Six random thoughts (9/27/2019)

It has been an interesting few days here in Virginia, or here in the US. I will try to go through some of them point by point, more to chronicle what is going on and what is on my mind. Most of it should probably not be new to many of you, but so be it.

1. We are in a drought here in eastern Virginia and we have a heat wave. Temperatures are still around the high 80s (or above 30°C). Normal temperatures should be somewhere in the low 70s (20°C). Our trees are wilting, the leaves are shriveling up and I actually have to water with city water. It seems that the hot, dry weather is not going to break for another week or so.
2. On the other hand, we had 40" or 100 cm of rain in coastal Texas, again.
3. Guess this is all a sign of global warming, the dreaded climate change. We had a huge conference at the U.N., which culminated in a weird standoff between the current occupant of the Whitehouse and the young climate activist Greta Thunberg (watch her speech <here>).
4. The climate week ended with a worldwide strike and we participated! (See the photograph below). I found it very important to join the youth and our Unitarian church members in standing up for the future of the world. I wanted to show my solidarity. As I often write in my blog, I think climate change is the most important issue facing humanity.
5. We are intensively training for a 60 mile bike ride in two weeks. This has raised my metabolism so much that in the past month I lost 5 lbs and it seems I am always hungry. The issue now is going to be adjusting after the bike ride. I would love to keep losing, but winter is supposed to come and that seems to curtail my biking. Climate change seems to impact spring and autumn more than the extremes: summer and winter, or the extreme hot and cold spells.
6. Finally, I have been glued to the news about the news about the possible impeachment of the current occupant of the Whitehouse. It seems that he runs the place like a mafia boss but with less class. What a surprise. It seems to be far worse than what Nixon did.

I tend not to post pictures of my ugly face but here is one of me during the Climate Strike on September 20th, 2019.  It is kind of a shame that the news of the corrupt occupant of the Whitehouse overshadowed all this and the conference on climate change at the U.N.   

Some six random points that I want to make sure that are recorded in my blog and on the Internet for posterity. Not that I expect that the climate conference and the revelations in Washington are not going to be etched in the psyche of this nation, the internet, or even this world.  However, I want to make my small contribution to it, just like me previous post, where I revisited 9/11.

September 11, a quick look back (9/11/2019)

This will be a very quick post, but looking back at all my "million" posts over the past years, I never really wrote about that day in history (or what we call here: 9/11).

Famous picture Stolen from Wikipedia

9/11 was a day has changed this country, we will never be the same again. We came together as a people for a few days and then plunged ourselves into wars that we are still in.  Soldiers fighting in Afghanistan or still serving in Iraq might not have been born on 9/11/2001.  Since that time we created new enemies and we still have old ones.  We have leaders who don't understand it or don't give a crap about it all.  In addition now they want to nuke hurricanes or send them astray with a sharpie pen.

Most of us know where we were when the towers came down.  I was conducting a vegetation study at the Lakehurst Naval Station (in NJ) on 9/11, when the MP (Military Police) came to check with us and told us a plane had hit the first twin tower.  At that time nobody understood yet that is was a terrorist attack.  It could have been an accident.  

We continued with our work.  However, a half hour (or 45 minutes) or so later, they came back and we were told that the second tower was hit and we were escorted off the base. When we got back to our motel we were stunned watching the news for a while, after which we got in the truck and drove back to Newport News, figuring out that we were probably not going to be allowed back on base for a while.

It was a solemn/stunned six hour drive back, listening to the radio.

Today, I am remembering that day, but doing fine.

Fall is in the air (9/4/2019)

It is September.  Fall is definitively in the air.  A little early maybr, but our two chrysanthemums (or mums) that we have overwintered for years now, are about to bloom.  So are the goldenrod in our back yard.  I am sure that the bees are looking forward to it and to other fall flowers.  Our first major hurricane (Dorian) has devastated the Bahamas and is on its way up the eastern seaboard.  My wife and I are training intensively for another century (bicycle) ride.  We took a long bike ride last evening and it was wonderful to chase our own shadows down the road and to look over the fields in the national park behind our home while the sun was starting to set.  It was gorgeous.  Wow, the rites of fall (not of spring).

This picture was taken recently during one of our training rides.  This is in the Colonial National Park in York County.

At work it is time to plan for next year's workshops, while preparing one more full day class and working on at least two more webinars.  Crazy as it may sound, every time I step in front of a class I have to fend of questions like: "Hey Jan, when are you retiring?" or remarks like "Hope you are not retiring soon!"  Guess I am starting to look old and acting my age.

Honestly, I do have retirement on the brain.  It would be nice hang it up and relax, work on my trees, sail, travel, hike, and just hobby.  However, it would also involve admitting that I am getting old and that the decline is setting in.  I wrote about that in a somewhat rambling post <here>.   But I do enjoy teaching and working with these folks.  I am still hoping that my love and interest for the environment will rub off on some of them and that they will follow in my footsteps and help to protect the environment or at least understand the need and the urgency to do so. 

We ask the folks that attend the workshops to do a review of the class and these are just two of the latest reviews I got in August.  I took a photos because they made a comment specifically about my teaching.

Another point for not retiring is financial.  The stock market did not fair well in August and with the political uncertainty it is difficult to rely on the savings right now.  The stock market rises or declines one or two percent with every tweet or twist and turn by the current occupant of the White House.  It feels like he is just doing it for kicks; just because he can!  There is talk about a recession.  In other words, I am not sure if this is the right time to call it quits, or just to hold on until we finally get rid of him and things stabilize.  That is, if things will ever be the same, or stable, again.  Oh god, here we go again, into my favorite subject of late, politics.  Stop it!

I really like fall or autumn as some call it, except for the annoyances of the storms (which according to statistics are getting more severe thanks to global warming).  It is getting cooler, the air gets crisp, the leaves are coloring and the shadows are getting longer.  I have written about my love of autumn every year except last year (check the keyword or label: fall colors).  

Animals, plants and yes, we people are all preparing for the coming cold season.  The squirrel are digging in my bonsai pots and I think they are hiding oak acorns in them.  All the moss has been dug up and thrown out of the pots, and next spring it will be weeding time.  Of course, they are hiding acorns elsewhere in the yard, as well.  Plants are translocating nutrients to the roots and trunks in anticipation of the winter.  I teach my students that this is the time that weed control may work best.  Even we humans are preparing for winter.  Some of us fatten up in fall, for the cold winter.  We have stored our firewood and are ready to light the stove when it gets cold at night.  Bring it on!