All Kinds of Ghost Towns

Recently, I had to catch a flight at 6:30 am at Denver Airport. Rather than try and wake up early, I thought it might be better to just head over there in the middle of the night when there would be no rush hour traffic and I could just get the do it yourself boarding pass and breeze through security. I figured I could just nap by my gate and I would be all set.

I was quite surprised to discover that the airport was basically closed during the early morning hours. Even the do it yourself boarding pass computers displayed signs that said that they would not be available until after 4 am. The security gate did not open until 4:30 am. There was only the Burger King open at that time of day, and other than the other lost traveler like myself, the only other people there were the cleaning crew.

There was an eerie feeling to being in the middle of what is normally a very busy public space with all the stores, bars and restaurants closed, no ticket agents at the desks, no throngs of travelers milling about trying to find their gates, or checking the boards to see if their flight will be on time.

A place like this is never really empty. There is always a residual energy from all of the people who have used the place. It can never really be empty because all of those energies and emotions leave a residue that still flows through the place even in the middle of the night when there are no flights taking off and no one appears to be there besides the cleaning and maintenance people.

It is a different sort of ghost town, sort of like one of those old mining towns that went bust a hundred years ago, except that this one comes back to life every 24 hours.

Or maybe it is just a result of the 24/7 world that we live in that we think of certain places as never shutting down. Of course, when the silver mines and gold mines were booming and everybody seemed to be heading for the mountains with a pick, a shovel, a pack mule and a gun, the little towns that outfitted them looked busy all the time too.

Amazing the things that come to you when you simply arrive in a place at an odd time and you sleep in short bursts awakened by energies that seem both familiar and strange before dozing off again. There are all kinds of ghost towns.

What Do You Hear?

Can you hear the music in the sounds all around us every day? There are rhythms in the wind, the sounds of birds and animals. There are rhythms to the traffic whether we are driving in it, or letting it pass us by.

Of course, we will never hear that unless we turn the music players off for a while.

There are things people say that we will never hear, unless we listen closely. It is in the tone as much as the words. It is in the inflection, the rhythm.

What do you hear when you listen to the rhythm of the world?

How do you hear the world when you turn of the talk radio?

How do you hear the world when you turn off the news?

What does the world sound like when you are just in conversation with other people?

What do you hear when it is just the sound of your own breath, whether in a brisk walk, or sitting quietly?

What do you hear in the sound of people working?

What do you hear in the sound of people playing?

What do you hear when there is nothing to hear?

Fall: The Time of Revealing

Our instinct for taking cues from the flow of the seasons is deep and primal. Is it not both symbolically appropriate that we acknowledge our losses at the very season when the trees are stripped bare? How we see the bones of the trees and shrubs at the same time that we hold ceremonies for those whose bodies are being returned to the elements?

Ancient people used this time of year to prepare for the winter. They said farewell to the dead, they stocked up on firewood, food and other necessary items in preparation for the cold, dark time to come. They culled the herds, hunted and hung up meat to dry, smoked it or salted it.

They also looked at their situations with clear eyes, knowing that some of the people they knew and loved might not be in strong enough health to live through another winter. They prepared what healing herbs and potions they knew and had a store of that as well.

This is also the season of soul searching as people consider possible changes in career paths, students consider changing majors in school, seekers of spiritual or metaphysical matters often begin new courses of study.

Even entertainment reflects these choices. Traditionally, the movie industry releases their more serious Oscar contending works during these next few months. It is the time of year when symphonies, opera, ballet and theatres begin their seasons anew. Publishing companies traditionally release what they would consider significant titles during this season.

This is the time of revealing. We take a look at what is important to us. What we need to see is revealed. Just as the wind strips the leaves in waves as the trees and shrubs let go and what is not needed is returned to the earth for recycling, and what will go on is left standing, it is the fallen leaves that give nourishment to the roots so that the energy will build up and burst forth again in the spring.

But for now, what we have is the essence. What we have is the panoramic view, seeing through the trees which limited our view when they were in full leaf.

Inhaling the cooler night air flavored with the smoke of the fires that light the hearths, our spirits rise to the occasion and gift us with clear thoughts, powerful motivations, and a sense of our own mortality, which is our truest compass.

