October 01, 2023

I came across an AP article in my local newspaper that discussed the plight of indoor farms.  These green factories are meant to provide harvests of fresh produce all year long and can be built close to the urban markets.  This enables the farms to pick, package, and ship to markets within 48 hours.  Indoor facilities are meant to shelter their produce from climate change while using less water and land.  Eden Green Technology in California operates two greenhouses and has broken ground on two more at its Cleburne campus.  Players in the industry are betting big even as rivals wobble and fail.  California-based Plenty Unlimited broke ground on a $300 million facility this summer, while Kroger announced that it will be expanding its availability of vertically farmed produce.  Meanwhile, two indoor farming companies that attracted strong startup money filed for bankruptcy reorganization and a 5-year-old company in Detroit shut its doors this summer.  Many of the farms are proving to be unsustainable and are forced to close due to the high cost of electricity to operate the indoor grow lights.

When I looked online, I found controlled-environment agriculture (CEA), including indoor agriculture and vertical farming, is a technology-based approach toward food production.  The aim is to protect plants from the outdoor elements and maintain optimal growing conditions throughout development of the crop.  Production takes place within an enclosed growing structure such as a greenhouse or plant factory.  Plants are often grown in a soilless medium to ensure the proper amounts of nutrients and water to the root zone, along with supplemental lighting to ensure sufficient daily light.  Indoor farms optimize the use of resources such as water, energy, space, capital, and labor.  CEA technologies include hydroponics, aeroponics, aquaculture, and aquaponics.  Greenhouse production is currently the largest component of the CEA industry but another quickly growing segment is the vertical farming industry.  As a form of urban agriculture, CEA can exist inside repurposed structures, built to purpose structures, or in basements and subterranean spaces.  The trend is growing as entrepreneurs and households seek to meet the demand for fresh food products.

Skeptics question the sustainability of operations that can require energy-intensive artificial light, saying paying for that light can make profitability impossible.  The industry has acknowledged those high costs.  Some companies are seeking to cut costs by relying on solar, which also supports sustainability.  Those that rely on artificial light that does not come from renewables maintain they can still be profitable by producing a high volume of produce year-round.  Evan Lucas, associate professor at Northern Michigan University who teaches infrastructure design for indoor farms, said he is not concerned about the instability of the industry.  Some companies may be struggling to scale up due to problems that come from launching in spaces that are not built specifically as indoor farms.  “My guess, based on what’s happening, is everyone saw the opportunity and started to try to do a lot really quickly.”  Farmers and farms seem to struggle whether they are inside or out.

Thoughts:  Indoor farms have the potential to change the way we grow and access food.  These farms operate in smaller locations (saving land), use less water (drought resistant), and are not subject to heat and cold extremes (climate change).  While artificial light is expensive, solar panels are becoming less expensive and fiber optics could be used to channel sunlight to indoor farms.  My grandfather was successful at farming because he shifted what he produced (crops and animals) depending on the market.  The problem may come from the types of produce that can be grown in these environments.  We may need to change the way we eat to accommodate what we can produce.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 30, 2023

We have a laundry room between the garage and the front hall that also serves as our storage pantry.  We have shelves along one side with cans and boxes of food items, as well as laundry and cleaning items on the bottom shelf.  The other side of the narrow room has a washout sink located next to the washer and dryer.  We no longer use this sink cabinet as it has become a storage site for dog snacks.  Many of these treats are bought from the big box store which means some of those treats are in a large box.  Loki’s smaller dog biscuit box sits on top the dryer, but Zena’s larger box of biscuits is stored in the garage.  When I stuck my hand in Zena’s biscuit box several weeks ago, I felt the beginning of a cobweb.  This week the cobweb was more pronounced, and I opened the box to see what was happening inside.  There was a small spider and a prodigious cobweb that stretched around most of the top of the box.

