Spherification

This is the culinary process used to form a gelatinous membrane around a frozen liquid and it is called spherification. The process consists of submerging a liquid with sodium alginate in a bath of calcium to form a sphere. I got tired of googling so I’ll just give a couple of examples here. Examples of products created with this process include faux caviar and bubble tea. I assumed bubble tea was carbonated tea but it isn't, it’s a milky tea flavored with tapioca pearls (bigger than the ones in the pudding). And faux caviar, little fake fish egg bubbles, can come in many flavors. I’ll bet less fishy tasting than the real stuff. Anyway this process of spherification is now being used to make edible water bottles. The water is contained in a clear flexible pouch that looks like a (breast implant to me) Chinese dumpling (to the creators). What’s left for them to figure out is how to reseal after puncturing the pouch to open but the project’s leader, Rodrigo García González, hopes the new edible water bottle may be an environmentally-friendly solution to the millions of plastic bottles that clog America's landfills each year. 

My Garden, A Place to Reflect

It’s almost the end of the month and it has been quite a month. Recent April’s showers storms have caused a lot of heart ache and devastation throughout our country’s heartland. Yesterday was the Holocaust Day of Remembrance, a time to remember those lost during one of the darkest, most inhumane moments in human history. My husband’s father, who we affectionately called Old Poppa and lived to the ripe old age of 98, was born this month too. He was a gardener at heart even in his old age, born to a family of sharecroppers in 1905 and he is the one that infected me with the gardening bug. At times of loss or times of reflection, a garden is a hopeful place and maybe that’s why we plant so many memorial ones. They help us remember that life does go on. My garden this year is low tech too, no wifi or cell phones, just the sounds of insects buzzing, the smell of freshly turned soil, and the warmth of the sun on my back. I like to look for seedlings first poking their heads up through the soil each spring. I’m impatient for that and return to the garden daily after sowing. I know germination and garden growing doesn't happen overnight, but I never fail to find a weed or two that need pulling. Yet the best part of this is finding contentment in the promise of green bean casserole, tomatoes for spaghetti sauce or salsa, and the buttery sweetness fresh corn on the cob that my garden brings, and the promise of life renewed.

Reversing Blindness

Scientists have figured out a way to reverse blindness in mice by growing light sensing cells (the kind found in the retina) from scratch in a lab and transplanting them into the eyes of the mice. These cells then matured and connected themselves to nerves that send visual signals to the brain. If this can be done successfully with human embryonic stem cells researchers believe that most forms of blindness (in humans) can be cured. Trials are being conducted in Marlborough Massachusetts by a company that specializes in stem cell trials, Advanced Cell Technology and though there are still technical issues being addressed, I am hopeful. Because of these studies done with mice researchers now believe photo-receptor loss (now considered irreversible) can be reversed, and this means blindness can be reversed in the future, even within my lifetime. 

Bad Kitty creates his own Landscape of Fear

Couple of things here, who is Bad Kitty and what is a Landscape of Fear, to begin.

Bad Kitty is a feral cat (that my sister feeds) who even though now neutered still strikes fear in the hearts of the rest of the neighborhood cats and even a few of the neighborhood dogs. He is big, he used to be an indiscriminant killer, and even his own offspring weren’t off limits. He recently lay down in a fire ant bed and even when covered with fire ants proceeded on unaffected. That’s how mean he is, or at least still appears to be.

A Landscape of Fear is a place where an intimidating predator changes and controls entire areas by simply instilling fear in their prey. An example of this is when wolves were reintroduced in Yellowstone National Park. Researchers found that wolves didn’t just kill elk, their presence (scent maybe) created a perpetual state of apprehension (fear) causing the elk to move into areas that provided more protection but less food. The result even without the elk being eaten by the wolves was a decline in elk population.

So to put this all together, I guess Bad Kitty isn’t so bad after all and not just because he’s been fixed, having him still around helps keep the population of others in check in other ways too. My sister thinks his motive when he swats or chases others away is just a misguided attempt at play. I think Bad Kitty is just creating and maintaining his very own landscape of fear.

