LIFE'S BETTER IN THE MOUNTAINS

Friday, November 12, 2010

Fridays are Golden

We have been blessed this week with beautiful sunny days.  Temperatures have been at near-record highs and the skies have truly been Carolina blue.  Time to run and play!


Lucy sprints until she is out of breath.  Ellie paces herself and could go on forever.





At the top of the dam, Lucy just decides to take off towards me.  Ellie can't seem to figure out what makes her take off all of a sudden.





The woods in back are always a good place to sniff those wonderful smells of the creatures who have passed by.





Lucy takes a moment to decide which way to go.






Ellie checks out the bench made from the trunk of a fallen tree.
It's been a grand week and while we need rain, I was happy to see such great weather.

My mother has one remaining sibling.  My Aunt Ruby is 83 years old and I call her at least once a week.  She is extremely conservative so we never discuss politics.  Well, I never talk politics...Aunt Ruby talks a lot.  She does not like President Obama (we're just not ready for a black President and besides that he wasn't even born here).  She is certain the health care reform will mean her untimely demise.  "I sure hope I don't have to go to the hospital for anything.  One of those death panels might decide I'm not worth saving."

My Aunt Ruby considers herself to be well informed since she listens to the radio and watches the "news" every evening.  Unfortunately, Aunt Ruby never exposes herself to any truly objective news sources...she has a steady diet of the conservative viewpoint with which she is in total agreement.  While I never verbally disagree with her (for heaven's sake...she is 83) I think she knows that I don't always share her political opinions.

Last time I talked with her she said, "Wait.  I want to get this paper."  After a short while she came back on the phone.  Then she said to me that the "news" reported that President Obama spent more than 200 MILLION dollars a day on his recent trip to India, China, Korea, and Indonesia.  He took an entourage of 3,000 people with him.  Forty US planes were in the air and 30 warships in the waters.  "Here we are suffering and he is spending our tax dollars like that," she said.

Aunt Ruby had been so anxious to impress me, she had actually written down all those numbers.  When I told Aunt Ruby those "facts" were not accurate, she said, "Well, they HAVE to be.  I heard it on several different programs.  They couldn't all be wrong."

Well, Aunt Ruby, yes they can.  "Someone" says this or that, then "someone else" repeats this or that, and it goes around the circles of her "news" programs.  My advice to Aunt Ruby (who would never follow it even if I actually told her) is to keep an open mind and get information from more than one tightly-knit group.  So many voters this year believe something to be true.  Why?  Because that's what they believe.

Here I am again waxing political, but we Americans cannot take for fact everything we see on television or hear on the radio, or read in a newspaper.  That applies to both liberals and conservatives.  If all you hear is Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman, or all you hear is Bill O'Reilly and Rush Limbaugh then your views are likely jaundiced.  Keep an open mind and look at all sides.  At the very least, recognize that what you are watching or listening to is indeed biased one way or the other.

Buddha said it best:
Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it.  Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many....
After observation and analysis, when you find that anything agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all, then accept it and live up to it.

HAVE A WONDERUFL WEEKEND, EVERY ONE OF YOU!

23 comments:

The Bug said...

My boss spouted that same $200,000,000 a day stuff to me too - I just forwarded him the Snopes article about it. As you might imagine we disagree about politices.

He keeps saying that he'll switch me to his side, but I tell him that it's a fundamental value difference & that's not going to change. And that's really true - his views leave out whole chunks of the population - people he doesn't care about. And I can't neglect those people to build my own wealth. Of course, it's easy to have my view since I'm NOT wealthy - I have nothing to lose!

Cicero Sings said...

Here it is, Friday already and the Golden Girls have put in their appearance. We have a beautiful day shaping up here too, chilly but beautiful and are planning to head out on a walk around 1:00 p.m. It's warmest then.

Barb said...

I see the girls are enjoying fall - as you also seem to be, Carolyn. In my view, there is so much biased reporting on both sides, it takes MUCH research to even hope to find the truth!

SouthernSass said...

Your girls look like they enjoyed the weather. Your aunt sounds like a hoot - I guess when you get to be 83 you can think you are right about most anything!

I do agree with you - we have to be open-minded and look at all sides.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Carolyn, I love seeing your Goldens. AND--I am here to tell you that my middle son and family in Texas just adopted a 3 yr old Golden Retriever. His name is Barney... They have another older dog named Annie (a mut I think).... They are so happy!!!!!

Yes---we all need to get educated when it comes to politics.... It is hard to get ACCURATE information. Our media for the most part does a horrible job reporting the facts... There's WAY too much opinion and not enough facts. We all need to do our own research.

Hugs,
Betsy

Anonymous said...

It's nice to know that you and the girls are enjoying this beautiful fall. Here too in the Sierra foothills. Amazing blue skies and mild temperatures. Just so perfectly autumn.

I'm pretty sure the 24-hour news cycle has created opinion-dominated programming. There's just not enough real "news" to fill all the time, so speculation, innuendo, and downright lies are used. We would be a lot better off if people would turn off their TVs and take a long look around with their own eyes.

