From our walk the other day there was this seven-foot tall plant.
Silphium laciniatum
- the Compass plant - is a member of the aster family and a perennial
native.
It's the
tallest of plants found in the North American prairie and also happen
to have the longest of tap roots - essentially making it impossible
to transplant.
The name of this flowering plant
derives from the leaves which - upon close examination - line-up
north south in order to maximize exposure to available sunlight.
The
finches love the seeds produced by the flowers and if you collect the
sap you can make a suitable chewing gum from it.
A traditional
West Indies song about a sunken boat - The John B. Sails - it also happens to
have been included in Carl Sandburg's 1927 collection of folk songs The
American Songbag.It is best known for its adaptation of the
1958 Kinston Trio version by the Beach Boys which was produced and arranged by Brian
Wilson and Al Jardine.Released in 1966 Sloop
John B was the lead single for the album Pet Sounds- peaking at number 3 in the
US and number 2 in the UK.It resides at
place number 276 on Rolling Stone's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.-Wiki
Orange County's Los Rios Rock School provides expert instruction in guitar, drums, piano and all rock
instruments, as well as vocals, songwriting, theory, sight reading,
engineering and recording.
Combining weekly private lessons and group rehearsals, their goal is to
prepare students to confidently take the stage in front of a live
audience.
As a premier music training center, teachers at Los Rios are professional
musicians who are dedicated to creating supportive yet challenging
settings that will help students develop a lifelong appreciation of
musical performance.
I listened to the first hearing of the special House committee investigating the attack on the Capitol by a mob of rioting Trump supporters on January 6.
The testimony of the law enforcement officers was chilling.
It shook me to my core.
Sure, I know that my Trump-supporting friends will remind me that Nancy Pelosi was responsible for the mob. That it was black lives matter protesters. It was antifa. The FBI was behind it. Or that the officers that testified yesterday were collectively lying. Or that it didn't really happen at all - the protestors behaved like tourists and greeted the officers with hugs and kisses. I know that I cannot change their hearts or minds and as a consequence if they want to believe the events of January 6 were something other than what I have observed with my own two eyes that is their own business. This is not the purpose of the post.
I have no problem with anyone of any stripe who wishes to exercise their first amendment rights by means of marching, flag-waving, singing, shouting, carrying signs or blowing whistles or horns. Peaceful protest is guaranteed under our constitution.
However the moment you break into a building, burn a business or touch someone else you cross the line and become a rioter. That is criminal.
All I will say is that a savage breach of the capitol accompanied by violent assault is illegitimate because a legitimate election didn't go a certain way.
It is wrong.
Rational Republicans are insulted and embarrassed about what happened. And we seek truth and accountability.
If you are up for it watch the opening remarks by U.S. Capitol police officer Harry Dunn.
July has always been characterized by stormy weather and this afternoon brought further evidence of this.
With little advance notice a localized storm cell brewed-up over the bay and rolled over the peninsula bringing high winds, horizontal rain and a torrential downpour of rain.
The garden took a beating. And after the third sowing of Kakai pumpkins I finally got a successful germination the past few days.
Along with the Perseid meteor shower that began in July and persists into August there is the Delta Aquarids meteor shower.
This show should be peaking right about now thru the end of July.
To be fair, this show is more favorably viewed in the southern hemisphere or the southern reaches of the northern hemisphere - nevertheless if you get out of bed to pee several hours before sunrise, go outside and take a few moments to cast your gaze to the southern sky.
Locate the constellation Aquarius as this is the radiant from which these meteors appear.
photo - Wikimedia Commons
In case you care to know these meteors are the result of debris from Comet 96P Machholz - a comet that crosses our path every five years.
We must reject the idea that every time a law's broken, society is
guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American
precept that each individual is accountable for his actions.
Reflecting-upon this I suspect there will now be more plea bargaining to follow. The pleadings will be accompanied by defense lawyers spinning how the defendant has no prior criminal record. Or they were only following the orders of Donald Trump. Excuses will include: They were lied-to. They were unemployed. It was the pandemic. It was the media. It was the Washington elites. They were naive and fell for the big lie. They were not responsible for their actions. It was someone else's fault.