When I looked online, I found the triangulate cobweb spider (Steatoda triangulosa), also called the triangulate bud spider, is a common spider in the genus Steatoda.  Its name derives from the triangle-shaped pattern on the dorsal side of its abdomen.  The species was first described as Aranea triangulosa, by Charles Walckenaer in 1802 but was transferred to the genus Steatoda by Tamerlan Thorell in 1873.  The adult female is 1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm) long, with a brownish-orange cephalothorax (fused head and thorax of spiders), spindly, yellowish legs, and tiny hairs.  The round, bulbous abdomen is creamy in color, with parallel purply-brown zigzag lines running front to back.  This distinctive pattern sets it apart from other theridiids in its habitat.  The triangulate is known as a “useful spider”, as it preys on other types of arthropods, ants (including fire ants), other spiders, pill bugs, and ticks.  It also preys on several spiders believed to be harmful to humans, including the brown recluse (Loxosceles reclusa).  The egg sac of the triangulate is made from loosely woven silk.  It is about the same size as the spider itself and contains approximately 30 eggs.

Like other members of the family Theridiidae, the cobweb of the triangulate is an irregular tangle of sticky silken fibers.  The spider will usually eat for a period but spends most hours developing their sturdy cobweb.  Like other web-weavers, these spiders have very poor eyesight and depend mostly on vibrations reaching them through their webs to orient themselves to prey or to warn them of larger animals that could injure or kill them.  They are not aggressive and only one known case of a human being bitten (envenomation) is recorded.  Their bite will not kill a human unless there is an allergic reaction.  The triangulate is a cosmopolitan species and can be found in many parts of the world, including North America, southern Russia, New Zealand, and Europe.  It is believed the spider is native to Eurasia and has been introduced elsewhere.  The species is primarily a house spider and builds webs in dark corners of buildings and other man-made structures (like Zena’s treat box).

Thoughts:  Ever since a tarantula landed on my ear at Boy Scout camp when I was 12 years old, I have been squeamish about the possibility of spiders unknowingly crawling on me.  That means while I am not scared by seeing a spider I do not like running into cobwebs when I do not know where the spider is.  There were four egg sacs in the cobweb in Zena’s box.  I did not kill the spider but did remove the egg sacs as I did not want another 120 spider babies lurking “somewhere” in my garage building cobwebs.  Fear is often tied to the unknown rather than a known threat, and when we take the time to investigate the cause of our fear it will go away.  This is also true with our fear of other people.  When we take time to get to know and even understand others, we find they no longer make us afraid.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 29, 2023

Milton Barnes via AP

Earlier this week I came across an AP article in the Business Section of my local newspaper about an innovative way to operate public transit.  The small town of Wilson, North Carolina (less than 50,000) had seen its transit riders plummet when the pandemic hit in 2020.  The city decided to switch from fixed-route buses to on-demand vans powered by a smartphone app that offered service anywhere in town for US$1.50.  Wilson obtained federal and state grants to support the ride that usually arrived within 15 minutes.  While the grants are gone, riders still only pay US$2.50 for the door-to-door service.  Wilson’s transition to vans came out of necessity as in some parts of the city as many as 3 in 10 residents lacked access to a car to get to work.  Now more than half of riders use the vans to maintain or get employment.  This smaller-scale, tech-based solution to public transport is known as microtransit and has become the great equalizer to the trains, subway, and buses of denser urban areas.

When I looked online, I found microtransit is a form of bus demand responsive transport vehicle for hire.  This transit service offers a highly flexible routing and/or highly flexible scheduling of minibus vehicles shared with other passengers.  Microtransit providers build routes ad-hoc exclusively to match only each demand (trip) and supply (driven vehicle) and to extend the efficiency and accessibility of the transit service.  Possible pick-up/drop-off stops are generally restricted (usually within a geofenced area like the city of Wilson), and transit can be provided as a stop-to-stop service or a curb-to-curb service.  It is said microtransit conceptually fits somewhere between private individual transportation (cars, taxicabs, or ridesharing) and public mass transit (bus).  Microtransit can be privately or publicly operated and mainly targets children, teens, and customers looking to connect residential areas and downtown.

