February 17, 2024

This past week I witnessed two separate behaviors that reminded me how dogs can be like humans.  The first was as I prepared to feed the kids.  We have a weekly Sib Call, but I had canceled this week as we planned to attend the Ash Wednesday service.  I told the kids it was time to eat and started preparations for their supper.  My brother missed the cancel text and thought he was late for the online chat, and instead gave me a call.  I stopped preparing the kids supper and sat in my chair to talk.  While Loki laid on their bed staring at me, Zena did not seem happy and paced back and forth in front of me.  Our conversation went on for a half hour as Zena became more perturbed.  She had finally had enough and walked over and stomped on my foot to get my attention (this was a first).  She then seemed upset as she walked off a little way and stared at me.  While this may have been me attributing human action (anthropomorphic) to her response, it worked.  I hung up and fed the dogs.

When I went online, I found a Newsweek interview of Kait Hembree, a vet technician, saying your dog does become upset and will let you know it.  If your dog has a “negative association” or is upset with you “it will be clear by their body language.”  This comes as no surprise as dogs are incredibly perceptive and sensitive beings that can sense emotions and read the facial expressions of humans.  Research shows dogs combine hearing and sight to correspond happy and angry human faces with happy and angry vocalizations, according to Stephanie Gibeault, a certified personal dog trainer, in a 2018 article for the American Kennel Club.  A study in September 2021 published in Scientific Reports also found dogs can “distinguish intentional actions from unintentional behavior”.  This body language might entail moving away from you, being more aloof, or avoiding your gaze when you look in their direction.  It could also mean sitting in another location if you come near them or holding their tail low or even between their legs.  “They might even go as far as snarling or growling at you,” Hembree added.  If you notice these signs, it’s important to remember these are just signals letting you know your dog needs space.  You should probably give it to them.

The second action came as Loki began eating his nightly kibble in segments.  We feed the kids at the same time but in separate rooms.  When Loki was younger, he would wolf down his food and then go into the kitchen to eat anything that was still in Zena’s bowl.  This made Zena upset so we had to keep them apart.  As Loki matured, we no longer closed the kennel door, but we still fed him in it.  Zena will walk into the living room (where the kennel is) and check how much food is left in Loki’s bowl.  Only after asserting Loki is still eating would Zena return to her bowl for the rest of her food.  This last week Loki has only been eating half of his food and then he checks out how Zena is doing before going to lay on the bed.  It is only after Zena has finished and had come into the living room that Loki would go back into his kennel and start eating again.  While Zena drinks from Loki’s water bowl, she will not go into the kennel.  They are both highly food motivated, and this seemed to be Loki’s way of letting Zena know he had food, and she did not.

THOUGHTS:  Saving food was a tactic used by my younger brother and I when we traveled in the car.  We did not eat out often, except when traveling to my grandparent’s house.  Dad would stop about halfway, and we would get hamburgers, fries, and a drink.  We sat in the car at the drive-in and ate our meal.  When everyone was done, dad would continue the drive.  However, my brother or I would try to hide a partial bag of fries to be produced in front of the other during the trip.  This was always a waiting game.  You had to sneak the bag into hiding and then weigh the cost of eating cold fries.  I have found that making others upset over what you have can bring unwanted consequences.  Now I eat my fries before they get cold.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 15, 2024

© Front Page Detectives

While scrolling I came across a February 5th report on how animals are thriving in the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone.  The Chernobyl nuclear power plant exploded in 1986, releasing radioactive material into northern Ukraine and Belarus.  It is the most serious nuclear accident in history and caused the evacuation of over 100,000 people due to the health risks from radioactive waste.  Many still think of the area as a post-apocalyptic wasteland, but science tells us something different.  While the land surrounding the plant is mostly off limits to humans, it has become a haven for wildlife, with Eurasian lynx (Lynx lynx), European bison (Bison bonasus), red deer (Cervus elaphus), and other animals in the thick forests.  New research shows the population of wolves (Canis lupus) in the zone is genetically different from their counterparts outside of the region.  Irradiated wolves seem to have developed mutations that increase their odds of surviving cancer.  The Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ) covers 1,081 miles² (2,800 km²) of Ukraine and represents the third-largest nature reserve in mainland Europe.  The CEZ has become an iconic, if accidental, experiment in rewilding.

