responding to â¢Posted by pnbrown z6.5 MA (My Page) on Sun, Feb 17, 13 at 18:38 I know this is a year later but feel compelled. so many misconseptions about cost of living and cost of labour. if i employ a housekeeper I AM helping the local economy and that person's family. same with laborers. Just think about that before becoming self righteous. people need to eat and clothe thier families. I can pay a bit more than the going rate but unless I am a revolutionary in hiding and will carry thru to the end that's about as far as anyone should go. eventually the local's kids will be healthier and betteer educated and will change things themseves. that's where we help out. by employing them to begin with. We aren't slave traders. people have the option to go work for someone else. they aren't servants. I know a fella who started as a common labourer; became a contractor - all for expats; is a respected employer of other locals; owns and lives in simple two story house and rents the top floor to a friend of mine. awfully nice family. and BTW many many people in North America not making a living wage. Why is it OK to 'exploit" your own people.

Again, for those who might be going up to Mendo, we can heartily recommend the B&B we stayed at. The Agate Cove Inn is located on Lansing Rd., right by the ocean, about 1 mile just north of the town of Mendocino. It was far and away the best place we stayed during our long trip! They are duplex cabins, all with patios, full baths with jetted tubs, comfortable beds, nice little breakfast in the morning, extremely quiet and peaceful. We stayed in Zircon but really liked all of them - we were the only ones staying on a Sunday so hosts Roger and Lorraine gave us their master key so we could go into all the cottages to check them out. Emerald and Obsidian are the biggest and most luxe; Garnet has an extra twin bed for those who are traveling with a small child. As mentioned above, all of them have gas-fired stoves or fireplaces for heat, very easy to work (unlike some we've encountered) and the cabins are extremely well insulated and toasty-warm. The view from their front lawn, where they have two separate patios with lots of lawn furniture, is stunning. Bundle up, though, weather can be wildly changeable up there. The winds can be icy-cold one hour then warm up again the next! We made good use of Agate's blankets when sitting outside, even though we were all bundled up in Polarfleece, gloves, and hats, LOL. Here is a link that might be useful: Agate Cove Inn's website

A forest will choke out a thicket, I often recomend that fruit and nut trees be planted on purpose, so that we lock up carbon and produce food for ourselves, and chocke out the brush plants that are unpleasent to walk through. When you go on a hike along a tail it seems that you are always either bordered by clearing/lawn or by a thicket, but once you break through that thicket you can useually travle quite quickly and easily and have plenty of space to move about. The main reasonfor removing trees and brush historicly wasn't to make things more pleasent, it was to open up land for agricultural use. with a field we can grow staple cerial grains, or legumes, or use it as pasture for animals, while some trees may provide seasonal food for some critters it takes alot of work to survive off of them year round (and trust me when I say thing, willow does not taste that good) . Our modenr day lawns were not contrived from thin air, you need to look at were they came from to understand how they fit in. Lawns are popular mainly in the south (sure, lots of people like them, but in the south they are sick for them) the south had a large portion of its caucasian inhabitants come from scotland (the southern drawl is very closely related to the scots accent) in schotland they have huge green field that are kept down to a few inches all summer long, this is because there is alot of rain and people raise sheep. Now, in the south there isn't as much water in the summer, and there aren't as many sheep, but people still liked the look of home so a lawn with mowers and irrigation is what they came up with.

I've had near misses in a vehicle but the one that stands out the most to me happened while white water rafting. The second or third year we went rafting down the Snake river and the 2 man inflatable rafts weren't available so we rented the hard plastic ones. Oh man I hate those things! They tipped so easily compared to the inflatables. While going down an easier area we tipped over. Unknown to us it was an area with a major undertow. I ended up pinned between a rock and the raft. My husband (then boyfriend) was holding onto my arms so I wouldn't get pulled under. I just knew that if he let go i wouldn't come back up. We found out later that this undertow area claims a few lives each year. My future BIL was there in another raft but my FIL had not put the ropes in the rafts so there was no way to pull us out. After what felt like forever, but probably no more than 5-10 minutes, another rafter came by and lent us his rope. We got out and needless to say I was done rafting that trip and swore never to go again. A year later with the promise of only inflatables and ropes in the rafts we went again. On one run hubby and I were behind his dad and brother. We got to a wider and very calm part of the river when I looked ahead and saw a dog in the water. I hollered back at my hubby and we started paddling towards it. Hubby is questioning what we will do with it but I knew it had to be rescued. As we got closer I realized it wasn't a dog but a man in is late 60s or 70s. We got over to him and he looked to be in shock. His eyes were wide open and seemed to be checked out but he was at least alert enough to hold onto the side of the raft as I also held onto him. I tried to say calming things like "we've got you. You are fine" while trying not to cry but I'm not even sure he heard me. He had a life vest on but it wasn't snug and wasn't holding him up properly. We got to the side and then really had no idea what to do. While we were sitting there going over options a larger raft caught up with us and pulled over. He had fallen out on a rapid and was swept away faster than they were. We said good byes quickly wanting to give them some privacy. The man was clearly not doing especially well and it felt like we were invading. I am forever glad I went rafting one last time and able to return the favor to another rafter.