November 27, 2020

I mentioned how Melissa and I have tried to attend holiday celebrations for both sides of the family in the past.  This year we spent Thanksgiving Day on our own.  We had made some of the traditional trappings (green bean casserole and cornbread dressing) that we intended to go with snow crab and peel-and-eat shrimp.  After preparing everything else, we decided the shrimp looked so good we would save the crab for later.  I also ate my tiny pie.  When mom read my blog on Dessert, she called to tell me the four-inch pie she had ordered was the same size pie I wrote about.  Rather than eating it herself, she was planning on sharing it.  Good luck with that.

When I was joking about this to my sister, it reminded me of the pies we used to eat when I was a boy.  We did not eat a lot of pies, but I do remember the commotion it caused when we did.  My younger brother and I would argue over who got the biggest slice of pie (i.e., who was closest to the tin when it was put on the table, so they got to choose first).   Mom tried to alleviate the arguments by letting one of us cut the pie.  This still caused friction, so the rule became, “If you cut the pie, the other could choose their slice first.”  While this worked for a while, the disputes returned.  Finally, mom found a hexagonal pie tin (there were six in our family).   I am not sure if this resolved the problem or we just grew out of our phase, but that seemed to lessen the conflict.

I think one of the reasons we did not have pie often was because mom did not like to make them.  My dad loved pie, and he finally decided if he wanted to eat pie, he would have to make it.  Dad was not known as the baker in the family, but he did learn to make pies.  One day he realized how much work it was to pare all the apples for a pie, and instead just cut them up and mixed them in the pie.  This was the birth of his “famous” Apple Skin Pie.  This was surprisingly good.  Over the years he experimented with pie crusts and became particularly good at creating flakey pies.  When I looked at the box my 3-inch pie came in, it said the pie was 390 calories.  I may have been better off throwing away the majority of the Italian Wedding Cake.

Thoughts:  I am sure we will all have stories to share on the odd Thanksgiving celebrations we went through this year.  Some will be about the different foods we saw as essential and how a 20-pound turkey made sense for a family of three.  Others will be on how to keep masked and distanced, or gathering in small family gatherings trying to keep others safe.  I know there will also be stories of how nothing changed.  Stories of how we flew thousands of miles through crowded airports to attend large gatherings.  We will know in two weeks how well we handled this test.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 26, 2020

In September 1620, a small ship called the Mayflower left Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers.  These were a group of religious separatists seeking a new home where they could freely practice their faith.  The separatists were accompanied by other individuals lured by the promise of prosperity and land ownership in the New World.  After a treacherous crossing that lasted 66 days, they made landfall.  They had set out for the mouth of the Hudson River, but were off by one degree north.  They dropped anchor near the tip of Cape Cod in November.  They were driven out by the local Native tribe one month later, and the Mayflower crossed Massachusetts Bay and these “Pilgrims” began the work of establishing a village at what is now called Plymouth.

The first national Thanksgiving Day did not include any reference to the Pilgrims.  President Abraham Lincoln declared a Thanksgiving Day on the last Thursday of November in 1863.  Lincoln was looking to reconcile a country in the throes of the Civil War.  One hundred years later President John F. Kennedy, whose family was from Cape Cod and Martha’s Vineyard, immortalized the Native peoples in his own Thanksgiving Day proclamation.  It is this pasteurized version of Thanksgiving that is taught in elementary school and stays alive through such homages as “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”

The historically accurate story of the Pilgrims and the founding of Plymouth Colony 400 years ago this month is not in most history books.  It is not the one you will find at Pilgrim Memorial Park in Plymouth, home of the famed Plymouth Rock and the replica ship Mayflower II.  The more historically accurate telling suggests the Pilgrims did not find themselves in a vast untouched land, but instead amid Indigenous people already wary and distrustful of Europeans.  These people were not invited to the first feast in 1621.  Instead, 60 warriors arrived as a show of force to let the settlers know they were a powerful people and not to be trifled with.  Within 50 years, the colonists would greatly outnumber the Indigenous peoples.  The resulting plagues, wars, and enslavement destroyed all but three of the original 69 bands of Wampanoag who used to spread across New England.

