Notes from Mid September

1. Next week is the time of equinox ( Sept. 23 ) –the sun will appear directly overhead the equator for one day - and we in out northern latitude see it rise in the true East and set in the true West. Sunrise will be, for that day, 6AM and sunset 6PM (adjusting for daylight savings). Ancient people the world over recognized it as a auspicious day - often making it a special ritual day…

First Light

For us in Northern California seasonal changes are subtle – With the light coming later each day, and night comes a bit more quickly … there is noticeably less warmth in our mornings – At dawn today, our hills were wreathed in clouds hanging at 1000 ft. But by midday the sun was back in full glory.

Morning over Quarry Lakes

And it is dry – so dry – 88 days since any rain– The soil turns to powder when I dig . But this is the normal way of things. Life here has adapted over eons of time– Natural selection has equipped some plants with deep tap roots, other plants have thick resinous sap that can attract a bit of moisture from dry soil (enough to stay alive). But most plants simply dry up and hang on to the next generation in the form of their seeds.

Garin Park -Late summer

A nice little shower will not be enough to stimulate germination in most seeds. For that we need a good soaking rain – and even then each plant variety has its own requirements.

With fall the permanent summer high pressure system that sits off the N. California shore will dissipate – and this will open up California for the parade of storms that come to us when Cold Alaska air sweeps in and encounters moist Tropical air sweeping up from the Southwest Pacific…

Quarry Lakes - "Walking the dogs" view

So the shifting sun, the changing light, the reduced heat - all of these will eventually contribute to the return of our rain!

It no longer feels like summer - In the last hours before darkness I walked the dogs. The air was cool. A flock of geese flew over my head - so close I could hear the wind "swish" in their feathers. There is great beauty in the dryness - the golden fields of wild oats on the hill sides. Even now some plants are blooming and forming seeds...

2. Have you ever seen an old Charley Chaplain movie where someone steps on a rake and it flies up and whacks him in the head? The audience always loves it! Everyone has a good laugh…

Charlie Chaplain -Google Images

I want to tell you there is nothing funny about getting whacked in the head – I was putting away my garden tools – and dummy me I stepped wrong on a garden tool and wham – I got it!. I had a prize winning marble shaped “owwie” form immediately an inch outside my eye.

(Are you up-to-date on your first aid? http://firstaid.about.com/c/ec/9.htmI )

After it stopped bleeding (head wounds really bleed!) I visited the Kaiser drop-in clinic to see in I needed stitches – they glued me back together with something like superglue. Then I went looking for my glasses in the tool shed where it happened (where they fell when I got the bump) – the ear pieces had gotten really tweaked and so today I had to take them in for repairs.

While the woman fixed my glasses I told her the story of being in the Maasai village last summer. We were examining livestock – mostly camels and goats.

"Don't eat my hat!" -North Central Tanzania

Afterward the village cooked a young goat for us over a brush fire and the people gathered –clapping, singing, and started their famous jumping games – they jump straight up in the air – the higher the better… and of course they drug me over to join in – so here I was jumping up and down along with the others –

Maasai jumping

I was on my way up when this Maasai guy next to me was coming down – he brushed off by glasses and landed right on them. (He was of course very concerned.) Here I was in the middle of nowhere with my best glasses broken – One of the village people said “ Oh that’s no trouble – we can fix that – so we went over to a nearby hut and a woman came out and we explained the problem –

Maasai village hut entrance

she entered her hut and returned with some very fine steel wire and sharp needle nose pliers used for making elaborate jewelry – Sure enough she very dexterously wired my glasses back together – ‘Good as new” – and the lenses weren’t even scratched.

Maasai men

By this time my Kaiser technician was finished with my glasses – fully functional – all with a few adjustment with her pliers. Why is it every time I try to adjust my own glasses I make matters worse – but Maasai women and Kaiser technicians just need good pliers?

US Capital - Washington DC

3. I want to direct your attention to an open letter published by the The Dallas Area Christian Progressive Alliance that examines the responses of Texas under Rick Perry in light of the requirements stated in the Bible: http://dacpa.blogspot.com/p/open-letter-to-gov-rick-perry-august-6.html

Supreme Court - Washington DC

This is all the earth we have!

