angelskates's Blog

There is so much talk to day about solar power, wind power, and natural gas....

I have been waiting for 40 years for solar power and wind power to become popular....  we have had the technology...  I just do not understand why it is not being used more than it is...

Why dont we have acres and acres of windmills generating electricity....  the wind blows... all by itself and gives up the energy for free....

Why are all the roofs in the country naked of solar panels?  Why are they not covered with solar panels generating power?

I don understand that it would take massive infrastructure expense to convert gas stations to use natural gas and to convert the cars....  but why not convert a string or three of truck stops and convert the trucks...  just one million trucks running on natural gas instead of diesel would free up millions of gallons of gas a day for cars....  and lower the price of that gasoline by a dollar or two a gallon.....

Why aren't we doing these things...  I am tired of waiting... I want these things done NOW.....  

That is my rant for today...

Angel

Hurricane Ike was an awesome storm...  wiping out entire communities...  turning peninsulas into islands ....  stranding animals and people in strange and bizarre situations....

Today over 1000 head of Texas longhorns were rounded up and driven miles the old way.... with horses and cowboys....down a Texas highway to pastureland from a newly created salt marsh where they had been trapped by Ike... with no food and only salt water....  They were weak... but are expected to recover....  In Chambers county another 20,000 head of beef cattle are stranded and hungry and ranchers and agricultural experts are trying to find a way to round them up and rescue them.... either moving them somewhere else or finding a way to care for them where they are....

Moody Gardens on Galveston Island has fared well.... loosing only  a few cold water fish when one of the aquariums got too hot.... and saving the penguins with generater power keeping their enclosure cool enough for their survival. Twenty dedicated people rode out the storm there with the animals.... risking their lives to save the animals in the exhibits.

And the big cats from the small zoo at Crystal Beach on Bolivar have been saved....  And that is quite a story.

It seems that the owner packed the African lioness in to her travel cage and tried to drive her out of harms way....  He made it as far as Crystal Beach where the road was washed out... He saw a church with people holed up to sit out the storm and the water was rising...  The people helped him get the lion out of the cage and helped the lioness swim to the church...  They coaxed her into the doors of the sanctuary and spent the night of the storm there together.... the water only rose to three feet and they all survived.  The survivors felt that the lion had little interest in eating anyone while swimming around in the flood waters....   During the night three people swam to the church fro the lumber yard next door.  They had been on the roof and the water was rising and they felt that they would be safer in the church. They had been texting to voice to a local TV station reporting their progress and hoping for rescue...  The last message received seemed to say they had made it to the church and that the people and the lion were fine and needed rescue....  Commentators at the station were puzzled and the message was hard to understand.... and everyone thought it must be garbled... and hoped for the best for the folks in the church....

Soon the waters went down and lion made herself quite at home in the sanctuary....  The people left her there and put signs on all the doors warning folks that there was an African lion locked in the sanctuary.... 

Meanwhile, back at the zoo, the storm washed the tiger out of his enclosure.....  he too survived the storm and roved the beaches and streets for several days...  First responders and rescue workers were warned that a tiger roamed the streets and advised to keep their distance from him....  it seems that no one told them about the lion in the church.... Monday the authorities looked for experts to come and trap the tiger....  by Wednesday the tiger has been trapped and is safely rescued and housed in an appropriate facility....   Also on Wednesday media was interviewing on of the survivors of the church when the photographer noticed a lion in the sanctuary....  very attentively listening to the interview.....  Pictures were taken....   The lion seems quite comforable in the sanctuary and has made herself quite at home.

There are still little yellow signs on all the doors warning folk that there is an African lion in the sanctuary.

Texans...... ya gotta love em.....

Angel 

We have a holiday in my country called Halloween.  It is a strange holiday.  The origins have been lost in the dogma of several different religions and holiday is a composite that is celebrated universally.... basically without meaning.

On this day children and adults dress up in costumes.  These costumes may be very simple or quite elaborate.   People decorate their houses and their yards along various themes... ghosts, skeletons, and graveyards are popular ones.  Stereotyped witches, cats and cauldrons are also common.

Most homes obtain a large pumpkin and carve a face into it and display it outside their door with a small candle inside it lighting it from within.  Some of these pumpkins or jack o lanterns are very elaborate and truly are works of art... 

Children dress in costumes and go to carnivals at their schools.  Haunted houses are constructed and thousands of teens go to them.... to be grossed out or frightened....  Children carry loot bags and go from house to house asking for  treats crying out " Trick or treat"....  the homeowners fill the loot bags with candies and treats.

Adults dress in costumes and attend costume parties....  These tend to involve the consumption of alcohol and outlandish behavior as people act out the characters they have chosen to costume themselves as.  

It sounds so strange.... trying to describe it.... but most everyone has a great deal of fun......   Halloween.....

Enjoy,

Angel

I remember that morning, seven years ago, as clearly as if it were just last week. Rushing around with one of my sons... trying to get bathed and dressed and thoughts all in order to go to a business meeting.... my other son fixing us some coffee and breakfast and trying to help us get on our way.

"Mom.. you better come see this" he called from the other room..... I grabbed a cup of coffee and joined him... standing in front of the TV... He stood with his coffee half way to his mouth and his eyes wide open... staring at the TV.... and I joined him.... I too stared......

The building with a great void in the side and smoke pouring out... I quickly called my other son.... "Come.... Come NOW"

The picture was not making any sense and neither was the announcer.... nothing was making sense.....

Suddenly, another plane appeared in the picture and leisurely flew into the side of the other building.... more smoke poured forth.... My sons and I stood there... mouths open... coffee part way to our mouths... brains frozen in time....

My heart goes out to Bristol, the pregnant seventeen year old unmarried daughter of the Republican Vice Presidential Candidate Sarah Palin...   She stands head held high, with a smile on her face, as she lives every teenage girl's nightmare: pregnant, not married, and exposed to the public.

In today's society there are many, many unmarried pregnant teenagers....  Most of them hoping to somehow conceal their pregnancies for as long as possible....  dreading the "secret" getting out.... the gossip... all their friends finding out... all the parents of their friends finding out..... their teachers knowing... all the relatives knowing.....  

Dreading the secret getting into the school website or local paper....  How terrible.

And here is this girl.... her pregnancy exposed to the entire world.... and headlining newspapers, magazines, TV shows and radio shows all over the world.....  

And there she stands... poised, confident, and head held high through it all.....

My heart goes out to Bristol....

Angel