Global Warming and the beetle

Good morning, Don,

I have to say I got the giggles when I saw your picture of the pirate squirrel! And the snarly raccoon – absolutely magnificent. Thank you. And the huge rabbit at the end – that's what we're going to have if Peter Rabbit doesn't go on a diet! We discovered some mice have been climbing into our cage encased tomatoes and have nibbled on all of the lower tomatoes. At the rate they're going, they're going to be in contention with the rabbit to see who's the most obese by the 1^st snowfall.

I'm really sorry to hear about the Ash-bore beetles. I have to say that many of our inner mountain corridors have been decimated by the pine beetle. All it will take is a single lightning strike and I think our whole inner mountain area will go up in flames. A friend of ours who lives on one of the peninsulas in Alaska wrote about the blue spruce beetle that took out thousands of square miles of trees. She said that in less than 10 years the view from her front porch changed from beautiful trees to open fields. The only good that came out of it, in her opinion, was free firewood for winter.

Here in Denver, we've been struggling with the pine beetle also. We lost a beautiful pine tree that was our outside Christmas tree. Another thing that we are looking at is Aspen rust – it's a virus that is claiming the Aspen trees that are growing in the lower elevations. According to the agricultural expert, all of this is due to climate change – summers that are hotter than normal and winters that aren't as cold.

I was thrilled to read that you are considering thinking about checking into Dr. Who. I even went and checked on some of the doctors that you might enjoy. Chris Eccleston played the 9^th doctor and actually helped revive this series back in 2004 - 2005. A lot of spinoffs came from Eccleston and David Tennant: Torchwood and the Sarah Jane adventures. David Tennant was the 10^th Dr. from 2005 – 2010 and Matt Smith was the 11^th Dr. from 2010 – 2013. I enjoy the 1^st couple of years of David Tennant, and I have enjoyed all of Matt Smith. If I look back into history, the one Dr. that I enjoyed the most was Tom Baker who did the series from 1974 to 1981. I think the best writing has occurred since 2005.

You're sleepy little town is being over-run by 15,000 people who have come to fish? Are there enough fish for that many people? And the entertainment extravaganza that events like this bring is always amazing. I was thrilled to note that you really enjoyed The Caverners. I really doubt that anybody would complain about whether or not you were good company while you were at the concert.

This weekend we are celebrating Labor Day. Most people go out to the mountains or have huge family barbecues. We have a tendency to close our door and just enjoy the peace and quiet of our own backyard. You mentioned grasping at the last straws of summer – I think this is one of my favorite times of the year. I was able to go out into my container garden yesterday, and pick carrots, onions, and beans for our weekly vegetable stew. I didn't have enough of any of them to make a whole week of soup, but adding them to the store bought vegetables helps to give it whole different taste and also a different color. We have a lot of carrots and will have a lot of tomatoes, if we can keep the mice out of them. I think we will have just the right number of beets to freeze for the winter.

There is something refreshing that supports that streak of individualism when you can go out and pick food that you've grown and cook it and freeze it for the winter. I know that my mother and my grandmother did a lot of canning, and before that my great-grandmother did a lot of salting and drying. I'm really thankful that technology has improved enough that the foodstuffs that we deem worthy of saving until deep winter don't have to be salted and dried. I also remember how much time it took to can – and if you didn't get it right, you could lose the whole batch of food. I'm thankful for freezers.

I'm still working on the Wired Generation project. I finally have found some good information on how to motivate this generation as well as what they think is important. Interestingly enough, it's not that different than how you would motivate me. I'm hoping to get more done today but I have a new class to prep and get ready to teach. I am happy to report that the major report that I was helping with has been submitted! I'm sure that the major writers of this report are sleeping well this weekend – at least I hope so because they deserve it.

I had some fascinating science articles I wanted to address – but it appears I have misplaced them in my piles of paper that now clutter my desk. Guess that will have to wait until next week. I did get Transport 34 into Amazon and it is now published! I also received 2 new stories to read within the next week – I'm looking forward to the distraction.