Time to get serious

Heat from the sun warms the earth –On a clear night, infrared radiation (heat) is lost from the warm earth radiated out into the blackness of space… By morning the soil and surface air are cool. When the sky is overcast at night the heat that leaves the earth bounces off the cloud layer and is redirected back to earth – the heat is trapped in the same way that heat is trapped inside a greenhouse or inside a car parked in the sun on a summer day… This is the greenhouse effect.

We experience the greenhouse effect in out cars, homes, and atmosphere

Other materials besides clouds produce the greenhouse effect. Most notably carbon dioxide in the air produces the same effect. For more than 100 years we have been extracting vast amounts of carbon trapped in the earth (petroleum, coal), burning it, and releasing carbon dioxide in the air. Forests and jungles have been cleared and burned releasing more CO2. The more CO2 in the atmosphere, the greater the greenhouse effect. Look at the steady rise in OO2 in this century:

Increasing atmospheric carbon dioxide matches our increased burning of fossil fuels

Climate change is a complex issue but we can not wish it away or say that it doesn’t exist. It isn't as simple as "global warming" - and we aren't talking about vast differences in seasonal weather or temperature . Real shifts in earth climate, however small, have huge impacts on weather patterns, ice packs, ocean levels, and life as we know it on earth. Human activity in the last century have already produced substantial changes in our climate and weather. Common questions about climate change are answered here by UCAR* : http://www2.ucar.edu/climate/faq

Our atmosphere- clouds - and snow in the Sierras

The climate change issue is of special importance right now because of the proposal to "develop" the Tar Sands in Central Canada…

The Canadian oil sands contain naturally occurring mixtures of sand, clay, water, and a dense and extremely thick form of petroleum. This sand mixture contains crude oil, so thick that it will not flow unless heated or diluted with lighter petroleum products.

"Bad air day" - smog

It has become profitable to extract this oil due to higher world oil prices and improved processing techniques. However, making liquid fuels from oil sands requires energy for steam injection and refining. This process generates two to four times the amount of greenhouse gases per barrel of final product as the production of conventional oil. If combustion of the final products is included, this petroleum emits 10 to 45% more greenhouse gases than conventional crude oil. It is dirtier than burning coal.

Hurricane cloud pattern

In addition the proposed pipeline would send 900,000 barrels a day of the world’s dirtiest oil to US refineries. The proposed pipeline would travel the width of America across North Dakota to the gulf waters of Texas, crossing major American rivers and over our richest undergound acquifers that provide for vital agricultural systems and drinking water. The track record for pipeline accidents is not reassuring.

Mid west storm clouds

Damage to the environment from such spills would be catastrophic. If the Alberta Canana tar sands are developed, transported, processed, and used as fuel ... the increased resulting greenhouse gases will have a catastrophic effect on already stressed world climate systems. James Hansen of NASA says that if the development is permitted it could mean ‘game over’ for the Earth's climate.

Once fertile land is now barren - a soccer field in Tanzania

Oil companies would first have to strip off dense Canadian forests to get to oil-rich sands - forests that remove and store some of the excess CO2 from the air. To process the raw oil/tar from the sands into a barrel of oil would require the use of 185 gallons of water, 2 tons of soil and about 1,000 cubic feet of natural gas. The heavy crude oil produced is still so dirty to refine that most refineries would have to be refitted to handle it.

Many Americans are outraged at the impact of this proposed development. 1,252 people were arrested, including top climate scientists, landowners from Texas and Nebraska, former Obama for America staffers, First Nations leaders from Canada, and several notable individuals. Any jobs that the pipeline would create would be short-lived - and we are missing a golden opportunity to, instead, concentrate on development of pollution free energy sources that would in the future produce an expanding number of jobs.

