Revolution Watch---University Education

Today, just for the hell of it, Ann and I attneded a confab at the Portage County court house put on by a group called Wisconsin Way. No, it was not set up to learn how to talk Wisconsin, like Oh ya, hey. But rather, it was about some plans for getting by in the changing world by looking for new possibilities in economic developemnt.

It was a most interesting presentation by a Mr. Wood, one time gubanitorial candidate, on ideas that had been arrived at through group participation around the state. It started 4 years ago, and as he pointed out, many things had changes in that time. It was well done and did provide some ideas I had not heard befor even though I had been on a high-powered economic commitee in northren Colorado.

The one idea that really aroused my interest was to make college at our Universities only a three year program as a way to save some good folding money. It seems the 5 year escapade I enjoyed now cost some $150,000 and I could pay for it by summer work and some odd jobs while at school.

Sorta looks like times are changing---like maybe school is only for the rich. So the proposal was not a bad idea from a straight economic position but I found myself wondering if this was not another down-grade of the standard of living. Does it mean I could not have taken the course on plant migration? Slip a little here, slip a little there.

Revolution Watch----Pets

While I have been noticing all sorts of things happening relating to transition into the sustainable world, this one caught my eye.


Prior to this I had heard that out west horse owners were taking their horses to auction and when they didn't sell, were just leaving them at the sale barn not wanting them back because they could not afford to feed them.

In this case folks are dropping off their pets, or as they called it "surrendering their pets" to the human society in great numbers. It would seem that keeping a pet at say $20-$30 per month is too much, or they have to move because of a loss of a job, or a loss of a house and in renting pets are not allowed.

I believe this is one more indication in the drop of the standard of living, which is part of the "Power Down", and part of the revolution. Not a good sign in my book.

Missonary Position---Immigration

It is always interesting to look at graphs and statistics to see the implications and to toss the stuff around. This is a graph of US immigration going back many years and it is clear to see that the number of new arrivals has greatly increased through time. I have always known that in the first 200 years of the country, say 1776 to 1976 we averaged about 250,000 per year but then after that it started going up dramatically. It was called growth and now is running about 1.4 million/yr.

One of the more interesting pasts of the graph, or what is lacking is that it does not include illegal immigration which at this time and for the past ten years or so apparently includes an amount equal to the legal figure. We have always had illegal immigration but the figures were never close to today's.

My concern is how do we continue to absorb such a large number when we know the resources available to us are finite? Are we not just dividing this big old apple pie into smaller and smaller slices? Throw that information in with the fact the standard of living in this country is dropping very, very fast and it would seem we are asking for trouble. The growth rate of the US is almost 1% a year, the same as New Delhi India.

I have heard that the USA absorbs more immigrants than all the rest of the world's countries put together. We are also the most diverse country in the world. Were does it stop?

Evening Fishing plus Benifits

I like to catch fish. That is not a secret and I on occasion I like to consume them. It is like local agriculture. They are happy fish living in generally clean water, they taste good and have not been processed under unusual conditions in Indonesia. Nor does the harvesting of a few have long term affects on the fish population.

Most of them go back. They are either too small, too big (I don't do big fighters)or I don't think there are enough fish in the fishery to support a little taking. It is all great entertainment to feel the pull of the line and land that big one. I know Ann admires my ability to land the good ones. Well, I like to think she does.

In reality, the best part is the trip, the outing onto the waterways. When I travel with the artist, the painter she waits for the glistening fish to be held high and photographed for the next painting effort. Then there is the sunsets over the water. They come in all colors and they change as they go, a light show of sorts. Each and every time we go there is a new adventure with friends and water, laughs and belittlements, careless bragging, the many smells of water and quiet admiration.

God's Weather, Our Corn

Here is the deal. From some reason our garden has taken a strange turn. It started out growing long and lean and it has remained hell bent on climbing skyward much like Jack and his damned bean stalk. We purchased some expensive heritage variety corn seeds from some glossy, sorta hippy run, but maybe religious backed or religious oriented, outfit with smiling, young, rather inoccent looking owners. Probably the look of finding The Lord but that was cool. Ya gotta find something--some do cocain others the Baby Jesus.
We thought it would be nice to have a corn variety were we could replant the seeds that were saved rather than have some goofy hybrid where if the seeds were planted the f2 generation would be all over the place----big ones, knarly little ones and maybe some marginal but cool mutants fit for a freak show.


Well, out of nowhere we received buckets of rain. May of the storms were rather severe compared to the past four years, so server we had torrential streams digging up the garden---it must have been like Packastan but only in Amherst and its 1000 souls rather than the millions of the sweltering masses. It seems the apartment building above us never had a runoff plan other than to flood the lower property that didn't belong to them. That would be us (note earlier post).

Now it is August and the corn is just past silk and some of the new ears are 7 feet off the ground and the tassels are over thirteen feet up in the heavens. Sweet Jesus!

Ya, the rain was cool but apparently because it has rained so much the sun has not been out and the plants are going balls out to reach the light. The fate of the ears has yet to be determined but there are emerging ears.

To top it off, June was the hottest June in history and July will no doubt be the same. So if there is no way to deal with global warming, which I don't think there is, how am I going to adjust my garden so that it works in the future?

Revolution Watch--Solar Powered Lawnmower

We like being part of the revolution. No, not the fighting one with bearded Che and the Cuban boys but the Sustainable Revolution. Ya, I know that not much that we are doing is really sustainable in the long run but a start in the right direction can't be all bad.

So what we did is get an electric mower that can run off our photoelectric system. If one looks closely in the attached picture the solar panels are visible. Now admittedly in Wisconsin, there is not the photo power we had in Colorado but with a hyped up system we can run about 70% of our house on our power and now we can cut the Grass with it.

It is true that we have to wait for sunny days but that is OK even though this summer they have not been abundant. We also trimmed back one of the big (monstrous) Red Maples in the yard hoping for more light both for the panels and the garden---and we are going to cut more.

Sure the mower required energy to build it and a goat is still probably more green but that is in the future.

To top off our efforts in the revolution we just purchased a 8 cubic foot freezer that runs off 12 volt batteries thus it too is on the photo system.

The revolution is on---too bad no one else gives a shit, but we are digging it. Unfortunately, most of this fancy cargo is for rich people. Che's was the uprising of the poor. The rich will not take arms (or solar power) and step forward and lead the charge.