Arborist

August 12, 2025

I came across another example of how one decision leads to the necessity of making others this week. We have been checking out buying a motorhome for the last eight years. We began when we still lived in Kansas, but after the move to Arkansas the concept fell off our radar. This last year my sister and brother-in-law purchased a small teardrop trailer with their son and then a larger trailer for their use. They camped most of their married life, so this was not a surprise. She told us that while it was cheaper to stay in a hotel than buy and maintain a trailer, they enjoyed the outdoor freedom. One reason I (and now Melissa) retired was to travel. Now that we have the kids, this has become problematic (for me). It is more difficult to find a hotel that allows pets (not impossible) and even more so now that we have 175 pounds (75 kg) of dogs. Boarding is a possibility but adds another US$1,000 to the vacation. That moved us to buy a Class C motor home. These vehicles are smaller than the Class A motorhomes and have slide-outs for maximum square footage. The purchase meant we also needed to decide where to keep the vehicle. The fenced side yard was an obvious choice, but that meant we needed to enlarge the gate and cut down a tree for access. While I could have taken days to cut the tree and haul it to the dump, we decided to call an arborist.

When I went online, I found arboriculture is the cultivation, management, and study of individual trees, and other perennial woody plants, and a person who practices or studies arboriculture is called an arborist. The science of arboriculture studies how these plants grow and respond to their environment. The practice of arboriculture includes techniques for selection, planting, training, fertilization, pest and pathogen control, pruning, shaping, and removal. A tree surgeon is more typically someone who is trained in the physical maintenance and manipulation of trees and more a part of the arboriculture process rather than an arborist. Risk management, legal issues, and aesthetic considerations have come to play prominent roles in the practice of arboriculture. Businesses often hire arboriculturists to complete “tree hazard surveys” and generally manage the trees on-site to fulfill occupational safety and health obligations. Arboricultural matters are also considered to be within the practice of urban forestry, yet the clear and separate divisions are not distinct or discreet.

Both the arborist and the fence man showed up at the same time today. While they were working in the same area of the yard, they did not seem to interfere with each other. The tree came down in a matter of hours (not my days) and the limbs were either ground or stacked in 15-inch (38cm) lengths to be used as firewood when we go camping. The fence took a little longer. It needed two posts removed and another set. This shortened the total area but allows for a 12.5-foot (3.8 m) entrance. That is enough to safely drive my 10 foot (3 m) wide motor home through the gate and park it in an enclosed area. As I said, one decision often leads to several others.

THOUGHTS: One of the reasons people call an arborist is the perceived risk of death by falling trees. This is influenced by media and often hyped, and the risk has been reported to be close to 1:10,000,000, or almost as low as death by lightning. Trees in urban green spaces and their careful conservation are sometimes in conflict with aggressive urban development, despite how urban trees contribute to livability of suburbs and cities objectively (reduction of urban heat island effect, etc.) and subjectively. Tree planting programs implemented by a growing number of organizations and cities are mitigating the losses and often increasing the number of trees in suburbia. This includes planting 2 trees for every 1 tree removed or paying landowners to keep trees instead of removing them. Each tree absorbs about 55 pounds (25 kg) of C02 annually. My two fruit trees help replace the one Bradford pear (Pyrus calleryana). Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Cicada-killer

August 11, 2025

I have been seeing the scattered exoskeletons of the cicada (superfamily, Cicadoidea) brood hatch that is occurring in Arkansas this summer. Brood XIX emerges every 13 years, and its last emergence was in 2011. It is a large brood that encompasses 15 states. Although they are not in Arkansas, Brood XIII is also emerging in other parts of the country. Although the cicadas are large and a brood hatch can become messy when great numbers emerge at the same time, they are not agricultural pests or a threat to humans. Trees may be overwhelmed by the sheer number of females laying their eggs in their shoots and small branches. Yesterday while watering my garden, I noticed what looked like a large wasp trapped between the screen and window on the porch. When I find wasps on our porch, I shoo them away or if they persist, I will spray them. I have been stung too many times to allow these pests to establish close to our house. The insect looked like a yellow jacket but was over twice the normal size. What I found out was this was an eastern cicada-killer.

