July 26, 2022

Last Thursday I decided to go to the local market to pick up a few items.  What I was really after were electronics.  The mouse on my mouse/keyboard combo was fritzing and driving me crazy.  I also needed to pick up a mouse for one of the work computers, as well as ink cartridges for my printer.  When I went into the market it was overcast but still temperatures were hovering around 100F (38C).  I got the items I needed and then putzed around looking for ways to kill time as much as to find whatever food items I wanted.  I sent a message asking Melissa if she needed anything but never heard the responding ping on my phone.  I purchased what I knew we needed and as I walked out of the market it began to rain.  This was not a light rain, but a steady shower.  It seemed everyone else was also slowly walking in the rain enjoying the coolness.  I popped open the door of the jeep and started to put my items in the back seat.  Then I looked down and saw I had stepped in a wad of gum someone had spit onto the hot pavement.  It took several minutes for me to scrape it off my shoe.  I am sure I am not the only one who hates this.

When I looked online, I found chewing gum is a soft, cohesive substance designed to be chewed without being swallowed.  Modern chewing gum is composed of gum base, sweeteners, softeners/plasticizers, flavors, colors, and, typically, a hard or powdered polyol coating.  Although chewing gum can be traced back to civilizations around the world, the modernization and commercialization of gum mainly took place in the US.  The Indigenous Americans chewed resin made from the sap of spruce trees and the New England settlers picked up the practice.  John B. Curtis developed and sold the first commercial chewing gum in 1848, calling it The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.  A paraffin wax gum (a petroleum based product) was developed in 1850 and soon exceeded the spruce gum in popularity.  The chewer would often use a plate of powdered sugar to repeatedly dip the gum into to maintain its sweetness.  Today, flavor delivery is extended throughout chewing by timed release of different flavor components in the properties of the gum’s ingredients.  When the gum loses its flavor; people tend to spit it out.

Mayan farmers in the states of Campeche and Quintana Roo have become players in the global chewing gum market with their unique organic product marketed as Chicza Organic Rainforest Gum.  This (Vegan, Gluten Free, Kosher, Sustainable) biodegradable chewing gum was launched in 2009 and has since expanded to 26 European countries, Canada, and the US.  As members of Indigenous rainforest communities, Chicleros sustainably manage these ancient ecosystems as they harvest chicle for their livelihood.  According to the website, when you chew Chicza, you are supporting the livelihood of a Chiclero and his family.  In return, the Chiclero continues to preserve the forest where the family lives.  There are 56 cooperatives made up of roughly 2,000 Chicleros and their families (more than 10,000 Indigenous people) working in an area of 3.2 million acres of rainforest.  When disposed of, the gum takes about six months to degrade into a white powder.

Thoughts:  While gum is designed to be chewed and not swallowed, it is generally not harmful if it is swallowed.  The folk tale that swallowed gum will sit in your stomach for seven years before it can be digested is not true.  While the body cannot digest the gum it does pass it through your digestive system relatively intact.  When gum is spit out it can become a major waste problem.  A study in the United Kingdom estimates it costs as high as 400 million pounds (US$600 million) a year to clean up discarded gum.  Gum is a problem in the environment because it is not biodegradable, and it is notoriously difficult to clean up.  That is why I have refused to spit out my gum for several decades.  Perhaps I should just go biodegradable.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 23, 2022

I received a post from the Arklahoma Trout Unlimited yesterday about the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission (AGFC) Trout Management Program seasonal tagging event on Dry Run Creek this week.  This is part of a project to evaluate the growth and movement of trout on Dry Run Creek and Norfork Tailwater.  A total of 730 trout were collected, of which 85% were Rainbow Trout. There were 104 new trout tagged and 60 trout recaptured that were tagged during previous events.  Highlights included a 24 inch (60 cm) Rainbow Trout that was recaptured for the seventh time in three years, and a 30 inch (75 cm), 17 pound (7.7 kg) Brown Trout that has been recaptured 4 times and has grown 7 inches (17.5 cm) since it was tagged in 2020.  There will be one more tagging event this fall, which will conclude this three year project. The data collected on growth rates and trout movements will help to evaluate the current regulations on Norfork Tailwater and determine which environmental factors (e.g., flow, temperature, dissolved oxygen) may be driving trout movements.  Dry Run Creek is located next to a fish hatchery.