Dry Lightning

Dry lightning is something I have only seen out here, in the west. It is a strange sort of sight because mostly I am used to seeing lightning preceding thunder and rain. It seems so natural that these are linked that to see one without the others still seems odd, even though I have seen it many times. I guess that in the span of my life I have seen lightning with thunder and rain lots more times than without.

Tonight I saw dry lightning again. Several times there were flashes in the sky, and I looked around for what would follow, but nothing did. The temperature and humidity now are still the same as they were.

Where are the other places in our life where there is dry lightning?

How many times does something happen and we expect something to follow right away. What happens when it does not? What happens when the dry lightning comes and something completely different follows?

How long does it take to get used to it?

Life is full of surprises and to me, dry lightning is one of those ways that the universe just gives us a start and yells "Surprise!"

Notice what happens next. Our senses are more alert, our awareness expands, and we pay attention.

Next time the universe goes "Surprise!" and tosses out a flash of dry lightning, notice what happens next.

Where the Fires Were

Today I took a ride up into Sunshine Canyon to see what it looked like now that the fires were out. There were whole mountainsides that looked like charcoal.

Then there were the places where the earth was scorched but some trees still stood and some even still had pine needles, although the needles were brown instead of green.

Two weeks ago you could see the night sky tinted orange above the mountains and in the daytime, smoke obscured the ridgelines, obliterating the usual profile against the sky.

It is funny the way the fire works. There was one house on top of a charred ridge that was made of wood, and it was not burned or even marred by smudge. Yet, just around the bend, there was just the remnants of a brick wall where another house once stood. There were odd contrasts like this all over, where the house on one side of the road was not burned and on the other side of the road, maybe a washer and drier and maybe a piece of the roof by the chimney was still there.

Was it that some guardian energy protected those that did not get burned? Was it prayer that saved some, not others? Was it a sudden shift in the wind that made the fire burn all the way up to a house, but not take the house? Was it luck?

Or was it simply that there was some invisible grid line in nature that said to the fire "You can burn up to here, but do not cross this line."

The fire crossed stone and water and consumed whole large areas of earth, grasses, shrubs and trees, but then there were stands of trees that are still standing, still green.

The forces of nature can work in mysterious ways. It was fascinating to see where the fires were.

Nature Nurture

Who hasn't been fascinated with this question? How much of our lives are shaped by whatever we were born with, and how much is our life shaped by our education, work, and training?

There is no unanimous answer to this question. I think that they shift back and forth at different stages of our life. How so? When we are in a school, we are influenced by our classmates as much as by whatever subjects are being taught. When we have jobs that have certain expectations of us, from uniforms or dress codes to how many clients we need to see in a week to required attendance at business associations, we find our behavior following the rules. There too, there is the peer group pressure that influences us to go for certain goals or certain kinds of entertainment.

In the nurture department we have not only the shape of our bodies, but our genetic makeup which predisposes us to like certain tastes, smells, visual effects, music. Some people grow up in touchy feely environments where it is natural to hug and kiss, while others grow up in colder environments where PDAs are frowned upon. Some people feel that our genetic makeup is how our sexual orientation is determined.

I picture the yin/yang symbol in 3D like a ball that is always spinning, sometimes showing us the nature side, sometimes showing us the nurture side.

So the bottom line question comes down to how much do we have the ability to shift these two spheres? How stable is the combination?

Consider, how easy was it when you lost that job where you had to wear a suit and tie, and now you can go to work in a jeans and T shirt? Didn't take long to get used to it, did it?

Same as when you suddenly developed an interest in mantra, tantra, drumming, dancing, herbal remedies, crystals, reiki, tarot and past lives. Gradually, you found that many, maybe most of your friends have changed, the kinds of entertainment, food, music and clothing you choose, all fits in a different scene.

How fast things can shift, you know? See what I mean about the nature nurture slipping around? So maybe instead of one or the other winning, they just keep changing places at unpredictable intervals. Kind of ends the whole argument, doesn't it?

Small Food, Big Food

Half a billion eggs from just two farms have been recalled because of the recent salmonella outbreak. Although they are packaged under a variety of brand names, the recent problem has been traced back to just two farms that produce half a billion eggs.

What kind of farm is that? Interesting how egg cartons frequently picture a barn and chickens running around in the yard. That's the kind of places our chickens and eggs used to come from, but nothing that looks like that picture will produce a half a billion eggs. That's similar to the images of cows in grassy open fields with a barn and a farmhouse in the background, where much of our diary and meat comes from cattle that actually live much more confined lives than that.

