Buffalo Gal

This morning while traveling on Highway 10, I saw another sign of spring I wait for each year.  I have all these spring things….the flight of the snow geese, the cranes, the honking of the Canadian geese fighting over nesting territory, the bullfrongs singing their love songs to the lady frogs….each year it confirms that springtime is that most wonderful of times and seasons. 

 But today I saw the little hint of green as the willows, the poplars and the cottonwoods began to show their tiny leaves.   There are many groves of these kinds of trees along Highway 10 as you travel west and dip into the basin of old Lake Agassiz.   All of the trees in that area of ancient sand dunes are sporting the little hint of green that is so irresistable to my eyes.   I am so thankful that I can see it each spring!!

If I were an artist, I would capture that fleeting time of the hint of green; it does not last for more than a few days and if it is hot, it is very temporary as the leaves grow and burst into the full deep green of their summer veils.  Today was probably the last day of the hint of green.  I drank it in as we passed those groves along the highway.

The area where these soft-wood trees flourish is in sandy, poor soil; running south and north from the last shore of the glacial lake, there is a beach of sand dunes, probably more recognizable from the air but still obvious on the ground.  There are a lot of dug-out gravel pits in that area where the trees and bushes have come back to fill up the holes that the gravel pits left.    I am always sorry that the pits are not reclaimed as they should be.

I guess the gravel miners have to get on to the next potential pit and are careless about reclaiming those they have mined out.  It is another sad commentary on the nature of businesses and of the humans who make money off them.   Take it all, and then leave it. The pioneers who began moving from east to west in the early days did the same, except they cut down the forests and then when the land got worn out, they moved on and began cutting down more forests.

I am just glad there are little trees that show that hint of green each spring.  It is a soul-satisfying view and I love to see it, if only for a short time.

I know that spring is here to stay.  There are blooming dandelions under my clotheslines and other places where the Scotts’ Weed Formula did not get to!    I do not like using that stuff and use it sparingly–so sparingly that we still have weeds in the grass.  The dandelions always remind me of springtimes past…long past…and my friend gave me a poem that says it perfectly.  It has no title and it doesn’t need one.

Poem:

Some will tell you crocuses are heralds true of spring.

Others say that tulips showing buds are just the thing.

Point to  peonies, say when magnolia blossoms show.

I look forward to the sight of other flowers, though.

Cultivate your roses, grow your orchids in the dark.

Plant your posies in a row and stink up the whole park.

The flower that’s my favorite is found throughout the  land—–

A wilty yellow dandelion clutched in a grubby hand.

It’s author is Larry Tilander and it comes from SPRINGTIME OF MY SOUL.

Enjoy your dandelions, too!                                                       

The news in the FORUM and other regional papers (STAR TRIBUNE, for one) have trumpeted the shocking news that a large contingent of recent Cobber grads were caught in Prexy’s Pond on the Cobber Campus the night after their graduation.  They scattered like rabbits when a lone security guard showed up, leaving all their IDs, wallets, clothes, and cell phones by the shore of the muddy pond.  Identifying the skivvy dippers was a cake walk.

This incident triggered a memory of my own days as a Cobber student…so long past that I think there were brontosauruses roaming the campus way back then.  But we had our moments in the springtime muck of Prexy’s Pond also.   It came on Inititation Day for the freshmen who had "pledged" the campus "societies" which were a much tamer and alchol-free version of the state college’s fraternities and sororities. (Any Cobber back then who wanted to "party" like the frats, had to sneak down to Gooseberry Park in the dark to accomplish the dirty deed.)

  All freshmen pledges of all "societies" got initiated by the upper classmen and women on the same day–always a nice day in May it seemed.  I pledged the Lamba Delts and our traditional and long-standing initiation day outfits consisted of red skirts, white blouses, and black stockings.  Our hair was put into tiny pigtails all over our heads.  We could not use silverware when we ate as a large group in the cafeteria and our "sisters" picked out our food for us…lots of pudding, juicy fruit sauces, mashed potatoes, oatmeal…everything that would make a horrible mess when eaten by fingers instead of forks.  In the afternoon, another tradition was observed: the famous  and long-standing tradition of the Lamba Delta Sigmas wading across Prexy’s Pond holding buttermilk in their mouths.