When I looked online, I found Norfork National Fish Hatchery is in the mountainous terrain of north Arkansas near Mountain Home.  It was established in 1955 and opened in 1957.  The hatchery is a result of the construction of dams on the White River, which altered the waters from a warm-water system to a cold-water system.  Norfork is the largest-producing federal hatchery and is the largest trout hatchery in the country.  The cold-water hatchery is used primarily to produce trout to restock the tailwaters below Norfork, Bull Shoals, and other dams.  The hatchery is responsible for raising three species of trout, rainbow (Oncorhynchus mykiss), brown (Salmo trutta), and cutthroat (Oncorhynchus clarkii) which are all members of the Salmonidae family.  The hatchery also provides trout to reservoirs and in cooperation with state game and fish agencies distributes fish throughout Arkansas and nearby states.  

In August 1989 the hatchery was offered a challenge grant to build a park along Dry Run Creek.  By that November the committee had recruited input from representatives of advocacy organizations for several disabilities and settled on design criteria of the park to be for those confined to wheelchairs and the blind.  Dry (Branch) Run Creek carries the hatchery effluent (32 million gallons/day) and has large numbers of large migrating trout, along with beaver, mink, muskrat, and other animals that use or live in the stream.  It is well shaded and has an easily navigated trail system. The main aspect of the park was an elaborate “ramp” to allow the disabled (and anyone else) to get to the water level. The AGFC accommodated the project by allowing the wheelchair bound to fish on a catch and release basis.  A total of US$91,000 was raised and construction began in August, with the dedication ceremony on October 28, 1990.  This catch and release stream is one of the top streams in America and designed to accommodate easy access fishing for the mobility impaired and youngsters under the age of 16. 

Thoughts:  Dry Run Creek starts at the hatchery and runs roughly 3/4 mile (1.2 km) to its confluence with the Norfork River.  With its specially designed walkways, ramps, and fishing platforms, the Dry Run Creek construction project completed in late 2010 made it even easier to navigate the waters by both land and water allowing the angler to stalk the huge trout living in the depths of Dry Run Creek.  The creek is not only catch and release, only artificial lures with a single, barbless hook are allowed to fish.  The park has allowed the hatchery to reach out to a fishing community normally restricted from our rivers and streams as well as spark the excitement of the next generation of fisher people.  Through fish stocking they have given the rest of the fishing community hours of enjoyment on these beautiful tail waters and throughout the state.  I would call it a win/win.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 22, 2022

Back in the Nation & World section of our local newspaper was an AP story about the reversal of an endangered species rule by a federal judge in California.  The rule was put in place in 2019 by the last administration to gut the landmark Endangered Species Act of 1973.  The reversal vacated that administration’s changes and restored protections for hundreds of species.  One of the overturned measures required regulators to not designate areas of critical habitat if there would be greater economic benefit from developing them.  The measure had forced the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) to disprove speculative claims by mining, logging, and oil and gas industries who sought to extract resources from public lands.  The 48-page ruling stated this gave outside parties a major role in determining which areas were needed to be preserved for endangered species while undermining the authority of FWS.

When I looked online, I found critical habitat is a habitat area essential to the conservation of a listed endangered species, although the area need not actually be occupied by the species at the time it is designated.  This is a specific term and designation within the US Endangered Species Act (ESA).  Contrary to common belief, designating an area as critical habitat does not prevent that area from being developed, but only affects federal agency actions.  Such actions include federally funded activities or activities requiring a federal permit.  When a species is proposed for listing as endangered or threatened under the ESA, efforts are taken to identify specific areas that are essential to its conservation. These are the species’ critical habitat.  Unless deemed necessary for the species’ continued existence, critical habitat do not include the entire geographical area occupied by a species.  Department of Defense (DOD) lands are also exempt from being designated as critical habitat.  Both public and private land can be specified as critical habitat.