When I worked in downtown Salt Lake City, I lived in a suburb 8 miles (12.8 km) away.  We only had one car, and while microtransit did not exist in our area, one of the main bus lines ran just outside our housing complex so I decided to ride the bus to work.  I would walk the quarter mile to the stop, wait for the bus that arrived two times an hour, and then walk the half mile from the last stop to my office.  While this was not inconvenient, it did take over an hour to complete the trip, which I would do again on my way home.  I was on a fitness kick at the time and decided to ride my bike rather than the bus.  I found that I could get to work faster on my bike, including a quick shower on arrival, than by riding the bus.  I was lucky I was on the main line and did not have to wait for a transfer as I had done when I attended the university or if would have been a longer wait.  Inclement weather still forced me to ride the bus on occasion, but most days I would race the bus on my way to and from work.  I rarely lost.

Thoughts:  Autonomous electric vehicles are much more cost effective and efficient for microtransit than other vehicle types, mainly from the elimination of a driver.  A study in Singapore said microtransit services using autonomous electric vehicles can reduce the total cost of ownership by 70% compared to other microtransit vehicles and by 80% compared to buses.  These vehicles also offer less noise and carbon emission pollution than a normal bus.  Effective solutions are rarely one-size-fits-all.  Rather than seeking a perfect fix we need to be willing to being open to innovative solutions involving a collage of approaches.  That will reduce pollution and get people where they need to go, and on time.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 28, 2023

I have mentioned how when I take my dogs for a walk, I need to take each dog separately.  While Loki is used to his harness and even excitedly “helps” me get it on, he has not mastered the art of walking.  He strains at the leash or will stop to investigate some smell and then run full bore back to the end of the leash.  I tried earlier to take both dogs, but Loki spent more time roughing with Zena than walking.  This makes it a concentrated effort to train Loki to walk as we patrol the neighborhood.  Zena instead likes to go to the park where she can see the sights, sniff the smells, and do her business (yes, I bring bags).  After the rains and cooler temperatures last week, I noticed several sections of the park were sporting white dapperling mushrooms.

When I looked online, I found the white dapperling lawn mushroom (Leucoagaricus leucothites), is commonly known as the smooth parasol, woman on motorcycle, or white agaricus mushroom, and is a species of agaric (mushroom or toadstool) fungus.  Archaically, agaric meant ‘tree-fungus’ (Latin; agaricum) but that classification changed with the Linnaean interpretation in 1753 when Linnaeus used the generic name Agaricus for gilled mushrooms.  The species was originally described as Agaricus leucothites by Carlo Vittadini in 1835 and bears a similarity to species of that genus.  Solomon Wasser transferred it to Leucoagaricus in 1977.  The mushroom’s cap is 1 1/2 to 5 1/4 inches (4 to 15 cm) wide, granular, usually white, or grayish brown in color, but sometimes gray or pink.  The flesh may bruise yellow and the gills red.  The stipe (stem) is 2 to 4 1/2 inches (5 to 12 cm) long, commonly with a wide base, and bruising yellow or brown.  A ring is usually present on the stem.  The spores are white, smooth, and elliptical.  The dapperling generally appears in human made areas such as gardens and parks but may sometimes be found in forests.  The dapperling I saw were in a park.

There are many types of mushrooms that look similar to the dapperling, with white domed caps, brown or white gills, and grow in small groups in your lawn.  Types of common garden mushrooms include the false parasol mushroom (Chlorophyllum molybdites), field mushrooms (Agaricus campestris), giant puffball mushroom (Calvatia gigantea), and white dunce caps (Conocybe apala).  Other varieties of mushrooms that grow on lawns are orange, tan, or brown.  This includes the fairy ring mushrooms, weeping widow mushrooms (Lacrymaria velutina), Agaricus placomyces, and scruffy twiglets (Tubaria furfuracea).  While the dapperling is sometimes regarded as edible, the species is suspected of being poisonous due to gastric-upset-causing toxins.  It may also be confused with the deadly death angel mushroom (Amanita ocreata).  Correctly identifying species of mushrooms in your yard is vital as some types of mushrooms in gardens are highly poisonous and can cause severe health consequences.  Never eat any type of mushroom from your garden without identifying the species with 100 percent certainty.

