Chesapeake Bay (4/18/2015)

Finally, this was the first time this year that we went for a sail on our boat instead of the boat of a friend.  I like sailing in general, and yes, sailing on boats from friends is great.  Those boats are usually larger, and warmer.  Our friend Ben has a Catalina 30, of which he can enclose the entire cockpit and keep you out of the cold weather.  It was great sailing with him around Christmas time, while it was snowing outside, and on other cold days this winter.  But as a boy of the tropics, I prefer warmer weather, and of course nothing is better than sailing your own, even if it is inferior to other boats.

During our sail we had to test our new camera (an Olympus TG-3).  Yes I know not a Go-pro, but ; being an avid Olympus user all my life I just gravitated to this one.  Moreover, it does everything a Go-Pro does and then some.  We clipped the camera to the mast with a monopod and was able to take pictures using my cell phone as a remote.  I used my phone as a view finder and could use it to zoom in or out and take shots.  Great fun!  On the photo below you can see me operate the camera with my phone.

The weather was great, a few clouds in the sky and winds around 10 knots.  Temperatures were in the mid-70s, but with the wind over the colder water it was chilly.  During the sail we were reminded that it is pine pollen season on our part of the world, and if you are not from our part of the world you would not know what I am talking about.  During pine pollen season everything gets covered by a layer of fine yellow dust.  It is amazing.  While they say people are not allergic to pine pollen, on Sunday my body was not as happy as it usually is, the sky was yellow, and everything had a thin cover of yellow dust.  I wrote about it before (here) almost exactly a year ago (on 4/19/2014).  So interesting how closely nature is synchronized. 

With the first rainstorm streams are covered by a yellow slime and in a way it is actually indescribable.  The admiral (my wife) took a picture of a plume of pine pollen that we sailed through well off shore (maybe a mile or two) in the Chesapeake Bay (see the photo below).   What amazes me here that there must be this strange current in the water (or a combination of current and wind) that concentrates the pine pollen in this narrow band.  But you can see is goes quite the distance.

Fredericksburg (4//14/2015)

A strange subject today, but yes I'm on the road for work again And in Fredericksburg.   I really like downtown,  it is older and has some wonderful restaurants.  But yes, I stay on the outskirts of town in one of the chain motels.

I had not arrived yet, or my wife texts me a photograph of our back yard.  The dogwood is about in full bloom with the red bud also in full bloom behind it.  One of my favorite sights, those two trees blooming next to each other in spring.  So what dother I do?  I text her a picture of the view of my motel room.

She replies with: "That place needs some trees."  And in a way she is correct.  We are creating a human desert.   This idea came home even more tonight when I was reading my book while waiting for my food in the restaurant and later in the coffee shop.

I am reading about extinction (The sixth extinction : an unnaturally history by Elizabeth Colbert) and was just reading about what the cause or causes were for the 6 or so extinctions were.  Speculations are that at least one was caused by a meteor impact, but the others might have been caused by some organism or by an ice age.  For example, it is thought that the explosion of mosses might have brought on this ice age, by taking all the carbon dioxide out of the air (the opposite of what is happening right now).  Another extinction might have been caused by a mass generation of carbon dioxide and a massive green house effect that killed nearly everything.   Only a few adapted species survived.  The scary part is that this is what could be happening to earth again and I am not sure if my child or her children will be adapted enough to survive it.

One of the potential causes of increasing carbon dioxide levels is deforestation and urbanization.   So my wife's comments hit home, we need more trees.   Mature trees are so much more efficient in sequestering carbon dioxide than other plants.

Wakefield (4/11/2015)

Spent a wonderful time Saturday running around in Surry, Sussex and Southampton Counties.  This is a more rural/agricultural area of the coastal plains of Virginia.  Our road trip started with a ferry ride across the James River from Jamestown to Scotland.  We first visited Chippokes State Park.  They were holding a fiber festival and were sheering sheep and alpacas and selling wool and its paraphernalia and peanuts.  This was my first visit to Chippokes; I think I've always considered it less attractive and less charismatic, since it is so close to home, in an area that I know well, ecologically, environmentally and from being on the water so much.  But I was proven wrong; in our minds, while we were driving through the place, we were already renting a cabin for a weekend sometime this fall.  The fiber festival was small and intimate.

This visit was followed by lunch at the Virginia Diner.  The diner is a great place the have some interesting Virginia style food, and our current all time favorite: Peanut pie!  It seems that Guy Fieri from Food Channel's Diners Drive-Ins and Dives visited the diner for the first season of the show.  The Virginia Diner also sells lots of peanuts and it is a great meeting place.  That brings you to the economy of the area.  Driving around, you see agriculture and forestry; that's basically it.  Agriculture includes a lot of peanuts and pork, although I understand peanuts are somewhat on their way out and being replaced by cotton, corn and soybeans.

