Billbow and spinal surgery

Bilbow Baggins, a ficticious character in the latest Hobbit movie, becomes drawn into an "unexpected adventure."  Hobbits are gentle folk that  seek to live their lives with predictibilty and calm.  They enjoy a comfortable life in well furnished underground homes, maintain their gardens, enjoy company and shared food, and don't welcome anything that interrupts their lives.  The movie, “Unexpected Adventure”, was a great disappointment because it had very little of the characer and plot development found in the imaginative books. The bulk of the movie focused on elaborate computer generated battle scenes against all kinds of evil beings, and we never got to "know" the  characters in the detail that the author intended.

Bilbow Baggins - Star Hobbitt in "An Unexpected Adventure"

The tale brings to mind the nature of ‘adventures’ – I have been drawn to challenges all my life – it is part of my nature. But how do I define adventure?  An adventure calls me out of what is familiar to deal with the unexpected.  A good adventure always involves learning something new in the process and and having to develop problem solutions.   Adventures generally have an element of  discomfortable. There is a perceived sense of risk and excitement.  But, Oh!, there is such elation in success.  There is a joy of accomplishment. I think my first encounters with adventure came to me as a young teen ager when I was introduced to the joys of mountain travel with my Uncle John - he also was a fount of his own adventure stories.  With a drivers license and the close proximity of the Sierra mountains my friends and I attempted adventures that gave meaning and identify to me as a kid.

Adventures come in all sizes and flavors.  Going to Tanzania and visiting village projects qualifies, challenging myself to learn to do Science Education presentations to adults scared the heck out of me at first - but in the long run was a major growth experience and a fine adventure.  Having the courage to go back into the classroom every day my first green year of teaching was a powerful formative adventure....as much as climbing a frozen waterfall with crampons and ice ax certainly is.  

The trail to the Conness Lakes

With a bit of maturity I have developed a better ability to distinguish what level of adventure I want to tackle.  When I was a young pup I had little sense of my own mortaility and attempted things that I would never consider today...(That, and sometimes not being smart enough to know that I needed to worry...) Some of my early adventures seem quite fool-hardy in retrospect.  I have come close to drowning twice because of foolish endeavers... I have committed myself to mountain activities beyond my skill level.  I have started activities for which I could not anticipate the outcome.

Oaxaca Mexico during a police action to control a strike 

My latest adventure is coming up.  I am scheduled to have two of my cervical vertebrae fused together to relieve pressure on my spinal cord.  It is like a freeway experiencing lane blockage at one point – information from the lower body is not able to reach the brain with normal efficiency.  This point in my neck receives incoming nerves from both legs and arms.

The proceeded explained by the surgeon all sounds very straight forward – and the odds are that I can come home in a day or two... and certainly the benefits of the operation far out-pace the risks... But while I have a healthy knowledge of why its necessary, I still have an approach/ avoidance about it... more approach than avoidance but enough to give me pause.  But I have the easy part i just show up and get put to sleep and the surgeon has to do all the work.

My bulge is very similar to this image - and the treatment is to remove the disc and  fuse the two vertebra

Here is a similar MRI image that identified my blockage...The real advantage of the MRI is the clear visibility of the spinal cord.   I gather that such things are quite common.  MRI imagining  doesnt use radiation to form pictures but radio frequency magnetic fields–that interact with the water molecules in the cell nuclei to form the image –

X ray image of a healthy neck -

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Midwinter Visitors: 

I am not what you call a “bird person” – However I enjoy paying attention to the natural world that I encounter. This week I want to share with you the most common birds that visit our home in the Niles part of Fremont Ca. this time of year.  I have written about those that I see, and I have included some of my own photos...

Belted Kingfisher - famous for aerial diving for small fish

1.     If I step into my back yard in the dark of night I frequently hear the grebes calling and arguing in the Quarry Lakes Park... They are unrestrained because they think they are all alone in the night...   I would go spy on them – but for that I would need a light – and if I shown a light they would become quiet.  What are they doing ... is it part of a mating ritual or are they simply being in touch with each other..?  Listen to the call of the grebe: http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Clarks_Grebe/sounds

Great White Heron - Standing motionless waiting for food to pass by

2.     In  the early morning as I walk out to collect my newspaper,  I hear pairs of timid Brown Towhees calling to each other.  Seldom do I see or hear one alone. As they hunt on the ground they call back and forth to keep in touch"with their mate.  Their calling song is easily recognized:    http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/California_Towhee/sounds

