It is a deeply ironic tragedy, but sometimes people in the most polluted areas know very little about what is going on in the groundwater. I grew up in a farming community, but none of us knew about water pollution until it was too late. It wasn’t one of those places that you hear about, the cities where half the population is born with serious birth defects and most kids don’t live past the age of five. The effects were subtle and they took a long time to notice. That is why it took us so long to do anything about the water pollution.

I am sure that some of the big farms on the edge of town knew something about water runoff pollution. After all, they were the main culprits and they were the ones using huge amounts of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. By the time we found out about it, our kids had been exposed to it for years. A water quality laboratory came into town one day, tested the groundwater and found out that our aquifer was hopelessly contaminated. There was arsenic, lead, trace sewage, various pesticides and countless other environmental pollutants. If you have never been in the position of knowing that your water is polluted, you can not imagine what it is like. Water pollution problems are really devastating. Suddenly, you can’t even trust the water you drink or the food you eat. It really shakes your confidence in your own safety.

Most of the people in town had to pay for expensive water filtration, that wasn’t enough. Water pollution from fertilizers can be easily filtered out, but trace element pollution is a lot more difficult. Although we knew our water quality was better, no one was saying exactly how much better. Was it safe to drink, or would it still cause our children to develop developmental disabilities and learning problems?

Rather than sit back and watch the government do nothing, we got involved in clean water activism. We may be  a very rural town, somewhat isolated from the rest of the world, but we are not passive people. We care deeply about our community and we wanted to see it protected from the effects of environmental pollution. Although it took awhile, we made sure that the big polluters paid for cleanup of the aquifers. These days, we don’t have to worry about water pollution anymore. We’ve made sure that you can’t get away with polluting our water!

My brother-in-law is going “four-wheeling” this weekend. This usually means that my sister and I will spend the day shopping and it also means that new Jeep mud flaps will be on the list of new items to buy. These items are must haves for anyone who owns a Jeep or truck.

I never gave Jeep mud flaps much thought until I was in college. Back then the “mud flap girl” was the hot new design on these items. I mentioned these sexist flaps to my sister within earshot of her soon to be fiancé. They were everywhere on the highway it seemed at the time. His ears perked up when he heard me talking about the Jeep mud flaps.  His interest wasn’t so much in the image of the girl, it was more focused on the image of the vehicle. He talked about wanting to buy an off road vehicle one day and he also mentioned wanting to have someone to take along on the trips. My sister bought him Jeep mud flaps the following Christmas and he asked her to marry him on the spot.

She used to go on the four wheeling adventure weekends regularly up until she became pregnant with their first child. After that, she was content to see him off and look at some pictures and videos of his weekend. I really think that she spent time on the trips just to be with him. She still likes to buy him Jeep mud flaps every so often.  I wondered why they would invest in something that needed to be replaced so often, but when I realized how inexpensive Jeep mud flaps really are I figured that it wasn’t much of an investment. I know that the off road trips do a lot of damage to the vehicle, not to mention the accessories that go along for the ride.

When we were shopping around for the auto parts and accessories I noticed Jeep mud flaps with the icon of the girl that used to be everywhere in the early 1990’s. I joked that my sister should pick up a set for her husband for old time’s sake. She just laughed and said that he already has those Jeep mud flaps.  Actually, I was pretty surprised that he owned a set after all of these years. Then my sister explained that he never used the Jeep mud flaps that she bought him for Christmas on the year they got engaged.

When I was a kid, I was absolutely fascinated by my dad fishing tackle box. It seemed to me that he had the most magnificent and varied fishing supplies imaginable. With his fishing tackle, he could trick any fish there was, or so I thought. He had many different flies and lures, most of them hand tied and custom made by him. Except for the basics like fishing line, no one bought their own fishing supply equipment in those days. If you were a good fisherman, you made your own. It wasn’t just a matter of quality, but of pride.

It seems like, with the rapid advance of fishing supplies, a lot of the sport has been taken out of it these days. I went on a fishing trip with a good friend of mine, a fairly wealthy individual who owns his own motor yacht. He actually has a GPS fishfinder, weather radar gear and many other different kind of sophisticated equipment to find the schools of fish. Finding fish with him isn’t an art anymore. It is not a matter of instincts, of sport or luck. It is simply a matter of cold hard science, following the manual and letting the technology do that work. To me, this takes all the fun out of it.

