Drought

We've been complaining about the weather for months. You have probably heard...there has been  a serious drought spreading through the Midwest. While serious, we are not talking "dust bowl" or Horn of Africa devastation. But the drought is ruining some farm operations and people will be forced off their land. In my 60-plus years I've not seen it this bad. I live in a mostly rural community within a few miles of the lower Missouri River and there are sand bars stretching most of the way across the river in some places. We have been living with water conservation restrictions almost all summer. I think most farmers got one cutting of hay but, based on the field near my house, that was probably it. The corn crop is pretty much gone. Soybeans look better, especially in the river bottoms, but they are still in trouble. Cattle farmers are struggling and some farm families I know are cutting down trees so the cattle can eat the few leaves that are left. Apparently, cattle don't always eat trees but when they do, they prefer Honey Locust trees. Here's a tip if you are ever in this situation...don't give them the Honey Locust trees first because they get picky and don't like eating the other trees.


Many of our trees have already turned brown and lost their leaves. That normally happens in late October or early November. I have a big Hickory tree in my front yard that seems to be holding its own. The Cedars are managing okay. Maples and Poplars are mostly bare. I have a Shortleaf Pine out back that is surviving but I've seen some in the area that have turned brown and are probably dead. Dogwood trees are struggling. Landscape plantings are looking terrible. I grow a few hop plants but they failed to produce flowers this year.  The local vineyards are faced with a small grape harvest but they say it will be very high quality. I guess I'll be drinking wine instead of home brew.


Finally things have started to turn around. The remnants of Hurricane Isaac came through on Labor Day weekend and I didn't hear a single complaint. We only managed to get about two inches of rain but it helped. Since then we have had more rainy days and the grass seems to be coming back. Some of the trees look better but it's too late for many of them. Some will come back next year if the winter isn't too harsh and we get more rain. Temperatures have really cooled off. We had weeks of 100 degree days but we are in the mid 70s the last two days. It will get hot again but most of it is over.


I haven't cut my grass since June but I'll probably have to find my lawnmower in about two weeks if we can get some more rain. We usually have a very pretty fall but this year it will be subdued.

Liar, Liar, Pants on Fire!!

The Republicans have been holding their convention this week in Tampa. The Democrats are next. The lies spewing forth from the speakers on the podium are absolutely amazing. It is breathtaking. Paul Ryan actually accused Obama of being responsible for closing down an auto factory before he was even President...and he just kept right on going. It doesn't matter that it's a lie, the important thing is to get it out there so the pea-brains who are sucking this up can get energized.

I managed not to watch any of the convention but I'm following it on the news because you just can't escape it. My main news interest is in Hurricane Isaac, otherwise I probably wouldn't even have the news on. I probably won't watch much, if any, of the Democrats' convention.  Why bother?

We have our own little side show going on locally with Todd Akin, the GOP's senatorial candidate. And what a show it is. Missouri seems to collect wingnuts. I have a friend (sort of) who comes from his district who keeps me informed on all of the crazy and outlandish conspiracy theories that the local Republicans dream up. She makes the "Birthers" look normal. She threatened and chased the census bureau guy off her property because he worked for Acorn. She says Acorn is in charge of the Department of Commerce and is sending out the census people to get information on her. She, of course, is a Todd Akin supporter and thinks that that flurry of excitement about "legitimate rape" and the amazing capacity of a woman's body to shut down a potential rape pregnancy is just the "Godless Liberals" plotting against her hero, Todd Akin.

I admit that I voted for Todd Akin in the primary election. I voted Republican just so I could vote against a few people and I voted for Akin because I knew he would self-destruct. I thought he would last at least until Labor Day but I don't think he made it a week. I'm not a big supporter of Claire McCaskill. I've met her a couple times and was in meetings with her when she was the Jackson County prosecutor. I don't particularly like her but she is serious, smart and businesslike. She is 100 times better than Akin. She is up something like nine points in the polls now but come November, anything can happen. Remember, Missouri elected a dead guy to the Senate rather than select the other choice...John Ashcroft.

My impression of Mitt Romney is that he is a guy with limited values and convictions. Only things related to his immediate family, church or wealth have any weight in his life. Everything else is merely a business decision. He can easily promote one idea or value and then promote the exact opposite based on what he sees as the business climate. He seems to have no lasting commitments to ideas or values. He also has the corporate model approach to things...the same way Bush Jr. did.  He is not a details sort of guy. That's why he chose Paul Ryan as his VP --- someone to be involved in the details. I think we tried that with Dick Cheney and it didn't work.

Obama is a details guy, maybe to a fault. He is also a person with life-long values and convictions. He is more likely to stay on the same course in a second term. It has taken so long to dig out of the hole left by the previous administration that people are impatient. I'm convinced that the economy was worse than we think and it will take a while longer to get back on track. The obstructionist approach taken by the GOP is slowing things down. Now they want to go back to the policies that put us in a near-depression.

I'm something of a supporter of Obama-Care. I think he managed to get the cat out of the bag, so to speak, and we will see improved health care in the future. There is a lot in Obama-Care that is positive and worthwhile and supported by most Americans. I am concerned about the GOP's plans for a voucher-based medicare system. Medicare needs help but not that kind. They would turn the focus of the system away from Doctors and hospitals to a group that they know and trust...insurance companies...with deep pockets.

I fully expect the Democratic convention to be one more non-event with lots of speakers tossing around lots of false information. It will probably be dull. I don't think there's a hurricane coming. 

Farewell Neil Armstrong

August 25th...Farewell Neil Armstrong. There are only eight Apollo Astronauts left who walked on the moon and the youngest is in his mid 70s. Armstrong was the first.  Will we miss them when they are gone?