Red tail Hawk - Major predator of mice and ground squirrels in the spring

3.     My old friend the Scrub Jay has not moved on for these coldest months. I see him searching for food and warming in the morning sun.  For several years I have seen one particular jay come and perch right next to where I am working in the garden... He is very tame and I talk to him in a gentle voice.  I don’t know why I am so nice to him – he eats my fruit and makes rude squawks!  By April they will meet up with their mate and will spiff up the old nest in the thorny lemon tree.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Western_Scrub-Jay/sounds

Scrub Blue Jay

4.     Every year our neighborhood population of crows seems to grow.  At time I see 20 or more in our street or roosting in a tree... All talking at once, strutting around with confidence, just like a happy family with everyone stating his or her opinions without hesitation!  I have changed my feelings toward crows from thinking of them as a nuisance to thinking of them as amazingly smart and adaptive birds.  I love their behaviors... I talk to them too... trying to imitate the number and tone pattern of their “caws”  - sometimes we carry on a conversation back and forth for several minutes.  I wonder what I are saying to him or her?  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Crow/id

Crow

5.  In my back yard Anna’s Humming Birds can find nectar all winter long. I have planted a variety of native California and Mediterranean plants that produce just the kind of flowers that humming birds and butterflies are attracted to.  I often see the hummingbird  perched on the top most twig on a tree soaking in the sunlight. In the cold of night they enter a torpor state like short term hibernation  - but when the sun shines again they are up and active.   Part of their “song” is caused by rapid movement of air past their tail feathers! http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Annas_Hummingbird/sounds

Sea gulls often travel far from the sea in search of anything tasty

6.     Not a daily winter visitor but common are the White Crown Sparrows- their plaintive cry has a special attraction for me... They often forage in small groups, calling to each other as they move along to keep everyone together.  Note the two white marks on the head.  They are omnivores and enjoy both seeds and insects...Listen to their distinctive call:  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-crowned_Sparrow/sounds

Avocet probing the sand in the surf zone

7.     I am startled each January to hear first a few then a mass of Cedar Waxwings.  I love dearly their clown like antics and their bobbing top notch head feathers. But its their cry that first alert me  to their presence. A whole gang of them will fly rapidly past in a great flurry of speed and feathers. The down side of Cedar Waxwings is their poop contains plant seeds in huge numbers that will grow into plants that I have to dig out for the next year. http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Cedar_Waxwing/sounds

Cedar Waxwings often travel in a flock!

8.     Robins love soil just soaked with rain – they stand alone or a small distance apart from their colleagues with their heads slightly turned (the better to hear movement of critters in the soil below). They are common for us but we once saw in a large inner zoo in Cracow Poland, a large fenced cage  with one  “North American Robin on the sign  Anything becomes rare, exotic, and wonderful when it is carried when carried away from  its natural setting. You are sure to recognize this call:  .http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/sounds

Grey pelicans have taken over this boat in Monterrey Bay!

9.  My robin sized black headed Junko friends keep us company in the Bay Area in the mid winter - but them we see them again in the High Sierra meadows in the summer.  As with other birds migration is all about going to where the food source is rich and easily available. They are easily recognized with their dark head and their song is distinctive.  http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Dark-eyed_Junco/sounds

Canada Goose has many reptilian qualities...

10.     The bird everyone loves to hate is the Canada Goose – they are beautiful birds. When I look at them, I can easily believe that all birds evolved from dinosaurs.. when I consider how reptilian are the birds skin, bones, and foot print. A few years ago Canada Geese were rare in my area. Our protective laws, available food and habitat, removal of natural predators all contribute to their current success.   http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/canada_goose/sounds

Turkey Vulture - they get 'bad press' but they are a vital part of the food chain

11.     OK – one rare bird that I seldom see and this one I have now see three times within the last two weeks - almost in my back yard!  A burrowing owl!  The natural habitat of burrowing owls has been greatly reduced when native land is plowed, digging up their burrows.  Each time, this little girl flew up onto a fence wire and watched me with tilted head as I walked past.(I also talked to her but she didn’t respond.) I hope she moves in to stay.

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/burrowing_owl/sounds

Burrowing Owl

Link of the week:  Dont miss!!:  "Life and work aboard the international space station..."     ....sent by my cousin Laverne Zlatnik

http://www.wimp.com/orbitaltour

Be sure to view 'full-screen'.

