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.

Travelers and moonshine (9/4/2018)

So now and then the motel chain I frequent sends me a survey asking me what my impression was of the latest motel I stayed in during my travels throughout the state. While I am generally fairly satisfied with the Holiday Inn chain, their Express motels can be all over the map. My latest review reads: “Convenient Mediocrity.” Based on my latest stay, I really need to try to find a better motel chain in those areas where I can only find some hotels where I have that specific experience as my latest one. Maybe I should be more like Edward Abbey, and find a cabin in a mountain village as he describes in his book “Appalachian Wilderness: The Great Smoky Mountains.” He wrote:

In the restaurants blue gas fires burning under stacks of ceramic logs that look almost real until you get close. Omni present in the background that bland tapioca-like sound my wife calls ”department-store music.” Décor by Holiday Inn – all the motel lobby furnishings, all the restaurant tables and chairs and lighting fixtures, look as though they came from the same factory somewhere in Sothern California. Everything designed by a neurotic suffering from a severe case of social irrelevance.

What’s the alternative to this comfortable mediocrity? A grand European-style luxury that most of us would not be able to afford? Or a return to the mode of a century ago, coming into a mountain village on horseback, having a cold supper by lamplight in the cabin-kitchen of some morose mountaineer, while savage coon dogs howl, slaver and snarl on the other side of the door, and going to sleep in the early dark on a cornhusk matrass, prey to a host of bloodsucking vermin?

Which would you prefer? Which would I really prefer?

You won’t believe me but I’ll tell you: I fancy the latter, i.e., the horse, cabin, dogs and bugs. 

It would fit, sometimes. During my latest visit to the western part of the state (Appalachia) last week, one of my students handed me a McDonalds paper take out sack and told me to be careful with it. On further inspection it contained a mason jar filled with moonshine; a different kind of happy meal! Now that would fit right in with that mountain village cabin, the howling dogs and cornhusk matrass. He described it as moonshine (95 proof he told me) made from corn. I can just imagine the corn kernels making the libation and the husk making the place to sleep off the hangover, the after effects of drinking the results of the fermentation and distillation process of those ground up yellow seeds. I tasted it when I got home, it was somewhat syrupy and did not taste half bad! 

Moonshine anyone?  Chilled and ready to go.  I discarded the packaging.

The motel I stayed in in Fairfax is a sentimental favorite, although every time I end my visit it feels like I need to stay at the Hilton, which cost more-or-less the same and is a heck of a lot cleaner and more luxurious. Believe it or not, but I used the description "Convenient Mediocrity " before I read Abbey's words.

I have been coming to this motel for ten years. I have even been stuck in there during two snow storms. We had to cancel classes and I was imprisoned in a room at that place for more than 36 hours. Entertainment existed of either some panicking individuals on television discussing the current weather conditions in and around DC; another TV station with some superficial garbage masquerading as news or a show; a book or magazine I had brought with me; or some form of digital entertainment. At times I may actually have done some work. I eventually ended up trudging through 12 inches deep snow across the street to a Hooters restaurant for lunch. Honest to God, one of the few times in my life I have eaten at Hooters. I am a real testament that the Hooters chicken wings are not half bad. My waitress was Russian, and she was wearing some very skimpy revealing outfit while it was snowing outside. I somehow thought that to her it must have felt just like Moscow or Siberia in winter at that moment; it did not seem to faze her at all. My nightly dinner was at Red Lobster next to the motel. That was how far I ventured from the motel, I waited out the storm and extended my stay a day or two, so I could finish my class: a dedicated instructor, indeed. 

These snowstorms always seem to start around four in the morning and wind down around eight in the evening, to have reasonably clear roads by the next morning. One exception was what is still known as “snowmageddon” in the Washington DC area. I was stuck in that one as well in northern Virginia but not in that motel. That one struck at 3 pm and was so bad that by the time rush hour started everybody was stuck. I made it to my hotel and we ended up making snow men in the hotel parking lot.

