic, pollution, etc.  It’s preserved so well it’s stunning.

And, no, I’m not naming it because I want it to stay that way.

Anyway, this park was built with New Deal labor–small cabins and a huge lodge with dining room.  Trails blazed by their labor.

The older gentleman said no, he had not worked there.

We went on to talk about gardening–something we both love.  Love to play in the dirt.  Love to see the plants spring up from the ground.  I said it was amazing that you could put a seed in the ground, and see a plant shoot up with more food for you.  He said he used to grow watermelons when his wife was still living, but she has passed, he no longer does that.  I told him that I never could grow watermelons…just didn’t have the knack for it. (same with melons and pumpkins, too…)

He said he had two wives–one he was married to for 36 years and the other 24 (?) years.  He outlived them and five children.  Wow.  I don’t know how I would handle losing one child–let alone five.  One of his children started as a police officer and is now a detective.

We chatted a little while longer about nothing in particular, and then his vehicle was ready to go.  He slowly rose from his chair with his cane and shuffled out to the registers.

He had told me during our talk that he didn’t expect the auto repair to cost so much and he was short $20.  I overheard the customer service rep tell him “don’t worry about it, we’ll take care of it.”

This was not a mom and pop service shop.  This was a major national chain, folks.  Major national chains don’t do that.  They just don’t.  I imagine the manager put in his own $20–he was a personable person who actually seem to give a crap about his customers.

Then it was my turn to check out.  My windshield wipers were worn thin, and unsafe.  I purchased new ones, planning to put them on myself–we’re supposed to be getting blasted with a winter storm with up to 8 inches of snow and the ones I had just smeared the stuff on the windshield–not safe at all.  The service rep grabbed the wipers and took off for the mechanics’ bay area.  She then came back and said she had the mechanic put them on.  What a sweet kid.

So…now I have to take back every bad thing I’ve said about chains….

Sometimes, they do bend the rules and act like human beings. (And yes, I’m not mentioning what chain it was on purpose–I don’t want the young lady to get into trouble because they charge $2 for wiper installation.)

For the circumstances, it was an enjoyable and surreal morning.

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While I’m on this, I wanted to talk about a conversation I’ve had recently with a black lady.  She said that she worked for the FW schools, and she also worked in nursing homes.

She said, “I’m not prejudiced, but black folks take care of their own.  White folks?  They just abandon their family (members).”

I told her that I didn’t think she was prejudice, because I’ve made the same observation.

Black folk in my building take care of each other.  They’ve helped me, too, when I’ve asked for it.  Even when I haven’t asked for it.  One gentleman asked about my flat tire when he saw it.  He even tried to help get it off, but the previous owner changed the rims and I can’t get them off with the lug wrench that came with the vehicle.  (I know, I know, I should get one, but with a car that is looking at perhaps another 20,000 miles, it doesn’t make much sense….) Anyway, he didn’t have the right lug wrench, either.

One white lady has been a Godsend because she has helped me out on several occasions (she even sat with me while the stupid battery was being charged the first time).  She has offered to help without expecting anything in return.  And we cry on each other’s shoulders about life as poor women.  Until one lives it, you just don’t understand how difficult the life is.  And to say that we’re poor because we just didn’t work hard enough is utter bullshit.  Nobody works harder than a cleaning woman or a ditch digger….but you don’t see them living in mansions, do you?  And my staying home for twelve years with my children was the best contribution to society I could have given –hard work and even better rewards that can’t be counted in $$.

In harmony with nature

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Bhutan is the first country to go entirely organic.  Good for them!  Note that they see this as not only a practical idea, but they incorporate their spirituality in their reverence for nature.  It’s not easy, as the article states, because it’s hard to reorient oneself to farming without chemicals.  Chemicals are just too, too easy.  It takes creative thinking and hard work to do the right thing.

<sigh> I wish the so-called progressive America did the same.  (Remember when the United States used to lead the world?)

No, we’re not the leaders anymore….

…we’d much rather do stupid stuff like genetically engineer a life form and then persecute farmers into bankruptcy for using that technology unknowingly.

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In other environmental news, Canadian Prime Minister Harper is being urged to walk away from yet another trade agreement.