Methane Madness in the Arctic

One of my husband’s favorite sayings is, there’s a methane to my madness, (he is usually referring to his own gaseous expulsions and blaming someone else) but I didn’t know until recently that there are billions of tons of methane trapped below the surface of the East Siberian Arctic ice shelf. Around ten million tons leak out from under the ice shelf every year. Methane gas is a greenhouse gas 25 times more potent that carbon dioxide. If at any one time 50 billion tons were suddenly released global warming would fast forward 35 years and such a release could happen at any time. The negative effect is predicted loss of crops due to heat and drought especially in Africa, Asia, and South America and rising sea levels and worsening tropical storms. On the positive side, melting due to the methane release might improve access to minerals on the ocean floor, increased fishing, and ice-free shipping channels. And here I thought we had the methane problems figured out with farmers using the methane produced by cows to fuel their dairy farm machinery, but it seems that cows aren't our planet’s biggest methane challenge after all.

McD’s Getting Sued Again

This time it isn't over hot coffee spills, instead a disabled man and his service dog have a gripe against the super sized fast food giant. Robert Mingo, 52, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and a chronic back ailment, alleges that he encountered hostility and poor treatment during two separate visits to the McDonald's in August 2012 and May 2013. According his lawsuit, he was not allowed to eat in the in the designated dining area with his service dog and on another occasion refused service at the counter and drive thru. The employees and manager didn’t want to serve the disabled man with his dog at the counter and subsequently found the wheelchair inadequate as a drive thru vehicle. Mingo was then barred from the restaurant. Now Mingo is seeking unspecified damages and requirements that company employees be educated about the disabilities act. McD’s comments included that, “We do our best to provide a great customer experience to every customer.” In this case it seems like their best wasn't good enough. I have spent a good bit of time in McD’s using the free wifi when I visit St. Pete (no wifi at my home there) and have definitely noticed a shift in the demographics that frequent the fast food restaurant. The late night crowd and the early morning crowd are older (in my age category) and with the changes in decor, added flat screen TVs, and downsized play areas, it seems that McD’s is looking for a different vibe that might be more attractive to the more mature coffee drinking types. In my regular visits to the stores on 38^th and 62^nd Ave. North I have always been treated well (even though I only get a coffee and use the wifi) but I have never seen any disabled customers or service animals. I wonder how Mr. Mingo’s lawsuit will turn out. I’ll post an update here when I find out. 

Saving on Gas

So I’m giving driving my car a rest in hopes that the price of gas will go down. Instead I am using my other vehicle, my bicycle, to get around. Fortunately in St. Marys there are plenty of sidewalks and not much foot traffic. The sidewalk always seems like the safest place for me but I still hold that we need bike lanes or at least well marked alternative routes on and off the main drag (Highway 40) which has a good bit of automobile traffic. I saw several bicyclists sharing the road today and for the most part drivers were courteous, giving them plenty of room. I also found most drivers attentive as I crossed numerous intersections (in the crosswalks) from my house, the Navy Federal Credit Union, Walmart, and back, except for one lady in a van that was texting while driving. I got all my errands done in under two hours, a leisurely retiree pace including a stop at the Dollar Tree for new reading glasses ( I got 2 pairs, a red framed and a green) where I saw an old friend and took time for a little catch up chat. I smelled confederate jasmine growing along the roadside and saw the tide coming in as I crossed Dark Entry Creek. I scared a few vultures away from their armadillo roadkill feast but not for long as they were back at it again when I made my return trip. The sounds I enjoyed alternated between birdsong, car and truck engine noise, and the occasional squeaky protest of my bike’s suspension as I went over a bump or manhole cover. I do like riding my bike.