Traveling can be fun and interesting. In previous posts I wrote about noisy neighbors and about some of my naughtier thoughts about the furnishings in motel and hotel rooms. I try to make the best of it. It can be lonely, that’s for sure. In the past, I was able to meet up with a good friend, break bread and have a pint with him. That has gotten a bit more difficult since he changed jobs. But I still don’t want to live like a hermit when traveling. It would be too easy to buy a TV dinner, order a pizza for delivery, or get Chinese take-out and mope in my room. For one, I hate to sleep in a room filled with the smell of stale food. Moreover, I hate to walk through a motel and see dirty dishes piled up in the halls. That’s not my style either. So off I go to a restaurant.

I generally do not eat in my motel or hotel. The places I stay are not of the highest class and the food is only average and predictable. I also like to people watch. Nothing better (or sad) than seeing a couple come in with their two kids. Sitting down at the table; hubby and wify grab their cell phone and start staring at it, not communicating with each other, nor their kids. Kids of course don’t have a phone or anything else; they just stare in front of themselves, they may talk to each other, but that is rare. They just sit there as logs, waiting for dinner to arrive, contemplating how best to become the best next mass murderer or high school shooter. Just some of the interesting and sad things one sees when traveling around. It aggravates and upsets me. However, as I mentioned before, traveling can have its good points too, especially when you get to enjoy nature, the sounds of nature next door, the sights or just the (fermented) results and tastes of nature. Cheers!

I actually had a chance to take a picture of this scene in the restaurant.  Father and mother are staring at their phones and had been doing that for a while.  The kids are bored and just staring ahead, not knowing what to do with themselves, waiting to be fed. 

My past travels in Nepal, weather extremes past and present (I) (1/12/2017)

It has been a crazy weather week (again) this first full week of the New Year.  For us in Yorktown it was somewhere around 11 inches (28 cm), with even snow in Alabama and floods in drought stricken California.  The year has barely started and the weather extremes are raising their ugly heads already, a sign that the climate is changing.

This is what the ponds behind our home looked like during the middle of the storm that dropped 11 inches of snow in our area.  It was actually great to go out for a hike

I saw an article that a climate change skeptic posted on LinkedIn (this is my LinkedIn profile) the other day where a researcher claimed that the temperature had actually gone down 0.3 degrees in the past 1000 years.  It is like anyone can measure that with any tools or any precision, or that we had a tool 1000 years ago to measure the temperature.  However, the skeptics are using it as proof; they don’t want to see what has happened in the last 100 years.  But let’s make sure that we confirm a climate change denier (or skeptic) to head the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for the next four years and let the environment go to hell.  Oh well, I better get of my soap box.

In their 2017 report, the World Economic Forum reports that one of the most likely risks with the most severest impacts on society will be extreme weather events (top right corner).
We know that climate change is the cause of those extreme events.
Interestingly enough those extreme events can be linked to many of the other threats on this graph.

The weather brought me thoughts back to our time in Nepal (I have written at least two more posts where I mention Nepal).  I worked there from late 1981 to late spring on 1983.  I worked in natural resources management in three districts (provinces) that ranged from the lowlands (in Myagdi) to the highlands behind the main mountain range on the Tibetan plateau (in Mustang).  The other district I worked in was Gorkha, the district that was the epicenter of the recent earthquake and the home area of the famous Gurkha soldiers.  This week’s weather brought back all the weather extremes we encountered while living there.

I was working with some yack and sheep herders in the highlands above Muktinath in the Mustang district.  Muktinath is a sacred place and an important pilgrimage site for Hindus and Buddhist alike.  The elevation of Muktinath is 12,170 feet (3710 meters), and I had been working in the pastures around 14,000 to 16,000 feet (4,200 to 4,800 meters), which was challenging in itself.  Getting back to the hotel (a hut with a common sleeping area) where I was staying that evening, I had one of the most mystical times of my life.  Three Buddhist monks were holding a meditation/prayer ceremony in the main room that I was able to watch.  They were chanting … Ohm … reciting sacred scripts in Sanskrit, spinning the praying wheels ringing bells, burning butter, it was amazing.  I was just sitting there sipping Tibetan tea and taking it all in.  It touched me deep inside.

I took a photo of this guy (obviously Tibetan stock) during one of my hikes to Muktinath.  He was sitting on the side of the trail, selling trinkets to tourists who were hiking up to the temples.  I had a wonderful talk with him.  That was the advantage of living and working there, I spoke the language and could communicate with the people in their language.