The 20 or so Pledges started out bravely from the south shore of the pond; there was always a huge contingent of Watchers from all over the campus who were delighted to see us wallowing in the thick mud and the swampy smelling water which turned an oily black color the minute our feet hit the muddy bottom.  It was pretty deep in the spring and some of us were in up to our waists (those of us with the shortest legs, like me)  We came ashore still holding the buttermilk in our mouths, looking like chipmunks carrying a winter supply of food to their nests.  Most of us did not get the buttermilk swallowed however. I remember a lot of spitting up and a few projectile vomits along the north shore.   One of the crabbier pledges—a girl named Delores—-complained loudly about the pond party we were forced to have.  She said (loudly) that she "had her period" and the rest of us were shocked!  Nobody, I mean nobody…. talked publicly about such female matters.  I thought she was a really Loose Woman, but she had a boyfriend named Trig who bravely waded in and pulled her to safety.  Trig was one of those guys who attracted teasing and a lot of other jokes…he really asked for it though.  He once posted a sign on the campus bulletin board informing everyone that the guys could order their spring banquet corsages from him because he was a "campus rep" for Briggs Floral.  Someone added  "tile" to the "rep" and it sent waves of giggles through the girls who read the notice after it was doctored up by some Wag.  I wonder if poor old Delores ever recovered from her wade across Prexy’s Pond?       I wonder if she married Trig?  I wonder if they will soon celebrate their 50th wedding anniversay?

It was a most memorable day but I have not thought about it for ages until I read about the modern day Cobbers taking a dunk in Prexy’s Pond last week.  I am pretty sure they were motivated by  drinks other than buttermilk.  Too bad.  It used to be nice college, when I was there!   It always is, in our memories!!!

Yesterday (Thursday), with the wind blowing strongly out of the southeast, I bravely set up a "tea table" (a round-top air purifier covered with an old embroidered tablecloth) on the deck.  In the spirit of "Hyacinth Bucket" of "Keeping Up Appearances", I brought out two of my "Royal Doulton" teacups and saucers (two of my mom’s collection of teacups) plus two "beakers" just in case my friend Fran or I would be like "Elizabeth", Hyacinth’s best friend and spill the tea or drop the teacup.

I had baked lemon/cranberry biscotti for my tea and also some cookies made from cake mix(it is the best way to make cookies!!)  I had to hold the tea table down with a heavy flower pot til we sat down in our chairs and began to partake of the tea (coffee, actually) and enjoy some "riparian entertainment" (also an idea borrowed from Hyacinth Bucket…that’s pronounce Boo-kay you know.)  Ripararian means "river-related" and since the Dead Buffalo River lies below our south deck and house, I thought the Canadian geese who reside there for the summer would entertain us with loud honks and squawks since they have been fighting over nesting territory since late March.  Yesterday—-not one honk!  The bullfrogs were even resting their voices; maybe they have all found lady frogs so they are happy and content and no longer croaking loudly, day and night.

Fran arrived and we held our cups, napkins, biscotti, and the coffee pot tightly and sat it out for long enough to have a "beaker"-ful of liquid and gaze at the tulips below the deck. Spring is wonderful, even when the wind blows you off your lawn chairs.  I am glad we had our Tulip Tea yesterday because I just looked outside and the rain is begining to fall.  Goody-Goody!  The tulip bed is dry and caked and the rain will change it for the better.

We finished off our Tulip Tea with some poetry reading from other authors and from the talented Fran who has written a poem called "Free Therapy" so along with an Edgar Guest poem about brave soldiers and a small poem about dandelions, we found ourselves fully sated with coffee, biscotti, and pleasant colors (tulips) and wonderful thoughts (poems) It was a satisfying happy afternoon, well spent!

If you want a good belly laugh, go to the In-Forum website and read the "talk about it" question of the day: "what do you think is causing the skunk smell in Fargo-Moorhead?"  I guessed that it was from a new 2000 animal-unit skunk confinement barn in eastern Clay County, the home of huge hog and chicken barns ….so why not raise skunks as well.  I’m sure their droppings would make good fertilizer, skunk oil must be valuable somewhere, and if their pelts were dyed, they would make gorgeous fur coats for PETA people to spray paint or throw acid on.  Let’s see now, how many people did I manage to skewer in that paragraph?