Guns Everywhere Bill

At noon today the governor of GA, Nathan Deal is expected to sign what is officially called the Safe Carry Protection Act into law. It’s one of the most permissive state gun laws in the nation, and it will allow licensed owners to carry firearms into more public places than at any time in the past century, including bars and government buildings that don't have security checkpoints. Churches can opt in and schools can appoint staffers to carry weapons also. If you bring your firearm to the airport security checkpoint you will now be allowed to pick up your weapon and leave with no criminal penalty. Last year 111 weapons were found at TSA screening areas at Atlanta’s Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport. The NRA and many conservative groups are for this bill but there are others opposed, including Gabby Giffords’ group, Americans for Responsible Solutions, Michael Bloombergs’, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, and the Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police, and one more person, me.

Earth Day, Over Shadowed by Big City Violence

While perusing MSN today I saw a Tale of Two Cities mentioned, not the high school required reading version, but an article about Chicago, my hometown. Highlighted were the differences between the affluent sections of town (where the murder rate fell by 80%) and the south and west sides of the city where violence and gangs are the norm and the murder rates are rising with the onset of warmer temperatures. It seems like summer is murder season in Chi Town. I was reminded of some of the things I’d read about the recently bankrupt city of Detroit. Once again there’s a pronounced divide between the haves and have-nots. In Detroit there’s a small downtown area that remains fairly well off while the rest of the city has a high crime rate and the citizens live in poverty. But in Detroit they are devising a plan to downsize the city’s infrastructure and repurpose abandoned, blighted space as ecological sanctuaries and even urban farms. Maybe it’s time other big cities, likewise divided, take note. Proactive beats reactive and perhaps future planning rather than a band aid approach might put a halt (or at least a dent) to the expected rise in trouble that as the gap between the haves and have-nots increases. What better way to celebrate Earth Day than by pledging to clean up and really change blighted urban areas into ecofriendly safe places that nurture future stewards for our planet, and help raise up families and children living in poverty in these cities. 

A Laughing Matter

So you've probably heard the saying, Laughter is the best medicine, at some point in your life when you were feeling you had nothing to laugh about, but a recent study has found that although laughter may not be a drug, it can help with improving short term memory in older adults (like me). I am not a car key misplacer but my cell phone is an entirely different matter. Since I got rid of my land line I can’t call myself to find it either, so I usually end up backtracking my day until I do. Often times I find it in the bathroom even though I try not to take calls while on the potty since the sound of flushing (and possibly other bodily function related noises) are something I’d rather not have to explain during my conversations with friends and relatives. I stopped charging my phone in the bathroom for this very reason too, so how does it always end up there? And an even better question might be why do I find myself obsessing about my phone? I don’t have answers for those last two questions but… there are lots of videos and cartoons on line that make me smile and sometimes even laugh out loud and according to a recent study this is good for relieving stress and improving short term memory. The study participants didn’t have to find my cell phone however. They performed memory tests and had their saliva sampled for stress hormones. The difference between the control group (no funny videos to laugh about) and the group that watched funny videos was no laughing matter. The laughing group scored better on short-term memory tests and their salivary levels of the stress hormone cortisol -- a memory enemy of sorts -- were significantly decreased. So there you have it. And as soon as I find my phone I’m going watch some funny videos on it! 

$@) (My Shift to Capitalize Code for 420)

Interesting date today, 4/20, it’s Easter Sunday, a day Christians celebrate the Resurrection. I saw on MSN that Easter goodies were flying high to the International Space Station too. Today is also the anniversary of the school shootings at Columbine (and Hitler’s birthday). That seemed to me to really have been a turning point for the sensationalization of mass shootings in public places like schools, bases, movie theaters. It’s also a day to celebrate cannabis, especially in Colorado where pot was first legalized. Kind of gives a new meaning to the term mile high city (Denver) there.

At my house the big thing on this 4/20 is eating chocolate for breakfast with strangely dyed finger tips from the egg coloring activity. Even with plenty of spoons (we used the oriental soup spoons this year) the dye still got on us along with the boiled eggs. Even though the kids are getting older there is still a good bit of fun to be shared this time of year.

Yep, I think I’ll just stick with Happy Easter (without the aid of psychoactive THC).

