Web presence consolidation

I'm practicing retirement this week. With the cold weather, the outside work is all but finished. I still have more leaves around here but NO MORE PAINTING! I'm taking it easy this week as I get ready to start on winter projects.

This morning, I decided to make up some tuna salad for lunch. In my late teens, that was one of my favorites; especially with fresh bread. I used to get that pull-apart loaf you pop in the oven. That was the greatest with tuna salad. But more recently, like the last 30 years, I have not liked it when I made it. It seems all you can find is water packed tuna. That is what Pat gets anyway. It just does not have the flavor of oil packed. I did the best I could with what I had but I am going to make it a point to find oil packed tuna. I googled "oil pack tuna" and apparently it is readily available. I guess I have to go on a quest to find it.

For me, the secret to egg salad, tuna salad, potato salad, etc. is Helman's mayonnaise first blended with the egg yolks before mixing it in. I actually make egg salad first and then just add in tuna. With the 'crappy" water packed tuna, I found I had to add two cans where with the oil packed, I just add one can, oil and all! Add a little salt and relish and you are good to go. I put in some celery seed because the tuna is so bland but I don't like whole celery. I'll serve it for lunch and see how it turned out.

I have been feeling a bit disenchanted with  Facebook recently. I like the idea but I am seeing little "profit motive" changes that I don't like. I think it is going down hill so I am planning to post more here on my blog. It worked before Facebook and I suspect it will work just fine after Facebook. Just sayin'

Over the years, I have vacillated from one social media to another. I have multiple blogs for photography, personal ramblings and this blog that has been about travel. I also have standard websites. I can't maintain them all so I bounce from one to another. I have followers on each media. I am still formulating the best approach but the main theme will be a centralized focus. In the past, I have tried to bundle my thoughts and talents into multiple packages to be rationed out to differing groups according to their likes and degree of awareness. Some enjoyed my photography and advice on taking pictures, some just like to follow along on our journeys through the trip albums here on this blog. Others followed some of my more "New Age"  thoughts including the Bee Lief Stories. There is a rather large group that follows the events of our high school class. Then there are the notorious "tongue-in-cheek" Christmas Letters. These are all ME! I have just presented parts of me to differing groups.

At 66, it is time to quit worrying who likes what part of my personality and just be me! I like to laugh and poke fun at myself and events around me but I am also very deep in my spiritual beliefs. I am Christian but don't see that as a limitation to also believing in much of the Eastern thought. I am a strong believer in reincarnation of the spirit and that we live as both physical and spiritual beings at the same time. I love art in all forms from music to visual art. I think they too have a physical and spiritual factor. I will attempt to share my thoughts with you; not to convert you to my thought but to make you aware of possibilities. We all have our own path to follow and we will often cross those paths with others. WE might walk together for a while or an eternity. We may have an exchange of thought and energy and then be on our own again. In the end, we will find we are actually all one, heading to the same place of awareness.

As I started this posting today, I had no idea where it would lead. If it seems a bit disconnected, I apologize.  Sometimes when I write, that inner spirit comes out. Yes, it is a long way from Tuna Salad to the nature of life; what can I say. I have a few spiritual laws that I have to follow. I have to answer questions as honestly as I can and when spirit wants to communicate through me, I am obligated to pass on the communication. WE are in troubling times and some of the unrest is the awakening of that inner spirit trying to synchronize with the world around us.

I will continue this later, Follow along if you wish.

Love and Light,
Dulany 

Dam Builders

I got this from a friend by e-mail and had to share. It is too dam funny!

