Quote If The Day

"The blockade is somewhat more effective than the bombing.  They are choking like a stuffed pig.  And it's going to be worse for them."

-Donald Trump

Swamp Collie

It's a good thing that doggo likes water as there's no shortage of it around here.  Even though the the extraordinary high waters of the April 14-15 flooding have largely receded, standing water in the form of large muddy puddles remain in the trails for four-legged friend to splash-through and wallow-in.  Wallow, you say?  Yes, just like a pig.  I'm going to take a picture before too long so nobody accuses me of being a liar. 

Anyway, there are plenty of trail camera captures of our wet and muddy sweetheart; and judging from the smile on her face you get my drift.

Swamp Collie.... 

 

May Astronomy

In May there are two full moons; the one tomorrow on May 1st and the second on Sunday, May 31st.  When you score two full moons in a single month the second is referred-to as a Blue Moon. 

According to the Old Farmer’s Almanac - we use full moon names that were used during Native American and Colonial times to help track the seasons.  This practice is traced to the Algonquin tribes who lived in the same areas as the Colonists.    

May’s first full Moon is known as the Flower Moon.  It signifies the wildflowers that bloom in May.  This includes wild iris, sundrops, marsh marigold, violets and more that are found around here. 

The month of May also marked a period of increased fertility and the warming days that made it safer to bear young.  For that reason it is sometimes called the Mother’s Moon.  Other names include the Corn Planting Moon, Leaf Budding Moon, Frog Moon and Milk Moon.  

From our walk only a couple of days ago there was this.

Caltha Palustris - the Marsh Marigold - a member of the buttercup family (not a marigold) and a wild flower found in bottomlands, marshes, fens and wet woodlands  this time of year.  

Fingers-crossed for clear viewing conditions Friday and Saturday evening.

Building A Better Burger

After class at NWTC the other day I picked-up some fresh bakery hard rolls. Following that I stopped at Marchant’s Meats for fresh ground chuck burgers. Where the butcher knows you on a first-name basis.

 

Inasmuch as it is springtime there is this. 

 

 

Flash grilled on the Smokey Joe.

 

From top to bottom - buttered and grill-toasted bun top, lettuce, American cheese, burger (Penzey’s prime rib rub, spritz of EVO flame-seared medium), chopped sweet onion, ketchup, mustard and homemade garden dill slices on a matching toasted bottom.

 

That would be my burger. Dress your own to personalize the culinary experience.

 

Pretty good chow; and easy fast.

 

Damn the carcinogens; full-speed ahead. Raising a toast to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.

 

Real men grill on charcoal…..

Fast Facts

Baird Maritime photo

 

Global seaborne crude oil shipments have fallen ~16% since the start of the Iran war. We are currently down ~14 million barrels/day out of a total of ~103 total barrels of oil/day used globally. Empty tankers that previously would have picked up oil in the Persian Gulf are now heading to other destinations to pick up oil - including the U.S. These increased exports may potentially go from 4 million barrels/day to 6 million barrels/day. Robbing Peter (U.S. Citizens) to pay Paul (the rest of the World). It takes 22 days to transport oil from Saudi Arabia to Shanghai by sea; versus 52 days to transport oil from Houston to Shanghai by sea. For a Houston-to-China run, we would need to quadruple crew-hours: over twice as many crews to man over twice as many tankers - over twice as long for each voyage. A Houston-to-China run will require more than twice the fuel and twice the wear-and-tear on the ships.

 

We would need over twice as many tankers to transport oil from the U.S. to China. But those tankers do not exist. Oops.

 

I suppose China is going to have to figure this out. But, there again, the Strait of Hormuz is functionally closed anyway; as a consequence of the blockade by both Iran and the United States.

 

At some point in the future (weeks, months, years, whatever), and after a cessation of hostilities, it will take weeks to reposition most all of these ships back to their normal runs. As a follow-up to Sunday's post on the Iran-Trump negotiating situation; it is my opinion that the longer Iran holds out, the greater the international chaos and the stronger Iran's negotiating position becomes. Does Trump's negotiating position become weaker? Dunno for sure; but the polling is getting worse with the passage of time.  

Of course, Iran is aware we have a midterm election coming-up.

Who knew a war in the Middle East could be so complicated?

 

 

 

 

Data: U.S. Energy Information Administration - https://www.eia.gov/

The Great Flood

We were out of town when this occurred; which is not to say we weren't concerned.  I was.  In fact I found myself nervously expecting an alert on my device notifying me of water in the basement.  Thankfully that alert never arrived and upon our return the basement was dry.  Not so much for some of our neighbors who had up to 2-4 feet of ground water in their cellar.

Anyway, we found ourselves on the receiving-end of roughly 8-10 inches of rain in relatively short order around April 14-15.  Noteworthy, is that we were still drying-out from three feet of snow a month earlier and additional inches of rain in the interim.  Things were rather soggy around here.   

I took this photo on April 21.

The view is east and the trail parallels Silver Creek which is out of sight immediately to the right.  A couple of things to note; The ruts in the trail left behind by the smaller Polaris ATV I was riding and the standing water.  Also, the grass covering the trail and to the left and right is all laid flat.  Clearly by water from the creek overflowing its banks. 

How much water?

From the trail camera positioned immediately in the flood plane are a couple of photos that show the extent.

Under normal circumstances there is never standing water in the viewfinder of the trail camera.  In this case Silver Creek flooded beyond its normal bank by about thirty-five yards, give or take.  And to a depth of about 8-10 inches; not enough to drown the camera, but certainly enough to float a wood duck.  First time photo of that critter.

As of today, the creek continues to run full-bore and we're a long way from drying-out. 

Ramps

Allium tricoccum - wild leek or ramps.  The leaves and bulbs are used in cooking, pickling, seasoning, salads and much more.  Years ago we owned a trailer home in the woods adjacent to Potawatomi State Park and there was a patch of these growing beside our shed; a handy source of wild onion.

They're found in the rich, moist soil of deciduous woodlands ranging from southern Canada to Appalachia.  Commonly fried-up with potatoes in bacon fat or scrambled eggs served with beans and cornbread they are a tasty and renewable wild edible used as a substitute to onions and garlic.

So, the first week of November last year a decided to plant some in our woods as an experiment.  Why I didn't think to do this twenty years ago is beyond me.  I wish I had.  Nevertheless, I figured better late than never.

Anyway, I sourced dormant root stock from a native nursery and planted a dozen bulbs in four locations along with an ounce of seed for good measure.  I figured the location was perfect and I crossed my fingers hoping the critters wouldn't eat the bulbs.  I figured the seeds would scarify over the winter during the freeze-thaw cycle and with a bit of luck some might germinate.  I marked the location with fluorescent flag tape so I could locate it again.

Yesterday we were out in the woods cleaning bird boxes and running the trail camera trapline and wouldn't you know it; they're up!  A whole bunch of them.