Before designating critical habitat, careful consideration must be given to the economic impacts, impacts on national security, and other relevant impacts of specifying any area as critical habitat.  An area may be excluded from critical habitat if the benefits of exclusion outweigh the benefits of designation, unless excluding the area will result in the extinction of the species concerned.  Identifying critical habitat informs landowners and the public which specific areas are important to a species’ conservation and recovery.  It also raises awareness of the habitat needs of imperiled species and focuses the efforts of conservation partners.  Critical habitat designations for threatened or endangered species can result in limitations on energy development (mining or oil drilling) that could disturb a vulnerable species, while the consultation rule and a separate rule on the scope of proposed federal actions help determine how far the government may go to protect the species.

Thoughts:  The administration’s actions in 2019 rolled back protections for the northern spotted owl, gray wolves, and other endangered species.  The current administration vowed to review these rules, and to reverse the decision to weaken enforcement of the century-old Migratory Bird Treaty Act, which made it harder to prosecute bird deaths caused by the energy industry.  The bird law reversal was among more than 150 business-friendly actions on the environment that are being reconsidered, including withdrawal last month of a 2020 rule that limited which lands and waters could be designated as places of critical habitat where imperiled animals and plants could receive federal protection.  Identifying endangered species and protecting critical habitat is not anti-business, it is pro-Earth.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 21, 2022

Last Monday Melissa sent an invitation to our sibs to join us this weekend for a hot vacation getaway.  This included swimming in ice cubes in the puppy pool, a large misting fan, and cases of antiperspirant and baby powder.  Surprisingly, no one took her up on the invitation.  Our area is currently on an eleven day streak of 100F+ (37.8C+) temperatures and 17 of the last 18 days have topped the 100F (37.8C) mark with the hottest day last Tuesday at 109F (42.8C).  After a cool down (99F/37.2C) tomorrow we are forecast for another 5 days in the 100’s.  This is not a localized phenomenon or even confined to the US, as the European countries are also getting hammered by high temperatures.  We have seen excessive heat warnings every day of July from noon to 8 pm and the nightly news is almost entirely focused on the temperatures.  The weather person has repeatedly said, “today is the hottest day on record.”

When I looked online, I found that scientists mark modern global record-keeping for temperatures at1880.  According to NASA, that is because earlier available climate data does not cover enough of the planet to get an accurate reading.  While the record of land-surface temperature predates 1880, the level of certainty before that year drops considerably.  People have been measuring the temperature since the time of Galileo (born February 15, 1564, Pisa, Italy – died January 8, 1642, Arcetri, Italy), and the modern mercury thermometer with a standardized scale was invented by Daniel Gabriel Fahrenheit in 1714.  Before the mid-1800’s most formal weather stations were in Europe and the US but by 1880 they became expansive enough to provide a picture of global temperature.  It is not that weather data was not collected prior to 1880, but that most other older climate data has not been digitized.  We do not have an accessible record of how hot it was.

Millions of weather records sit in old weather offices and in ships’ logs around the world and researchers are continuously crowdsourcing efforts to dig up and digitize historic weather data.  Efforts are underway in Uzbekistan to digitize 18 million pages of hydrometeorological data from as far back as 1867, and similar efforts have begun in El Salvador, Malawi, and Tanzania.  The British East India Company not only traveled extensively between 1789 and 1834 but collected enormous amounts of weather data.  Philip Brohan, a climate scientist at the UK’s Meteorological (Met) Office, has worked to collate hundreds of thousands of those records and digitize them to be added to the pre-1880 global climate record.  As more historic data gets incorporated into the global record, the 1880 benchmark could be pushed back into the mid-19th century.  How hot the “hottest day” is means in the last 137 years.