Thoughts:  Mushrooms like the dapperling appear in your yard in late summer or early fall and usually along with plenty of rain, high humidity, warm weather, and shaded conditions.  Yard mushrooms are a sign of decomposing organic matter in the soil and boost the nutrient content of your lawn.  You can leave them, run over them with the mower, or throw them in the compost pile.  One house I lived in in California had a leaky roof in the closet dormer.  During a rainy period, I found a large mass of Chicken of the Woods Mushrooms (Laetiporus sulphureus) had taken over a damp spot on the rotting floor.  This species emits a strong earthy aroma (let alone it was inside my house!), so I removed them.  While mushrooms indicate the healthiness of your lawn soil, these are not good conditions inside your house.  I left the mushrooms outside alone.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 27, 2023

One of the side stories in my New York Times feed addressed the widespread belief that honeybees are in danger.  Even though the honeybee is not on the endangered list, many are under the impression they will soon go extinct.  Since the honeybee (and other bee species) is known for its role in agriculture, the blame for Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) is often placed on the agriculture industry and the use of pesticides.  An analysis by The Washington Post (published in 2017) showed bee numbers are sitting at close to historical highs.  The research showed that since CCD was identified the number of honeybee colonies has risen from 2.4 million to 2.7 million between 2006 and 2014.  The Post’s report came after another major announcement that the rate of loss among honeybee colonies due to CCD had reached its lowest point in years.  While some loss in individual bee numbers over the winter months is expected, beekeepers are not seeing the dramatic loss of hives that were suggested.

When I looked online, I found beekeepers are also called honey farmers, apiarists, or less commonly, apiculturists (Latin apis, bee; compare apiary).  The term beekeeper refers to a person who owns hives, or boxes and associated equipment for the honeybees but does not control the bees.  The bees are free to forage or leave (swarm) as they desire.  Bees will usually return to the beekeeper’s hive as this provides a clean, dark, sheltered home.  Honeybees produce honey, beeswax, pollen, propolis, and royal jelly which can all be sold.  Some beekeepers also raise queens and other bees to sell to other farmers.  These honeybees provide pollination services to fruit and vegetable growers.  Many people keep bees as a hobby while others keep them for income either as a sideline or as a commercial operator.  All these factors can affect the number of colonies maintained by beekeepers.

Sideline beekeepers attempt to make a profit keeping bees but rely on another source of income.  A sideliner may operate up to 300 colonies of bees, producing 10–20 metric tons of honey worth tens of thousands of US dollars each year.  Commercial beekeepers control hundreds or thousands of colonies of bees.  The most extensive operations own and manage up to 50,000 colonies of bees and produce millions of pounds of honey.  The first major commercial beekeeper was Petro Prokopovych from Ukraine who operated 6600 colonies in the early 19th century.  Moses Quinby was the first commercial beekeeper in the US, with 1200 colonies by the 1840’s.  During the 1960’s and 1970’s, Jim Powers of Idaho had 30,000 honey producing hives.  Miel Carlota operated by partners Arturo Wulfrath and Juan Speck of Mexico operated over 50,000 hives of honeybees from 1920 to 1960.  Today, Adee Honey Farm in South Dakota operates 80,000 colonies and Comvita in New Zealand operates over 30,000 colonies, making them among the world’s largest beekeepers.  Commercial beekeepers only number about 5% of the individuals with bees but produce about 60% of the world’s honey crop.  Despite the reports, commercial beekeepers are on the rise, especially in high-value markets such as pollination in North America and New Zealand.

Thoughts:  Honeybees are not native to the Americas, so beekeepers and farmers help preserve the honeybee population, despite other wild bee species experiencing loss.  My son considered putting several hives in his back yard.  While this was admirable, I cautioned him as he had two small children.  A friend kept hives and while this may not be the norm, I was stung every time I was there.  You can also grow native plants to attract many species of bees, butterflies, and other pollinators and you should monitor your insecticide use closely and follow all label instructions.  Most of all, educate children (and others) about the importance of bees and other pollinators to make better stewards of the next generation.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 26, 2023