Thoughts:  Historian David Silverman published, This Land Is Their Land: The Wampanoag Indians, Plymouth Colony, and the Troubled History of Thanksgiving, in 2019 as a precursor to the 400-year anniversary.  This unsettling history reveals why some modern Native people hold a Day of Mourning on Thanksgiving.  The book is intended to demonstrate it is time to rethink how we tell the history of Thanksgiving.  “How are we supposed to improve on this sorry record if we don’t understand the sorry record?” asks Silverman.  It is only by acknowledging the ills of the past that we can make changes for the future.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 25, 2020

Mom called yesterday to tell me she had been thinking about me.  Even though she has been quarantined since last March she has learned to use the technology that keeps most of us connected.  One of these is to order her groceries online.  She has arranged to pick up Thanksgiving dinner from the kitchen at her retirement community.  The complete turkey dinner did not include desert.  Instead she ordered a four-inch pumpkin pie to be delivered from the grocery’s bakery.  When it arrived, she was amazed how small a four-inch pie was.  She and my sister in law were planning on splitting the pie.  She said it would not provide more than a couple of bites each.    

My mom loves to tell the story of my being given a piece of wedding cake when I was a small boy.  We lived next to the church and after a wedding the mother of the bride was kind enough to bring a piece of cake over to the house for me.  She proudly gave me the cake and waited for my thank you.  Instead she got, “Huh, looks big enough for a mouse, if he is not hungry.”  I am sure my mom was mortified, but it is still retold as one of her favorite stories of me as a child.

Mom’s pie reminded me of my own experience at the bakery.  I have noticed small Italian Wedding Cakes in our market’s bakery.  These are only about 4 inches wide and 8 inches long, and two layers high.  They are covered in the cream cheese frosting and nuts that I love so well.  When I told this to Melissa, she encouraged me to buy one, along with her favorite, frozen Pepperidge Farms Apple Turnovers.  I looked at the cake for a long time before moving on.  I realized I would only eat a small slice and then freeze the rest for later.  The black hole I call my freezer would have kept it a long time.  Then I would have thrown out the freezer burned remains.  I bought a tiny pecan pie instead.

Thoughts:  I have noticed the markets are starting to package deserts in smaller servings or single pieces.  This began prior to the shortage caused by the pandemic but has increased during the last year.  While I used to readily find 16- and even 18-inch pies, now the 4- or 6-inch pies purchased by mom are more prevalent.  It seems marketers are finally realizing the large families and appetites required to take down the larger offering are no longer as common.  The single servings most seem to want would satisfy, and not produce the waste.  Or perhaps they realize they can make a big cake, cut it into ten pieces, and sell each piece at a markup.  I admit, the three-inch pecan pie is not quite big enough for a hungry mouse.  At least there will be no waste.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 24, 2020

I have mentioned going outside and seeing the street sweeper, but the real purpose was to comply with Melissa’s request to look at the Snowball bush (Hydrangea arborescens).  While it had valiantly tried to sport flowers the last two weeks (one cluster only), this week it finally decided to call it quits and acknowledge that fall was here and winter was approaching fast.  Even in defeat its leaves had turned a beautiful red.  I had to admit, it was a lot prettier than the street sweeper.

I went online to get the explanation for why the leaves of deciduous trees change colors.  The pigment that causes leaves to be green is chlorophyll, and this is the substance that allows plants to make food using sunlight (photosynthesis).  During spring and summer when there is plenty of sunlight, plants make a lot of chlorophyll.  When it starts to get cold, plants stop making chlorophyll and break the existing chlorophyll into smaller molecules.  As chlorophyll goes away, other pigments start to show their colors.  That is why the leaves turn yellow or red in fall.  Since the leaf is no longer producing chlorophyll, the tree takes the nutrients back into the stems and roots.  The leaves die and then fall off the tree.

We had a large Bald cypress (Taxodium distichum) in the back yard of our house at the conference center where I was director.  I knew this was a conifer but had never been around one until the camp.  These trees have needles that change color in fall and then drop from the branches. They are deciduous conifers and behave just like leafy deciduous trees, such as the maples and oaks I was used to.  When it happened the first year, I thought the tree had died.  I was pleasantly surprised to see it restored to health the following spring.