Migratory herdsmen often travel greater distances to get water and grazing for sheep and goats

Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/blogs/green/detail?entry_id=96645#ixzz1X05PG78c------

Editorial of the week: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2011/09/04/1013211/-Serfs-up:-how-coddling-the-rich-is-destroying-the-American-dream?via=blog_1

California Rain clouds over Bay area hills

* University Corporation for Atmospheric Research: http://www2.ucar.edu/

Bodie - Arrested Decay

Tuolumne campsites were filled when we first attempted to stay there – so we went over Tioga Pass to spend a few days at Silver Lake on the east of the Sierras, before returning to Tuolumne to claim our campsite. The Sierra Mountains are a tilt block range with a long gradual slope on the west side. The east has a sudden fault face rising suddenly to over 13000 feet+ in many places. (It must have been daunting for the pioneers approaching with their covered wagons).

Eastern Sierras rising here to over 13,000 ft.+

The East is in the Sierra rain shadow for clouds moving eastward from the Pacific… As a result the vegetation is adapted to much drier conditions, with sagebrush common. The western mountains are dominated by white clean granite rock; here the rock is mostly of young rhyolitic volcanic rock. There is a great beauty here, quite different from the Sierras with which we are familiar.

Bodie - the remnants of a gold driven town

One day we took it into our heads to drive north of Mono Lake to visit the "Ghost town" of Bodie (elevation over 8300 ft.). We drove over hilly land covered with sage and other high desert plants... the road in from the main road has been improved and part of it is now paved...

Gold was discovered here is the mid 1800s. By 1880, Bodie had a population of nearly 10,000 people and about 2000 buildings.

There were many mines in the area - this was the largest

Since then Bodie produced gold worth $34 million dollars. Bodie offered several newspapers and a telegraph line into Nevada. There were two banks, fire department, brass band, a railroad, miners union, and a well-used jail.

What people used this door, what were their hopes and dreams

By 1890 there were 65 saloons on Main Street. ( Imagine an out of tune piano playing dance hall music from the period, loud laughter and arguments, the sounds of many people shuffling around on pine board floors and the sound of bottles and whiskey glasses)... Bodie was famous for murders, shootouts, and holdups. Killings occurred regularly, sometime becoming an almost daily event.There was a thriving red light district, and a Chinatown complete with Taoist temple and opium houses.

Shops on Main Street

The Reverend F.M. Warrington said about Bodie - ..."It is a sea of sin, lashed by the tempests of lust and passion."

Everything changes over time...

Winters here were brutally cold -sometimes 40 degrees below zero and winds over 100 miles an hour – life in Bodie was marked by a variety of diseases including common occurrence of pneumonia…But wages were good for those who dared to take the risks. There lies an extensive lonely boothill cemetery on the hill just out of town.

Pool Hall and Bar ( Looking in through a dirty window)

The miners Union Hall was the community meeting house for labor union meetings, entertainment events, plays, and concerts. Both a Methodist church and a Catholic church were constructed in 1882. But by 1910 the mine declined and the population suddenly dropped to about 700 people. A few people continued to live in Bodie even until 1941. Today only about 5% of the original building remain. Others have been lost from fire and the winter snow crushing them.

Each door of Bodie tells a story about who build it and who used it...

In later years, the mining company purchased the area, hoping for resurgence in gold. With enforced "No trespassing" rules and a guard, they prevented visitors from changing the place, thus preserving the town and its contents much as it was in earlier eras. In 1962 Bodie become a State of California Historic Park, protected by law.

A bed room with sewing machine ( Looking in through a dirty window)

The goal is to protect and preserve it as it was. Roofs are maintained as needed but little else changes. The motto is "attested decay". Preserve but dont change... All items seen inside the homes and shops have been found in Bodie.

General Store ( Looking in through a dirty window)

It is not possible to enter the buildings, but it is possible to look ( and take photos ) through the windows - even though they are dusty and grimy with age...It is possible to look inside and see the goods still on store shelves, homes with their furniture, kitchens with their household items. In some cases items have been combined into historically appropriate combinations, even when found in more than one location within Bodie. Reconstructive anthropologists direct the current work here…

Leaning...a home

To walk through Bodie, with its wind blowing in off the rocks and sagebrush, awakes a kind of melancholy of lost dreams for the thousands who lived here, died here, had dreams here… and for those who gave up and moved on when the gold ran out. It is also a monument to the resilience of the human spirit.

Message written by a Bodie inhabitant into a " book of remembrance" - common at the time

***Must Read Editorial of the Week: Stop Coddling the Super Rich: - Warren Buffet: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html

Send this to your congressperson...!