Those of us who can remember as far back as the 1960s and 1970s know that massive recalls of contaminated food because of illness and death were a very rare event.

However, since the 1980s, it has become almost commonplace. Beef, chicken, lettuce, spinach, tomatoes, peanuts. Lots of foods have been recalled for contamination.

How did this happen? Two main reasons. One, larger farms and processing plants kept getting larger while many small family farms, slaughterhouses and processing plants went out of business.

Two, politicians let lobbyists persuade them that industry could do a good job of inspecting itself, even though the FDA was created and government food inspectors were hired about 100 years ago because of public concern over the quality of food processing facilities and slaughterhouses. These recent outbreaks of food borne illnesses certainly indicate that need more food inspectors, not less.

All the modern problems and controversies in agriculture revolve around one thing. In making farms into factories, shortcuts are necessary in order for fewer people to produce more food. In the worst case scenario, that pressure produces people like the guy who ran the peanut warehouse and shipped moldy peanuts even though he knew they were moldy. In the best case scenario you can have someone working very hard who simply does not take the time to wash up between chores.

Perhaps we should consider whether smaller might be better in farming. How can two farms produces a half a billion eggs?

Supporting small family farms, organic farms, and producers of heirloom foods through CSAs (community supported agriculture is buying a subscription for a farmer's produce) and farmers markets is increasingly popular. Sometimes, smaller can be better than larger. Even taking small steps in that direction as consumers will make a difference, both to us and the farmers.

Alice in Wonderland Again

Alice in Wonderland time again.

In California one candidate for senator who cut 18,000 jobs when she was a CEO of HP says she is interested in saving jobs. Really?

So does a guy running for senator in Florida who made a billion in derivatives on the collapse of the mortgage market. Oh joy! Do we want to know what his next get rich quick idea is?

A third person active in politics, whose company pled guilty to defrauding Medicare and state health programs and paid $1.7 billion in fines for that, does not want to see any health care reform. Gee, I wonder why?

Still think that George Orwell's 1984 was fiction? Years ago, when we read that novel in school, most people thought that the idea that anyone could rewrite the actual public record and recorded history that radically was simply exaggerating for the sake of writing a dramatic story.

But here we are. People like these will buy enough advertising to convince some people that they really are looking out for our best interests.

Being a fiction writer gets to be a tougher job every day. how can you be more mind boggling than the news?

Of course, it will be hard for anyone to top the quote from the oil exec who said he was tired of talking about the oil spill in the Gulf because "he wants to get his life back." No doubt the families of the people who died on his oil rig, and the fishermen who can't fish, are thinking the same thing.

These characters make Alice in Wonderland seem normal.

Wal Weed

Who would have thought that funky Boulder which is nothing if not an outpost of old hippies, artists, musicians, alternative healers, psychics, colorful characters, street performers, greenies added to the mix of interesting elements that a university town usually has, would be the home of businesses who tell the New York Times reporter that they want to get away from the hippie aura that is connected with weed and become the biggest chain of stores.

A little while back when I wrote about this subject at the time Colorado just passed the new law regulating dispensaries, I predicted this outcome. And here it is in today's NYT, people from California with deep pockets who are happy with the new laws and want to turn medical marijuana into a chain store product. Heck, one of the chain store owners quoted doesn't even smoke weed. She just wants to sell the stuff. And she doesn't want to have any kind of hippie influence around her business.

That's what's odd about the whole thing. All these years, the grower's art was developed by people who just loved the stuff and took all the risks to refine the process and were constantly in search of additional knowledge about their favorite plants. And as a result, they became expert horticulturists.

Lots of those kinds of folks were the ones who helped get out the vote and change the law. At the beginning, less than 10 years ago, there were no stores, just caregivers and patients, growers and customers.

Then through the magic of the marketplace, retail stores, called dispensaries, came into being. Lots of them. Big ones and little ones. And then somebody got busy influencing legislators to create a new law that would make it hard for local Colorado people who invested all their money into creating small dispensaries to be able to stay in business while making it easy for someone from out of town with deep pockets to swoop in and start chains. The legislator who was the prime mover behind the law was often heard to say that he expected the new law to put at least half of the dispensaries out of business.