We ended the Space Shuttle program a little over a year ago. We still have space ambitions but most of the interesting and newsworthy stuff is done by robots of one sort or another. We have just landed on Mars with the Curiosity rover. It will be in the news for a long time.

We have the International Space Station, packed with real live humans, orbiting 250 miles up above the earth. The ISS has grown to a size somewhat larger than a football field and is resupplied periodically by unmanned supply rockets. The Russians run a taxi service for moving people out to the ISS and back home again. The ISS is one of the brightest things in the sky when it flies over. It can be much brighter than the moon if the sun hits it right...but it seems that few people bother to look up.  I'm a sky watcher so I've seen it and it is an impressive sight...but it is over in about four or five minutes.

I guess we've reached the point where most of the pioneering work is over...at least close to our home planet. Much of the equipment and artifacts from this time are showing up in museums. There was a news item last week about Los Angeles having to cut down 400 trees along a roadway so that the space shuttle can be towed to the local museum.

The Chinese are talking about sending humans on a mission to the moon. That would be goos, I think, but I can't imagine what the cost would be. I wonder if unmanned space exploration is much less expensive than sending humans. The focus would be on robotics and other types of technology rather than life support.

I wonder if any of those space monkeys are still alive. If J. Fred Muggs is still alive at 60 then maybe there are still a couple space monkeys around.  We still send animals into space. In February 2010 the Iranians sent a mouse, two turtles and some worms into space on one of their rockets. They survived the trip.

What I'll Remember About the 2012 London Olympics

The final javelin has been thrown, the final weight lifted, the final diver plunged into the pool, and the last marathoner crossed the line. The London Olympics are over. I enjoyed the Olympics. The USA's athletes did a great job individually and in team competitions. They all were great no matter what country they came from. I have some great memories...but let me get this off my chest first.

NBC's coverage of the Olympics was horrendous. They should be ashamed of the lousy way that they handled this global event. I really can't think of any instance where they excelled. When they could have made a good decision on how to cover the games they always...always chose the wrong option. I was beginning to think that Hallmark Cards was in charge of the broadcasts. We don't need Tom Brokaw telling us the heartwarming story of how the Brits struggled in WW-II...and taking nearly an hour to do it in prime time. War is hell, no matter what side you are on. We should have learned by now not to have wars but we haven't. There was no end to the sappy stories of how this athlete or that coach had to endure tremendous hardship to finally compete in the Olympics. Then, of course, there are the NBA players and the various other standouts (Phelps, Bolt, etc.) that they just had to squeeze on to the telecast one or two more times. And quite frankly, I have seen enough volleyball to last me a lifetime.

But I did enjoy the games in spite of the botched coverage. Here are ten things that I really enjoyed.

1. The opening and closing ceremonies were great. I had to reflect a little on the opening before I decided I liked it because it was a little odd.
2. I am glad Michael Phelps won his medals and is now the most decorated Olympic athlete. There were a lot of titles thrown about as cliches on TV but he has won a ton of medals. Is he the greatest athlete? No. He has duplicate event medals from several different Olympic games so he is very good at what he does...which is a narrow range of athletic performance. But I still think it's great.
3. I love soccer or futbol or football...whatever. I was excited to see South Korea win the bronze medal by defeating Japan. I was furious with NBC for not carrying the Mexico - Brazil final game on a major network that we could have watched. I'm very happy that Mexico won the gold medal. 
4. I enjoyed seeing the Jamaican runners perform. Usain Bolt is the fastest man alive...OK. (Now I'd like him to sit down and shut up). There are other runners from Jamaica. There were two or three Jamaican runners who went to Lincoln University...yes...right here in Jefferson City. I enjoyed seeing them run too. Jefferson City will, of course, ignore their very existence. 
5. I liked seeing some different sports. These may be the national sport somewhere but to me they are a novelty because I've never actually seen them. Field hockey was one that I enjoyed. I was completely confused about handball, which I thought was like racquetball but it isn't. Handball is more like water polo without the water. The rowing events were cool. I liked the cycling in the velodrome. The BMX cycling was interesting.
6. I found it interesting to see the ethnic diversity of the various teams. You can't look at a team and tell where they are from by the makeup of the members. In the olden days you could look at a French team and say "Yep, those are Frenchmen" but now you can't. There has been so much movement of people over the last few decades and generations that there can be a great deal of diversity where one would not expect it. It used to be that the USA team was the most diverse team but I don't think that can be said any longer. I think that's good.
7. I loved seeing Oscar Pistorius run on his artificial legs. He is called "the fastest man on no legs" and he made a good showing in his events. He didn't win a medal and I don't think people expected him to win a medal but he proved that he could compete with the best.
8. I enjoyed seeing some of Great Britain's athletes win medals just to hear the crowds roar. They had a good Olympics.
9. I have to hold my breath sometimes when I'm watching platform diving. The divers come too close to hitting their heads on the platform. Even so, they do some amazing dives. I like that the US diver won gold. I enjoyed the Mexican divers and the way they were pushing the envelope on the dives.
10. I was happy to see Spain make the USA team work for the gold medal in basketball. I am not happy with having NBA players represent the various countries (mostly but not only the USA). I think that there should be an age limit on basketball thee same way there is on soccer. Players should be limited to under age 23.

So now we wait two years for the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Sochi might be interesting since it is a Black Sea resort and port city next to Georgia. The climate is subtropical which may make winter sports something of a challenge. The city is close to the Caucasus Mountains where they do have snow.