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