What is not public knowledge at this point is whether the people who want to create chain stores for marijuana are connected to the politicians who made the law. It would not be at all surprising if some investigative reporter were to make such a discovery, because it is rather common in our system that laws are written to please big campaign donors and good friends.

What is surprising is that Boulder, a town that doesn't want a Walmart and is well known for all the funky, creative businesses it has spawned or hosts, would be the launching pad for a chain of marijuana stores that would like to pretend that this whole movement did not have very earthy roots.

This is my prediction of what is yet to come. One of these days we will vote to just flat out legalize it for every one, not just medical patients, and when that day comes, chain stores will definitely be the major players. When it becomes legal, weed will be sold in all the kinds of places where you can buy cigarettes. Walgreens, 7-11, grocery stores, Walmart and all the rest will want a piece of the action, and all those people who dedicated their lives to the art of the grow will merely be suppliers. It will be a shift in consciousness for many people.

Sort of an Alice in Wonderland moment, isn't it?

Soft Summer Solstice

It felt appropriate to spend part of my Summer Solstice planting in the garden, then taking a relaxing bath.

The herbs are growing nicely and it is wonderful time to stop and give thanks for all of the wonderful healing energy they bring us and all the ways they add flavor and health to our lives.

The longest day of sunlight is also a time for gratitude for all that we have received. A time for gratitude for the people in our lives. A time for gratitude for health, love and abundance.

A time to light a candle and relax with a glass of wine and reflect on the polarity between this and the shortest day of the year.

In Shakespeare's play, this would be the magical night of the Midsummer Night's Dream. In Europe, May 1 is the first day of summer. Here they call the Solstice the first day of summer. Most years that seems too late, but this year, with snow until May, it feels like we just started summer.

In the fullness of life, there is much to be grateful for now. The wheel is turning.

Gardening With My Neighbors

I live in a small apartment building, and I know most of my neighbors. Everyone is friendly and we hang out a bit and stop to talk when we are coming and going, or at least to say hello.

It is a small building and there is just a small bit of dirt outside the backdoor, not big enough for anyone to call a yard, but enough room to plant a few things in the dirt plus room for a container garden.

One of my neighbors started by clearing the ground, and planted a few vegetables and flowers, then another planted a few flowers and some culinary herbs. I tried growing plants in my apartment last year, but that didn't work, so I brought out the flower pots I had and some potting soil. Tomorrow, I will go and get a few more plants, I am thinking that there is no such thing as too much tomatoes and basil in the summer. Other neighbors have pitched in and helped with the planting, and now there is this beautiful little garden and a table and a few chairs for people to sit and have a drink.

Sort of an impromptu community space that everyone is creating together. No one is in charge of anything, no one is organizing anything. Everyone is just doing something. All of this is in a space that would be no bigger than what a lot of people would call a small sized patio.

So we have this beautiful little common area where people just hang out and socialize and it really adds a lot to living in this place. It doesn't always take much to make friends with your neighbors. Maybe I am just lucky to have nice people for neighbors, but I think all of this just happened because everyone is just open and friendly with each other. Moving into this building was a really good choice. Nurturing the community spirit is a really enjoyable experience.

It is amazing what you can do with a small space,creative thinking and cooperation.

Too Much Efficiency

Being efficient is a good thing, but there can be such a thing as too much efficiency. As we observe some of the changes in our world, going for too much efficiency can backfire on us.

One example is the latest development relative to farming. After years of using their marketing muscle to sell farmers on the idea of using Roundup Ready seeds so that they can saturate their fields with greater quantities of Roundup, their patented weed killer without killing the corn, cotton and soybean crops, mother nature did her usual thing and responded by developing bigger, tougher weeds that are immune to Roundup. So now new poisons are needed.

One of the reasons for such a strategy is so that ever fewer people can farm ever larger tracts of land.

So the observant person will be even more encouraged to support local farmers and organic farmers who grows their crops in healthier ways, and these will probably be relatively smaller farms. Now that the farmers market season is about to begin again, there will be plenty of opportunities to choose healthier foods and support small farmers and ranchers.

