Saturday, 12 April 2008
It makes no sense.
Two nights ago I dreamed I had a scintillating (yes, really) conversation with Paris Hilton.
Last night I dreamed I woke up from a nap on the grass (where? why?) to find a mountain gorilla kindly watching over me.
Usually, I don’t “meet” my dreams; it may be better that way.
Friday, 11 April 2008
Someone’s birthday began with a pre-dawn run to his favorite drinking establishment. St-bux, that is.
Thursday, 10 April 2008
Something to think about when you take your Geo Bush gov’t check aka economic stimulus bux to the store/online to buy consumer electronics made in Asia, as so many are predicting:
Any idea how far the largest container ships can go on a gallon of fuel? Try 37 feet. That adds up to 2 billion barrels of petroleum a year. “If the shipping industry were a country, it would be No. 7 in carbon emissions,” says Michael Hirshfield….
…—From Newsweek dated 5 April on web and 14 April on my dead-tree version….
Wikipedia’s article on container ships says the first container shipping was in 1956, the current containers are 40 feet/12 m long, and the larger container ships carry something like 7500 of them—if my math is right.
Wednesday, 9 April 2008
…from the west flank of Brasstown Bald, on Sunday.
Now I find out!
Googling tells me this kind of trillium is Trillium luteum, with various common names, and a pronounced lemony odor. Me, I was photographing not sniffing.
Next time!
Tuesday, 8 April 2008
For unknown reasons (unexercised and unverbalized desire to wander exacerbated by fine spring weather?), I’ve been distracted for a time both yesterday and today looking closely at the Isle of Skye in Google Earth. I even downloaded a 1905 text from archive.org called The Misty Isle of Skye: Its Scenery, Its People, Its Story, and examined places noted therein.
Somewhere along the way, I discovered that those crazy Brits (or Scots) decided that if a Munro is any Scottish mountain more than 3K feet tall, then a somewhat smaller landform, at least 150 meters tall (just under 500 feet for you metric-challenged types), shall be referred to as a Marilyn (get it?), or, roughly, a hill. Or, and I suppose this is entirely possible, those Wikipedia wackos are totally pulling my leg!
Monday, 7 April 2008
Up on Brasstown Bald yesterday, we saw many patches of the wild groundcover galax. I did not know that the shiny galax leaves are commonly used in floral arrangements, and that its harvest is regulated—according to this link, which also includes a link to a 44-page PDF on the plant (your Federal tax dollars at work!). I never would have guessed there was this much info on the unassuming Galax urceolata!
Sunday, 6 April 2008
Did the Brasstown descent again. Gorgeous, sunny day. Fantastic company. Wonderful.
That’s the last hike for the (expensive) shoes I wore; they dumped me today and were the same ones I was wearing the other week when I slipped into the creek. As of now, that (expensive) footwear is banished to urban strolls.
Friday, 4 April 2008
The ten-dollar deal! Note: contains no actual wasabi.
Seriously, this much wasabi powder must affect the global climate—and there were more piles of kilo bags, in various brands, right next to these!
Most of the dogwoods I’ve seen around the city are full open and brilliant, and many azaleas are nearly open; however, the white azaleas in our backyard are only about 20% open. Too overcast/rainy to photo today; maybe tomorrow.
Thursday, 3 April 2008
Here’s proof that the tornado almost two weeks ago didn’t get all of downtown—yeah, okay, well, yeah, this is Midtown….
And the fogginess indicates that rain is on the way, so tomorrow’s proposed hike is on temporary delay.