I talked to him about this and he said it was just a matter of him owning more sophisticated fishing supplies than my father had. He claimed that, had they sold GPS fishfinders in fly fishing stores in my father’s day, everyone would have bought them. They wouldn’t have wasted time with hand tying their own fishing lures if they could instantly know where to get the fish. I see things differently, however.

In my mind, what my father loved so much about fishing, and what my friend and people like him miss, is the opportunity to commune with nature. Yes he was out there to catch fish, but in the process he had to know everything about a stretch of river. He had to know every ripple and what is signified, what time of day the fish came out, how precisely to land the line, and which fishing supplies to use in which season. It was a meditative activity that involved his whole being. In order for him to succeed at it, everything had to be done perfectly. It wasn’t simply a matter of looking at the radar and dropping a line.

Jogging is good for the mind and the body, but sometimes, it can get a little boring. When you jog around your neighborhood, you only have so many options for where you can go and you probably have a specific path you take. Sometimes this is out of habit, but for most people, this happens because they have found the smoothest and perhaps the safest areas. The same area each day can lead to boredom and that is why many people like to have some good jogging music to accompany them on their daily run.

There are a few things to consider when you are choosing jogging music. You have to choose something that you like, but you don’t want something too fast or too slow. You may end up trying to keep up with the beat of the music or perhaps slowing down. You want to find jogging music that you can keep pace with comfortably as you go about your daily run. You don’t want to over exert yourself and you certainly don’t want to slow down so that you aren’t getting much out of your run.

When you are contemplating your jogging music, you also have to decide what type of player you want to use. If you have an MP3 player, you don’t have too much to worry about. Though I don’t have one, I don’t think you have to worry about them skipping and they are lightweight and easy to manage. If you don’t have one and you want to take a CD player with you, you have to get one that is skip resistant and can stay in a pouch so you don’t have to worry about it as you run. Just remember that if you use a CD for jogging music, you are probably going to get bored with the same CD day in and day out, so make sure you switch it up.

Also think about safety when you are listening to jogging music. You have to watch out for traffic if you run in your neighborhood and you don’t want to have your music so loud that you can’t hear anything else. If you listen to your jogging music too loudly, not only will you put yourself in danger with oncoming traffic, you might also damage your hearing. Keep the music at a comfortable level and enjoy your run.

A natural mosquito repellent can be the one of the most important things that you can take along with you any time that you are outdoors in the summer months. There is good news for anyone searching for different options in this protection from insects. You can find a natural mosquito repellent and use it in conjunction with some preventative measures to maximize your protection.

Dark clothing in the hot season isn’t really comfortable and it isn’t really smart when dealing with insects, either. If you choose to use a natural mosquito repellent, do so in conjunction with light colored clothing. This will make you less of a target for insect bites.

You also might want to forgo the fabric softener that has fragrance. While this may seem really subtle, insects are really attracted to the scents. A good natural insect repellent used as a preventative measure is scent-free fabric softener. Your clothes will reap all of the benefits of your regular fabric softener without the attractive scent.

Perfumes and colognes are insect magnets. This is especially true for the floral fragrances. Avoid fruity fragrances as well. This may seem like a no brainer, but we really put on more fragrance than we realize.  Fragrances can be a significant part of your skin lotion. You might find fruity or floral scents in your sun block or other sunscreen products. Don’t forget your hair products, too. There is a lot of fragrance in these items as well. Trying a series of products that offer scent free options is a great natural mosquito repellent.

Ever hear the phrase, “Cold hands, warm heart”? Well, there is something to this when it comes to natural mosquito repellent. It seems that the little buggers go after those of us with warm hearts. If your extremities are cooler, the insects will be drawn to dine. Warm up your paws before hitting the road to avoid attracting mosquitoes.

Now that we have some idea of preventative measures that can be taken as a natural mosquito repellent we can discuss some topical options. These include oils found in nature like citronella, castor and peppermint among a handful. The great thing about using plant oils as a natural mosquito repellent is that many of these fragrances are as lovely as perfume.

We never really bothered to carry life jackets on our boat in the past. We were all experienced water men. All of our friends loved to sail and most of them were excellent swimmers. We never thought personal flotation devices were really necessary. Of course, we all know the law – every boat is required to carry one personal flotation device for every person on board. Nonetheless, we kind of ignored it.  The lake we live on is pretty remote from any Coast Guard or waterfront sheriffs. There is no one there to even check out the registration on our boat, much less our personal flotation devices. In retrospect, I wish we had been a little bit more careful. Buying a life jacket or two does not cost very much money and our negligence almost cost us the life of a dear friend.