Thoughts:  Since we have been traveling through the Boston Mountains every week, we have been able to watch as the tree leaves turned from green to the luxurious golds and reds.  It has gotten colder at night and the wind has picked up, and the leaves are gone.  Death and rebirth are a constant process in the biomes of life.  The death of the leaves returns much needed nutrients back to the soil to be absorbed by the roots to produce new leaves the following spring.  While this works great on a macro level (the tree), it is not so much for the individual leaves.  We seem to be in a time of caring more about the leaf (oneself) than the tree (others).  We are stronger together than as one. Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 23, 2020

I was surprised when we went to rescue Melissa’s succulents from work two weeks ago to see that Lowell had already hung their Christmas wreaths on the light poles throughout the town’s main streets. I have also noticed the Christmas candy was available on a back aisle of the local store even while the Halloween candy was being sold.  Now it has taken a full presence as we prepare for this next onslaught.  The early arrival of store candy was matched by one of my neighbors, who took advantage of the good weather last week to hang their Christmas lights.  While they have yet to turn them on, they are ready to go.

When I was director of a conference center in Kansas, I hung over 10,000 lights and set up a variety of creches and displays on the grounds.  While I did get help from a workday to hang lights, the bulk of the activity fell to me.  That meant I spent most of November making sure the lights had power and the displays were set in place.  I saw this as a labor of love to give back to the local community.  Visitors varied but there were usually 10-15 cars a night that came through the displays.  After I left, the lights no longer went up.  Like most good things, you need someone willing to drive them for them to happen.

I have noticed several stores are advertising that due to Covid-19, they are holding Black Friday sales all month during November.  Some of the bargains are in the store, but most are available online.    We cannot miss this important shopping event; we just make it early.  When I was younger Christmas always kicked off with the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I have heard this year’s parade will be more virtual, with the balloons only going a couple of blocks and no bands or onlookers.  My first thought is why bother?  Then I realized it does provide a semblance of tradition.

Thoughts:  I have refused to watch the Hallmark Channel or others that have been airing Christmas shows for at least a month.  Like Macy’s, I prefer to wait until Thanksgiving before I allow myself the anticipation of Christmas.  The holidays will be different this year.  The CDC and even our Governor are asking people to not hold big family gatherings.  Some are listening and yesterday I heard of a growing number of airline cancelations.  While I do not hold Black Friday and Macy’s parade among my cherished traditions, there are other things I do.  I have begun early to think about how to accomplish the traditions I hold dear, while being safe in doing them.  I have come to realize, it is still a tradition, even if it is done different.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 21, 2020

I could not figure out what the loud whirling sound was outside yesterday afternoon.  Usually when we get loud machine noises, they only last a short while.  This droned on for minutes and seemed to be getting louder.  Melissa came into my office and told me I needed to go outside and look at the beautiful colors on our snowball bush as its leaves had turned and were ready to drop.  When I went out, I did see the bush, but also the cause of the noise.  We had a street sweeper combing the neighborhood.  It was going up and down the neighborhood streets scrubbing the leaves.  It was equipped with a huge vacuum (the source of the noise) which literally sucked the leaves into the trucks trash bin.

Several years ago, Melissa and I went to New Orleans for Mardi Gras (Bucket List: check).  While most of the heavy partying went on late at night, we were usually in bed by midnight and were up early the next morning to explore the sights before the crowds got up.  That meant we got to witness the cleanup crews that went up and down the streets in the French Quarter.  This was a combination of a water truck and a street sweeper.  A smaller version of a street sweeper would pass through the narrow streets sucking most of the trash into its receptacle.  Then two men came behind the water truck hosing the sidewalks and gutters, flushing everything down the drains.  The street was ready for another night of revelry.

When I moved to Kansas my house had two large Bur oak (Quercus macrocarpa) trees in the front yard.  I bought a mulching mower when I moved to the house.  This was for the leaves more than the grass.  I would wait until the leaves dropped and then mulch them under.  One year they all seemed to drop overnight.  While I could not get to them before work, I knew the job waited at the end of the day.  You may have heard, Kansas is windy.  When I got home that evening my yard was completely bare.  I never did figure out where the leaves went, but I did not have to mow.  A win/win for me. 

Thoughts:  Our yard has had a lot less leaves this year than in the past.  We could not figure out why, until we realized there had been four large trees removed from several neighbors’ yards.  Our Red Japanese Maple (Acer palmatum) has been dropping its leaves on the succulent bed beneath it.  When it stops, I will have to get the leave blower and blow them into the yard to be mulched under.  I mulch because I do not like to rake, but also for the environment.  A study by Michigan State University indicates that mulching is 100% beneficial for the lawn.  Mulched leaves are decomposed by earthworms and microorganisms and turned into plant-usable organic matter.  Mulched leaves are better for the greater community, too, because they stay on-site and out of landfills.  Another win/win.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 20, 2020

Since the weather was nice Melissa decided it was a good day to put some of the winter growing succulents on the patio to soak up some rays.  While they get some sun on the porch, the plastic cuts down on the amount of light and limits some light colors from coming through.  That is not a problem with the dormant plants, but the active plants need light to grow.  Melissa purchased several grow lamps for the long periods of cold weather we will get later, but right now it is just as easy to let them air out in the warm sunshine.

