Cappy, You are so right. We are all on here worring about balancing our water and who has the best sales pitch and we tend to forget we are, in many ways, an elite group. By that I mean, we can afford a luxury that so many people wouldn't even think of. Last spring we went with our kid's Boy Scout troop into a coal mine in Pa. near Centralia. The tour guides were young men who approached the dangers of this horrible job like many people who go to a clean office to work. Personally, it was like a horror movie. The mines are cold, damp and darker than dark. The workers have to construct all sorts of things to bring the coal down channels and they make ladders to climb up and set off explosives that free the coal. I was almost in tears as our young guide told us about his family and how it really liked his job because in that area, mining was the high dollar job. You never really realize how good you have it until you see something like this. Much of the electric that is powering our tubs was generated by coal fed power plants..isn't that a strange thought!
Guess I have really twisted your thread..sorry but I have been thinking about those miners and their families a lot too.