When I went online, I found the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone (CEZ), officially called the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation, is a designated zone around the site of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster.  The CEZ was established by the Soviet Armed Forces soon after the disaster, and initially encompassed a 19 mile (30 km) radius from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.  The boarders have since been altered to cover a larger area of Ukraine.  The CEZ borders another administered area, the Polesie State Radioecological Reserve, to the north in Belarus.  The CEZ is managed by an agency of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, while the power plant and its massive concrete and steel cap (sarcophagus) are administered separately.  The CEZ is the area of highest radioactive contamination, and its purpose is to restrict access to hazardous areas, reduce the spread of radiological contamination, and conduct radiological and ecological monitoring.

Unlike humans, the gray wolves in the CEZ never left, and the local population has grown to seven times denser than populations in other protected lands in Belarus.  This has led scientists to ask if the wolves are genetically resistant or resilient to cancer, or if the wolves are thriving because humans are not interfering with them.  Cara Love, an evolutionary biologist at Princeton University, has been studying these wolves for a decade to try and understand how they survive.  Love and her colleagues took blood samples from the wolves in 2014 to understand their reaction to cancer-causing radiation, and some were fitted with radio collars to gather information on their locations and exposure to radiation.  The research showed the wolves are exposed to more than 11.28 millirem of radiation daily, or over six times the legal limit for human workers.  Researchers also noted the wolves have altered immune systems (like patients undergoing radiation treatment) and genetic analysis suggests parts of the wolves’ genome have developed some resilience to cancer.  Love hopes to use the findings to identify protective mutations that increase human odds of surviving cancer.

THOUGHTS:  In 2023, scientists found the semi-feral dogs living in the CEZ were also genetically different from pet dogs elsewhere.  Genetic mutations are changes to your DNA sequence happening during cell division.  Mutations could lead to conditions like cancer, they may not have any effect on your health, or they could help the individual adapt to their environment over time.  The wolves and dogs of the CEZ appear to have done the latter.  As the mutation passes to subsequent generations, it becomes a normal part of the (wolf or human) genome and evolves from a gene variant into a normal gene.  My physical anthropology friends told me this is part of the evolutionary process we are not yet able to understand.  Love hopes to find out.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 15, 2024

Image credit: L.Carter/NPS

Scrolling down my Edge browser I came across a video posted on Live Science explaining the hundreds of tadpole-like creatures that appeared after heavy rain.  Officials at Arizona’s Wupatki National Monument reported hundreds of prehistoric creatures had hatched from eggs in a temporary lake in the desert landscape.  Lead ranger Lauren Carter said the creatures look like mini-horseshoe crabs with three eyes.  Their appearance was first reported by tourists who saw them in a temporary, rain-filled lake within the ceremonial ball court at the monument.  The court is a circular walled structure about 35 yards (32 m) across.  Carter knew the monsoon in late July had filled the ball court with water but did not expect anything living in it.  She first assumed these were tadpoles from toads who live in burrows during the dry season.  When Carter scooped one up, she noticed a familiarity with reports of a creature when she had worked at Petrified Forest National Park in northeastern Arizona called a Triops.  The Central Michigan University said the dinosaur shrimps’ eggs could lay dormant in the desert for decades until adequate rain falls make a lake to provide habitat for the eggs to hatch, mature, and lay eggs for the next generation.

When I went online, I found the American tadpole shrimp (Triops longicaudatus), or longtail tadpole shrimp or dinosaur shrimp, is a freshwater crustacean of the order Notostraca, resembling a miniature horseshoe crab.  The shrimp is characterized by an elongated, segmented body, a flattened shield-like brownish carapace covering two thirds of the thorax, and two long filaments on the abdomen.  The genus name Triops comes from Greek “ops”, meaning “eye” prefixed with Latin tri- or “three”, and refers to the animal’s three eyes.  Longicaudatus is an Latin neologism combining longus (“long”) and caudatus (“tailed”) and refers to the long tail structures.  Triops are found in freshwater ponds and pools, often in places where few higher forms of life can exist.  Triops are usually greyish yellow or brown in color and differ from many other species by the absence of the second maxilla (mouth parts).  As the name suggests, the elongated tail structures (cercopods) are often nearly as long as the rest of the body.  The species (with the cercopods) may reach 3.0 inches (75 mm) long.

