COVID-19 Vaccine (02/25/2021)

I had my second COVID vaccination this week. Let me tell you it felt great. Actually it did not hurt, and psychologically it felt great too, knowing that I will be somewhat protected. I felt particularly good knowing that I was helping protecting others as well. On top of that, according to doctor radio: even if I get it, it seems that these shots should keep me out of the hospital and from getting seriously ill with all those complications. Since the shot was today (as of writing this section) it feels strange, but now I am sitting back waiting to start feeling crappy because of the vaccination; something I am somewhat happy about and looking forward to.

Holding my passport to maybe dining out one of these days.  That is one of those things I have missed the most.  While I like cooking and get bored with all the same restaurant food.  I am almost at my one-year anniversary (March 11) of house arrest.  

We are slowly increasing the number of people who are vaccinated against COVID-19. What amazes me is that there are still people holding out and do not want to get the vaccine. Reasons abound; the mother of a friend of our daughter is waiting for the Johnson and Johnson vaccine while her 80 or so heart patient husband is not vaccinated, as well. She does not trust the RNA vaccine. Others you hear tell folks that they do not deserve it since they are younger than others who are still waiting. It also seems that that many minority neighborhoods don’t have access to the vaccine; no CVS, or whatever is needed to distribute it.

While the lack of minority vaccinations is a different clear symptom of the racial and economic injustice, the former is pure ignorance and stupidity. Folks should realize that anyone who gets vaccinated is one less person who can potentially infect someone else. Moreover, there is one less person in whom the virus would be able to mutate and create or form a new variant. As we are seeing, variants like those from South Africa, Brazil and England are scary, more virulent, and might not sensitive to the vaccine. These variants are able to continue killing folks, maybe even at larger numbers. This is what herd immunity is all about and the drive to get as many people vaccinated as quickly as possible. In other words, you should not feel guilty that you get the shot while someone else who might be more deserving still has to wait. Again, we want herd immunity and everyone helps. By being vaccinated, you slow down the spread and reduce the chance on mutations.

So yes, I am happy I am getting my shots and contributing to herd immunity and help protecting other folks who have not yet gotten their shots.

Short-term vs. long-term gain (2/17/2021)

This past week we had an impeachment trial of the inciting chief also known as the ex-president. There were a lot of GOP senators (and house members before them) who acquitted him. Not necessarily because he was not guilty for inciting a riot or worse an insurrection, but because of some bizarre technicality. At least that is the way they saw it. It seems that this might be for their short-term gain, avoiding pissing off the weirdo, very vocal tRump supporters, the Q-anon, proud boys, neo-Nazis, oath-keepers, and alike. However, will it help them, their party, or the country in the long run? I doubt it. Yes, the seven senators that voted to convict are getting crap at home, and so is Liz Cheney, but they had character, they called it out the way it was. These folks that voted to acquit will always be known, branded, for what they did, as spineless, characterless cowards who threw away the constitution and became complicit to a murder, invertebrate republicans. They threw away potential long-term gain for some short-term political gain. Will it be worth it? We’ll see!

I stole this one from a friend's post on Facebook.  I have no idea where she got it.  If it is copy righted let me know and I will give credit for it for sue, but this really shows what I mean.

And here I promised I would try to stay away from politics in the new year. Wow that did not last very long, did it? “Short-term vs. long-term gain.” It applies to daily life; in all decision, we make. What triggered that thought? It was partially the decision by the GOP senators, but I was reminded for a large part by a bonsai video blog (vlog) that I follow. All these events brought me back to my teaching, my motivation, and my graduate studies, which all have to do with long-term gain and where I am right now. Not that it always worked out, but I am in a good place.

I have been watching a vlog by Nigel Saunders called “the Bonsai Zone.” Nigel does clip and growth bonsai, meaning he hardly ever wires his trees. He has two famous sayings: “Here I go,” and “It does not look like much right now, but in ten or fifteen years from now it will look great.” Nigel looks long-term ; everything he does is for long-term gain. I figure that Nigel may be my age, or at most maybe 10 or so years younger. But he is definitely no spring chicken, he is retired, and his optimism and outlook for the future has no boundaries. I love his enthusiasm, his sometimes-non-conformity, and pure fun he has in all thing’s life. I see that a lot with Bonsai guys. Peter Chan from Herons Bonsai in England who is in his 80s is the same. It must have to do something with trees or plants. It sustains these professionals and gives them a long-term vision, a will to live, to plan for a future, far away.

I nurse some tropical trees right next to my teleworking station.  Note the grow light that I have above my trees.  I ordered it after Nigel got the same one from a fan and unpacked it on his show and liked it.  He still has it behind him on almost every video he shoots this season.  In addition I think it helps me with my seasonal affected disorder (if I have that). 

