Shower power

I read this tip recently, and while I’m not sure it’s right for my life, it may be for those of you who garden or have lots of house plants.

We all know how much water goes down the drain while we wait for the water to heat up for our shower, right? Try putting a bucket in the shower to catch that water while you wait.

You can use that water for your plants, inside and out. For that matter, it’s clean water. If you keep your bucket clean, you could transfer the water to a pitcher in your frig and have cool H20 ready and waiting for the family and guests.

If not now, when?

Less than three months to the presidential election, and still neither McCain nor Obama have picked their veeps. What’s up with that?

I realize the VP really doesn’t do much…unless something happens to the pres. Then we have a problem. We better hope the pres made a solid choice–picked someone who is capable of running the country.

For me, particularly in this 2008 race, the VP pick will influence my vote. Neither candidate impresses me much. I feel like my vote will be for the lesser of two evils. Not a comforting feeling in today’s crazy world.

I want a strong president, who is a visionary leader. Not just an eloquent speaker or someone with military experience. I want substance, in the P/VP package.

This election scares me because the next four years could bring a whole new wave of problems. But maybe, just maybe, with the right vice president, I will feel more confident in one of these candidates.

So gentlemen, make a decision today and share it with your fellow Americans!

Fires kill, even in daycare centers

My daughter is 25 now, so it’s been a long while since I worried about daycare. I remember that stress: choosing quality daycare I could afford where I thought she would learn and grow mentally and socially. I needed to be sure the environment stimulated her developing brain and let her have fun. I entrusted her to “strangers” for an hourly pittance and expected they would care for her nearly as much as I did.

Of course I wanted a safe place for her as well. In my mind, safe mostly meant from abuse, sexual or otherwise. I have to admit that fire safety in her daycare never crossed my mind. Not once.

I did not ask - ever - if they:

• tested their smoke alarms?
• regularly changed batteries in the smoke alarm?
• had regular fire drills?
• had fire extinguishers and knew how to use them?
• had a system to account for everyone?
• promised they could get my Sarah out in an emergency?

I am probably not much different from most other parents. Today in Tallahassee, Florida, a family is mourning the death of their 4-year-old because of a fire at her daycare yesterday.

I believe as a mom I can imagine their anguish. I think about an E.R. doctor telling me, “I’m sorry, your baby is gone,” and my stomach clenches, my throat goes dry. My knees weaken and I know I would collapse if this was happening in my real world.

I am so very sorry for this family. The daycare’s staff surely is ill with guilt and grief…something you probably never really get over.

For other parents out there, ask those questions. And make sure your home environment is safe, too. Check your smoke detectors, practice your escape plan, teach your children, “Stop, Drop and Roll.” This Web site has good info for all stages of life: http://www.firesafety.gov/

Happy Birthday, America!

 None who have always been free can understand the terrible fascinating power of the hope of freedom to those who are not free.  

— Pearl S. Buck

I am blessed to be among those who have always been free. It didn’t always feel like it growing up…you know, parents’ rules and all that! But I live in a place and a time that abounds with freedom and opportunity.

Freedom to speak or write blogs for the world to see. Freedom to worship how, when and where I choose. Freedom to  pursue any career path I want, regardless of gender or skin color.

It is the battles fought by countless heroes before me that give me those freedoms. Thank you to the United States’ founding fathers, to this country’s leaders at all levels, and to the Susan B. Anthonys, Martin Luther King Jrs. and Rosa Parks of the world. Courageous and inspirational leaders who each of us should exemplify every day.

Happy Independence Day!

News - American made

In Florida in the past two weeks, nearly 400 newspaper and other media outlet employees have lost their jobs. The Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, Tampa Tribune cut staff, and the Daytona Beach New Journal will be shutting down completely.

This is bigger than just the tough economy. This is a result of the dumbing down of Americans. Newspapers can’t sell their papers - their core product! How can we expect them to stay in business if we’re not buying the product?

Why aren’t we buying? In my opinion, it’s because so many of us are content to read an occasional blog or the FWD: FWD: FWD: e-mail Joe’s best friend’s sister’s nephew wrote. It doesn’t really matter to us if that piece is fact-checked. We’ll take it at face value and consider it news.

As a consumer that frightens me. I don’t always like that journalists are the watch dogs of society - don’t always agree with them - but I know that the large majority of them want to tell both sides of every story to inform the public. There’s no way I can be informed, on my own, about all the issues of our complex society. I rely on them to deliver the information so I can make intelligent choices and decisions.

As we force their employers to reduce staff and close doors, we risk losing something essential to America’s being: past, present and future. I am proud to say that I have been a newspaper subscriber in every city I’ve lived in my adult life, and am currently. I can’t always spend as much time reading it as I like, but I will always subscribe.