It
has also occurred to me that I have never tried or even considered the overthrow of a
legitimately elected government.
I have never tried or even considered assaulting a police officer.
I have never considered threatening the vice president of the United States - or any elected official - with death.
If
you lead a life free of criminal behavior yet one day you commit
violent assault there are consequences.
Yup, a felony conviction is going to mess-up your life. What did these people think would happen? A
presidential pardon?
The capital rioters committed crimes that included breaking and entering, property damage, trespassing, theft and assault.
They attempted to overthrow the federal government by stopping and reversing a legitimate Constitutional process.
Suck it up buttercup. You do the crime - be prepared to do the time.
Once upon a time my GOP was the party of reason. And personal responsibility.
The names associated with our full moons are frequently
derived from the names given by the indigenous peoples that inhabited North
America. The tribes used a calendar to
track the seasons by means of the names given to the return of a full
moon.
In the northern hemisphere July
is the stormiest month of the year and for that reason the full moon that greets
us tomorrow evening is called the Thunder Moon.
This moon is also called the Buck Moon in recognition of the
rapidly-growing, velvet-covered, antlers of the whitetail deer.
With the arrival of European settlers two
additional monikers come to mind:the
Meade Moon which coincides the harvest of honey used to ferment this drink and
the Hay Moon as the first cuttings of fodder occur.
July's full moon will rise tomorrow evening and with all of the wildfire haze in the atmosphere there is a high probability of an orange or red full moon!
Raising a toast to the local coyotes howling at the moon over the weekend.....
The
event is scheduled for Saturday, Sept. 11 starting at 11 a.m. Riders
will start and conclude the event at Boone & Crockett, located Milwaukee's Historic Third Ward at
818 S. Water St.
Organizers say the bike ride will start off with
yoga, vendors and body painting in the parking lot of Boone &
Crockett. From there, attendees will bike through the Third Ward,
Lakeshore State Park, downtown and then back to Boone & Crockett.
Ride organizer John Jankowski explains the
purpose of the ride is celebrate body positivity, cycling advocacy and
sustainability - while also protesting oil conglomerates.
The full moon we experienced last Tuesday sometimes called
the Thunder Moon.This is as a
consequence of weather patterns in our hemisphere being the stormiest in the
month of July.None of this is a result
of climate change – it’s just the way it’s always been. The full moon we'll experience next week is sometimes called
the Thunder Moon.This is as a
consequence of weather patterns in our hemisphere being the stormiest in the
month of July.None of this is a result
of climate change – it’s just the way it’s always been.
So far we haven’t experienced any
particularly show -stopping storms but I did stumble across one from five years ago that is worthy of sharing.
Ordinarily
I would not recommend standing on a wet porch in your bare feet during a
lightning storm.But the view of that stormy sunset was spectacular.
And as the
ruckus breathed its last gasp Ma Nature hurled some extra lightning bolts at the
setting sun....
The Perseid happens to be the most spectacular Meteor
Shower of the year for the Northern Hemisphere. The Perseid presents a high
rate of meteors every year and it occurs July/August when you can go out for an
evening under the stars and swat mosquitoes.
Orbiting the sun every 130 years the largest object known
to repeatedly pass by Earth is the Comet Swift-Tuttle.The nucleus of the comet is about 26
kilometers wide.1992 was the last time
it last passed nearby Earth during its orbit around the sun.It will return when we're all dead and gone in 2126.
Nevertheless, because Earth passes through the dust and
debris it leaves behind every year - creating the annual Perseid meteor shower –
we’ll have regular reminders.This year
should be a good year.
Watching the meteor shower is actually observing the
pieces of comet debris heat up as they enter the atmosphere and burn up in a
bright streak of light.In outer space
this debris is referred to as meteoroids.When they enter and burn-up in Earth's atmosphere they're referred to as
meteors.If a piece makes it all the way down to Earth
without burning up, it is called a meteorite.Most of the meteors in the Perseids are about the size of a grain of sand but if you’re lucky a few might
be the size of a pea or a marble.
Where to look? The radiant point (point of origin) is the constellation Perseus.
