Two Milestones

....and both were momentous occasions for different reasons. First, Kenny graduated from Warren high school on June 7th, and around the same time the 17 year cicadas emerged from the ground to begin their adult phase. Kenny was born the year before this brood of insects was hatched, but when one considers the immensely varied life he has led in those 18 years versus the life underground sucking on tree roots that the cicadas have led, one can appreciate the vast differences between our species. The biological clock that allowed the insects to emerge together is still a mystery, while Kenny, like his classmates, has followed a culturally programed clock all his life and only now has obtained the legal adulthood to decide what he wants to do with his future -which is to play music. The cicadas? They will follow their instincts to mate and then die, and their children will burrow underground to begin the cycle all over again. Whether Kenny will eventually marry and have children who repeat his cultural cycle is a measure of his free will, which no doubt is what truly separates us for the insects.

What's Wrong With Russia?

Just when we thought Russia might actually be entering the 21st century the government has started this crap...persecuting people for opinions and lifestyles that ultimately threaten only ignorant, weak willed and generally middle age white males...God I had hoped humanity was progressing beyond such fearful, hateful thoughts and closer to tolerant, loving ones, but I have always been a dreamer believing in what humanity Could be rather than what it is. Such lost, immature minds perpetuating such unenlightened perversions...

Facebook

My son created a Facebook page for me to help generate interest in my book 'Anti-Clock, Walking Across America' which is on kindle at Amazon.com...To all those who have shown interest I thank you from the bottom of my heart. It feels odd to promote myself in any manner but I don't know any other way to get the word out. Writing at it's core is a very solitary activity, and I literally have spent thousands of hours alone both walking and writing, trying to find inspiration that might be helpful to the rest of humanity. The cross country walk was the culmination of that process and hopefully the book can inspire someone the way it's creation inspired me. In the end we are all in this together!

Tornado Near Warren?

The area had severe thunderstorms on the 28th, with wind and lightning and rain...There were dozens of trees blown down in a few areas, and some roof damage, but the most striking destruction was on a ball field near Russell, a small town a couple of miles north. Certainly there were very strong gusts, because light poles at ball fields are rated to withstand over 100mph winds. Nobody was injured and chainsaws are plentiful around here,so there are already neatly stacked cords of cut logs waiting for someone's wood stove. In the 1980's tornadoes killed people in Kane, a town 20 miles south as the crow flies, so outbreaks are not unheard of, regardless of the mountainous terrain.

Snow in May

Took these pictures this morning looking out the backdoor...Snow showers and a high of 45F on May 13th...Bizarre...Beth tells me she remembers snow around here on Memorial day in the past, and I vaguely remember seeing a snow shower on May 3rd when I was a kid living near Allentown, but accumulating snow in mid May after two weeks of 70F weather? Bizarre...Walking on the mountain after I took these photos the snow had coated the brush and tops of logs, then lingered for a couple of hours in the cool air. Yet the forecast is for 73F by the 15th so this is a freak cold spell...Bizarre!

Spring?

Finally saw a cabbage butterfly on April 30th, some three weeks later than usual and as much as six weeks later than during the warmest springs back east, when I once saw them in mid March...So that signifies the cold weather we have had this season and the delayed spring generally in these mountains. I saw a mourning cloak butterfly (they overwinter as adults)about a week ago, and that too was three weeks later than back east. The spring azures (little blue butterflies) have been out for two days and today I saw the first angle wing butterfly.Only in the past week has the landscape begun to explode with plant life, with colts foot and adders tongue (trout lilies)blooming, and beginning today they share the roadside with some wild mustard blooms and more abundant dandelion. The mountaintop canopy looks as if it has been lightly brushed with green, although here in the valley the forsythia and magnolia have been blooming a week.So it's been a mixed, hesitant season,hardly reflecting global warming this year except in its bizarre extremes. The news today reports a foot of snow in Minnesota and Wisconsin,so the atmosphere is certainly erratic. The extended forecast finally indicates sunshine and warm (65-70F ) temperatures,so I finished putting new shingles on the garage roof yesterday and soon Beth and I will do some exterior painting and landscaping that the house needs.

Death of a Tree

This is a Blue Spruce that my mother had planted some 19 years ago after using it as a Christmas tree. Although I lament killing any living thing, I have no particular attachment for this particular tree so Beth and I have agreed to do new landscaping.Where the tree had stood likely will be bird feeders and baths and flowers and grasses-maybe a fire pit-and whatever else we need to create a new sanctuary.