The Weekly Watch
Pick a Pair of Presidents
We ended up with FDR...
and Jimmy Carter
Living on the Georgia state line, in no mans land, where services are scarce, and the time cusp shift changes life, we feel a connection with that largest state east of the Mississippi. We enjoy traveling and have not done much since the onset of the "pandemic".
So we're been off to visit Georgia's largest state park, FDR, about 9000 acres, which runs along Pine Mountain between Warm Springs, GA, home of FDR's little white house, and the town of Pine Mountain, home of Callaway Gardens. It is a last igneous bump of the Appalachian core. The park itself is a testament to the CCC. I bet every one of us has been impacted by their works.
Here's park headquarters atop the brow. Notice the statue of the CCC worker on the left.
I came across these short interviews with men who worked as boys for the CCC at FDR park.
Years ago we visited the park and saw the spring fed "Liberty Bell" pool the workers discussed in the clip. We visited this month in order to swim there.
The cabin we rented was a 30's vintage CCC construction which has been modernized.
Rock chimneys at each end...
...with a bath and kitchen added in the old dogtrot
The cabin was fully stocked and had nice outdoor amenities.
...and lovely lake views.
All this is really to say we came away with new appreciation of the CCC, and made us think about how the program could be applied today. Young people could learn new construction methods with passive designs, solar installations, water capture, and so on. The legacy of FDR's CCC is evident across the country. (4 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ItGEM1H8qD4 (8 min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XJkxJ--EtM (7 min)
FDR came regularly to Warm Springs and no doubt visited the camps here too. (1 min)
He was well liked and accepted by the local people. Here's a gathering at the "little white house"
He died of a heart attack at Warm Springs while sitting for a portrait.
https://study.com/academy/lesson/the-unfinished-portrait-of-franklin-d-r...
The nearby Callaway Gardens are focused primarily on azaleas so a March or April visit provides the best highlights. They did have a few beds of annuals.
And the butterfly house is always fun...
I'm always captured by old trees, and several are scattered around the large property...
Roll off the mountain and down to the coastal plain...
The jump from FDR's "Little White House" to Jimmy Carter's home in Plains is less than two hours by car. The NPS used Jimmy and Rosalyn's old school as the Carter historic exhibit.
The Carter's still live in Plains in a normal ranch house (that is in a fenced area). You can't see their house from the road, just the secret service residence. Everyone in town refers to him as Mr. Jimmy.
Mr. Jimmy's one term stands in contrast to FDR's four. The reminder I got from visiting was how hard he worked for peace. One line in the exhibit said he was proud that no bombs were dropped during his presidency...and that was despite the Iranian hostage episode.
His work for middle east peace is also his legacy.
I had forgotten he returned Panama to its people.
I didn't realize he put together the Department of Education and appointed the first secretary of education...and sent his daughter to DC public schools. This is one of the Carter's classrooms in Plains...
He also pushed for more energy efficiency, a stronger EPA, and conserved more public lands.
The hostage situation and oil embargo doomed his second term, but I wonder where we would be had we kept on his path to energy conservation and independence.
It was well over 90 degrees and we decided to save the visit to his boyhood home on the farm for our next trip.
We stayed in nearby Americus, GA ...
...at an old 1890's vintage hotel.
It is a remnant of the last gilded age...
Mezzanines are on every floor giving views down into the lobby.
Terraces are found on all three floors...
Craftsmanship and attention to detail seems lost today...cost too much I guess.
At about $100 a night we thought it was a great bargain and a fun visit.
Well I hope you enjoyed our travels last week. We sure did. It served as a reminder that we have lots of local resources we often miss. Though we had visited FDR State Park before, neither of us had been to Plains nor Americus. We had hoped to visit a compound of visionary artist, St. EOM, but no one showed up to open it. So we'll go back next fall or winter and have more fun.
Hope you all are able to get out and about. We've got plenty of catching up to do this week here on the homestead. Have a great Sunday and week! I look forward to your comments about whatever is on your mind.
Comments
So glad you got out and what a treat to see the lasting
results of the CCC and WPA.