When I went online, I found the eastern cicada-killer wasp (Sphecius speciosus) is a large, solitary digger wasp species in the family Bembicidae. They are also erroneously called sand hornets, although they are not true hornets, which belong to the family Vespidae. Their name comes as they hunt cicadas and provision their nests with them. The species is found in the Eastern and Midwest US and south into Mexico and Central America. Adult eastern cicada wasps are 0.6 to 2.0 inches (1.5 to 5.0 cm) long. They have hairy, reddish, and black areas on their middles (thoraces), and black to reddish brown rear (abdominal) segments that are marked with light yellow stripes. The wings are brownish. The females are slightly larger than the males, and both are among the largest wasps in the Eastern US. European hornets (Vespa crabro) are often mistaken for eastern cicada killers, although they are smaller at 1.4 inches (3.5 cm) long. The males are smaller than the females because they are not given as much larval food. The females benefit from being larger as they must carry the cicadas they have killed to a burrow for nesting. Cicada killers exert a measure of natural control on cicada populations which may directly benefit the deciduous trees the cicadas feed on.

Despite their fearsome appearance, female cicada-killers are not aggressive and rarely sting unless they are mistreated. Their sting is not much more than a “pinprick”. Males aggressively defend their perching areas on nesting sites against rival males, but they have no stinger. Although they appear to attack anything that moves near their territories, male cicada killers are just investigating anything that might be a female cicada killer ready to mate. Their close inspection may appear to be an attack, but male and female cicada killers do not land on people with the intent to sting. If handled roughly, females will sting, and males will jab with a sharp spine on the tip of their abdomen. They are generally not aggressive towards humans and usually fly away rather than attacking. I initially tried to swat the wasp but its size and being behind the screen protected it. I finally gave up and decided if it could get out of the screen on its own it would go away. Since it was not there this morning, I assume it had done so.

THOUGHTS: The size of the cicada-killer and its resemblance to a yellow jacket made me fearful when I first encountered it. It seemed docile rather than the aggression I have seen from other wasps. Still, I wanted it to go. After I found out what it was, I was glad I left it alone. We do not have a cicadae problem, but this was nature’s way of providing control. One benefit of my garden is taking time to observe the interaction between the flora and fauna (plants and animals) that thrive there. Identifying the different species and their place in my sub-ecosystem has been enlightening. We are all part of the same planet. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Hadal

August 04, 2025

Inside the front section of Friday’s newspaper was a Reuters article about a new discovery in the northwest Pacific. Thriving communities of marine creatures turn chemicals into energy rather than eating organic matter. These chemosynthesis-based animal communities were dominated by tube worms (Riftia pachyptila) and clams (genus, Spisula) and were found during a series of dives aboard a crewed submersible to the bottom of the Kuril-Kamchatka and Aleutian trenches. The creatures are beyond the reach of sunlight and are nourished by fluids rich in hydrogen sulfide and methane seeping from the seafloor. These ecosystems were discovered at depths greater than Mount Everest (29,032 feet/8849 meters). The deepest ecosystem was 31,276 feet (9,533 m) below the ocean surface in the Kuril-Kamchatka Trench, or 25% deeper than such animals had previously been documented. The research was published on Wednesday in the journal Nature. Marine geochemist Mengran Du of the Institute of Deep-sea Science and Engineering, said, “What makes our discovery groundbreaking is not just its greater depth – it’s the astonishing abundance and diversity of chemosynthetic life we observed.” The discovered ecosystems exist in the hadal zone.

When I went online, I found the hadal zone, or hadopelagic zone, is the deepest region of the ocean found only within the oceanic trenches. The hadal zone ranges from around 3.7 to 6.8 miles (6 to 11 km) or 20,000 to 36,000 feet below sea level, in the long, narrow, topographic V-shaped depressions. The cumulative area occupied by the 46 individual hadal habitats worldwide is less than 0.25% of the world’s seafloor, but the trenches account for over 40% of the ocean’s depth range. Most hadal habitat is found in the Pacific Ocean, the deepest of the conventional oceanic divisions. The deepest ocean trenches are considered the least explored and most extreme marine ecosystems and are characterized by a complete lack of sunlight, low temperatures, scarce nutrients, and extremely high pressure exerted on an immersed body (hydrostatic pressures). The major sources of nutrients and carbon are fallout from upper layers, drifts of fine sediment, and landslides. Most organisms are scavengers and animals that subsist on decomposing plants and animal parts (detrivores). As of 2020, over 400 species are known from hadal ecosystems, many of which possess physiological adaptations to the extreme environmental conditions. There are high levels of a species being found in a single defined area (endemism).