Thoughts:  The official highest registered air temperature on Earth is 134.1F (56.7C), recorded on July 10, 1913, at Furnace Creek Ranch, in Death Valley in the United States.  The hottest day I experienced was in Egypt’s Eastern Sahara Desert.  We were camping at an excavation site and the director had gone into his tent during the afternoon.  He came out with a thermometer telling us it read 130F (54.5C).  As the thermometer came out of the tent’s shade, we saw it visibly climb to 135F (57.2C).  While this was not an official record, it was hot.  While I got used to the days being hot, the night temperature dropped to around 85F (25.5C).  The 50 degree shift meant I nearly froze every night.  While temperature is relative, and many humans have found ways to adapt to both extreme heat and cold, the human body has limits.  Normal internal temperature is 98.6F and above 104F (40 C) we can become hypothermic, leading to symptoms like rapid pulse, a change in mental status, a lack of sweating, faintness, and coma.  We can tolerate external heat of 140F (60C) for only about 10 minutes before suffering from hyperthermia.  Keep yourself and others (and animals) cool.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 20, 2022

We are gradually preparing for a trip to Europe this fall.  I say gradually because we have already been collecting things for two months and we still have a way to go to be complete.  Luckily, we had both renewed our passports several years ago so that was not a rush.  Many of the other items I never knew I needed.  Melissa has been talking with my sister and she has been providing tips to make travel easier.  We decided to travel light with only a carry on, but that means we need to pack wisely.  I have small bottles of over the counter medications (aspirin, acetaminophen, etc.), easy wash and dry clothes items, and compression bags to separate different types of things.  We checked to make sure our phone plan is covered for overseas and got the proper plug adaptors for charging.  The biggest difference was financial.  We have already paid for most things on the guided tour, but there will be other expenses.  That meant getting a credit card that does not charge foreign transfer fees.  While we were told it was not necessary, we also decided to take some foreign currency.  All the areas we are going use the euro.

When I looked online, I found the euro is the official currency of 19 out of the 27 member states of the European Union (EU) called the eurozone.  The name euro was officially adopted on December 16, 1995.  The euro is also used by the institutions of the EU, by four European microstates that are not EU members, the British Overseas Territory of Akrotiri and Dhekelia, unilaterally by Montenegro and Kosovo, and outside Europe by several special territories of EU members.  The euro is the second-largest reserve currency as well as the second-most traded currency in the world after the US dollar, and one of the highest combined values of banknotes and coins in circulation in the world.  The euro was introduced to world financial markets as an accounting currency on January 1, 1999, replacing the former European Currency Unit.  Physical euro coins and banknotes entered circulation on January 1, 2002, making it the day-to-day operating currency of its original members.  By March 2002 it had completely replaced the former currencies.

The most obvious benefit of adopting a single currency is to remove the cost of exchanging currency, theoretically allowing businesses and individuals to complete previously unprofitable trades.  For consumers, banks in the eurozone must charge the same for intra-member cross-border transactions as purely domestic transactions for electronic payments (credit cards, debit cards, and ATM withdrawals).  Between December 1999 and December 2002, the euro traded below the US dollar, but since has traded at or above the US dollar.  The euro peaked on July 18, 2008, at US$1.60 but has since returned to near its original issue rate.  On July 13, 2022, the two currencies hit parity for the first time in nearly two decades due in part to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.  While the exchange rate will fluctuate, this makes it easier for me to consider the value of the euro to be that of the US dollar when I buy things on our trip.

