We interrupt our ordinary programming for one brief expression of gratitude:

While we understand all too well that most of the time (way too much time), brainpower, researching, hand-wringing, worrying, hair-tearing, phone-calling, letter-writing, and psychic and emotional energy we’ve spent on all of this will bear very little fruit (in the short term), we have gained a great deal of compensation from all of the wonderful, decent, generous people we have met (and you mostly know who you are): neighbors we didn’t know before; fellow landowners– rich ones and not-so-rich ones, young and energetic ones and older-but-just-as-energetic ones; farmers, attorneys, activists, environmentalists, engineers, journalists, civic leaders, and people who would prefer just to be left alone. We may feel slightly impoverished by our dealings with Enbridge, but we’ve been enriched by our dealings with our fellow citizens.