While some marine animals have been documented at even greater depths, (36,000feet/11,000 m) below the surface in the Pacific’s Mariana Trench, those were not chemical eaters. In the new research, scientists used their submersible (the Fendouzhe) to journey down to the hadal zone. The hadal zone is where one of the continent-sized plates that make up Earth’s crust slides under a neighboring plate in a process called subduction. Marine geologist and study co-author Xiaotong Peng, said this environment harbored “the deepest and the most extensive chemosynthetic communities known to exist on our planet.” The newly observed ecosystems were dominated by two types of chemical-eating animals. Tube worms that were red, gray or white in color and around 8 to 12 inches (20-30 cm) long and clams that were white in color and up to 9 inches (23 cm) long. Some of these appear to be previously unknown species.

THOUGHTS: Even in the harsh environment of the hadal zone life has found a way of surviving and thriving. Some non-chemical-eating animals were also found living in these ecosystems. The study illustrates how life can flourish in the most extreme conditions on Earth (and beyond?). This makes it possible (even probable) that exploration will find life on Earth is not alone. The question will be how we handle the discovery. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Pressure

August 03, 2025

I decided I had enough tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum) to make another batch of pasta sauce. We used the last 2024 jar during January and have been using “store-bought” sauce. I like the store brand, but it never seems as good as my home canned sauce. The recipe calls for 25 pounds (11.3 kg) of tomatoes and makes around 10 quarts (9.5 liters) of sauce. I never have that many tomatoes at one time, but I had prepped and frozen a gallon (3.8 liters) from a previous harvest and the cool(er) spell last week produced another burst of fruit. This would give me 4 or 5 jars of sauce, so I adjusted the recipe accordingly. I have been able to make my sauce using a water bath (boiling water) due to the higher acidity of the tomatoes. Last week I had also prepared the carrots from my garden and the slices were sitting in the refrigerator. I had been reluctant to can them because of their low acidity. To can the carrots, I would need to do something I had never done before, use a pressure cooker.

When I went online, I found a pressure cooker is a sealed vessel for cooking food (pressure cooking) with the use of high-pressure steam and water or a water-based liquid. The high-pressure limits the water from boiling and creates higher temperatures not possible at lower pressures. This allows the food to be cooked faster than at normal pressure. The prototype of the modern pressure cooker was the steam digester invented in the 17th century by the physicist Denis Papin. The cooker worked by expelling air from the vessel and trapping steam produced from the boiling liquid. The steam is used to raise the internal pressure up to one atmosphere above normal (ambient) and gives higher cooking temperatures between 212 F to 250F (100C to 121C). Together with high thermal heat transfer from steam it permits cooking in between a half and a quarter of the time of conventional boiling while saving a considerable amount of energy. Almost any food that can be cooked in steam or water-based liquids can be cooked in a pressure cooker.

Modern pressure cookers have many safety features to prevent the pressure cooker from reaching a pressure that could cause an explosion. After cooking, the steam pressure is lowered back to ambient atmospheric pressure so the vessel can be opened. All modern devices also have a safety lock to prevent opening while the cooker is still under pressure. According to the NY Times Magazine, 37% of US households owned at least one pressure cooker in 1950, but by 2011 that dropped to 20%. This decline was attributed to a fear of explosion (rare with modern pressure cookers) and from competition by other fast cooking devices such as the microwave oven. Today’s third-generation pressure cookers have many more safety features and digital temperature control, do not vent steam during cooking, and are quieter and more efficient. These conveniences have helped make pressure cooking more popular. I bought Melissa a third-generation electric pressure cooker (an odd gift?) before we were married. I later found out she never used it.

THOUGHTS: As I was making the carrots Melissa told me of her experience with an early pressure cooker. She loved to watch her granny canning in the kitchen when she was a small girl. Then one afternoon when she was three, the old-style first-generation pressure cooker exploded, sending hot water and glass everywhere. Both her granny and mom wore glasses, but she did not, and glass got in her eyes. A quick trip to the doctor removed all the glass, but neither she nor her mom ever watched granny using the pressure cooker again. Even with the modern versions, her dad was the only one in the house who used one. It took me a week to build up the nerve to use the pressure cooker. I had never used one and had “heard the stories”. I went online to learn how to operate it and found it easy to use. I now have a new cooking method to add to my resume. New things are generally only daunting if never tried. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Honeycomb