Thoughts:  When I picked up our euro notes from the bank last night, I did not pay them much attention.  Melissa also purchased notes for my brother and his wife who will be on the trip with us.  When I got the notes out to divide them today, I noticed how small the euro is compared to a US dollar.  I also saw what appeared to be two different designs for the note.  I contemplated keeping the more colorful notes and giving the drab ones to my brother.  Then I flipped a note over and realized the drab was the backside of the same euro.  I was impressed by the first impression the colorful euro made but did not care for the drab euro.  The first impression another person makes is usually based on appearance, and often only on a limited set of characteristics.  When we base our likes and dislikes on how you dress, your hair style, or color of skin it is easy to get the wrong impression.  Sometimes you need to flip your viewpoint to understand we are more the same than different.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 19, 2022

I think it is only fitting after my rant on distracted driving on Saturday that I was unable to access my cell phone when I got into the car this morning.  I had been playing my crossword app until late last night and had run the battery well below the 20% minimum charge level.  I plugged it into the charger last night, but it was too low to accept a charge.  When I plugged it into the car charger it was still too low, and it refused to take a charge.  I took the phone inside to my local electronic guru (Melissa) and when she put the phone on her wireless charger the battery immediately began to accept the charge.  I grabbed my own wireless charger and brought it to work so I could use my phone there.  Of course, the wireless charger did not have the proper interface and would not work in the car.  However, since the recharge had begun with the wireless charger the car charger now worked and the battery began to take the charge.

When I looked online, I found wireless power transfer (WPT), wireless energy transmission (WET), or electromagnetic power transfer, is the transmission of electrical energy without wires as a physical link.  In a WPT system, a transmitter device driven by electric power from a power source generates a time-varying electromagnetic field which transmits power across space to a receiver device.  The receiver then gets power from the field and supplies it to an electrical load.  WPT technology can eliminate the use of the wires and batteries to increase the mobility, convenience, and safety of an electronic device for users.  WPT fall into two categories, near field and far-field.  In near field or non-radiative techniques, power is transferred over short distances by magnetic fields using inductive coupling between coils of wire, or by electric fields using capacitive coupling between metal electrodes.  Inductive coupling is the most widely used wireless technology and its applications include charging handheld devices like phones or implanted medical devices.

Inductive coupling is the oldest and most widely used wireless power technology and is virtually the only one used in commercial products.  Inductive charging stands are used for cordless devices in wet settings (toothbrushes and shavers) to reduce the risk of electric shock.  “Transcutaneous” recharging is also used in biomedical prosthetic devices implanted in the human body (pacemakers and insulin pumps) to avoid wires passing through the skin.  Inductive coupling is also used to charge electric vehicles and to charge or power transit vehicles (buses and trains).  The fastest growing use is wireless charging pads to recharge mobile and handheld wireless devices such as laptop and tablet computers, computer mouse, cellphones, digital media players, and video game controllers.  In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) provided its first certification for a wireless transmission charging system in December 2017.  Ordinary inductive coupling can only achieve high efficiency when the coils are very close together and usually adjacent.  With our wireless phone chargers, the electromagnets lock together when adjacent.

Thoughts:  An important issue associated with wireless power systems is limiting the exposure of people and other living things to potentially injurious electromagnetic fields.  Cell phones emit electromagnetic radiation fields like any other wireless power system and are regulated and are required to meet federal standards.  Cell phones are often cited as dangerous because of how close they are to the body when used (i.e., next to your ear or head).  Each country determines which local regulatory body governs safety of non-ionizing electromagnetic radiation, often referred to as radio frequency (RF), and allowable radiation levels for exposure vary.  I use my wireless phone without giving much thought to the consequences.  Others chose not to use these devices.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 18, 2022

As I came out of our subdivision toward the main road of our town last week, I noticed a car sitting in the entrance of the sandwich shop.  There were three local police cars and about six officers milling around in the parking lot.  At first, I did not pay much notice as this was a common lunch destination for the local police.  Then I noticed several other people milling around in the lot as well.  As I approached the intersection, I noticed the looky-loos were slowing down to look at what was happening.  Since the lot was at the stop sign that I took to turn into town, I was able to “legitimately” stop and look at the action.  It turned out the car was not just stopped at the entrance.  The front bumper and grill plate had been torn off and was lying about a yard (1 meter) in front of the vehicle.  It made me wonder how distracted you need to be to sit in a lot with your front end sticking out onto the highway while another car is bearing down on your vehicle.

