"Life is a slow process. You just need to start."
Zephaniah Phiri

Why go to the effort to obtain high quality foods. Taste, health, support local growers, trying to reduce dependency on corporations or gardening as a hobby. Some of the benefits are personal many of them are also global. Food and beverage choices at home, in restaurants and as snacks provide you the opportunity to make small multiple impacts day after day.

The main message for this week is read the ingredients on the food you are using. It may not be what you expect. I am finding a number of foods I have used for years now have extra ingredients. The choice is change products or start making it oneself. For example, it is hard to find a corn tortilla to cook without gar-gum. Most of the 50lb bags of masa flour at the restaurant supply store have it pre-added to the flour. The tortillas with gar-gum will mold in my fridge. The ones without simply dehydrate and are good for months, just need to add water. What else is changing?

The vibrations of change that began in Charlottesville will now be forever intertwined with our actions trying to increase our resilience with challenges of climate change, oligarchy dominance and unstable healthcare delivery system.

Most of the national discussion is being directed into longstanding racial issues and divides. The international reaction will probably be more significant.

The United States is the self-proclaimed policeman of the world and one of the major allies of World War II. Trump, our elected leader just defended individuals marching under the Nazi flag for their violent behavior. Not the honored American tradition and right of free speech which includes distasteful speech. Most of the Allies fought during the war on their soil with citizens and soldiers. The emotional scars to Nazi atrocities are deep. The international community will be re-thinking their long-term relationship with the United States.

The opium epidemic has provided another opening for police to monitor US citizens.

Sometimes the idea of resilience, the ability to bounce back from a set-back, disaster or hardship becomes confused with survivalist or the current phrase a prepper. There seem to be a number of people who are looking in anticipation for the next disaster so to experience hardship, heroically push through and show their ability to survive despite the odds.

The current disaster of the week in my area is the eclipse. I had to do a little commuting this week and listened to the radio while driving. I am definitely unprepared for the roads to be in grid-lock, perhaps no emergency services or the road to the fast food joint jammed.

Morning - serious subjects and events the last few days on C99 so I just did photo diary Tuesday of the day and have added some thoughts and observations. For new readers I run a hobby farm, create an environment I like living within and experiment with different techniques for self sufficiency. Outside the boundary of the property is the good and bad of the "real" world the traffic, wWalmart, lots of people, water restrictions, community events, libraries, concerts and modern life.

Pharmaceuticals are one of the fasted growing costs of health care. This week I am going to continue the discussion on how players in the industry keep drug costs high.

Unfortunately I will not be available most of the day for real time interaction on discussions. I will follow up this evening.

Prescription drug costs are one of the fasted growing segments of healthcare. Have been for several years and concerns are dismissed as over-reactive and not understanding the true value of medications at reducing total healthcare costs. PHARMA is a strong lobbying group at state and federal levels and has been effective at minimizing any significant progress to reduce costs.

Taking control of your health care is an essential part of any personal resilience plan. I will be adding health care as part of my contribution to our weekly discussion. Encouraged by the focus on quality food and eating habits being shared in various diaries and comments.