On to better subjects.  I am always fascinated when we travel from our home to I-29 and then on to Kansas City by the interesting landform we see from Kansas City all the way to the South Dakota border near Elkpoint.  There are bluffs to the east and also to the west and in between a very broad and fertile valley that must be several miles wide.  These bluffs follow the course of the "Mighty Mo"…the south-flowing Missouri River that makes its way through Montana, ND and SD first and then forms the border between Iowa and Nebraska and Missouri and Kansas all the way to KC where it takes an eastward turn and goes nearly straight across the middle of Missouri to St Louis where it empties into the Mississippi.  I look at the bluffs which follow close by the interstate in the Sioux City, Iowa area and can picture the formation of this interesting valley and the high bluffs that border it on both sides.   Sometime in the past, there was a mighty cataclysm of water bursting forth that cut these bluffs in a short period of time and left the broad valley in its wake. It was probably form the melting glaciers of the last Ice Age and probably the result of a huge body of water dammed up behind some sort of obstruction, and when the pressure of the dammed water became too great, the whole works let go and carved the Missouri River Valley from ND clear down to present day Kansas City.  

 I saw a similar situation when we saw the Niagra River in northern NY state about 4 years ago while traveling to New England.   The Niagra River is a very short river and runs between one end of Lake Ontario to the huge drop where the double waterfalls tumble hundreds of feet from the Canadian border and the US border.  The river is a boiling cauldron of white water that rushes over rocks on its course leading to the falls.  I thought of how the same situation existed at that place;  melting glacial water filled what is now Lake Ontario..probably a much bigger lake than exists now, and once again a natural dam holding back such huge amounts of water, it is difficult to conceive in one’s mind…let go suddenly and there was a cataclysmic water event that cut the river channel and formed the falls and the gorge below it.  We could hear the river’s sound long before we arrived at the parking area.  The sound of the river is thunderous, to say nothing of the sound of the falls which is a hundred times louder than the river rushing through its rocky channel.

The eruption and destruction of Mt. St. Helens in May of 1980 (can it be that long ago?) showed modern mankind what a great cataclysm can do in just minutes.  The entire landscape was wiped out in minutes and a new landscape, new soil layers, new lava and pyroclastic blasts forever changed that area in a matter of minutes and hours.  The power of creation is unfathomable but every now and then, we catch a glimpse of it.

I bought a book about the Grand Canyon in the Ozarks and it, too, is supposed to be the result of a huge cataclysm of water carving out the canyon gorge in a relatively short period of time compared with the "billions and billions" of years proposed by Evolutionists.  The canyon is perfectly layered as though it was layed down by very deep water(Noah’s flood?)….the layers of red sandstone, brown sandstone, black shale (hard mud) and the basement layer of fire-formed rocks like granite are all there for people to see in one grand "cutaway" of the earth, a mile deep in places.  

 I have always thought that ND’s "Badlands" are the result of water cataclysms from glacial melt onrushes at the end of the last Ice Age also.   We have also observed a huge valley on the west shore of the long and deep  Flathead Lake at Polson, Montana which lies between two ranges of low mountains.    A clear picture of a huge glacial water dam bursting and carving out another broad valley between two mountain ridges lies there as more evidence of water cataclysms long past.

Speaking of water, my tulips could use a shower pretty soon.  They are a gorgeous riot of purples, pinks, yellow, peach, red, and deep rose colors.   Some new white bulbs are blooming for the first time also.  It is such a sweet season when the tulips bloom for their short time each spring.  I am waiting for the pink and white parrot tulips to open after the others are done…..they are always later than the rest.

It has been a good day for gardening and soaking up the sunshine.  Get outside and get some natural Vitamin D !!!

I know there is a song in one of Shakespeare’s works that sings about "the Merry Month Of May" and today is May 1…"May Day" to many and it is a special day.  In communist countries, May Day has been the traditional time to celebrate communism and have military parades before the country’s leaders.  May Day in Moscow was always a big deal years ago before the USSR broke up.  My recollection of the coverage of May Day in Moscow is of a gloomy day, often a rainy day, with sour-faced Russian leaders assembled atop Lenin’s tomb, reviewing the military might that paraded by in Red Square.  In the good old days of the 1950s when I was a youngster, the pictures or the Movietone news always scared me….I was awed and shaken by Russian communism.  I do not even know if there was a May Day parade in Moscow this year.   I heard that the celebration in Havana, Cuba was missing Fidel Castro’s presence. I have the definite idea that he is long dead and being kept in a freezer somewhere in Cuba.