JPL - NASA
The cool thing about this meteor shower is that it allows for extended and multiple viewing opportunities. If you catch a cloudy night or get rained-out - no worries. The Perseids will be active from July 17th through August
26th. Maximum activity is predicted to occur the evening of August 11 - 12 when rates of up to 100 per hour may be seen from skies without any light
pollution.
For some strange reason I saved this link in the file of possible Friday Morning Music.
It struck me at the time that the advertising and the prizes are the real winner here - occupying half the time on the clip before Neil Diamond is cued and the dance competition commences.
It's Couple Number 3 IMHO - who says white folks can't dance anyway.
I also wonder how many of those boys were drafted and sent off to Vietnam. Sigh.
Two years ago the kids were visiting for a spell and we had just sat down to one of my infamous Wisconsin yellow perch homemade fish-fry dinners. Just as we were concluding the blessing over our food there was a sizzle, CRACKLE, KABOOM!
The power went off. The alarm went off. Then the power came on. The Blonde dog was freaked-out.
Lightning strike it was - and it not only blew-out the mother boards for the HVAC and overhead garage door openers it also fried and destroyed the alarm system.
We never did locate precisely where it hit but as near as we can tell it was close enough for the charge to travel through the ground and enter the house by means of the buried power line with just enough force to damage direct-wired delicate circuitry and not enough to start a fire or damage the larger appliances sharing a power outlet. None of the GFI circuits were tripped.
Alas, the dog was also a casualty and ever since gets nervous and stressed with thunder storms. Even when if the thunderstorm is on a television movie - we have to mute the volume until it passes.
Adaptil Canine appeasing pheromone 2% spray helps somewhat but there's nothing better than 70 pounds of Labrador retriever on your lap to calm the dog.....
January 6th was not a day of celebration for this blogger. I'm a conservative guy when it comes to law and order issues. I'm cool with peaceful protest and very uncool and judgemental when it comes to violent unrest. You touch someone and begin breaking stuff you are no longer protesting - you are rioting.
This event brought us images of seditionists flying the battle flag of the confederacy in the Capitol.
Glorification of this?
The pure savagery of the mob that rampaged through the Capitol six months ago was breathtaking.
Unadulterated wickedness.
At least 81 members of the Capitol police force and 65 from the Metropolitan Police Department in Washington — were
injured. Injuries ranged from bruises and
lacerations to more serious damage such as concussions, rib fractures and burns. One police officer lost an eye, another the tip of his
finger. Still another was shocked so many times with a Taser gun that
he had a heart attack. They suffered cracked ribs, smashed spinal
disks, respiratory and eye injuries from bear spray and multiple concussions.
This was the largest number of police injuries from an isolated single day event in modern history.
Let that sink in for a spell.
As part of a six-month investigation, The New York Times synchronized and mapped thousands of videos and police audio of the U.S. Capitol riot to provide the most complete picture to date of what happened — and why.
If you have some time this evening grab yourself a refreshing adult beverage and cast your gaze to the western sky immediately following sunset.
With clear view conditions you will spy the planets Venus and Mars rising lowon the
western horizon and appearing extremely close to each other.
This astronomical phenomena is called a
conjunction - and even though these planetary bodies are more than 74,000,000 miles apart they will appear only about a half a degree apart.
Fingers-crossed for good viewing conditions and enough breeze to keep the skeeters at bay...
This machine - again operated by a single individual - is a
'Forwarder'.
This is a forestry vehicle that can load and transport logs by
itself. It has the unique capability of picking up logs on the site
and loading its trailer bed for easy transportation for stacking at
the 'Landing'.
Manned by one operator it is used to fetch and load bolts from the
logging operation and deliver and stack them at the ‘landing’.
Amazing
to my eyes how logging has become mechanized to such an extent that
it has become virtually a one person operation.
There
is also a stack of 8-9 cords of ash bolts for our own personal use
as firewood to supplement our winter heating and outdoor wood-fired
oven needs.
There
is most definitely a log splitter in our future……
We fetched memory cards from the trail cameras a few days ago. There was a fine collection of photos and videos to be had. Clearly the logging operation hasn't disrupted the movements of the local critter too much.
This time of year the resident whitetails are absolutely spectacular in their ruddy, roan summer coats. This get-up is heat resistant by the way.