The high country

I emerge from my warm cocoon - my sleeping bag - and come out into the early Sierra morning… The sun has not yet reached our camp and it is very cold. Judy has not yet wakened… First I heat water on the propane stove for coffee and then I build a small warming fire – Dry sagebrush is the best of all woods for starting a campfire! (We filled the back seat of our car with sage when we went down to Lee Vining.) The small twigs catch quickly and soon I have warm orange flames. Sage smoke has a special fragrance that evokes memories of other times and other places. My uncle once told me that he learned from an Indian friend “White men build big fires and they must stay far from the fire and can't get properly warm – Indians build small fires and can both warm their whole self and easily cook over the flame”.

The music we heard every night as we went to sleep!

We are in one of our favorite places on Earth – Tuolumne Meadows –this is the 9000 ft level of Yosemite (Yosemite valley is 4000 ft.). Here we pitch our yellow nylon tent and establish our base camp for making hikes into the higher country that surrounds us. Our camp is in a cluster of lodgepole pines not far from the flowing river… People come here to hike into the high country, to fish, or to climb the massive granite rocks. Each day Judy and I have made memorable hikes into incredible country – Some hikes are old friends and some are new adventures.

Second Conness Lake - 11,000 ft. - still half frozen in August!

My wife, Judy, is amazing! She hikes up steep rocky trails. She clambers up rocky surfaces with ease (her preference is to climb up where she can use her hands to hold onto cracks and knobs rather than free walking over exposed high surfaces… We crossed snowfields, forded streams, climbed up to over 11000 ft, and enjoyed together gloriously amazing snow filled glacerial cirques and broad vistas.

Judy climbing a granite face - as we climb the higher Lempert Dome

A moments rest beside a high lake

High Sierra camping is not for sissies – There is a trade off –There are moments that are incredible inspiring and elating - Moments that feed me all year long… It is only here that I find the simple clarity that comes from clean granite, flowing water, flower filled meadows, snow fields that survive the summer, marmots and picas, the relish of a well earned lunch overlooking the whole world below…

Lunch - crackers - cheese - an avocado... oh so good!

I especially love the moments of surprise when I encounter a rare flower, unusual geological formation, an unexpected glacerial tarn lake, mountain hawk. I have a special love for traveling in places where there is no well-defined trail, where it is necessary to use dead reckoning and skills learned over the years.

Plateau and ridge leading to Conness glacier

I love hiking with Judy and sharing the travails and rewards of the climb and the reward. I love the broad vistas that can only be found above timberline. Just below timberline is where clusters of whitebark pine are found: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitebark_Pine

August snow fields

This is also a hard land – temperatures fall to near freezing every night – even in August. Trails are arduous and sometimes challenging. The high altitude requires slowing way down to get the oxygen needed. (Our bodies produce more O₂ carrying red cells – it is helpful to allow a day or two to acclimate before going very high.)

Glacerially formed cliff

There are painful moments and times of fatigue from rocks, slippery ice surfaces, thick willow groves that must be crossed, and intense mosquitoes… There are times when it is necessary to backtrack and try another route.

Glacerial tarn

Oh but the reward of success makes it so worthwhile!

Understanding the Republican Agenda

The reasoning behind the Republican plans for our nation are becoming clearer. It has long puzzled me why conservative interests in America want to make the government smaller and to reduce the income of the nation. But I think I am beginning to understand.

The basic reason for reducing taxes is that with less national income it would become an absolutely necessity to reduce the size of government… that seems to be the real goal. Grover Norquist, Congressional Lobbyist and spokes-person for the conservative right, says that the ultimate purpose of tax cuts is: “The goal is reducing the size and scope of government by draining its lifeblood.”

It isn’t quite true to say that they want to reduce the size of all government – The Republicans only want to cut those parts of the government that limit the uncontrolled growth of financial institutions and big business. They want to cut only those programs that deal with human services, social and regulatory programs. They want to eliminate medical care and affordable drug plans, reduce control over safe food and water, remove restrictions on mining and forest explitation (and the resultant environmental damage), maintenance and expansion of the nations infrastructure, hot lunch programs for inner city schools, support for a quality education program for all students, support for poor students who seek to go on college. They are quite happy with large government support of the military, national control over medical procedures that they want to eliminate (abortion and stem cell research), border control, support for increased survalence into the lives of American people, policies that facilitate uncontrolled financial transactions...

