Day for Pigs

We missed our friend's pig roast,
And
Then again,
A part of us was there,
It was a beautiful day.

The Other 2011 Vermont Flood

The Other Flood of 2011

What made me think of it was the recent press about the 5 year anniversary of tropical storm Irene. It devastated parts of Vermont. I thought I'd done a YouTube of Irene but how could I have? I searched and found my movies from the spring flood of Lake Champlain. 

Also found this link on the internet:

http://www.accuweather.com/en/weather-news/serious-flooding-on-lake-champ/49193

My movies...

The Other Flood.

Music for all ages

Just listened again to Richard Barone's
New album,
Sorrows and Promises
Great work recreating familiar song from 1960's


http://www.pledgemusic.com/projects/richardbarone

Flashback post 5 years ago...Travelogue for the Universe: From before the flood

Travelogue for the Universe: From before the flood: I couldn't think of a better way to share some photos we took At a Woodstock, Vermont concert  Levon Helm concert a few years ago....

Photo From the Archives

The Vultures returned,
Like Generations before,
Lingering on Air.

Friday Night Musik

Tgif!

#Fracking updates

Today in the Addison independent

addisonindependent.com

I saw a letter to the editor by the CEO of Vermont gas...

I replied

Perhaps your newspaper should confess you charge the reader to read the full article while accepting advertising revenue from Canadian owned Vermont Gas. Subliminal messaging. You are clearly supporting Vermont Gas. And the Pipeline of destruction. Blasting rock ledge in Monkton,Vermont, my town that denied a farmer the right to mine rock and sell it. Multiple pieces being constructed. Burrowing under ancient swamp, destroying old growth trees, rare and endangered flowers. All this as the natural gas price (Fracking derived) is kept low. The Vermont Gas ratepayers are going to be billed $134 million (that's the number today). Natural gas prices are expected to rise as demand increases. All while a pipeline passes Though, not To Monkton,Vermont. No, they can't offer gas hookups to everyone in Monkton,Vermont. Does the Addison independent ever interview those people? How does a pipeline serve the public which passes through our town, not to our town?


Feel free to enter the fray,
No matter where you are.

Meg

#wiki leaks searchable database #Benghazi

For your eyes only

https://wikileaks.org/clinton-emails/?q="diane+reynolds"&mfrom=&mto=&title=&notitle=&date_from=&date_to=&nofrom=&noto=&count=50&sort=1#searchresult

Randomness

Our world

goldenrod

Stone Face

Sunday morning

Transformation

The shell protects her,
The Caterpillar Lady,
Emerges unscathed.

Friday Night Musik

T.g.i.f. !

Musik from YouTube...

Glenn Hughes.

 great, great, great...meg

Kolache

In my grandma's book

A kolache recipe

School for Cats...and Rabbits

Music Flashback from YouTube

From the 60's,

YouTube is a mine of musical tv  flashbacks...

Beautiful...

The Tightrope

Pro-Wind Group Seeks to Change Message

Pro-Wind Group Seeks to Change Message: A new Vermont group in support of wind power has formed, and its members hope to counter the increasingly loud opposition movement. Wind Works VT...


More about wind....
no,
We don't need more wind turbines on Mountaintops.

Wind Power takes Public Lands, Public Views, Private Peaceful Living. Takes from those who do not get, giving to those that take.

Storm water system failures loom over existing and new wind projects in Vermont

http://watchdog.org/273184/lowell-mountain-storm-water-system-failures/

First ever taking of US Forest Service land by private commercial wind company

The first ever taking of publicly owned land by a private company is happening in Vermont. Iberdrola, a multinational wind giant based in Spain, who is also active on other industrial wind projects in VT will be taking 80 acres of the Green Mountain National Forest. Iberdrola has 565 billion in assets. One of Iberdrola's energy partners is Gaz Metro. (Of note, Gaz Metro is investing heavily in liquid natural gas storage. One of the members of "the Iberdrola Group" also focuses on liquid natural gas moostorage. LNG storage is a critical need right now in the Northeast....)

Back to the taking of the national forest in VT, a first for the country:

This national forest deal now approved by the PSB comes with ridiculous "bear offsets." The company was told by the PSB that they needed to find comparable land somewhere else nearby to preserve and protect bears, since 80 acres of the bear habitat of these bears living in the national forest will be damaged.

Fifteen 400 ft tall wind towers that are so tall they require flashing lights for aircraft will be installed on 80 acres. This deal approved by the PSB includes a million dollars to cover not only land to be used as an "offset," but to studies how the bears may be driven crazy by the noise or unable to eat. (Sorry for bitter insertion of opinion there. You will have to listen to the story to draw your own conclusions. Link is below.)

PSB dysfunction clinches the deal: Iberola was not able to find any such land to "offset" this harm to the bears and other animals in the forest by this taking of 80 acres for industrial wind. The company has been looking for years but it turned out that the company could find no one nearby who wanted to make a deal.

So the PSB now has told the Iberola just to skip it for now. --Go ahead with construction. We trust and that someday, somwhere you will be able to follow through. 

Big industrial wind to feed the centralized Northeast grid and parts of Canada is driving people out of their homes and off their land in the same way that this pipeline did. Big industrial wind for energy export far out of state is also causing serious health problems for people who have no choice but to stay where they are. Big industrial wind for commercial use is now for the first time ever in the US taking national forest land, as Vermont continues to be turned into an energy corridor for multinational energy giants of every sort, and local-regional generation under local control and decision making is driven out as an option.

The question is not just fossil fuels vs. renewables. The question is so-called "renewables" for what?  And when are "renewables" not really for renewable aims at all, but for status quo societal consumption and corporate greed as usual to the end of the climate and the demise of Earth's vital, life supporting resource?