No real news about the right brain / left hand saga - physical therapist decided she couldn't trust me and has decided to keep me in the removable cast for another week. She also added a weight restriction of one pound to my right arm. When I voiced my opinion about this, she causally leaned across the table and asked me if I wanted to start over - she could arrange it. On behalf of my second thought, another week isn't so bad. 

Have a great week everyone,

Carolyn

Ma Nature's Mafia and simulated Beatles

Hi Carolyn,



First repeatable thought that came into my head after reading your last blog about those nefarious bunnies and coons was ...

soooo.... dey  got ta you too, did dey ??

 

 

 

  Rabbits, raccoons and maybe some chipmunks and squirrels in there to round out the list of usual suspects . All card carrying members of Ma Nature's mafia.  We are, up here, pretty well at their mercy this summer, it seems. It's a continental crime spree, I just know it. 








You are clearly more humane and maybe even, dare I say it,  disproportionately manipulated by your heartstrings on this one. I certainly can't condone indiscriminate  poisoning or actually shooting the little mobsters, but I'm all for using other of Mother Nature's henchmen to deal with them  in a poetically just and balance-of-nature-friendly manner .


For most of the first two decades we've been up here we had a great, no, make that fabulous,  cat in charge of security in the immediate outside world - and inside on occasion when a mouse or snake had the temerity to invite themselves in.

I've sung his praises herein before. His formal moniker was " Dickens " after Charles, of course. We just called him " Dick " He was a barn cat and proud of it, even though he wore spats and a tux.  Dick ran an uber-tight ship around here vis-a-vis intruders. I surely miss him now!

My LSBH and I are on opposite ends of the seesaw on this one. I'd be quite happy to secure another barn cat to share our humble home and keep the gangsters at bay.  She figures that since we are going to be traveling more it would just be an added inconvenience ~  alas, she has a point ! 





One thing, however, that even a ruthlessly efficient feral feline can't alter is starting to make its appearance hereabouts. The ash-borer beetle has begun showing up here in mid-Ontario. We have about thirty-five mature ash trees about our property that would be sorely missed for all the reasons you referred to in your last blog about the benefits of trees. A natural treatment is being touted by some arborists and landscapers in the area but it would be about 200 dollars per tree and isn't convincingly guaranteed. This isn't the kind of thing that happens quickly but it still seems to be set to transpire whether we like it or not.  




This is one of those situations where I start to get the feeling that nature's blueprint  will  be followed whether we like it or not. We can remodel and reconfigure  whatever we like inside our homes but once we get outside she is the decorator of record.

Regarding your observations about Dr. Who.  I'm wondering if he could become my next epiphany type situation, just like The Hobbit was last year. I've never been able to get into him but maybe, inspired by your ardour, I should give him a go and see what I've been missing. I'll keep ya posted on that one.




Speaking of arduous scenarios, I had one just a couple of nights ago.



The "Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular" fishing derby started a few years before we moved here and has grown into a major summer event for fishermen in this part of the Great Lakes. It's grown into a monstrous event that had over 15 thousand entrants this year and  adds many millions to the local economy in the ten days that it takes place.  It's also become an entertainment extravaganza. This year, one of the evening performances under the 14,000 square foot tent was by " The Caverners " a Beatles Tribute Band , that I have heard a lot about but haven't been able to see. So, my LSBH and I went down to see them, along with a whole bunch of other folks.



This isn't a band that just plays mostly Beatles tunes and some other stuff. It's a full-tilt, theatrically outfitted Beatles Tribute Band. There's not just the music but the onstage cheeky interchanges in convincing  Liverpudlian accents and the whole illusion. I was very lousy company, I'm sure, during their almost three hour show, just because I was glued to the stage and quite swept away. People around me could have burst into flames and I would not have noticed.   There were very few electronically filled in parts. These guys sang it and played it like it was played from the git go back in 1962. 

 Now, I'm  a textbook Beatle " fanatic" but,  I can still, like most folks,  recognize lousy talent and that's simply not what I saw that night.  They were in-crucking-fedible.