Doggone Jury Summons

Jury duty, I've been called for it a bunch of times. Most times the defendants plead at the last minute when they realized they had made it to a judge’s calendar and I didn’t have to serve. One time I actually made it to voir dire but was dismissed. When I was querying my husband for blog topics, as I often do, he mentioned an unusual jury summons. One court in New Jersey summoned a German shepherd for jury duty. Of course dogs aren't allowed to serve on juries (you have to be a human and at least 18 years of age) and a computer was blamed for sending the dog the summons in error. Too bad because I wouldn't mind being on a jury with a dog. Dogs are pretty empathetic and if the evidence produced in court was too graphic or upsetting the dog would be there to offer comfort. Dogs don’t need sequestering either and they aren't that expensive to feed so the taxpayer could save a buck or two on lunches if they were allowed on a jury. I've also found dogs to be pretty good judges of character, despite what theories the lawyers for the prosecution or defense come up with. I’d find it easier to accept a dog’s judgment any day of the week. Having a dog or two on the jury might just make cases finish quicker and since the constitution guarantees a speedy trial (along with the presumption of innocence) some of the backlog could be eliminated. In this case the owner of the summoned dog contacted the court and cleared up the matter which was a good thing, I guess, because I’d hate to find that the pup was picked up for failure to appear.

The Unselfie

Just when I was lamenting the seeming demise of random acts of kindness, at least from view on social media, a new concept appears called the unselfie. The unselfie is different from the latest string of selfies, by celebrities like Ellen DeGeneres, President Obama, and even the VP Joe Biden. It’s not like the no makeup selfies or photo bombed selfies either. The unselfie depicts somebody doing volunteer work. Basically it’s a portrait of a random act of kindness. I've seen some photos of friends volunteering with orphans in Haiti and I think those would qualify as unselfies along with photos of college kids doing volunteer work during their spring breaks. There is an intrinsically good feeling that comes along with performing  random acts of kindness and I think looking back at an unselfie would reinforce that feeling and make me want to do more. I fell short of my random acts of kindness goal for 2013 but am happy to say that this year I have already surpassed last year’s total. I am feeling confident that this year I will meet my goal and probably have to set a higher one for 2015. On one hand I did perform a random act of kindness at my local bank when I let a very grouchy woman, who was complaining rather loudly about the fact that she had to wait in line and where were all the tellers…you get the picture…go ahead of me. I don’t think I’d want to take a selfie of that even though getting her on her way was most definitely an act of kindness for everyone, customers and workers at the bank included. On the other hand, more recently, when I was selling crocheted bunny hats at St. Marys Railroad’s Peter Cottontail Express I had the opportunity to see a beautiful smile blossom on the face of a little girl with Downs Syndrome when I gave her a pink bunny hat as a gift. Wish I had an unselfie of her to post here. 

Patient Driven Science an Emerging Field

A teenager does it again, not designing a new ketchup bottle top, but this time by making a cutting edge discovery in the fight against cancer and she used You Tube as a part of her project. In this instance You Tube has done more than just show videos of kids being scared by a bug or recovering from dental anesthesia, it helped bring together people with the same kind of cancer as Elana Simon. Elana, daughter of scientists, was diagnosed as a child with a kind of cancerous liver tumor called fibrolamellar that occurs mostly in women under the age of 35. The prognosis is grim because this cancer often goes undetected and undiagnosed until it has spread. People (15 of them) with the same cancer saw her video and offered to send tissue samples from their tumors so they could be genetically sequenced. A genetic mutation called a chimera was found to be present in each of the tumor samples. This discovery has been published and will hopefully lead to better ways to combat fibrolamellar and shines a spotlight on patient driven science. Patients themselves can try to make a difference in their research and collaborate in the efforts to find cures for cancer.

