Oil Tycoon Turns Green Crusader

"This is one emergency we can't drill our way out of."

So says legendary oil man T. Boone Pickens, about the current energy costs that are well on their way to turn into this generation's energy crisis.



With the emerging economies in China and India, oil is just going to keep getting more expensive and more scarce. Drilling is not the answer. It is time to start in earnest the shift to alternative energy sources.

We import 70 percent of our oil at the cost of over 700 billion a year. In 1970 the number was only 20 percent. This percentage is increasing every year. As Pickens says, "Projected over the next 10 years the cost will be $10 trillion — it will be the greatest transfer of wealth in the history of mankind."

There is no silver bullet to fix our energy woes, but Picken's Plan is a nice piece of hardware to start building an arsenal to do it. His plan is to build windmills to generate electricity, and to shift the natural gas they replace to power cars.

Natural gas is our second most plentiful homegrown energy resource. Wind is the most plentiful alternative energy source in Picken's home state of Texas. Experts say that the US could generate as much as 20 percent of our electricity with wind power in less than 10 years. Plus, as the manufacture of hybrid and electric cars starts to ramp up, that wind power means cleaner energy and less foreign oil on the highways of America.

Pickens then proposes to start converting cars to natural gas power. Every car that is converted to homegrown natural gas means a drop in the amount oil we need to import. Natural gas is much cheaper and cleaner than gasoline, and the conversion costs much less than a hybrid or electric conversion.

T. Boone Pickens has heard the call, and has put his money where his mouth is. TV ads are not cheap. Sure, he stands to make a lot of money with the windmills he is financing, but that is not the point. It is time for private industry and the government to get together and solve this crisis and break our addiction to foreign oil.

Look folks, this is one of those clarion calls that we all must answer. As if gas prices, global climate change, and war in the Middle East is not enough, how about the future viability of the American way of life.

Take a look at Picken's Plan: www.pickensplan.com

Strange Bedfellows: Carville and Matalin

My alma mater, MWSU, hosted its 15th annual Convocation on Critical Issues yesterday featuring the political odd couple James Carville and Mary Matalin.

My dad and I attended the presentation. We have gone to several of these events together. Past speakers have included: Gen. Colin Powell, journalists Bob Woodward and Sam Donaldson, historians David McCullough and Arthur Schlesinger Jr., politicians Bill Bradley, Patricia Schroeder, and J.C. Watts and political commentator David Gergen.

I'm not really sure when we discovered the mutual interest in politics, but it is a subject we both enjoy cussing and discussing. We are both Sunday morning political talk show junkies, much to our wives dismay. I think it's the soap opera aspect of it all; politics is often more theater than substance. I suppose it helps that we both share the same party affiliation, even though that does not stop my wife and I from discussing current events regularly. We have diffent views on some issues, but we usually meet in the middle on many issues.

Carville and Matalin met during the Bill Clinton/George H W Bush election; Carville worked for Clinton--Matalin worked for Bush. They married after the election. Talk about politics making strange bedfellows!

If these two polar opposites can make a marriage work, then it is possible for Democrats and Republicans to come together to solve issues that need to be addressed.

The main theme they talked about was that people need to get involved.

Just sitting on the sidelines is not enough this year. They both urged people, especially young people, to vote. But that is not enough; everyone needs to learn about the issues, to contact they representatives at the state and national level, and to make their voice heard on the direction they want us to go as a people.

I hope that everyone out there is engaged in this year's election. It really matters. We all have different views, and we need to discuss them. You may not change someone's mind, but you might just get them to see your side of an issue. You might be liberal or conservative by choice or by birth, but neither party has all the answers and no one can agree on everything. The important thing is to come together to find real solutions that work for us all.

This cycle in politics has been historic in so many ways. I think even folks who had no interest are paying attention this time around. There are big issues and big consequences for our country and our world in this election. I just hope the interest level carries on after Nov. 4th and people stay involved and hold our politicians accountable.

The Wasps of Wrath

Mother nature again showed who's boss in the vineyard.

If you've been following along, you know all about our little grape patch. 90 vines, 6 different varieties, and all of God's creation out to get them. Deer, birds, rabbits, bugs, fungus, mold, not to mention early frost, lack of rain, and even hail have tried to lay waste to our little babies.


So this spring we employed a little defense in the form of grow tubes. Basically a 30" tall plastic cylinder, grow tubes keep critters at bay while the vines reach up to the first wire on the trellis system. This is a big step for the grapes, because the new vines that grow next year off of these main trunks will produce grapes!

Fall means it's time to take off the grow tubes so the vines can "harden off" or get ready to for freezing weather.

So I go to take off the first tube and out flies an angry swarm of wasps that had made it home this summer. Did I mention that some of God's creation is also out to get the grape growers. Poison ivy has been our main nemesis, but skeeters and chiggers have done their fare share of damage too. But this was the first wasp attack.

After the welt from the wasp sting went down, I made another trip to the vineyard armed with bug spray and got all the tubes off.

After all the tubes were off, we pruned the vines down to the best trunks and tied them to the trellis. Now we have to wait all winter to see who survives the next round of carnage that Ma Nature slings our way.

Powell Gardens

In the latest stop in the continuing series of family "staycations," mommy, daddy, Baby Girl, and both sets of grandparents took a day trip to Powell Gardens.

Powell Gardens is an amazing oasis of nature just 30 minutes east of Kansas City in Kingsville, MO. Nestled among over 900 acres of lush rolling hills, this beautiful collection of native and exotic plants, flowers, and trees; fountains, streams, and water features; shaded walking trails; wildflower meadows; and inspired architecture, offer a welcome reprieve from the strip malls and traffic of everyday life.

Sorry for the "flowery" language, but this collection of gardens really leaves a lasting impression.

