Clean Drinking Water feat Primo Self-Service Water Refill at Walmart

Well, the water coming from the tap in the town I just moved to, smells ‘funny’. Not humorous nor a joke. It smells noxious in the apt complex where I just moved in Statesboro, Georgia, USA. It has a sulfur smell. I googled Statesboro’s water quality and found this article which talks about some serious contaminants. I immediately went on alert to find a solution, other than purchasing plastic water bottles en masse, and I don’t feel like the baggage of purchasing a 50 gallon water jug and filling it, with a bicycle. I also didn’t sense that a Portable Pitcher such as a Brita water filter was going to tackle all the contaminants.

I went to buy water, which I rarely do, an almost 1 Gallon ‘plastic’ jug, Deer Park spring water. I’ve typically drank tap water, and have had the fortune of drinking filtered water from the refrigerators in the last several places I lived.

Then I googled :  drinking water machines, purified water refill stations. 

And discovered that a local Walmart super center has a water refill center. Friends don’t let friends go to Starbucks or Walmart. I’m pretty appreciative that this one hosts the Primo refill stations. I bicycled there yesterday with the empty container and yes, it exists. I filled the jug i brought, for free. (I think the machine has a malfunction 🙂 Gonna be cycling there almost every day, in fact, I already ran out of the gallon I brought home yesterday. Will look for big glass jugs, and continue to ride the 15 min. (2.6 mi) each way to bring home odor free, clean drinking water.  So the water filtration system at Walmart is through Primo

Really glad that I had that hunch to google, and then found that the store I avoid at all costs, is the one with the capacity to host the Primo machine! It seems to be good.

Water is life.

Swan Point Fountain Progression | Faber Castell Watercolor Pencils | September 8, 2019

Swan Point Fountain September 8, 2019

Swan Point Fountain September 8, 2019

I’ve checked out this Swan Point Cemetery several times. It’s full of life. I sat on a rock next to the water. I did this in one sitting today. Because it was a lovely Sunday, there was a trickle of people, live ones. It took me 5 hours to do this. After about three and a half hours, I heard not a purr, but a growl, that sounded a bit like a cat. Didn’t sound like a bird. Just as I was finishing, I heard it again. I don’t know what kind of wild animal are around here (northeast USA) that makes that sound. It was pretty close to me in the bush to the right. I didn’t investigate. I just wanted to get out of its way. There are no bobcats around here, but it sounded like one. I was imagining something launching out, but not really intimidated. Dusk was falling to darkness as I bicycled away. I saw a fox running across my path ahead. I know how to get out of the cemetery once the gate is closed, just have to lift my bicycle down a stone wall and jump a few feet below it. I often only leave as darkness is coming. Another place I sat I saw these huge birds. I never get scared actually, even thought I’m alone in a cemetery. It’s just gorgeous, for sure, the oldest growth as far as trees go, around.

Faber Castell Water color pencils, Swan Point Fountain

swan_point_fountain_sign_9_8_19

There really was a little school of reddish-orange gold fish swimming around, so I didn’t make that up!

Swan Point Fountain September 8, 2019, Faber Castell Water color pencils

Swan Point Fountain September 8, 2019

Chante Tin’sa Kinanzi Po: Still Standing Up for Standing Rock | Earth Injustice

Chante Tin_sa Kinanzi Po, Black Snake, Standing Rock, 360° Video

This links to the Black Snake film about Standing Rock

Bobbi Jean, the young Native American woman (featured in the photo with her arm raised) was raised in the Standing Rock community. She spoke of her experiences – walking and running – gathering people of all ages as they went from one to another community.

She said they made prayers with their feet.

She said that there were a lot of magical & spiritual events that happened along the way, among the different people and animals’ that joined in. For many days it rained, and yet when certain people spoke, suddenly the sun burst forth or a wind would woosh in. She knew that the ancestors were present with them in their journey. They walked to enlighten people about the fate of the land and all of the creatures, this sacred land, to money.They eventually landed in Washington D.C., which she said was a culture shock. She Lots of kids participated at different points who developed their own voice about the issue. Elders participated as well. The oil industry and the federal and state governments’ in the pocket of it, created all sorts of obstacles and their own narrative to events. Bobbi Jean continues to inspire and share the story.

This event was a panel discussion with Bobbi Jean Three Legs and Indigenous Water Protectors. Followed by screenings of Black Snake, a 360° virtual reality short film experience featuring citizens of Standing Rock, by Philip Sanchez ’05. It took place at Brown University, sponsored by Native American and Indigenous Studies at Brown, Native American Brown Alumni, and the Haffenreffer Museum of Anthropology.

“Sacred Ground. The struggle for clean water continues.”