Triops’ appearance has changed little since the group emerged in the Devonian period (419 million to 359 million years ago).  This ancient and morphologically consistent lineage has led some to call the creatures “living fossils” or dinosaurs, a term that is also used to describe deep-sea coelacanths (fish of the order Coelacanthiformes) and horseshoe crabs (order Xiphosura).  Because their water habitats are temporary, they mature quickly and go from eggs to breeding adults in two to three weeks.  Triops are hermaphrodites (each has both sexual organs), but they can reproduce sexually and even produce offspring from unfertilized eggs (unisexual). This flexibility in reproduction helps each generation of Triops raise the next, even in extreme environments like the Arizona desert.   Triops’ eggs can enter a state of dormancy where the eggs stop developing and dry out (diapause).  Diapause allows the eggs to survive when their pools evaporate.  The eggs can stay in diapause for up to 27 years waiting for water to return so they can hatch.  This is a long wait to become alive.

THOUGHTS:  While the cicada may live underground for up to 17 years, that is different than the 27 years of diapause that may occur with the Triops.   Diapause is observed in all the life stages of arthropods, especially insects, and embryonic diapause (delayed implantation) is a reproductive strategy used by more than 130 types of mammals and possibly humans.  In mammals the pre-embryo (blastocyst) does not immediately implant in the uterus but remains in a non-dividing state of dormancy until conditions allow for attachment to the uterine wall to proceed.  This may also result in a long wait to be alive.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 14, 2024

Wellcome Images, CC BY

Last February 14th I mentioned about how Valentine’s Day has become the third most expensive holiday in the US, with Americans spending US$26 billion, or an average of US$192.80 per person.  This spending comes from the exchange of cards, flowers, candy, and lavish gifts in the name of St. Valentine. While Melissa and I try not to go overboard, I cannot resist giving her the card, flowers, and candy expected of a dutiful beau.  While we tend not to dine out due to the crowds and expense, I do like to cook a good meal for us to enjoy together.  American excess was clear yesterday when I went to the market for the ingredients of tonight’s meal.  The regular flower section had expanded with bouquets scattered around the front of the store and an entire aisle of fresh cut flowers and red boxes of candy replacing the cookies and sweets that had been there the week before.  While love and romance may be at the heart of our modern celebration, St. Valentine was no patron of love.

When I went online, I found St. Valentine’s Day originated as a liturgical feast to celebrate the beheading of not one but several Christian martyrs who died on February 14th.  Information on the martyred Saints was compiled by an order of Belgian monks who spent three centuries collecting evidence for the lives of saints from manuscript archives around the known world.  The monks were called Bollandists after Jean Bolland, a Jesuit scholar who began publishing the massive 68-folio volumes of “Acta Sanctorum” (“Lives of the Saints”) beginning in 1643.  Successive generations of monks continued the work until the last volume was published in 1940.  The Brothers dug up every scrap of information about every saint on the liturgical calendar and printed the texts arranged according to the saint’s feast day.  The volume encompassing February 14th contains the stories of a handful of “Valentini,” including the earliest three of whom died in the third century.  All that is known of the earliest Valentinus is that he died in Africa, along with 24 soldiers.  Sometimes all the monks could find was a name and the day of death.