When I looked online, I found distracted driving accounts for 421,000 injuries and 3,000 fatalities each year.  At any given moment there are an average of 600,000 US drivers talking on phones, texting, or using electronic devices while driving.  Texting is widely considered to be one of the most dangerous activities as it involves all three types of distraction: visual, manual, and cognitive.  While the average text message takes less than 5 seconds to type and send, Distraction.gov states this is sufficient time for your vehicle to have traveled the length of a football field at 55 mph (88 kph).  When you take your eyes off the road to read or send a text, it is as if you have gone that distance blindfolded.  To reduce distracted driving as the result of cell phones many states have laws to regulate cell phone use while driving.

In Arkansas, using your phone to text, look up information on the internet, or check social media while driving is illegal and carries fines from $25 to $500.  The wide range of fines is provided to give law enforcement officers a lot of latitude when assigning fines, and second offenses are generally doubled.  You fine could also be doubled if the violation caused a collision.  Rules for cell phone use vary based on location and age.  Under Arkansas law, wireless interactive communication while driving is banned for all drivers.  While texting is banned, you can talk on a cell phone while driving unless you are driving through a school or work zone.  You can still use you phone in these areas if you are in hands-free mode.  In most cases, Arkansas’ texting and driving law is a primary law, which means the police can pull you over just for violating that rule.  However, restrictions on cell phone use in school and work zones are secondary laws.  In other words, you cannot be pulled over for talking on the phone in a work zone unless you were committing another violation.

Thoughts:  When a driver ahead of me is acting erratic my first thought is always, “get off the phone!”  Nearly every time as I pass, I see the person is indeed talking or texting on their phone.  While we know how easy it is to be distracted by a cell phone, research says the most common distraction is getting “lost in thought.”  When a driver’s mind drifts away from the task of driving it can result in an accident, and daydreaming accounts for a significant percentage of distracted driving fatalities.  Perhaps we should have paid more attention when the driving instructor tried to teach us to keep our hands at “ten and two”.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 16, 2022

When I started my patio garden in earnest two years ago, I planted watermelon and cantaloupe with the strawberries along the back side of the house.  The strawberry plants have done very well and filled the plot I put them in.  Sadly, I get few strawberries and lose half of those to the birds.  The watermelon produced loads of blooms but only 4-5 set, and all but one got blossom rot and died before they were more than 3 inches (9 cm) in diameter.  The lone survivor grew into an oblong gourd that only ripened on one end.  The cantaloupe did even worse.  I planted a second set after the first ones died and those also died within two weeks.  I did not grow any melons last year but being the eternal optimist, I purchased another cantaloupe as a replacement plant this year.

When I looked online, I found the North American cantaloupe (Cucumis melo var. reticulatus) common in the US, Mexico, and some parts of Canada, is a different variety of C. melo.  This is also called a muskmelon and has a reticulated (“net-like”) peel rather than the smooth green shells of the European cantaloupe (Cucumis melo subspecies melo).  It is a round melon with firm, orange, moderately sweet flesh.  Cantaloupe range in weight from 1 to 11 pounds (0.5 to 5 kilograms).  The name cantaloupe was derived in the 18th century via French cantaloup from The Cantus Region of Italian Cantalupo near Rome after the fruit was introduced there from Armenia.  The cantaloupe most likely originated in a region from South Asia to Africa and was later introduced to Europe.  By 1890 cantaloupe had become a commercial crop in the United States.  Originally, the name cantaloupe referred only to the non-netted, orange-fleshed melons of Europe, but today the name may refer to any orange-fleshed melon of the C. melo species.  The state of California grows 75% of the cantaloupes produced in the US.