We were married at Timberline Lodge in Oregon. It was a frequent stop in a circular tour from Portland. Included are the old Columbia Gorge highway, with its many waterfalls and Multnomah Falls Lodge (another WPA/CCC project) Crown Point; Hood River, Oregon; diverse ecosystems; Trillium lake; Government Camp; Sandy, Oregon.
We often brought business clients to dinner at the lodge with glorious views of the mountain and vistas of the Cascades to Mount Jefferson and southwards. Excellent food and super wine collection.
When we wanted an escape we would drive up for lunch. The hand woven curtains, rugs, ironwork, wood carvings, artwork are a living museum.
For a great day off staying overnight in Winter, going out to the hot tub in snow was the best ever.
Timberline Lodge
Our wedding was at the Ravens' Nest. We made the bar into the altar. Hah.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
There were about 1400 CCC camps
...and almost everyone has been touched by its lasting legacy. All the talk of homelessness in yesterday's OT reinforces the idea of starting another round of the corp.
Hope all is well in your world and the floods are not in your area! Your wedding sounds really fun. We were married by the local judge in the Auburn arboretum...short and sweet (and inexpensive).
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
We've had over 25 inches of rain since May 1st.
Unbelievable rain: intense, fast, and lots. Our stream got higher than ever before but still we figure about seven meters from the over bank it is now to our outer-most foundation. just guessing, but we listen to the current roaring and watch daily.
Not a Tomato or Pepper Summer. Mostly cool days and nights. Lately more humidity. The Damsel Flies and other insects including Wasps are way down in numbers. Watching birds, Bats and others to track how they are doing. Definitely lower diversity this year.
Houselessness is a big deal to me. In California (?) they are experimenting with buying up vacant hotels, motels, business parks and other fallow real estate, then repurposing as housing. From what I've heard so far, it sounds like they are doing a good job. But just a small contribution compared to the need.
You are right, we need a CCC/WPA right here right now for all the tings that need fixing and the ones we have not yet done. I read that the electrical grid needs to be rebuilt. That should pay well, and we could add solar, wind and other renewables.
Then there's sustainable farming done at the local level. If we could grow the number of families involved, they would have better, easier lives, and we all would have great food.
We could convert lawns and mowed areas to small prairies to restore insects especially pollinators. Freeway interchanges are great unused areas. The many lawns of houses where someone has to mow weekly. Yuck.
So many possibilities and opportunities passing right on by.
Take care.
A society grows great when old men plant trees in whose shade they know they shall never sit. Allegedly Greek, but more possibly fairly modern quote.
Consider helping by donating using the button in the upper left hand corner. Thank you.
missed opportunities ...
is exactly right. Efforts would be suppressed by the oligarchs, but ironically they would benefit too.
Take care and stay dry! Anyone who doesn't think climate chaos is among us isn't looking.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning LO and all
Great photos of the CCC cabin and the great old vintage hotel. Glad you enjoyed your local tour.
FDR was before my time, but I remember Carter as being a hopeful leader. The US needs another program like the New Deal enacted post haste.
Sure would be nice to see another CCC
and WPA too. Sadly the banksters and profiteers would fight it tooth and nail. Ironically they would rather go with a UBI instead of a jobs program which would promote arts, crafts, and skills...and create a lasting legacy. Just give 'em money so they can buy our stuff (from China).
Another 0.4" of rain last night. Been a nice gardening summer so far.
Take care and have a good one!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
As I said on DailyKos...
GIMME JIMMY!!!
Talk about the ULTIMATE comeback kid; people are already speculating that Donald Trump could be the next Grover Cleveland, but this would blow him out of the water. I don't care if he finishes his Oath of Office with his dying breath and the Inaugural Ball consists of his funeral, as long as he picked someone like Tulsi or Kucinich or maybe Yang (or hell, Ventura - or Vermin Supreme!!!) as his running-mate, it would all be worth it: The perfect nail in the coffin for the Reagan-Biden American Fascist Era. Provided they aren't just exploited as substitute-bunk for substantive change, symbolic victories at the highest levels DO have value.
One way to think of the proper role of the federal government is like Post-It notes on a refrigerator; no "authority" (a concept I was fortunate enough to grow up with no true understanding of - and trust me, the concept is completely unnecessary - for anything good, that is) simply a way to coordinate and organize so people know what's supposed to be going on.
