Isn't it Ironic?

This is a quick post on my personal observation today combined with recent thoughts on weather. Anybody who lives in the Southeast or watches the evening news or the weather channel knows that this has been an exceptionally dry year. The rainfall is from one foot to two feet behind normal depending on exactly where you are located. Also, late summer was unusually hot with about three weeks of 100+ degrees. All of this really gives the global warming cheerleaders goosebumps. "We are headed for certain disaster!" they chant. "Well, it certainly has been hot and dry" says I. Al Gore gets awards for a movie that says the ice cap at one pole is melting. Somebody else gets an award who says the ice at the other pole is expanding. Since I rarely travel to either, I just have to take their word (with one eyebrow raised). But as I look around where I have the opportunity to walk and observe every day, here is what I notice; in spite of the drought conditions that are drying up the large lakes (artificially large, I might add) and the extreme heat, oak trees of all types are producing a bumper crop of acorns. "So what?" you say. Well, how do they do that? Where do they draw the water to support all the parts of the trunk, limbs, leaves, and still have enough to produce acorns in abundance? Not only that, but have you noticed the pecan crop? I have. Most trees are loaded. And not just lots of empty shells, but full flavorful pecans. How can that be? Then today I passed beneath a pecan tree and picked up a couple to crack and eat. Here is a picture of one of the pecans. It is a little out of focus but maybe you can get the main idea.

Can you tell? The pecan has three "halves". And I can testify, it was mighty tasty. Sure, if you want to believe what Al Gore and Michael Moore are preaching, you can say that more hurricanes=global warming, fewer hurricanes=global warming, decreasing ice=global warming, increasing ice=global warming, drought and heat that cause withered crops=global warming, and good crops of fruits and nuts=global warming.

There is so much that I do not know about the Earth and beyond. I just do not know if the average temperature over the face of the entire planet is a degree or two warmer than last century. Maybe it is. But I know for a fact that I have personally observed that this year in this area has been abnormally dry and abnormally hot but still the trees that God designed are producing very well. How can that be? Thankfully, I do not have to worry about it.

I do believe that I have a responsibility to clean up after myself and a little after others who won't do it. I believe I should not waste the resources provided. And I believe I should think about the possible ramifications of repeated actions on the environment. I also believe, however, that I was blessed to be born in a country that cares for the environment more than any other in the world. And sometimes we get a little carried away with it. Sometimes we deprive people of water in order to maintain the habitat of a snail or fish or bird. I can't reconcile that with the concept of an "abundant life". So maybe that "three-halved" pecan should have gone to a museum or been planted to grow a tree with more "three-halved" pecans. But I ate it. And it was mighty tasty!