On to better memories of May Day.  When I was an elementary age school kid, we all thought May Day was the best holiday of the entire year.  We made May Baskets for everyone in our class, delivered them after school, or in later grades, we brought them to school to give to each other.  This led to much chasing and screaming at recess time since the tradition was that you must catch and kiss the one who had given you a May Basket.  We all had a lot of catching and kissing to accomplish during recess time and it was always a wild melee, often with the teachers joining us in the chasing and kissing since we all gave our teachers May Baskets as well.  It was better than Valentine’s Day, Christmas and Halloween school parties all rolled up into the glorious first day of May when we went bonkers over May Baskets.  I remember running in a heavy rain shower trying to catch one of my friends who brought the M.B. to the door of my home.  The May Baskets always contained good sweets and treats; often there was home-made fudge or divinity since everyone’s mothers were at-home moms; there would be either popcorn or crackerjack, those soft peanut-shaped, orange colored, banana flavored candies; lemon drops, gum drops, chocolate drops,  orange slice candies, maybe a stick of gum…all of it a treasure and we would eat ourselves sick on May Day just as bad as we had done on the day after Halloween trick  and treating.  My Dad loved May Day too, because he loved candy and we would share ours with him.

I watched the news tonight and there was a dark side of the first day of May in some large cities as the protests from illegal immigrants occurred again today.  I wonder why they choose to demonstrate on May 1?  It would seem unwise since many like me connect May Day demonstrations to Communist rallies.  Not smart on the part of the Illegals in this country.  I am always amazed by the interview-ees of such demonstrations.  They cry about the unfairness of it all; they protest and decry the raids on Illegals and the deportations.  Duh?  Who is breaking the immigration laws?  If that is what you do, you ought to expect to be raided and deported.  The brush-off of the immigration laws is incredible.  Who cares if you crossed illegally twenty years ago…you are still breaking the immigration laws of the USA.   Check out what Mexico does to anyone who comes into Mexico illegally…they arrest them and deport them so fast  their heads spin.     It should work that way here also, but our government is remiss in allowing such a crowd of illegals to accumulate; there are over 12 million of them here and they want to demonstrate against the US government???    Give me a break!   "Yankee go home" has been chanted in many other countries over the years. It is time for us to do a little chanting of our own….Illegals, go home!!  Come back when you want to obey our immigration laws and do it the right way like the immigrants of past decades did.  My grandparents and great grandparents came here as immigrants, too, but they came legally and learned to speak English and did not expect everyone to kow-tow to them and teach their children in their native language in American schools.  They wanted to become Americans and did so diligently, not insisting on their own cultural preservation by the US government or the people who were here already.  They quietly preserved customs and traditions but they were Americans!!!  And proud to be Americans, too.  (Even though my little old Great Grandmother is reputed to have said she didn’t want any "Yahn-kee doctors" messing with her!)  Her children and grandchildren were eager new Americans.

May Day got triggered for me today when I got a short e mail note from one of my childhood friends and next door neighbor who was my good good friend for so many years. He wished me a happy May Day and regretted that he could not deliver the May Basket as we used to do so many years ago.  I can still see the double-napkin May Baskets assembled on our dining room table in my old home, waiting to be filled with treats and tied up and labeled so I could deliver them to the friends who would chase me and play "kissy-kissy" for one magical day on the First Day of the Merry Month of May.

It is a great memory that I cherish in my mind.

A very old song says in part, "..be it ever so humble, there’s no place like home." and it is true to me!   We have just landed at home after a brief sojourn to the Ozark Mountains of southern Missouri where we attended a conference.  The trip to and from was wonderful…lovely rural scenery all the way from North Dakota to the Ozarks….all the way to the end of Interstate 29 at Kansas City ("we got to Kansas City on a Friday.." (song from "Oklahoma") and then on several other 4 lane highways to the Ozarks and the White River country.  Spring is ahead of us in the Ozarks but there has been a lot of rain so crops are not even planted that far south yet.  We saw a few planted farm fields but in Iowa and South Dakota, the process is just starting.  The hardwood oak varieties that cover the Ozarks are beginning to bud and the grass is green, green, green!!  Cottonwoods and Poplars are in full leaf and people have planted flowers already in gardens and planters.  It was a joy to see such springtime beauty everywhere and the days were warm and sunny….as high as 90 degrees in Iowa yesterday!

