"A higher calling"

OMG! Is Sarah Palin going to become a NUN? And would that mean she could no longer be a media whore? Wow. This is a lot to digest.

Is This Fair? Is This Balanced? No? Must Be Fox News.

Fox News was pretty much ignoring the whole Gov. Sanford story until the proverbial shit hit the fan. Once they couldn't ignore it any longer, they did show his televised statement. However, if you looked at the crawl underneath, they identified him as a Democrat.

According to my husband, who looked at the coverage over at the Fox News website, they are now not identifying his party at all. Do you think they'd give that same anonymity to a Democrat? I'm thinking NOT.

My bottom line here is that the people who rely on these weasels for their news coverage are not getting the whole story, and sometimes they are getting the wrong story. "Fair and balanced" my patootie.

***

P.S. While I admire the journalist who did what journalists are supposed to do and actually went out and got this story, I do not admire the newspaper's decision to make those emails public. This man has children who are no doubt going through a very tough time as it is. Do they really need to have their father's lurid affair plastered all over the place?

Why did the turkey cross the road?

Frankly, I have no idea. We can't even figure out where he came from. There have always been wild turkeys in Florida. We've seen them in the underbrush on the park trails. There has never been a sighting at our house, however, and we've lived here over 30 years.

So imagine my surprise when my husband called for me to come outside and bring the camera because a wild turkey was in our driveway. I managed to snap this one as he started picking up speed once he knew he'd been spotted:


He went off down the road, heading due north. Where was he headed? I have no idea. There's a new Family Dollar Store on the other side of the big road about a half mile from us. Maybe they had a deal on chicken feed.

Scientology: The truth rundown | Tampabay.com St. Petersburg Times

Scientology: The truth rundown | Tampabay.com St. Petersburg Times

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Query

If we are the ones who think he is the Messiah, how come the Republicans are the ones who expect Obama to work miracles?

Top 10 Reasons Sarah Palin's "Outrage" is Misplaced and A Little Late.

10) Last September, a skit on Saturday Night Live suggested incest in the Palin family. "What about the husband?" asked a mock Times reporter. "You know he's doing those daughters. I mean, come on. It's Alaska!" No outrage. Sarah Palin appeared on the show one month later in late October.

9) Days after the announcement of Bristol's pregnancy, Conan O'Brien joked, "It's true, John McCain's running mate, Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, has revealed that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. Palin said, 'We should never have introduced her to John Edwards.'" Where was the outrage? Was Conan promoting infidelity with an underage girl?

8 ) From two different Tonight Shows: "Governor Palin announced over the weekend that her 17-year-old unmarried daughter is five months pregnant. Oh, boy, you thought John Edwards was in trouble before, now he's really done it!" AND…"All the Republicans are heaping praise on Governor Palin. Fred Thompson said, as an actor, he could see them making a movie about Sarah Palin and her family. Didn't they already make that movie? I think it was called 'Knocked Up!'"–Jay Leno

7) Craig Ferguson's skit of "Larry King vs Levi Johnston" asks about "kinky sex" with the drapes open. Craig Ferguson's honorary Alaska citizenship, granted by Governor Palin wasn't rescinded.

6) "According to expense reports, Sarah Palin charged the state of Alaska over $21,000 for her children to travel with her on official business. In fairness to Gov. Palin, when she leaves them home alone they get pregnant." –Seth Meyers (SNL). Sarah Palin was in a sketch with Meyers a week earlier.

5) On October 8, 2008, Sarah Palin walked out on the ice with six year old Piper and 13 year old Willow, before the game, Conan O'Brien said, "Saturday night, Sarah Palin is going to drop the first puck at the Philadelphia Flyers' hockey game. Then Palin will spend the rest of the game trying to keep the hockey players out of her daughter's penalty box." Oh, yes he did. You get the outrage…but not a peep then. According to the new "logic", O'Brien was advocating for some really sick stuff.

