floundersgreatadventure

 Hi it’s me Flounder back where I belong hope Jeff didn’t bore the hell out of everybody yesterday, just so you know the picture has nothing to do with today’s blog I just happen to like Shakira. The topic today is the weather down here it has been extreme all over the country. We’re protected from most of the really bad stuff by the mountains, but every night you see violent lightning flashes on the top of the mountain. Some of the smaller storms make it over and as bad as these are your glad the really big ones don’t make it over. Every day between 1 and 4 in the afternoon the wind picks up on our side of the valley and really whips threw sort of like the Santa Anna winds of California. The strange thing is they don’t seem to bother the other side of the Valley I mean if they did I doubt they’d be able to run the cable car up the mountain. That side gets the winds later at night. These storms are creating real problems doing a lot of damage in the south and near the coast to homes and property. Then you have the drought which is going to begin to effect food prices, it along with the heavy rains in other parts of the country has already affected the quality of the produce. I know this is of no consolation to the people of Colombia but the American mid and south west are going through the same thing and there prices have already started to rise. It would seem that somewhere along the line you humans have pissed off Mother Nature and she’s getting even. I could go on and on like Jeff but I feel I’ve said enough for now CIAO.

We’re about to begin year two of this blog and I know it’s supposed to be all about my adventures in Colombia but as you know I’m a cat and we sleep 16 to 17 hour a day so if nothing happens in that short period when I’m awake besides eating and pooping I’m sometimes left with turning it over to Jeff so he can fill in the space. Unfortunately this is one of those times so take it away Jeff.

Have you guys ever tried so sit down and think why all the economies in the whorl are in trouble? I have and here’s my take on the situation. I’ll start with the American problem first you have to realize that somewhere along the way we stopped being a Democratic society and became one governed by Capitalism. In the beginning of this country we were growing at an unbelievable pace so if you were forced to pay more for something you didn’t mind it was usually new and it really did make your life better. This went on until after world war one when prices were so inflated that they had no place to go but down and down they went. The period was called the Great Depression and it destroyed a lot of people’s faith in our way of life. FDR the president elect started Government programs to help people earn money to buy food and pay rent. Really he was helping business’s get back on their feet by giving there customers the means to pay for things. Then came Pearl Harbor and World War II the government literally printed money to pay the solders most of whom couldn’t spend it and didn’t get until they were home. They also started factories and employment was at 99%. The war ended and soldiers returned home with money to spend as well as the GI bill, which gave them guaranteed low interest home loans, and the housing boom began. It would eventually crash because of over inflated prices and the fact that labor in America had become too expensive so manufacturing jobs and others began to leave the country for places where 10 dollars a week was a fortune. Here’s where the law of supply and demand gets screwed around a bit. When thing were going good people wanted more in order to get that they had to be paid more so the union s asked for more than the prices went up then people discovered that they could sue and that there were lawyers out there that wouldn’t ask for money up front just  portion of what they got you. So know you prices going up the cost of insuring the manufacturing process goes up but then the demand for some products made here starts to go elsewhere because the product is cheaper. So as I see it the problem is the companies won’t take less profit and cost of living in the US is so high that with companies sending jobs overseas and technology is requiring less manpower to do manufacturing there is less disposable income in the US, more unemployment . There is no quick solution for any of this; we may have to have some sort of population control, we might see our standard of living slide backwards in order to preserve the future of our economical survival. Sense none of these or other solutions I’ve seen are likely to happen in the near future I fear the worst is yet to come and even Mother Nature is starting to get in the act with either not enough or too much rain and sun. I guess it’s time to get ready to protect your own so with that being said I’ll just say thanks for the space Flounder see you tomorrow CIAO.

There was no party yesterday seems to be some conflict in the family nothing really out of the ordinary. Hader was nice enough to take Jeff and Ruby up into the mountains for dinner and to watch crazy people jump off the mountain (with a parachute of course).it was a really nice day the kids are great Catalina is happy and Hader walks around with a glow tempered of course with the realization of more responsibility. Now all we have to do is wait for the wedding and the party. This sight really isn’t that far from our house but it’s up one of the worst roads Jeff has seen in a long time. The road is about 16 feet wide and there is barely room for two cars to pass each other it’s all very steep and has more turns than a cork screw. There also the occasional cow in the middle of the road or somebody sightseeing when they should be driving, I would love to see accident statistics for that road if I did I’d probably never ride on it again. The pictures don’t do the view justice sense Jeff is not going anywhere the edge to take pictures, yes he’s becoming frightened about heights lately.  I suggest that if you have a strong stomach you should take the ride up the mountain and check it out for yourself. Every time you do this you’ll get a slightly different view depending on the time of day and the weather the subtlety of the moving of the shadows changes the view constantly, just like it does at our house. Well Ruby got me up earlier than I had planned and of course I woke Jeff up so if you don’t mind I’m going to take a nap CIAO.

FOOD IS MY SECOND ONE GET YOUR MINDS OUT OF THE GUTTER

Hey it’s Friday and the weekend is here (no big deal for me and Jeff) well it looks like we’re going to have a party for Valentine’s Day Sunday at Nelida’s house it’s going to be a barbeque which means Jeff has to clean his grill and get it ready, that’s always fun. Yesterday Jeff and went and spent the day at Hari’s house which is cool I get to do what I want and Ruby and Jeff aren’t there to yell at me, I still miss the big guy though. Today he has a doctor’s appointment and has to get a blood test no big deal just routine stuff, so he’ll be gone most of the day again but if I’m lucky he’ll bring Hari back here afterwards. Saturday looks like a Jeff and Flounder day sense Ruby will probably be shopping with Nelida for the party. We might et lucky and see a college football game or two if not that’s cool I like hanging out with my bud. Well Jeff has to take a shower and get ready to leave so I’m going to pick a spot on the bed to chill till he gets back CIAO.

