“I know there have been questions and concerns about this, but there is no—again, no—indication of aliens or extraterrestrial activity with these recent takedowns.” ~ press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre during a recent Press conference

Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
Would you like to ride in my beautiful balloon
We could float among the stars together, you and I
For we can fly, we can fly…

Happy Saturday morning, and so we enter another weekend. I’m enjoying my first coffee, sniffing it as much as sipping the hot stuff. My cold has come and gone, but with our daily temperatures bouncing between 70F and freezing on a weekly basis, we’re probably in for a round two.

Old School – this week our airport initiated flights of a new start-up airline – Breeze. What this one brings to the ‘party’ that is new and different is that it’s bringing back something from the Old School. Breeze is initiating “direct” flights versus “non-stop”.

“OK Dirk, now I am confused, what’s the difference?” It’s a concept I remember from years ago. I’d be traveling somewhere and my flight would make a stop, some folk would get off and some might come aboard, but I’d stay on the plane and twenty minutes later we’d be on our way to the next/final final destination – thus it was a ‘direct’ flight, but not a non-stop.

The last time I experienced this type of travel was years ago flying from Detroit to Chippewa airport in Michigan’s UP; with an intermediate stop in Alpena MI. That this trip was made in a tiny prop-driven Swearingen Metroliner dates it. I remember those Swearingers being so tiny that I was forced to either crawl or ‘duck-walk’ to my seat while climbing over the cross-aisle hump housing the wing struts.

Feb 15, World Hippo Day – The ‘Nati has become the nation’s Hippo center with Fiona (the preemie) and now a lovely nubile young lady of 1,300 pounds. This past year she was joined by a new baby brother, Fritz.

Yup, we take note of something as importants as World Hippo Day!

Yoko Ono – turns 90 today. Somewhere John Lennon has to be singing “<u>Imagine</u>”.

“Imagine all the people
Living for today,……..
…..You may say I’m a dreamer
But I’m not the only one
I hope someday you’ll join us
And the world will live as one….”

The BIG burn – and train accident 300 miles from us in the other corner of the state, East Palestine. I’m already watching a decrease in news coverage as almost everyone, except the Palestine residents, want to shovel this mess under the rug. The Feds, the State, the Rail company, all are probably culpable and want the whole thing to disappear.

But, what I discovered is an existence of a consortium of States (since 1948) that have pulled together to improve water quality in the Ohio River Basin. Meaningful, since this river basin is our area’s most valuable resource; for transportation and water. And we have an ample, year round, supply of the stuff.

I never knew that ORSANCO (Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission) even existed. Yet, in the background and without interruption this entity keeps tabs on this resource and communicates with our Cincinnati Water Works constantly. The net result is that our drinking water is some of the best in the nation. Through an array of sand and charcoal filtration systems this level of excellence has been achieved.

Beginning late tomorrow the water intake gates will close and not reopen till after the toxic plume passes on though. This is a screen capture of how the spill sampling data is presented on a daily basis specifically during for the East Palestine mess.

A Canoe? – I haven’t seen it yet, but Vili tells me that he and his sixth grade classmates finished building a full-sized canoe. Previous sixth graders did the same thing and the finished product has hung on display somewhere in the school. I think that this project has much positivity on several fronts. Yeay Montessori!

Pieter – my brother has had, for a decade, a weekly music/interview show; Listening Lyrics on KDRT 95.7FM in Davis, California. Now, over 300 interviews later he’s taped his final show. Click here to listen on past shows on Apple Podcasts. Is Pieter done? No he is not! Next week I’ll post on his next endeavor.

Ciao. Stay strong and value your health. Remember, you can’t change the world, but you can your own house and neighborhood – work on it. Say safe.

Keep on storming the castle. Pray for Peace.

Dirk