Dry Beneath the Trees

Wet streets still dry beneath the trees

Gray clouds still illuminated by the fading light
Quiet footsteps beating in rhythm with the falling rain

Darkness now creeping
through the woods
like a snake, the darkness
slithers its rays chasing the sunlight
as it fades

Water Reform Now

Bottled versus Tap

DTC advertsing once again, is our water unsafe to drink?
Do we need to spend billions of dollars on bottled water when we could be getting right from our tap. Is our tap water safe to drink?
Let's find out.,

This is what happens when pigs fly.

Ask Your Doctor

Where are we on health care reform?
The endless chatter over health care fills the airwaves 24 hours a day and I still can't decipher what is really happening.
Who's fault is it anyway?
The current system is in need of reform, but who is at the reigns?
The patients, insurance companies, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals, doctors, nurses or the government?
The reformers and pundits alike are concentrating on a public health option, but is it the central issue?
We need to looker closer at the other problems effecting the system.
The pharmaceutical companies spend over a billion dollars on Direct to Consumer Advertising not to mention the vast amount of money spent on lobbying for their agenda.
Is the health care system a prisoner of the pharmaceutical conglomerate?
Can we compete with their deep pockets?

DTC advertising budgets outweighs the amount of dollars spent on research and development.
As the DTC ads increase so do health care costs.
A night watching TV turns into a virtual visit with your health care provider, I have at least 3 new diseases since last night alone.
Now, I just need to ask my doctor.

Wandering - Desolation Wilderness

This is big too. Big wilderness. JS and I went wandering in Desolation Wilderness this past month. We read the books, blogs and bought and returned lots of camping items. Things we could have camped without, still working on that one. Things we could not have camped without coffee and the water filter js bought for our trip. We tapped our own water, better than Brita.

How big is too big?

We live in the land of big. Big houses, big cars, big business and big government.
The question is how big is too big? A company keeps growing and growing and buying up all its competitors until there is no competition left and you are forced to buy from them. In my opinion, this is commercial communism. 1 choice is not a choice.

Do we have the right to bear cars?

I made the long commute to work this morning. Traffic was slow, but not stopped.
Which leads me to the controversial issues of car ownership and public transportation.
No one uses public transportation because it is not convenient, but its not convenient because no one uses it. Everyone's goal, even now the government's, is car ownership.
Is car ownership environmentally correct?

Southern Roots

Recent wanderings to the panhandle of Florida.

And we say grace and we say Ma'am.
And if you ain't into that we don't give a damn.

The Florida Panhandle is the region of the state of Florida which includes most of the northwestern part of the state. It is a narrow strip lying between Alabama on the north and the west, Georgia also on the north, and the Gulf of Mexico to the south. Its eastern boundary is arbitrarily defined along some chosen county lines, and it includes Tallahassee. (From Wikipedia)
This part of Florida should be claimed by Alabama, much of the culture is part of the larger South, different in many aspects from the rest of Florida.
Watching the flocks of tourists and residents alike belly up to the tables at Dewey Destin's is a cultural experience in itself. The fisihing boats filled with fresh bay grouper docked along side the motorboats laden with beer and southerns, bump and sway against the old wooden dock. This area should be part of LA, not the LA of Tinsletown , but the swath of Southern Culture that hangs down from south of Birmingham to the Gulf of Mexico like a wet towel full of hospitality and southern charm.