Pretty sure that my heart-rate maxed-out for most of the time I was there. 

 

\

Still, I couldn't help but wonder what it would be like to be one of the guys in this band, or any of the other bands that do this around the world - and there are lots of them, surprisingly enough! The Caverners have been doing this across Canada and beyond for close to a decade. Do they have identity issues because people think of them more as John, Paul, George and Ringo than what ever their names are or what? A future documentary in the making, perhaps.


I'm leaving the riddle out there for another go round, Carolyn. It's a busy time and all. Hopefully your educational endeavours are unfolding as they should.


We do find ourselves starting to grasp, almost desperately, at the last straws of summer now. Where the frick did the time go?


Catch ya later,

Don.

All Images downloaded from Google Images

Fig. 1 - cutefunnyanimal.blogspot.com

Fig. 2 - www. minnesotawildanimalmanagemnt.com

Fig. 3 - funny-pictures.picphotos.net

Fig. 4 - publicworkshop.us

Fig. 5 - www.ars.usda.gov

Fig. 6 - www. wallcore.net

Fig. 7 - www.ckdo.ca

Fig. 8 - www. beatlemaniaalumnia.com

Fig. 9 - couponrabbits.com

 

 

 

 

 

Peter Rabbit and The Dr.

Happy Sunday Don,

So I'm beginning to feel like Mr. McGregor in the story Peter Rabbit. We came home from the grocery store the other day and found a rabbit sitting in the container I have my carrots planted in. I don't think he had pulled any the carrots out yet. Not sure what we're going to do as he could be living in a couple of different places: under the shed or slipping under the fence to live in the abandoned back yard behind us. So I'm in a dilemma – I don't want him eating my garden, but I also don't want him to die. If we were to trap him out, where would we release him? Our neighborhood appears to be overrun with rabbits.

So I'm thinking about this at night while I trying to go to sleep, and the raccoons start to do their little jig up on our roof. My better half thinks that they are living in a nest about 30 feet up in the tree just off the corner of the house. So I am dilemma – I know the raccoon has babies and if we were to trap her out, we might not get the babies and then they might die because they don't have their mama to take care of them… In the meantime I would really like to be able to get a good night's sleep.

I share your fascination with trees, Don. We have about 20 robust, healthy, mature trees in our less than an acre yard. Larry keeps wanting to cut some of them down – I keep reminding him that the trees keep us cooler in the summer. So we finally came to a point of agreement: if he cuts a tree down, he has to plant tree. This has worked well for us as we been able to prune out the trees that needed to be moved because of high power lines or have become unhealthy, and we've been able to put in new trees in places that are beneficial to us in our yard. 

The one tree that I regret that we had to cut down was our weeping willow. It was sadly rotten and slowly dying and became very unsafe, but still.... I was able to count the rings and it was over 65 years old as far as I can tell. We have great pictures of our grandkids playing in the tree and using the draping branches and leaves as curtains for hide and seek.

A couple of years ago we took a trip to California and we were fortunate enough to visit one of the redwood forest national parks. That park had the tallest, older and the bigger redwoods. One of them was pushing to be about 400 feet tall and the girth of that tree was bigger than my house. It was one of those sacred places that I will always remember. Here in Colorado, in Olatha, there is a tree that when you touch it you can almost swear it is part of the core of the earth itself. Someone told me that the tree was well over 600 years old.

There is a program on TV about treehouse building. I wish we had trees in our yard that we could build a tree house in – I'm not looking at creating a spare bedroom with all the conveniences, but there is something very special about being in a tree.

If we are not collecting trees, we are collecting lighthouses. I think it is our dream that once we retire that we volunteer for a couple of months on the seashore to give the lighthouse tours. Not sure if that will ever happen – but it is a great.

Came across this picture of a swimming hole on the Bruce Peninsula and immediately thought of you. Maybe you know what it. It's a beautiful beautiful picture.