We know a little more about the other two St. Valentines.  A late medieval legend reprinted in the “Acta” was accompanied by a Bollandist critique about its historical value.  A Roman priest named Valentinus was arrested during the reign of Emperor Gothicus and put into the custody of an aristocrat named Asterius, who made the mistake of letting the preacher talk.  Valentinus told of Christ leading pagans out of the shadow of darkness and into the light of truth and salvation.  Asterius told Valentinus if he could cure his foster-daughter of blindness he would convert.  He did cure her and the whole family were baptized.  When Emperor Gothicus heard the news, he ordered them all to be executed, but only Valentinus was beheaded.  The body was buried along the Via Flaminia highway that stretched from Rome to modern Rimini and a chapel was later built over his remains.  The third third-century Valentinus was a bishop of Terni in the province of Umbria, Italy, who got into a similar situation by debating a potential convert and afterward healing his son.  He was also beheaded on the orders of Emperor Gothicus and his body buried along the Via Flaminia.  The Bollandists suggested this may be two different versions of the one legend. 

THOUGHTS:  Whether he was African, Roman, or Umbrian, none of the St. Valentines seem very romantic.  One died along with soldiers and the other two (one?) died along with the family they had miraculously converted.  The only common thread was they were all beheaded.  That might not sell well on a greeting card.  The love connection appeared over 1000 years later when English poet Geoffrey Chaucer (The Canterbury Tales) decreed the February feast of St. Valentinus to the mating of birds and English audiences embraced the idea of February mating.  Sometimes it seems easier to reconfigure the facts than to face the truth.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 13, 2024

Toward the back of the front section of my local newspaper, I came across a USA Today article on a woman who completed a two year trail journey across the US.  Briana DeSanctis set out on January 1, 2022, from the Atlantic Ocean and arrived at the Pacific this last Sunday (February 11, 2024).  Years ago, DeSanctis completed the 2,190 mile (3,524 km) Appalachian Trail and said she felt like she needed a new challenge.  The trail crosses the Colorado Rockies at an elevation of over 13,000 feet (3,962+ m).  DeSanctis backtracked to be able to hike both the northern and southern sections of the cross country trail.  The trek included long solitary stretches but was interspersed by encounters with the diversity of America’s inhabitants.  “Everyone that you meet takes you in and shows you a little part of their world,” DeSanctis had previously said.  DeSanctis documented her journey on social media and regular columns for the Daily Bulldog, a Maine news outlet.  She is the first woman the American Discovery Trail Society is aware of who completed the trail on her own.

When I went online, I found the American Discovery Trail (ADT) is a system of recreational trails and roads that collectively form a coast-to-coast hiking and biking trail across the mid-tier of the US.  Horses can also be ridden along most of the trail.  The coastal trailheads are Cape Henlopen State Park (Delaware) on the Atlantic Ocean and Point Reyes National Seashore near San Francisco (California) on the Pacific Ocean.  The middle of the trail has northern (through Chicago) and southern alternates (through St. Louis).  The total length of the trail, including both the north and south routes, is 6,800 miles (10,900 km).  The northern route covers 4,834 miles (7,780 km) with the southern route covering 5,057 miles (8,138 km).  The ADT is the only non-motorized coast-to-coast trail in the US.  Along the way, the trail passes through 14 national parks, 16 national forests, and uses sections of or connects to 5 National Scenic Trails, 10 National Historic Trails, and 23 National Recreation Trails.  Part of this distance coincides with the North Country Trail (Midwest and Northeastern US), the Buckeye Trail (Ohio), the Continental Divide Trail (Colorado), and the Colorado Trail (Colorado).  The ADT passes through 15 states and the District of Columbia.  That is a long hike.

The National Trails System Act of 1968, as amended, calls for establishing trails in both urban and rural settings for people of all ages, interests, skills, and physical abilities.  This trail system is designed to promote the enjoyment and appreciation of trails while encouraging greater public access to the diversity and ecosystems of the US.   The National Park Service (NPS) oversees the development of trails and encourages both public and private agencies to develop, maintain, and protect the trails.  The ultimate vision is for the cooperation and support of a nationwide trails community to create an interconnected, cross-country trail system to include national scenic trails, national historic trails, and national recreation trails.  The NPS website currently lists 11 National Scenic trails, 21 National Historic trails, and almost 1,300 National Recreation trails located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.

