News getting me down

I'm very close to taking a news fast. Sometimes I find that I wake up just sad and blue from what's happening in the world, as well as because of my powerlessness to change anything.

There is one thing I can change: hearing about it. There have been times in the past, while in the work force, when I would get completely overwhelmed with the amount of work that lay before me, and I would go home, break out a beer and turn on the TV, but it would not help me one bit to listen to political assassinations, local murders, earthquakes and floods from around the world. With a sigh, I'd turn off the TV and pick up a trashy novel if I had one available.

Today I don't have any such workload, but this morning I woke up feeling so sad about the oil spill and the inability to stop it, with fish, birds, and hundred-year-old sea turtles choking to death on the effluent. The floods in the South, with people washing up dead, reminded me way too much of Hurricane Katrina. And the economic turmoil around the world, all started by the greedy bastards on Wall Street in my own country.

Okay, enough of that! Tomorrow I will go hiking to Dailey Prairie near the Middle Fork of the Nooksack, and I won't have any way to check mail or the news. I just might continue on with a "news fast" and not listen to any news for some period of time. Not having been there before, I found this information about Dailey Prairie:

Beautiful Dailey Prairie is a high-elevation bog located near the Mt. Baker Wilderness area in Whatcom County in northwestern Washington. This outstanding site was identified by the Washington State's Natural Heritage Program as being one of the highest quality natural wetland systems remaining in the state. 

The only part of this that didn't appeal was the word "bog." Wetlands tend to be rather, well, wet. We had our wetlands last week, but I'm prepared for whatever comes my way. It will be in the wilderness and I won't have to worry about any of the news flashes that I swear are designed to make me feel bad.

The picture I am now using for my avatar (profile picture) on Google was taken last week, and I thought I'd show you what the whole picture looks like, taken by Ward AFTER he went rolling down the hillside. I actually love this picture for several reasons: I'm turning my right leg out to show all the mud on my gaiters, but I think it shows a pretty happy person who just hiked ten miles and is still standing. My sparkly hat is hanging from my chest strap, it's not raining, and I could be anywhere in age from fifty to seventy (and I am in there real close to the seventy part).
:-)