July 30, 2025

Today’s MSN browser had an article about a discovery that has resolved a 70-year debate. A team of chemists and archaeologists used cutting-edge analysis techniques to test the pasty residue found in the bottom of bronze jars found in the sixth-century BCE city of Paestum in southern Italy. The researchers published their findings today (July 30) in the Journal of the American Chemical Society. The 8 bronze jars were discovered in an underground shrine in 1954. Honey and honeybees were important in ancient Greek and Roman medicine, rituals, cosmetics, and food, so it was assumed the substance was remains of ancient honeycomb offered as a symbol of immortality. Despite at least four attempts over seven decades to confirm the presence of honey, no evidence of sugars was ever found. Lead author Luciana da Costa Carvalho, a chemist at the University of Oxford, England, and colleagues decided to take advantage of recent advances in chemical analysis techniques and reopen the question of the substance’s origin. Using mass spectrometry to identify the different molecules and compounds, researchers were able to identify intact hexose sugars in the ancient jar residue for the first time, confirming the jars originally contained honeycomb.

When I went online, I found a honeycomb is a mass of 6-sided (hexagonal) prismatic cells built from beeswax by honeybees (genus, apis) to contain their brood (eggs, larvae, and pupae) and stores of honey and pollen. Honeybees consume about 8.4 pounds (3.8 kg) of honey to secrete 1 pound (450 g) of wax so beekeepers may return the wax to the hive after harvesting the honey, leaving the comb intact to improve honey output. The honey is extracted by uncapping and spinning in a centrifugal honey extractor. If the honeycomb is too worn out, the bees can reuse wax by making sheets of comb foundation with a hexagonal pattern. These foundation sheets allow the bees to build the comb with less effort, and the hexagonal pattern of worker-sized cell bases discourages the bees from building the larger drone cells. New honeycomb is sometimes sold and used intact, especially if the honey is spread on bread rather than used in cooking or as a sweetener. The brood comb becomes dark over time (travel stain) due to empty cocoons and shed larval skins embedded in the cells, along with being walked over constantly by other bees. Honeycomb in the hive boxes (supers) that is not used for brood stays light-colored.

The research presents the first direct molecular evidence supporting the presence of honey, which was likely offered as honeycomb. Analysis of the goop can help archaeologists better understand ancient rituals and shrines. The jars were found in an underground shrine (heroon) that included a large, wooden table with wool-wrapped iron rods placed on top. The offering may have been made to Is of Helice, the mythical founder of the ancient Greek city of Sybaris, located in what today is the arch of Italy’s boot. When Sybaris was destroyed in the sixth century BCE, its inhabitants fled and founded a city called Poseidonia. When the Romans took the city in the third century BCE, they renamed the city Paestum. The new study shows that “there is merit in reanalyzing museum collections because analytical techniques continue to develop,” according to Carvalho.

THOUGHTS: I have always preferred eating honeycomb over straight honey. Most of what I ate growing up was based on texture rather than taste, and I enjoyed the honey squishing out of the cells when I comped down on the waxy comb. Raw honey and beeswax are the two main components of honeycomb. Raw honey is rich in enzymes and antioxidants, while beeswax contains long-chain fatty acids and alcohols, all of which may benefit your health. As I have aged my eating habits have changed (I will not say refined). Texture is important, but taste also decides my diet. Is must have felt the same way about his offerings. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Corn Sweat

July 23, 2025

Hidden in the back of today’s local newspaper was a USA Today article about the heat and humidity pushing up the heat index. This is typical during mid-summer, especially in the wetter eastern half of the US. Bob Oravec, lead forecaster at the National Weather Service’s (NWS) office in College Park, Maryland, says it is unlikely to break records, but it can be dangerous. On Monday the heat and humidity were centered over the Southeast and along the Gulf Coast. By midweek, they moved northward along the Mississippi Valley and up into the Midwest, then shift toward the Mid-Atlantic and Northeast by the end of the week. Highs are expected to be 95F to 100F (35C to 38C), but the humidity will make it feel closer to 110F (43C) in some areas. This places most of the eastern US in the “major” Heat Risk category, an NWS classification that incorporates heat, humidity, and data on heat-related hospitalizations. Pockets will be in the highest “extreme” category on the four-category scale. Part of the reason for the humidity is that the wet weather pattern has saturated everything, causing more evaporation from soil and transpiration from plants. This is particularly true in the Midwest, where huge fields of corn, soybeans, and other crops release moisture as the temperature climbs. This is akin to how humans sweat in the heat and is nicknamed “corn sweat.”