During my classroom teaching and in particular when I teach my “Plants for Erosion and Sediment Control and Stormwater Professionals” class, I tell folks why I am a plant biologist instead of an animal or other type of biologist. One of the major reasons, I explain, is that if we animals do not like what nature throws at us, we can go inside, or in case of (real?) animals we can crawl under a rock, migrate, hibernate, you name it. Conversely, a plant just must stand there and take it all in, have a strategy to survive or die.

I graduated with a specialty in plant physiological ecology. This study explains why and how a plant reacts and deals with its environment. I particularly liked what was called stress physiology. I guess that this is probably why I like growing bonsai so much; you are stressing your plants somewhat, to develop a miniature version of the real tree.

I tell my students and I know that I have mentioned it once or twice here in my blog, biologists would make great economist. During my bachelor’s studies, my highest grades were in economics. Why is that you may ask. As Darwin put it, the natural world is all about “Survival of the fittest” or as I like to call it parsimony, or how to do things the most efficient. How do you achieve that? Mostly by thinking ahead, long range. If you do not, someone is going to outcompete you and you will be evolutionary history. Surprise, surprise, plants, in particular, are really good at this. Us animals, and yes, I count humans as animals, are more opportunistic and more reactionary. They can shoot from the hip, be more impulsive and think more short term.

Both behaviors have their advantage. Slow and steady has worked really well in the plant kingdom. Some plants are still here since the beginning of evolutionary time, many are not. I actually work with a few in my collection, like the dawn redwood and the gingko biloba. Animals have evolved. Maybe except for roaches and horseshoe crabs there are not many species that we know of who have outlived evolutionary time.

This all may change with climate change. We know that animals can move with the shifting climates, while many plants cannot and either must adapt, evolve, or simply die (become extinct). Many researchers are speculating about what will happen to ecosystems that are on the margins. For us stress physiologists it is an exciting time. It is a shame that I choose a different path in my career some 30 years ago, and am out of the loop. But so be it. My choice was short-term (financial) gain over the long-term intellectual. As I mentioned we all come to forks in the road of life and at times we must choose, not knowing whether deciding for short-term gain is better than choosing a path that may deliver long-term gain but is difficult to envision at the time. I choose mine, and I’m OK with it. I wonder if those politicians will be.

Winter is here (02/03/2021)

Winter has come to our corner of the world.  Not like the rest of the East Coast where they got up to 2 feet of snow yesterday and today.  We just got flurries and cold wind.  Of course it was on the day of the great rodent weather prognosticator, the wood chucks.  Strangely enough we all know that the astral spring is March 21, which is about 6 weeks from now; in other words it would make sense that it will stay somewhat cold for the next foreseeable few weeks.

I took this picture late last week after our first decent snowfall in a few years.  Decent means one or two inches.  The wind came up and blew some of the snow off the tree limbs and it was just beautiful and magical.

Teleworking is still interesting during these cold days.  My wife works down stairs, and I am sorry (for her) to say that the heat rises so she is cold and I am pretty comfortable up here in my perch.  We tend the run the wood stove only in the evening since it is in our library or what we call the stove room.  That room is the furthest removed from where my wife works, so it would have little or no effect on her warmth.  Moreover she would need to keep the darn thing loaded with wood.

Walking the dogs is fun now.  Jake the old guy loves this weather.  While he was on death's door a year ago and was given only a few days or weeks to live (read this post of last year), he is holding on, now a year later.  He absolutely loves this cold weather and actually is frisky.  He wants to join us on our lunch time walks and is genuinely disappointed when he has to go on a smaller walk in the morning before work.  He is just very slow.

I don't mind being slow when going out back into the woods.  I still like it when nature comes over me and when I have a chance to enjoy the sights, smells and sounds of the woods.  It never gets old, no matter what the weather is.  Right now, it is very wet out there and we are avoiding it somewhat; however, on the weekends you can find us somewhere in the woods.  I cannot believe there is anyone who can live without seeing or experiencing nature.  It is so darn important to get out there folks, there is beauty everywhere.

One more photo from our winter hike a few days ago.  Our favorite pond.  It has not been cold enough for it to freeze over.

Reading that post I wrote about Jake, now almost a year ago, I am not depressed.  Maybe it is because I have a powerful grow light next to me that helps with my little tropical bonsai trees that are next to me on my desk.  Maybe it is because of the change to a more emphatic political climate; although there are still a lot of nut cases out there.  But I try not to let it bother me right now; I have more work to do than I had in the past few months.  This, as the saying goes, should "keep me out of trouble".   As long as I can get out into the woods.  I have plans to get a few airlayers from a beech this spring.  Stay tuned.