Saturday, September 27, 2008
Mountain Ash
One of Jean's favorite trees is the Mountain Ash. This time of year we love to travel up to the higher elevations of The Blue Ridge Parkway in North Carolina. A few of these trees can be found near Newfound Gap in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. One can be found in the parking lot there. This one was found on Blue Ridge Parkway (mile marker 420.2) on FSR 816 access road to the Shiningrock Wilderness. I shot this picture a couple weeks ago. The fall leaves of the Mountain Ash change to yellow in a dry fall season or in the case of an extreme drought, red. This is the time to go see these trees and enjoy all the fall colors on the parkway. Jean has written an article you may enjoy about the Mountain Ash in the Georgia Mountain Laurel's October 2008 edition. You can get the Georgia Mountain Laurel magazine for free each month at Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply (104 N. Main St. Clayton) and at other merchants in Rabun County, Georgia.
Friday, September 26, 2008
The State of the Economy
The national economy is not what I hoped to write about. However, it is suddenly extremely important. The same people who were, just 10 days ago, telling us “the economy is fundamentally strong” are now telling us we are in a recession, that’s right, a recession! And, now they are even going on to say if we don’t give “Wall Street” $700 BILLION or maybe a TRILLION or more, there will be a depression TOMORROW! I hate to tell you but, on Main Street there is already in a depression. This will cost at the minimum $7,000 to each U.S. family. Still, they say it may not work!
It is easy to place blame without solutions. So, here is my solution. Instead of giving our money to Wall Street, why not just give every U.S. Citizen $7,000? Let everyone (including the folks on Wall Street) have $7,000 each.
What would happen then? Well, I know if I had another $7,000 to spend, I would spend a large portion, but not all, on inventory which would put my suppliers to work and create paychecks for their employees. I would spend more on advertising the fact that I have inventory. That would help put local money to work here where I advertise. And, a smaller portion would be spent on entertainment. I am sure the local businesses and restaurants would like to see me in their establishments more often. I might even borrow more money which may somehow help local banks and even Wall Street. How would you spend your $7,000? I suppose you could give it to Wall Street if you wanted to but, I don’t think any sane person would do that in this economy.
Where would the money come from you ask? The politicians would have you believe that it is possible the government may make money on this deal! Do you think so – for one second? Yeah, like that is going to happen!
If they gave that same amount to the people the government could actually tax it and recover it in less than 10 years. That way it comes back to the government (us, because we are really the ones putting up the money) instead of just plain vanishing into Wall Street’s vacuum! What a concept!
Send this to your congress person, now, if you want to save your own economy.
It is easy to place blame without solutions. So, here is my solution. Instead of giving our money to Wall Street, why not just give every U.S. Citizen $7,000? Let everyone (including the folks on Wall Street) have $7,000 each.
What would happen then? Well, I know if I had another $7,000 to spend, I would spend a large portion, but not all, on inventory which would put my suppliers to work and create paychecks for their employees. I would spend more on advertising the fact that I have inventory. That would help put local money to work here where I advertise. And, a smaller portion would be spent on entertainment. I am sure the local businesses and restaurants would like to see me in their establishments more often. I might even borrow more money which may somehow help local banks and even Wall Street. How would you spend your $7,000? I suppose you could give it to Wall Street if you wanted to but, I don’t think any sane person would do that in this economy.
Where would the money come from you ask? The politicians would have you believe that it is possible the government may make money on this deal! Do you think so – for one second? Yeah, like that is going to happen!
If they gave that same amount to the people the government could actually tax it and recover it in less than 10 years. That way it comes back to the government (us, because we are really the ones putting up the money) instead of just plain vanishing into Wall Street’s vacuum! What a concept!
Send this to your congress person, now, if you want to save your own economy.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Black Rock Mountain State Park
Last night the view from Black Rock Mountain State Park overlook was a bit on the hazy side. After work we went up to take a look hoping to find a few fall colors. It was a little early for that but there was a tree or two starting to change. I hope to run up there agan when it gets a little more into the fall.