New Ketchup Bottle Tops

A couple of high school kids have invented a new top for ketchup bottles that eliminates the watery part of the first squeeze. They call it the ‘shroom because like an inverted mushroom cap the watery part of the first squeeze is caught in the section I’ll call spores, keeping the mushroom analogy, allowing just ketchup to come out. Leave it to some ketchup loving kids to come up with such an innovative idea. This cap they developed is based on the Pythagorean cup idea that is also known as a greedy cup. The greedy cup is made to spill its contents if too much wine is poured in, encouraging moderation. Credited to Pythagoras of Samos, it allows the user to fill the cup with wine up to a certain level. If the user fills the cup only to that level, the imbiber may enjoy a drink in peace. If the imbiber exhibits gluttony, however, the cup spills its entire contents out the bottom (onto the lap of the immodest drinker). I am kind of glad the ketchup bottle invention doesn't work this way but it would be a cool excuse for how the ketchup on your shirt, Nikki! And if you didn’t want to invest the extra 39 cents it costs to add this cap to your ketchup bottle you can always use the old stir it up with your butter knife method or shake your ketchup bottle up before squeezing or pouring.

Modern Mining

As Neil Young crossed oceans and went to Hollywood singing, “I've been a miner for a heart of gold,” so others interested in industrial research are finding mining opportunities in surprising places. Platinum, palladium, and rhodium from catalytic converters that help reduce vehicle exhaust pollution can be mined by sweeping up road dust. Other metals like copper, iron, and aluminum can be found beneath our cities, in dated discarded cable and infrastructure. Extracting these and other precious metals profitably and in environmentally safe ways are the main issues. This kind of mining is basically recycling.

Some kinds of metals are recovered by separation with strong acids or melting and these methods, while working efficiently, are damaging to the environment. Living organisms, metal munching bacteria and seaweed can be more environmentally friendly through use in a process called bioleaching, which extracts precious metals including gold, nickel, and zinc from industrial and pharmaceutical plants’ solvent waste.

Maybe Neil Young didn’t need to travel so far in his search for that heart of gold (he is getting old, at age 68 now) because it’s right under our feet.

Yes, Captain Kirk!

Although in my mind I think of the SNL skit and hear, Yes Captain Jerk, there really is a Captain Kirk and he is the captain of the Navy’s most futuristic new ship, just not the USS Enterprise. I got the scoop on this on SKYPE the other evening when I queried my better half for blog ideas. Here is how our conversation went:

[9:18PM] A Mount: Did you see the latest 21st century Navy frigate - the USS Zumwalt and since it is such a futuristic ship - guess who is the captain? Capt. James Kirk!

[9:19PM] Jo Mount: Seriously?

[9:19: PM] A Mount: True story.

[9:19PM] Jo Mount: I did not. Is this on MSN?

[9:19 PM] A Mount: I think so. Thought it might make an interesting blog idea.

[9:20PM] Jo Mount: Very.

I give a lot of one word replies because lately I have been multitasking – Skype-ing and crocheting at the same time…

[9:21PM] A Mount: Cost 7 billion dollars to build. Navy originally wanted 32 because it's replacing the Spruance class which has already retired but with the cost they pared it down to 3.

[9:22PM] Jo Mount: Wow, pretty pricey.

[9:23PM] A Mount: Yep. It has a completely computerized system so the captain can give orders and see what's going on from anywhere in the ship and the crew has been cut down to 130 vice the 230 they had on the other.

[9:27 PM] Jo Mount: What do frigates do?? I know they are surface ships.

That last sentence sadly enough, pretty much sums up the extent of my Navy knowledge.

[9:28PM] A Mount: They are the main powerhouses next to the aircraft carriers for defensive and offensive and tactical warfare. The Zumwalt has a landing deck on the back that can handle two helicopters for anti-submarine warfare or coastal interdiction or one helicopter and a hover type drone. They can launch Tomahawk missiles, have superior fire power, and Zumwalt is being fitted out with a rail gun and probably a laser gun like the one already being deployed in the Middle East.

[9:29PM] Jo Mount: Dang. Captain Kirk has phasers, I mean lasers????