The next morning though we woke up to an unexpected snow storm.  There was at least 4 inches (10 cm) on the ground already and it was a complete whiteout.  My guide recommended that we get off the mountain and back to Jomsom (at approximately 9000 feet elevation or 2700 meters) as quickly as possible before everything became unpassable and we would be stuck up there for who knew how long.  In those days there was no vehicular travel in these areas and everything was done by foot, so here we set off in a snow storm on a 4 to 5 hour hike down the mountain in heavy snow.  I vividly remember the hike back; it was sometimes difficult to see the trail, but nothing really seriously happened during the trip, but if you have ever hiked in deep snow, into strong wind and heavy snow fall, you would know.  Once back in Jomsom; however, I was literally exhausted, I could hardly move, had a headache, and I could not understand why.  Finally, in the evening it dawned on me that I had never peed (urinated) that day; while hiking makes me thirsty, hiking in the snow storm didn’t, and I did not drink much or any water that day.  Together with hiking in heavy snow, the dehydration and elevation were playing tricks with me and I was in danger of dehydration, and that could set of altitude sickness, or maybe I already had a mild case of it.

That evening in the hotel I just swigged water like crazy and enjoyed the Bollywood movie they were showing in the hotel.  The movie was a rare treat, but me and a bunch of tourists were stuck, snowed in for a day or so until the weather lifted and I could fly out.

On an earlier trip I had met Tsampa Ngawang a Tibetan scholar sitting next to me.  Tsampa and a guy named Pasang Sherpa (who I met later) had joined the famous anthropologist/religious scholar David Snellgrove on his treks and studies through Nepal.  Tsampa and I often spoke about those trips and about Tsampa's interests.  This photo was taken when I took my wife (and dogs) to Mustang and we visited Tsampa and his wife at their home up in the highlands (a remote village in the back of the Annapurna at around 10 or 11,000 feet).  We still own prayer flags, the printing block that Tsampa carved to print them and a publication that he wrote.  Also shown in the picture is their young child and our "guard" (the project insisted we had a Gurkha guard) Bim Bahadhur.

This episode taught me a valuable lesson: you can even get dehydrated in a snow storm!  Next time I'll write about how we were impacted by the monsoon in Nepal, by flash floods and landslides.

Seaford (2/20 &2/21/2015)

As regular readers might have seen, we have had a harsh weather week these past few days.  It snowed on Monday and temperatures went below 10 degrees Fahrenheit (or -12 degrees centigrade).  Yes for us southerners that is cold!  It was that cold that it froze Back Creek where our boat is located.  As I mentioned previously, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s (NOAA) website mentions that seawater freezes below 28.4 degrees and our measurements showed the ice surface was 28 degrees; indeed cold enough for saltwater to freeze.  Expecting rain on Saturday night, I thought it was prudent to at least get a lot of the snow of the boat, in the hope to let the rainwater runoff easier and keep the inside drier.

First getting on the boat was an adventure.  She was stuck in the ice.  Thank goodness we were able to pull her forward a bit and I was able to push some of the snow of the bow with my snow shovel, thus taking some of the weight of the bow and loosening it enough that I could pull it over.  Now getting on without slipping and going of the other side.  I did succeed, and got most of the snow pushed of.  I only slipped once and thank goodness I fell right into the cockpit and did not need to try to swim in 28 degree water.  The snow was nice and soft.  I tore off the handle to the companion way hatch on my way down, but at least I've got something else to work on this winter.

Removing snow from the boat (photo taken by Donna A. Briedé)

It is always good to be at the yacht club.  I’m seldom alone; there is always someone working or at least visiting their boat.  This was also the case on Saturday and actually on Friday as well.  The advantage of membership of a group such as this is comradery and friendship.  It is a great place to hang out.  We humans are social animals and need others around, despite my regular assertion that we men are all monks and rather be alone.

Newport News Park (2/17/2015)

So here I write a blog post on the 27th of January about my experience with snow as a kid, and while I did not really meant to complain, nature had a different understanding and dished out some snow this week.  Just to get even with me complaining; nature has a way to get back at you.  On top of that it is supposed to get really cold.

