Watch the Critters. I Am, and They’re Scaring Me!

Anyone paying attention to the critters and out-of-season blooming plants? Whaddya think about Phenology? I kinda think we are in for it this Winter in Richmond, and all points north. Squirrels are wrecking the trees already. ALL my peaches are gone, as well as Elderberries, and now they are stripping my Red Twig Dogwoods. My Asters are blooming, and my Fire Power Nandinas are turning Copper already. Uh-oh, remember last February? Squirrels were literally ripping into houses, and weeds were kinda behind schedule. Then, 10 inches of snow in early March. We are on the cusp of the 25 to 30 yr bad winter scale. I’m getting my firewood very soon. Nope, not waiting. What about Atlantic temps? Still below last 15 yr average, no tropical weather so far, OK, one depression in what, late April? All the bugs came about at the same time frame. They know, come out, mate, lay eggs, die. Woohoo! Kinda like failing 4th grade… Ya got rooked… The Farmers Almanac has been famous forever on their predictions. I mostly rely on anyone over 70, to let me know. They know the year, month, date, what day it was, and the most believable ones, know what time the big storms hit. (That’s the ones you take care of). Pay attention folks, I think it will be a quick, early Fall, followed by long, cold and to some (mostly parents of school age kids), miserable winter. This doesn’t mean not to study for Winter Exams, but, well you startwatching Mother Nature yourself. Kinda has me nervous so far. My employer usually listens to me on these things. We get the bust on everyone because the local weather folks will miss certain things. March 2nd was a “dusting” with maybe 2-3 inches. We got down all winter gear and products on Feb 28th, all gone by the 4th. Ya kinda have to respect Mother Nature. She’s talking to us, and some ain’t listening. Maybe I’ll look at a Generac for my home… No, have two fireplaces, and parents have the generator. We will survive. Freezing a lot of garden veggies, which I will have to use for bartering to the parents. Collecting pinecones , twigs, and fatwood. Warmth, food, company, something good to read, and collecting 2 Buck Chuck for emergency use, also a bartering tool. Next few years the whoohoos will be crying Nuclear Winter to us because of the temps….Maybe the sky IS falling. Maybe its the Southern Oscillation, you know, El Nino and La Nina misbehaving. I dunno, you watch. Make your own opinion.

Again, congrats to Boondoogle, Australia for not allowing the sale of or transportation of bottled water in or through their township. First place in the world to say no… Who’s next?

Nuttin’ but pics, Nuttin’ to say right now..

OK. Bottled Water and Green Roof Blogs Combined. Stop Nagging Me.

OK, here goes. Since I first published these two blogs about 5 years ago, I can’t get any peace. Mostly because I took them down for all the comments and e-mails and because I don’t have time to answer all of you. There is no need to e-mail me, because about 95 % of the comments were positive accolades with wanting more. They are just to get you to think about sustainability and what we are doing to Ma Nature and how we can reverse some things, quickly….

Bottled Water (or, Why I can’t water my veggies in August)

If you think about what the polar Ice Caps use was for, then this will make some sense. How many aisles are dedicated to bottled water in any grocery store? How many grocery stores in your city? State? In the US? Not even talking world wide now. That’s a lot of cubic feet of water. The Polar Ice Caps are melting at an alarming rate, or should we say, dissolving? Salt does not freeze, but huge land masses falling into the sea will raise the sea level a good bit. Water is not sustainable. We do not manufacture water. We harvest it. Get it? The water we have on Earth, was already here. It does not go away. It goes up, then it comes down, then gets filtered in some way through natural processes, then back up, and, well you should see this now. The very water you are drinking now, could contain the very molecules of water that Moses parted, or even what was flowing through a prehistoric canyon, or that seeped through the leak in your backyard pool last year. Nevertheless, we do not manufacture water. Atlanta, was it, that just a while ago lost a very important water supply? Lake Meade, I think? I don’t know, there were so many over the years. If you wring out a sponge, it is semi dry, right? Until you re-wet it again.  I say we should release the water back into the planet, and let it do it’s thing. It is the giver of life, and we kinda need it to survive, not only to drink, but to help our crops grow so we can eat, as well as our livestock watering. Yeah, I know, your towns water smells and tastes bad. OK, consider this, more water in the Earth, can properly filter out the contaminates, such as all the prescription pills sent down the toilet at an alarming rate. If the Viagra starts showing up in the public drinking water, I bet there will be a whole lot more of you either complaining, or just smiling. And we know who will be who. I’m sure that since we caused the Dust Bowl of the early 30’s, and we corrected it in the same decade, without all the techno bull we have today, I would like to think we can reverse this water shortage we have now. Oh yea, don’t forget to ante up the millions of cases we have stockpiled underground in case of an emergency. Well, I think this qualifies as such. It’s not leaking out into space folks, Its still here, but someone needs to make a buck off it.

Green Roofs vs. White Roofs (or, What have we done?)

OK, now lets examine this a little bit. Now we think we had a good idea, to plant vegetation on roof tops, to, now let me remember here, either to absorb noxious fumes, or promote biological respiration/transpiration in big cities, or was it just because they were pretty? Now we are finding that they do absolutely no good, and may have backfired in a peculiar way. First, the not so bad issue. Now we have to feed them. Now the NPK we have to throw at them is flowing down the downspouts right into the sewer, and into our rivers. Wow, seen the algae blooms causing the dead waterways? Damn cows! Like its the cows, come on. Wait, just unbottle a few million gallons of water, dump it in the river, and we’ll be OK, right? OK, now the uncontrollable blister. Ever hear about Coral Bleaching?Usually you can tell where the major Hurricanes will come from this year, just by educating yourself on this phenomenon. Coral beds that bleach out either in the Caribbean, or around the Cape Verde Islands, will generate more tropical events. How’s that? Let’s see the simple logic here, then, again, the Polar Ice Caps will make sense to you, and you will dump out your bottled water. White reflects solar heat. Green, black, blue, all absorb thermal energy. OK, if the coral is bleaching, it is reflecting thermals up to the surface of the bluish-green surface of the ocean, where constant barrage of tropical waves are constantly pushing off the coast of Africa, every couple of days, then something is going to happen. Now if the conditions are right, and they will be, then rotation occurs, moisture develops, and there you go, cyclonic activity is born. Then, it gets a name, and we nervously watch it waver across the sea, until it hits our coastline, where we suffer greatly in damages and lives, BUT there is a good side to this too. We have bottled water to save us! Now, getting back to the roof thing. The Polar Ice Caps were supposed to reflect, not absorb, these thermals. Most tennis players wear white? I wonder why. Why didn’t we think to have white roofs? Give the Caps a little help.  The world is getting a little warmer each year now.  We can reverse this as well.

There, that’s most of the way the last blogs were. I don’t think the whole writings need to appear again, because if you don’t at least think a little about these subjects, then there is no need for me to be keeping this headache.  One last bit. I was noticing a kid the other day, pouring out water from a store bought water retention apparatus (bottle of water) and his mom yells,” Stop wasting that water!” Now just where did she think it was going? Outer space, or when it dries up, well it’s just all gone? But the water in the dishwasher, washing machine, or the car wash is not being wasted? Ow…. My head!