THOUGHTS:  I have yet to hike any of the ADT system.  When I lived in Utah, I used to take my son on many weekends to hike the canyons and trails of the southeastern part of the state.  These were exhausting yet exhilarating hikes that became what I loved most about my time there.  Now that my son has a family of his own, they take time to hike the scenic trails of the Northwest.  He also joins friends on an annual trek along a portion of one of the many trails systems.  Sharing what you love with others creates an opportunity for them to in turn pass that love along.  It is the basis of nurture and culture.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 12, 2024

Inside the back section of my local newspaper, I came across a USA Today article on a pair of studies that show climate change is melting ice at an alarming rate.  One study found fresh water from Greenland’s melted ice could upset a delicate balance that fuels weather for millions of people bordering the Atlantic Ocean.  Scientists for the other study reported new fears about how quickly ice in Antarctica could melt causing a potential for dramatic and rapid rise in sea levels.  Both studies warn that the melting glacier ice in both hemispheres has potentially dire consequences.  The southern study published this week warns of how suddenly ice can melt in Antarctica, which can lead to dramatic and devastating sea-level rise worldwide.  The northern study is based on a computer model simulation and renews fears about the stability of the critical current that powers weather and climate patterns in the US, Europe, and Africa.  The study was published in the journal Science Advances.  Previous studies have found that a collapse of the current is possible at some point this century.  The ocean current in the Atlantic Ocean is called the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation.

When I went online, I found the Atlantic Meridional Overturning Circulation (AMOC) is a system of surface-level and deep currents in the Atlantic Ocean which are driven by changes in atmospheric weather and ocean circulation driven by changes in temperature and salinity.  These Atlantic currents make up one half of the global thermohaline circulation that encompasses the flow of major ocean currents.  The other half is the of thermohaline circulation is the Southern Ocean overturning circulation, and both play critical roles in the climate system.  The AMOC is characterized by a northward flow of warm, salty water in the upper layers of the Atlantic, and a southward flow of colder, deep waters.  These currents are linked by regions of overturning in the Nordic and Labrador Seas and the Southern Ocean around the Antarctic.  Climate change has the potential to weaken the AMOC through increases in ocean heat content and elevated freshwater flows from the melting ice.

Collapse of the AMOC would result from too much fresh water from the melting of the Greenland ice sheet and sea ice, combined with increased precipitation and river runoff.  The AMOC collapse is a well-known climate tipping factor in climate change.  To conduct the simulation, researcher René van Westen and colleagues at Utrecht University in the Netherlands simulated a gradual increase in freshwater input to the North Atlantic over the course of 2,200 years, which they said triggered an abrupt AMOC tipping event.   The authors said they cannot even begin to estimate when it will collapse.  “We can only say something about the direction to which AMOC is heading to. The physics-based indicator suggests that we are moving towards the tipping point.”  Additional simulations and studies could provide details on how (and when?) the AMOC tips under climate change.  If it were to collapse, it could bring about an ice age in Europe and sea-level rise in cities like Boston and New York, as well as more potent storms and hurricanes along the East Coast.

THOUGHTS:  Shifts in the AMOC are at the heart of the fictional “Day After Tomorrow” climate change disaster movie from 2004.  While the movie and the results depicted from the collapse are scientifically inaccurate, the flooding and storms predicted by the model are not.  If we continue to raise global temperatures and melt fresh water glacial ice, there will be a future collapse.  Being warned is not the same as doing something.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 11, 2024

Yesterday Melissa let the dogs into the yard and came in to my office to talk.  After leaving I heard her call, “I can’t find the dogs!”  They were in the fenced yard and now were gone.  Since the gate was closed and locked, we could not figure out what had happened.  I looked through the house to make sure they were not just hiding, and then went to look at the fence.  Although the gate was locked, the latch had been pushed slightly to the side.  Zena had bulled her way out the bottom of the gate.  I would not have believed such a big dog could get through such a small opening if I had not seen her squirm under the fence at the dog park.  We called for both dogs with no response, then got in the car to cruise the neighborhood.  It was the kids’ version of The Great Escape.