The photo above is actually from one of the Grafton Ponds out back.  The ponds were mostly frozen over before the snow hit.  However there were enough holes in the ice and the weight of the snow (5 to 6 inches or 12 to 15 cm) was heavy enough to force pond water to intermingle with the snow and turn is yellowish.  This is a good thing, at least you can see where the ice is, because I'm sure that the ice was not hard enough when the snow started falling.  So no wienie roasting on the ice as I did as a kid in Canada.

It was beautiful though, the white world and the sun after a day old cold and cloudy.  I'm also thankful that the boss (or the Governor I guess) gave us an extra day off to dig out and to enjoy the snow.  For me it is a great chance to explore great out doors and nature.

I guess we are slightly different, we get of the beaten path and we "bushwhack."  Knee deep beagle snow was a bit too much for our small (12 year/old) beagle, but she was a trouper.  Like us she enjoys it a lot and that's what counts.  Both dog were smelling every hoof print that all the deer left in the ice, which was hilarious to watch.  Quality of life, enjoying the outdoors, getting in touch with nature and living in the moment are all very important.  And living in the moment we did; there is always something fun and new around every corner. 

Here we are walking away from the edge of a pond, through a wetland; hence the sedges. To the right you can see an area with some recent tree fall (recent being probably caused by hurricane Isabel 12 years ago).  The gap in the forest is now starting to fill in with some small loblolly pine saplings.  The natural succession as we see here is a good thing.  Generally after logging you have a very even aged forest, and it is the occasional tree fall that makes a forest more dynamic and diverse.  Now if we could control the deer, we would even have more diversity, especially in the understory.  Looking back this is what we saw:

Sitting behind my desk and behind my computer, I already miss being outside in nature, and experiencing this beauty.  The virgin snow covers all imperfections and even the litter you sometimes find in these far flung places.  The innocence of this landscape under a white blanket is amazing to me.  It is so peaceful and fun.  This was also evidenced yesterday by this little winter wren which was darting from trunk to trunk over the ice, pecking the bark for bugs and other food items.  The diminutive bird did not care about us and our dogs.  It came close to us and for a while just stood there on the ice and watched us. I generally find them very secretive, but this little guy had no worry in the world and was having fun on the ice.  A fun peaceful place to spend an afternoon.

(this post is part of my contribution to Cee's Fun Photo Challenge)

Newport News Park (1/27/2015)

I have not been blogging very much this month.  Probably because I am busy and with the winter in full swing, we are kind of home bound.  But today I had to share something.  It snowed overnight, and if we are lucky we get one or two snow days each year.

Of course I needed to go for a walk this morning to see the effect of the snow on the ponds behind our home, and just to take it all in.  Actually amazing.  I am someone who was born and raised in the tropics and I generally do not like cold weather.  But snow, I always have to experience that.  That is something different.  Not that I always liked snow.  I remember as a kid visiting Elliot Lake Canada in early March.  We lived in Caribbean at that time and my parents had this bright idea to go to Elliot Lake in Ontario, somewhere at the end of a road between Sudbury and Salt St. Marie (the U.P. of Michigan).  You can imagine what I though of that.  It was cold and the snow was at least arm pit deep.  I was suffering, and then our hosts had this bright idea to go and roast wienies on the middle of a lake.  They build a campfire and we went to roast hot dogs on a stick.  Man was I cold.

Oh well, we had only and inch or so and it was a fun walk this morning.  I did it again in the afternoon and most of the snow was gone, but the sky was gorgeous.  The clouds were pinkish and it beautiful and crisp.

The walk did me tons of good, after being stuck in a classroom, trying to teach people something about stormwater and erosion and sediment control.  The classroom had no windows and I really needed to get out and fight my nature deficit disorder.  I was surprised by an owl (or did I surprise it).  Owls are amazing creatures in the woods.  They are the most silent flyers and I am sure I would have missed it if would have been looking down to see where my next step would have to go.  But now, it scooted out of a tree in front of me and soared away from me through the trees at eye level not making a sound.  I could not identify it, but I expect it was a barred owl, knowing what we have in the woods.  A beautiful secretive sight that not many of us see.  Just what I needed.  It's been a nice productive day.