I have been researching how to amend my garden beds in preparation for winter.  In the past I have basically pulled the dead plants and let the ground fallow until the following spring.  I have begun to think this is why (in part) I am getting decreasing yields.  I watched several YouTube videos explaining what I needed to do and why.  They all began saying I needed to get my soil tested at the local county extension to tell me if I needed more lime (alkaline) or sulfur (acid) in my soil, and whether to add more nutrients.  I was not worried about my containers as I had filled them with new potting soil earlier in the spring.  I decided I needed to amend the ground soil with vermiculite (soil conditioner to allow air channels so the soil can breathe), compost (improve the soil fertility), and peat moss (improve soil capacity to withhold water).  I went to both a plant nursery and our local box market and neither had any of this in stock.  I had seen all three earlier at the hardware store but since I bought food at the market I decided to go home.  As I was driving home, I noticed a large yacca plant in full bloom.        

When I looked online, I found the Yucca gloriosa, commonly known as the Spanish-dagger, is a species of flowering plant in the Asparagaceae family native to the southeastern US.  Yucca can grow to 8 feet (2.5 m) tall and is categorized as an evergreen shrub.  Yucca gloriosa has a well-developed stem above ground (caulescent), usually with several stems arising from the base.  The base will thicken in adult specimens.  The cluster of flowers are arranged on a stem composed of a main branch (inflorescence) that is up to 8 feet (2.5 m) long.  The bell-shaped flowers are white, but sometimes tinged purple or red.  The fruit is a leathery, elongated berry up to 3 inches (8 cm) long.  The long narrow leaves are straight and very stiff, growing to 12 to 20 inches (30 to 50 cm) long and 3⁄4 to 1+1⁄2 inches (2 to 3.5 cm) wide.  The leaves are dark green with entire margins, smooth, rarely finely denticulate, acuminate, with a sharp brown terminal spine.  Yucca gloriosa has been known to cause skin irritation and even allergic reactions upon contact and the leaf points are sharp enough to break the skin.  Hence the name dagger. 

The Yucca plant is widely cultivated in warm temperate and subtropical climates and is valued as an architectural focal point.  Yucca requires little maintenance other than the removal of dead leaves when the shrub nears its ultimate height.  The plant is very hardy and sustains temperatures of -4F (-20C) without leaf damage (except ours which all rotted and died) and can handle brief snow and freezing temperatures, as well as long periods of drought.  The species has reportedly escaped from cultivation and naturalized in Italy, Turkey, Mauritius, Réunion, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, Argentina, Chile, and Uruguay (yet it will not escape into our front bed).  Yucca gloriosa and several cultivars (‘Variegata’ and ‘Bright Star‘) have gained the Royal Horticultural Society’s Award of Garden Merit.

Thoughts:  I found it interesting after having lost two successive years of the yucca Melissa planted in our front bed to read about the plant’s durability and resistance to cold.  We had covered the plants to protect them and yet seven different plants of varying size all appeared to freeze over the winter.  In contrast, the large yucca I saw was completely exposed on a rocky bank next to the road.  The yucca appears to be like most other cacti and succulents which adhere to the adage, “leave it alone and it will thrive.”  My covering the plants may have provided too much humidity which led to their demise.  Just as (I say . . .) I have given up on planting onions, Melissa says the same of outdoor yucca.  Humans may give up on trying to manipulate the environment when faced with failure.  Nature keeps trying and allows the species to eventually thrive on their own.  Perhaps we could learn something from nature’s example.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 25, 2023

When I took the kids outside for a break over the weekend, we witnessed the mating ritual of three large dragonflies (2 males and 1 female).  The pair had already coupled and were flying around our pool/pond while the other male was circling and darting around the mated pair.  All three seemed disturbed by my presence (or perhaps more so Loki’s) and skittered around, diving back and forth above the water.  I decided to back away from the pond to see what would happen.  When I moved back, the mated pair settled on the tarp just above the water line.  The female then proceeded to dip her tail into the water, apparently laying one egg after another.  The two stayed together until the female completed laying her eggs.  The second suiter had continued to harass the original male hoping to dislodge it from the female but when the mated pair landed near the water he flew off.  He had lost his chance, and no doubt went off in search of another mate.