At the end of the afternoon, rounding the last corners of the trail, we were all amazed that we had spent over 4 hours strolling through the gardens. Even if you are not "into" gardening, this place really draws you in: butterflies drifting from flower to flower--cool breezes blowing across the lake--shaded benches to stop and rest and enjoy--each hour draws you closer to the natural roots that stir in each of us.

This year, through October, the Gardens are also featuring "Chapungu: Nature, Man & Myth." These 54 hand-carved stone sculptures from Zimbabwe, all along the walking paths, reflected their natural setting and only added to the overall effect.

Baby Girl really enjoyed herself too. She usually gets antsy in her stroller, but she just kicked back and enjoyed the ride all afternoon. She had lots of flowers and butterflies and waterfalls to keep her occupied. I think the serene settings of Powell Gardens even succeeded in calming the rambunctious nature of a nearly-two toddler.

The Shark says Arf

Dogs, cats, bears, pigs, fish, and elephants--all creatures great and small say Arf!

So says Baby Girl.

Our little 22 month old is in full-on language experimentation mode. A new word every day; new noises, sounds, and syllables; numbers, letters and more.

Did you know that our counting system starts at five? and then goes to nine??? Five, nine, five nine, nine, nine, nine! She has started saying one and two with prompting, but goes straight to five and nine after that.

This past weekend, she woke mommy up with a reading of the LED display on her alarm clock. All fives and nines of course.

She has started to pick up several words from her Dr. Seuss ABC book: bee, baby, bubble, ear, mice, straw, and tree.

She is getting a good start on body parts: eyes, mouth, ear, hair, and nose with the ever popular finger inserted while saying it. One of her first recognized body parts was the belly button, bay-bow, she's still working on the pronunciation.

Her parents, daddy and me me have been named, as have her grandparents; dapaw and mamaw, pa pa and gee gee.

This is most definitely the good part! Next thing you know she will be saying, "daddy, can I borrow the car keys?"

Apple Picking Baby Girl

Well, they were really tomatoes, but Baby Girl called them "appo's." Everything is apples right now: roundish fruits and vegetables, roundish objects like her red Weebles--not balls though, they are balls--many red or green objects are apples, and even the dried fruit in the snack mix are apples (pineapple, mango, papaya, etc).

After firing up the grill and having dinner on the patio, we went out to the tomato patch for some picking. A family that picks together, sticks together!

One problem, Baby Girl liked to pick the green ones! Appo! Appo! Appo! That girl was a pickin fool. I tried picking some ripe ones and letting her put them in the sack. That worked for a few seconds. She went back to the green ones. So after we hurried and got all the ripe ones, we went inside. But Baby Girl was not ready to quit. She cried all the way up the stairs until mommy could stick a sippy in her pie-hole.

I am sure all you gardening parents have been through this too. And we were warned about the prodigious picking abilities of toddlers. So we planted eight Roma and eight Big Boy plants. That should be plenty for us, plenty for the squirrels and bunnies, and plenty of appo's for the Baby Girl.

Viticulture Field Day

This past week, we dipped a few more toes into the frigid waters of our plans to start a vineyard and winery business.

I've been making homemade wine for several years, and we have a small test plot of about 90 grapevines that we are currently training onto trellises.

We attended a viticultural field day hosted by the MU Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology (ICCVE). It was a big vineyard geekfest attended by around 150 like-minded folks. We learned about trellis design, canopy management, grape varieties in Missouri, and grow tubes. It was also an opportunity to meet people at all stages of the vineyard business. From those that managed full-time vineyards to people like us that were just getting started with a few vines and had a lot to learn.

The morning session was hosted by Fahrmeier Farms near Lexington, MO.

This is one busy family farm here in Missouri. In addition to their newly established vineyards, they also maintain greenhouses, vegetable production, a variety of livestock including cattle, goats and hogs, and a winery is also in the works. Anytime you feel like your schedule is full, just think about how many projects these guys are juggling. Contact info: 9374 Mitchell Trail - fahrmeierfarms@gmail.com - 816-289-2496. Visit their Tomato Days blog at: annualtomatodays.blogspot.com

After a delicious lunch featuring pasta and salad with locally grown tomatoes, and fresh raspberries and ice cream for dessert, we went to the vineyards of Baltimore Bend Vineyard near Waverly, MO.

Each session was hosted by university professors who were specialists in a given field of viticulture. They took us out into the vineyards for hands-on demonstrations of each of the topics. It's one thing to read about trellis design, but to see the different options in person and see how they need to be built really helps understand the importance of this part of the vineyard.

The question and answer sessions that followed each presentation were really helpful also. We strayed off topic, and got some good hints about disease and pest control, and organic growing options.

We finished the day with a wine tasting at Baltimore Bend. Their first vines went into the ground in 1997. They are making some really great wines! They feature several oak barrel aged wines using Cynthiana, Chambourcin, and Chardonel grapes that are well suited for aging in the cellar and several blends of red and white grapes. We picked up two bottles and shared them with family and friends this weekend (unopened wine does not last long in this house).

After a day in the hot vineyard, the tasting session lasted for quite some time. Big surprise ... vineyard growers like to drink wine! We talked with several people at the same stage as ourselves, and we met the MU extension contact for our county. He has started having small informal meetings of people in our area who are in the process of starting or expanding their vineyards.

We heard a good vineyard joke that kind of sums up the decision we are working towards. How do you make a small fortune in the vineyard business? Start with a large fortune and start a vineyard.

This field day was another step on the long road to starting a vineyard of our own. It will be hard work, cost a lot of money, it will take many years before it is established, and many more years before we can even think about any black ink on the ledger sheet. But it is a very rewarding project that we love doing and with all the negatives, the positives make it a goal we continue to pursue.