It did not seem to make much sense to carry flotation vests. Every square inch of space on our boat was pretty much occupied and a selection of personal flotation devices would have just made things more crowded. We had tackle, we had gear for the sails, we had navigational equipment and on most days, we had a picnic lunch as well. There was no need for personal flotation devices, the lake was always too calm. If anything, things seemed too safe to us. It was always too calm and too serene. The sailing was boring. Then we got the thrill of our life. It was not all I had hoped it would be.

As I said, we were all experienced sailors, but we could barely keep the boat up. The storm came out of nowhere and we were tossed about. Although the boat did not capsize, we lost a few people overboard. We had no personal flotation devices and one of the crew overboard was my friend Steve.

He could swim a little bit, but he was definitely a week swim wear. With no personal flotation devices to throw to him, he was left struggling in the water. By the time we finally rescued him, he was sputtering and nearly unconscious. A few more minutes more and he could have drowned. If we had prepared for the worst case scenario, we could have thrown personal flotation devices to him. Any personal flotation device – be it a life ring, a life jacket, or a floating cushion – would be enough. Unfortunately, we brought nothing along.

The Pacific beach is not a consistently collaborating land swatch.  Depending upon where you go in California you might find the Pacific beach cannot attribute it’s characteristics solely on geographical coastline properties in general.  In Northern California just a few seconds drive out of Sausalito driving north, the Pacific beach boasts the residuals of naval fortresses.  At Baker Beach, which you drive to by waiting at a one way tunnel with a five-minute light, the crumbled dugout, populated with graffiti and littered with teeny bopper beer can empties, does nothing to take away from the unique, dark and windy enclave of Pacific beach area.  It’s a public beach, gated after dark, but the night time beckons the curious, the adventurous and the warm blooded.

An hour south, along highway 1, the Pacific beach is a single patch outside the front door of Nick’s at Rockaway Beach hotel and restaurant, where the best crab sandwiches in the county will lure you.  The Pacific beach here nestled in between great crags of rocky points and shoreline.  Over the hill from Rockaway is Linda Mar Beach, where year round surfers get passionate about their territory.  THEIR pacific beach with only one building along the sand, oddly enough, a Taco Bell structured like a woody chalet that seemingly “belongs” there.

The Pacific beach along the northern coast of California is cool, moody and often hidden away below the canopy of rocks, requiring a trail map.  Maybe, a desire to seek out the nude sections or a willingness to do a sort of mini hike down into the crooks and jags to the less than tame beach edges or shores.  At the same time, the southern California beaches are the mismatched bookend Pacific beach.  They are skirted by entryway access points that are of cement boardwalks and bridges.  The pacific beach here, Venice Beach, Redondo Beach or any beach within 50 miles of the metropolis of L.A. pops with people and the perfumes of vendor foods.  As well as the sights and sounds of local artists, performers, roller bladders in bikinis.  The sun is high and bright.  The skin is tan.  The tenor and temperature are hot, hot, hot.

And one would furtively sneak onto a closed Pacific beach in the north to drink a beer or make out in gothic wonderment under layers of blankets and sweaters and clothes.  One would, further south, slip out of already skimpy clothes and into the unbelievable sleek of summer silk ocean under fat moon sky.

Are you planning a family picnic in the park? How about a romantic picnic for you and your husband or wife? If so, no picnic, romantic or otherwise, is complete without high quality picnic blankets. Good picnic blankets will make you and whoever you are picnicking with comfortable, warm and dry. You can purchase them in a wide variety of fabrics, such as fleece, cotton and waterproof.

Many outdoor lovers will tell you that the only way to go in terms of fabric is fleece. They are durable, non-bulky, lightweight and pliable. Also, fleece picnic blankets have repellent qualities for spills. It’s certainly no fun trying to share a romantic moment by the lake when you are sitting in the remnants of a spilled can of soda.

There are many blankets that are especially made for those that are always on the go. They come with shoulder straps and a waterproof backing. Some of these picnic blankets have beautiful designs and are made of a soft, comfortable fabric. For your next picnic, why not use one of these wonderful blankets to protect yourself from the damp ground while staying comfortable and stylish?

