Tommy’s Blog

I was interested in what Kari said about plastic bags and found this article: http://www.newsweek.com/id/123038/page/1

This article says how various cities are considering bans on plastics, and that the plastics industry is fighting it, city by city. San Francisco has banned them, and other cities are trying. The plastic bags take roughly 1,000 years to decompose, and take a lot of oil to make. They choke birds and small animals. They can even kill a rhinoceros, by wrapping around its foot, cutting circulation, foot dies, rhino can’t move, and it starves. Paper bags kill trees. I feel that the only green choice is reusable fabric bags. Are we going to let the plastics lobby destroy our earth so they can have a bit more money? Our family uses fabric bags. What do YOU use and why?

Water Dispute

Basically, Georgia says that when the lines were drawn, they messed up 200 years ago. They want the lines redrawn to where Georgia would have on shore of the Tennessee river. Tennessee says no.

My feeling is this:The border may have been misplaced, but after this long, I believe the term “fait accompli” would be useful here. After the border has been in place for so long, it is useless to continue argument. The border is where it is. If it had changed, say 75 years ago, when there was not so much on the waterline, no problem. However, if the border moves now, then countless businesses and homes would have to re-register with Georgia.

I await opinions.

I just spent 5 days in a swamp.  It was great!  We went in, and spent the first night at an RV plugin campground with our tents.  Then, then next day, we canoed in and set up camp on the island.  The raccoons had to be chased away several times.  Later, We cooked dinner.  The mosquitoes were very bad…my arm has lots and lots of bites on it.  We went canoing the next day and saw several very large alligators.  Canoing against wind and current, I learned by experience, is very difficult.  We canoed a few miles upriver to Gary’s Island, and saw the Lee family graveyard, as in Robert E. Lee.  We mostly floated downriver form there.  We canoed daily, and had a great time.  On the way home, my Nintendo DS Lite ran out of battery, so i was a boring 14-hour ride home except when people were willing to listen to my iPod while I played their game boys.  It got better when I was able to move up front and watch the movie on the portable DVD player.  We had a great time.