When I was growing up part of your right of passage every summer was getting a bad sunburn.  As the summer wore on and your tan darkened, I believed I did not have to worry, as my tanned skin blocked the burning rays.  As I got older, I found out about the damaging effect of sunlight on your skin.  It not only causes aging but can also causes skin cancer.  I have had several “tanning” friends who have ended up with skin cancer (Melanoma).  This is usually curable, but it can be fatal if left untreated.  There is a five-year survival rate of around 99% if it is caught early.  That still means one in every hundred.

I was interested to find that succulents react like people.  Light is essential for the growth of every plant through the process of photosynthesis.  However, plants can get sunburn from exposure to too much sunlight.  Even drought-resistant plants like succulents get sunburn if they get exposed to sunlight for more than the required number of hours.  The problem comes as the number of hours of sunlight differs with different types of succulents.  You also need to beware of shifting the plants from shaded to direct sunlight.  You need to start to sun them slowly to let them adapt to the full sun.  Oddly, it is this same exposure that allows them to produce their brilliant colors.  Sounds a lot like my summer tan.

Thoughts:  As a boy, I never used sunscreen.  As an adult I do on occasion, especially when I plan on fishing on the water (reflected sun somehow seems worse).  Properly applied SPF 50 sunscreen blocks 98% of UVB rays, and SPF values between 30 and 50 offer adequate sunburn protection, even for people sensitive to sunburn.  Many today avoid the sun and instead use tanning beds or lamps.  According the Skin Cancer Foundation, tanning beds provide the same type of light as the sun, that is why you tan.  That is also why you can get basal cell carcinoma, squamous cell carcinoma and melanoma.  Follow the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 19, 2020

When I checked the Game and Fish website it stated we have an excellent outlook for deer season this year.  The Muzzle loading season has past but there is still time left for the modern gun season.  The frosty temperatures put enough chill in the air to keep mosquitoes and other insects at bay, and conditions are perfect for some great fellowship by the campfire at deer camp.  I was living in Utah when I heard this joke for the first time.  Question: “How many Mormons (insert Baptist, etc.) do you take with you when you go deer hunting?  Answer: “At least two.  Otherwise they drink all your beer.”  While I have always wondered about the practice of mixing guns and alcohol, it seems to be the norm.  The sign on the marquee of one of our local stores reads, “Free ice with every case of Beer.”

According to the International Hunter Education Association, in an average year, fewer than 1,000 people in the United States and Canada are accidentally shot by hunters, and of these, fewer than 75 are fatalities. In many cases, these fatalities are self-inflicted by hunters who trip, fall, or have other accidents that cause them to shoot themselves with their own weapons. Most of the other fatalities come in hunting parties, where one hunter shoots another accidentally.  I remember during George W’s presidency that Vice President Dick Cheney accidentally shot one of his fellow Quail hunters.  Apparently, there was “a little” alcohol involved.

Hunter activity dwindles as the season wears on, but veteran hunters know the best time to catch a trophy buck’s guard down is still right around the corner.  The normally wary bucks seem to lose may their edge as the peak of breeding season comes and they focus more on finding does than avoiding danger.  Breeding season in Arkansas, or the Rut, comes in a brief window between October and December. While some females may be receptive to breeding earlier or later, the peak of this “rutting” activity occurs in mid- to late November.  The dates differ across the state, and even more across the nation.  This is caused by the local weather.