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
The only reason we got Teddy
Evidently he was causing trouble in NY calling out the corruption. They made him Veep to get rid of him, but the assassination changed things.
If jomentia had selected Tulsi as VP I might have voted for him.
Take care and have a good day!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
I know - one of the few actual high-profile LEFT-WING assassins
I wonder if Mr. Czolgosz was thinking a step or two ahead...?
"Individuals can't make a difference"??? Yeah, right. All it takes is knowing where to strike, and a lone wolf can accomplish things no group ever could. The more I learn about Marxist ideology, the more I become convinced it's one of the worst things ever to happen to "the left".
In the Land of the Blind, the One-Eyed Man is declared mentally ill for describing colors.
Yes Virginia, there is a Global Banking Conspiracy!
Is there a "left"?
I can't help but be amused when they (MSM) call Pelosi , Schumer, and those many corporate shills, the "Left". What a joke! Even the squad isn't "Left".
On we go. Let's find the good we can in what we can...
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Your vacation trip
provides a welcome contrast to our current daily experience. I especially enjoyed the interior photos of the log cabin. Those stone fireplaces!
Yes, those 2 presidents belonged to a different age. An age where traces of goodwill remained as part of public policy. The Rich ruled. But not with the rapacity and depraved indifference we see now. Everything is Power accumulation. Wealth accrual. eat the poor.
The saddest part is that the solution to homelessness is already built and standing empty. Vacant offices. Entire buildings left 3/4 empty. Storefronts in NYC increased the number of "Store for rent" signs long before the pandemic.
My affluent Tribeca neighborhood's webpage has been documenting---in a yearly photo essay, block by block----of empty stores and empty office space for the past 5 or 6 years. The pandemic repeated this trend but did not cause it.
Skyscraper condos are built and the developers make their money on the front end with little/no incentive to sell or rent the units they have created.
When Bloomberg left office 8 years ago he admitted to a very large number of empty condos. That has grown under de Blasio.
Empty hotels are another unused resource. Hotels. Residences. Office buildings.
Housing exists. and stands empty. while the streets clog with forlorn lives.
I expect that nothing will be done to house the 55,000+ homeless in NYC. More likely, the number will be permitted to grow until the City cannot ignore it or function.
Then, the forcible removal in vans to "save our city."
This is the triump of the will in our time.
NYCVG
untapped resources...
...basing everything on profit has destroyed so much for people and the planet.
Heard Chris Hedges suggest the fall of the US empire and the devolution to an authoritarian police state by 2030. I thought we're not far from it now.
Edit to add the clip where he made the comment:
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZnwIyQjCOg]
Take care in the big city! Hope the patio garden is doing well. All the best.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
First sunflowers bloomed!!!!!!!!!
just the smallest variety. The larger ones are 4 feet high and so far doing well against the wind challenges they face 20 stories up in the sky..
The ability to grow more than I thought was possible for myself is one of the most hopeful things going for me right now. Aside from family and my thriving grandchildren who I will visit as soon as end of September.
Next I'm going to watch the Hedges tape. Every prediction of doom I've seen in the last decade looks entirely possible to me now.
When the generally useless NY Times has it's front page with 5 out of 6 stories on the climate----the other front page news is Haiti, and the NY Times Magazine Cover story and long photo essay documents homelessness in Venice Beach, CA, it looks to me like the insane amount of stress on guns and policing----at least in NYC----may be overcome by reality breaking through at least for some of us.
The GUNS GUNS GUNS DEATH BY GUNSHOT headlines were meant to install the new mayor who is a 30 year Police veteran and Captain and former (R) with not one shred of a visible brain or heart in evidence.
Standing next to King Andrew. A fascist duo to rule and wreak havoc on my beloved City.
My approach will continue to be a close focus on the immediate verifiable details of the collapse I see with my own eyes, and in general to leave the predicting and the view from the keyboard to others. Of course, they are intertwined to some extent.
NYCVG
I never remember to plant sunflowers...
...maybe I'll do better next year.
We saw a beautiful field of them in S. GA. Congrats on yours. Pretty cool how productive even a small plot (or patio) can be. Happy growing!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
UPDATE---"Managed Retreat"
Managed retreat is what the removal programs will be called. Unless I'm drawing lines connecting dots that should not be connected.