After lunch we visited a natural area that is managed in a different way than many of the woods here in Virginia.  The photograph below shows you what I mean:

Very rarely do you see a savanna type forest as you see in this photograph.  This type of forest (vegetation) is somewhat more prevalent further south, but even there it is on it's way out.  This vegetation is a typical example of a stand that is frequently burned.  Yes you can see some of the scarring on the trees, but pines can and will survive it, at least when the fire does not get too hot.  All the needles on the ground will burn up, giving grasses a better chance to get established.  Moreover, most of the broad-leaf species do not like fire and they are suppressed.  The photo below somehow show this as well.  The area to the left appeared to have been burned last year while the area on the right-hand side of the trail was burned a few years earlier.  You can see to invasion of the broad-leaf species such as oaks and gums.

As regular readers know, I am such a proponent of maintaining the natural balance in the woods.  I have lamented about the lack of predators in the woods (just look for the labels for "deer", "natural balance", or even "wolves", to read some of my postings on that subject).  The lack of fire in these forest ecosystems is another one of those things that is sorely missing in our area and in many areas.  Yes, fire consumes a lot of biomass in a forest (or at least it looks like that); it kills a lot of the hardwoods; it produces a lot of smoke; and it might threaten human life and property (as we see in some of the California fires), but the complete fire control allowed for the development of forests that the first colonizers would not recognize.  Driving back through Isle of Wight County after a day in these woods we were astonished that you could hardly look more than 10 feet into the woods and everything was blocked by crappy plants that live in the edge of wood lots.  A walk though the woods behind our home was an eye opener after a day like Saturday.  There in so much dead biomass built up in those woods from fallen trees, which in addition, to all the leaves and needles have made these woods a complete fire trap.  On top of that, these woods without fire are not very diverse.  The layer of leaves are basically prevents the seeds from germinating and this really impoverishes the forests.  Naturally those damn deer don't help.  An additional positive impact of fire is that it may keep some of the non-native plants that are trying to invade our woods under control.

It is amazing what the reintroduction of fire did to the area.  Our guide told us that he has never seen a fox in the area, while at the same time we stopped to admire some rare birds and carnivorous (flesh eating) plants.  In all, this again shows the result of humans modifying the environment we live in.  Whether it is killing wolves or suppressing wild fires, the environment changes as a result of these modifications, often with unintended and unanticipated results, all the while doing it thinking we are doing it for the benefit of humanity.  It was an exhilarating day and we learned a lot.

Newport News Park (4/5/2015)

Looking outside over the cityscape and skyscrapers of Richmond in the rain today, I have to reminisce about the wonderful weekend we had: the weather was glorious and the company (family) was glorious.  It was Easter weekend and that absolutely contributed to the great mood and atmosphere.  Having too many recreational choices: hiking, biking or sailing (you guessed right we are not great church people in our family), we settled on a good hike in Newport News Park.  I brought the camera and concentrated on wildlife (bird) photography.

There were plenty of cool birds to be found.  While my wife and I are birdwatchers, we took the dogs this time, and it is almost impossible to look through a pair of binoculars while a dog is tugging on the leash that is in your other hand.   Thank goodness our daughter was visiting, so I had my hands free to take pictures.  During our walk in the park we ran into a group of birdwatchers.  I forgot what the group is called, but I am sure they have the words “Hampton Roads” and “Birdwatchers” or “Birdwatching” in the name.  It seems that they meet every first and third weekend in Newport News Park (I think at 7 am), rain or shine to go bird watching.  We met them at the end of their bi-monthly trip and they reported to us that they had seen 73 different species.  Not bad for a Sunday morning, or for the park.  Birdwatchers are generally a great group of people, they are almost always willing to talk and just our inquiry, asking them if they had seen something interesting, resulted in a conversation that lasted at least 20 minutes.  I really think that is the case globally.

We walked almost the same way as the week before, so if you want to read more about the park look here or look in the labels column.  But, below are six of my bird pictures.

This is a blue heron.  You can see a pretty big turtle behind him going through the marsh. 

This egret just caught a fish and he is ready to swallow it.

Another egret in the forested part of the wetland, in the background you can see a swan on the pond.

This green heron landed right in front of me on a branch.

A white breasted nuthatch; their call is so recognizable and they are fairly easy to spot but difficult to photograph at times (they never pose).

Last but not least a picture that should be turned into a jig saw puzzle.  Two Canada Geese and a mallard.

Farmville (4/3/2014)

I like to take US 460 on the way back home from an extended trip out in western Virginia and/or when I am not in a hurry.  Millage wise it is not much different, but hopefully it helps with the nerves.  I love some of the towns on this road:  Lynchburg, Bedford and Farmville.