Reagan used the phrase that he wanted to “starve the beast” – meaning big government. He put forth the idea of increasing financial pressure on the government’s budget in order to make it easier to cut spending on programs. Rick Santorum, representative from Pennsylvania and spokesperson for the right, said that at first he hated deficits, but has came to like them because they made it harder to pass any new spending bills. He says, “…Deficits make it easier to say no.” With control of the House of Representatives, the Republicans feel that the time is now right to make a move toward reducing the budget that will lead to the reduction in government that they seek. This is how Warren Buffet sees it: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/15/opinion/stop-coddling-the-super-rich.html

It is aso clear who will gain from this plan - a plan that reduces social services, reduces support for education, destroys unions…It will not be the working people of America who benefit … nor those people on a fixed income …nor the sick or marginal of our society… Not even the middle class - because this population group is diminishing. It will be beneficial for the weathly – for those who want a powerless labor force and fewer government controls on what actions are permitted. It would be great for big money financial interests. The effect will be to return us to a two tier society – the wealthy and the poor… it would produce a labor force resigned to accept what is offered without the need of providing for a social safety net… Working families would be left to sink or swin on their own…

It has been an incredible act of social engineering that by using Fox news, conservative radio talk show hosts, and right wing press the very people who would lose the most from the Republican plan are made to think that somehow this plan will benefit them. It is also masterful to meld the whole scheme with a conservative Christian message to give it validity … This very plan, designed by social engineers and paid for by the big money interests who would benefit the most, can turn us into a Second World country such as Brazil or Turkey… with a powerful wealthy elete and a powerless working class...

One of the Republican selling points for small government is that they say that the size of government is inversely proportional to the freedom of the individual. In fact a well planned central government is the most responsible agency for ensuring equal opportunity for everyone in the society.

Read what influence money can buy with the Koch brothers: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2011/apr/08/koch-brothers-lobbying

We know that the "trickle down economy" concept hasn't worked as Republicans predicted – the weathy hold on to their profits and invest it in still more wealth generating plans. Few profits are translated into new jobs when the wealthy can maximize profits by moving manufacturing overseas. Left to their own devices, those with economic power will maximize their profits at the expense of the economy, the environment, and health and safety standards. With a reduction in national tax income there will be no funding to maintain and expand interstate high way and fast rail systems, national park system, NOAA, air safety standards, water projects. Who will support new research in medicine, wind and solar power...? This recipe is the surest way to lose our competitive edge in the world economic competition. The Republican concept of small government will result in the loss of thousands of jobs that are connected to our national projects.

I support the wisdom of the American form of government with one political arm of the government exploring new ways of dealing with national problems… and another arm seeking to hold to the tried ideas that have worked in the past… If either branch is allowed to completely control the government our system becomes unbalanced and out of kilter… our balance as a nation depends on the dialogue between both voices. Suddenly in this congress we no longer have a dialogue. Instead the Republicans have been unwilling to engage in civil discourse - they have practiced obstructionism. It is said that our two party system negates the need for periodic revolutions or changes in government due to a failed “vote of confidence”. Traditionally, for us Americans, if your party is out of power– it’s only a matter of waiting four years and then mounting an election... then its up to the will of the people...

But one thing that history teaches us - when insurmountable economic disparities is permitted to develop, social instability is the inevitable result...

Fact check is a non partisan source of that evaluates public factual presentations: "Fact Check": http://factcheck.org/2011/08/factchecking-iowa-debate/

Food Notes: On the Road to Portland: 8/12/11

1. Rule number One: When traveling, never stop at a fast food restaurant – preferably find a place named Rosie's, the Pine Tree Inn, Wolf Creek Tavern or some word-of-mouth place that you have been told “not to miss… "

2. Driving north from the Bay Area on Interstate 5 we have been known to plan our trip to be at Granzellla’s for break time – It is located well off the freeway in the sleepy rice-growing country town of Williams.

