THIS

Used with permission from XKCD.com

For more geeky humor like this visit XKCD.com and enjoy!

Be Excellent To Each Other

One of our friends Terry works for the NJ DEP. And one of the projects she has been working on is the Dr. Still Office Historic Site, in nearby Medford, NJ. 

And this past Saturday was a special for Terry. and all the folks involved with the Dr Still Site, the grand opening of the new Visitor Center, which is also a mini-museum. And well worth a visit.

The site of the Visitor Center was was acquired by the state about a year ago and all involved did a fantastic job turning into a much needed focal point for the site. Sadly, the other two buildings on the State Property are in no shape to host events.

The house shown above is alas no more. But the office building to the left still stands, and is currently undergoing restoration. 

Dr Still was the son of a freed slave, self taught (he was denied entry to medical school) and studied the medicinal uses of plants. 

The practice of medicine was a bit different in the mid 1800's. It wasn't until the around the First World War that medicine as we know it, as a true scientific discipline, came into its own. But in that sense Dr Still was ahead of his time (in more ways than one).

A black man, practicing medicine, and being very successful not long after the civil war.

While not the actual desk used by the good doctor, it is a period piece (and similar to one my grandmother had). 

And if you look closely at the jars on the shelves above the desk, you'll see one labeled ginger. Which might be from plants growing in our yard, that we gave to Terry to grow at the Dr Still Site, which we in turn had obtained form our friend Kim's garden, when she sold her house. Pretty cool. 

The work done by men (and it was mostly men) such as Dr Still set the stage for the science which would bring us modern pain killers and antibiotics. But then it was seeing what plants could be used to provide relief for various ailments.

Again, period pieces, but in the center is Dr Still's recipe for cough balsam.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

Look closely, and you'll see the recipe calls for two gallons of water and ten pounds (!) of sugar. 

It also calls for Comfrey root and on Sunday we gave our friend Kim three Comfrey plants, for the garden at her new home.

In addition to playing a steel tongue drum, which provided a wonderful sonic backdrop to our visit, the musician is modeling a shirt (similar to the one I'm wearing as I type this; mine's the short sleeve version) with a saying that sums up Dr Still's practice, "There's an Herb for that".

🩺  🧪  🩺  🌡  🩺

The museum also houses an Underground Railroad Exhibit. Which to further quote Bill and Ted was a heinous period in human history.

I found the exhibit quite moving. Not the least because of what is happening in the world today. 

Dr Still's younger brother, William Still, was resident of Philadelphia, an ardent abolitionist, and an agent of the Underground Railroad. 

And fought battles still be waged today. And while we've make real progress over the years and in my lifetime, there is still much to be done.

🚂  🚂  🚂

"We are apt to found our beliefs on the many beliefs

of others which look to us so plausible. We adapt

these things to our notions without just

consideration which envelops us in the most pitiable

mental darkness"

Dr James Still, 1877

Words sadly still very true today.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised, but it still amazes me that one group of humans can treat another so heinously, often for the most trivial of reasons. And without a moments thought. Melanin concentration, really?

I'll close where I started, again with Bill and Ted:

Be Excellent To Each Other

Not the Four Seasons ...

Due to a scheduling error, we needed a room for the night as we traveled from New Hampshire to Maine. And we found a place in Bangor.

As it had beds and bathroom it met our requirements.

But I'm not sure the wiring was quite up to code ...

Note the use of masking tape above, which seems to be poorly implemented, and below, which seems to be structural.

As my brother commented, as long as the AC works what is there to complain about.

The AC did work. And we had a good night's sleep. So I think he was right.

Surely Not

This was the sign on the way out of the Flower Show ...

Luckily, it was incorrect. 

In fact, I'm enjoying a glass of wine while I'm typing this.

Cheers!

🍷  🍷  🍷

Invasive Species of the Week

Rosa multiflora, better known as Multiflora Rose.

It has a pretty fragrant flower.

And large evil thorns (I've direct experience with these).

I spotted this plant on the edge of our parking area. I had removed a number of small plants from there last year, and subsequently did not see any flowers. So how did something this large grow there?

I chopped it down to the ground, but was unable to dig out the roots. The rocks of the parking area extended it past the plant. So I took some of the herbicide Patty had used to remove some Poison Ivy a couple years back and applied it to the freshly cut stems. Hopefully this will kill it down through the root system.

