Activities for Week Four

The morning seminars are on Stuggles of the Early Church and the afternoon is Hot Button Political Issues, so I'm skipping both. At 9:30 I'm in a Watercolor class at the Rhein Center, a class I think I was bumped from other summers (all classes have a limit and there is a "lottery"). The teacher paints in a style I've never tried. Then Tuesday morning at 8 there is a bird walk, and Wednesday at 8:30 is herbs, and we're learning about Vietnamese Cilantro this week. Also today at 3:30 is the nest egg talk and I thought I'd check that out--although not much left of the proverbial nest egg and not enough years left to recover from Obamanomics. Friday at 3:30 Rick Dziak a local artist and gallery owner will speak on plein air painting--that group will be out and about the grounds next week end during the wooden boat show.

Yesterday I attended "Boating on Lake Erie; current issues and concerns." I'm not a boater and don't even like to ride in them, but it is critical to Ohio's economy. Even a short hop to Kelley's feels like riding in a porch swing being slammed against the wall. I learned that it adds $3.5 billion a year to our economy. The speaker from the ODNR told us the big boats and the little boats are still out there, but the mid-size (middle class) are scarce on the water this summer. I see a lot of them still in wraps in storage. It must be the boat owners who are anticipating using their boat gas money to pay the higher taxes on "the rich." Meanwhile hurting all the small businesses that depend on boat traffic in the summer and fall. The ODNR is responsible for 451 miles of Ohio River, 1/2 of Lake Erie, 605 inland lakes, and 60,000 miles of inland streams and rivers.

The other half of Lake Erie is controlled by Canada, and he told a funny story about our Congress. Apparently during hearings about border security after 9/11, some of our brilliant elected officials thought the Great Lakes were a "natural barrier" for illegals and terrorists to cross. I guess they never heard of boats. Just for the record they checked, and found in one year 273 vessels coming from Canada into U.S. waters. No one has yet figured out what to do about the new passport rules, but he said most Canadians they come in contact with do have their passports.