Thoughts:  I had a friend in Utah who recounted a recent trip with friends around the hunting campfire.  He got up early the next morning and slogged his way up the side of a steep ridge.  When he reached the top, there was a hunter intently watching the open spaces below.  He asked if he had seen any deer.  The response was, “No, but I have gotten a couple of sound shots.”  That was the last time my friend accompanied the hunt.  I noticed my buck and doe statues on the hill I commented on previously have moved back together, leaving the fawn to fend for itself.  This is another obvious sign of the Rut.  Stay safe.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 18, 2020

During the 1980’s I researched the effect of lead smelting on a local community at the turn of the century Utah.  Part of my research was on the local cemetery records and stated cause of death.  What I found was fascinating.  The cause of death followed predictable patterns as the health science uncovered new diseases and the symptoms associated with them.  An example would be to lump everyone with a cough as consumption.  That could have been tuberculosis, or it may have been lung cancer, but little was known about the difference or the cause of either, so they were listed as consumption.  When tuberculosis was discovered in 1882, the cause of all the deaths changed to TB.  It did that for every new disease discovered.  What surprised me was few residents were listed as dying from lead poisoning.

Even as we reel from the staggering statistic of 11.7 million cases and 254,000 deaths related to the Covid-19 virus in America, most researchers tell us that is not the true picture.  Estimates say there are perhaps three times as many cases and deaths that the virus is responsible for.  These estimates are based on two pieces of information.  One is the way deaths are reported.  If you die without a positive test, it is not considered a result of the virus.  Early testing was not widespread, and there was no need to test after death.  The other piece is the virus is particularly lethal for people with pre-existing conditions.  While the virus may be the cause of death, it is often attributed to the pre-existing condition.

As part of my earlier research, I tried to obtain oral interviews from living persons who had worked in the lead smelter.  The smelter had closed twenty years earlier, and while I did find and interview two workers on their experiences, both had only worked for a short time before the smelter closed.  I puzzled over this until I came across an article on the effect of lead poisoning.  Very few people exposed to lead receive a toxic dose.  However, the lead settles in the vital organs and cause cancer or failures which result in death.  That means while lead caused the failure, lung or liver cancer was listed as the cause of death.  There were no old smelter workers.  They had died from the side effects of lead poisoning.

Thoughts:  Another indicator of the effect of the virus is the dramatic rise in excess deaths.  Overall, an estimated 299,028 excess deaths (over the normal average) occurred from late January through October 3, 2020, with 198,081 (66%) excess deaths attributed to COVID-19.

While this may just be an anomaly, it is more likely this spike is due to the virus.  We have been told our numbers are high because we are now testing.  The science tells us our numbers were always high, we just ignored them by not testing.  Whether you die from the virus or the side effects, the result is the same. Stay safe by following the science.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

November 17, 2020

I watched another installment of Acho’s Uncomfortable Conversations last week.  It had been a while since his last post.  In the meantime, he was working on writing a book by the same name.  This installment addressed a conversation with the police.  In particular, the Petaluma, CA Police Department.  Petaluma is a small town in the central California wine country with a Black population of 1%.  Acho began his conversation with the statement, “Proximity breeds care and distance breeds fear.  The problem we have is not enough proximity which creates a lack of care or empathy.”  Four officers joined him in front of the camera, while the rest of the 35 officers participated as his first audience.  They were all white.

One of the questions Acho asked was about, “Defund the Police.”  Several commented when they first heard the phrase they immediately heard “abolish” the police.  As they thought more, they came to understand this was being used (by most) to imply moving money to other social programs so the officers would not be the only resource available.  This would allow trained counselors or health care workers to defuse the situation rather than putting an officer into a volatile situation.  Most of the officers believed that would be a good thing, but there were potential problems when the situation overlaps.  Many domestic violence and mental health calls also involve weapons.  Most of the officers felt few counselors would be willing to go into those situations until they were diffused.  The problem, however, has come with how the situation has been “diffused.”

One question the officers had for Acho was how the officers might change the image of the police.  It is clear many young Black males are afraid of officers.  How could they change this perception?  Acho mentioned news stories that have shown officers interacting with the community children through games or open conversation.  These are always depicted as an anomaly.  What was needed was more personal interaction to allow both sides to move beyond the group mentality of fear to seeing each other as individuals.  The officers needed to practice proximity, and the children needed to experience it.

Thoughts:  If we choose to keep others (read: anyone not like me) at a distance we will never find unity.  A catch phrase of the founding leaders of America is often quoted, “united we stand, divided we fall.”  A frail Patrick Henry used this phrase in the last oration he ever made, “Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter.  United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.”  Henry collapsed at the end of his speech and died two months later.  Our country in 2020 has gone through killings, protests, rioting, hate mongering, and refusal to listen to anything except what I already believe.  It all revolves around a lack of proximity.  Do the work.  Change is coming and it starts with you.