Weakend


Log log: the cormorants are still in full possession of their logs, and they are strengthening their defenses. The two-bird log is trying out an additional guard. Training is an issue though. As I walked past, the newbie twisted around to watch and fell off the end he was guarding. The splash was large and clearly wouldn’t go unnoticed by the higher echelons. Elsewhere in the pond, another cormorant was practicing its stealth submarine maneuvers on the ducks to great effect. It remains to be seen if they will be effective against the larger Canadian vessels, especially which are usually in flotillas of three or four.

Some sad news came in from the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya where the vulture population is down by 60% and three species may be in danger of being lost. They have become collateral damage in the battle between some of the farmers and large predators like lions and hyenas. Carcasses of predated cattle are being laced with pesticides to poison the predator and the vultures get there first.

These days we grab for a chemical solution at the drop of a hat and without care; the collateral damage is often considerable. The weakened immune system of the honeybee leading to colony collapse disorder, is just one area that needs study. The trophy bucks strung across the hood of many deer hunter’s trucks that now need to be checked prior to butchering and excising of spinal cord material which could now be a danger due to changes that may have been induced by exposure to organophosphorous compounds. Shoot first with the spray and ask questions later, is a rather rash policy. The questions may be very large indeed. These weapons are powerful and need to be handled by wise, informed sheriffs and not bug-vigilantes.

An update on an item from December 3, the LHO box made $87k in the LA auction. The guy from the funeral home who kept it all these years said he saved it because nobody seemed to want it. But we have now moved into the e-bay generation; enough said.

Good Job, Big Job!


I heard this morning that Time Magazine has proclaimed its ‘Person of the Year’. The US’s most despised ‘Word’ has also been announced. They are Mark Zuckerberg and Whatever – whatever. Lindberg was the first ‘Person of the Year’, and remains the youngest at 25 at the time of the award. Second this year was the Tea Party Movement, which is a wonderful segway into today’s main item for discussion.

The Orca decline in the Pacific Northwest seas continues to worry some Washington scientists in spite of the Orca baby boom at the beginning of this year. As the Orcas are difficult to persuade to come in for regular health checks, other means of monitoring their health have to be utilized. A researcher called Liz has enlisted the help and support of her Labrador called Tucker. This lab. Lab. hates water, but is bravely hanging over the prow of Liz’s search boat as they scoop poop. Tucker can smell Orca poop up to 2 kilometers away, which is just as well as it only floats for 45 minutes. Liz and her colleagues have to rush forward, lining up with Tucker’s nose, scoops at the ready, hoping to strike pay dirt. Their treasures are then rushed to the University lab. where the eager graduate students have their sleeves rolled up, ready to delve into the wonders of their chosen research topic.

Followers of the item on the westward rush of the slugs to the lascivious delights of warm asphalt may already be aware of the Satsuma snails of Japan which come in right-handed and left-handed formats. They stay as distinct populations, not as rumored because of political differences, but because the couples are directionally challenged ( see:
 http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_9264000/9264808.stm
for more detail). Apparently, the left-handers have a potential evolutionary advantage as the snail eating snakes have a right-handed bite and can’t get their teeth into the little critters.

Ruminations


News from the Front.
The cormorants have re-taken the log. They are standing fast as a bastion to change. Manifest destiny will have some sharp beaks to cope with if it is to triumph. The smart money is on the cormorants. The geese are looking too dilettante to be serious contenders, as they dally with each other in ephemeral groups.

Back Home.
Rain is back. The manuscript lays on the desk, looking neglected and with a silent plea for revision from every page that is without its red ink lines slashing through the purple prose, like the liposuction machine on the abdomens of the soon-to-be-beautiful. The task ahead is vast. Am I a goose or a cormorant, I wonder? Then another Rumi quote comes to the fore:

            "Start a huge, foolish project, like Noah…it makes absolutely no difference what                           people think of you."

So that’s what I’ll do. 

There has been rain for the past ten days, just another thirty to go. Ten pages a day will do it!

Questions, Questions


No rain and a warm, moist morning. Ideal for my three mile round trip to the coffee pot.
Geek info: my pedometer claims 5250 steps and as I am, unquestionably, a bog-standard, upright, ordinary person who puts his trousers on one leg at a time and walks round tall buildings rather than leaping them in a single bound, my step will be thirty six inches, neither more nor less. This means that I am twenty-one yards short of three miles unless I take in the mailbox, which will result in a three-yard bonus.

Back to the expedition: The sidewalks are wet and the mild morning has triggered a mass Westward migration of slugs. They head out to the Slug-Las Vegas of the asphalt highway. There they can revel in immersing their bodies in the sensuous warmth of the wet blacktop whilst indulging in the visceral excitement of gambling with the screaming car tires. I am now searching the Wiki-sphere to see if there is a recent branch in the evolutionary tree shared by slugs and lemmings being the origin of their common death wish – or are they all teenagers at heart?

I notice that the three-bird log has been taken over by a pair of Canada geese, showing their arrogance by standing on one leg while a brave cormorant clings to the far end. The other original settlers have been exiled to the far East of the pond to a previously unoccupied log.

Whilst watching the heron watching the fish, a quotation from Rumi, the 13th century Persian philosopher, came to mind concerning the fish contemplating the ocean. I then began to think about eels and salmon who rush from their home rivers to the big sea-world to grow up and make their way before returning to their roots and how this seemed a good analogy for so many people. But then what of the fish left at home, would they yearn for the excitement of the vast possibilities of the ocean? Another quote from Rumi moved me forward down the road to the store:
            “Sell your cleverness and buy bewilderment.
Cleverness is mere opinion, bewilderment is intuition.”



Epilog: The log occupancy battle has developed. Now the single brave cormorant stands four-square in the center of the log. His head held high, he stands his ground, fearless and steadfast as the geese swim in slow formation around the log looking for any sign of weakness. Can his brother cormorants return in time to support this brave holdout or is his mission a forlorn hope?