Things that make me go Whaaat?

June 22, 2009

This past week has been a week of things that make me scratch my head and go “Say whaaaat?”

One such incident was Naked Hiking Day which occurred Sunday. I am as serious as a heart attack. Naked Hiking Day occurred on the Summer Solstice which was also Fathers Day this year. According to an NBC news report, every year on the first day of summer, a few outdoor enthusiasts nationwide expose virtually all of themselves to insects, scrapes and thorns for the pleasure of bonding with nature au naturel. The hikers that were interviewed said it's not about being lewd and crude and all that. It's just enjoyment.

One hiker who blogs about hiking in Mississippi's Homochitto and De Soto national forests on his Web site, theplacewithnoname.com., cited as inspiration, passages from Henry David Thoreau, naturalist John Muir and backpacking guru Colin Fletcher that suggest nudity enhances one's appreciation of nature. This strange dude said he started hiking naked as a boy after a day of skinny dipping one long hot summer.

I don’t know about you but the woods and the great outdoors can be hot enough as it is this time of year with clothes on and I am sure not going to be shagging my duds just to commune with Mother nature. Can you imagine? I shudder at the thought of seeing some Borat or Bruno type character traipsing through the woods with a pale bare bottom just a shining in the noonday sun.

What are these people thinking? Don’t they worry about ticks, chiggers and the ever present, always hungry and looking for a meal, Mississippi mosquitoes? There are just some places on the body that OFF and DEET just should not touch, if you know what I mean! Now some of the naked aficionados’ claim that there's an advantage to hiking naked in a buggy area: wood ticks on the skin are easier to spot. And they do wear hats and hiking boots and carry back packs as well as apply plenty of sunscreen and bug repellent.

Thank goodness. And here I thought they were totally naked.

Now since these folks are out there hiking in parks, which is public property, that means you or I could happen up on them. Or what about the Boy and Girl Scouts that are out on their Summer time camping trips. If I am out in the vicinity of a wooded area, I sure hope some of these naked hikers accept the responsibility that I don’t want to be surprised by them and their enjoyment of nature, and they will keep to the shadows or at least carry some shorts to slip on. And between you and me and the backpack, if I ever do see a naked hiker, I will probably just start laughing at the ridiculous sight.

Politicians and Seagulls

Blogging from Bruce
Vonda Keon
June 29, 2009

Last week, I headed down to the Gulf Coast for a couple of days with Donna to go and meet a new Host Family for a foreign exchange student. Scott and the girls went along for the ride and planned on catching some sun and fun in the sand while Donna and I worked.

The drive down wasn’t as long as I thought it might be. And I was looking forward to a couple of days of not listening to the news about the economy and state budgets and Cap and Tax Bills. Politics and Government was not high on my list of things I wanted to know about.

While the girls walked along the beach and took in the sights of the sand and surf, the ‘Old Folks’ walked out on the new fishing wharf at Long Beach with our chairs and big cups of tea and sat under one of the covered areas and enjoyed the much cooler temperature sitting right out over the water.

We struck up a conversation with one of the fisherman that was hauling in crabs. It was an interesting sight to see. The female crabs were loaded with eggs and he threw them back into the water because there is a $500 fine for catching the females. The male crabs were aggressive. They would run up the sides of the baskets just snapping their claws. He said those vicious little snapping claws could hurt pretty badly. I believed him and just watched from my nice cool spot in the shade.

I sat and watched the waves and the seagulls as both were in constant motion. The seagulls were just hovering in flocks searching for morsels of food and I was fascinated at their ability to catch the breeze and hang in one spot like so many kites without a string.
When we walked back to the van the gulls started following us back to the beach.

We had the remains of our lunch so the girls held some of it up and the gulls swooped in and snatched it out of their hands. The noise level rose quickly. As soon as one bird scored some food it seemed like twenty or more of its feathered friends descended upon us. I don’t know who was screeching louder, us or the gulls. While the Ariel and Erin were holding food in their hands or tossing it onto the ground, I decided to toss my tidbits into the air sort of like getting a dog to catch the food you throw at it.

Much to my amazement, seagulls do that game very well. One gull in particular stood out as it was really starting to eyeball me. As the kids say, it was creeping me out. It would just hang on the air current and turn its head and where ever I tossed the food, it grabbed it from the others. I was throwing food with one hand and snapping pictures with the other. Then I realized that the air space over my head was just filled with big, squawking birds, and just what do birds do when they are flying over your head in big groups like that? Thankfully we all got into the van without being anointed on our heads with bird doo. Donna and I went on to meet with the new host family and then we turned the van toward the north and headed back home to the hills and heat.

As the rest or the week progressed and I listened to the news and the radio about the American Clean Energy and Security Act (Cap and Tax bill) that Congress voted on, the images of those seagulls kept coming back to my mind. . Congress is supposed to work for us and carry out our wishes but that sure isn’t what happened. The Cap and Tax bill narrowly passed and it’s just another power grab that is going to cost you and me, the tax payers a lot more of our hard earned money. As I have done my homework, this is what that bill is going to do: This bill will:-Increase our GDP by $2 trillion-Kill an average of 261,000 jobs-Add $1,960 to an average family budget-Raise electricity rates 90%-Raise gasoline prices by 58%.

Yep. Politicians are like those Seagulls. They hover around and squawk and screech that they will doo this and they will doo that for the hard working tax paying citizen and they appear to be working for the people that voted them into office. Then after they get what they want, (being elected into office and letting that taste of power go to their ego), they grab our ‘handouts’ and doo to us just what those hovering flocks of seagulls doo if we are ignorant enough to keep standing there giving them what they want.