Anyway, from one of the cameras is 15 seconds of doe on high alert. It's a good example of the three principle sensory defenses this animal employs. And I think the lighting composition is fine.
Eve of Destruction was composed by P. F. Sloan in 1964.Recorded by any number of performers the
best-known version was recorded by Barry McGuire in mid-July of 1965 and
released by Dunhill Records.According
to McGuire the song was recorded in one take on a Thursday morning using lyrics
scrawled on a crumpled piece of paper. The
following Monday morning he got a phone call from the record company at 7:00
am, telling him to turn on the radio - his song was playing.The vocal track was thrown on as a rough mix
and was not intended to be the final version, but a copy of the recording had
been leaked to a DJ, who began playing it.The song was an instant hit and as a result the more polished vocal
track that was at first envisioned was never recorded.
Except for the 'four days in space' part (much longer nowadays) the
more things change the more they stay the same.Some things never seem to change….
This month's new moon on July 9 offers you stargazers the opportunity to observe the night sky without the interference of moon glow spoiling your view. Better yet if you can get out into the countryside and away from the light pollution of the city skyline.
Tonight and tomorrow night will be moonless evenings conducive
to viewing the night sky.
Fingers-crossed for clear, cloudless skies. Unlike February you won't freeze your tukus-off but don't forget your bug spray!
Hello gentle readers. Today I bring you glad tidings of a public
service announcement and an admonition to steer clear of magical,
wishful thinking and disinformation found in the Face Book cesspool
of lazy economic thought.
Consider the cost of a gallon of petrol nowadays –
more than a dollar higher than what it was a year ago. Even higher
in some parts of the country (be grateful you do not live in LA
County).
On Face Book it is implied that presidents set the
price of gasoline. We all know that is silly. Nevertheless, I understand that
economics is sometimes hard to wrap your mind around so here’s a simple explanation to keep the facts straight.
There are three principle causes of higher gas prices – with the largest contributor being higher crude-oil prices. At 43%, the largest driver of the cost of a gallon of gasoline is the price of crude oil. Refining and profit margin are 25%, state and federal taxes 22% followed by distribution and marketing at 10%.
Crude oil prices are considerably higher today than a year ago (see chart). So, if you’re pining for the days of yore when gas was cheap you need to consider embracing the Covid restrictions, lock downs, global collapse of travel, tens of millions of unemployed and a tanking economy that contributed to the collapse of crude oil prices. My recollection of that hot mess is still quite fresh and I want nothing to do with it.
The second contributor to the recent rise in gasoline prices is growing demand as workers return to the office and resume commutes. Our rocketing economic expansion is the contributor to this. Last Friday I was witness to an extended wait to cross the four lane highway to run an errand. The northbound traffic was a solid and seemingly endless line. Some might grumble at the wait. I saw room taxes, vacation spending, restaurant meals and winery visits. All of it principally fueled by an increased demand for gasoline.
If you were to talk to the people over at AAA they would tell you that the post-Covid pent-up demand of American motorists is expected to set record highs in July and August for fuel consumption. Demand (get ready for this) is going to push gasoline prices even higher.
The third (and smallest) contributor is another of those nagging supply-chain issues. While gasoline inventories are ample - there is a shortfall of truckers as a consequence of job losses in the recession of a year ago. This shortage of truckers in some regions has resulted in supply bottlenecks in some places.
The price at the pump has nothing to do with canceling the permits
for Keystone XL. That project was conceived to move low-grade tar
sand crude to the gulf coast for export overseas. And after more
than a decade of controversy was still years from completion. Biden
energy policy may have a long term impact on energy prices – yet
we’re less than six months into his administration making it too
soon to know precisely how and where.
One final thought. There is a silver lining here if you look for it. Plenty of folks work in the oil patch at multiple levels. A year ago petroleum engineers and refinery workers were being furloughed in record numbers. Today the oil patch is humming-along and trying to keep-up with demand. That’s a good thing and best evidence of a growing economy. And for us retirees who belong to the investor class - energy and related shares are rocking the nest egg.
Anyway, most of the north end has been cleared and next week a
machine called a 'forwarder' will pick-up, load and deliver to the
'landing' the bolts harvested from the logging operation.