So finally and at last the new Dr. Who made his debut last night. I know that you are not a Dr. Who fan, Don, but for some of us this was an event that we have been waiting for all summer. Peter Capaldi, the newest Dr. Who, did an absolutely fantastic job and taking over for Matt Smith. Smith was the youngest Dr. Who, Capaldi is the oldest Dr. Who. Jenna Coleman who plays Clara was able to express the audience's concern about having a Dr. Who that has gray hair and wrinkles. Capaldi did an absolutely marvelous monologue on his face – that he couldn't figure out why he had chosen such an old face with evil eyebrows. I'm sure that the writers had a ball putting this new season together. It was a tribute to youth and maturity. I think Capaldi did a great job capturing what many baby boomers are feeling – young in spirit, "mature" in body. I'm looking forward to the new season.

So I'm going to spend the rest of the afternoon working on Transport 34 which goes into Amazon for publication next weekend. I have not decided which book to offer for free yet as I have several to choose from. Ariel sent me her latest book so once I get done with Transport 34, I get to rest and relax and read another Cinii book. It's going to be a great afternoon.

As far as your riddle is concerned, Don, my guess would be an acorn? A box elder windmill seed? A maple tree? I'll work on it through the week.

Have a great week everyone.

Carolyn

All images downloaded from Google Images

Dr Who: Peter Capaldi's 'no messing' costume revealed | Hot TV ...

www.dailystar.co.uk

Rejoice! Doctor Who Seasons 8 and 9 Will Likely Air Uninterrupted ...

www.eonline.com

Highlights from 2011 | LenspirationRedwood Forest National Geographic

lenspiration.com

Hurzeler Art & Photography | the Blog.: Peter Rabbit themed Baby ...

heatherhurzeler.blogspot.com

Up a Tree with a riddle

Hi Carolyn,

It was pretty fascinating to hear about your adjusting to getting your other hand back. Initially, I was thinking that maybe you should continue to use your opposite appendage as much as possible just to actually become ambidextrous. All things considered, it's a handy skill to have. I guess it would  be a really tough struggle, though, since you'd be going against a lifetime of internal programming.

 They were all idle thoughts, of course.




BTW, you're right.  I am  damn/dang lucky to live in such a picturesque and biologically splendiferous part of the world. I don't think I fully appreciated it, oddly enough, until we went to Mexico. We rode 3 hours on a bus across the Yucatan Peninsula  from Cancun to Merida and the whole time all that could be seen out the windows  were  short gnarly hardscrabble bushes all around. No hills to break the horizontal monotony and no sights off in the distance to counter the feeling that what you see is all you will get all directions. It was actually kinda claustrophobic even though it was outside.



Gotta admit, though, that being able to tack Denver, Colorado on the bottom  end of ones  address isn't  three day old leftovers either. Having mountains as part of your everyday external wallpaper would be, for me, only 3.5% less cool than looking out  first thing in the morning to see the water and listen to the valium-esque hum of the waves.







Strangely enough,  when I wuz a kid,  one of the things I wanted to be was a lighthouse keeper. I figured it would give me lotsa time to read and let me live on the water in a quiet and uncrowded setting  most of the time.








 
 
 
 
 
One early autumn day around that time, when my dad and I  were down getting some fresh fish at Port Stanley on Lake Erie,  (a 45 minute drive from our home in London, Ontario)  I got to venture out on the concrete pier during a healthy storm. Hearing the thunder of the waves and feeling them make this massive concrete pier shudder underfoot made me realize that H2O, plus mother nature being moody can be terrifying at times.


After that,  living my life in a lighthouse got crossed off my list.



Our jaunt about the islands at Fathom Five last week left  me curious about a number of things. Trees were top of the list, after seeing those scraggly 1300 year old conifers clinging tenaciously to the rocks. So I did what any person with internet access would do. I went to Wikipedia and grazed about in the trees section. Found out some interesting stuff about them, too.




First thing I learned was that the " theoretical maximum height " a tree can reach is 426 feet. Hmmm, how could that have been arrived at ?  The tallest tree on our dirtball at the moment is 379 feet ( unless it's grown since the entry was accepted, of course. ) What do you suppose would happen to it once it reached 426 feet and still felt like growing ?







