Alf and the Snowmen

         I have written about Alf  four or five times before. Alf comes to visit his Dad for two or three days a week. Alf's Dad is my next door neighbor. Alf is now seven. When he was three or four he was quite often in my yard and wanted to explore everything found in an old man's yard. Alf also would go in the house and his curiosity just overwhelmed him and he would walk through the whole house.

         Alf has given me much pleasure as he is cute, curious and courteous. So there are many questions. My answers only brought more questions.

        So a couple of weeks ago Alf and his Dad built two giant snowmen in their front yard. This is a yearly activity for them. When Alf comes to stay with his Dad he has to go out and visit his snowmen. So the other day when Alf came I thought I had better take a picture and show everybody two great snowmen and their owner.

       Having a youngster next door is always good for  contact with little guys who are full of ideas and curiosity. Nothing like that to keep you young!

More Mighty Microbes

        The old adage "Out of sight. Out of mind." could be aptly applied to mighty microbes. We can't see microbes with the naked eye so we go about our business as if they weren't there. This causes us to live our lives and make decisions which do not favor microbes. It's easy to argue for the protection of species which are noticeable and if they have spectacular features it's easier yet. To protect and conserve one species everything has to be considered. That one species fits into an eco system and that's the best way to protect the one species. An eco system is made up of interconnecting parts. Each species supports the other in some way even if it happens to be prey for another species.

       I taught junior high science for awhile. In one unit we had the kids bring a small sample of pond water. We showed the kids how to make a slide and use a microscope. When they looked at their water sample, there in front of their eyes were microbes. Now with a school microscope you don't see much, but they did find out about microbes and saw them move, their shape and color. They kept bringing more water samples as they were intrigued by what they saw.

      Microbes are common everywhere and have important roles to play. It was surprising for me to find out microbes are in snow and ice. Microbes on snow and ice you say? Yes. There are also insects on snow at certain times. Ever see snow fleas? I would like to see decisions on environmental issues start with microbes. We have water use issues. Various parts of society are competing for an ever decreasing amount of water. Decision makers only consider the water and not the life which is sustained by the water.

     I wish more people would become acquainted with microbes on a realistic basis. Then maybe decisions made about natural habitat might be made easier and more species would have a better chance of long term survival.

Mighty Microbes

        I have written from time to time about birds and animals....rabbits, deer, merlins, geese... Some bloggers I follow write about white tailed deer, turkeys, turkey vultures, magpies, harlequin ducks, Canada geese, gray jays, swans, moose, bohemian waxwings goldfinches roses. My list could be very long as about a dozen blogs I follow post on a regular basis about plants or animals. They are all excellent posts ...informative and well illustrated. All of these are rather sexy topics. People really like Bambi stories!

       I have never seen microbes covered in any of the blogs I follow yet microbes are very basic to life and crucial in many cases for life to continue. For example, we have about 40 000 different kinds of microbes in our gut. Most of these are very necessary to keep body functioning properly. If some microbes become over or under populated we usually have a problem. I was diagnosed with one little guy that was too populous and was given an antibiotic to knock down the population. So I ended up with less gas which was great.

      Our soil and water is populated with millions of microbes. When the prairies were ploughed first the  soil was very fertile. After cropping for a few years the microbes were depleted so we started using fertilizer and chemicals. Before the prairie was plowed there was equilibrium with carbon contained in the soil. Now much less carbon can be absorbed in our soil because the little microbes which do the job are almost gone.

    Forests and plants are full of and covered with microbes.

    Where am I going with this? I am a naturalist. (NOT a naturist. I keep my clothes on.) I hope to preserve as much natural habitat as possible. My friends keep saying that it's not being made anymore. Many would have us think that plants and animals we raise can replace the natural habitat. It doesn't. It usually brings problems. Mono cultures of plants are very susceptible to disease. Invasive species come in and compete with the natural habitat and destroy it. In the Chicago Wilderness Area area hundreds of millions of dollars are spent to bring back the natural habitat in the area.

     We have cleared much native habitat for agriculture so the native habitat which is left is fragmented and when not connected many species do not cope well. As a child, on the "isolated farm" less than half the land was cleared. There was an abundance of wildlife under those conditions. Today about 98% of that land is used for agriculture. It's like a desert as far as the population of native species is concerned.

    So I hope that if we look out for the mighty microbes we will also help the larger sexier species as well.

Rest Easy Pete

         When I began reading my blogs tonight I found the one that I had been anticipating, but it still caught me with a jolt of sadness. We all knew that Pete from Out of My Multiple Minds was not well as he had bravely kept us informed of his status. His last posts were gripping as he told about his fight to remain with us for as long as possible.

         The post I found tonight was simply called "It's Over!"  This post was written by his daughter and I thank her for informing us of her Dad's end.

