Shine on Harvest Moon

This was taken about a half hour too late. The moon was beautiful as it was coming up.

According to this article, the moon tonight is 12 percent bigger than usual. It is called the harvest moon because farmers harvested their fall crops by its light.

When I look out my window from a dark room, it is amazingly light outside. I think the coyotes are feeling it too.

Color right here in Kansas!

We spent the better part of two weeks looking for fall color in the New England states and look what I came home to on the route--you gotta love Kansas.

Young and Reckless

Today the local talk show was discussing the 18 year old young man who is in critical condition after jumping from a vehicle going 30 to 35 mph. He was being videoed. The young lady from his school who spoke on the show said it wasn't the first time something like this was done.

The discussion then turned to how parents, teachers or even grandparents like me communicate to young people the consequences of dangerous behavior. This is an excellent question and not a new one either. It's been 15 to 20 years ago that our two kids fit into the "dangerous teen" category. At that time, we worked hard to be aware what was going on in their lives. We attended their functions, knew their friends, even allowed all night fishing at the pond with parental checks. We have found out, though, as the years go by, that there were incidents where someone very likely could have been hurt. At this point, I am tempted to tell some of those crazy things, but that alone seems to be a sort of bragging of bad ideas gone good.

The late teen years are notorious for dangerous behavior. I am sure the military services are fully aware that young people of that age range make excellent candidates for fighting wars. They are strong, feel invincible and outwardly seem to have no fear.

Not all young people will fight a war, thankfully. Sports have long been touted as an excellent way for young people to work off their aggressiveness. I would agree, but there are only so many star players. An elaborate intramural schedule would involve more people. Some would say exercising the mind is good also. I am not sure I agree; there is something about physical exercise that soothes and clears, the mind and the body.

I suspect there is no answer. It seems a rite of passage. My thoughts go out to the parents and friends of the young man fighting for his life.

Home to 90

We are home as of about 7:00 last night. It was a great trip. I am still trying to post my travel notes over at wildflowers waterfalls. I have a few days left and then will add some pictures. I had a lot of these already written on my other computer--RIP. Guess that should teach me to back up that kind of thing when traveling.

The weather here in Kansas is in the 90s. Today, not having worked for two weeks, plus the heat, made Linda a struggling mail carrier. So, I think I will make short work of this post.

If you want interesting reading, check out this article in the New York Times (be patient you have to get past an ad before it loads) . Also note it features my neighbor Chip!