Well it finally happened I’m bored and really don’t have much to write about today. Hari didn’t come to visit yesterday so I pretty much just lay around and bothered Jeff every once in awhile, he didn’t go out because it looked like it was going rain any minute. He says he’s going today but we’ll see other than that nothing is really exciting me enough to want to write about. This is a first for me and Jeff being somewhat speechless especially for Jeff ( old motor mouth ) maybe he’ll get to editing his book so we can get it published and people can start criticizing it and I can get a few laughs and maybe just maybe we can make a few bucks off it. OK I’ve given it the old college try but that’s all I’ve got hope something happens so I can have more to say tomorrow CIAO.

Well we made it to Wednesday and it’s a good one Colombia beat Chile in soccer yesterday afternoon, something I have to admit I didn’t think was going to happen. Peru also managed to tie Argentina, even with Messi so all and all it was a good day yesterday and looks like today should be better. Jeff is going to hike down to Hari’s house and probably bring him back hang out and play which is good because he always stops to talk to me. It makes people crazy because we understand each other, that’s the nature of kids and animals many adults lose that ability when they get older and that’s a shame. If you look around you’ll see that the people that still take the time to talk to us animals usually aren’t running around starting wars or killing innocent people for fun. So today’s message is the next time you see an animal on the street or even in the zoo take time to say hello it will make you feel better I know it will make me feel better CIAO

Sept 11 a day that will be remembered by our generation like Dec 7 is remembered by the last generation .Let’s hope that this time we have finally learned our lesson that there are people out there that want nothing more than to destroy our way of life, to make us want to hide at the sound of an airplane or the sound of fireworks. Let’s not let this happen to anyone else anywhere in the world remember all the pictures of Pearl Harbor and New York City, Pittsburg and Washington DC, remember those pictures but don’t let them control your life. The people that did these things want to destroy our will to survive as a free people they want to take from us that feeling of comfort we have when we open our front door and look out at the city or country we love and enjoy, they wish to take that enjoyment away from us. Our government in its desire to protect us is actually doing what they couldn’t do tacking away our sense of freedom and privacy. Those that are doing this aren’t trying to implement a “Big Brother is Watching” society but they are whether they want to or not. We can only hope that those that are in charge of our security remember what this nation is all about Freedom to work as we want to go where we want and to worship as we want. So on this day remember  those that died and have died not only as victims of a terror attack but those who died trying to save lives and those that have died sense trying to keep us safe, as a cat having the pleasure of being raised in America I say God Bless those people CIAO.

OK its Monday right now the sun is shining as it was at sunset last night (see photo) less than two hours later violent lightening could be seen on the try to get over the mountains, about four hours later it succeeded. Parts of Antioquia were hit by tornados in Medellin we got violent thunderstorms and heave rain and wind, other parts of the country are suffering from drought the accompanying fires and water shortages. I’ve been up for 2 ½ hours and the sky has gone from looking like immediate rain to sunny to partly cloudy the weather changes so fast down here it’s hard to make outdoor plans. Getting back to the drought areas it seems that all countries suffer from the same thing when building a development their main concern is sewage and they plan water use for normal conditions. Then later some developer says lets tear down these small buildings and build new ones that are bigger and will hold more people. This is a good idea in principle because it brings people closer to the services that they need unfortunately those services never grow as fast as the need. Add to that increased stress on the water system throw in a period of unusual heat and lack of rain over planting and some other things and guess what you have a recipe for disaster. I watched as the northeast US went through a long drought really severe for two years I saw reservoirs turn into mud puddles it started to get really scary looking and they got lucky a hurricane came and broke the drought reservoirs filled almost immediately and sense the heat was gone the stress on the system was eased it still took time for the area to recover most produce prices remained higher than they were prior to the drought. Now both the US and Colombia are going threw another bad time extreme weather in the form of either too much or not enough are hitting both countries in there agriculture belts and prices are beginning to go up again. In the US the drought is in the Midwest so they can’t depend on hurricane rains to help relieve it they have to wait for winter and hope it brings rain to the farm lands and snow to the mountain for the spring runoff. In Colombia they pray for rain not the violent type we just had but more gentle so it will be absorbed by the ground that needs it. I believe that somewhere along the line we pissed off Mother Nature and now it’s payback time, we can only hope she decides to have mercy on us and that we’ve learned our lesson CIAO.

Welcome to Saturday no headlines today just that Colombia beat Uruguay in a World Cup qualifier yesterday and the US lost to Jamaica (and that really sucks). The sun is shining it’s 9:30 am down here I guess it’s 10am on the east coast,, we don’t need daylight savings time down here. The sun rises and sets just about the same time all year long. Next Saturday is Valentine’s Day down here so Jeff and the boys need to go shopping soon or there could be trouble in paradise. There are no plans today beyond everyone going to watch Hari at music class, where he usually just sits and watches then gets home and starts singing. I think Jeff is getting mad at me because I wake him up every morning around 6:30, it’s not my fault Ruby gets up that early and wakes me so I think it’s time for Jeff to get up too. I guess I better stay up late tonight so I’ll sleep a little later tomorrow morning. That having been said I think a nap is order now CIAO.