When I went online, it said losing your dog can be a terrifying experience (it was), especially if they ran away on purpose.  If your dog runs away repeatedly, it is important to understand why and find a way to stop it.  The first step to correcting this behavior problem is to find why they ran away.  There are four main reasons your dog will escape.  The number one reason is dogs get bored.  If left alone with nothing to do, they may escape and explore the neighborhood.  You resolve this by supervising your dog, giving them proper exercise, and mental stimulation.  Another reason is your dog may be looking for a mate.  Unaltered males are mainly guilty of wandering the neighborhood looking for love, but neutering your dog or getting a female will not necessarily prevent your dog from escape.  Dogs will also escape the yard to chase potential prey, like a rabbit or a squirrel.  This is especially common in prey-driven breeds, but most dogs instinctively enjoy chasing small animals.  Again, supervising your dog, giving them something better to do, and improving your fencing can all help prevent your dog’s escape.  Finally, dogs may try to escape if they are scared. This is especially common during summer thunderstorms or fireworks when the loud booms can send them into a panicked frenzy.  Keep your dog inside and do your best to soothe their fears of loud noises with calming treats, white noise, and pressure wraps.

Pressure wraps are designed to help dogs deal with their anxiety over fireworks and loud noises.  They work along the same principle of swaddling an infant to calm its’ fears.  There are existing theories to explain the effectiveness of maintained body pressure in treating a dog’s noise anxiety, but there are not yet any existing studies specifically examining this treatment in this specific context.  The wrap is the same mechanism that allows pressure to treat forms of anxiety in humans and other animals.  One example of successful treatment of anxiety through constant body pressure applied by a wrap is Temple Grandin’s “hug machine”.  Grandin saw how cattle would calm down while being put into a squeeze chute to receive their shots and developed a machine based on the same principle to treat the anxiety resulting from her own autism.  The “hug machines” function by maintaining a constant pressure on the body, leading to a reduction in anxiety.  It seems to work.

THOUGHTS:  We looked for the kids for 20 minutes and drove all over the neighborhood.  One man washing his car said he had seen them go by but did not know where they went.  We decided to make one more trip down the road into the next subdivision and saw them loping along on their way back home.  I drove up, opened the door, and they jumped right in.  I got a small bike chain to wrap the bottom of the gate.  My dogs are much like me when I was a boy.  I was good most of the time, but the exceptions came when I was not supervised and bored.  As Benjamine Franklin said, “Idle hands are the devil’s playthings.”  That is why afterschool activities and programs like Big Brothers and Big Sisters are so important.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 08, 2024

Getting my first seeds in the seed pots inspired me to plant several fruit trees as well.  I first tried to find a nursery near me where I could purchase the trees and found it was too early in the year for them to be in stock.  We are in growth zone 7 and our last frost is predicted for April 15.  That means any local trees would still be dormant and may be problematic to plant and ensure they would survive.  I am planting the trees in containers to allow me to bring them in at night when the temperatures drop much below freezing (28F/-2.2C) to protect the trees.  That also means I needed to focus on dwarf trees that could be contained in pots set on heavy duty plant caddies.  I ordered the plant caddies and got them put together over the weekend.  I ordered the two trees from an online nursery.  I had trouble ordering at first, as my virtual private network (VPN) is set to show trackers I live in an area which grows citrus, and the nursery would not ship the trees to that state.  I got a work-around for that problem and ordered my two citrus trees.  They arrived on Monday.

When I went online, I found citrus is a genus of flowering trees and shrubs in the rue family (Rutaceae).  Plants in the genus produce citrus fruits, including important crops such as oranges, lemons, grapefruits, pomelos, and limes. The genus Citrus is native to South Asia, Southeast Asia, East Asia, Melanesia, and Australia and various species have been used and domesticated by the indigenous cultures since ancient times.  Citrus cultivation spread into Micronesia and Polynesia from Taiwan by migration (the Austronesian expansion – c. 3000 to 1500 BCE).  Citrus spread to the Middle East and Mediterranean (c. 1200 BCE) along the incense trade route, and from there to Europe and the Americas.  While citrus trees can grow from seed, the most common method is grafting onto rootstocks.  This is physically joining part of a shoot of a desired species onto the roots of a different but closely related species, so the two parts grow as one plant.  Grafting is a preferred method because it propagates a new plant of the desired citrus but confers the extra advantages from the characteristics of the rootstocks, such as their vigor of growth, hardiness, and soil tolerance.

