I’ve been reading about a huge range of life cycles and species relationships in David George Haskell’s wonderful The Forest Unseen: A Year’s Watch in Nature (2012). More than I’ve ever realized before, I now understand how animals can be viewed as the way plants and micro-beasts get things done that they couldn’t do alone. And all sorts of patterns are incorporated into a complex whole. And how that whole might be is likely to be misunderstood if you view it from the perspective of the mammalian world. Consider this (p. 134):

Without exception, reproduction in animals and plants involves sex cells that come in two distinct forms: large and well-provisioned cells—eggs—or small and mobile cells, sperm. But fungi show us that this duality is not the only possible arrangement. Fungal mating types can number in the thousands.

Yikes.

I dealt with another wee system today. Yesterday afternoon I made a small fire in the wood stove, just to get the house temp higher in the 60s, and, despite having good dry fuel, it just wouldn’t draw. Highly probable problems: blockage in the chimney (hope not), poor incoming air flow. Decided to explore the latter today, hoping for a solution there. Indeed.

Second bit of evidence: ash bucket in outhouse, aka the little house in the lilacs, is almost empty.

Yup. Emptied ash from the stove this morning, filling the bucket and opening the airflow through the bottom of the stove. All systems ready for the next fire and next, um, personal outdoor meditation in the wee special activity area structure.

NOTE: special thanks to Soliel the alpaca for commenting yesterday on “her” post…. Read more about Soliel and her barnyard buddies here.

Car is now bug-free, and once again an unnaturally bright white.

With our low-clearance, highly ergonomic Prius, we creep where other vehicles zoom, but every vehicle we saw navigate this crossing crept. For good reason. Three sets of tracks on two levels, and nothing smooth about any of the transitions…still, the clear sky, the green of the vegetation—loverly.

Official national brunch day.

Walked to the library with the Guru. First stretch with the knee I’ve been babying. Seemed okay! Yippee.

Lemme stick to the…plants…ferns. I’m no good at…planning. Scheduling. Sheesh.

Don’t want to discuss server situation (total helplessness here).

Someone (initials: The G) made Sharpies. Such talent.

I don’t think this is a reaction to seeing a 3-D printer up close the other week….

Server switch initiated by server-keepers this morning, and we’re not back yet. In honor of this 22:22 post, I give you a picture that’s also…aged…from last weekend.

Swamped all day with document-proofing and detail-chasing. Mostly complete; wouldn’t have been possible without huge effort by The Guru.

Student, left; teacher, right.

There’s that lovely moment when you’re learning something and you tip over from not quite getting it, to being ready to exercise the knowledge you’ve gained.

Note: phone on left—pretty darned cool!

One of the lovely themes of our evening was watching kids enlivened with curiosity. This one had just discovered the fun of a bivy sack. The owner of the camping item, arguably an adult, sets foot on the PCT on Friday, northbound. To be, 2,663 mi later, in Canada. In October, he hopes. Travel safely, Spark!