The oil spill on the gulf coast is another example. Those people who argue that we should stick with depending on fossil fuels rather than renewable energy sources do not include in their calculations that the dirty byproducts of fossil fuels. Not just the oil spill and how it is spoiling the fisheries and the beaches. Mining coal causes miners to get black lung. And in places where lots of coal is burned to fuel development, more people have emphysema and other diseases of the lung. The amount of oil we burn produces clouds of smog over all our cities. Perhaps it is true that one big oil well or one big coal mine can produce more energy than a bunch of solar panels or windmills. My answer would simply be to build more solar panels and windmills.

Solar, wind and other renewable sources have no such deleterious effects. People don't get sick just from building windmills and solar panels. Nor do they make our air and water dirty. Nor does the building of them ever cause catastrophic accidents.

Another negative aspect of being too efficient is the multitasking that many employers insist on. Creating situations where people are making phone calls and trying to do emails while driving, while eating their meals, while they are vacationing or spending personal time with family and friends is all about trying to get one person to do more than one person's job. Workloads of this type diminish the quality of life in many respects. Keeping a person on an electronic tether just burns them out faster, decreases their ability to focus, intrudes on and interferes with personal relationships.

Our quality of life is often better when we are operating a smaller scale, rather than a bigger one.

Winter's Last Mask

The rain was wonderful this evening, and it will be great if it does not continue to turn into snow. Perhaps by the new moon on Thursday, the snow will just be in the mountains.

Rain sounds encourage softening thoughts, cozy evenings, quiet thoughts. Quiet jazz, a trumpet setting a mood in the background. A quiet book, one that prompts appreciative thoughts. Candles, incense, hot tea.

A card for this evening. A woman in a mask, not showing her face just yet. Like spring still masked by another cold snap. The masked woman is ready to share her gifts, but we have to be willing to accept them while she still wears her mask.

We are eager for the warmth of spring, the colors and scents of flowering plants, but for some reason, she is not ready to reveal herself totally just yet. She is aware of our mood, and she is tantalizing us. But she is not totally unreachable. She is eager to let herself go, ready to shed the winter mask. When spring comes, her energy will burst open and show us all the vitality and energy that has been hidden from our view behind that mask.

Winter wanted to make one last brief appearance before giving way to spring. She is being coy with us to remind us what the world is like without warmth, new growth, and the shaking of the sleep from all that is eager to emerge.

The growth of our seeds requires that the shells be opened, so that we can climb out and take on our new forms. Our businesses, our relationships, our efforts in all aspects are being drawn out of their shells, into the light and heat.

Oil and Water

Some people say that we need to continue to depend on gas, oil and coal because solar, wind and other sources do not produce more than a small percentage of our energy use. Yes, that is true so far, but we have to have the will to change that equation. The technology is already here.

Example. If every new home and most older homes were outfitted with solar panels, how much of a percentage of our energy would that produce? If the panels were manufactured in America, and obviously installed by workers in this country, how many jobs would that create?

Here's another little example that could produce big results. Hot water heaters. Systems have been on the market for a while now that can provide hot water without a hot water tank. It simply heats the cold water as it runs through the pipes where the heating element is.

Benefits? You not only never run out of hot water, you also never have to deal with replacing a hot water heater. Most of us have had that experience a few times in our lives, haven't we? You go to take a shower one day and there is no hot water. Then you notice that the carpet is all soggy. You never seem to get a warning when this happens.

A friend of mine was looking at a new house and the agent was telling him how great it was that there was a hot water heater in the upstairs next to the master bathroom as well one downstairs. My friend said "Great. So when the hot water tank breaks, which they all do eventually, I can have a ceiling problem as well as a floor problem."

So he bought the house, but removed the hot water heaters and put in a tankless system. They cost more to install, but you will never have to worry about replacing a broken tank.

Energy wise, think of this. How much natural gas do we burn every year to keep a flame under every hot water heater in every home? So let's just say that a great portion of the hot water heaters were replaced with tankless systems, how much less natural gas would we need?

Once again, if more buildings were fitted with this technology, how many people would this employ? How many people would be employed manufacturing these systems?

Just a thought. We could save materials by using tankless systems. And we could save energy using tankless systems. And for the homeowner or property owner, over time, not replacing tanks and not keeping a flame lit under it 365 days a year will balance out the cost of installing the new system. So why not do this?