When a Retreat is a Win. That is the headline in the Week in Review section of today's NY Times.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/16/opinion/managed-retreat-climate-chang...
"This strategy is known as managed retreat. It is often considered an extreme option to be pursued only when no other alternatives remain. People don’t want to move from their homes, especially when environmental conditions, even if worsening, have not yet made life unlivable."
"But these issues also present an opportunity, a chance not to salvage and maintain the status quo at all costs but to deliberately build a better future. Managed retreat could help change how funding is allocated between wealthy versus low-income communities, for example, or between urban hubs versus remote coastlines. Numerous enduring injustices have led to the settlement of marginalized communities in areas of increasing flood and storm hazards and left them without adequate protections. Addressing such persistent inequities should be a goal of all efforts at climate adaptation."
"Managed retreat should no longer be a last-ditch effort to flee climate problems. It should be a thoughtfully deployed tool for addressing a wide range of human problem."
Opening salvo? or paranoid poster (me)? IDK
NYCVG
Sounds like the start of something to me...
Especially considering the situation out west. At least y'all got water in NYC.
What can you say? Isn't looking good.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
water and sunflowers
for now
NYCVG
Feels good to travel again, doesn't it ?
We've been venturing out a bit ourselves since we got vaccinated.
Here's some vids I flagged for The Weekly Watch.
From RT: Oliver Stone Exposes JFK Assassination Cover-Up (JFK Revisited), YouTube, 28 min.
Jimmy Dore with Max Blumenthal: The Truth About Cuba, YouTube, 34 min.
Keiser Report | Chinese Household Wealth Unleashed , YouTube, 25 min.
The Hill, U.S. Waging ECONOMIC War With Cuba, The Country Must Be LEFT ALONE, YouTube, 13 min.
We wanted decent healthcare, a living wage and free college.
The Democrats gave us Biden and war instead.
Many thanks!
I have been slowly catching up. I'll look forward to watching those clips.
And yes it does feel good to get out and about. We are still focusing on outdoor activities, and although the Delta variant is more contagious, but it appears it is about like to flu in its virulence. Chris Martenson explains...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jRQ8bneI7vs
At any rate we feel pretty safe but are still careful. Looks like y'all have been getting some rain. We have too.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Good morning Lookout. The WPA and
CCC have often been suggested as a possible solution to many of our woes, and could be if not for the fact that capitalist interests will block it. There is a risk, btw, that the projects might, given our basic policies, be unsavory, like more prisons, border barriers, offices for the surveillance and police-state agencies, Capitol Police, DHS, Customs, etc. and military installations; and/or that they would all be privatized once done, but one can hope for the best, schools, water and sewer system improvements, hospitals, and the like.
Those things, however run counter to the oligarchic vision of the national interest. If young people could learn marketable skills and make money building schools and highways and the like, how will we get them to volunteer to go abroad and kill funniners or stay here and persecute, jail, and ride herd over undesirables. If they were to build public institutions that would arguably compete with private ones, that would be anathema to those owning and running the private ones. This is why I see anything like what happened back in the WPA & CCC heyday as quite unlikely unless they are to be immediately privatized.
be well and have a good one
That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --
I sadly agree...
...yet none the less appreciate their accomplishments though they are almost 100 years old.
We have two wonderful CCC vintage parks on the mountain, one in GA and one in AL. I feel lucky to be able to use them on the regular.
The CCC was also known as Roosevelt's "Tree Army" because they planted so many. That would also be a good idea today.
Well, have a good one and enjoy your day.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
Loved your photo journey and the CCC
Have been lucky to experience the CCC cabins at Bastrop State Park outside of Austin. A group of friends stayed in several over Thanksgiving and had many memorable experiences. The story of the building of the road to the Chisos Lodge in Big Bend is a testament to the work of the CCC as well as the cabins that are up in the Chisos. The waiting line to get into the cabins if a “luck of the draw” but maybe someday.
Read a book about early life in the Big Bend area and when the CCC was created so many of the young men that came to work in Big Bend had never eaten as well as when they were doing this incredibly hard work.