When I looked online, I found the common green darner (Anax junius) is a species of dragonfly in the family Aeshnidae.  The dragonfly gets its common name from its resemblance to a darning needle.  Both sexes have unmarked green thoraces, bull’s eye marks on their faces, and clear wings that often become amber-tinted with age.  Males have bluish-purple abdomens with a black stripe down the middle while females may appear like the males or have reddish-brown abdomens (as mine did).  The darner is one of the largest extant dragonflies and males grow to 3 inches (76 mm) in length with a wingspan up to 3.1 inches (80 mm).  Females use a tube-like organ to lay eggs beneath the surface of the water (oviposit) in aquatic vegetation.  The nymphs (naiads) are aquatic carnivores, feeding on insects, tadpoles, and small fish.  Adult darners catch insects on the wing, including ant alates, moths, mosquitoes, and flies.  The species is well known for its great migration distance from the northern US and south into Texas and Mexico.  The species also occurs in the Caribbean, Tahiti, and Asia from Japan to mainland China.  It is the official insect for the state of Washington in the US and is a common dragonfly to Arkansas.

Unlike many dragonflies, some populations of Common Green Darners migrate and during winter may fly as far south as Panama.  Darner migration is complex and challenging to study.  Researchers suspect a full migration takes place over at least three generations.  The first generation emerges in spring in the southern part of the range and travels north in the summer to mate.  The second generation emerges in the northern part of their range in summer and migrates south during the fall to mate.  The third generation emerges in the southern part of the range during the winter and does not migrate but will mate.  The cycle begins again with the next generation.  When researchers equipped the green darners with micro radio transmitters (one tiny transmitter), they found that the dragonflies traveled about 10 miles (16 km) per hour and up to 87 miles (140 km) in a single day.

Thoughts:  Not all dragonflies stay connected after they mate.  In some other species another male will capture the female and scoop out the deposit by a previous male to ensure their own progeny.  That is why the darners stay coupled until the eggs have been laid.  Francis Bacon has one of the earliest references to the name ‘dragonfly’ in Naturall Historie: In Ten Centuries.  It is widely believed Bacon picked up the name from folklore of the time where it was believed the insects were once dragons shrunk in size.  This may have been aided by the voracious appetite of both nymphs and adults and their darting movement as they hunt winged prey.  Folklore also associated these tiny dragons with the devil.  While they are not harmful to humans, this association made many wary of their presence.  What we call animals (and people) does have an impact on have we see and treat them.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 22, 2023

I have been trying to train Loki to take a walk.  We have gotten beyond biting the leash and even to the point where he will excitedly stand and wait for me to put his harness on him.  Once he gets outside however, it is jump and strain.  That means I take Zena for a walk at the city park and when we return, I harness Loki and take a shorter walk through the neighborhood.  Most of this loop is on streets but the last two blocks cut through a green space that comes out behind our house.  While we were walking through this grassy tree-lined section we came across what looked like two rocks.  Loki was interested so I took another look and realized these were two small turtles that had tightly closed their shells.  The weather has been cool, and damp and I was not surprised to see the two in the grass.  This is a prime time for box turtles to be on the move.

When I looked online, I found the three-toed box turtle (Terrapene triunguis) is a species within the genus of hinge-shelled turtles commonly referred to as box turtles.  The species is native to the south-central part of the United States and is the official state reptile of Missouri.  Three-toed box turtles got their name from the number of toes on their back feet.  Some think there are four-toed examples, but others speculate the four-toed individuals are eastern box turtle (Terrapene carolina carolina)/three-toed box turtle hybrids.  The three-toed have a domed shell which grows to 5 to 7inches (13 to 18 cm) in length and the highest part of its upper shell (carapace) is more posteriorly positioned than in any of the other box turtle subspecies. The dorsal and limb coloration is often completely absent, although some dark blotches are common in adults.  These areas are more often a uniform olive green or tan color (like my turtles) but sometimes, faint yellow dots or lines are visible in the center of each large bony external plate (scute: Latin “shield”).  In the males, the head and throat often display yellow, red, or orange spots.[6][8] Frequently, the bottom shell (plastron) is a yellow straw color and has far fewer dark markings than the plastrons of the other subspecies.  The species mates in the spring as they come out of hibernation and are on the move.