While I figure that I need to stop by the D-day memorial (especially because that is also the date of my wedding anniversary), I always tend to gravitate to Farmville.  Mentioning Farmville to people always gets me two types of reactions.  I often get a yawn or a all telling look, and from people that have been there I usually get a smile.  I do think Farmville is an undiscovered little treasure.  It is a sleepy little town with a university; Longwood University is in our state system, and I remember well applying for a job as a biology teacher there, but obviously they did not think I was qualified.  Their loss.  I would have enjoyed living there.  I really like smaller towns like Farmville, Lynchburg, Danville and Pulaski.  I need to visit more small towns, I love the old buildings and the history that made these towns thrive in the past.

Farmville used to be a small industrial; my understanding is that is was one of the hubs of furniture making that we saw a lot of in this region of the country.  With furniture manufacturing moving to cheaper countries like China, these small towns did not fare well, but I think Farmville is on the up swing.  They have a thriving furniture and mattress market the High Bridge bicycle trail, and as I mentioned before the University.  This is the place in Virginia to go shopping for those items.  I know, we bought a rug there.

If I can help it I tend to stop in Farmville (see some of my past posts on Farmville here and here) for lunch at the Bakery.  My understanding is that the owner id from Belgium, and in addition to the best selection of Belgium beers, the place has a great lunch menu and Dutch coffee for sale.  But darn, I need to branch out and write about other places, this is the third post on that town (Mr./Mrs. Mayor, I expect the symbolic key to the city).

While I usually go for a walk (or a bike ride) in the direction of the High Bridge, I decided to go the other way today.  Below are tow pictures I took during my walk.  One of a set of murals and the other I took at the old train station.  Both are colorful and it was difficult to choose between them.

An yes, next time is the D-day memorial.

On training and teaching (4/2/2015)

Today not a pretty picture or something like that.   However, just a picture of a class review I had today.  Worse, I got a standing ovation after finishing the class I taught today.   While it felt great, this is not why I teach and it made me feel very flustered.  Yes it feels good to be appreciated,  but I teach to make sure people learn something and use it to better the world we live in.  Very much like what I mentioned two blog posts ago: I want to convince people that environmental responsibility and coservation is worthwhile and important.

So these past two days I presented a class on the the use of plants in stormwater and erosion and sediment control.   It is the course that I have been developing during the past few months; it is my baby, something I am very passionate about.

When I go about developing and giving classes like this I start with my audience in mind.   I think about what I would like to learn  if I were them.  I have been in many seminars and classes where I wondered why the hell I was sitting there and I made a promise to myself that I would not want to do that.  If I notice that I put people to sleep during my talks, I will retire.  I decided to keep it interesting and fun.  Put in a joke so now and then; yes, in one of my reviews someone called me flippant.   But I believe in being active and giving it my full 150%.  Getting back to my motel room I literally pass out and have to take a nap to recover enough to go to dinner.

Yes, I really love people and love to give them the tools to do what is best for this world.   I believe that people need to coexist with each other and with the natural world; only we can make this a better place to live.  We humans are that technological advanced that we can alter our environment instead of adapt to the environment.   And that is what I like t OK convey.  No I am not dangerous,  but I want to give everyone the tools.

So how do I do this?  I am very unconventional to my boss' frustration .   I create a general outline of where I want to go with my classes.   I know the audience and next I just start throwing things to PowerPoint.   I first brood a lot.  I design the class in my head and then at one point it gets together and I bleed on PowerPoint.   I try to start with the background,  or some introductory theory.  In my plant class I started with parts of the plants.  I went on to how we humans want to classify things or pigeon hole everything.   After that I developed something an the importance of native plants.  The laws and regulations were next, after which I talked about more practical things.  I never develop speaker's notes.  I don't know, but that's what  my brooding is all about and the subsequent slides.  I just start talking having some idea where I want to go and yes I make it up as I go but I never lie and the stuff I make up is always true and based on facts stored in that big head of mine. And yes, somehow it works.   As I write this I am tired, but satisfied.

Oh well this is probably a very egocentric post, but hopefully I am teaching someone something about teaching and motivation.

Draper (4/1/2015)

Whenever I am in the Wytheville area I try to visit the New River Trail for a walk.  I truly love this area and enjoyed the article on Pulaski and Draper in the Washington Post magazine this past Sunday.   Today I needed a walk to decompress.

Regular readers know that today was the first day of the new course on native plants that I have been developing.   And yes (dear diary) I personally think that it was a success.   But 6 hours teaching  (alone) left me exhausted and wired.  It was therefore what the doctor ordered, a nice walk on the trail to clear my head.  I walked approximately 2 miles and it did not clear my exhaustion but it did clear my mind and allowed me to be more alert on the highway.

Anyway, this is a great area that is fun to hang out in.  During my walk I met an older couple (who were to shy to even return my greetings) and two guys on bikes.  Being a road biker I was amazed to see that they were both on their road bikes with skinny tires. I have biked the trail, but only with my mountain bike.  Anyway, a successful day all around.  The photos below were taken on the trail, and as you can see spring is about to pop.