From the article:

The Australian government decided in 2011 it would stop including these rights and investor-state dispute settlement in its trade and investment agreements. Many countries, including South Africa and India, are rethinking their investment treaties because of the way corporations and law firms have abused them to undermine democracy and public policies globally. Several Latin American countries are cancelling their investment treaties for the same reason.

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Again, I ask, “remember when the U.S. used to lead the world….?”  Why are other countries doing the right thing while America lists like a battered ship in the sea?

Toxic Trash Water

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Environmental Working Group has a report up on the toxins coming out of the tap. (hat tip to common dreams).

Even in Silent Spring, Rachel Carson put forth the idea that science could “correct” the mistakes made with the science of chemical pollution…so it’s depressing, but not out of character for science to combat water pollution with…more chemicals.  Chlorine is a poison (so is fluoride, but that’s for another blog).

Again, nature does it best with natural water filtration.  Here is a report on natural swimming pools–water filtration is by the same idea–using plants and stones for the water to naturally detoxify itself.

More here.  Aren’t these beautiful to look at as well as functional?  Here’s more from Australia…crikey, they’re all over the place!

Here’s a site explaining natural water filtration in a teaching mode.  It lays it out on how our zeal to tear down trees and pave the landscape has greatly interfered with the natural way of water filtration.  It touches on the importance of beaver dams–how they were destroyed because they were implicated in floods, but they were actually contributing positively by aiding water filtration–another myopic view by scientists who didn’t understand the “orchestra” of nature.  And who would have thought that flies have a positive impact?  Not I.

And here is a site on filtering water for yourself (I’m not linking to it for obvious reasons):  wilderness-survival-skills.com/how-to-make-a-water-filter.html

Finally, there’s this– an innovative showering system.  Makes me smile–I’d feel like I were showering in a jungle, but what the hey.  I’d think I’d rather go for a swim in the natural pool.  Also, this would make more sense if you’re using a biodegradable soap, such as Dr. Bronner’s. 

Lastly, all of this that benefits us also benefits the animals that inhabit this place with us.

Graham gets it handed back to him

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Police Chief Edward Flynn gives it back to Lindsey Graham, who clearly wants to ask questions and doesn’t necessarily care if he gets answers.  He’s not interested in a civil exchange, but for only his views being heard.

“The background checks worked.”

Most Americans favor universal background checks.

Enough said.

 

Safe cookware

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I can’t remember if I’ve posted this before, so if I have, forgive the repeat.

There has been discussion on the mercury support group on safe cookware, as the very ill are very sensitive to all metals.  (I am just now at the point where I can put jewelry on without my skin itching and turning red ten minutes later.)

Aluminum is out. Period.  Nasty stuff that you don’t want your food to touch.

Cast iron would be a good choice, except that many heavy metal poisoned people have high copper amounts and iron exacerbates it, so that’s out.

Stainless steel seemed like a good choice, but alas, it leaches out nickel.  Nickel is also toxic.  It is actually given to laboratory animals to cause cancer. So that’s out.

Glass cookware was the next choice, but it, too, has issues with exploding cookware.  I think those issues were with people exposing the cookware to temperature extremes (hot to cold, cold to hot), which inevitably caused the glass to weaken.  Also, you are cautioned not to scrub using stainless steel pads, as that will scratch the surface, leading it to weaken the glass, causing it to explode.  That’s my theory, at any rate.

Just thought I’d pass this along.

Fixing the debt

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PRWatch has this up on the Fix the Debt faux “concern group” led by Pete Peterson.

More on Peterson here.  Another “Romney” who makes his living off of looting firms and destroying jobs.

(A side note~listening to Limbaugh today–a wife of a gov’t employee of the defense dept was saying that they had been sent a letter that they had to mind their finances because their paycheck was going to be cut by one day per week.  She was going on and on in a nearly hysterical voice saying how her husband had worked his butt off for the U.S. and he deserved his pay.  I thought that she sounded….um….entitled.… 🙂

Creating the artificial crisis.  Creating a hysteria, much like War of the Worlds. and keep repeating the lie over and over until people believe it.