The City Mouse in the Country

 Generally speaking I don't trust the government when it comes to climate.  Here in America we basically have an Oligarchy - where a few rich asssholes are more concerned with maintaining their own power than doing what is best for the country overall.   This has not given me much hope for the future.  In fact, I've reached the conclusion that we simply will not be able to relay on the government going forward.  I'm not a doomsayer but the government at the highest levels simply isn't functioning the way it should and because of that it's simply not going to be able to handle the environmental and other climate related challenges in the future - such as massive immigration caused by failing crops.  Due to their age, most of our leaders are living in a world that no longer exists. So, why does President Biden's American Climate Corps pigued my interest? Two reasons really, it is an understanding that we have to do something sooner than later.  Wel...

Hope is the poor man's bread. Somehow I started watching a video about "Poor Man's bread" that was bread made from various flours in the 1700's and early 1800's.  This popularity of this type of bread has waxed and waned in popularity at times when wheat production faltered for whatever reason. The history of bread is an interesting one and their have been lots of substitutes for wheat bread throughout times of drought or diseases; or when other issues like poor soil and wheat diseases affected production.  Wheat has always been the preferred crop when it came to bread. While wheat farming practices and yields have certainly increased since the late 1700's this most important of crops face new problems in a ever heating world. I started to wonder....could some of these substitutes make sense in today's world?  Or better yet, what about the world of tomorrow?  What would replace wheat bread if the crops failed today? Quick searches for things lik...

  Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter. Rachel Carson     This past week or so, I've been stuck for a topic.  Not much has really happened as I've dealt mainly with leaving one job and searching for/accepting another.     Several quiet anniversaries were celebrated (we moved into our home 3 years ago this month) and I volunteered to man the Odd Fellows booth at the local Stoneboro Fair several days last week.    Months ago I had applied for a Master Gardener class through the Penn State extension program.  I promptly forgot all about it as I have only done container gardening in the past, and I saw this as an opportunity to learn more. ...

Every job has it's problems, it's good points and its bad points.  Evey one has had that boss from hell or that co-worker that you loved.   We spend a majority of our lives with complete strangers, sometimes seeing them more than our family. The average American commute to and from work is slightly under 1 hour round trip.  That adds up to a little more than 10 days a year spent in our cars going to and from work. I recently left my job in the Insurance industry.  I've been involved with insurance, banking and finance for most of my adult life...and this voluntary departure was based on several reasons...but it got me thinking about work, anti-work and significant work. I am not afraid of work. We all have to put food on the table, we all have bills to pay.   When I first started looking around for a new job, which at the age of 57 I thought it would be daunting, I quickly discovered it wasn't.   A lot of employers actually contacted me directly w...

I've started and stopped this article several times now as I assessed my mental state over the last couple of weeks.  However I did not publish anything because all the previous drafts made me think that I was whining. Part of that "whining" was deciding to leave my job as of September 5, 2023.  It's easy to blame someone else, and the company I left does have some serious issues that they simply are not addressing, but the final responsibility for leaving is mine.  I just felt like I had nothing to contribute nor was the company addressing my needs and wants.    Money really isn't everything. I quickly interviewed for several jobs, but in the end decided to take something "completely different" for a bit.  I can always go back into insurance and banking...but my needs and priorities have changed.   In fact, I was offered a "Green" job with an energy company that really excited me.  However when I stopped and thought about what I would ...

  Without going into to much detail, I decided to leave my job at the beginning of September.  There are many reasons for this but for some time I've been feeling that my current position has not been the best fit for either the company or myself.    I did not feel like the company was listening to my concerns nor do I feel like they really cared for their employee's; despite a killer benefit package that I'll never see again.  Their technology was at least 20 years behind everyone else and  I believe that they really didn't have the best interests of their customers at heart. It's not all their fault.  I'm to blame too as it seems that I've not been living up to their goals and needs for the last year, and this is one of the reasons it's taken me so long to write this blog post. In addition to trying to find a new job before the end of the month, I've been dealing with anxiety and a mild case of depressio n.  Writing a blog that deals with ...

Years ago when I lived in Charlotte, North Carolina I was teaching 7th and 8th grade science.  One lesson in particular I remember very well.   It was on the uses of technology and I hoped to impress upon those kids one thought and one thought only.    Technology is neutral; it's what you do with it that matters. At that time there were no computers in the classroom and cell phones were still big bulky devices.  However these kids would be one of the first generations to deal with the technology we now take for granted.  So it was important that they at least an inkling of the promise of technology,  and how to deal with those consequences of technology. I still have my concerns about how we as a society approach technology and what, if anything, we have learned about it. We can learn from the past of course, but that's always jaded.   If only we had a real world example in the here and now that could serve as a guide on how t...