Virginia Arthur's Blog, page 3
December 27, 2018
How You Know It's Christmas in America.
"Damn-it Ashley! I told you, do NOT climb out of the cart! NATHAN!"
And so it went, no doubt at multiple locations in the store, over and over, all day. I just smiled and whispered, once again, "thank you Jesus", that I don't have to go through...having given birth instead to multiple rescue dogs over the years that in some cases make me wonder why I just didn't have kids but I diverge...
It's Christmas in America, specifically California, and my heart is filled with JOY, FOR SURE, as I smugly pass by these scenes. A few days before, I watch with some fascination as a man orders a woman, his girlfriend it appears, out of the car--"GET OUT. JUST GET OUT. GET THE F--- OUT!". She is wearing a Santa hat.
This year, for me, it's was going to be different. I hadn't yet engaged in any of this "cheer". I let everyone go first at the intersections. I didn't flip anyone off. No one flipped me off. I gave up so many parking spaces, I worried I would need camping gear. I cheerfully got out of the way when a couple almost mowed me down at a store. I even told them "no problem", was ever so understanding, not that they cared. I walked slowly everywhere. I chatted with the Salvation Army bell ringer. I picked up some Christmas-themed litter. So Zen. So very Zen. This year, I decided, I am not going to buy into it...be a Christmas asshole. Absolutely not. And I didn't need to be is the thing. My Christmas's are relatively stress free.
So it was, I was walking my dogs Christmas Day, on the golf course that is near my house. It was closed of course. It had just rained buckets and all was green again, the sun was out but the temperature was still crisp. A perfect winter day in Northern California, and I was going to do it! Get through Christmas without any conflict, sneering, cussing...until I looked up and saw two very large people stuffed into a golf cart, trashing the hell out of the fairway that was completely water soaked. This golf course has a well developed asphalt network of golf cart paths=there was no reason for these idiots to be stuck in the fairway. I watched with some fascination/horror as they attempted to gun their way out of the (at least) one foot ruts on each side, sinking ever deeper. And that was it. I knew once again, I would not get through this Christmas without...
"You're so close. So close! Just walk by. Turn around. You're SO close" but alas...
"Hey, you guys? It just rained a whole lot? The ground is saturated? Probably best if you use the golf cart paths?"
Yeah, this is what I said. TOTAL HIGH GROUND. Still hanging on to the tiniest of hopes...
"What?" Idiot #1 asked.
"Ground's kinda' wet? Yeah? Probably best if you--"
"Yeah, well, why don't you just mind your f______g business."
and BOOM. It was all over. All my hard work. All my patience, mindfulness, sanctimony, and of course, judgement. I even heard it, the sucking sound made by all of it coming down to this moment. It was over. Might as well go out with a bang, so I blew it wide open.
"This IS my business you MORONS. This is our open space. All we got. They let us walk on it and by the way, the golf course is CLOSED. Obviously you didn't PAY to play today plus the course would be closed anyway because IT'S TOO WET TO BE OUT HERE YOU, YOU...You know what? Maybe I will just call the sheriff. Yeah. Whatdoyou' think about THAT, Einsteins?"
We went back and forth until finally, Dumb and Dumber got on the golf cart path and lumbered off but not without...
"She spoke colorful words, went straight to her work,
Stared at the ruts, called them all jerks,
And lifting a finger higher than his nose,
And giving a nod, "up yours" he composed;
They sprang to their golf cart, two feet in the mud,
And away they attempted, with quite a loud thud.
But I heard them exclaim, as they drove out of sight—
“Go F-- Yourself Lady, American Christmas tonight."
And so it went, no doubt at multiple locations in the store, over and over, all day. I just smiled and whispered, once again, "thank you Jesus", that I don't have to go through...having given birth instead to multiple rescue dogs over the years that in some cases make me wonder why I just didn't have kids but I diverge...
It's Christmas in America, specifically California, and my heart is filled with JOY, FOR SURE, as I smugly pass by these scenes. A few days before, I watch with some fascination as a man orders a woman, his girlfriend it appears, out of the car--"GET OUT. JUST GET OUT. GET THE F--- OUT!". She is wearing a Santa hat.
This year, for me, it's was going to be different. I hadn't yet engaged in any of this "cheer". I let everyone go first at the intersections. I didn't flip anyone off. No one flipped me off. I gave up so many parking spaces, I worried I would need camping gear. I cheerfully got out of the way when a couple almost mowed me down at a store. I even told them "no problem", was ever so understanding, not that they cared. I walked slowly everywhere. I chatted with the Salvation Army bell ringer. I picked up some Christmas-themed litter. So Zen. So very Zen. This year, I decided, I am not going to buy into it...be a Christmas asshole. Absolutely not. And I didn't need to be is the thing. My Christmas's are relatively stress free.
So it was, I was walking my dogs Christmas Day, on the golf course that is near my house. It was closed of course. It had just rained buckets and all was green again, the sun was out but the temperature was still crisp. A perfect winter day in Northern California, and I was going to do it! Get through Christmas without any conflict, sneering, cussing...until I looked up and saw two very large people stuffed into a golf cart, trashing the hell out of the fairway that was completely water soaked. This golf course has a well developed asphalt network of golf cart paths=there was no reason for these idiots to be stuck in the fairway. I watched with some fascination/horror as they attempted to gun their way out of the (at least) one foot ruts on each side, sinking ever deeper. And that was it. I knew once again, I would not get through this Christmas without...
"You're so close. So close! Just walk by. Turn around. You're SO close" but alas...
"Hey, you guys? It just rained a whole lot? The ground is saturated? Probably best if you use the golf cart paths?"
Yeah, this is what I said. TOTAL HIGH GROUND. Still hanging on to the tiniest of hopes...
"What?" Idiot #1 asked.