4) Rush Limbaugh: "Everyone knows the Clintons have a cat. Socks is the White House cat. But did you know there is a White House dog?" Limbaugh put up a picture of Chelsea Clinton. At the time, Chelsea Clinton was 13 years old. Rush also said, "In last year's campaign, the most prominent, articulate voice for standard run-of-the-mill good old-fashioned American conservatism was Sarah Palin." Calling a young teenager a "dog" can't be helpful to her "self-esteem." Where is the apology from the leader of the GOP?

3) "Why is Chelsea Clinton so ugly? Because her father is Janet Reno."–John McCain, Sarah Palin's running mate. Should McCain apologize to every young woman in America?

2) Palin's friend, political defender and informer of the David Letterman comments, John Ziegler, was fired from his radio show for using the "n-word" online and on air in 1997. In 2000, he was fired for spelling the "n-word" on the air. How much does that word affect the psychological health of America's youth, regardless of their race? Now he is pimping his film about how mean the "liberal media" was to Sarah Palin.

AND…The NUMBER 1 REASON Sarah Palin's Outrage is Misplaced and A Little Late…

1) The "candidate who must be obeyed" was talking about Palin's family when he said, "Kids are off limits." Jake Tapper of ABC News interviewed then Candidate Obama, and asked, "Governor Palin and her husband issued a statement today saying their 17-year-old daughter Bristol, who is unmarried, is five months pregnant. Do you have any reaction?"

OBAMA: "I have said before and I will repeat again, I think people's families are off-limits. And people's children are especially off-limits. This shouldn't be part of our politics. It has no relevance to Governor Palin's performance as a governor or her potential performance as a vice president. And so I would strongly urge people to back off these kinds of stories. You know, my mother had me when she was 18. And, you know, how family deals with issues and — and, you know, teenaged children, that shouldn't be the topic of — of our politics."

****

I can't claim to think these jokes are funny.  I don't.  However, I do believe that the appropriate way for this to be addressed in ALL the above instances (and she never complained before) would be a private phone call expressing displeasure and a request that the children be left out of the humor please.  To parade it around every talk show and every media outlet is just dragging your child into the spotlight over and over again and hearing the jokes over and over again.  How is this good parenting?  Having a lot of  kids does not make you a good mother any more than getting elected Governor makes you smart and qualified.

 

R-E-S-P-O-N-S-I-B-L-I-T-Y

I'll be brief. I know I'm preaching to a very small choir here, but I still need to put this in print here and now:

If right wing talk show hosts and/or their guests are going to continue with the hate speech, the constant barrage of "statements" that incite, inflame, or otherwise validate the hatred of any person or group, I think there should be some provision to hold them responsible when some individual or group decides they are angry enough to act on that hatred.

The National Parks: America's Best Idea

Privatization In Real Life

A Small Town's Botanical Gardens

I have lived in this area for over 30 years and yet I'm still learning things I never knew before. For example, I found out a few months ago that the closest town to me has a Botanical Society and a Botanical Gardens. Even though it is in a different county, you would think I'd have known this! I had never seen or heard mention of it before.

This place went on my list of places I needed to check out soon. I finally got there this week. It is tucked away on a side street off the main drag in town. There are no signs pointing to it. You have to know where to turn or you have no idea.

I spent about an hour just strolling around looking at landscaping, admiring flowers and plants, snapping photos, and generally having my spirits lifted. Of course, it was a beautiful day. It's Florida. It's May. The sun was shining. There was a breeze. It was warm but not beastly hot. The humidity was quite bearable.

Afterwards I headed for the area where they keep the plants they sell only two days a week before noon. Yay! I was there on one of the two days. The prices were incredible! I am very pleased with my find and will definitely return.

Here are a few of the photos I took. There was much more. I was amazed at the land use. It is tucked into a very small space and in one photo (not included here) you can see the highway in the background.

The Memorial Garden. The bricks bore the names of loved ones.
This is actually a small waterfall. Isn't it lush?

I am really wanting a staghorn. Look at this thing! At least 2 feet across and beautiful!

The gazebo and the Rose Garden.

