WARNING! CLIMATE CHANGE SCORCHES FLOWERS

Living in the heartland, I've never been too concerned about global warming.  Yes, I know it's melting ice in Antarctica and causing forest fires in California, but it's always seemed like something we don't have to worry so much about in the middle of the country.

Until this year.  Here's what happened to our flowers:  We've had a large bed of impatiens blooming beside our house for over 25 years.  Whether we planted the old fashioned kind or the new fangled "sunpatiens," by the end of the summer we would have a beautiful showing of colorful impatiens that seemed to thrive on nothing more than regular watering.  Then, this year, around the middle of July, I noticed they had stopped blooming, altogether.  A couple of weeks later, they were just little, rotting stems poking out from the dirt.  My lawn person said it happened to a lot of flowers this year:  They simple shriveled up and died because of the extreme heat and humidity.

To compensate, we decided to plant some of those sturdy, pink and yellow  black eyed Susans you see thriving at this time of the year.  Bought the flowers at the nursery;  planted, mulched , watered them.  Within two weeks, they had dried up, leaving nothing but black stems.

On to the roses.  Have had  two red and white, variegated climbing roses out by the garage for over 20 years.  First one of them died, but it looked like the other one was struggling to make it.  And yet, the same week we lost our impatiens, the climbing roses lost their leaves.  Ditto for the rose garden next to the house.  Out of nine rosebushes still alive last fall, only one sturdy soldier is still standing right now.  We bought and planted 9 new ones, only 5 of which are struggling to stay green.

Okay, those are just flowers.  Their loss is aesthetic, but not life changing.  What about the farmers in Indiana and elsewhere? Scientists predict wheat and soybean crops will be reduced by 50% by the end of the century!  Now, I'm really getting worried, because I've seen first hand the effects of global warming, and I hate to think my descendants will be struggling to survive in the next century.

Here in flyover country, it looks like we're going to have to start doing something about Global Warming. 

ACTIVISTS PROTEST WHILE FARMERS PRAY FOR RAIN

Although my husband and I live in the city, we have an acre of land, and are surrounded by farmland.  As we drove past thirsty cornfields on the way to the cemetery on  Memorial Day, we thought about the anxious farmers who planted those fields. You see, my husband grew up on a farm in Nebraska, and my grandfather owned a farm in Indiana. And even though I lived in big cities like Chicago and Miami for a couple of decades, I never forgot the importance of rain.

Over the weekend, I read a fascinating book written by activist Cecile Richards, and it occurred to me that perhaps it offered an explanation of the great divide between big city liberals and heartland conservatives.   In general, people in flyover country don’t really have the time to devote their lives to activism.  They’re too busy producing the food that appears miraculously in New York and LA supermarkets for the people who live in high rise apartment buildings, and never have to  worry about mowing their lawns.

I thought about this last night while I was cleaning up my garden.  It finally rained,  so I could stop watering the flowerbeds and grass, and get to work.  I broke a pretty good sweat while down on my knees, tugging on weeds in the good, moist soil while my activist sisters in big cities were busy planning protests and hoping it wouldn't rain.  Here in the heartland,   people don’t have their heads in the clouds, they’re literally more down to earth.

I am not saying that’s good or bad; and I'm not defending either side of the political spectrum,  but it may explain the difference in the mindset of  middle America vs the east and west coasts.  Of course, we have our share of liberals and activists, especially on college campuses everywhere in the United States.  But generally speaking, people in small cities and towns in the Midwest  are more focused on just making a living and getting by, and yes, praying for rain.

RUDE, CRUDE, AND LEWD

Once upon a time, ordinary people aspired to comport themselves with dignity,  as  ladies and gentlemen.  Hopefully, that has not changed in the real world.  But there was no class, whatsoever, in the Michelle Wolf speech at the Washington Correspondent’s Dinner in DC on April 28, where she brutally insulted the current

White House press secretary, Sarah Huckabee Sanders.

During WWII, the only source of live news was the radio.  The newspapers were a day late, and the newsreels at the movie theaters were probably a week late.   Listening to the nightly news drew the family together as though sitting before a fireplace.  We trusted that news reporters were telling the truth.   Journalists were expected to report the news as it occurred, not as filtered by their own biases. And, comedians like Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Fibber McGee and Molly were actually funny, with no need to use four letter words.  

Now it’s fashionable for  trashy women to stand up and use vulgar language in order to please certain journalists.  It just shows how divided we are in this country.   I think if Michelle Wolf had made that mean spirited speech in Flyover Country, either  someone would have deadened the microphone or the entire audience would have walked out of the room.  Here in middle America we don’t cotton to bullying, trash talk, name calling, and obscenity  in our journalists, no matter which political party they favor.

Sadly,  women like Kathy Griffin and Michelle Wolf are actually hurting the women’s movement. Women  want equal opportunity and equal representation in elected offices. They also want respect No one respects women who are Rude, Crude, and Lewd.  If this comedian from Canada is supposed to represent modern women,  God help us all.  

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