"Ground's kinda' wet? Yeah? Probably best if you--"
"Yeah, well, why don't you just mind your f______g business."
and BOOM. It was all over. All my hard work. All my patience, mindfulness, sanctimony, and of course, judgement. I even heard it, the sucking sound made by all of it coming down to this moment. It was over. Might as well go out with a bang, so I blew it wide open.
"This IS my business you MORONS. This is our open space. All we got. They let us walk on it and by the way, the golf course is CLOSED. Obviously you didn't PAY to play today plus the course would be closed anyway because IT'S TOO WET TO BE OUT HERE YOU, YOU...You know what? Maybe I will just call the sheriff. Yeah. Whatdoyou' think about THAT, Einsteins?"
We went back and forth until finally, Dumb and Dumber got on the golf cart path and lumbered off but not without...
"She spoke colorful words, went straight to her work,
Stared at the ruts, called them all jerks,
And lifting a finger higher than his nose,
And giving a nod, "up yours" he composed;
They sprang to their golf cart, two feet in the mud,
And away they attempted, with quite a loud thud.
But I heard them exclaim, as they drove out of sight—
“Go F-- Yourself Lady, American Christmas tonight."
November 30, 2018
Stop Cutting Down Trees to "Celebrate" Anything! Go LIVE for Christmas!
This has now become a traditional December post. (Not all photos shown. Original post address is below).
A few converts too! I and the earth (the bird taking refuge in a storm in the Christmas tree you planted) thank you.
*********************************************************
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
How Lovely Are Thy Branches!
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
I Wish They'd Leave You On The Ranches!
It Makes No Sense, With Climate Change,
To Hack You Down, Contract Your Range,
You Hold The Carbon Oh So Well,
To Keep Our Planet From Turning Into HELL,
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
Without You None of Us Can Breathe!
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
How Lovely Are Thy Branches!
I know I am not the only one who finds it a bit incongruous that in order to celebrate a life coming into the world, say, I don't know, JESUS, we hack a tree down in his honor. What would Jesus say? (Not to mention that uhm, later he is nailed to one for completely fabricated reasons).
I am also intrigued by the inability of the human species to let go of cultural practices that are, well, harmful, stupid, weird, dumb, especially when they are fairly easy to change.
Photo in post:
December 26th. Millions of once photosynthesizing, carbon retaining young trees are now refuse. Disposing of them will contribute to climate change.
Here's an idea--go live for Christmas! (Those of you who already get a live Christmas tree that you plant every year, you can stop reading at this point and thank you. There is also an added bonus in that you are not bringing a dead tree into your house you then expose to heat thereby knowingly creating a phenomenal fire hazard).
You Can Have a Living Tree for Christmas!
Here are a couple options:
Rescue: Rescue a young native tree destined for death or perhaps in a terrible place. It's more work of course but the tree is free though you may still have to buy some supplies such as a tub and inexpensive potting soil. Rescuing should be done within your bioregion and may require permission. (This is left to your discretion but we're definitely not talking about poaching trees! This is about rescuing a tree in a hopeless situation. Think about a Charlie Brown Christmas with the difference being he picks out a small living tree that needs some love; after Christmas all the Peanuts kids plant it together and of course, sing). I also strongly recommend buying an eco-friendly rooting hormone, the kind you mix with water (more on this later). In both cases described here, if you live in a mild climate and can plant anytime, it's best to dig the hole before you bring the tree home so this is done. This will also provide you with native soil. Not sure how big the roots are? You may need to modify the size of the hole but modifying it is far less involved than digging it in a hurry. The hole needs to be as wide as the roots/rootball plus half this size. (If the rootball is 18 inches in diameter, the hole needs to be 27 inches in diameter). Cover the hole with plywood so nothing falls in, including soil.
Dig your tree up carefully to preserve as many of the roots as possible (the smaller the tree, the easier it is to do this). No need to ball it up. You just need to have a tub of some type, be it plastic or steel. Ideally the tub has drain holes but this isn't totally necessary if you water carefully. Fill the bottom of the tub up with some soil to anchor the tree after you dig it up. Put it in the tub and cover the roots but do not fill the tub with soil yet. If the soil where it is growing looks healthy, fill-up another container with this soil to bring it home. This healthy soil may have needed mycorrhizae/soil symbionts in it that help the tree grow. If the soil it is growing in does not look healthy, you can use the native soil from the hole you dug beforehand and/or, use some inexpensive potting soil.
Don't completely fill the tub with soil until you get it where you want it in the house because one it's filled with soil, it gets heavy. Once your tree is where you want it in the house, go ahead and fill the tub with soil leaving about an inch or two from the top for watering. If your tub has holes in it, of course, you want to put a container under it; water until some comes out of the bottom. If your tub does not have drain holes in the bottom, do the stick test every other day--push a stick that is at least eight inches long into the soil and if it comes up damp to dry, water the tree. In either case, you will need to check the tree every other day. Assuming you put lights on the tree, it can dry out very quickly. Misting it every day to every other day helps too. Of course, make sure your lights are not ON when you do this (i.e. use common sense).
Buy a Live Tree (ideally native to your bioregion): if it doesn't come in a tub or pot already, do not take it out of the rootball. If the tree was prepared properly by the nursery, it has soil around it that is protecting the roots. Put the entire intact rootball in a plastic/stainless steel tub as close to the house as possible then you have some options: you can use native soil ideally from where you intend to plant it, or use inexpensive potting soil. If you are going to plant it right after the holidays, you can use just enough soil to cover the rootball and anchor the tree. You can also use only water. Fill the tub so water covers only about half of the rootball. Don't suffocate the tree by submerging the root ball completely in water. It's not an aquatic plant! It needs oxygen too! If you will have to wait a few weeks or months to plant, fill the tub to the top with soil. In all cases, the tree will need watering on a regular basis; check every other day. As mentioned above, misting the tree every day will help keep it hydrated and again, make sure when you mist it, the lights are off (duh?).