I played my map game with myself again—searching the travel atlas for names of towns in states all over the U.S. this trip.  I love to hunt for strange names, pretty names, towns named for people, names of towns that you see in all the states and towns named for famous people.  This time I concentrated on the town names beginning with "Red" and there are a whole lot of them!!!  Here’s a few of the "Red" towns:  Red Cloud (Neb) Red Oak (in Iowa, Louisiana, Texas and Oklahoma, for just a few);  Red Bank, TN;  Red Lion and Red Hill in PA;  Red Rock, AZ; Red Bud, IL;  and for the "funny Reds"….Red Boiling Springs, TN, Red Lick, MO  and Red Jacket, W.VA.  I know I saw a town called "Red Head" but I couldn’t relocate it in the atlas the second time I searched.  I wondered if there were towns called "Blond" or "Brunette" but I found none in my brief search of the smallest print in the entire world…in the atlas listings in the back pages.  I got eyestrain from looking.

I now wish to award the "Mappie" awards for funny-name towns:  There are multiple winners this time.  The "Moving Air" award goes to Blowing Rock, NC and Windy Hill, KY. The "Whaddayousay?" Award goes to Yazoo City MS and Wahoo, Nebraska.  The "Caffiene Lovers Award" goes to Coffeeville and Hot Coffee;  The "Arsonist Award" goes to Panther Burn;  The "Hostility Award" goes to Kicketts and the "State Prison Award" goes to Correctionville and Reform.  The "Patriotic Award" goes to 3 funny- name towns:  Red Banks, White Apple, and Blue Mountain. The "You Gotta Be Kidding Me" Award goes to "Pure Air" which is town in northern Missouri in the close vicinity of several big confinement Hog Barns.  The "Strong Woman Award" goes to Amazonia. The "Gotcha Award" goes to BeeBeeVille.  And finally…. the "Big Mouthful Award" goes to these towns:  Yalobusha, Rollingfork, Eastabushie, and Leakesville (which also wins the "Corner of the Barn Award")

Wow, I worked so hard even when I was sitting down and just riding in the van!  I am going to have to investigate towns in Canada next time we travel somewhere.

It is nice to be home; the tulips are beginning to bloom, just in the five days we were gone;  it is the amazing power of the spring sunshine, illustrated.  The buds are bigger on the trees also. This is my favorite season of the entire year!!!  The Kitty Princess was extremely happy to see us again even though my good friend Fran visited her each day and babied her in my place.   Now I want to get that rototiller out and plant lettuce, spinach , onions and potatoes A.S.A.P.

I attended another banquet last night and heard a speaker who lives in Atlanta, Georgia. He told us that we talk "funny" up here so he tried to give us a lesson in grammar straight from Georgia.   It was short and simple and requires you to read  three words as they appear…DUCKS , NOT,  and WANGS…otherwise you say the letters you see which form words, Georgia-style.  Here is your lesson.  Try hard to get it.

MR   DUCKS

MR NOT!

OSAR!

CM   WANGS?

L I B !!

MR  DUCKS.

That was not so hard was it?     Try another lesson from Georgia…..once again the only words you say as you see them are MICE and NOT:

MR  MICE.

R  NOT!

SAR…CMBDI’ s??

OS…..MR    MICE! 

 I used up a lot of space and did not say much but I have a lot to do today!!!

I have a quote from Anne Frank that says a lot about how I think…."The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside somewhere where they can be quiet, alone with the heavens, nature, and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature."   

That works for me and right now I am impatient to get outside and do my spring things in  yard and garden beds on these beautiful days we are having, but I am "gimpy" from the knee tendonitis and my patience is being tried.  I should do what me kitty does; she sits peacefully on the deck and basks in the sun and enjoys the sights and sounds that she loves so much.  I would do myself a lot of good if I would rest the knee on a comfortable lounge chair that we have, and listen to the peaceful sounds of nature.  Yesterday two of our Canadian Geese were resting quietly on the greening grass of the old "ballfield" that our sons played many games of "autos" on in the 1970′s and 1980′s.  The geese had eaten their fill of fresh green grass blades and lay down to enjoy the meal and the sunshine. I got the binoculars and watched them…what magnificent birds they are and I marvel at the fact that they mate for life and never leave each other until one dies.  I also spotted our big doe who has raised twin fawns in the same place for so many years.  She came out and hid along the tree line and enjoyed a bit of fresh grass also but she never stays long…she is concerned about her babies and tends to them constantly.  Would that all human parents were so intense about the care of their babies and growing children!!!!