I had weeded the patio beds before I had planted the tomatoes, but it took another two weeks for me to purchase the bale of straw to mulch them.  During that time the heat had killed two of my tomatoes and I had replaced one with the cantaloupe plant I mentioned.  I was able to re-weed and get mulch around the six Cherokee purples, but the heat kept me from venturing out to finish the job.  I continued to water the tomato and cantaloupe at the far end of the bed and even though they were completely overgrown with weeds, several small tomatoes had set and there were numerous flowers on the cantaloupe.  Today I decided to take the plunge and weed and mulch this last area.  To my surprise there were two small cantaloupes on the vines hidden under all the weeds.  Perhaps what I had needed to do two years ago was ignore the melons.  Probably not, as that does not seem to work with anything else.   

Thoughts:  Many believe the best cantaloupes come from Rock Ford, Colorado.  G. W. Swink grew the first melons beginning in 1887 and the Rocky Ford Cantaloupe was soon being distributed to distant local markets.  By 1896, train car loads of the famous cantaloupe were being shipped to markets as far as New York.  Their website informed me how to choose a ripe melon.  First, check to see if the netting on the melon is yellow.  Then look at the area where the melon was attached to the vine (the slip).  If you touch it with your finger and there is no stem left, it was ripe and ready to pick.  While my melon thrived even as I neglected it, this may have been the result of the plant being shaded from the intense sun.  Wild fruits and grains grow without human intervention.  However, they are smaller and are not as perfect looking like their cultivated hybridized cousins.  Even the vegetables from my garden are often eaten after first removing the “pecked at” parts.  Being willing to look beyond outward appearance to see the inner value is important for humans as well as crops.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 15, 2022

Last July I commented on the how the crepe myrtle bushes on either side of the driveway had decided to regrow after we had tried to eradicate them the previous year.  After removing the plant and as much of the root as I could, we planted a large agave in each of the two holes.  The mole we had been fighting appeared to take out both agaves, and then last year the crepe myrtles decided to regrow.  I decided to keep the bushes but wanted to shape them into single stem tree rather than the bushy mass they had previously been.  When Zena and I were on our walk I was taken by the myrtle plants that were in full flower on both sides of a mailbox planter.  This was exactly how I envisioned our crepe growing.

When I looked online for crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia var.), I found it is a genus of around 50 species of deciduous and evergreen trees and shrubs native to the Indian subcontinent, southeast Asia, northern Australia, and other parts of Oceania, that has then been cultivated in warmer climates around the world.  It is a member of the family Lythraceae, which is also known as the loosestrife family.  The genus is named after Swedish merchant Magnus von Lagerström, a director of the Swedish East India Company, who supplied Carl Linnaeus with plants he collected.  These flowering trees are beautifully colored and are often planted both privately and commercially as ornamentals.  All varieties grow best in full sun.  The Red Rocket (Lagerstroemia indica ‘Whit IV’) variety of crepe myrtle appeared to be what we saw in the neighborhood mailbox planter. 

When I looked for tips on caring for my crepe myrtle, I found worst thing that can happen is pruning.  Crape “murder” usually occurs when an overly enthusiastic homeowner severely cuts back the top branches on crepe myrtle trees, ruining the natural shape and form of the plant.  Care should include limited pruning and little removal of growing branches.  Too much pruning from the top send suckers shooting from the bottom of the tree or the roots.  This in turn results in additional pruning and needless care.  Crepe myrtles are sometimes attacked by powdery mildew that can limit blooms.  Insects (aphids) may feed on the succulent new growth and create a substance called honeydew that attracts sooty black mold spores.  Getting rid of the aphids and mold is best done with a thorough overall spray of insecticidal soap or Neem oil.  It is best to limit pruning to thinning when needed.  However, this will not give me the shape I desire.  As mentioned last year, we have the crepe myrtle bush and not the tree in the neighbor’s yard.  That means I may never get the desired look. 