And now the fun part...
Your live tree is now in the house. Decorate your live tree, smell its fragrance all throughout the house, a fragrance not of a tree KILLED, a tree that is DYING, but one of memories yet to be made; a fragrance that symbolizes LIFE, the tree's life, that of your family, your loved ones, your life.
Celebrate Christmas
Maybe this is the real Christmas-y part: after the holidays, instead of throwing it out in the yard (with regards to John Prine who may have to change his song, sorry), putting it with the trash, you get to PLANT IT-- with or without ceremony. Of course, it depends on your climate. In milder climates, you can plant anytime. For your rescue tree, the sooner you plant it, the better but don't plant it under severe weather conditions (it could stay below freezing for weeks to come). If you can't plant it for awhile, make sure the tub is filled nearly to the top with soil, the roots are covered well, the tree is stable, then move it outside into a sheltered location and just wait for milder temperatures/spring. In this way too, you are 'hardening' it off, getting it used to its microclimate, even if it is a native tree from your bioregion; it's still good to harden it off as close to where you are going to plant it as possible. When you plant your rescue tree, pour the proper mix of liquid rooting hormone over the roots before filling the hole with soil and/or you can also soak the tree roots in a bucket of rooting hormone before planting (20 minutes or so prior to planting) then pour the bucket of hormone mix over the roots before filling the hole.
When you plant your purchased live tree, unless the material holding the roots is truly 100% organic, biodegradable, you need to carefully, gently remove it, trying not to disturb the root system at all, then plant the tree immediately. Use of rooting hormone for a purchased live tree is optional.
When I lived in Wyoming, I bought a live white fir (Abies concolor) in a 10-gallon pot. Since it grows in this type of climate, it did fine (again, native trees from your bioregion do much better). After New Year's Day, I added some more soil to the pot then moved it outside to a sheltered location by the house so it could harden-off. It lived out a fierce winter until April when I planted it. It grew to be a lush, full, beautiful tree.
Your Beautiful Memory Forest
Plant your Christmas trees year after year and your present is a forest of beautiful living trees that keep the memories of each Christmas alive. Regardless of religion or creed, can there be nothing more appropriate than to plant a tree in the memory of a life lived? To plant a tree to mark each season of our lives, and those of our friends and family?
Your Christmas trees will continue to give back in so many ways--by providing food, shelter, and habitat for numerous species of birds and other wildlife. Trees provide a wide array of ecosystem services for all living organisms, including us. (For example, are you breathing?). But perhaps most importantly, the future of our planet may be in the hands, er, trunk, leaves, needles of trees--they hold carbon.
This is an Christmaecological win win.
With all due respect to the season, and I LOVE Christmas-time (sans the commercial contamination), the cutting and killing of millions of trees to 'celebrate', well, anything, is a paradigm we need to change--now. You can easily be a part of it. Just imagine all the Christmas-inspired forests that would spring up around the world!
Oh Christmas Tree!
(Originally Published December 20, 2015 @ 19:20). Re-posted.
http://virginiaarthurauthor.com/stop-...
A few converts too! I and the earth (the bird taking refuge in a storm in the Christmas tree you planted) thank you.
*********************************************************
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
How Lovely Are Thy Branches!
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
I Wish They'd Leave You On The Ranches!
It Makes No Sense, With Climate Change,
To Hack You Down, Contract Your Range,
You Hold The Carbon Oh So Well,
To Keep Our Planet From Turning Into HELL,
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
Without You None of Us Can Breathe!
Oh Christmas Tree,
Oh Christmas Tree,
How Lovely Are Thy Branches!
I know I am not the only one who finds it a bit incongruous that in order to celebrate a life coming into the world, say, I don't know, JESUS, we hack a tree down in his honor. What would Jesus say? (Not to mention that uhm, later he is nailed to one for completely fabricated reasons).
I am also intrigued by the inability of the human species to let go of cultural practices that are, well, harmful, stupid, weird, dumb, especially when they are fairly easy to change.
Photo in post:
December 26th. Millions of once photosynthesizing, carbon retaining young trees are now refuse. Disposing of them will contribute to climate change.
Here's an idea--go live for Christmas! (Those of you who already get a live Christmas tree that you plant every year, you can stop reading at this point and thank you. There is also an added bonus in that you are not bringing a dead tree into your house you then expose to heat thereby knowingly creating a phenomenal fire hazard).
You Can Have a Living Tree for Christmas!
Here are a couple options:
Rescue: Rescue a young native tree destined for death or perhaps in a terrible place. It's more work of course but the tree is free though you may still have to buy some supplies such as a tub and inexpensive potting soil. Rescuing should be done within your bioregion and may require permission. (This is left to your discretion but we're definitely not talking about poaching trees! This is about rescuing a tree in a hopeless situation. Think about a Charlie Brown Christmas with the difference being he picks out a small living tree that needs some love; after Christmas all the Peanuts kids plant it together and of course, sing). I also strongly recommend buying an eco-friendly rooting hormone, the kind you mix with water (more on this later). In both cases described here, if you live in a mild climate and can plant anytime, it's best to dig the hole before you bring the tree home so this is done. This will also provide you with native soil. Not sure how big the roots are? You may need to modify the size of the hole but modifying it is far less involved than digging it in a hurry. The hole needs to be as wide as the roots/rootball plus half this size. (If the rootball is 18 inches in diameter, the hole needs to be 27 inches in diameter). Cover the hole with plywood so nothing falls in, including soil.