Here is yesterday's VPR story the taking of land in the Green Mountain National Forest for industrial wind 

http://digital.vpr.net/post/after-agreement-over-bear-habitat-deerfield-wind-project-will-move-forward#stream/0

Here is the story on WCAX which notes it is the first ever taking of US Forest Service land: http://www.wcax.com/story/32385702/deerfield-wind-project-could-break-ground-soon

Friday Night Musik

Posting musik for Friday Night
Enjoy!

Friday #Fracking fighters need Funds

Fracking Fighters need Funds

From our Vermont group...

GREETINGS!

Last week was momentous for our campaign to stop the construction of Vermont Gas pipeline in Hinesburg.  The Public Service Board Hearings are now behind us.  First the PSB tried to close the hearings to the public, and hold them at a remote secure location.  But thanks to a fast acting challenge in federal court, where the judge ruled in favor of the First Amendment, they were required to open the hearings.  But they were still moved to a remote location with only a handful of seats available for members of the public. Kind of a sham!  But the PSB looked pretty poor in all the media coverage on this issue: a Public Service Board excluding the Public they Serve from hearings?  Not good…

Vermont Gas meanwhile has been scrambling to prevent the intervenors from being heard.  First they filed a motion to revoke the intervenors status (PSB did not agree).  Then as we walked into the hearings, VGS filed yet another motion to limit the intervenors scope to just a few issues from the pretrial memo.  What all this tells us is that VGS is WORRIED about our challenge.  They are doing everything in their power to prevent us from being heard, and to squelch public voices from the process.  

But we are NOT going to be shut out, and we WILL be heard.  Jim Dumont, our lawyer, was amazingly adept with his cross examination of VGS witnesses.  In sum, he basically set the stage for an appeal in Superior Court which we anticipate after the PSB decision which will invariably favor VGS.  

As we take a breather and get ready for next steps, we need to RAMP up our fundraising big time.  So far we have been keeping just barely on top of our legal fees, having raised about 15k.  We are SO grateful to all who have donated.  Thank you! Thank you!  But legal fees are going to rise steeply in the coming weeks as we go through the appeal process, probably in September. 

PLEASE DONATE!  SHARE this with all your friends and contacts!  Spread the word!  

We are not naive, but there are some good reasons to feel just a little optimistic.  If VGS doesnt get their pipeline in the ground in time, and they continue to face the challenges that abound - on wetlands, on rate rigging, and more... perhaps it is possible to imagine this project could be stopped! 

Then we will be singing in the streets instead of outside the PSB hearings.  

HELP US MAKE IT HAPPEN!  DONATE NOW!

Biofuelwatch: http://www.biofuelwatch.org.uk

Campaign to Stop GE Trees: http://stopgetrees.org

Global Forest Coalition:http://globalforestcoalition.org

Geoengineering Monitor: http://www.geoengineeringmonitor.org

Musik

Fantastic!

IONS Breaks New Ground in Mental Health Care

Blogging Forward...

IONS Breaks New Ground in Mental Health Care

2 years ago...Travelogue for the Universe: On the Wire and video by Philippe Petit

Travelogue for the Universe: On the Wire and video by Philippe Petit: “Life is on the Wire, Everything else is just waiting.” Karl Wallenda I Recently Started drawing More structured Zentangles....now I...

Answers

Look here for your answers...

Image

#Fracking pipeline fight field reports

Thanks to Melanie for assembling these links to coverage of the latest gaz pipeline fight episode.

http://m.sevendaysvt.com/OffMessage/archives/2016/08/04/vermont-gas-pipeline-foes-face-off-at-public-service-board-session

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2016/08/04/public-crowded-out-vermont-gas-hearing/88008960

http://digital.vpr.net/post/board-hears-arguments-vermont-gas-effort-route-pipeline-through-hinesburg-park#stream/0

https://vtdigger.org/2016/08/05/vermont-gas-officials-and-opponent-attorney-clash-before-psb

http://www.wcax.com/story/32685904/hearing-on-final-land-deal-for-vt-gas-pipeline-project

http://m.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/aug/4/vermont-pipeline-hearing-expected-to-be-marked-by

http://m.wptz.com/news/public-service-board-discusses-vt-gas-pipeline/41057702

Friday Night Musik

For the #Fracking fighters..

I looked out on the morning,

A fine mist hovered in the valley. 

Soon to ring with the sounds of pipeline building.

YouTube links...

            And One more

Thanks to Glenn Hughes 

Beggar Girl and Doctor Visit

 I'll let you write the story.
Drawing these images
was like tracing memories
From long ago.
Meg

Pharma

Summer Images

The Bees have been Rescued

Hi neighbors,friends sibz
And Sister...share w Mariah.
I contacted Bob the beekeeper
Who referred me to Bob the Beekeeper.
Both are licensed with the state.


Bob arrived yesterday w a vacuum cleaner modified to suck up bees.
Doesn't hurt the bees.
He took boards off and vacuumed bees off until he found Queenie.
The nest went from the hole just above the porch all the way to the eaves.
He said not much honey.
Between mice, er, large mice and an opportunistic squirrel,
They have been snacking.

Anyway, he has a lot of bees. The vacuum cleaner pulls them into a little cage in a new wooden bee frame. When he gets home he has a new active hive.

He took the comb. He said the bees would calm down once the queen is safe. He said they are very intelligent.
He said robber bees will take any honey left in the wall.
Don't close up yet!
Licked clean.

Lots of bees buzzing around.
He said those stragglers will eventually move out to other local hives.



We are grateful