[9:30PM] A Mount: Zumwalt is going to be one of the main platforms for new weapons systems and all types of new navigation systems and sonar systems, etc. and its design makes it look like a small fishing boat on radar.

[9:31: PM] Jo Mount: I am definitely going to blog about this.

So there you have it…The USS Zumwalt will no doubt be the most technologically advanced and lethal warship on the water once it finally leaves port, and Captain Kirk’s reduced crew and extensive automation systems will actually show a reduction in operating costs. It is due for final delivery to the Navy later this year, where it will then undergo testing and trials until becoming operational around 2016. Yes, Captain Kirk!

The Anniversary of the Boston Marathon Bombing

This anniversary is in the news a lot right now along with talk about all the precautions being taken for this year’s race. The survivors have been sought out and featured in some of TV programs and online and print articles too. The bit that really stood out for me was Adrienne Haslet-Davis, a dancer who lost part of one leg in the explosion, refusing to be called a victim or be linked in any way to the bombers. Her actions impressed me. I agree that the bombers don’t deserve any air time or recognition for their actions and I like her bravery in the face of her loss of limb to choose to be a survivor rather than a victim. She has the right idea. I don’t care if she walked away from the set of 60 Minutes in tears or giving the producer the raspberries, she stood by her convictions and isn't letting the media define her. To me she embodies what terrorists need know about their enemies, the people they intend to do harm to. Acts of terror can result in physical harm, maiming and even cause death but they do not make us sheep. The terrorists that choose suicide by bomb or become victims of our legal system are the real sheep.

Bioprospecting to Prevent the Antibiotic Apocalypse

I didn’t know that antibiotic resistant MRSA killed more people in the US in 2013 than AIDS, hepatitis B, and tuberculosis combined, but it did. Researchers predict that it will become resistant to all major antibiotics within the next decade or two. If this happens simple infections could become fatal. Now that’s a scary thought. Now more pharmaceutical companies are going on foraging missions looking for medicinal treasures in remote places. They are bioprospecting for microorganisms and compounds to be used in developing new antibiotics. Over half of all drugs on the market are derived or inspired by plants, animals, or bacteria, soil bacteria being the source for many current antibiotics. Our planet’s hostile environments are home to more life than I ever realized, like below the ice in the Antarctic or in the hotspots created by volcanoes. The Peru-Chile trench in the Pacific Ocean is one such environment ripe for bioprospecting. The ocean trenches’ isolation makes them underwater versions of the Galapagos Islands with populations of novel bacteria that may hold the key to creating new antibiotics. There are many steps involved beginning with the actual bioprospecting and creating special high pressure chambers that can help keep the deep water microscopic critters alive on their way to a lab in our less hostile (for us anyway) environment and ending hopefully with new miracle drugs to combat present day diseases.  

Wireless Electric Vehicle Charging

After reading about wireless electric car charging my mind immediately went to the Bahamas. Yep, I thought about a certain red golf cart there and how often it needs plugging in and how easy it is for the charging paraphernalia to grow legs. Sometimes it can be a wait to get a turn to plug in and then of course you have to wait for the cart to charge. I can imagine that this is an even bigger concern with an electric car since I’d have a different expectation for it, like the expectations I have for my gas powered car. I imagine the line and wait at the electric charge station would be longer than at the gas station too. Then I read about using a wireless charging station to charge electric vehicles. This technology isn’t new. It is already used for charging robotic vehicles and cranes in an industrial setting, so it seems logical to find a way to adapt this for charging electric cars. The system basically uses electromagnetic induction. Charging pads have power coils embedded in the ground. The driver drives onto and over this pad and the car and power coils magnetically link up. There are electric buses in the UK using this system and getting a 20 kilowatt charge in a regularly scheduled 10 minute stop. Interesting, especially with the price of gas these days, right now my second vehicle is a bicycle but I will definitely be thinking electric in the future.

Writers Block is Taxing Me!