Dig your tree up carefully to preserve as many of the roots as possible (the smaller the tree, the easier it is to do this). No need to ball it up. You just need to have a tub of some type, be it plastic or steel. Ideally the tub has drain holes but this isn't totally necessary if you water carefully. Fill the bottom of the tub up with some soil to anchor the tree after you dig it up. Put it in the tub and cover the roots but do not fill the tub with soil yet. If the soil where it is growing looks healthy, fill-up another container with this soil to bring it home. This healthy soil may have needed mycorrhizae/soil symbionts in it that help the tree grow. If the soil it is growing in does not look healthy, you can use the native soil from the hole you dug beforehand and/or, use some inexpensive potting soil.
Don't completely fill the tub with soil until you get it where you want it in the house because one it's filled with soil, it gets heavy. Once your tree is where you want it in the house, go ahead and fill the tub with soil leaving about an inch or two from the top for watering. If your tub has holes in it, of course, you want to put a container under it; water until some comes out of the bottom. If your tub does not have drain holes in the bottom, do the stick test every other day--push a stick that is at least eight inches long into the soil and if it comes up damp to dry, water the tree. In either case, you will need to check the tree every other day. Assuming you put lights on the tree, it can dry out very quickly. Misting it every day to every other day helps too. Of course, make sure your lights are not ON when you do this (i.e. use common sense).
Buy a Live Tree (ideally native to your bioregion): if it doesn't come in a tub or pot already, do not take it out of the rootball. If the tree was prepared properly by the nursery, it has soil around it that is protecting the roots. Put the entire intact rootball in a plastic/stainless steel tub as close to the house as possible then you have some options: you can use native soil ideally from where you intend to plant it, or use inexpensive potting soil. If you are going to plant it right after the holidays, you can use just enough soil to cover the rootball and anchor the tree. You can also use only water. Fill the tub so water covers only about half of the rootball. Don't suffocate the tree by submerging the root ball completely in water. It's not an aquatic plant! It needs oxygen too! If you will have to wait a few weeks or months to plant, fill the tub to the top with soil. In all cases, the tree will need watering on a regular basis; check every other day. As mentioned above, misting the tree every day will help keep it hydrated and again, make sure when you mist it, the lights are off (duh?).
And now the fun part...
Your live tree is now in the house. Decorate your live tree, smell its fragrance all throughout the house, a fragrance not of a tree KILLED, a tree that is DYING, but one of memories yet to be made; a fragrance that symbolizes LIFE, the tree's life, that of your family, your loved ones, your life.
Celebrate Christmas
Maybe this is the real Christmas-y part: after the holidays, instead of throwing it out in the yard (with regards to John Prine who may have to change his song, sorry), putting it with the trash, you get to PLANT IT-- with or without ceremony. Of course, it depends on your climate. In milder climates, you can plant anytime. For your rescue tree, the sooner you plant it, the better but don't plant it under severe weather conditions (it could stay below freezing for weeks to come). If you can't plant it for awhile, make sure the tub is filled nearly to the top with soil, the roots are covered well, the tree is stable, then move it outside into a sheltered location and just wait for milder temperatures/spring. In this way too, you are 'hardening' it off, getting it used to its microclimate, even if it is a native tree from your bioregion; it's still good to harden it off as close to where you are going to plant it as possible. When you plant your rescue tree, pour the proper mix of liquid rooting hormone over the roots before filling the hole with soil and/or you can also soak the tree roots in a bucket of rooting hormone before planting (20 minutes or so prior to planting) then pour the bucket of hormone mix over the roots before filling the hole.
When you plant your purchased live tree, unless the material holding the roots is truly 100% organic, biodegradable, you need to carefully, gently remove it, trying not to disturb the root system at all, then plant the tree immediately. Use of rooting hormone for a purchased live tree is optional.
When I lived in Wyoming, I bought a live white fir (Abies concolor) in a 10-gallon pot. Since it grows in this type of climate, it did fine (again, native trees from your bioregion do much better). After New Year's Day, I added some more soil to the pot then moved it outside to a sheltered location by the house so it could harden-off. It lived out a fierce winter until April when I planted it. It grew to be a lush, full, beautiful tree.
Your Beautiful Memory Forest
Plant your Christmas trees year after year and your present is a forest of beautiful living trees that keep the memories of each Christmas alive. Regardless of religion or creed, can there be nothing more appropriate than to plant a tree in the memory of a life lived? To plant a tree to mark each season of our lives, and those of our friends and family?
Your Christmas trees will continue to give back in so many ways--by providing food, shelter, and habitat for numerous species of birds and other wildlife. Trees provide a wide array of ecosystem services for all living organisms, including us. (For example, are you breathing?). But perhaps most importantly, the future of our planet may be in the hands, er, trunk, leaves, needles of trees--they hold carbon.
This is an Christmaecological win win.
With all due respect to the season, and I LOVE Christmas-time (sans the commercial contamination), the cutting and killing of millions of trees to 'celebrate', well, anything, is a paradigm we need to change--now. You can easily be a part of it. Just imagine all the Christmas-inspired forests that would spring up around the world!
Oh Christmas Tree!
(Originally Published December 20, 2015 @ 19:20). Re-posted.
http://virginiaarthurauthor.com/stop-...
September 2, 2018
Your President is a Land Developer...
Sent along from the League of Conservation Voters. Reauthorize the LWCF NOW.
Thank you.
http://virginiaarthurauthor.com/reaut...
Thank you.
http://virginiaarthurauthor.com/reaut...
August 4, 2018
Help, I'm Trapped Inside My House Because If I Go Outside, I Can't Breathe. Come To Sunny California!