Next wakeup fact was that a 1300 year old specimen isn't  a senior citizen in the tree world.. There are  trees that have been alive for much longer than that. That scraggly item to the left is, according to an  article in National Geographic News in 2008  the oldest tree on the planet and lives in Sweden of all places. It has been alive on planet earth for 9,550 years ( plus 6 now )  It is a clonal tree however so when the trunk succumbs to old age the root system continues and simply shoots up a new trunk. The oldest continuously standing tree is about 5000 years old and hangs out, like all cool things, in California.


The silver medal for tree longevity goes equally to trees in two pretty diverse locations, Iran and Wales. The pic below is of the one in Wales. Both trees have been living for over four thousand years.

 Can you imagine what it must be like to stand under that canopy and realize that the organism that it's part of was alive about the time Stonehenge was being created and before many of the Great Pyramids of Egypt rose up from the sand?

 

 

One other fascinating item  about trees that I happened upon and stuck with me had to do with what I used to call " pet trees " . Bonsai trees have been around for who knows how long. My mother had a Bonsai tree for all of the 20 plus years I was at home and tended to it assiduously.  I can only remember one time when it actually sprouted something during that period.



 I think one of the few times she actually lost her temper with me was when I contended that this tree wasn't really alive since it never seemed to change and that what she actually had was the tree equivalent of a pet rock  ( I was thoroughly awash in my smart alecky teen phase then - I must have been a major pain in the gluteus maximus ) 

  Well, apparently the oldest known Bonsai tree is over a thousand years old. It lives in, of all places, Italy.


 Now, I sure wish I had had the perspicacity to have kept it after she died. It would be a living link. Chances are it's alive somewhere, though.


Okay, now I'm down from the trees and I've brought with me something not seen in these here parts for awhile - a riddle. Feel free to have a whack at it when time permits, Carolyn.

Within its leaves lie, say some

Serenity and, if carefully observed, the future.

When Commonwealth clocks strike four

It's savoured even more.

 

 

 

 .... Feels good to get back to the riddlin' thing.
 

Hopefully  your undertakings, like the universe, unfold as they should this week.


Don


All images sourced from Google Images

Fig. 1 - www.texasenterprise.utexas.edu
Fig. 2 - www.iasglobal.org
Fig. 3 - www.printingaustralia.com.au
Fig. 4 - www.lovethesepics.com

Fig. 5 - Wikimedia Commons
Fig. 6 - Wikimedia Commons
Fig. 7 - Italian Bonsai Museum "Crispi"
Fig. 8 - Wikimedia Commons
 
 
 

Exploring, The "Luke" Project, Excuses not to write

Good morning Don,

"Sploring" - what a magnificent way to spend an anniversary! Your trip sounded and looked absolutely incredible. 

Loved the trees and rock outcropping pictures.

Your part of the world is one that I would love to visit – it is part of a geographical formation called the Great Canadian Shield that goes all the way from New York to Hudson Bay.  The plant and animal diversity and variation is probably one of the greatest in the world going from climate regions of deciduous to coniferous to Alpine to permafrost. You're so lucky to live in an area like that.

I had hoped that my better half and I would be able to experience the ocean during my fall break in September, but once we got our calendars out and started comparing days, we only have 24 hours where we were not doing something or having to be somewhere. So it looks like my jaunt at the ocean is going to have to wait. I'm not sure we can put together another Hawaii trip at Christmas. I keep thinking we'll make it to China – but it looks like that's going to have to wait also.

Science fiction became reality in the "Luke project". An article about DEKA Research and Development creating a robotic prosthetic arm and hand capable of picking up eggs and grapes without breaking them was an incredible read. The Defense Department asked DEKA to create an arm and hand for soldiers. This is to replace the current hook that is available. It is amazing that the hook currently being used is not all that different from what soldiers were given during the Civil War. This new arm and hand took 8 years to create and admittedly, it is not very cost-effective. But I'm wondering, is cost-effective really something you want to work at as thanks for someone who gave their life and limb for our country? This is the same company that created the Segway. They also created a wheelchair that can climb stairs… Amazing! An example of problem solving leading the way to more knowledge.