When I went online, I found corn sweat is scientifically known as transpiration, the process of water movement through a plant and its evaporation from aerial parts, such as leaves, stems and flowers. This is a passive process that requires no energy expense by the plant. Transpiration also cools plants, changes osmotic pressure of cells, and enables mass flow of mineral nutrients. When water uptake by the roots is less than the water lost to the atmosphere by evaporation, plants close small pores called stomata to decrease water loss, which slows down nutrient uptake and decreases CO² absorption from the atmosphere by limiting metabolic processes, photosynthesis, and growth. In growing season, an acre of corn gives off about 3,000 to 4,000 US gallons (11,000 to 15,000 liters) of water each day. A large oak tree can transpire 40,000 US gallons (150,000 liters) per year. Crop plants transpire 440 to 2200 pounds (200 to 1000 kg) of water for every 2.2 pounds (1 kg) of dry matter produced. Roughly 95.3 million acres (38566541.7 ha) are planted with corn and soybean in the Midwest, representing approximately 75% of the region’s total agricultural land.

In Iowa, corn sweat releases 49 to 56 billion gallons (185,212 billion liters) of water each day. The NWS said that it can add 5 to 10 degrees to the dew point, a measure of humidity, on a hot summer day. Illinois boasts about 12 million acres (4,856,227.7 ha) of corn, that sweats up to 48 billion gallons (181.7 billion liters) of water daily. The weather service in Chicago is warning that the heat index in Illinois could reach 115F (46.1C) by July 23-24. Corn sweat will only add to the misery. Iowa state climatologist Justin Glisan said, “Of course, there’s a local contribution from corn/bean transpiration which can add additional low-level moisture and exacerbate dew points.” Weather patterns contribute more to the heat and humidity in the Midwest than corn sweat, which he said is “a more local or smaller-scale effect”.

THOUGHTS: While corn sweat might make summer days feel more oppressive, it is a sign of healthy crops. Evapotranspiration is essential for plant growth and helps crops reach their full potential. Once the harvest begins, corn sweat is eliminated. I had a summer job at a lake in the heart of Kansas corn country (7th largest producer in US). While the humidity averages in the mid-60’s, we joked about the temps being “100 degrees and 100 percent humidity”. The advantage of working at the lake meant whenever it got too unbearable, we jumped into the lake to cool off. Not everyone is so lucky. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Tomato Pie

July 21, 2025

One of the advantages of having a garden is being able to step outside and pick fresh vegetables for the night’s dinner. One of the disadvantages is trying to figure out what to do when large quantities of a particular vegetable ripen at the same time. I have mentioned how I have plied family and friends with the bounty of my crops, along with taking several loads to the local food bank. I have also learned to prepare, freeze, can, and preserve several different vegetables and even fruits. Whether it is fresh or preserved, the real question becomes how is it going to be served? There are always “go to” dishes that are the reason for a particular vegetable was grown, but having an abundance provides an opportunity to get creative. That means when a new harvest happens, I pour over recipes on the internet searching for ideas. Melissa has begun to cook meals more frequently. While I tend to focus on the Midwestern meat n’ potato dishes I grew up with, Melissa falls back on her Southern heritage. Several nights ago, she decided to make a Southern tomato pie.

When I went online, I found Southern tomato pie is a tomato dish popular in the Southern US (hence, the name). The dish consists of a pie shell with a filling of tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicum), that are sometimes with basil or other herb), then covered with a topping of grated cheese mixed with either mayonnaise or a white sauce. Tomato pie is considered a summer dish that is to be made when tomatoes are in season. While tomato pie has its roots in Italian American cuisine, and particularly Philadelphia, it has become a popular and classic dish in the South during the summer months when tomatoes are at their peak. Southern tomato pie is enjoyed both as a main course and a side dish, and is a staple at potlucks, picnics, and casual gatherings. A sweet version called green tomato pie uses buttered and sugared green tomatoes, with a recipe dating at least as far back as 1877. The taste of green tomato pie is comparable to green apple pie. The sweet version is less common than the savory Southern tomato pie. In the US, tomato pie may also refer to some types of pizza, like Sicilian pizza (originated in Sicily), Italian tomato pie (thick dough with tomato sauce on top). In its simplest form, a Philly tomato pie is pizza with no cheese.