I want factual coverage and I want to support American made products. After all, isn’t that what our newspapers really are?

Shame on Starbucks!

I love coffee–hot, fresh coffee. And I love my mocha lattes. I can justify splurging on them because it’s about the only way I drink milk. Lots of my hard earned cash helped you grow, Starbucks.

Now you’re closing 600 stores! You couldn’t rake in money fast enough a year or so ago, and now when times are a little tough, you’re adding to the problem. Not to mention the lack of “green” by abandoning buildings that in many instances you built new.

In the process of all your growth, you ran “mom & pops” out of business across the country. So while I’m disappointed in you, I can’t even say I’ll never buy another Starbucks. You’re the only gig I’ve got close by, right on the way to work. Just the way your business model was designed.

Rethink your decision. Limit hours. Cut back menu items in those places. Do anything but put more people out of work and add more wasted building space to our landscape.

Be kind to your bagger

More and more of us are using cloth bags when we shop - at the grocery store, Target, etc. In fact, Target sells some awesome bags made from their own “recycled” bags. These bags are sturdy, they hold a bunch of stuff and cost only $6.

Here’s my tip: when you can, do your grocery shopping during the store’s slow hours. Packing in cloth bags takes a little more time and thought. Life is easier on the employees and other customers, during a non-rush hour.

Remember, we did not inherit the earth from our fathers, we borrow it from our children.

godspeed, midwesterners!

The last count I heard was 20. As in 20 levees failed along the U.S. Mississippi River. That was yesterday and more are expected to give. As the pregnant river waddles downstream, she swallows more and more homes and businesses. People’s lives. The footage and photos are sad and I know that they don’t begin to show the full extent of her fury.

For nearly two weeks we’ve followed this news story, and yet not once have I heard whining or fussing about whose fault it is that heavy rains - too much, too fast - saturated the land and overfilled the river. One by one the backup plans of folks, ordinary and expert, along her banks have failed. Still none of those hearty midwesterners point fingers or whine or lament, “When is the government going to save us?”

It’s called the Katrina of the midwest, as in Hurricane Katrina from 2005. The disaster seems to be equally mammouth. But the hard-working people in Central America wouldn’t dream of blaming someone else for choosing to live along a river or for staying in their home if they were told to evacuate. They take responsibility and ownership for their choices and the resulting actions.

Will they need help from the government: local, state and federal? Of course! Do they deserve some help from government? Of course! Those with insurance will benefit somewhat from that. Having had one home of my own flood, I know firsthand that even the best insurance coverage never begins to cover all you lose in a disaster. And money never repairs anguish.

Like those in New Orleans and the state of Mississippi back in 2005, Americans in the midwest are now on a new journey. Not one they asked for or wanted. They will move on and they will recover. They will learn from their losses and grow as individuals. I hope those recovering from Hurricane Katrina are trying to do the same…they can still learn from America’s heartland and its people.

McLellan’s book insults Americans’ intelligence

It’s hard for me to take Scott McLellan’s allegations seriously. This is the guy who worked for President Bush #2 for six years. SIX YEARS! But now, two years and one fat publisher’s paycheck later, McLellan suddenly finds principles. Gimme a break! Surely you take the American public for a bunch of idiots, Scott.

If any of those things you allege were true and really mattered to you in principle, you would have left the White House after one year. Ahhh, but then you probably wouldn’t have gotten that publishing deal. Or at the very least, the book would be on the fiction list.

According to Wikipedia, his entire career has been in politics. In that world, particularly at that level, McLellan could have walked away from the White House and right into some other prominent position. Like many others have done, he no doubt could have moved into the private sector and tripled his salary overnight.

Wait, I guess he has done that with this book deal, hasn’t he? I’m not saying what he wrote is or is not true - how would I know?

But I cannot buy it as truth from him when he stayed in the situation he claims to find so awful for six years. If any of what you wrote is true, Scott, you are equally at fault as anyone you point your finger at in the book.

Stranger than Fiction

Isn’t it amazing that if someone has “relations” with a minor where I live and probably where you live, the person is arrested…but if he happens to live in a polygamist sect in Texas, state judges at all levels approve it!

In my world, if a 50-something man kissed my minor daughter just one time, my pursuit of him would be relentless. Until he was locked up, my mind would not rest.

But in San Angelo, Texas, it’s okay if a 50-something pig impregnates your minor child! This is the worst case of injustice I remember since the O.J. Simpson criminal trial!

Is Texas prepared for more and more old men violating young girls? While I’m not a lawyer, this week’s decision certainly seems to say to Texans that there are no boundaries when it comes to a creep’s sexual desires. Run, girl, run!