I've been working on theSeptember Transport – Jeroen and Tammy got their edits in so I have some reading to do this afternoon. I'm also looking at which stories we can offer for free through the website. It looks like September is going to be a great story month!

Here in Denver we have a community of writers called The Lighthouse Writers – they offer writing clinics, workshops, classes. I have been looking into some of their classes and think that I will probably take 2 workshops the end of September. One of the classes that I would really like to take, putting voice into narrative nonfiction is closed – but I'll keep an eye out for when it's taught again. The classes that I'm looking at are nonfiction writing which seems to be the kind of writing I've been doing lately. I've been concerned that my fiction is suffering because of it, but I have to say that my curiosity is better fed with the nonfiction.

I think I finally have the chapters put together for the Wired Project – I have several articles to reread on writing e-books, writing introductions, wording, editing, and Google +. I'm hoping that these articles will help get me motivated to do more than just play and move words around which is what I've been doing for the last 2 weeks. This morning I realized that I was putting it off because I know that once I get started, it gets my full focus and everything else becomes secondary until the writing is finished. Don, you talked about that concept of perfection – and I think that that's been holding me up too. I want perfect – like my students – I don't want to have to rewrite. And yet I know that rewriting is necessary – I'm an editor for heaven sakes! But the shoe seems to fit differently when I'm a writer. Ah well.

Yes, I got my cast off on Thursday. It's really nice not to have a purple "thing" hanging off my elbow, but I have to admit that I was unprepared for the swelling and the sensitivity of the skin. The swelling is being controlled with ice – but the only thing to help the sensitivity is to keep rubbing the skin. The process of getting the skin toughened up again is literally a knee-jerk experience. Rub the skin on the wrist and the hand and the knee and the foot jerk. It causes goose pimples across the back of my neck. I know I will survive this, but it was an unexpected experience. I'm not really sure how newborn babies can do it without having their senses overloaded. I'm in a partial removable cast that I take off 3 times a day to exercise and stretch the wrist, hand and forearm muscles.

I started the process of trying to integrate the right arm and hand back into my life. I've gotten really good at writing with my left hand and I've actually been doing cursive writing. It is really very readable! I have also been taking notes with my left hand – and that is working out great. Writing on the board has been absolutely wonderful – slow – but very readable. I got cleared for driving yesterday by my better half. I've always been able to drive to the grocery store and to places close to home, but now if I want, everyone feels that I can drive downtown to work. I have to admit that having my husband drive me to work and pick me up from the bus stop has really spoiled me…

Think I finally chatted on long enough – have a great week everyone!

Carolyn

 All images downloaded from Google Images

Fig 1 – exploring- Calvin and Hobs retrieved from www.fanpop.com

Fig 2 – Canadian Shield retrieved from members.tripod.com

Fig 3 – Scott Forsyth Photography retrieved from scottforsyth.ca

Fig 4— Heart of Canadian Shield retrieved from www.redbubble.com

Fig 5— Making of "Luke: Bionic Arm retrieved from makezine.com

Fig 6 – Calvin and Hobs exploring retrieved from iphone.wallpapersus.com 

Fathom Five and the unfathomable

Hi Carolyn,



Last Saturday was our 39th anniversary and we decided on Friday night to simply drop everything and go "sploring" . We left about 11 am and headed up the Bruce Peninsula to Tobermory at the top. It's about an hours drive if you don't lollygag along the way so it took us about two and a half  hours to arrive.

One thing  inescapable about living where we do is the omnipresence of the Niagara Escarpment.  We even have a minor outcropping of it about a quarter mile behind our yard, that the neighbourhood kids used to toboggan down when they were genuine young'uns.  It sure makes you realize that deep deep beneath us there are still cataclysmic things taking place, albeit slowly,  in the earth's crust that dwarf anything that we paltry humans may be up to on the surface.

It's not as awesome as the Rockies of course ( Hell, what could be ? ) but it makes for some pretty impressive landforms popping up out of both the land and the water, none-the-less.