Most designs are perfect for the park or the beach, especially those that are waterproof or have a waterproof backing. When looking at blankets to purchase, try to find one that can easily be wiped clean and does not stain. You will want your blanket to be big enough to sit everyone when it is opened. Five feet by five feet is a good size for picnic blankets.  You can purchase them in a much larger size or slightly smaller. Those that come with detachable straps are perfect and are easy to carry.

You’ll also want to find one that folds away easily and is compact enough to store anywhere. You don’t want one that will take up a lot of room and you may even want to consider purchasing picnic blankets that come in a handy tote. This makes storage even easier because you can hang it on the back of a closet or cabinet door and it is there whenever you need it. It can also be stored in the trunk of your car. Picnic blankets that are machine washable, resistant to mildew, abrasion, cracking and discoloration are also good choices.

Don’t be fooled into thinking they are just for the occasional picnic. You can use them to cover up with on those long, cool nights while watching a football game at the local stadium. Maybe you just want to lay outside with your sweetheart and look up at the stars. Picnic blankets can even keep you dry should an unexpected rainfall start. They’re really perfect for this.

Next spring consider purchasing one or two and throwing them in the garage and the trunk of your car. You’ll be glad you did when you find yourself longing for a picnic in the park or during a windy night while watching your youngster play soccer.

When I was a kid, I used to love going to the Detroit boat show. My dad was an avid boater and so was I. He was an incredible workaholic, but boating was the one thing that he would take time off for from time to time. Every Sunday, we would load up and go off to the lake. My mom would sit in the shade and read while the rest of us would go on the boat. Sometimes we would get to go boat racing, but more often we would just cruise around up and down the lake, enjoying the wind and water. Boat shows were a fantastic time of year for both of us. As a little kid, it felt like a museum to me. I loved getting to see all the big boats filling the room. There were all kinds of different watercraft, from rowboats to luxury yachts, from bass boats to racing boats to pontoon boats.

My dad would go there shopping for boat accessories most times, but I would be there to see all of the big ships. One time, in fact, I got so excited that I tried to pull one of the boats. To my surprise, it moved. The problem was that the boat was tied to other boat trailers in a row. When I pulled the first one, each boat magnified the force. By the time it got to the last one, someone actually almost fell off the deck!

For the most part I wouldn’t get into trouble at the boat show. I knew that if I made a fuss, my parents wouldn’t take me there next year. That alone was too much to bear. Instead, I would wander around the boat show, politely asking questions about the different boats. I would find out how big a boat was, how fast it could go, how long it could stay at sea and then go back to my dad to report the facts. Now I realize that he wasn’t really listening. At the time he pretended to be interested. Giving me something to do at the boat show would keep me busy and stop me from causing any trouble. Getting me to leave at the end was a different matter entirely. Usually, the only way to do it was to bribe me with ice cream. I didn’t mind, it was the perfect end to a perfect day.

There are many added expenses to living on a lake. Many of the expenses may be considered luxury items to many people, but they are needed if you are going to enjoy your lake property. My husband and I have always enjoyed spending time at different lakes. We love to fish and take day or weekend trips around the area. We planned to retire by a lake, but we decided to make the move earlier because we found a house at a very good price.

When we moved in my husband told me that we needed a bigger boat in order to safely fish the lake we were living on. The lake is 60 miles around and 27 miles across, so the waves can become quite large. Along with a bigger boat we also needed to invest in boat covers for the new boat, as well as the small paddle boat that we bought. Plus we needed a boat lift to keep the boat out of water when it was down by the dock. One of our new neighbors tried to convince us to put a canopy over the top of the boat lift rather than invest in the boat covers. This seemed like a good idea at first, until we noticed all the bird droppings on the canopies of the surrounding neighbors. The birds liked to perch on the canopies as well as build nests underneath them. We decided that we would buy boat covers.

With measurements of the two boats in hand, we went to a marine dealer. The boat covers that they had in stock were not very good quality and they were generic so they would not fit very tight on the boats. The marine dealer told us that there were names of several people that made custom boat covers on the bulletin board. We wrote down several of the names and telephone numbers.

We called several of the custom canvas businesses. Most of them were booked with orders ahead of us. The quotes we were give for the boat covers were very high. My sister-in-law is a wonderful seamstress and I have done some sewing in the past. We decided that we would attempt to make the boat covers. It took us several hours to design a pattern and several more hours to sew the canvas, but we completed very nice, sturdy boat covers.