The rest of the plant went into the invasive bin. A blue plastic trashcan. This is not a plant you want in your compost. Once it is dead I'll either burn it or but it in a plastic trash bag and let the trash man take it away.

But it seems I wasn't finished.

While surveying the route for the deer fence across the western road frontage, I came across another plant. One which had grown well up into the tree at the end of our driveway. As I mentioned, and showed, earlier, it has some very pretty flowers. And it isn't called "multiflora" for nothing. There are plenty of the blooms. 

So how did this plant get so large without us noticing?

This is what I pulled out. It filled three large sized trash bags. No room in the invasive bin for all this. It is all now in a landfill somewhere.

There were eight or ten stems coming from the root area. I treated it with the herbicide as well. Fortunately, it did not appear that the stems had contacted the ground and taken root anywhere else. Sometime this week I'll see about digging the roots out. I do not look forward to it.

This plant was introduced to the US either in in the 1700s (USDA) or in 1866 (PSU). Either way, it's been here a long time. It had a variety of uses, including erosion control, root stock for ornamental roses, as as an ornamental in its own right, and as a living fence (I can vouch for this last one). Unfortunately when left uncontrolled it forms dense thickets (that living fence) and crowds out native vegetation.

I would like to think this was my last tussle with this species, but I have doubts. But next time I'll be wearing long sleeves. That I is a certainty.

It's Gotta Be The Bees

In April I received the following letter back in April.

Now, I know we've been planting quite a few native plants these past few years. And the deer fence has helped tremendously. 

The Census of Agriculture. Yep, it really is a thing. Apparently it happens every five years. Which means we should have received a letter like this five years ago.

We didn't.

So how did we get on whatever list these folks used?

It took me awhile to figure it out. Really, I found it quite puzzling. And only when I found this letter on a pile of papers on my desk this week did it hit me. It had to have been the Honey Bees.

In New Jersey you can register your bee hives, so various government agencies know not to spray your yard for various undesirable insects, like gypsy moths or mosquitos.

Our bee keeping ended after one season (and I told the registry people such). Our place on some list lingers on.

New and Improved! (Improvements Not Included)

I received the following email not too long ago.

Straight up marketing BS.

The key point as it pertains to this blog, is that some time after July, there will no longer be emails of the posts. 

I don't know how many people subscribe, although apparently I can download a list and find out. Not that it would do me all that much good, as I've investigated and all I could find was paid services to replace what Google is taking away as part of its 'modernization' efforts.

Now you could use a RSS reader to get updates when they happen. But that's another thing to check in addition to email. And of course you can visit the blog directly, go ahead and set it up as a favorite if you haven't already.

But neither is a easy and convent as email. 

Thanks Google!

(It seems to be a theme with them.)

Good For Nothing

We've been enclosing more of the yard with deer fence, and part of the process involves hanging the fence from the line with clips, prior to permanently securing it.

Clips like this:

Look carefully at the "Caution" section on the right side (the back of the package). 

Specifically this line [emphasis added]: "DO NOT use this accessory for load carrying, overhead lifting, or in any application."

????

🤨  🤔  😵‍💫  🤔  🤨

I ignored the caution and used them will installing the fence. They held. 

As apparently did my luck.

Hunters ...

I've blogged before about the deer stands in the State Forest behind our place. And how the hunters are not very good at what they do as evidenced by all the deer (and turkeys) in the area.

Well a couple of Mondays ago, Patty went wandering in the back woods, looking of course for birds. And she found a hunter.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

He too was looking for birds, or rather a specific bird, the Wild Turkey. Of course with Patty wandering around, scaring off all the birds, he was not able to take home a turkey. Of course, they are available in stores all throughout the area.

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

Patty chatted with him and it turns out his uncle owns some land down the road form us, so he visits during turkey season, driving up before sunrise from Hammonton, which is twenty some miles south of us. 

Seems like way too much work for a bird which, as I mentioned above, is readily available in supermarkets everywhere (and if you buy enough they'll give you one for free!).

But hey, we wake up well before dawn to go looking for birds. So to each their own.

It's a Bird. It's a Mammal. It's ... Wait What?

These days Artificial Intelligence is all the rage. At least with marketing folks. Although I suppose that is a bit harsh. Although while at he same time no doubt true.

