It’s very rare when I combine an opinion piece about the world around us, with some unrelated photography, but that’s one of the great things about having your own blog, you can do what you want.

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Looking back and remembering the good times without the bad, is like doing it all for nothing. If we don’t profit from the education that living provides for us, we’ll be cursed to relive every mistake over and over again. Besides, I don’t know about you, but most of my good times had a little bad with them, and most of the bad had some good. As the wise ones say, “ya gotta take the good with the bad.”

More and more today, the (supposed) adults prepare the next generation (I sound old) to believe there should never be any pain. No loss, no pain…right? If it seems like a loss, not to worry, just pout, throw a temper tantrum, and make a spectacle of yourself. Kind of like a 2-year-old rolling around kicking his feet and squealing. I’ll show them I don’t deserve to feel this pain. That’ll make it go away. Were raising a generation without character. With no indivual thought. Good little comrads.

There will always be losses, and learning to cope with those losses is what makes us winners. Being a good loser, is equally important to being a good winner. As long as the game is honest, lick your wounds and come back the next time and do better.

Before we go any farther I want it known that I am strongly in favor of groups that do good deeds. Non-government citizen organizations are an old tradition and provide more genuine help to those in need than you will find any place else. They are staffed primarily with volunteers who only want to help.

Unfortunately there are not only many do-gooder groups who are wolves in sheep’s clothing, but they are often used to enrich those in power, and provide a place for those who care not about anything except how they look to the outside world.

We teach today, that public service is a must. We tell the children to join this do-gooder group or another. We teach them how to “act” contrite and humble. If everybody thinks your good, then you must be good. You can’t force young people to be good or generous. Teaching by example would seem the better way to go. We don’t “show them” how to help because it’s in our heart. If we did, we may have fewer do-gooder groups, but the ones we have will be the real thing. Less grandstanding, less embezzling monies, more people helped for the right reasons.

The next time a 15-year-old boy, grabs his dad’s gun, and kills 10 students in his school, because a girl he liked didn’t like him back, or some jerk bullied him, maybe we all need to look in the mirror to find the answer to why. The next time some 18-25 year old children, lose an election, and feel the need for guidance counseling, because they don’t understand or care about the rights of others, only themselves, and because they are so unprepared for “actual” life, look at their teachers and parents to discover how they got that way.

Winning feels good, and losing hurts. That’s just the way it should be. It prepares us to handle those things that are out of our control. When we understand that, it stops us from thinking the world revolves around us, and owes us something. The world (the nation), only owes you an opportunity. Nothing else.

Freedom, comes with the joy of winning, and the pain of losing. Some people will win more, and some will lose more. Anything else is not freedom. There is no neatly packaged life that shields us from pain in a free world. In fact, without a free world, pain is the only thing you‘re allowed to feel. Losing without the freedom to try to win.

The freedom to “demonstrate” (protest) how we feel, does not give us the freedom to trample the rights of others. Just because we are throwing a temper tantrum and we demand the world make our pain go away, doesn’t mean we are right. Free people’s, should also respect the freedom of others.

Live free.

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Ask your self why Jill Stein and the Green Party wants a ballot recount in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania at this late time. Almost 4 million dollars in Wisconsin alone for a party who can’t raise enough money to run a serious campaign during the election?Remember, in Wisconsin she only had about 2% of the vote.  It is unlikely there will be enough time to complete this by the deadline. What will that mean? Ask yourself where is the money coming from, why does Jill Stein even care, and what will happen if it is not completed by the deadline?

Can we actually expect our so-called news journalists to ask the question, why Jill Stein and where is the money coming from? It pays to not forget, the mainstream media has become the fake news outlet of America, via what “they don’t” report.

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I had only a few hours with the Grand Tetons during a during a trip to Yellowstone N.P. If I could do it again I would change that. With that said, even in a couple of hours, the light does change.

Low hanging clouds in mid morning and some of the beginnings of autumn color produced a so, so image.

As the day wore on the clouds increased, the light got warmer, and we found some trees that were deeper and richer in their autumn splendor.

I never recieved what I wanted from the Tetons, but in the real world, sometimes you take what you can get.

The male American Goldfinch is a fancy sort of bird. Fancy birds look great when they are preening, so I spent a lot of time with this fellow. There he sat preening and posing right outside my car window  for about 20 minutes. Some days are just good.

My last photo article was all about trees and the photography of them. I can spend hours looking at trees, and almost as much time photographing them. I especially love “naked” trees.

I’ve seen this portion of the Colorado Rockies dozens of times in my life. Finally on my last visit, I created some imagery. I hadn’t been to the eastern side of Rocky Mt. N.P. in years and this was the first time that I had seen this portion of the Never Summer Range when it wasn’t completely covered in snow. Weather, like the earth itself is “always” in a state of change. Less snow here, more somewhere else. It is an eternal and perfectly normal journey.

One of my favorite wildlife subjects are rabbits and hares. The Eastern Cottontail Rabbit is North America’s most abundant. When young rabbits are tossed out of the den, they are often confused and lack fear of humans and their automobiles. Adult males will be in search of pretty ladies and will care less about you than would usually be the case.  That explosion of rabbits that are not concerned with you will happen several times a year, but it does not last long. Make hay while the sun shines, so to speak.

Nesting wading birds are always great subjects. Great-blue Heron rookeries can be large, and easy to photograph, providing you can get close without a boat.  You may well find Great Egrets or hawks, especially Osprey or eagles nesting in the area as well.

May God Bless,                                                                                                                                         Wayne