Heh. You just said it wasn't sports.....it was people, that was the problem. Now you're saying people just want sports?

Take an inventory of "parks" (so called), in the DFW area, and you will find that aside from the 2 arboretums, there are maybe 2-3 other parks (all in Highland Park) that are NOT ball fields! That means that the vast majority of "parks" are nothing more than ball fields.

Why do the parks departments call ball fields "parks"? Now there's a really good question, which I have absolutely no answer for.

The grass police have struck again! First it was my wild flowers now it's native grass at "the park". Not a coyote! Are they planning to let loose a small dog or cat at the park? A pet rabbit? Coyotes wont approach you or your animal on a leash. Before the big housing boom in CA. there were Coyotes everywhere. You could hear them howling at night(sniff sniff I missed that when it went away) Aside from needing to keep pet cats in the house, (I think that should be a law anyway) no one cared about the coyotes. I wonder why it's different here? I agree we don't need another Bermuda oasis anywhere,ever myself. PJ

Rick, good point!

Sally

This was just sent to me, and it seems very appropriate for your thread.

Here is a link that might be useful: A Bear Votes

Where I live there are coyote's but their being moved in on with all the development. People complain about them but I feel bad for the poor animals cause we're the ones moving into their home land, they didn't come to us we came to them. I think people are stupid, what do they think is out in the country anyway?
I hate to see wild animals brought into captivity like the little sugar gliders, even though they are cute, they don't belong being raised by humans. I'd like to see it outlawed to sell any wild animals.

I like "A Bear Votes". That says it all.

There was once a time when the human animal respected other life, and existed with respect for all other creatures. We need to return to that time. Aho.

Rick, I think that might be a mutually beneficial decision.

We have a saying (Native peoples)......"We are all related". We need to remember to watch out for our relatives.

That's a cute film. I wish more people (and bears) would vote that way.

Sally

Well, I know I'm already thought of in here as everyone's most evil, environmentally ruinous uncle, but I like the Bear Votes ad too.

Bermuda grass is just a waste of space, unless you're growing hay!
:-0

The most disturbing thing to me regarding this issue and issues like it is that this is what the majority of the children of this planet are being taught. There is just a general decline in the amount of "caring" that parents are instilling in the youth of the world. Children are being taught that everything in this world is disposable as long as it creates a "convenience" for mom, dad, and the kids.

I have always had an appreciation of nature, but I moved to the country from a subdivision in Fort Worth. This place has taught me so much. You CAN live in harmony with nature and in so many ways, it's much more beneficial for US to co-exist rather than having an attitude that it's us OR them.

Ya know, we didn't have any manicured playgrounds when I was a kid. We played in fields with grass and native plants that were sometimes over our heads. We played in creeks and caught crawdads with bacon tied to a string, then let 'em go just for fun.

Now I know that due to circumstances, grass that's taller than kids heads is probably not a good idea these days. Too many bad folks out there, but come on people. In my opinion, one of the greatest tragedies of our time, is that kids these days are unable to experience life and nature the way I was completely free to do so as a child. I truly believe that given the opportunity to do so, these children would grow up with a much more developed appreciation of the world and all of its wonders.

Phew, that's two rants in one morning. I need to go out and hug a rock :). Heavy stuff for this Monday morning.

Kristi

I wish when I was a kid, we would of had some place to play, bigger than our yard, that was something besides grass burrs and goat heads. Bermuda grass would have been heaven! Of course, shoes would have helped too! We didn't get new shoes till just before school started.
Jim

So this morning on the news they were talking about how Kmart was getting some flak b/c their furniture was labeled 'maple' and it wasn't actually real wood. C'mon people - you're buying furniture at Kmart.....did you really think it was real wood! haha! But seriously, people don't know what real wood looks like anymore. Very sad.

"Of course, shoes would have helped too! We didn't get new shoes till just before school started."

Jim,

We had shoes...I think the tennis shoes that we had were $3.00 at K-Mart. But you would have never caught us with shoes on in the summer. I can remember having to sit down on the curb and pick the tar and gravel off the bottom of my feet when the streets got so hot they melted. I still go barefoot a lot now, but I definitely avoid hot tar and gravel :).

Maden, thanks for this thread, it's brought a lot of good points to mind and it's also brought a lot of good memories to mind as well.

Kristi

Jim, when I was a kid, I had the option of wearing shoes, but I refused to. When I was outside, which was pretty much all the time, I had the choice of walking on hot, hot pavement or on grass with goathead stickers. I opted for the pavement. I even wore moccasins to school, and wore out the bottoms, and just kept on wearing them so I could get away with going "barefoot" while having shoes on. Occasinally, a teacher or principal would see the bottoms of my feet, and make me gat new shoes. I'd just get the same kind of moccasins and wear them out again. My shoes are still the first thing to come off my feet when I get home from work. There's not too many better feelings than taking one's shoes off at the end of the work day.

If Kmart is calling fake wood real maple, then that's misrepresenting the product, and they shouldn't do it, no matter how obvious it is that the furniture is not really maple.

Sally

If it is labeled "made in china", it probably isn't real wood, no matter where you buy it.

The best furniture is pretty much American made, in wood furniture, and it does matter, even then, what label you buy.