Go Obama

It is clear president-elect Obama is not going to follow the Bush administration's approach to Climate Change by burying his head in the sand.

Yesterday Obama appointed four scientists to top posts in his future administration. His Science adviser will be Harvard Physicist, John Holdren; Jane Lubchenko, a Marine Biologist, will head NOAA-leading government studies on Climate Change.

Both Holdren and Lubchenko are recognized experts on Climate Change and have advocated a forceful government response.

Fierce storms continue to pound parts of the US. Another 250 million people are out of power in the midwest following record snowfalls. That storm just clipped us here in Maine last night, dropping another 3 inches of powder through single-digit temperatures.

Not so with another storm headed our way tomorrow-that one is lining up to be a real NOr'Easter with significant snowfall. I didn't catch snowfall predictions, but I am assuming that means at least a foot of snow.

That one is sure to hurt retailers, already sufferring from a slack economy. Less folks will be out shopping this last weekend before Christmas when travelling is treacherous.

Speaking of the economy, Obama is reported to have a plan to create jobs by rebuilding infrastructure. Here's an idea: Why not use that infrastructure money to lay underground utility lines for the Northern half of the country? So many people suffer, and will continue to suffer, as these fierce storms tear down power lines. The utility companies just can't keep up-some folks in New Hampshire are still down following last week's ice storm.

Not only that, but then the utility companies pass on those repair costs to the customers in delivery charges, often exceeding the cost of power itself-more than doubling the cost to the consumer.

The government should take over the power infrastructure-we are paying for it anyhow-and do it right. Lay underground pipes and cable. Once those are in place, the upkeep will be minimal, and consumers are guaranteed to have a consistent source of power even during violent weather. Who isn't tired of hearing the power companies claim that installing underground lines isn't cost efficient? It must be more efficient to hire tree crews to annually trim trees and pay emergency crews overtime to leave customers out in the cold for days.

Step it up, Obama, and set them straight.

Ten Questions

Ooooo....
I'm just trying to get by
I'm just buzzin on a sugar high
Yeah
Everybody moves so fast,
No Time to wonder why...
Yeah
I'm just trying to get by
Is it all in my head?
Is it all in my head
Could everything be so right without me knowing?
I'm just working for the man
I'm just trying to lend a hand
Yeah
And if I had a rocket ship, I'd never want to land
I'm just doing the best I can
Is it all in my head?
Is it all in my head?
Could everything be so right without me knowing
Is it all just some game?
Where everything stays the same
Is it all in my...
All in my...
All in my head?
Everybody needs a little love.
To make it all work out
But I'm still looking to the stars above
Hey Hey Hey!
It's all in my head.

Shawn Mullins

Been busy!

Whew! Finally had a moment to take a load off and play some catch up.

Weather update-we had a nice light 4-5 inch snowfall that blanketed everything in a lovely soft white coat today. The storm came as a bit of a surprise-evidence to me that climate change is affecting weather patterns. This one came out of the Southwestern US-very unusual.

Here I was dreading snow and I welcomed it with open arms. Two days ago I was wearing shorts and fixing the roof. The yard had started to thaw and had turned into a huge mud pit.

I have been swept up into a whirlwind romance-so many shocking things in common that leads to hours on the phone and unannounced visits. Today I started to dig in my heels while in the midst of baking cookies, decorating the tree, and helping the saplings revive a chickadee that clobbered a window and was found in the snow with just the tail feathers visible.

The chickadee revived in our warm hands and flew off, the cookies are made and secured in tins, and the tree is decorated to the nines. Now I am just tying up the phone line to postpone a return call. Not that I don't like to talk-but sometimes I just need some ME time to regenerate. Or maybe my heart just isn't in it. Sometimes too much in common can be too much of a good thing. LOL.

*****

Being fans of the show Survivor, we were happy that a Mainer won-Bob from Gorham. Bob repeatedly displayed Mainer fortitude and intergrity and we congratulate him and his family and his students-he is a high school Physics teacher.