The citrus fruits I use most are lemons and limes, so these are the two trees I ordered.  The nursery site had a single tree that had been grafted to produce both fruits from a single bush, but I decided to buy separate trees.  I figured that if one died, I still might be able to save the other.  I decided on a Meyer Lemon (Citrus meyeri) tree and a Key Lime (Citrus aurantiifolia) tree.  I checked with the nursery’s Chat feature and was assured these were both dwarf varieties (6 to 8 feet/1.8 to 2.4 meters) and that I could keep them smaller by planting the trees in containers and pruning.  I purchased the pots I needed locally after receiving the citrus trees and then researched how to plant the trees.  A YouTube video suggested I put the root ball on compost, but I decided to use potting soil to avoid the possibility of burning the roots.  I bought root starter and citrus kits (nutrients) from the nursery to augment growth.  The nursery site suggests I might get “some fruit” in the first year.  We will see.

THOUGHTS:  Growing citrus trees is an iffy business where I live in Arkansas.  Zone 7 is on the cusp of the growth range for outside trees as temperatures occasionally drop below 20F (-6.6C).  We already have a ramp leading to the new windowed porch so the plant caddies should allow me to wheel the trees inside on bitter nights (if they do not get too big), or I could always get smudge pots to keep them warm.  This is yet another experiment in sustainability.  The more I try and provide for myself, the more it impresses me how most of the world does not get to “play” at sustainability.  You grow or catch what you want (or can), or you do not eat.  I still have the luxury of a supermarket.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 07, 2024

David Barrett

A side feed on my NY Times browser reported on the one-year antics of a runaway owl from the Central Park Zoo.  Although the owl has a primary perch in Central Park, the bird has been seen all around New York City making it an international celebrity with a legion of admirers and fans.  The apex predator slipped through an opening cut by vandals in the steel mesh enclosure at the Central Park Zoo on February 2, 2023, and flew into the wilds of America’s largest city, testing the limits of his six-foot wingspan for the first time.  The Eurasian eagle-owl has been given the name Flaco.

When I went online, I found The Eurasian eagle-owl (Bubo bubo), also called the Uhu, is a species of bird that resides in much of Eurasia.  It is one of the largest species of owl, and females can grow to 30 inches (75 cm) in length, with a wingspan of 6 feet 2 inches (188 cm).  There is little sexual dimorphism, but males are smaller.  The eagle-owl has distinctive ear tufts, with upper parts that are mottled with darker blackish coloring and tawny.  The wings and tail are barred while the underparts are a variably hued buff, streaked with darker coloring.  The facial disc is not very defined, but the orange eyes are distinctive.  Eagle-owls are found in many habitats but are mostly in mountainous regions or rocky areas near varied woodland edge and shrubby areas with openings or wetlands to hunt most of their prey.  They are occasionally found in farmland and park settings in European cities, and rarely in busier urban areas (like NYC).  The eagle-owl is a nocturnal predator which hunts a range of prey but predominantly small mammals such as rodents and rabbits.  They also prey on larger mammals and birds of varying sizes.  Secondary prey can include reptiles, amphibians, fish, large insects, and assorted invertebrates.  The species typically breeds on cliff ledges, in gullies, among rocks, or in other concealed locations.  The nest is a scrape containing a clutch of 2 to 4 eggs which are laid at intervals and hatch at different times.  The female incubates the eggs and broods the young while the male provides food for her and later for the nestlings.  Parental care is provided by both adults for about five months.  At least 12 subspecies of the Eurasian eagle-owl are described.