This is the Cypress Marsh, and what Florida botanical anything would be complete without a marsh? Just add the sound of frogs, and you've got the complete picture.

Mother's Day - Florida Style

My choice for a Mother's Day outing was a trip to Fort DeSoto Park, a very large, very beautiful recreational park in St. Petersburg - right across from St. Pete Beach on its own little island. There are several beaches, campgrounds, picnic areas, and countless places to stop along the way if you prefer something a little more secluded. We headed for the "main drag."

As we approached the bridge to the park the drawbridge went up. I took the opportunity to take a picture of one of those more private areas. You can see St. Pete Beach across the bay. That's the Don Cesar Beach Resort on the right in the background.

We found a free spot and proceeded to set up our blankets and coolers. In the background you can see one of the many inlets that dot the island.

After lunch my husband and I took a walk along the beach. Here the beach is narrow because the sea grasses are allowed to grow naturally and undisturbed.

Here's on of the inlets I mentioned. You can see the bridge we crossed in the background. People are wading, fishing, and just generally enjoying another day in paradise.
We spent a little time walking around the old fort (over 100 years old), which is a lot more utilitarian than other forts we've visited and not as picturesque. This was taken from the top of the fort overlooking the grounds.

From the opposite side you can look out to the pier, yet another beach, and Egmont Key beyond.

Finally having had enough of the sun, I found a shady bench set back in the palms where I could see the telescopic viewers available for closer inspection of Egmont Key and its lighthouse.

Sssssso Nice to Sssssssee You!

So I was outside sweeping up around the walk and was working my way towards the front door, and this guy was apparently coming around for a visit. It's a black racer, and I actually hope he sticks around, because they eat bugs and other stuff I'd rather not have around, and they are pretty harmless. He shook his tail at me, but I told him he wasn't fooling anybody. He's not a rattler and not poisonous and not even particularly aggressive. He's gone now, but I don't know to where. :) No. Snakes do not bother me.

The Best Gift of All

My Mother's Day gift arrives tonight on a 10:50 flight. His sis is picking him up at the airport and acting like it is her gift too. LOL. Who could ask for a better gift than having both my kids here for Mother's Day?

Here they are last summer in front of the Desert Sands Motel in Albuquerque where they filmed a pivotal scene or two in No Country for Old Men. You haven't seen Route 66 til you've seen it with these two in tow.

When Is a Lake Not a Lake?

Why, when there's no water in it, of course. Over the years we have watched the water in this lake recede until only a search with binoculars would turn up an occasional small puddle. What used to be the home to a large variety of birds and wildlife now barely sustains the grasses you see here. Who's to blame? Some say the drought. Others point to the incredible explosion of development in our area. There are some who point to our neighbors to the south who have been (over)pumping from our well fields for years. Most likely it is a combination of all those things. Does it matter? The bottom line is: the water is gone and we don't know if it will ever come back.

This pier used to wind its way out into the lake. The water continued to the far trees you see in the distance.

At the end of the pier is a water gauge. It shows what different levels indicate. The last time it was at "Maximum Flood Level" was in 1998. That year we had a very strong El Nino come through. It brought torrential rain, day after day, to most of Florida. The lake overflowed and nearly covered the parking lot beyond the picnic shelters. The pier was inaccessible because it was under water.

You can see where the gauge goes into the ground. Theoretically, life can be sustained under ground for quite some time, and they still try to discourage anyone from walking or driving over the lake bed.

Here is the other end of the pier leading back to the park, which is one of my favorite places in the world. It brightens my spirits more often and more reliably than anything else.

Phlox

Every year at this time we find phlox bursting into bloom on roadsides and in fields. These beautiful flower have chosen to make their home in a culvert under the Parkway that runs through our area.

If I had planned a garden to brighten the roadside, it could not have turned out more lovely that what Nature did on her own.

This is the sight which greets me (and any driver) as they wait for an opportunity to turn on to the main road leading out of our little development. This is a hay farm (I guess that's what you'd call it - that's what they sell and all I've ever seen them gather).