Speaking of Physics, the Christmas Big Bang Theory had me in tears I was laughing so hard at the conclusion. I love Sheldon. :D

Lastly, kudos to our president for his quick moves dodging a shoe tossed by an Iraqi reporter. The Firebird commented that Bush moved like Toby MacGuire portraying Spiderman-

"He can move fast for an old guy!"

I hope I can duck a shoe that nimbly when I am that age.

Only 35 hours

Tree1208

The Northeast US was hit by a whopper of an ice storm Thursday night. Above is a pic of the worst of it for us at 7 am. I was a bit worried about one of my large pines that borders the drive. The drive clearing had enabled the tree to prodigiously produce branches on that side-the perfect entrapment for large layers of ice. So it began to lean.

The power had gone out about 5 am, and I spent the better part of 7-8 am with a leery eye out the front window, watching the lean of the tree increase and praying for the wind to remain calm. Luckily the temps increased enough that all the ice was off the trees by noon.

The power company assured me at 7am that they were working on our circuit. At 11 am the Willow and I took a hike up the road to see how bad the damage was. We saw no trees down. Then the second selectman drove by and stopped and asked if we were all set, and said they were doing well being checks on folks. Her report was that the power would be out several days. That is when I learned how badly the state was hit.

Later in the afternoon a friend called from the next town, also out of power, but offering dinner as they have a gas stove. I declined and cooked a chicken in a mixing bowl with a bit of water covered in aluminum foil, perched over the coals on two logs in the woodstove. That came out pretty well, but I melted the potholder to the bowl taking it out of the stove.

I learned from this friend, who is a state employee, that 200,000 customers were out of power in the state. OUCH. We buckled down for the long haul.

The kerosene lamps and candles got a workout that night, but I hooked up the land line and had a long conversation with another friend two towns over to help pass the evening.

We ran errands through several towns today, and found most places had power. We saw little damage and the road and skies were clear. By the time I swung back to the boonies and found out my hay guy had power back on last night I was ready to throttle him. LOL.

Just as the skies were darkening and we were doing the last-bit-of-daylight frantic scramble, the Firebird announced that two power trucks were headed up the road. Twenty minutes later we had power. Yippee!

A couple hours later I went online, and my dialup connection is sufferring. From the normal 52KBPS down to 28K. Sweet. I am assuming the phone lines took a beating as well as the power lines.

Once I read the news headlines, I was stunned. New York, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire were hit even harder than Maine. All told, 1.3 million customers were out of power at the height of the outage. By this afternoon, over 800,000 were still in the dark. Some might not get back on until Friday-over a week after the storm. I am so glad we were out only 35 hours.

Dogs vs Monkeys

A recent study on the ability of animals to judge fairness yielded the following results:

24 dogs were selected that were willing to perform the trick of lifting a paw in response to the command, "paw." The 24 were then paired off into groups of two. Researchers used two different food type rewards: a bowl of sausage for one dog and a bowl of brown bread for the other. Each dog was rewarded with one of the treats, in view of the other. The research showed that dogs did not care if they received the bread or the sausage, as long as they received a reward for the trick.

However, if the researchers rewarded one dog with a treat, and not the other, the dog who did not receive the treat would refuse to participate, and often refused to make eye contact, by turning the head away.

When the same study was performed with monkeys, monkeys refused to participate not only if they did not receive a treat, but also if they did not receive the preferred treat received by the other monkey. A further study placed the preferred treat in sight of the monkeys, but did not offer it to either one, offering a lesser treat instead. If the monkeys could see the preferred treat, but could not receive it, they refused to participate.

The second study was not performed with the canine group, as the dogs had shown that the type of treat did not matter, as long as a reward was given.

River Roads

LET the crows go by hawking their caw and caw.
They have been swimming in midnights of coal mines somewhere.
Let ’em hawk their caw and caw.

Let the woodpecker drum and drum on a hickory stump.
He has been swimming in red and blue pools somewhere hundreds of years
And the blue has gone to his wings and the red has gone to his head.
Let his red head drum and drum.

Let the dark pools hold the birds in a looking-glass.
And if the pool wishes, let it shiver to the blur of many wings, old swimmers from old places.