Some of the most awe-inspiring escarpment outcroppings can be found on the way up to and around Tobermory. This geological awesomeness coupled with its historical position as a major intersection for Great Lakes shipping means there are also lotsa shipwrecks as well. The islands that congregate at the " Tip of the Bruce "  are all gathered into a national park known as Fathom Five  National Park. It's a major mecca for divers for those two reasons. It's also the southern terminus for "The Chi Cheemaun" the ferry that travels to Manitoulin Island  three times daily  from April til almost November.  It winters here in Owen Sound harbour each year.  Chi Cheemaun is an aboriginal name that translates to " big canoe ".


 You can see it popping out from behind one or the larger islands, below.




We were lucky enough, despite our gadding about on the way up the peninsula,  to grab the last two tickets for a 2.5 hour cruise around the islands of Fathom Five on a glass bottom boat. So we got to see some submerged shipwrecks as well as some unique natural features. I kept reminding myself how lucky I am to be living about an hour away from all this.

 
 
 
 




                                           


Most of the tour is spent nosing about these islands ( or, as the sailing folks call it " gunkholing" )  There are lots of secluded bays and inlets where one can steal in, drop anchor and simply revel in the  timeless serenity  of being on the water. I kinda wish I could have been one of  the folks on the yacht that we tiptoed past in our dipping into one bay in particular. It would be most sweet and therapeutic.



 

 
 
 
 
 
 









 

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
If you look closely at the reflection in the window of the bridge, above, you'll hopefully be able to make out a dim figure of a scruffy, touristy type individual waving - that's me. The stuff on the rocks in the other pic, that looks like rust,  is actually lichens, and some of the scraggly trees clinging to the sheer cliffs are over 1300 years old, too. Apparently they have survived this long, in part, because they cling to the vertical sides of the rocks and any lightning induced fires on the tops of the islands  burn out before they can reach down that far. The most astonishing fact is that they grow out of the rock itself. The roots just sneak down into the crevasses that the water and waves create and hold on for centuries.  Talk about tenacity !


It was a magnificent afternoon to say the very least.   One interesting thing I noticed when we were getting our tickets for the cruise was that the brochures were available in two languages. This being Canada, you'd think French and English. Not so. They are in English and Mandarin.  A glance around and a listen to the chatter in the air confirmed that a very sizeable number of the people we were in the midst of were from places on the Pacific Rim. My LSBH and I were used to seeing that when we went to the West Coast but I was surprised to see  up here in the wilds of mid-Ontario

-

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Small somewhat academic item to pass along here.  Thought I could help myself prepare for the next 8-ball season by actually learning about what happens in the process of smacking a ball about on a felt covered table.  So I ventured to find out something or more about the physics of the spherical arts.  Wow, was I out of my depth!

 

 

 

 

My eyes were 90%  glazed over just looking at this first one but the next one - that purported to clarify and explain -  really sealed the deal. I noted pages of text following that included equations stretching from the left margin just about over to the right one, too.

 Arrggh, lemme outa here!

 

 

 

 

 

Sooo..... maybe I'll just try to practise more.



Hopefully the cast-removal and subsequent testing of the waters as to what can and can't be done, go well.



Carolyn, I simply can't imagine you being the type to push yourself too soon, too fast and too far - he said facetiously !!  I will be curious to see how your Wired generation endeavour unfolds as well and will be glad to do any beta-reading, editing or whatever y'all could use.




Two little final items that arrived just before the presses started rolling here. Saw a most vibrant and cool " supermoon begin its arc across the sky last night right from my front porch.


Also, very dismayed to hear that Robin Williams is dead and especially that it's being treated at this point as an apparent suicide. Can't think of too many things more important on a daily basis than laughter. I also can't think of anyone else who brought more of it to me than Mr. Williams. It really puts a sad edge to the day, for me. 



See ya later,



Don


Figures 10 and 11 sourced from Google Images:

10 - www.real-world-physics problems.com

11 - www. real-world-physics.com