Nat.Parks Need $.Cancer Site Needs Clicks

It started out cooler and cloudy, but once the clouds dissipated and let the sun through, it was quite warm. Definitely AC weather.

Jay wanted me to take him to the next town to exchange a chain link gate he and his mother had bought yesterday. I wanted to buy some stuff for my new laptop, so I took him. We took the measurements of the opening in his fence to get the correct gate size. After having stopped at several other places, we discovered that they don't make a gate for that size opening. He had measured a neighbor's gate, when he installed the fence, but didn't know that their gate was custom made! So now he has to modify the gate that he has. There is no way that he can move the posts.

We stopped at several thrift shops, and even though they were having sales, I didn't find anything that I wanted. But Jay bought a few things. One was a bicycle seat, but it didn't have all the hardware where it sits on the post, so we had to go to a bike shop to get that.

I looked at the computer transfer cables at Best Buy. I know I can get the same thing for much less on eBay, but it would be a hassle and expense to return it, if it doesn't work. Or maybe I'll just use my external hard drive, if I ever figure out how to use it. I also needed a thing where I can plug a phone line into the computer, in case the power goes out, but they were out of them, and wanted $46 if they did. So I came home empty handed.

Episode 5 [October 1]Great Nature (1933-1945)

"This episode deals with the many additions to the park system under FDR’s watch, including battlefields, which had once been in the care of the War Department. Roosevelt expands the definition of what a park could be to include broader historical sites like Castillo de San Marcos, Appomattox, the Statue of Liberty, Mount Rushmore, and the Lincoln Memorial. The nation is in the grips of the depression, and FDR turns to the parks, inserting the Citizen Conservation Corps (CCC) as part of an economic stimulus package. FDR pumps $218 million in the parks, more money than in the previous decades combined.

George Melendez Wright raises the importance of protecting parks for their wildlife habitat, not simply for park visitors. Melendez makes a four year, 11,000-mile journey to study badgers, coyotes, hawks, mountain lions, owls, and wolves, among others. Wright is concerned that so many predators are unwelcome across the country, viewed as competition for hunters rather than a key part of a complex ecosystem. Pearl Harbor is bombed. CCC recruits are redirected to fight World War II, and the government faces pressure to open up national parks their resources, but Interior Secretary Harold Ickes fights these proposals, and eventually hires Ansel Adams to take photos of all the national parks. The subject of race takes center stage in parts of this episode. Two very touching stories shed light on the Japanese-American Internment camps at Manzanar. The episode ends with African American woman Marian Anderson singing at the Lincoln Memorial, after the Daughters of the American Revolution denied her the opportunity to sing at Constitution Hall because of her race. This episode deals with the many additions to the park system under FDR’s watch, including battlefields, which had once been in the care of the War Department. "

The National Parks Conservation Association asks you to donate to preserve these beautiful parks: http://act.npca.org/npca/notice-description.tcl?newsletter_id=26404128

Not a very interesting day.