Thoughts:  While I am not yet resigned to our crepe never looking as good as our neighbor’s, I am beginning to lean that way.  The suckers I had cut away from our bush last year have returned to nearly overtake the bottom of the plant.  I am determined to give it one more year of pruning and shaping (can you say, “overly enthusiastic homeowner”?) and if it does not conform to my shape, will let it do as it will.  As I said last year, “At times you just need to bend with the will of nature.”  Last July we were thwarted by nature as we thought we were at the end of the pandemic.  Vaccinations were climbing and cases were falling.  Then we were hit with the Omicron variant.  Now we are resigned to live with the virus even as it drops from pandemic to endemic levels as BA.5 continues to spread around the US and world.  The variant appears to be more contagious but less lethal.  There are ways to protect yourself and others, but fewer seem willing to do so.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 14, 2022

I learned on last night’s news that the prescribed burn I wrote about yesterday was not prescribed at all.  The Arkansas National Guard is on maneuvers at Fort Chaffee throughout the summer and it was the Guard that started the fire.  While the military reporting was correct in stating it was a “fire maneuver”, when it was associated with an actual fire the initial report (and me) had mistakenly assumed the cause was a fire.  It turns out the fire maneuver was a military term and not a civilian one.  The Guard had been practicing on the shooting range.  They had taken the precaution of making a 10 foot (3 m) fire break and had cleared the brush around the range with a prescribed burn, but the grass still caught fire and the fire jumped the break.  The guard was practicing using tracer bullets.

When I looked online, I found tracer ammunition (tracers) are bullets or cannon-caliber projectiles that are built with a small pyrotechnic charge in their base.  The United Kingdom was the first to develop and introduce a tracer round in a version of the .303 cartridge in 1915.  The US introduced a .30-06 tracer in 1917.  Prior to adopting red (among a variety of other colors) bullet tips for tracers, American tracers were identified by blackened cartridge cases.  The pyrotechnic composition is ignited by the burning powder when fired and burns brightly, making the projectile trajectory visible to the naked eye during day, and as a bright light during night firing.  This allows the shooter to visually trace the flight path of the projectile and then make any necessary ballistic corrections.  Prior to the tracer the shooter would have to confirm projectile impacts to determine accuracy.  As the effective range of ammunition increased this became nearly impossible even during day light.  Tracer bullets are usually loaded as every fifth round in machine gun belts, referred to as a four-to-one tracer.  Tracer fire can also be used as a marking tool to signal other shooters to concentrate their fire on a particular target during battle.

During World War II, aircraft with fixed machine guns or mounted cannons would sometimes have a series of tracer rounds added near the end of the ammunition belts to alert the pilot that he was almost out of ammunition.  The problem was that this practice alerted astute enemies that their foes were nearly out of ammunition.  A more common practice was to load the entire magazine as a four-to-one tracer.  This was used on both fixed offensive and flexible defensive guns to help mitigate the difficulties of aerial gunnery.  Tracers were common on most WWII aircraft except for night fighters.   These fighters needed to be able to attack and shoot down the enemy before they realized they were under attack and without betraying their own location to enemy defensive gunners.  The US relied heavily on tracer ammunition for the defensive Browning M2 .50 caliber machine guns on its heavy bombers such as the B-24 Liberator.

THOUGHTS:  In the UK, use of tracer rounds are restricted on National Rifle Association of the United Kingdom-operated ranges because of an increased risk of fire.  Use of tracers is usually only authorized during military training.  In the US, tracer ammunition is legal for personal use according to federal law, but some states prohibit tracer rounds from being sold and possessed by the public.  The use of tracer ammunition by civilians in the US has no practical application.  Two well-known fires were started by tracer fire in the last decade.  On February 24, 2013, a fire was started at DFW Gun Club in Dallas, Texas, and on July 3, 2018, the Lake Christine Fire near Basalt, Colorado was started by tracer rounds fired at a gun range.  There is a non-incendiary tracer ammunition which provide illuminated shots that do not produce heat or fires and can be shot indoors.  This was obviously not used.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.