On the road myself today heading back to Santa Fe from Llano. Stopped overnight in Lubbock, had breakfast at favorite place in Muleshoe and when got back in car my warning light for low tire was on. This unfortunately seems to me my lot in life as I have had a nail, two road hazard and now a low tire for my tires! Being that this is Sunday, the towns in New Mexico are few and far between on the route I am traveling so am taking a short hiatus in Clovis New Mexico because they have a Discount Tire and will have them check out tire in am before heading on the Santa Fe. Seemed the best option in case I really did have a flat out on the highway. Taking it easy and will go for a walk a little later. Hope all have a wonderful week and this was such a great Weekly Watch. Loved the vintage hotel as well. Have a couple in New Mexico I plan to visit.
Life is what you make it, so make it something worthwhile.
This ain't no dress rehearsal!
We want to visit Big Bend
It is on the bucket list. Plan to fly in to El Paso and rent a car there to explore Carlsbad caverns and Guadalupe NPs. Then catch Balmorhea State Park and Davis Mountains State Park before visiting Big Bend NP. Thinking a Sept. birding focused trip. We'll see when and if it happens.
Next fall we're braving Yellowstone and Tetons where we've not been. In the meantime enjoying these trips closer to home.
Wishing you safe travels. I've got a leaking tire on my little '92 Geo Tracker. It is aggravating and I hope I'll deal with it next week. Best of luck with your journey!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
lovely Clovis!
Hi JB! Oh, beautiful downtown Clovis. There is a park with a zoo, downtown area roughly, that was great birding in spring migration. There are a couple rare bird records published from that park which I found, LOL. Might be lots of people on weekend though. Some few Mississippi Kites used to nest along the edge of it and the golf course. Oasis St. Pk. not far away near Portales was a neat spot too, smallish pond, an oasis in that high desert sagebrush habitat, cottonwoods around it. Wasn't too hard to hear Lesser Prairie-Chicken there in spring. Safe travels!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Great story LO!
Great post LO! Sounds like a great trip! The CCC was awesome. There is a state park near me called Garner St. Pk., which was John Nance Garners summer home, then given to state, on the Frio River. John Nance lived in Uvalde, TX, was V.P. under FDR, and didn't rerun with him because he didn't like the 'social giveaway' programs. The state park has lots of buildings and screen cabins made by the CCC's, one looks like the big stone one in your pic at top. All over the west especially, and in our national parks especially one can see the work of the CCC's.
Brasstown Bald, that high point in N. GA is a real neat area, with that 4000' of altitude you get some more northern nesting warblers and such, from there and north with elevation.
Carter was great IMHO, like you say, hostages and oil embargo screwed his reelection, and Reagans dirty tricks behind the scenes...
The butterflies I can make out in the case are all foreign jobs, no U.S. natives, as is true for the 3 live shots. But awesome critters for sure!
Thanks for bringing us along!
be well all!
We cannot solve our problems with the same thinking we used when we created them.
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.
both - Albert Einstein
Yes, foreign Lepidoptera
Good eye as usual. The CCC impacted all of us, which should be a lesson.
Thanks for traveling with us! Have a good one.
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”
What a wonderful Weekly Watch this Sunday!
Loved it and learned a lot. Thank You so much. As a foreigner I never understood why lots of Americans seemed to not have liked or respected Jimmy Carter.
I lived in a community Roosevelt built for returning wwII Veterans, in Greembelt, MD, not far from Univ. of Maryland, College Park and the National Archives. Its little center was called Roosevelt Center and its local coffee shop was called "New Deal Cafe" It had delicious food, amazing live music, and a very laid back atmosphere. And yes such amazing music that B.B. King came there and played and I saw him performing in person.
That was 2014 or before. I wonder what it has become now. My son learned to play music with some friend he made, when living with me there. Some folks my son stays in contact with said it had changed and they all wished the old (pre-Trumpian) times would be back.
Yeah if only ... Sigh.
https://www.euronews.com/
The nature of things is change...
just gotta roll with 'em. We are adaptable and that is a useful, unavoidable, skill.
Glad you came by for a visit today and enjoyed our trip! Hope you're avoiding all the flooding. Sounds bad.
All the best!
“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”