Splendor in Lake Tahoe

As a slight departure from information regarding energy conservation let me offer this. I had the pleasant experience during the last week of June to spend it in Inverness Village, NV, flush on the banks of Lake Tahoe.  Located at 6500 feet elevation, the first few days of my visit were spent trying to find warm enough clothes to keep from freezing my assets off!  For those of you who haven’t been there, this is a most beautiful area of the country.  The water in the lake is as blue as any I have ever seen (except for some Tidy Bowl porcelain) and I have included a picture below to give you an idea of the splendor.   

As a member of the American Boiler Manufacturers Association (ABMA) I have the privilege twice each year of attending their general meetings along with my wife Rosalie.  Each of these conferences is hosted at some of the finest hotels around in the most wonderful of locations suitable for the season.  Though the conference lasted only four days, Rosalie and I had planned to spend an extra few days in Reno.  Unfortunately my wife tripped over a piece of luggage and broke her arm so I learned the finer points of nursing, none of which I can say was particularly pleasing to me.  In any case, she is healing nicely but will be in a sling for the next several weeks.   

So what did I learn there that might be interesting to my extensive (OK, small) audience?  Regarding the November election, I heard one of the presenters say that the general election was Romney’s to lose.  For those Obama supporters in my group, do not despair as things are so tight and only the swing states really matter.  One attribute to living in Oklahoma is that it is so Republican that neither party spends money on campaigning here.  Contrast that to Nevada that is in play where ads ran all the time.  Of course as November draws closer, the local pols will be placing ads but that’s a bit away. 

On the economic front, sorry to say that’s a different kettle of fish.  One of the speakers – and remember he was addressing an audience consisting of business leaders in boilers and associated equipment who have been enjoying a couple of years of really good sales after three difficult years – spoke gloom and doom.  Although Romney and Obama will throw spears and barbs at each other, the blame for our woes extends far beyond that.  Two words stand out when fault is assigned: Europe and China.  Europe’s economy is going to be difficult for a long time and is a big trading partner of the US.  China, according to the presenter, sticks us with two problems: one is a slowing economy; the other is its unfair trade practices that lead to large trade surpluses against the US.  This, in turn, results in an economy that struggles.   

And besides all this "great" news, here in Tulsa, it’s HOT. 

As I am now a caregiver for my ailing wife I found how impatient (no pun there, really) I am and how wonderful real nurses are.  Here are some words for the occasion. 

"It is not how much you do, but how much LOVE you put in the doing."
Mother Teresa (1910-1997)

Lake Tahoe June 2012