Wytheville (3/25/2014)

When will this winter stop?  We had snow again on Tuesday, and I took these two pictures.  One was from my motel room.  Teaching a class in the more conservative region of Virginia, I had more people trying to start an argument with me about global warming.  It was amazing.
I am so frustrated about these types of arguments which has now become so politicized.  It seems that the right leaning people want to deny there is climate change, while the lefties are very passionate about it.  I am just wondering why people that are afraid of government spending, because we saddle our children up with debt, can not talk with people who want to prevent environmental degradation, in order not to saddle our children up with and unlivable environment.
Oh well, these two pictures were from my motel room in the morning and a more artistic picture from the car; the sun was out and it was snowing.  Very interesting scenes indeed. The building in my motel room picture is of a German dinner theater here in town.

Yorktown (3/3/2014)

Although it never gets old to me, I hope it does not get old for whom ever is looking at these pictures (but I have yet to get any comments on my pictures, so maybe no one is looking), I have been showing this pond before.  Well maybe the winter is getting old, it has been an amazing winter.

Coming home from 10 days on the road we got a forced day off, because it snowed throughout Virginia that Monday morning.  Taking advantage of it we went for a walk out back.  It was snowing and dark and somewhat spooky.  Then to think, that the day before you could hear the salamanders in the pond.  Since these are ephemeral ponds and dry during the summer, it is to the salamander's evolutionary advantage to try to breed during this season, but yes it seems counter intuitive.  This pond is 5 to 6 feet deep in the middle and it dries up completely during the summer.  If it had a permanent pool, you can expect fish to live in it and these fish would eat the baby salamanders, making breeding impossible in ponds with a fish population.  In 2003 we saw the pond go from completely dry to overflowing overnight during hurricane Isabel.  Most species would breed when it is a little warmer.  I think bald eagles are also about to breed, and it is interesting how some of these species can do this in the cold; but then it is to their evolutionary advantage.  Nature is neat, and as I say, nature (and evolution) is very parsimonious, and evolution has figured it out.

Daleville (1/29/2014)

This week I was teaching in the Roanoke area, and having the winter from hell, it snowed.  I was in Daleville, just northwest of Roanoke at the Greenfield Training Center.  Thank goodness we only had 2 inches, while at my home in Yorktown we had 6 inches or more.  This was the view from the window of my classroom.  Such a beautiful view was almost distracting while teaching my class, but I behaved and paid attention to what I had to say.  I took this photo between sessions of my class.

Daleville is surprisingly nice.  It seems to be an up and coming community which you can only appreciate once you get of the Interstate.  The even have few decent restaurants and a great coffee shop.  Altogether a fun stay.

Snow in the Yorktown area (1/21/2014)

Boy it was cold this morning (12 degrees F).  It has snowed some and the temperatures had dropped dramatically. his picture is of the same pond as always, early in the morning as the sun came up.  Beautiful sight.

Richmond (1/16/2014)

It has been snowing this morning in Richmond.  In Yorktown (where I live) there was no precipitation at all, but interestingly here in downtown Richmond there was a little.  Some of the cars coming in had two or three inches on top of them.  A person in the elevator told me that they had 3 inches at her home and was surprised that there was hardly any downtown (she said she lives in Richmond).  Looking outside my office window, the roofs are somewhat covered with snow.

Somehow this covering of the black roofs took me back to a discussion in the environmental movement some years in the past.  The idea was that white roofs would slow down global warming, or at least the heat island effect of larger downtown areas.  Back then it sounded like an interesting concept.  So I went on line to read some more about it.  In the Huffington Post I found the following article: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/samir-ibrahim/white-roofs-green-myth_b_2901288.html.  The concept might work in warmer climates, but not in colder climates, according to the article.  The author (Samir Ibrahim) gives all kinds of interesting reasons for this; but then he is in the roofing business, which makes you wonder if he has any interest in shattering the white roof concept.  Oh well, maybe another myth shattered.  I guess we need to go back to reducing emissions, and greening this world.  But now I recently heard a small presentation on the BBC on how older trees are more efficient in fixing carbon versus younger trees (sorry no reference here).  Oh well.

 

Faifax (12/10/2013)

Teaching in Fairfax today.  They were predicting snow, and there was a general panic about having the class.  It is amazing how people in more southern locations freak out.  Waking up at 6 there were a few flakes coming down.  A half hour later the world was white.  Saw two accidents on the way to the VDOT head quarters.  One SUV passed me and spun out right in front of me.  They just don't know how to drive.  Only two inches fell and this photo was taken around noon.