Three-toed box turtles are known to move and migrate seasonally to maintain their preferred humidity level.  In Arkansas, three-toed box turtles were observed in grasslands in late spring, while in early spring, summer, and late fall they were found in forested areas.  During dry times, they dig shallow burrows into leaf litter to conserve moisture.  When water is available, these turtles soak for longer periods of time than any of the other subspecies.  Three-toed box turtles are popular in the pet trade and are commonly moved outside their home range and released but it is not known whether these released captives have an impact on the local species.  The species is highly adaptive and is possibly the only box turtle who can live happily in an indoor enclosure.  Three-toed are omnivores (eat plants and meat) and their diet varies with availability of food sources and the seasons.  Box turtles prefer live foods to vegetation and their diet should consist of 50% plants and 50% animal protein.  They can be shy about being watched while eating and may stop and stare motionless when this happens.  With good care, three-toed box turtles can live at least 50 years.

Thoughts:  We almost missed the turtles on our walk as they were closed and did not move.  What gave them away was one had flipped over, exposing its yellow plastron.  I flipped the turtle right-side-up and we watched for a bit.  The turtles both remained tightly closed and did not want to play.  After a few sniffs, we left them alone.  Staying closed off is a good way to keep protected, but it comes at the expense of being able to eat or move.  When we isolate ourselves from the surrounding culture, we miss the diversity and joy that comes with being alive.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 22, 2023

When I returned from my trip to Seattle, I was met with a profusion of jalapeños on my two vines.  Many of the pepper pods were ripe when I was leaving but I had no time to process them and decided to leave them on the vine.  On my return many of the peppers had turned bright crimson, indicating they were not only ripe, but had matured to the hot pepper stage.  I harvested the red peppers but left a few of the green jalapeños on the vine.  Along with the peppers I had previously picked I now had 30 jalapeños that needed to be processed.  When I chopped and froze my peppers last year, I made two mistakes.  I cut the peppers into large pieces, forcing me to re-cut them to use in food (defeating the process).  I had used latex gloves, but the number of peppers processed allowed the oil to get through the gloves and my hands burned for days.  This time I used two pairs of gloves to be safe.

When I looked online, I found jalapeños (Capsicum annuum) are a medium-sized pod type chili pepper cultivar.  Jalapeños are variously named huachinango (ripe red jalapeños) and chile gordo (“fat chili pepper”), also known as cuaresmeño.  The mature chili is 2 to 4 inches (5–10 cm) long and 1 to 1 1⁄2 inches (25 to 38 mm) wide.  Different jalapeños can range in pungency, with Scoville heat units of 4,000 to 8,500.  The fruit is commonly picked and eaten while green, but it is occasionally allowed to fully ripen and turns orange, yellow, or red (like mine).  The name jalapeño is Spanish for “from Xalapa” (the capital of Veracruz, Mexico), the area where pepper was traditionally cultivated.  Xalapa itself is of Nahuatl (Aztec language) origin, formed from roots xālli (“sand”) and āpan (“water place”).  Genetic analysis places jalapeños as a distinct genetic clade with no close relatives not directly derived from jalapeños.  The Aztecs’ use of jalapeños dates back thousands of years, including smoking some varieties to preserve them.  In Mexico, jalapeños are used in many forms such as in salsa, pico de gallo, or grilled jalapeños.  Jalapeños were included as food on the Space Shuttle as early as 1982. 

Compared with other chilies, the jalapeño heat level varies from mild to hot depending on cultivation and preparation and can have from a few thousand to over 10,000 Scoville heat units.  As the peppers ripen their heat increases, making red jalapeños hotter than green jalapeños, at least of the same variety.  If the plants are stressed (erratic watering and heat, i.e., me) it will increase their heat.  The number of scars on the pepper (brown lines called ‘corking’) have a positive correlation with heat level, as the growing conditions that increase heat cause the pepper to form scars.  US consumer markets find corking unattractive, but it is a favored trait in other markets, particularly in pickled or oil-preserved jalapeños.  The chemical irritants (capsaicin and related compounds) produce a sensation of burning in any tissue it contacts and these are concentrated in vesicles of the placenta membrane surrounding the seeds.  People who are sensitive to capsaicin will wear latex or vinyl gloves while handling the peppers.  When preparing jalapeños, it is recommended your hands not contact your eyes as “this leads to burning and irritation” (ya think?).