But machine learning is quite a fascinating technology. The stuff of SciFi when I was a kid (I go to stay up late on Fridays to watch The Wild Wild West and Star Trek with my Dad) I now talk the the air in my house, and lights turn on and off. 

Well sometimes. There are still to many, "I didn't hear back from your devices" replies for my liking (to be fair, this may be because of our WiFi, it's Comcastic!).

And then there are examples like this.

iNaturalist, and its sister app Seek, are clever bits of technology, with the audacious goal of allowing one to tack a picture, or sound recording, and have the app identify the species.

Recently I took part in the City Nature Challenge, where one submits as many observations a one can over an extended weekend. And I took a picture of a Bluejay on one of our platform feeders. And to its credit, the first suggestion of the iNaturalist app is Bluejay.

But that second suggestion, Eastern Chipmunk?

A bit of a head scratcher that

And I'm not sure the three gentlemen mentioned at the bottom of the screenshot really want to be associated with the set of suggestions.

Plant Extracts

We have a little alcove-shelf in our shower. And for the past couple of months I've been looking at this:

And for the life of me, I can't figure out why "contains 100% PURE plant extracts" is supposed to impress me. This is just such an incredibly vacuous statement, presented as if it is of utmost importance.

What percentage of the 800 mL is made up of these pure plant extracts? Is it "Zero. Zero is a percentage."*

Which plant extracts? Hopefully not cyanide from apple seeds. Or anything from poison ivy. 