We have made transitions like this before. There was a time when everyone bought black and white TVs, but over time, everyone bought color TVs. Why? It was better, so people bought the better product. Now everybody wants big flat screens, and they are getting rid of their old sets.

Perhaps more people are not aware that such things exist. If the technology is already developed, then it is simply a matter of will to go ahead with it.

This is just one example. How many other examples are there? We could decrease the need to drill more wells while still enjoying the same standard of creature comforts. Actually, a higher standard if you consider that you never run out of hot water when you have guests, and never again have to deal with a broken hot water heater and you don't have to have a gas bill just to keep it warm.

While the invention I am mainly referring to here uses gas, not oil, there are other inventions that would also decrease the need for oil. Part of our vision has to take us from getting our energy from below the ground to getting more energy from above the ground.

Just back in the 90s when cell phones were as big as a suitcase, only some people wanted to lug them around. When they got to be pocket sized, almost every one got one, to the point where a lot of us no longer bother having a land line. How many of us now use laptop computers with wireless connections rather than big desktop setups?

If we were to take a look at how to use technology to achieve energy savings, there are many inventions that could improve the quality of our life while using clean, renewable energy.

Since more efficient technologies already exist, why not use them to live a greener life? If we can see a better future, why not use our will to act on that vision?

Another Plus for Alternative Energy

I don't think that the oil spill in the Gulf is a decisive sign that we should not drill for oil any more, nor would I jump to any conclusion that it was anything other than an accident.

Here is one simple perspective to consider. The risk factor.

When was the last time that we heard about some tragic consequence from using solar panels or windmills? Why not build state of the art furnaces to burn our garbage to generate electricity?

We will probably need to keep some oil in the mix since we have so many different mechanisms that use it, so I think that it is impossible to get away from, but we can replace it with other means of generating power.

The question about nuclear power is the same one that has existed since the beginning. What do you do with all that radioactive waste? I don't think that many people really believe that just burying it somewhere is really a solution.

Yes, my suggestion is simple. But if we simply ask ourselves the question about what are the risks of using any of these technologies, then the alternatives certainly are more positive in nature.

Alternative energy is simply more sensible.

Healing Rain

I love the healing qualities of rain. I love the sound of it. I imagine that as it cools and cleanses everything, worries and concerns can drain away with it, soothing our spirits and giving us a drink of what we need.

There is a feeling that I get with rain. It is quiet. The constant sound of it drones pleasantly, encouraging those who don't need to be outside go in and relax.

As a backdrop for reading, reflective thoughts, note making, a little smoke and time to just be relaxed and unhurried, the hard rain is a blessing.

Of course, the rain prompts the onset of spring and the fullest greening of the trees and shrubs. One more reason to love it.

There is a taste in the air when it rains, a scent, an enlivening of the sense of touch, a quieting of voices.

Tomorrow there is other business to attend to, but for now there is rain. Just rain.

Green Fire

in talking about green energy, most attention goes to solar and wind. Denmark, for example has highly efficient plants that turn waste into electricity and heat, and have filters that catch harmful substances like mercury and dioxin. Today's incinerators are much cleaner than earlier versions, capable of filtering out, scrubbing or trapping hydrochloric acid, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, dioxins, and heavy metals — as well as small particulates. And some of the by products of the process, extracted metals, gypsum and acids, can be sold to construction and manufacturing companies. Quite green, isn't it?


Burning waste also decreases the need for landfills, both preserving nature and cleaning up waste at the same time. The fact that big cities like New York export garbage to landfills in other states is a good indicator of how incinerators can solve two problems at once. By converting garbage into fuel, they change a smelly unsightly mess into a valuable resource and decrease their dependence on oil.

Denmark, Germany and the Netherlands are also using this technology and they like it so much that they are building more plants. In Germany they only burn materials that cannot be recycled. After all, we don't want to have to keep cutting down trees just to make paper, do we? In the big picture of using renewable resources, there are other solutions on the horizon.

As people become increasingly aware of the fact that industrial hemp is different than marijuana, we can once again have a renewable source of material for making paper without decimating our forests. We used to do this all the time, making paper, rope, oil and fabric out of hemp. Farmers all over the US were growing it. then when the anti-marijuana mania hit, industrial hemp was lumped in with marijuana, its psychoactive cousin. You cannot get a buzz smoking industrial hemp.