        Pete only started blogging a few months ago. I was somehow lucky to blunder across his blog and I could instantly tell that it was a blog that was absolutely necessary to follow.

       What made Pete's blog such a hit was Pete. He called things as he saw them. He was passionate and did not back away from any cause. Many of the things he stood for were not on the popular side. He could tell an excellent story. He fussed and worried about what he wrote, but he naturally knew how to tell a story. Keep adding the detail and saved the climax to last. I remember following him down a long corridor to visit his sick friend. I thought the friend would be dead , but no his friend was still hanging on. The big thing was that Pete made the effort to visit his fast fading friend. Pete lost two very good friends in the last two months of his life.

      We need more Petes in this world. I will miss Pete from Out of My Multiple Minds.

       Much support to Pete's family at this sad time,

65th Wedding Anniversary: Awesome

        This weekend I attended a celebration for friends Betty and Howard's 65th anniversary. This is the first 65th I've ever attended and it was a very moving affair.

        Betty and Howard's five children put on a dinner and program to honor their parents. One son spoke of his parents and how they were a Mom and Dad and very family oriented. He covered happy occasions, sadness and how generally the family functioned extremely well. Their life was not just a smooth ride  

 as they also faced hardships and devastating loss. He described how his mother and father were extremely hard workers and that they also worked very hard for family growth as well. An excellent picture album was put together to show each child's life in the family as they grew up. All grandchildren were briefly featured as well.

      Some of the older friends and neighbors made comments which were humorous and also added to the description of this couple's life.

      As I reflected on this occasion I couldn't help but think about how vibrant and energetic this couple was and is. They each had tremendous energy as individuals and also put tremendous positive energy into their relationship. They also had time to participate in the community and were ever ready to help others. They are also both physically vigorous and enjoy life. The pictures gave a vivid description of the length of time that goes into a 65 year relationship. The styles through the decades made it simple to see how much time was involved.

       Betty and Howard certainly influenced their children in a positive way and have also

been an inspiration to many other people.

ipod Victory

        On Jan. 19 I posted about getting an ipod and that I was challenged to figure out how to get it working.
I am happy to report that there is victory over the ipod. I've got the thing playing music in my ear and I didn't have to go across the street to my 14 year old neighbor or his 16 year old sister.

        I found a site where I could download the manual for free. I read the manual. I then down loaded itunes. I took a rest or two to find out what to do next. So I finally found the courage and plugged the ipod in to the computer and did all the registration things. Then I rested awhile.

       My next step was to try and put music on the ipod. Copying the CD was a piece of cake. After that I was stuck. I couldn't find out how to get the music from the computer to the ipod. Finally I decided to look at a tutorial instead of the manual. Right away I found out how to sync my stuff to the ipod. And there I was listening to music on my ipod. I am so proud of myself!!!

    Now I have to figure out how to use all the other bells and whistles on my ipod. It seems to do everything except the dishes. But as in my first post, I'm in no great rush. I'll just savor the moment for now.

      Now I may not have had to go across the street for assistance from my teen aged neighbors but I'm sure they get the last laugh. I know they will be wrinkling up their brow and saying, "What was so hard about all that? Why does he have to brag about that? To use an ipod is so simple!" They won't read my blog but I know that somebody will tell them and they'll all have a good laugh.

Political Future With the Internet

         The world has been watching as the Tunisian regime was toppled  and another is threatened in Egypt. These events have been initiated, organized and promoted with heavy use of the Internet. It's been fascinating to watch developments as they unfold.

        These events have caused me to think about the influence of the Internet in a wide variety of situations. Voter turn out in democracies has been falling. Is the Internet a facility which could be used to increase voter participation in elections? I'm sure that the technology is present that could set up a valid voter system on the Internet. With higher voter participation the political landscape may fall on it's head. Politicians could use the Internet to their advantage as President Obama did in gaining the Democratic nomination and election to the White House. Voters could rapidly organize campaigns of recall if there were recall laws. Politicians would have to listen very carefully to the public and games played now would not be as effective.

       Now citizens are using the Internet  to bring down regimes. How long will it be before some strongman- dictator devises some scheme to maintain his grip on power by using the Internet? What will the next generation of social media look like? Face book and all the others are recent developments and their use has expanded enormously. When face Book and other social sites were introduced the use we see to day was unimaginable at that time. How will new technology which is in the pipes influence the use of present media? What new tactics will organizers come up with?

       Changes have been unexpected and rapid in Tunisia and Egypt. I'm sure that six months ago these events were not  imagined. What other countries will be changed as a result of assistance and use of social media? 

      I'm sure that I'm not the first person to ask these questions. I'm sure that many are studying the use of technology and what possibilities there are to bring about change in the political world. I just haven't looked for blogs or websites that deal with this topic.