I
spoke with Luke yesterday and asked that the middle and southern-most
plantations will also get a touch-up thinning but nothing on the
order of the scale of the project in the northernmost stand. As long
as the equipment is mobilized it's time and materials so to speak.
Jill
and I took the Mule out a short while ago to check on the progress to
the north. The main takeaways are as follows:
There is now
beaucoup sunlight busting thru the canopy. Absolutely unbelievable.
Forest regeneration should take-off big time on the coming years.
We had no clue how
tall the remaining trees actually are - in many cases far-taller
than 100 feet. A logger with a good eye for dominant trees favors
taking the runts and leaving behind the best in class - pine and
hardwood.
The hunting
dynamic will obviously change this fall. It's too early to say for
precisely how but opening this up will absolutely affect deer
movement and shot opportunities.
The later model iPhones include a built-in
stabilizer for shooting video on surface where you are
bouncing-around climbing over 8-9 inch pulp bolts strewn in the
trail. You'd never know it from watching the video. View is looking
east from the central trail as we travel north to the property line
at Dump Road
At great risk of anthropomorphizing the situation watching this mama deer twitching and wagging her tail and looking over her shoulder I can imagine her saying:
Both their
visitations and the level of their belligerence has increased. Trail
camera captured the blinding flash of the the alien space ship's
thrusters as the commander of the space craft fired space balls at the camera.
Today at 5:27 PM (CST) the Earth’s elliptical orbit will shortly reach its farthest point from
the sun.
Called aphelion - our home planet will be 94,510,886 miles from Old Sol. This is more than 3 million miles farther as compared to when the Earth is closest
to it (perihelion). The actual number varies year over year.
A
few words about the belief systems of our founding fathers on
Independence Day.
Quite a few of them - George
Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, James
Madison, Ethan Allen and James Monroe - practiced a faith called
Deism.
That’s right - they were Deists.
Deism is
grounded
in the philosophical
belief that
human
reason is
a reliable
means of solving social and political problems. In
lieu of relying-upon divine revelation Deists believed that
religious truth should also
be
subject to the authority and
influence of human
reason. And
as a consequence they
do
not believe that
the bible
is
the revealed word of God and they
rejected
scripture as a source of religious doctrine.
Many
of the founding fathers were also practicing
Christians. They retained a supernaturalist world view, a belief in
the divinity of Jesus Christ, and an adherence to the teachings of
their denomination. Among
them are Patrick
Henry, John Jay, and Samuel Adams.
And
like in all belief systems that are matters of degree. So there are
Founders
who fall into the category of Christian Deists. Washington
is included in this group and his dedication
to Christianity was clear in his own mind - Deist
beliefs notwithstanding. These believers made
use of Deistic
terms for God but sometimes added a Christian dimension—such as
Merciful
Providenceand
Divine
Goodness. Yet these Founders did not move further into orthodoxy to solely
employ the traditional language of Christian piety.
Founders who
remained unaffected by Deism or who like John
Adams became
conservative Unitarians
and made use of terminology
that
clearly conveyed their orthodoxy - Savior, Redeemer, and
Resurrected
Christ.
Happy Independence Day and keep our great country in your prayers.
During this day of parades,
barbecue and fireworks it is often forgotten that our country was
conceived and born of rebellion.
The revolution against King
George III broke out in April 1775 with a handful of colonists
who were willing to fight for absolute independence from Great
Britain and the imposition of colonial rule.
By 1776 many more colonists had begun to
chafe-against their subjugation under British rule and warmed to the
idea of independence. The writings of Thomas Paine early in the
year fed the growing hostility against Britain and helped to spread
revolutionary sentiments.
The colonies legally separated from
Great Britain on July 2, 1776 when the Second Continental Congress
voted to approve a resolution of independence that had been proposed
earlier in June by Richard Henry Lee of Virginia.
Following the
vote, Congress redirected its attentions to the drafting of an
explanation of this decision. Written by a committee of five -
with Thomas Jefferson as the principal author - this Declaration of
Independence was approved on July 4.
Independence Day - also
referred to as the 4th of July - is a federal holiday memorializing
the adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776.
Raising a toast to rebellion against imperial rule and a Congress
with cojones.
Enjoy the festivities and never forget that
the King is a Fink!
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