Hauling garbage to an incinerator saves the burning of the fuel needed to haul it to distant landfills, and instead of just dumping it and letting it rot, it is turned into electricity.

In Denmark, between recycling and the trash to energy incinerators, very little of their waste goes into landfills. Once again, if we would get busy building such plants, people would be employed in construction and maintenance, our environment would be cleaner and we would be less dependent on coal and oil. All good results.

Fire is a great way to purify. When my time here is up, I want to be cremated. Makes a lot more sense to me than being buried in a box and continuing to set aside endless acres of land to keep burying people in boxes. I will gladly return to ashes and leave the rest of the world have the room it needs to work and play.

See, our alternative energy choices are not just limited to wind and solar. There are more options. We still have time to clean up our act. Fire can help green our world.

Willing Green Energy into the Grid

Common sense would suggest that instead of saying that it green energy has some problems that need to be worked out like bringing down the cost of components and figuring out more efficient ways to store the energy, or making some additions or modifications to the energy grid, that we go ahead with it and find solutions to those problems.

We do know that it is cleaner and healthier for us to get energy from the wind and sun than continuing to burn coal and oil.

If something is worth doing, we put our energy into achieving our goal. Certainly creating and constructing cleaner ways to provide electricity for everyone is a worthy goal. Add to that the additional benefit of utilizing our own natural resources rather than having to import oil, or at least import a lot less of it, would be a very large benefit.

We didn't let the fact that it was expensive prevent us from developing a space program or a more hi-tech military.

We didn't let the fact that it was expensive prevent us from building an interstate highway system or making electricity available to everyone in the country. We ran telephone cables to every town in the country. We ran cable so that most places in the country can get internet and cable TV, and those who don't have access to cable have access through satellite hook ups.

Now that cell phones are the new technology, we found ways to provide reliable cell phone service everywhere. Did the fact that it was complicated or expensive prevent companies from inventing better portable music players? Better cell phones? Or microwave ovens for cooking?

Even within the oil technology, when one method of drilling oil was not productive, they invented other methods of drilling. We just need to exert the will to go ahead with it and do it. Our creative abilities will help us find solutions just like they have in other fields.

If we could apply our ingenuity and our will to create solutions to these other large tasks, why not apply them now to creating a better system of providing energy?

Do we have the will to create a green energy grid? Where there is a will, there is a way.

New Energy

I am just thinking out loud.

How many people might be put to useful work if we really tried to build as many windmills, solar panels and other methods of generating energy by working with nature?

If some kinds of adjustments to the existing energy grids are necessary, how many people might be employed in every state, county and city doing this work?

If we really devoted our minds and muscles to creating this reality, how much could we decrease our dependence on oil and coal as a source for power?

After these things are built, how many people would be employed maintaining these new types of energy generating stations?

Could this be one of the best ways to employ people while producing something we would all use? Since we all need electricity, and there have been significant advances in technology, why not pursue this even more?

I do not know the answers to these questions, but I am willing to bet that the answer would be that it would be beneficial to pursue this course of action, and that many decent paying jobs would be created and the end result would produce something we would all use and enjoy.

What are the prospects that this will happen sooner than later?

Let Me Hear Thunder!

Glad to see that it is cool and dark this evening. It has been sprinkling a little bit, but I would love it if we got a good hard rainstorm with thunder and lightning.

That is what I miss most since I moved out here. We don't get nearly enough rainstorms for my taste, so I savor every one of them.

I love the feeling of the moisture in the air. I used to love watching the rain fall on my garden, the drops bouncing off the leaves of the plants.

The spirit and the mood that the rain would bring would make it feel like a wonderful time to be inside with the fireplace going and the raindrops resonating off the chimney.

Making love during a rainstorm added an extra energy to the act and the electricity in the air was muted and pungent, lightning and thunderclaps punctuating the rhythms of two natural cycles intersecting.

It was refreshing the way it would wash the car and the sidewalks, and bring a refreshing scent to the air. And the way it would make a sound that would displace all other sounds, beating out a rhythm on the surfaces of everything it touched.

I loved the feeling of being outside and letting the rain soak me and then come in with the feeling of being cleansed by the rain.

There are rituals for storms and dances for those who wish to feel the rain on their skin and bathe in the energy with nothing between us and the sky.

Let me hear thunder and feel rain in the air. I love a good rainstorm!