I am not kidding. For the upteenth Pinot Grigo is only $6.99 for a 1.5 liter bottle we are sequestered inside here in sunny lovely California where everything is burning down, down, down, to the ground and the Gov is convening 'panels' to talk about it. Yes, let's TALK. Let's talk about how insane things have gotten in this state where people are still given permits to put their homes in super dangerous areas on super steep slopes because the counties have quietly removed all steep slope protections so developers can still shove homes into places that will BURN down and the homes are made of WOOD of the most flammable kind injected with flammable glues and the roofs are still made of OIL because nobody is giving incentives for Californians to install STEEL ENAMEL fire proof roofs because they want to blame it all on our natives, the PINES and the MANZANITA and the OAKS and the FIRS and the COYOTE BRUSH and the CHAMISE and the CEANOTHUS and the TOYON and the almost gone BLOOMERIA and the BUCKBRUSH and the COFFEE BERRY and the SAGE...to be able to CUT IT ALL DOWN FOR "FIRE SAFETY" even though everyone's houses MADE OF WOOD burn down anyway...
California has always been crazy but this never cost people their lives and now it is. It's called hypocrisy.
We are locked up, locked in. Can't breathe. It doesn't have to be this way. Nobody's in charge.
Send pizza and beer.
California has always been crazy but this never cost people their lives and now it is. It's called hypocrisy.
We are locked up, locked in. Can't breathe. It doesn't have to be this way. Nobody's in charge.
Send pizza and beer.
May 25, 2018
Get Me Out of the American Bounce House, God. Please.
My anecdote to the insanity of the adult world is to hang out with kids because they're not crazy, not yet anyway. Crazy is the mark of becoming an adult human primate. Sanity is the mark of being honest and down-to-earth which is what normal kids are. For example, when nine year old Travis tells me I have wrinkles, an accurate observation, my response, wanting to throttle him, is in fact, crazy. See how it works?
So when my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to help with her ten year old daughter's birthday party, I said sure. Some honest fun. I can take it.
I got stuck in the bounce house. I wanted out. Inside were 20 or so kids I bounced around with and then being somewhat claustrophobic, I wanted the f out. I couldn't figure out where the flap/door was because every time I went for it, I got bounced back, the kids ganging up on me, not letting me reach it, laughing their little sadistic asses off--look at the adult. Can't get out of the bounce house.
And this is what it feels like to be in America now with the Trump presidency: you can't get out of the gd bounce house. As soon as you think SOMETHING is going to happen with the Mueller investigation, it gets bounced back, away from the door, only to bounce closer again...and again and again. I can't turn on the news anymore. Look at the paper. Is it that our system of justice is in total breakdown? I can't roll through a stop sign but Trump can base American diplomacy upon whether he cuts a Trump hotel deal with Qater? And nothing happens to him?
I want out of the American bounce house. Please. Somebody. Let me out. Let us all out.
So when my girlfriend asked me if I wanted to help with her ten year old daughter's birthday party, I said sure. Some honest fun. I can take it.
I got stuck in the bounce house. I wanted out. Inside were 20 or so kids I bounced around with and then being somewhat claustrophobic, I wanted the f out. I couldn't figure out where the flap/door was because every time I went for it, I got bounced back, the kids ganging up on me, not letting me reach it, laughing their little sadistic asses off--look at the adult. Can't get out of the bounce house.
And this is what it feels like to be in America now with the Trump presidency: you can't get out of the gd bounce house. As soon as you think SOMETHING is going to happen with the Mueller investigation, it gets bounced back, away from the door, only to bounce closer again...and again and again. I can't turn on the news anymore. Look at the paper. Is it that our system of justice is in total breakdown? I can't roll through a stop sign but Trump can base American diplomacy upon whether he cuts a Trump hotel deal with Qater? And nothing happens to him?
I want out of the American bounce house. Please. Somebody. Let me out. Let us all out.
November 9, 2017
August 27, 2017
Want to Know Why the GOP Won't Impeach Trump? He's the Best Distraction To Dismantling Our Environmental Protections and Public Lands System They Have Ever Seen...
With the upside for Trump being he is a real estate developer, first and foremost, so the arrangement is "convenient", rife with opportunities for corruption: remove protections for public lands (make up some reason why) then soon, maybe later, a Trump development shows up on them, a little payola for those that helped (but later). Could never happen? Wow. Can I move into your bubble?
There is no "never" to this precedent-cy (not a typo). Right now anyway, to the integrity-challenged GOP, Trump is the greatest distraction they have ever seen, a dream in fact, as long as they can complete their own agendas...They will only consider removing him when it flips too far from their interests, otherwise he is a big fat orange haired buffoon they can all hide behind.
This presidency is about the environment--removing land protections and undermining environmental protections. Yes, we are all tired but we can't stop.
What public lands do you take for granted? Go to all the time, love? What public lands are within 100 miles of your home? Make a list then go to the BLM office, the USFS office, the NPS office and ask them if any of your lands are up for sale, swap? You may be blown away by what you find. Report back.
It is appalling that in the farce of this disastrous precedent-cy, two white men are deciding the fate of our public lands therefore the fate of the communities that border them. The pressure to remove these protections coming from other white men, the motivation primitive: extraction, logging, destruction, greed. (Really? Still? C'mon.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY7PS...
Contact your legislators, send a donation, make your list, act on it. Not sure how to allocate donations? Your time? This is money, time that will definitely benefit your entire community, such as the small businesses that thrive near public open lands, that little bakery on the edge of Point Reyes or Cape Hatteras...what small businesses exist near your public lands?
These are actions that definitely benefit ALL of us but more importantly, the innocent creatures that rely on these ever diminishing lands for habitat. It's a nifty partnership, you see.
To Get You Started:
http://earthjustice.org/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/how-much...
https://sierra.secure.force.com/actio...
http://www.protectourpublicland.org/
https://www.lcv.org/
http://wilderness.org/keep-our-wild-p...
https://www.tpl.org/save-our-public-l...
http://www.conservationnw.org/what-we...
https://www.outsideonline.com/2100586...
Thank you.
