"Oh, you're one of those d*@n environmentalists"

So, I've been directed to this website on more than one occasion which gives an outline of the homes and energy consumption of Mr. Gore & Prez Bush. (http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp), so here's my response.

Mostly I get it from right-wingers trying to debunk environmental ideas by pointing out the Gore hypocracy. Gore often makes a lot of good points about the environment and his rhetoric is usually thoughtful & intelligent. But I don’t find it too surprising that neither of their super-wealthy homes reflect their policies… just politics as usual. And SO WHAT? Bush's environmental policies have FAR outstripped whatever resources his home is supposedly conserving.

Which is to say, if I were looking for an environmental mentor, I probably wouldn’t look to anybody who is as power hungry as either of those two. It would be a rare politician who would rate highly on my list of heros.

Finally, if either of their homes were set as the bar for some environmentally friendly standard, we (and our planet) are in trouble. I would never consider even a 4000 sf home to be easy on the environment… I don’t care what the “average” in the area is.

early canning season

tonight i began the seasonal ritual of storing up for winter. twenty pounds of pickles sit in their jars. cucumbers were picked especially for me this morning, dill, too. the cukes must get into the jars same day for the freshest, snappiest pickles. nothing storebought can compare. cheaper, no wasteful packaging to be "recycled" (way down to #4 on the list, "rethink, reduce, reuse, recycle"), and plain ol' tastier. all this for a few hours work. i hear a satisfying dull snap in the background as each lid seals in its zingy, dilly contents (some have an extra spicy kick with hot peppers added - try finding THAT in the store). next will be tomatoes - plain canned, salsa, pasta sauce, and "sun" dried (in the oven with basil and olive oil). of course pesto with all the fresh basil will be stored too. roasted red peppers will round out next month. and whatever else pops out of the gardens. got ideas?

summer

summer is showing signs of an inkling to transition to fall. june began with sunny, blue skies but the snowpack clung in the high country beyond its normal early july melt-out. a sunny 4th of july in these parts predicts a traditional northwest summer. and late july followed tradition, although the tradition had been forgotten by many with the last couple summers of record heat. clouds and rain in the morning, clearing in the afternoon was on the bill for late july and early august. not too hot, not too cool. well, there was an anomolous week somewhere in there with some scorchers. (jonesyalonesy@blogspot.com "tragedy strikes the family rv" details an unplanned roadtrip to idaho on one of those 90+ degree days.) and now august is waning.

in a few weeks, it will be my favorite time of year. transition to fall. but a few more weeks of summer to enjoy still. starting with this weekend's forecast of "chance of rain" and "partly cloudy". if we are truly in a pattern of good ol' northwest summers, then september will be a treat.

Bye-Bye Bumpkins!

Our little cabin on the lake is, by most standards, in the boonies. The in-laws admit to singing "over the hills and through the woods to Jenn & Mike's we go," so it may be no surprise that we have been living with the SLOWEST internet available to humans. Yes, gawd-awful dial-up, and 28K at that! I know! Bumpkins! Hillbillies! I hear your jaws drop in awe.

But, that all changed two days ago! We are now LIVE and wireless at 4 million mB/sec, or some super-fast number! I'm not sure what it all means yet. I'm scared.

We moved out of the BIG CITY to the boonies 7 years ago for all the stereotypical reasons - mostly peace and my complete unwillingness to keep up with the masses (can't say "joneses" for obvious reasons). But the masses have won.

Now we, too, can fritter away more hours in front of a screen, until our eyes are bloodshot. You see, with slow downloads, you can't really get addicted; not REALLY. But, already I feel the draw, yesterday afternoon, a perfect 80 degrees, sunny blue skies and the boss let us off early. What do I think of first? A refreshing swim after a sweaty day? A stress-relieving bike ride? A good book on the dock? NOOO! I wonder what I'll post.



I went for a swim. I don't know how long I can stay strong.