I have some others in my relationship that appreciate nature in an entirely different way but still they would appreciate Anne Frank’s thought.   Let’s talk about Paint-ballers for a minute.  We have some rabid fans of paintball games in our family and last Saturday they were out in the woods and fields challenging each other to paintball duels in full regalia, including weird looking face masks that make them appear alien-like.  I have concluded that this is a "sport" for young and still-young at-heart males; females just do not get a charge out of shooting paint-filled balls at each other to see if they can make one splatter on another person’s body.

There are paintballers everywhere it seems.  My sister who lives near the  Red River, was met on a walk by some young males arrayed in black shirts and pants, black masks and their paintball guns.  However she did not know they were paintballers and this unfortunate meeting on a walking path occurred within days of the horrendous Virginia Tech shootings and she was terrified.  Later her husband met the same 3 young fellows—neighbors no doubt— out for fun on a nice day in the woods along the river….and Sister’s hubby told them they had scared the bejabbers out of his wife. If she meets them again, she may not have such a reaction as the first encounter.  Paintballers ought to tip their masks to ladies out for walks and be nice gentlemen, in my opinion.  Maybe not wear the masks at all til they enter actual paintball combat with each other.

One thing for sure—-we residents of the plains, hills and the river valley are SOOOO ready to be outdoors enjoying , as Anne Frank said long ago, the Quiet, the Heavens, and Nature, as God intended us to do.   I am grateful for such a gift….even for those who love paintball.  

Personally I am waiting to pick my first bouquet of dandelions and get "dandelion milk" on my fingers which will then turn brown from the "milk".  It is a definite "Rite Of Spring" for me and a lot of others–mostly young kids but I still like to do it.  Now if I only had a bag (old sock) full of "aggies" and a couple of "steelies" and could find someone who remembers how to play marbles the old schoolyard way….that would be one of springtime’s sweetest ritual also.

"Do You Observe Earth Day?"  That was a poll question that appeared in today’s FORUM (April 23).   I am always suspicious of "one-day" events such as Earth Day which began sometime in the early 1970′s.  My answer to that poll question would be, if I could expand beyond "yes" or "no"…..Yes, I observe Earth Day every day and always have because that is what I was taught to do by my parents long, long ago.

My parents never spread trash around when we went on picnics or left the place a mess. Our family routinely "cleaned up our own spaces" anytime we used the great outdoors and we were a picnic-ing family most often out in the wooded areas or by remote lakes, sitting on a blanket with no picnic tables in sight.   I learned very early that you do not leave any place a mess but pick up after yourself.  That is a very small part of caring for the earth but it fostered an attitude.

Later as an adult I learned about composting through a gardening magazine…"Organic Gardening" and got into raising our own vegetables and fruits (without all the "cides" used in commercial agriculture.  Gardening has been another small way I have observed Earth Day for more than one day.

I am greatly concerned about the effects of the standard practices presently in  "Big Agriculture" which we see all around us.  The Red River Valley is the richest farmland on earth and what do we see being done it it?   It is annually soaked with pesticides and herbidicides in order to produce enough crops to support this new sort of non-traditional agriculture.  What is happening to our surface waters and our aquifers because of this sort of agriculture?    We experience horrendous spring floods because, in the name of Big Agriculture, all the sloughs and small ponds, (designed by the Creator, to catch and hold runoff and put water back into the deep aquifers,) have been drained to add a few more acres to the farmland.  We stupidly destroy our own environment for the sake of the almighty dollar.  The traditional family farm is mostly gone.  This surely not an observation of the principles of Earth Day.

I am greatly concerned about the effects on our soil and water of the enormous amimal feeding operations either in confinement barns holding thousands of animals or in huge feedlots.   Do we want to eat the meat from those animals that is full of antibiotic residue and hormones that produce fast growth?   Is this a good way to protect the earth and those who live on the earth?    Having seen first hand and knowing what others have experienced by living near these abominable huge animal feeding operations, does not fulfill my idea of observing Earth Day!

How about the enormous tonnage of disposable diapers in our landfills, just for one example???  If someone wants to observe Earth Day all the time, go back to cloth diapers— but do you think that will happen?   Observing Earth Day with all its ceremonies and rites might give people some sort of satisfaction and a good feeling, but continuing to participate in our version of modern day life is not going to protect the earth from much of anything.