There is no "never" to this precedent-cy (not a typo). Right now anyway, to the integrity-challenged GOP, Trump is the greatest distraction they have ever seen, a dream in fact, as long as they can complete their own agendas...They will only consider removing him when it flips too far from their interests, otherwise he is a big fat orange haired buffoon they can all hide behind.
This presidency is about the environment--removing land protections and undermining environmental protections. Yes, we are all tired but we can't stop.
What public lands do you take for granted? Go to all the time, love? What public lands are within 100 miles of your home? Make a list then go to the BLM office, the USFS office, the NPS office and ask them if any of your lands are up for sale, swap? You may be blown away by what you find. Report back.
It is appalling that in the farce of this disastrous precedent-cy, two white men are deciding the fate of our public lands therefore the fate of the communities that border them. The pressure to remove these protections coming from other white men, the motivation primitive: extraction, logging, destruction, greed. (Really? Still? C'mon.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rY7PS...
Contact your legislators, send a donation, make your list, act on it. Not sure how to allocate donations? Your time? This is money, time that will definitely benefit your entire community, such as the small businesses that thrive near public open lands, that little bakery on the edge of Point Reyes or Cape Hatteras...what small businesses exist near your public lands?
These are actions that definitely benefit ALL of us but more importantly, the innocent creatures that rely on these ever diminishing lands for habitat. It's a nifty partnership, you see.
To Get You Started:
http://earthjustice.org/
http://www.thedailybeast.com/how-much...
https://sierra.secure.force.com/actio...
http://www.protectourpublicland.org/
https://www.lcv.org/
http://wilderness.org/keep-our-wild-p...
https://www.tpl.org/save-our-public-l...
http://www.conservationnw.org/what-we...
https://www.outsideonline.com/2100586...
Thank you.
June 16, 2017
The Simple and Fitting Justice of Being Chased Off a Hilltop By Butterflies, Vultures, and Ants.
Stranger in a strange land is where I live, preferring isolated little corners. I stuff in a beer and a book of poems, oh you poor nostalgic slob not posting to your Facebook page (don't have one); instead you walk down the more remote roads, with the dogs, if "remote" even applies in California.
I hope everyone has little places they can go to. If you don't, find one; nobody needs to know where it is but it's best if it's a little hard to get to, maybe on the edge of something, with a view out--of your head that is.
I have a lot of these places I can steal away to, thankfully a few miles from my home. One of them is a dirt road that leads to granite outcrops with a view to the east, towards the Sierras. I walk this road with trepidation, not because I am afraid of anything like mountain lions, but because I can tell the owner is going through that inevitable process all new landowners go through--what to do with the land once you own it because you can't just LEAVE IT ALONE! You have to CUT SOMETHING DOWN, mow, spray, buy a bright red tractor then drive it around on the land for no good reason but to declare to the world that can't see you, this is MY land. It ALWAYS goes this way, and I always have to brace myself for it because I know once I find a patch of something pretty and wild, forgotten about, it will be destroyed sooner or later. So it goes with the antsy human primate.
I approach the opening of the manzanita that borders the crude new path with a stone of dread in my gut, prepare myself for the grief...last time it was one older ponderosa pine, cut down for absolutely no reason I could tell, left sprawling in pieces all over the ground, like a dismemberment; then a grove of manzanita, also left in heaps, once living browse for deer, cover for their babies, nectar for bees, butterflies, and ants...I try to spy to see what has been done before we get there so I can prepare myself emotionally. I see two more young pines on the ground, again, as far as I can tell, cut for absolutely no reason except for the sheer "fun" of it (?), because he has to do something with that new chainsaw? We walk through and over the carnage. I am relieved to see he has not yet made it to the top of the outcrop where one can see out to the snow-capped Sierras. It's nothing spectacular (which is why nobody has found it yet); it's only about 2800 feet up, but for now anyway, it's ours.
The dogs and I settle down on an outcrop surrounded by wise old manzanita and shrubby oaks. Lupine blooms on the edges and I can smell the native ceanothus but I can't see it. Towhees "tweet" and retreat. The outcrop is covered in wash from raptors and vultures, particularly from the vultures that soar at eye level whenever I am there. I get up to check out the wildflowers in bloom and within seconds, a riot (literally) of butterflies is in my face, around my body. They're hill-topping meaning the males are fighting for territory/females on top of this outcrop and I am in the way, annoying them, threatening their very important and essential ritual. Skippers, swallowtails, lady's, and buckeyes are fighting it out, flying furiously. They land in a sunny spot to open and close their wings, then they're off again. I am in the way so I go back to my original spot where the dogs are tethered but then a turkey vulture buzzes the top of my head so close, I am sure he/she is going to graze my hair. Another languidly passes over from the other direction. I notice there is a lot more wash than the last time I was here. Maybe they are breeding. I look up and see two more launch from Douglas firs and son of a bitch if the first one doesn't seem to be coming back around, and lower. I duck just in time. Shit, I say to the dogs. It is becoming obvious we are not particularly wanted up here right now.
We move to a lower spot on the outcrop, a ledge. I finish my beer and take out some peanuts. The dogs settle in next to me but after a few minutes the littlest one, a fearless pom mix, starts to freak out, trying to bite his own belly while the beagle abruptly stands up and snaps at his back. Soon, I am smacking my back and lifting my sock where a red and black ant has just sunk his mandibles into my ankle. I flick him off and notice my backpack is covered with his buddies...the smell of formic acid fills the air around us--the ants be pissed. The dogs plead with their eyes, "Can we please go now?"
I laugh. Antsy human primate indeed! We are definitely not wanted here, and how glorious! I pack up and we head back down the dirt path. Oh to be driven off in this way, from this yet to be destroyed place! They will not go without a fight! How I love them for this. What joy, what perfect justice, what hope! My heart is light.
I hope everyone has little places they can go to. If you don't, find one; nobody needs to know where it is but it's best if it's a little hard to get to, maybe on the edge of something, with a view out--of your head that is.