I am using a D80 Nikon Camera for these pictures and shooting in raw. I use Photoshop Elements 5 to enhance the pictures after I get them into the computer. This is all new to me about a year ago. Maybe a couple of years since I bought the camera. I own an N80 Nikon (film) camera but switched after Jean gave me a Fugifilm camera 2 years ago at Christmas. I loved it and was forever hooked on digital. There is a huge learning curve once you go digital especially when using a DSLR. Once I had a camera I found out quickly I needed to upgrade my computer. So, I bought a Dell Latitude 630 moments after they came out. I bought it from my son's company Rocket IT http://www.rocketit.com/ . It came loaded with Business Vista. Wow, cool but yet again another huge learning curve. I loaded Elements and immediately got lost in cyberworld. The latest is that my 2 GB laptop memory is already 90% full. No matter. I have loads of pictures just waiting for the delete button. At fir
st I saved everything, now I am deleteing gobs of junk. Anyway, as we left Black Rock I found a pool of antifreeze under our car. And, a line of antifreeze in along the entrance road. No matter, I erased it using Photoshop. Such fun.As you can see it was late in the afternoon and the shadows on the road at the entrance kiosk made a nice pattern for all to enjoy.
If you enjoy photography and want to see mine come on downtown Clayton to Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply. I have just added an art gallery to the store. You just might meet me there, too.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
New Rabun Blog
September 20, 2003 was the opening day at Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply (Mountain Nature, Inc.). Yea, we have made it 5 years!
September 23, 2008, this morning I woke up with the idea of writing a new blog. Oh, it isn’t a new idea just a new story line. Its name is yet to be determined; I mean I just thought of writing it this morning so a name at this time is not important. Still, I have one in mind; just don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet. Maybe I will before I finish writing it but, not yet.
The main theme of the blog will be Rabun County, Georgia although it may branch off to other parts of Georgia and the Carolinas sometimes.
While for now I am calling it the New Rabun Blog for the moment it will most likely cover the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina and the Appalachian Upstate of South Carolina.
Who is Richard Hyatt?
Well, that is me. I am part owner and operator of Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply or what we sometimes call Mountain Nature, Inc. located in downtown Clayton, Georgia. As many of you already know the other owner and operator is Jean Hyatt, my wife. Hopefully, you will get to read some of her writings on this blog also. We write the Mountain Nature article each month for the Georgia Mountain Laurel. We have been doing this since we opened Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply five years ago. You will learn much more about Jean and I as you read future blogs. Better yet come in to Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply any time and meet us face to face. We are located at 104 North Main Street (Historic US 441) Clayton, Rabun County, Georgia.
September 23, 2008, this morning I woke up with the idea of writing a new blog. Oh, it isn’t a new idea just a new story line. Its name is yet to be determined; I mean I just thought of writing it this morning so a name at this time is not important. Still, I have one in mind; just don’t want to let the cat out of the bag yet. Maybe I will before I finish writing it but, not yet.
The main theme of the blog will be Rabun County, Georgia although it may branch off to other parts of Georgia and the Carolinas sometimes.
While for now I am calling it the New Rabun Blog for the moment it will most likely cover the Appalachian Mountains of North Georgia and Western North Carolina and the Appalachian Upstate of South Carolina.
Who is Richard Hyatt?
Well, that is me. I am part owner and operator of Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply or what we sometimes call Mountain Nature, Inc. located in downtown Clayton, Georgia. As many of you already know the other owner and operator is Jean Hyatt, my wife. Hopefully, you will get to read some of her writings on this blog also. We write the Mountain Nature article each month for the Georgia Mountain Laurel. We have been doing this since we opened Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply five years ago. You will learn much more about Jean and I as you read future blogs. Better yet come in to Mountain Nature & Wild Bird Supply any time and meet us face to face. We are located at 104 North Main Street (Historic US 441) Clayton, Rabun County, Georgia.
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