Where has Summer gone?

Hi all, where did summer go? It seems like yesterday I was waiting for the first warm season veggies and the water to warm up enough for fishing. Now, the garden is slowing production and our labor day trip to Morehead City is approaching. Season come and go too quick it seems when you reach your mid 30's. At any rate, we had a great summer overall, which is why I have not written a blog since July; we've been gone a lot of weekends.

Cecilia's has really fit in her job that she started in May. It's been several months and she enjoys the work and the fact that unlike before, she not being overloaded by a disorganized boss. My job, for those of you that don't know, has gone through some changes this summer. Our group, the Atmospheric Modeling Division, was a NOAA organization that was basically hired by the US EPA to develop and apply air quality models to answer various questions and solve problems. In an effort to streamline government and save money, NOAA allowed the US EPA to absorb our group into their National Exposure Research Lab. We are now officially EPA employees, which saves the taxpayers a nice chunk of money that would have otherwise been use to pay NOAA's overhead. I made a joke to several at work that I'll have to keep this quite from my conservative friends (mostly fishing buddies like my brother-in-law, Steve) because government organization like the EPA, which make environmental regulation, are not well liked by strong conservatives. So, rather than working for NOAA, who many like because they provide all kinds of weather forecasts and data, I'm working for a regulatory agency. If you all want to pretend I'm still NOAA that's fine with me :-)

In a more serious tone, I do like the idea of working to protect our environment, which is an amazing gift from God, for the next generation. I've always had a close connection with the outdoors, from the time Adam and I explored the woods and streams around Marion to learning about nature as a Boy Scout, to the years of paddling out in the surf of the Florida and NC beaches and more recently, fishing in the backwaters and offshore NC. So there you go, I can be officially labeled an environmentalist that is solidly against drilling for oil off our NC and Florida beaches. All you have to consider is the government report (EIA: http://www.eia.doe.gov/oiaf/aeo/otheranalysis/ongr.html) that indicates additional offshore drilling would not have a significant impact on oil prices even out to 2030. So the question is why risk our shorelines and beaches if there is only a few cents change in the price of gas. Heck, a few cents is withing the variability of gas prices between towns, so it would not be noticeable. This is a political trick by republicans and their best buddies, the oil companies.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/07/19/opinion/main4275167.shtml


At any rate, I'll quit talking politics for now; I have a lot a yard work to get on...