I have a lot of these places I can steal away to, thankfully a few miles from my home. One of them is a dirt road that leads to granite outcrops with a view to the east, towards the Sierras. I walk this road with trepidation, not because I am afraid of anything like mountain lions, but because I can tell the owner is going through that inevitable process all new landowners go through--what to do with the land once you own it because you can't just LEAVE IT ALONE! You have to CUT SOMETHING DOWN, mow, spray, buy a bright red tractor then drive it around on the land for no good reason but to declare to the world that can't see you, this is MY land. It ALWAYS goes this way, and I always have to brace myself for it because I know once I find a patch of something pretty and wild, forgotten about, it will be destroyed sooner or later. So it goes with the antsy human primate.
I approach the opening of the manzanita that borders the crude new path with a stone of dread in my gut, prepare myself for the grief...last time it was one older ponderosa pine, cut down for absolutely no reason I could tell, left sprawling in pieces all over the ground, like a dismemberment; then a grove of manzanita, also left in heaps, once living browse for deer, cover for their babies, nectar for bees, butterflies, and ants...I try to spy to see what has been done before we get there so I can prepare myself emotionally. I see two more young pines on the ground, again, as far as I can tell, cut for absolutely no reason except for the sheer "fun" of it (?), because he has to do something with that new chainsaw? We walk through and over the carnage. I am relieved to see he has not yet made it to the top of the outcrop where one can see out to the snow-capped Sierras. It's nothing spectacular (which is why nobody has found it yet); it's only about 2800 feet up, but for now anyway, it's ours.
The dogs and I settle down on an outcrop surrounded by wise old manzanita and shrubby oaks. Lupine blooms on the edges and I can smell the native ceanothus but I can't see it. Towhees "tweet" and retreat. The outcrop is covered in wash from raptors and vultures, particularly from the vultures that soar at eye level whenever I am there. I get up to check out the wildflowers in bloom and within seconds, a riot (literally) of butterflies is in my face, around my body. They're hill-topping meaning the males are fighting for territory/females on top of this outcrop and I am in the way, annoying them, threatening their very important and essential ritual. Skippers, swallowtails, lady's, and buckeyes are fighting it out, flying furiously. They land in a sunny spot to open and close their wings, then they're off again. I am in the way so I go back to my original spot where the dogs are tethered but then a turkey vulture buzzes the top of my head so close, I am sure he/she is going to graze my hair. Another languidly passes over from the other direction. I notice there is a lot more wash than the last time I was here. Maybe they are breeding. I look up and see two more launch from Douglas firs and son of a bitch if the first one doesn't seem to be coming back around, and lower. I duck just in time. Shit, I say to the dogs. It is becoming obvious we are not particularly wanted up here right now.
We move to a lower spot on the outcrop, a ledge. I finish my beer and take out some peanuts. The dogs settle in next to me but after a few minutes the littlest one, a fearless pom mix, starts to freak out, trying to bite his own belly while the beagle abruptly stands up and snaps at his back. Soon, I am smacking my back and lifting my sock where a red and black ant has just sunk his mandibles into my ankle. I flick him off and notice my backpack is covered with his buddies...the smell of formic acid fills the air around us--the ants be pissed. The dogs plead with their eyes, "Can we please go now?"
I laugh. Antsy human primate indeed! We are definitely not wanted here, and how glorious! I pack up and we head back down the dirt path. Oh to be driven off in this way, from this yet to be destroyed place! They will not go without a fight! How I love them for this. What joy, what perfect justice, what hope! My heart is light.
April 29, 2017
Why Aren't You At the Climate March Little Miss Environmentalist?
First of all, you know I HATE that word, designation- "environmentalist" and second, more to the point, because, uhm, I care about the climate?
Thank you if you do pack a bag, buy a ticket, fill up with gas (or plug in?), pump carbon into the atmosphere for the worthiest cause of all but unless it's regional or local, I'm not going because the best thing we can do to "stop" climate change (I think it's too late but hey planet, please prove me wrong) is STAY HOME.
In watching the news coverage of the events in D.C. this weekend, I am indeed heartened the generations most represented are the ones we are currently screwing over, the Millennials and my generation, Gen X. (I straddle two generations and per my disdain for the Boomers, have claimed Gen X as my generation; I rejected the Boomer paradigm though maybe should have bought in if it wasn't for those morning breakfasts with my dad and my tearful mom, neither college educated, who I watched get screwed over by the corporations they gave over two decades of their lives to. I made the decision to reject their Babbittian paradigm but being "self-employed" in a country dead-set on going third-world hasn't been a blast either).
There they all are, with their signs and matching T-shirts, funny costumes--required thousand and thousands of pounds of carbon to create in order to tell everybody to stop using so much carbon but, blame the scientist in me:
the earth doesn't know the difference between "carbon for a good cause" and "bad carbon", so as an ecologist, a clifer, I can't do it.
Democracy or whatever the hell we have right now (last I checked a 'precedent' that caters to cronies for favors, skips the pesky citizens of his own country, and completely bypasses Congress is called a dictator or qualifies as authoritarian say like, I don't know, Putin, or at its most extreme, Jong-un?)--democracy requires constant vigilance and all that get-off-your-phat-ass stuff and what I feel is and has been far more effective is acting locally which of course, saves the climate.
Who are your representatives in Congress? Find out and make them into your own little research project. Study their websites (if they function anyway; gotta' love those "403 errors"); go to any public meetings ("town halls") if they actually hold any. Participate in their online "events". Call them ("sorry, the mailbox at this number is full" no kidding, this is what I got this week for my own representative in Northern CA). They are supposed to represent us so FIND OUT WHAT IN THE HELL THEY ARE DOING. YOU PAY THEIR SALARIES AND HEATH BENEFITS. Keep notes.