Ever since I downloaded Revolver to my ITunes and listened to The Taxman track I have been suffering from writers block. I don’t know if it has anything to do with the fact that the tax deadline is almost upon me and I specifically remember (on the last day for taxes last year) telling my taxman that I’d be in there earlier this year. Well I will be, at least a little bit earlier, since I have an appointment with him this morning. I just hope he didn’t note that in my file. What’s up with the lyric -It’s one for you, nineteen for me, being stuck in my head? Is that a contributor to my current case of writers block, or am I just a writing and tax prep procrastinator? Why did they have to put a song like that on an album titled Revolver? I hope the significance is one of a revolving door through which I must return each year rather than the other thing (imagine me with my finger pointing …well at my own head, probably). Either way, I am going to see the taxman and I hope to be singing a different song by the end of this day!

Baby, We Were Born to Run

To borrow a lyric from the Boss, baby we were born to run or at least walk and recently I have begun to make a concerted effort to do more in this area. Research shows regular exercise bestows huge health benefits and the two biggest killing diseases, heart disease and cancer, are correlated to a lack of just that, regular exercise. So I've been reading about how some evolutionary biologists have figured out that the way we hold our heads still while running for gaze stabilization is one of the contributing factors to why were born to run, I mean how we evolved into great runners. The ability to run was a key advantage for persistence hunters who had to run long distances chasing animals. And the animals (mostly the four legged type, prey) that had to cool their bodies by panting were at a disadvantage because they can’t gallop and pant at the same time, so with our running advantage we could catch them. We aren't the only predators that run with gaze stabilization, but it helped keep us at the top of the food chain. So why choose the escalator over the stairs or the sugary snack over the veggie? There is probably a deeply rooted evolutionary instinct for that too but for now it’s time I make a conscious effort to act in my own self-interest and get off the couch (or out of this desk chair and away from this computer) and go for healthier choices. I did scare up an armadillo on a trail in Crooked River State Park the other day, but thankfully we both got away. Wonder if I’ll run into him again today?

Dog Poo Detectives

This looks to be a promising job opportunity as more communities adopt measures to ensure that responsible dog owners bag and properly dispose of their pet poo. In Spain you can be recruited into this position and all you need equipment wise is a camera to photograph offenders. I figure you will probably be required to snap a pic of the poo too. (Mike I was thinking of you when I wrote this….remember your French onion soup photo?) Apparently pet owners in Spain are getting out of hand by allowing their pets to poo in entrance areas to public buildings, schools, and children’s play areas without picking up and disposing properly. I know I hate finding poo on my shoe and I’m guessing so do you, so this position, Poo Detective, is one that is probably necessary. I have heard of some communities that use DNA samples from the poo to determine who dun it (and left it). That seems a little pricey in my opinion when DNA testing for other crimes against humans (more serious than poo shoe) are often backlogged. So out with the old (think milkman, switchboard operators, lamplighters, etc.) and in with the new, Poo Detectives, future career opportunity!

Busy Times in St. Marys, GA

April is a busy month packed full of holidays along with the usual April showers. It is gearing up to be a busy one for me. Next weekend here in St. Marys there are an abundance of events happening. It’s the last weekend of spring break for the kids here. The Peter Cottontail Express is ready to ride and each train ride is followed by an egg hunt. Orange Hall is reopening with a potluck picnic on the front lawn (free hot dogs provided). Something else is happening in the park that the kids will surely enjoy and the community market will be going full steam ahead downtown at the pavilion. And that’s just this upcoming weekend. Gardening is taking up a pretty good chunk of my time this month but now that the plants are in and the seeds carefully spaced, covered and the soil patted, the waiting and weeding begins.

For the rest of this month I’m planning to watch some baseball, go find a rainbow, hop down the bunny trail, save the Earth, and kiss a frog (for Save the Frogs day!).

Cubs Start their Season on a Familiar Foot

The Cubs started their season on a familiar foot, losing the season opener in Pittsburgh

 in 16 innings. But today they have one win to two losses. This may seem like two steps back and one step forward to most people but to a Cubs fan, like me, it’s the basic intermittent response theory that keeps me rooting for my favorite underdogs.

