This is a photo I took about a month ago from a road in our woods toward the garden, looking west. This is a different road than that in last October’s post.

I never thought, until today, that our home which enjoys the many benefits of electricity from the sun was a political statement. For us solar power just made sense.

We live in a third world enclave in a first world country. Infrastructure is challenged to say it nicely, not like neighboring states like Ohio or Virginia. Our state road in the hollow to our home is slowly reverting back to dirt. Phone and electrical service come with periodic outages. Everyone remembers when a leaking chemical tank contaminated the river which was the source of drinking water for 300,000. We’ve had two major natural gas pipeline explosions within miles of our home since 2000.

Of course living in a third world enclave lets us see politics at its crudest. Now everyone in this first world country gets to see what we see all the time, only this is national politics. A president who can’t use the words climate change has taken our country out of the Paris Climate Accord for reasons, because he can’t say climate change, that don’t make much sense. Of course when politics becomes crude, leaves the realm of compromise, then finding anything that makes sense is nearly impossible. In this country we now have the party which is always right, and the opposition, the always wrong. Our president, the impresario of gilt schlock, is incapable of telling the truth about anything. And that’s being kind.

Are we happy with solar power? Yes. When our unfortunate neighbors’ power is out for one reason or another, our refrigerator still runs and we have lights. And now we get to make a political statement, too.