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Shutdown, day 11! While the Park Service may be shut down and leaving us with a bleeding business – and sales and commissions are looking to like someone run over by a tank – and we may be unable to go to parks for research or even get it from the web because all park websites are down (and it’s a bunch, let me tell you), or, for that matter, even go camping for a couple of days and enjoy OUR own parks in OUR country – life goes on. (that’s a bad sentence, I know, but one I’m leaving because it represents some big frustrations) So, here’s my story for 48 North magazine for October about some little birds that just want to be able to exist in a safe and secure place, carry on normal life and be safe. Sounds like us!

PLEASE, ALLOW ME A RANT: I know I’m preaching to the choir here, and probably HALF my readers get this on computers that are currently turned off or even available to be turned on, but I just want to say I’ve appreciated every minute of trying to make an honest living painting nature in national parks. A lot of that has to do with the scenery and our heritage, but even more has to do with the fabulous people we’ve met over the years who work for the government. They’re not all bureaucrats, but scientists, naturalists, people trying to spend their lives making a difference in a good way – and currently they’re draining their savings accounts to pay the bills. Yesterday, Day 10, it was announced that parks and their local communities have lost $750 million dollars in lost revenue THIS WEEK, money that will never be regained or back-paid, and most are in some pretty remote communities that need it.

It seems lost on people who support the Tea Party that Congress’ job is to pass laws that then require spending money, and shutting down government and not paying the bills it already rang up is ludicrous – like buying a car and then refusing to pay for it. I urge everyone to not forget about all this when it comes time to vote the next time!

Thanks for reading this week.

Larry Eifert

Here’s the blog on the web.  And here’s my Facebook fan page. I post lots of other stuff there.

Click here to go to our main website – with jigsaw puzzles, prints, interpretive portfolios and lots of other stuff.

Nancy’s web portfolio of beautiful photographs

And Click here to go to Virginia Eifert’s website. Her books are now becoming available as Amazon Kindle books.