Making me stop being a Cubs fan would be a process of eliminating my fanhood by stopping the delivery of reinforcers responsible for maintaining the behavior. Intermittent reinforcement, winning and occasional game, makes extinguishing my fanhood slower or harder to accomplish. During a losing streak period, a being a fan is never reinforced. If the Cubs were continually on a winning streak, the fans will quickly notice this and lose interest pretty quickly when they start to lose. By contrast, if they win only intermittently then the fan (like me) grows accustomed to periods of no wins. If all wins are cut off the fan is less likely to notice that extinction is taking place, and more likely to persist with the behavior in the expectation that a winning streak or even just one win may resume again as it has in the past. The result is that fans of teams with a history of intermittent wins do not stop being fans as quickly as fans of teams with a history of continuous wins. Instead, they show resistance to being losers! That would be me.

Maybe I’m more like my mother than I thought I was. Looks like I’d best stay away from the nickel slots and just stick with the Cubs.

Find a Rainbow Today

Today is national Find a Rainbow Day and it is celebrated every April 3^rd. I don’t know why this is the first I've heard of it because on any given day when a rainbow appears I've been known to stop my car to get out and enjoy it. Something about being in the presence of a rainbow lifts any heaviness I've been holding in my heart and brings a smile to my face. Funny how something as simple as a rainbow can do that. There are lots of rainbow pictures on line and though they are nice they aren't as sweet as seeing the real thing outside in the rain refreshed spring air. I guess I’ll just have to try to find a rainbow metaphorically like looking for a silver lining since today doesn't look to be shaping up as an April showers kind of day. But I’ll still be keeping an eye out, maybe in the garden.

Brazilian Butt Lift

Odd topic for me, butt here goes. I have been thinking about this since I started twerking working in my garden. So I Googled Brazilian butt lift and found 3 million results in less than .4 seconds. There is obviously a lot of interest in this. There are surgical procedures designed to give you a fine Brazilian butt booty and there is underwear that can change a flat granny booty into a Brazilian butt. There are even more DVDs and exercise routines that promise the same results and are probably less expensive than the operation and comparably priced with the underwear. I've heard about those who like big butts and they cannot lie but I didn’t realize just how far the pendulum had swung towards big butts on this issue. I have always wished my butt was smaller. I have had kids with bony butts sit on my lap and on a crowded car trip that can be quite uncomfortable for even short distances, not to mention the squeeze that comes with double buckling seatbelts. Needless to say I have my own plans for a Brazilian butt work out and after raking, hoeing, and planting some corn and onions, I’m feeling it in my butt already. At least I’ll be able to enjoy some fresh veggies and sporting a shapelier and more fashionable booty will be a nice (back) side effect.

4-1-14

Interesting date today, digit wise, 4114 is nicely palindromic. Days with these kinds of digits and beautiful weather always appeal to me and it really does feel like spring has finally sprung around here. I hope it isn't an April Fools’ Day joke. The other numbers that appeal to me today are 63 and 64 because they are the plot numbers I have been assigned in St. Marys’ Community Garden and I have spring gardening fever pretty bad. Maybe that’s because the winter was a rather chilly one here or maybe because I prefer the outdoor spring planting to the traditional indoor spring cleaning. Either way, here is the 411 for (or 4) the St. Marys’ Community Garden. It is over by the fire station by the city airport. They have water and a couple of donated tillers. There are also still spaces available for gardening and many plots already planted. I did have a bit of a time getting in contact with the people running the program, but that was more about me missing the obvious than anything else. I called city hall and they connected me to the fire station and unable to get answers I emailed St. Marys’ Earth Keepers who replied right back with a number for one of the gardeners. So today when I drove over to meet him I passed the sign at the entrance with a phone number for info, duh! For me sometimes I am truly oblivious to the obvious, but I am excited about growing some fresh veggies and flowers.