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Mixed group of White Pelicans, Cormorants, Ducks, and Egrets

And then the rains came!

My rain gauge measured 6.56 inches of rainfall for December... so welcome in this dry land! The story of how rain is formed reads like poetry or science fiction.  It demonstrates the interconnectedness of many elements of the natural world... Stick with me - this week I want to share with you a wonderful story...

Its hard to visualize what happens to invisible air - so think about a large bag of gas right on the earth's surface.  When the sun shines down, the soil takes in the heat and the air becomes warm by contact with the soil. When air becomes warmer its particles start to move faster and that causes the air mass to  expand.

Cumulus clouds formed by uplift of warm surface air

Suppose that a balloon full of air is held down at the bottom of a swimming pool.  The weight of the water overhead would push in on the air in the balloon and compress it.  As the balloon is allowed to rise closer to the surface of the pool the compression forces become less and the balloon would expand.

The air below a cloud  also has water - but it is all dissolved into the air

Our bag of gas at sea level is like the balloon at the bottom of the swimming pool.  The weight of the gases of the atmosphere has the effect of pushing in on the bag of gas just like the weight of the water in the pool compresses the gas.  Next time you go out doors look up and imagine the great weight of all that gas above you pushing on every square inch of your body (14.7 pounds per square inch)!

The colder air becomes - the less able it it to hold moisture - the more cloud particles are formed

This bag of less dense gas is now forced to rise through the more dense air that pushed in on it.  When  air rises it expands because there is less atmosphere above it to compress it.   The expanding air still has to push the surrounding air aside and this requires spending some of the stored heat energy of the enclosed airmass.   This rising air cools at the rate of -5.5 degrees F for every 1000 ft. it rises.

As the air cools it becomes more dense and if no other factors are present it would tend to sink back to its original level with no net change. 

When the clouds are thick enough, sunlight is absorbed, and from underneath they look quite dark

This normally does not occur because of another effect.  As air cools the ability of that air to hold moisture drops.  Every air mass has a temperature at which the air becomes saturated with moisture.  If the air is cooled still more, water dissolved in the air will turn from gas to liquid droplets – cloud particles are formed.  This temperature at which air is saturated is called the dew point.

The region of falling rain is visible from this cloud

Converting water-as-a-gas into water-as-a-liquid releases heat into the air mass. Molecules of water in the air combine into groups of water molecules when cloud particles are formed. This new bonding arrangement requires less energy than free molecules alone.

Some clouds can appear quite dense and produce no rain - it all depends on a portion of the cloud extending into the zone of freezing

The released energy has a warming effect on the air mass.  For each 1000 ft. that air is forced to rise above its dew point the air is heated by +3 degrees F.  But since it is still cooled by 5 degrees/1000 ft., the over all change for raising 1000 ft. above the dew point is -5+3= -2 degrees per thousand.

"Flat bottomed" clouds indicate the elevation at which the dew point of the air is reached

When air is forced to rise for any reason, and it rises past its dew point, clouds start to form at that point.  When we see flat-bottomed clouds – that represents a column of rising air that passes its dew point at the level of the flat cloud.  The cloud below that level can hold all of its moisture in a dissolved state – when it is pushed above that line some of the moisture begins to convert into cloud droplets, and also heats the air enough that it is prevented from contracting and sinking.

The cloud must extend into the region of freezing temperatures in order for rain drops to form

The stability of the air depends on the final temperature of the air, which results from both the cooling-due-to-rising/expansion and the warming-due-to-changing-gaseous water-into liquid cloud particles.

Clouds can be forced to rise by various causes – surface heating, collision with a dense mass of cold air, or being forced to rise over a mountain...

In addition to surface heating, air can be forced to rise by encountering mountains or cold air fronts
Here clouds have formed as air is pushed over the hills

For the clouds to produce rain the cloud must be forced to raise high enough that the top of the cloud is cooled to below freezing – with warm air currents rising up, and frozen air sinking there has to be vertical mixing of frozen and unfrozen cloud particles to create a sticky situation that causes the cloud particles to combine and form rain drops... When they become so heavy that the air currents cannot longer hold them, then they fall as rain (or snow if freezing temperatures extend to the surface,)

If air is cooled below its dew point on the surface - fog forms...
The water is warmer than the cold air above - Evaporating water can not remain evaporated in the colder air  - so it forms liquid cloud particles

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