Look at the 2 pictures,  then scroll down. This is an actual letter sent to a man named Ryan DeVries regarding a pond on his property. It was sent by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Quality. This guy's response is Hilarious, but read The State's letter before you get to the response letter, you won't stop once you start. State of Pennsylvania's letter to Mr. DeVries: SUBJECT: DEQ ... File No.97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec 20; Lycoming County Dear Mr. DeVries: It has come to the attention of the Department of Environmental Quality that there has been recent unauthorized activity on the above referenced parcel of property. You have been certified as the legal landowner and/or contractor who did the following unauthorized activity: Construction and maintenance of two wood debris dams across the outlet stream of Spring Pond. A permit must be issued prior to the start of this type of activity.. A review of the Department's files shows that no permits have been issued Therefore, the Department has determined that this activity is in violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated. The Department has been informed that one or both of the dams partially failed during a recent rain event, causing debris and flooding at downstream locations.. We find that dams of this nature are inherently hazardous and cannot be permitted. The Department therefore orders you to cease and desist all activities at this location, and to restore the stream to a free-flow condition by removing all wood and brush forming the dams from the stream channel. All restoration work shall be completed no later than January 31, 2010. Please notify this office when the restoration has been completed so that a follow-up site inspection may be scheduled by our staff. Failure to comply with this request or any further unauthorized activity on the site may result in this case being referred for elevated enforcement action.. We anticipate and would appreciate your full cooperation in this matter. Please feel free to contact me at this office if you have any questions. Sincerely, David L. Price District Representative and Water Management Division. Here is the actual response sent by Mr. DeVries: Re: DEQ File No.. 97-59-0023; T11N; R10W, Sec. 20; Lycoming County Dear Mr. Price, Your certified letter dated 11/17/09 has been handed to me. I am the legal landowner but not the Contractor at 2088 Dagget Lane, Trout Run, Pennsylvania . A couple of beavers are in the process of constructing and maintaining two wood 'debris' dams across the outlet stream of my Spring Pond. While I did not pay for, authorize, nor supervise their dam project, I think they would be highly offended that you call their skillful use of natures building materials 'debris.' I would like to challenge your department to attempt to emulate their dam project any time and/or any place you choose. I believe I can safely state there is no way you could ever match their dam skills, their dam resourcefulness, their dam ingenuity, their dam persistence, their dam determination and/or their dam work ethic.

These are the beavers/contractors you are seeking. As to your request, I do not think the beavers are aware that they must first fill out a dam permit prior to the start of this type of dam activity.

My first dam question to you is:
(1) Are you trying to discriminate against my Spring Pond Beavers, or
(2) do you require all beavers throughout this State to conform to said dam request?

If you are not discriminating against these particular beavers, through the Freedom of Information Act, I request completed copies of all those other applicable beaver dam permits that have been issued. (Perhaps we will see if there really is a dam violation of Part 301, Inland Lakes and Streams, of the Natural Resource and Environmental Protection Act, Act 451 of the Public Acts of 1994, being sections 324.30101 to 324.30113 of the Pennsylvania Compiled Laws, annotated.)

I have several dam concerns. My first dam concern is, aren't the beavers entitled to legal representation? The Spring Pond Beavers are financially destitute and are unable to pay for said representation -- so the State will have to provide them with a dam lawyer.

The Department's dam concern that either one or both of the dams failed during a recent rain event, causing flooding, is proof that this is a natural occurrence, which the Department is required to protect. In other words, we should leave the Spring Pond Beavers alone rather than harassing them and calling them dam names.

If you want the damed stream 'restored' to a dam free-flow condition please contact the beavers -- but if you are going to arrest them, they obviously did not pay any attention to your dam letter, they being unable to read English.

In my humble opinion, the Spring Pond Beavers have a right to build their unauthorized dams as long as the sky is blue, the grass is green and water flows downstream. They have more dam rights than I do to live and enjoy Spring Pond. If the Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Protection lives up to its name, it should protect the natural resources (Beavers) and the environment (Beavers' Dams).

So, as far as the beavers and I are concerned, this dam case can be referred for more elevated enforcement action right now. Why wait until 1/31/2010? The Spring Pond Beavers may be under the dam ice by then and there will be no way for you or your dam staff to contact/harass them.

In conclusion, I would like to bring to your attention to a real environmental quality, health, problem in the area It is the bears! Bears are actually defecating in our woods. I definitely believe you should be persecuting the defecating bears and leave the beavers alone. If you are going to investigate the beaver dam, watch your dam step! The bears are not careful where they dump!

Being unable to comply with your dam request, and being unable to contact you on your dam answering machine, I am sending this response to your dam office.

THANK YOU,

RYAN DEVRIES & THE DAM BEAVERS