D.K. Wall said...

And this weekend is supposed to be spectacular (with the much needed rain coming next week). Enjoy it.

As for news gathering, I wake each morning to a routine - cnn.com followed by foxnews.com (fun to read the same event from two different angles); Wall Street Journal and USA Today on my iPad, BBC.com for my European viewpoint, and then ending with the Sydney Herald. Granted, I lack a good Asian news source, but Herald gives some of that. Obviously these are primarily scans since time is precious, but you can get a good cross section of views that way.

Sam said...

The girls look like they're having such a divine time running around. I hope the good weather lasts through the weekend.

I think you're smart not to get in to it with your aunt. It's just one of those things that "isn't worth it." She's set in her ways, and letting her think that she's right about something is probably the best option.

kks said...

AMEN!!!

the dogs are so beautiful...
xoxo

Anonymous said...

There are a lot of Aunt Rubys out there. And you're right. . . they LOVE to talk politics. They just don't like to listen.

If you have not heard Jon Stewart's thoughts on the 24-hour news cycle, it's well worth your time.

http://ccinsider.comedycentral.com/2010/11/12/jon-stewart-on-the-rachel-maddow-show/

animal lover, quilt lover said...

Hi Carolyn,
I know that our President is not popular now. I feel so sorry for him. I think he had wonderful intentions when he went in office!!
I think he was naive, to think he could fix things so quickly.
Thank you for your visit, it means a lot to me!!!!!! Yes the time of day has a lot to due with things not working. So times it is the day that is bad and nights better. Then other days it is just the opposite!! Your blog is not as hard as some. I loaded your post in just 35 nimutes!! Pretty good!!
The probblem is I need to clean the house. Cook. Walk the dog. Ect.
I would like to get back to sewing!! But if you will bare with me, we will stay in touch!!
XXOO, Bambi & Fern

Busy Bee Suz said...

Me, always keeping an open mind and avoiding the radio programs too.
Blessings and love to your Aunt Ruby!!

Love seeing the photos of your sweet girls!

Jayne said...

Amen, sister! I "gently" requested that hubby's 80 year old aunt cease sending all the political rhetoric emails from the "news" she gets as well, and she promptly removed us from her email address book... lol. Oh, well... As you said, the truth always lies somewhere in the middle.

George said...

It was good to see the girls enjoying the wonderful weather we've been having. They need to take advantage of it while they can!
The amount of misinformation that passes for information these days is truly staggering.

Vicki Lane said...

The girls look beautiful, as always.

It's frustrating to realize the o=we are so divided as a country -- you are so right about the need of staying informed.

KB said...

One photo of Lucy really caught my eye. What a lean, healthy, glowing girl she is. Wow - you take such tremendously good care of your girls, and it shows.

I chuckled my way through your Aunt Ruby story. Was it 200 MILLION per day? Oh my. I guess that my husband would agree with you. He insists that we sometimes listen to Rush Limbaugh or other very conservative sources so that we can know what's being said. It's scary. I end up yelling at the radio or TV, which causes my husband to change the station!

Fortunately, you don't have to listen to those sources - you have Aunt Ruby who I'm sure is much more fun!

troutbirder said...

I enjoyed the dog walk. Aunt Rubies not so much as I'm surrounded by them and many went to college and aren't even near 83..... which is at least some excuse.

Rudee said...

I am surrounded by people like Aunt Ruby and they all wear earplugs and eye shields and their minds are like vaults slammed shut.

Now where did I put my rose colored glasses?

Cheryl said...

Ellie and Lucy I can see are enjoying the indian summer. I sometimes wish I had another dog to play with Nella but just don't have the time to commit to a puppy. Not at the moment anyway.
Lovely images of the girls...


Aunt Ruby seems to be such a character. I just love women of a certain age who say what they think. They make me smile.....
My mothers name is Ruby......it is a very popular name in UK at this time.

KGMom said...

Oh, sigh. Aunt Ruby. What to say? Thankfully, the nearly 80 year old aunt I spent my time with last week is the main reason I am a LIBERAL (and proud of it).

The whole hullabaloo about the cost of the recent presidential trip is just unreal. MSNBC played the various tapes as to how the rumor got started. Rush touted it, others repeated it, then Fox said--they heard it wherever. So the circulation validation made it so.
I loved the Defense Dpt. response--they just laughed and said that's ridiculous.
Sigh double sigh. Why oh why do people choose to be deluded.

Thanks for the pics of the girls.

Appalachian Lady said...

I have to admit I think Maddow does present the facts or truth more often than the Fox guys. But at any rate, I have found I cannot talk politics with my relatives anymore.

Dogs do love to walk or sprint don't they?

NanaNor's said...

Hi there, I was hoping to just email this but I wanted to see if you could share your sweet Potato recipe with me-you mentioned it in your comment and I would love to read it and possibly change up my recipe.
You can email me at werhi3@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing.
Hugs, Noreen

Ruth said...

We enjoyed beautiful weather last week too. Misinformation spreads so quickly via news sources and the internet. Too many people make no attempt to verify what they hear.