LatteGirl after her 2007 Dance Recital.
Some Pictures, don’t have a story. They just are the story.
Picture Perfect Thursday – Recital II
Posted on May 31, 2007 · 3 Comments
Picture Perfect Thursday – Shock and Awe Edition
Posted on May 17, 2007 · Leave a Comment
So, I guess it would be wrong for me to think that this has something to do with New Jersey passing the Civil Union Laws earlier this year.
Joking aside there is nothing funny about the fact that a fire that burned more than 22,000 acres of Pinelands in New Jersey over the past couple of days was reportedly started by flares dropped from an F-16 fighter jet during a training mission. (But for a large thunderstorms yesterday, the area consumed by the fire would have been much greater).
Now admittedly it is not like some random act, since there is a firing range in the area. But this definitely highlights the risks of having a military training range in an area that not only is highly flammable (Pine is apparently naturally very flammable), but also with residences not terribly far away.
I’m not trying to lay blame here, it was an accident and nothing more. Fortunately (at least according to everything I have seen so far), there have been no deaths or immediate reports of injuries from the event. But I will tell as somebody that lives 12 miles from the World Trade Center Site, and who travels that area frequently, it is an uncomfortable feeling. A feeling I don’t like, and this is the second time in less than a year, this first of course being when Cory Lidle’s plane crashed in New York City last year.
Picture Perfect Thursday – The Pool
Posted on May 10, 2007 · 5 Comments
When we installed our first pool I installed it with my brother in law. It took a bit more than a week (nights after work, and two weekends) to get it up and functional. And to be honest it wasn’t all that level.
This time however, after considering what my time is worth, the fact that I am older and less patient, I decided to have a professional install the pool this time. Needless to say he was able to get the job done in far less time (4-1/2 hours to be exact).
Now I was only too happy to get rid of our temporary pool that we had for two seasons after our original one upped and decided to just split. But I think I may have gone a bit overboard. The new pool is 18′ round. Which doesn’t sound all that big, but when you stick it in my yard… well…
Let’s just say that there isn’t really all that much yard left at all. I guess that is what I get for sticking too much to a city area where lots are small.
But I’m not complaining, because I know when we eventually get this sucker filled up (can I tell you, that some 23,000 gallons of water through a garden hose can take quite a while), LatteGirl will be thrilled.
I have already chronicled that she loves the water. So I know it will certainly get plenty of use. And since this pool comes with a 35 year warranty, this will be the last pool purchase, I ever have to make. (I certainly hope and expect that it will be anyway).
And who knows, if I am good, besides having the honor of cleaning and vacuuming it, maybe I will even get to use it once in a while.
Picture Perfect Thursday – Happy Cows Part I
Posted on May 3, 2007 · Leave a Comment
I know I have harped on this before, and some of you may be sick of hearing about it. However, I think it really worth repeating, and besides, I have this awesome picture of cows taken by Erin over at Family Circus and I can’t see letting it go to waste. Here we see cows and newborn calves. They are happy, healthy and free to roam and graze in the field. This is of course how we imagine all the cows that provide us with milk and meat comes from. But that is of course just simply not true.
If you haven’t done so yet, Go over and Check out The Meatrix I.
Back? Good.
The fact of the matter is, that in many instances, what is depicted here is not how it is done today thank to Big Agri-Business over-running the local farms, raising animals in deplorable conditions, using (at best) questionable practices such as debeaking chickens, over use of anitbiotics, keeping animals in cages where they simply cannot move, using rBGH/rBST in cows to increase production despite the potential health effects to both the cows and humans that consume the milk produced by cows injected with these synthetic hormones.
I will once again be raising money for Farm Aid, which helps small farmers survive (and try to thrive) in this world that is sadly slanted towards the Big Corporate Entities. Hopefully, the wonderful people, (and perhaps a few new ones) will again join me in attempting to raise money for this worthwhile cause.
It really can’t be stressed enough, when you want to take into consideration your health, the health of your family, and even the health of your community and the world, supporting your local farmers is good way to get good tasting food, get it from a source your know, keep the money in your local area, and all while helping to reduce carbon emmission that are inevitable when food is shipped from around the world. Now of course not everybody has everything naturally grown close to home. I know I am sure as heck not giving up my coffee and other products that aren’t grown around here. But when it comes to the things, the fruits, the vegetables and where possible even some meat, I will find a local source or shop at the local farmers market.
We will all be happier and healthier… even the cows.
Picture Perfect Thursday – Immigrant Nation
Posted on April 26, 2007 · 1 Comment
We are a nation of immigrants (with the exception of the Native Americans of course). The vast majority of us “hail” from another nation. We even try to hold ties to those nations, by hyphenating our nationalities, much like a woman that adds her husbands name onto her own. We are Italian-Americans, African-Americans, Irish-Americans and so on. So what is it that give people the right to complain about “foreigners?”
Now, I am not talking about illegal immigration here, that is a whole other topic, for another time. No, I am talking about plain old racism. And it burns me to no end, when people whine about the “PC Police.” Because these same whiners would be the ones up in arms if something derogatory was said about “their people.”
I have head people ask, do you teach your child how to not be a racist? This is of course, the silliest thing I have ever heard. Of course I don’t. I have no need to. Not because my child is special, or has some sort of difference than other kids. No, she is exactly the same as all kids in this world. Racism is not “baked in.” The seeds of racism are planted by adults, nurtured and cultivated, as the children learn from the actions of adults.
Now to be fair, it is not all the adults. There is enough blame to go around, since children can also be influenced by teachers, friends (who have racist parents), and even television. Not that I would ever condone a child watching Faux News Channel (or anybody else for that matter), but what kind of a world do we live in when you have “News” reporters saying thing like, the Iraqi people are knuckle dragging savages from the 10th century. You have many people who believe that Barack Obama can not be President. Not for any reason of his qualification, but because, “America isn’t ready for a BLACK President.”
Have we really progressed so little? Can’t we just learn from our children that we are all really the same and that the color of our skin, or the nation from which we claim our roots, really doesn’t matter? Is it really that hard? And if not, why haven’t we done it?