Thoughts:  Wearing double gloves kept me from the heat of the jalapeños, but Melissa was not so lucky.  I touched several items that Melissa later picked up and the oil moved from her hands to her eyes.  I was protecting myself and never considered the larger effect of the jalapeños.  Jalapeños are a Mexican chili but were designated by the Texas Legislature as the official “State Pepper of Texas” in 1995.  Texas seems to take the opposite view toward embracing other immigrants.  The oil on my jalapeños and the US attitude toward immigrants both caused us to make changes in our practices.  When we only think of our protection and concerns it has the potential to cause unintended and lasting effects on others.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

September 20, 2023

The parameters for my recent trip to see my son’s family were set in part by my dentist appointment.  These dates are set at the time of the earlier appointment six months ago.  The hygienist is always polite and asks the question, “Is (date) good for you?”.  I invariably say “yes” as I rarely know what I am going to be doing six months in advance.  The only real choice I have is whether to make the appointment in the morning or the afternoon.  When I decided to go to Seattle I called to see if I could reschedule for a later date and was told that was no problem.  The next available appointment was January 2024, or time for my next regular appointment.  I kept the date and set my plane fare to allow me to get back to my brother’s house in Wichita the day before so I could drive to Arkansas (5 hours) for my appointment.  I guess it was lucky I had scheduled my appointment in the afternoon.  I scheduled an appointment with another health care provider and was informed if I was more than 15 minutes late, they would cancel my appointment and charge me for the visit.  I sat in their office for 25 minutes past the scheduled time.

When I looked online, I found patients are often frustrated when they make an appointment for a certain time, arrive on time, and are then kept sitting in the waiting room for a long period before they see the healthcare provider.  The reason we lose patience is because we believe appointments have not been scheduled well.  However, healthcare providers may not be sure what services they will provide for individual patients, and some patients require more time for their services than others.  An acceptable amount of time to wait will vary by healthcare provider and the type of practice they run.  Basically, the more specialized the healthcare provider, the more patient you may need to be.  The fewer healthcare providers in any specialty who practice in your geographical area will also cause you to wait more time.  If you are waiting on a dentist who consistently makes you wait for an hour you may want to find another dentist.  If your brain surgeon makes you wait an hour, that might seem more manageable.

Another way to make the wait for your appointment tolerable is to ask the person at the check-in desk how long they think you will be waiting and decide if you want to wait that long and if not, reschedule.  If you are told the wait will be 15 minutes, ask again at minute 16.  You do not have to be loud or rude but politely ask about the hold up and how much longer you will need to wait, and again decide whether the wait is acceptable.  This is possible for a primary healthcare provider or a specialist you see on a regular basis for a long-term or chronic condition, but it may not be possible for a sub-specialist or a healthcare provider who is in great demand.  If you know there will be a wait for the appointment there are things to make the wait less stressful.  Leave yourself plenty of time so this will not impact another appointment on your schedule.  Take a good book, knitting, or an entertaining phone app (earbuds).  If the time is shorter, you will be pleasantly surprised.  If it is longer, it will not be so frustrating to wait.

Thoughts:  When the hygienist called my name (10 minutes late for my appointment) I dutifully followed them back and sat in the chair.  Her first words were, “So, we are here for two fillings today?”  I was not sure if “we” meant she was going to have the fillings, but I knew I was there for a cleaning and checkup.  The hygienist rechecked my name and found I had answered the wrong call.  I was happy to wait for my appointment as I made my way back to the waiting room.  The result of waiting for an appointment can change based on the expectations and the attitude you bring.  That is true for most aspects of life.  We may not be able to change others, we can adjust our response.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.