For more information and to support this cause, go to earthjustice.org

Blurred Media, Black Snake, Sacred Ground, 360 video, Phillip Sanchez

Blurred Media Black Snake Sacred Ground 360 video by Phillip Sanchez

Philip Sanchez’s 360º video Black Snake — Standing Rock — 360° Video is quite powerful; looking at the land that is sacred to the people who have lived there for generations, who know that they are not dispensable.

I had tears in my eyes, resonating with what one of the elder Native American women near the end of the film said.

 

“We’re destroying this earth.There’s no common sense. You’re hurting us, you’re hurting each other.

Don’t you think about life?

Every living thing has got to live. There is a purpose and reason why we are all here. You’re hurting yourselves and this earth. The waters. Everything is connected. My prayer goes out to all of you.”

 

“The story of the Dakota Access Pipeline is a long and difficult one to tell. On its face, it is the story of thousands of Native Americans and their non-Native allies that gathered for months in 2016 to protest the pipeline. However, this is only a small part of a much larger issue. The pipeline brought to a head conflicts about disputed treaty lands, the historical treatment of Native Americans by the Federal Government and the changing relationship between the predominantly white towns of Bismarck / Mandan to the north and the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation to the south.”

The XL pipeline has different names depending on its location, which works as a mask to recognizing that it is one and the same black snake that is slithering through the land and sickening it’s waters.

President Trump, Presidential Memorandum, advance approval, pipeline construction

President Trump Presidential Memorandum advance approval of pipeline construction

I was fortunately informed by a fellow ultimate frisbee player who is also keenly interested in protecting the natural world.

“The struggle for clean water continues.”

For more information and to support this cause, go to earthjustice.org
How can we be silent? How can we not see the value of the natural world?

To Joan with Love | Animals Watering Hole Africa

Here’s a new Faber Castell watercolor painting I did today for my sister Joan. I reveal the progression of the painting through taking photos at various periods of time. From a composite of 4 photographs, I did an initial small sketch, then replicated it on the sketch pad.

to_Joan_Wateringhole_Africa_12_19_18

to_Joan_Wateringhole_Africa_12_19_18

beginning sketch composite of several photographs

beginning sketch composite of several photographs

To Joan with Love Animals Watering Hole Africa

To Joan with Love Animals Watering Hole Africa

 

 

 

 

1_giraffe bird baobab

sources of painting
1_giraffe bird baobab

to_Joan_Wateringhole_Africa_12_19_18

to_Joan_Wateringhole_Africa_12_19_18

 

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Trees Reflected in Water | Faber Castell watercolor pencils

Here’s a new painting (progression) Trees Reflected in Water progression. I like to take pictures as I paint to show to an extent, my process.

Trees Reflected in Water Progression, Faber Castell watercolor pencils

Trees Reflected in Water Progression

 

 

I bicycled twice there, 8.8 miles roundtrip, and still hadn’t completed it. It gets dark too early and its a bit cold to sit outside, so I completed the last touches, mostly adding water, at home using photos I took  ––when the wind wasn’t blowing the reflecting into ripples as when I was painting.

Slater Mill Pawtucket Woonasquatucket river, Providence

Slater Mill Pawtucket Woonasquatucket river Providence

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I found this place by accident. I went off bicycling in a new direction, over an unfamiliar bridge and 4.4 miles later, found this place by accident. I found actually some lovely shrubbery too. I discovered these old buildings and a waterfall, then a trail. It’s the Slater Mill. It was empty the first time, the second time the parking lot was full – it happened to be the once a month that the historic house has a free tour.

Trees Reflected in Water, Faber Castell  watercolor pencils

Trees Reflected in Water

What Does Net Neutrality Mean to You? | It’s a 3

Lifescience says humans can live 3 minutes without air, 3 hours (in an extremely harsh environment) without shelter, 3 days without water, 3 weeks without food or sleep – with some exceptions – or you’ll perish.

Humans are social creatures. We survive and flourish through nourishing our physical bodies and minds. Throughout our lives we take in, learn and share information. It is our right.

To deprive a modern human being who has already been introduced to the free flow of information, by putting a price tag on the content and flow, should cause each human being to revolt, in 3 months. Reject the (too large monopolistic) providers withholding the information : for yourself, for your friends, your children, cousins, brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, grandmother… until new smaller providers, out of necessity, pop up to take their place with a resilience of free-market healthy competition.

Think globally, act locally. Down with corporate lobbying strongholds. United consensus must be felt and acted upon from the public, to hold-out until smaller providers emerge to pollinate and populate the infrastructure.

Why does net neutrality matter anyway? Those at Lifehacker explain that “The basic principle driving net neutrality is that the internet should be a free and open platform, almost like any other utility we use in our home (like electricity).”

What does it mean? It was Tim Wu,

Tim Wu who coined the term Net Neutrality Read more of this post