Forest park - within the city limits of Portland

Years ago, they started as an Italian deli – then slowly have expanding to offer more - they still have the deli, but have added a full restaurant, a bar (with stuffed wild animals for decoration), free tasting counter for local olives and almonds preserved in many styles. But we are drawn to their unmatchable espresso chocolate milkshakes – thick and creamy, topped with a dollop of whipped cream… it is a meal in itself…After sitting hunched over a steering wheel from Fremont, it is just right combination of caffeine, chocolate, and sugar for the fatigued driver - body and mind!

3. Another “have to stop” further north in central Oregon is a set of slight dilapidated metal buildings on the west side of the freeway half way between Eugene Oregon and Roseburg… This is the famous “Rice Hill”… Now don’t get confused with “Johnnie-come-lately” cafes and fast food places that have spring up on the east side of the freeway –

Rice Hill - Central Oregon

The orignal Rice hill is this same group of factory made buildings. They seem to be a relic from the 1950’s (complete with the neon sign) – It has been here since way before we started travelled this highway… Most of the things on the menu have either been deep fried or involve multiple scoops of ice cream – The food is good, but is it the mystique of the place that draws peoeple in… Long before there was a freeway this stretch of road was one unrelenting drive through mile after mile of forest and meadow with few signs of human habitation, from Eugene to Roseburg.

Mt. Shasta - Northern California

Rice Hill was an oasis in the middle of no-where. Everything they cook is fresh and oh so tasty! – My wife, Judy, is a great fan of their honest to goodness onion rings – and nobody does them like Rice Hill – French fried mushrooms with a hamburger are amazing… This trip I contented myself with a scoop of Mountain Blackberry Ice-cream and then to keep it company I got a scoop of something with lots of chunks of chocolate and nuts… Yum!

Rogue River - Southern Oregon

4. Portland itself has so many innovative restaurants! Nowhere have I seen so many places that specialize in gourmet breakfasts – One that we like is in an old house that have been transformed into a beautiful homey cafe… fresh flowers – local paintings - spiffed up old furniture… A typical breakfast might be a 3 egg omelets cooked with fresh vegetables and sausage , served with a crusty local bread, fruit jam, and plenty of good strong local coffee…

Portland

5. Portland is also famous for its variety of quality street food vans… (In California some of these are disparagingly called “Roach Coaches” – I suspect that this name was invented by brick and morter resteraunts that don’t like the competetion. ) In Portland the street vans offer amazing variety and quality… Both here and at home I have become a real fan of well done Tacos – A good taco is a thing of great culinary beauty – it is a vartiety of flavors and textures offered in a fresh soft taco ( forget those hard shell crust things ).

Forest Park - Portland

a good lunch for me is two tacos and a glass of Jamaica ( red drink made from dried hibiscus flowers ). Portland offers even more! I talked to a man yesterday that described to me the incredible Turkish Doner Kebab: Fresh grilled meat with fresh vegetables , slices of pickled vegetables, doused with a yogurt dill sauce wrapped in a fresh hot flat peda bread …

Portland as viewed across the Willamette River ( Will AM it)

Ah! There are also central European, Asian, North African foods… there are the foods of the world from café’s on wheels…

There is something about the social and physical climate of Portland that encourages a coffee house culture – this is the home of good strong well roasted and blended coffees… Along with this there are wonderful tasty baked goods – breads – scones – muffins that go along with a nice quick snack… A coffee house is a good place to relax and enjoy conversation, there is good music and pleasant surroundings...

6. Our daughter in law is an exceptional cook – with innovative recipes based on healthy local products – but cooked with a wonderful knowledge of European and American cooking - She takes time to cook with good basic foods and creates culinary masterpieces!

Forest Park - Portland

7. And then if we haven’t been eating enough – My wife Judy made a German chocolate cake (like an Austrian torte) from scratch for her own birthday (“No one else makes it just the way I like it – so every once in a while I just have to make it - and it must be served with good vanilla ice cream!”

7. So after a week in Portland visiting our son and his wife we are going home well fed - But we walked, rode bikes, and swam daily - so we did not come home the least bit heavier...