And what exactly would a less than 100% plant extract be? Either it is a plant extract or it isn't, to it's 100% or 0%.

~~~~~~~~~~~

* From a Simpsons episode where Lisa goes on a class trip to the local newspaper, and the marketing rep tells the students the paper is made from a percentage of recycled paper, and Lisa asks what percentage. And this quote is the answer.

Let's Have Fun

Today I signed up to participate in the World Series of Birding.

Which is oddly named as it isn't a series. And happens only on the Atlantic Flyway of the US (it used to be just New Jersey, but with Covid it has expanded, still, not the world). 

And when I registered I was presented with this question to prove I was a human (as if a computer would want to go birding!):

Of course, every month is a correct answer, even May! Who proofreads these things?

Well it turns out that I guessed right, as I assumed the question they meant to ask was, "What month comes immediately after May?".

I'm smart that way.*

And then in the email confirming I had registered there was this line, in bold:

You have not yet paid your registration fee of $0.

Which was in fact correct and incorrect at the same time.

With the helpful instruction: 

"If you are unable to pay your registration fees online, please contact Rene' Buccinna ..."

So I'm not really sure what I am supposed to do ...

Oh wait, it says what to do latter in the email:

"... focus on getting as many species as possible and having FUN!"

I'm down for some fun!

📓  📚  📓  📚  📓

* Patty has been giving a test to the first graders, one student at a time, and as we both work form home I get to hear the questions over and over. It is multiple choice. One question is, "What is true of all squares?" and the answers to select are: (1) A Square is small. (2) A square has three corners. (3) A square has four sides of equal length. As I'm sure you have determined, answers 2 and 3 are both correct. But students are only given credit for a correct answer if they choose (3). 

I Must Be Getting Old ...

Last Wednesday I got the first dose of the Covid-19 vaccine. And the process was extremely well run. My appointment was for 12:30. I arrived ten minutes early as per the instructions. I was in the post shot waiting area by 12:27. And there were at least one hundred other folks in that waiting area as well. Including, arriving just as I was leaving, my friends Joe and Donna*.

There were signs everywhere, pointing out were to go, what each station was, where to get information. And there were signs stating that photography was not permitted. But on the way out there was this sign.

I did not take a selfie. 

Yep. I'm getting old.

💉  🦠  💉  🦠  💉

Patty has gotten both shots. In a couple weeks I'll have my second, and by the end of April it should be at full strength. If you haven't already sign up to get vaccinated as soon as you can. No only does it help you, but the more people who are vaccinated, the less chance the virus, including new strains, can spread. And the sooner we can all get back to doing the things we enjoy with the people we care about.

💉  🦠  💉  🦠  💉

* At least Joe told me Donna was there, I did not see her.

More Calendar Silliness

It is March 16th as I type this. And in the mail we received ...

... a calendar! Just what we needed.

So, what do you think, someone at Natural Lands found a box of calendars, and said, to no-one in particular, "Hey, shouldn't we mail mail these out this year?"

Hmmm ... Somethings Not Quite Right Here

 So which is it?

Sarracenia purpurea? 

Dionaea musicpula?

I'll give you a clue, it's not S. purpurea.

Trash Pickin'

Some years ago, I forget the actual source (perhaps NPR?), I heard a story about a couple who went for regular walks in a local park. In which there was a section which had become overgrown with weeds and was a magnet for trash. And each time they went by they agreed that someone should do something about this. And kept right on walking.

And then one day it dawned on them, they were somebody. And they cleaned it up.

Patty has decided she is somebody (something I had realized long ago). She decided to clean up our street.

Recall the town had decided to 'enhance' our roads (enhancement not included). As a result of the non-enhancement enhancement, all of the trash which had been hidden was now exposed and chopped up. 

Image Courtesy Patty Rehn

Her first haul was two bags, one, the clear bag, she found on the side of the road.

Her second effort, using empty bird seed bags (yes, we have a bird seed addiction) resulted in nine! 

I'm sure the trash collectors love us.

A couple of years ago we visited Rwanda. Where the third Saturday of every month is clean up day. Everyone, from the Prime Minister on down, cleans up the street in front of their home. Rwanda is a very clean country. (We also visited Kenya on that trip, plastic bags everywhere.)

I was more Rwandan than Patty, with my road clean up efforts restricted to our property's frontage.

When I was out of work, and walking most everyday, Patty got me this for my birthday, to take along on my walks, for trash picking. It is quite a handy tool for this task.

So, get yourself a picker upper tool and realize that you to are somebody. And help to make your part of the world a cleaner place.

Going Down To South Park ...

In the Chukar post, I mentioned the South Park Semi-Wild Area.

It is only a few miles from our place, on South Park Road, a mostly dirt road through the Pines.

New Jersey has rules for the creation and ongoing operation of Semi-Wild Shooting Preserves. These include the number and type of birds (Chukars are on the list) that must be stocked each year, the hunting season, and the tagging of all 'harvested' birds.

Recently, Patty has been on a mission to clean up Burrs Mill Road and while doing so found this on the side of the road:

Image courtesy Patty Rehn

A tagged Quail.

I'm not looking to start a debate on hunting. But suffice to say it is not for me. The only wildlife shooting I'll be doing is with a camera.

But once upon a time ...

Many years ago, when I was twelve years old give or take a year, my Dad was invited by business associates to a hunting lodge in Texas (the Hawkeye Hunting Club, they are still in business). And they said to bring your son (me) along. I got cowboy boots and a hunting hat and a cowboy hat (how cool was that!). 

Am I a well dressed hunter or what?

The shotgun is bigger than me.

And I too shot a Quail, as well as a hunting dog (the dog was ok, far enough away the the shotgun pellets were like BBs hitting it; I was pretty shaken up though). And that was my last hunting experience. (The birds we shot that day were cleaned and packed in a cooler like the one on the car. They came home with use and were eventually cooked and eaten, although I think by my Uncle Tommy. So the hunting wasn't completely gratuitous.)

But what really turned me off from hunting was that every evening the lodge would release ducks, which would fly directly to a pond. A pond with a number of hunters just waiting to fire away as they flew over. This just seemed wrong to me at the time, and Dad and I declined the invitation to take part. It does appear the lodge no longer offers that style of hunting. At least, it isn't mentioned on their website.

And whether it be ducks at a pond or stocked birds on a preserve, I just don't understand the desire to bring in animals just to kill them. 

Enough Already!

Each one of these calendars is from a conservation minded organization.

All that paper, other materials (ink, springs, etc.), the envelopes they were mailed in, the energy used to produce and get them to me.

Just to have them all deposited in the recycle bin (although in before times I would take them to work and leave them for the taking - they would all disappear).

Sixteen calendars. Who has sixteen rooms, each needing a calendar?

Stop. Just stop. I'm not going to give you any more or any less because you sent me a pretty picture calendar. 

And don't get me started about address labels ...

The Perfect Brew for Today

This version, a tasty oatmeal stout, was brewed by Attic Brewing Co. in Philadelphia.

The idea was started by Weathered Souls Brewing Co., and any brewery could join in.

Thanks to my friend Marie for sharing this one with me.

Mobsters

Prescient cover by the New Yorker, from October 2019.

I doubt they even knew how right they were.