Let the redwing streak a line of vermillion on the green wood lines.
And the mist along the river fix its purple in lines of a woman’s shawl on lazy shoulders.

Carl Sandburg

2008 global temperature

2008 is lining up to be the coldest year in a decade-but the tenth hottest since records have been kept-in the late 1880's.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/dec/05/climate-change-weather

Quarter Moon

Tree1208

The Gardener XXVIII: Your Questioning Eyes

Your questioning eyes are sad. They
seek to know my meaning as the moon
would fathom the sea.
I have bared my life before your
eyes from end to end, with nothing
hidden or held back. That is why you
know me not.
If it were only a gem, I could break
it into a hundred pieces and string
them into a chain to put on your neck.
If it were only a flower, round and
small and sweet, I could pluck it from
its stem to set it in your hair.
But it is a heart, my beloved.
Where are its shores and its bottom?
You know not the limits of this
kingdom, still you are its (king).
If it were only a moment of pleasure
it would flower in an easy smile, and
you could see it and read it in a
moment.
If it were merely a pain it would
melt in limpid tears, reflecting its
inmost secret without a word.
But it is love, my beloved.
Its pleasure and pain are boundless,
and endless its wants and wealth.
It is as near to you as your life, but
you can never wholly know it.

Rabindranath Tagore

The Winter Evening

Hark! 'tis the twanging horn! O'er yonder bridge,
That with its wearisome but needful length
Bestrides the wintry flood, in which the moon
Sees her unwrinkled face reflected bright,
He comes, the herald of a noisy world,
With spatter'd boots, strapp'd waist, and frozen locks;
News from all nations lumb'ring at his back.
True to his charge, the close-pack'd load behind,
Yet careless what he brings, his one concern
Is to conduct it to the destin'd inn:
And, having dropp'd th' expected bag, pass on.
He whistles as he goes, light-hearted wretch,
Cold and yet cheerful: messenger of grief
Perhaps to thousands, and of joy to some;
To him indiff'rent whether grief or joy.
Houses in ashes, and the fall of stocks,
Births, deaths, and marriages, epistles wet
With tears that trickled down the writer's cheeks
Fast as the periods from his fluent quill,
Or charg'd with am'rous sighs of absent swains,
Or nymphs responsive, equally affect
His horse and him, unconscious of them all.
But oh th' important budget! usher'd in
With such heart-shaking music, who can say
What are its tidings? have our troops awak'd?
Or do they still, as if with opium drugg'd,
Snore to the murmurs of th' Atlantic wave?
Is India free? and does she wear her plum'd
And jewell'd turban with a smile of peace,
Or do we grind her still? The grand debate,
The popular harangue, the tart reply,
The logic, and the wisdom, and the wit,
And the loud laugh--I long to know them all;
I burn to set th' imprison'd wranglers free,
And give them voice and utt'rance once again.
Now stir the fire, and close the shutters fast,
Let fall the curtains, wheel the sofa round,
And, while the bubbling and loud-hissing urn
Throws up a steamy column, and the cups,
That cheer but not inebriate, wait on each,
So let us welcome peaceful ev'ning in.

Oh winter, ruler of th' inverted year,
Thy scatter'd hair with sleet like ashes fill'd,
Thy breath congeal'd upon thy lips, thy cheeks
Fring'd with a beard made white with other snows
Than those of age, thy forehead wrapp'd in clouds,
A leafless branch thy sceptre, and thy throne
A sliding car, indebted to no wheels,
But urg'd by storms along its slipp'ry way,
I love thee, all unlovely as thou seem'st,
And dreaded as thou art! Thou hold'st the sun
A pris'ner in the yet undawning east,
Short'ning his journey between morn and noon,
And hurrying him, impatient of his stay,
Down to the rosy west; but kindly still
Compensating his loss with added hours
Of social converse and instructive ease,
And gath'ring, at short notice, in one group
The family dispers'd, and fixing thought,
Not less dispers'd by day-light and its cares.
I crown thee king of intimate delights,
Fire-side enjoyments, home-born happiness,
And all the comforts that the lowly roof
Of undisturb'd retirement, and the hours
Of long uninterrupted ev'ning, know.

William Cowper