My representative is latching hard and fast onto the horrible Bush Jr. era "Healthy Forests Act" to start logging for "biofuels", projects that have continuously failed in CA but who cares (four biofuel plants have been built, NONE of which are operating but the consultants made a killing building them). According to my sources, he met with the timber industry last week. This is really important information!
This is what I am doing--finding out what my "representatives" are doing then writing to the local paper about it (guest columns, opinion columns, letters to the editor, blog.). I am letting them know how I feel all the time in emails, letters, and phone calls (they still get mail I assume). They want to cut deals, nix environmental regulations while "grandpa" is busy quite frankly, doing the same thing, degrading our democracy, making a mockery of it, and disrespecting us. They are making a mockery of our country because all the country is to them right now is a great chance to cut some deals and make a lot of $$$$$$$$$. (Tillerson? Exxon-Russo pipeline? Anybody?). (Evolution-wise, biologically speaking, this is a textbook demonstration of primitive human primate behavior).
If there is a regional or local protest, go to it as long as it isn't a waste of time (or of course, organize your own but read on). There was one last week in my town that walked through downtown on Saturday at 10 a.m. No one was there. It felt a little silly so some of us left--one has to be SEEN if one is going to publicly protest--the "protest" was organized by comfortable retired boomers who quite frankly are extremely well-off--so they do recreational activism but the rest of us have to protest or die. Figure out, truly, if participating will accomplish anything other than making you "feel" like you did something. Walking down empty streets on a Sat morning...well I have better more effective things to do.
If it is worth your time, the protest is on a street corner, visible, and yes, a few people may tell you, ironically, ignorantly, to "go back to Russia" (not kidding here) yes, it may feel a little uncomfortable, then go but the most important thing you can do right now to bring Grandpa Orange Hair up to speed is dog your representatives as many of them fully embrace abandoning democracy to feather their own nests, and of course, always remind them, YOU VOTE.
Thank you if you do pack a bag, buy a ticket, fill up with gas (or plug in?), pump carbon into the atmosphere for the worthiest cause of all but unless it's regional or local, I'm not going because the best thing we can do to "stop" climate change (I think it's too late but hey planet, please prove me wrong) is STAY HOME.
In watching the news coverage of the events in D.C. this weekend, I am indeed heartened the generations most represented are the ones we are currently screwing over, the Millennials and my generation, Gen X. (I straddle two generations and per my disdain for the Boomers, have claimed Gen X as my generation; I rejected the Boomer paradigm though maybe should have bought in if it wasn't for those morning breakfasts with my dad and my tearful mom, neither college educated, who I watched get screwed over by the corporations they gave over two decades of their lives to. I made the decision to reject their Babbittian paradigm but being "self-employed" in a country dead-set on going third-world hasn't been a blast either).
There they all are, with their signs and matching T-shirts, funny costumes--required thousand and thousands of pounds of carbon to create in order to tell everybody to stop using so much carbon but, blame the scientist in me:
the earth doesn't know the difference between "carbon for a good cause" and "bad carbon", so as an ecologist, a clifer, I can't do it.
Democracy or whatever the hell we have right now (last I checked a 'precedent' that caters to cronies for favors, skips the pesky citizens of his own country, and completely bypasses Congress is called a dictator or qualifies as authoritarian say like, I don't know, Putin, or at its most extreme, Jong-un?)--democracy requires constant vigilance and all that get-off-your-phat-ass stuff and what I feel is and has been far more effective is acting locally which of course, saves the climate.
Who are your representatives in Congress? Find out and make them into your own little research project. Study their websites (if they function anyway; gotta' love those "403 errors"); go to any public meetings ("town halls") if they actually hold any. Participate in their online "events". Call them ("sorry, the mailbox at this number is full" no kidding, this is what I got this week for my own representative in Northern CA). They are supposed to represent us so FIND OUT WHAT IN THE HELL THEY ARE DOING. YOU PAY THEIR SALARIES AND HEATH BENEFITS. Keep notes.
My representative is latching hard and fast onto the horrible Bush Jr. era "Healthy Forests Act" to start logging for "biofuels", projects that have continuously failed in CA but who cares (four biofuel plants have been built, NONE of which are operating but the consultants made a killing building them). According to my sources, he met with the timber industry last week. This is really important information!
This is what I am doing--finding out what my "representatives" are doing then writing to the local paper about it (guest columns, opinion columns, letters to the editor, blog.). I am letting them know how I feel all the time in emails, letters, and phone calls (they still get mail I assume). They want to cut deals, nix environmental regulations while "grandpa" is busy quite frankly, doing the same thing, degrading our democracy, making a mockery of it, and disrespecting us. They are making a mockery of our country because all the country is to them right now is a great chance to cut some deals and make a lot of $$$$$$$$$. (Tillerson? Exxon-Russo pipeline? Anybody?). (Evolution-wise, biologically speaking, this is a textbook demonstration of primitive human primate behavior).
If there is a regional or local protest, go to it as long as it isn't a waste of time (or of course, organize your own but read on). There was one last week in my town that walked through downtown on Saturday at 10 a.m. No one was there. It felt a little silly so some of us left--one has to be SEEN if one is going to publicly protest--the "protest" was organized by comfortable retired boomers who quite frankly are extremely well-off--so they do recreational activism but the rest of us have to protest or die. Figure out, truly, if participating will accomplish anything other than making you "feel" like you did something. Walking down empty streets on a Sat morning...well I have better more effective things to do.
If it is worth your time, the protest is on a street corner, visible, and yes, a few people may tell you, ironically, ignorantly, to "go back to Russia" (not kidding here) yes, it may feel a little uncomfortable, then go but the most important thing you can do right now to bring Grandpa Orange Hair up to speed is dog your representatives as many of them fully embrace abandoning democracy to feather their own nests, and of course, always remind them, YOU VOTE.
