Three–Zip
Saturday, 22 March 2008
I always love this closing ritual at high school sports events.
Musings
Bloomin’ redbud
Friday, 21 March 2008
Maybe it’s the adorable heart-shaped leaves, but I have a perhaps outsized appreciation for redbuds, which in this part of the world means Cercis canadensis‚ but wait, or are they Cercis siliquastrum? Hmmm. Heck, it’s complicated to do identification of non-wild species….
Meanwhile, for those looking for broader horizons, apparently Al Gore wasn’t invited to chat with Richard Branson and his guests—at Branson’s private island in the BVI—meaning a substantially non-green footprint for that gathering, I’m guessing, with all the necessary jet travel etc. just to get there….
Virtual water
Thursday, 20 March 2008
Miscellaneous hearth-art from the KW/GG caribou-rack room….
Recently I encountered this article abstract, Virtual water: Virtuous impact? The unsteady state of virtual water (2007), by Dik Roth and Jeroen Warner, and the phrase “virtual water” sure caught my eye. What they mean is water needed for crop production, with the implication that if you get your food from elsewhere, the water needed to grow (and ship) that food comes from that environment, not locally to you. I first encountered this concept, absent the catchy name, when a guide we had in Tanzania observed that flowers grown in Africa and shipped to the voracious flower markets in Europe meant Africa was effectively exporting water since flowers take so much to grow to the blooming stage. Anyway, having yesterday driven through flooding in Ohio and water sluicing in ditches in Kentucky, while thinking about the drought here in Georgia, water’s been on my mind.
To reduce the amount of virtual water you consume (or cause to be used), consider following Michael Pollan’s prescription: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. (Pollan’s link, and a NYTimes article….)
Today’s vocabulary: iteroparous
Applies to organisms that reproduce more than once during their lifetimes. Examples include mammals, perennial plants. Iteroparous plants are more common in the tropics. In contrast, semelparous organisms reproduce only once in a lifetime. In general, semelparous species will produce more offspring from their single breeding event than iteroparous species. Iteroparity appears to be an adaptation to environmental (and thus reproductive) uncertainty.
I thought this a fine word (well, pair of words) for springtime….
Travel serendipity
Wednesday, 19 March 2008
Southbound on I-75 today, we went through rain, actually several wide bands of rain; fortunately, the Prius handles sodden (paved) roads pretty well. We left in fog around 6:15 am, then the misty-moisty fog became rain and intermittent wipers would no longer keep the window clear. Eventually we went through (miles of) real rain, and I watched beige-brown waters flowing down the hillsides and through ditches where water only combs the grass when it rains heavily, leaving them dry within hours after the precip ceases.
Luck finally arrived in southern Tennessee, when the rain petered out and the clouds began to break up. In celebration, we left the Interstate at Ooltewah and wandered cross-country, passing through Red Clay, the capital of the Cherokee Nation while they were under seige by EuroAmericans during the 1830s*, and eventually meandering down to ATL, using the iPhone’s lovely current-traffic info to avoid highway blockages with evasive route selections.
* The State of Georgia wouldn’t allow the Cherokees to meet, so they moved their venue from New Echota Georgia up to Tennessee (you might also like this link from the state of TN). I admit I didn’t know why the name “Red Clay” was rattling around in my mind until I did the googling for this blahg entry….
Weather’s a’changin’
Tuesday, 18 March 2008
Today, the sky lightened long after dawn, with only enough light to make the trees emerge from the thick fog. Rain will reduce the remaining snow banks and plow piles, and the rivers will overflow.
Control issues?
Monday, 17 March 2008
I was going to blog about the lovely chicken with mustard sauce that Mouse made, but we ate it all up before I got a picture taken, and who wants to see an empty cook-pot?
And I could blog about all the laughing we did with KW and GG, but then I’d have to explain too much.
So, I’ll settle for a photo of the U-Scan that KW mentions so often in her blahg (or used to).
Sunday visitin’
Sunday, 16 March 2008
Pretty low-key Sunday. L&C came to visit at the house, and Salem came by at Mom’s to shed some of his black fur.
Colorful sunset
Friday, 14 March 2008
Sometimes, even through travel-smudged windows, sunset from the Interstate can look mighty fine.
Malus aforethought
Thursday, 13 March 2008
…the bees didn’t stay in one place long enough to have their picture taken….
Actually, this may be a pear and not an apple; still both are within Rosaceae…so, I guess I shoulda thought more ’afore I labeled this Malus….
Today’s vocabulary: bloom
Among its meanings, bloom as a noun has somewhat contradictory references both 1) to being in the state of flowering, and 2), to the light, powdery (natural) surface deposit on leaves or the skin of fruit, e.g., apples, plums, grapes. So, in the growth sequence of Malus (and other species), bloom can be used twice—at least.