Photos of water droplets are spiking.
In fact, I'm thinking my personal photo library for spring 2020 will include record numbers of leaves, limbs and petals accented with droplets so temporary that even breathing on them can make them disappear instantly.
With a myriad of water droplets, come more green grass AND mud, and we've had a good supply of both this spring too.
So, it's bittersweet have so much rain, but the upclose and personal exquisite images of plant life lasting but a few seconds can brighten the soul.
We had more than our share of soul brightening yesterday when a ferocious thunder, lightning, hail and rain storm came over in the late afternoon sending Liam beneath the travel trailer and Foster under the deck.
Twas a scary thing for the doggies, which Bill had just let outside moments before the sky unloaded a barrage of sounds, light and wet stuff onto the earth.
Bill told me that Liam didn't have to be asked twice to come from his hiding place into the house. Nor did Foster.
The storm started as I picked up my grocery order from Yoke's where the nice employee came out without a jacket in the torrents of rain.
I wasn't wearing one either cuz it had been pretty nice when I'd left home.
Once in the driveway, I sat in the car as lightning struck several times within moments and rain continued to fall.
I could see a low area along the house covered with hail.
Eventually, it ended. Dogs settled down. I brought groceries inside, and after dinner went out in the calm to snap a few more photos to add to my collection from a drive down Whiskey Jack Road when the wild roses are breath-taking along Boyer Slough and other areas.
In other news, I heard from Ponderay's JCPenney manager Keith Anderson that the local store will open Friday at noon and hopefully will remain open through September.
Talk about a sad time for Keith who started with Penneys when he was 18. Thirty-five years later, he still has the postcard below given to him as a gift by his office partner.
"I’m sad for the community and so many great customers I’ve met and have continued be loyal customers!" Keith wrote in a note to me.
"I also have many great associates that love working here and call us home, that’s sad to me," he added. "I was 18 once ... a long time ago, and I found a family at JCPenney, my goal has always been to help others feel the same way."
We see truly human sides behind so many of the headlines these days, and, happily, we can spend a little more time shopping at the store filled to the brim with wonderful and nostalgic memories.
~~~~~
On to another subject: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi is pictured ripping up a Bible.
How many have seen that image on Facebook?
How many have been shocked enough to spend time checking to see if maybe some photo shopping has been done?
Some obviously have not because they've left the image on their Facebook feeds, even after being told that it's not authentic.
Makes good fodder to pass along for the cause, even if the picture isn't accurate.
Several years ago, I was totally stunned when overnight someone passed along a disgusting and incendiary email forward a to my inbox.
It was one of many that had been sent to me by this person. In this case---the worst imagninable. So I wrote back and asked to be taken off the person's list.
The response: well, you know the Internet these days. According to this person, the Internet had done it, not the human pushing the "send" button.
The list could go on, showing examples of outrageous stuff being passed along with zero thought toward its credibility, its source or the consequences of spreading lies (yes, they come in the form of doctored pictures as well as words).
My journalism mentors in high school, college and even in newsrooms often reminded me of the importance of trained journalists within our society.
When events happen, it is the journalist's duty to gather the facts and to methodically weed out all emotional, questionable information aka gossip, assumptions, lies that often get spread with any event.
The veterans also reminded me that when my account appeared in the paper, every single fact needed to be accurate and carefully researched.
In addition, the more controversial the information, the more questions need to be asked and verified by multiple believable sources.
Readers expect the truth when they read these stories, and it is the journalists's duty to perform that function.
Which brings to mind the story in the link below.
Basically, the journalist used Klamath Falls, Ore., as the centerpiece, but the story also reflects examples of a wide array of research, demonstrating that what happened in Klamath Falls last week also happened in several areas across the country, including Sandpoint, ID, which gets a brief mention.
Now, more than any time I can remember in my lifetime, seeking the truth and accurate accounts of pretty much any event should be a responsibility of every American.
Basic premise: when we see something that appears outrageous, take some time to check around for its accuracy before sending it along to the masses.
I believe that lying aka spreading sensational rumors and has become so much a part of our culture that it is becoming literally dangerous.
I've heard often, and I do agree that there are bad apples in every profession----politics, business, medicine teaching, police and even journalism.
For the most part, however, the bad apples represent a small percentage of the whole. In most professions, people do their darndest to get it right and do it right.
DO IT RIGHT was a sign posted on the light table in the Cedar Post room at Sandpoint High school when I advised the student newspaper. It had been there before my time, and I'm sure it remained after I left.
So, on this morning, I encourage you to read the story below. Also, let's at least try to get back to giving our trained journalists a chance.
At the very least, check with several professional journalistic accounts before spreading a pack of lies, sometimes dangerous lies, spread by humans with fingers on keys AND not the Internet.
That's all.
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