There Once Was A Woman Who Lived in a Shoe

In a largely forgettable piece titled, “Dear Mom”, penned years ago by Katie Lee, she suggests that population increase is at fault for many of our difficulties with the availability of natural resources.

The piece follows the theme of, “There once was a woman who lived in a shoe, she had so many children she didn’t know what to do."

Population may be one of the problems we face, but problems with water will surely  be an attendant difficulty.

Evidence of this is considerable, mostly by rising water rates.

We tend to view the minor increases in our utility rates and accept it without question.  We don’t consider that the stuff we are charged for is…or will be…in short supply.  That’s our capitalistic system…we get fair warning.

Ask Katie and she will tell you that the world (as we know it) is ending.

Query Charles Bowden and he’ll tell you that thirst is one of the least desirable ways to die.

Exaggeration?...Hyperbole?  Maybe. 

What disturbs me is that we are balancing a variable such as population with a finite resource such as water. 

I have little confidence that we’ll fuck less.  I have all confidence that when we’re thirsty we’ll turn the tap and expect water.

It will end.  Just ask Katie.

Shoot Up and Go away

We (a dear personal friend and I) recently finished a multi-day trip through southern Arizona sparked by the wish to get out of the cold of the north and explore photo opportunities in this less habited part of the state.  (I find "less habited" interesting.  What is it about the human instinct that often directs us to areas that have few other human occupants?...to areas that exhibit least evidence of human activity?...why a friend in a metro area blogs about photo experiences in his local desert?)


Our nominal destination to eat and sleep was the small, ex-mining town of Ajo.  South of Ajo was Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument which is where we wanted to wander.


We had been there before and the recollections didn't disappoint on this trip...the customary food of roadside restaurants and the scrubbed luxuries of a cheap motel...the arid desert where plants survive easier than humans...the unanswered observation of "How could people exist in this environment?"


I dunno. I can't imagine picking through human feces for undigested seeds as primitive people did centuries ago...or growing mellons and maize in this arid environment.


My companion thought there might be cactus flowers...but I was amazed at the number of law enforcement vehicles.  Border Patrol, Fish and Game, National Park, three or four other government organizations, the road stops where drug-dogs sniffed eagerly at the underside of the Jeep.


I realized I should focus on the environment around me and not the "real world" of the fools whose purpose in life is to interdict illegal substances.


"They" have never been able to stop the drugs. . .the money involved is too great and many jobs depend on it.



Legalize the stuff and leave my personal experience alone.  
Unfortunately.......I know "they" won't...this country is too righteous. . . as well. . . I hate the bastards.