Flaco is not the only bird to inhabit NYC and the city is home to a large birding community and a diverse range of birds.  Despite being the most populated (8,804,190 people) and most densely populated (29,303.2 people per square mile) city in the US (according to the 2020 census), NYC is home to a range of ecological habitats and is situated along the Atlantic Flyway, a major route for migrating birds.  Birders have recorded more than 400 species in the city, and their concentration in the city’s urban parks, forests, marshes, and beaches has made birding a popular activity, especially since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020.  New York City has 30,000 acres of parkland and 578 miles of coastline.  Neither is Flaco the only eagle-owl to gain fame.  In June 2007, an eagle-owl nicknamed ‘Bubi’ landed in the Helsinki Olympic Stadium during the European Championship qualifying match between Finland and Belgium, interrupting the game for six minutes.  After Jonathan Johansson’s opening goal for Finland, the bird left.  Finland’s national football team have had the nickname Huuhkajat (Finnish for “Eurasian eagle-owls”) ever since.  The owl was named “Helsinki Citizen of the Year” in December 2007.

THOUGHTS:  Science writer Jennifer Ackerman released her 2023 New York Times bestseller, “What an Owl Knows: The New Science of the World’s Most Enigmatic Birds”, just as Flaco escaped.  The vandals have yet to be caught.  With the preponderance of conspiracy theories in the US, it will not be long until someone claims a connection between the events.  Being absurd does not make a theory wrong, but you do need to question the motives of the theorist.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

February 06, 2024

Inside the front section of today’s local newspaper was a USA Today article on NASA’s January 31st release about detection of a “super-Earth” that has the potential temperature and conditions to sustain life.  This new planet was said to be “fairly close to us” at only 137 light-years away (a short hop) and orbits within a zone capable of having liquid water.  The planet (TOI-715 b) is about one and a half times the width of Earth and orbits a small, reddish star.  The same system might harbor a second Earth-sized planet, which if confirmed, “would become the smallest habitable-zone planet discovered by the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) so far.  NASA said the red dwarf is smaller and cooler than our Earth’s sun, and because of the short distance of the super-Earth orbit a “year” for the planet is equal to 19 Earth days.  When detected these worlds are called an exoplanet.

When I went online, I found an exoplanet or extrasolar planet is a planet outside our Solar System. The first possible evidence of an exoplanet was noted in 1917 but it was not identified as one until confirmation in 1992.  Another planet was initially detected in 1988 but was not confirmed until 2003.  As of February 1, 2024, there are 5,606 confirmed exoplanets in 4,136 planetary systems, with 889 systems having more than one planet.  The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is expected to discover more exoplanets, and determine more about them, including composition, environmental conditions, and potential for life.  While there are various methods for detecting exoplanets, transit photometry and Doppler spectroscopy have found the most.  These methods suffer from observation bias favoring the detection of planets near the star.  Of the exoplanets detected 85% are where one of the objects reaches a state where there is no longer any net change in its rotation rate over the course of a complete orbit (tidal locking).  About 1 in 5 Sun-like stars have an “Earth-sized” planet in the range that may support liquid water (habitable zone).  Assuming there are 200 billion stars in the Milky Way (our galaxy), it can be hypothesized that there are 11 billion potentially habitable Earth-sized planets.  The number rises to 40 billion if planets orbiting numerous red dwarfs are included.

Since its launch on April 18, 2018, TESS has been adding to the stockpile of habitable-zone exoplanets that could then be more closely scrutinized by NASA’s JWST telescope.  The first light image from TESS was taken on August 7, 2018, and released publicly September 17, 2018.  NASA says the Webb telescope is designed to not only detect exoplanets but “explore the composition of their atmospheres, which could offer clues to the possible presence of life.”  The super-Earth research and discovery was led by Georgina Dransfield at the University of Birmingham in the UK and published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society journal in January.  These findings mark another step toward understanding the atmospheric conditions needed to sustain life and further explore the characteristics of exoplanets beyond our solar system.

THOUGHTS:  For a short while in grad school, I dreamed of exploring the billions of exoplanets in search of life.  I was already studying the origin of (human) civilization and thought combining that with a degree in astrophysics could boost my chances of catching an exploratory ship.  Added to this was a degree in theology as any discovery would raise immediate questions about the human role in the universe.  Not only did I not obtain these degrees, but humans have also not been able to set foot on the closest planet in our own solar system, Mars.  It was still a good dream.  Dreams to explore took humanity around the world, beneath the ocean, and to the moon.  None of those explorations were possible without cooperation.  We are stronger when we work together.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.