When Melissa told me she was going to make tomato pie for dinner, I had my doubts. Not being from the South, I had never tried tomato pie and wondered about the taste of eating a bunch of baked tomatoes. Being a meat n’ potato person, I also recognized there was no meat. Still, this was a way to sample one of Melissa’s family dishes, and to take on the growing number of tomatoes sitting on our kitchen counter. The pie starts with a baked pastry shell. Several large beefsteak tomatoes (we used Cherokee Purple) are peeled, cut into thin slices, and layered in the shell. Salt and pepper, basil, and chopped chives are sprinkled on the tomatoes to taste. Mayonnaise (always Duke’s if truly Southern) and grated cheese are mixed and spread over the top. The pie is popped into a pre-heated 400F (200.4C) oven and baked for 30 to 35 minutes. The pie did look good and tasted better.

THOUGHTS: My trepidation around eating my first Southern tomato pie was mitigated when Melissa chose to make it a side dish, with the entrée being fried chicken strips, mashed potatoes, and gravy. Knowing my protein was secure, I admitted the pie was good. My Midwestern bent and Melissa’s Southern come from the comfort food we each grew up with. The term comfort food can be traced back to 1615 (at least) where in the beginning of the second part of Don Quixote his niece and her nurse/governess are told “to give him things to eat which are comforting and appropriate for the heart and the brain.” Comfort food provides a nostalgic or sentimental value to a person or a specific culture. Sampling another’s comfort may also provide insight into their soul. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Miniature

July 16, 2025

The “big town” near us operates 29 parks and recreation areas scattered around the city. These include everything from historic and nature trails, playgrounds and green space, aquatic and recreation centers, performing arts, and even two dog parks. The parks include three stocked fishing lakes that I frequent as often as possible. Another annual favorite is the light display located at Creekmore Park. This is an expansive venture that provided inspiration for the light displays I put up when I was director of a camp and conference center in Kansas. This summer, Creekmore has been undergoing needed improvements throughout the park. The pool’s bathhouse (built 1948) was demolished, and a new facility and diving pool were finished in June, just in time to host the state swim meet. The 18-hole mini-golf course (built 1959) was refurbished by volunteer labor from local businesses Graphic Packaging and IT Logistics and includes a little semi-trailer truck obstacle. The city said it is also resurfacing and expanding the parking lot. Sara Deuster, director of Fort Smith Parks and Recreation, said the upgrades are necessary to accommodate the growing number of families visiting the parks. One project waiting for funding is the miniature train that circles the park in summer and tours the Christmas lights.

When I went online, I found A ridable miniature railway, or in the US a riding railroad or grand scale railroad, is a large scale, usually ground-level railway that hauls passengers using locomotives that are often models of full-sized railway locomotives powered by diesel or gas engines, live steam, or electric motors. These miniature railways have a rail track gauge between 5 inches (127 mm) and under 15 inches (381 mm), though both larger and smaller gauges are used. With gauges of 5 inches (127 mm) and less, the track is commonly raised above ground level. Flat cars are arranged with foot boards so that a driver and passengers sit astride the track. The smaller gauges of miniature railway track can be portable. Portable track is used to carry passengers at temporary events such as festivals and summer fairs. These miniature lines are frequently operated by nonprofit organizations, and often model engineering societies, though some are in private grounds and others run commercially.

There are several national organizations representing and providing guidance on miniature railway operations including the Australian Association of Live Steamers, the Southern Federation of Model Engineering Societies (UK), and the National Model Railroad Association (NMRA). The NMRA is a large, international organization focused on the hobby and business of model railroading. It provides education, advocacy, standards, and social interaction for its members. The NMRA has a strong presence in the US and operates in Canada, Australia, the UK, and the Netherlands. Deuster said the miniature railway at Creekmore is a favorite of park-goers of all ages. There are three miniature trains housed at the park. The #200 Electric Steam Engine was manufactured by Western Train Company out of Temecula, California. There is also a standard diesel train named the Creekmore Express. The steam engine is currently waiting for funding for its restoration.

THOUGHTS: I frequent a coffee shop across the street from Creekmore and last week saw the miniature train chugging by with a full load of passengers. It reminded me of George Bailey’s comment from the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life”. George declares, “You know what the three most exciting sounds in the world are? Anchor chains, plane motors, and train whistles.” Travel blogs say many are like George and share a love for travel and adventure, associating these sounds with freedom and the allure of the unknown. That is also the original impetus for this blog. While content has expanded, the blog still tries to express the joy (and irony) of life. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Carrot Cake

July 15, 2025

I have mentioned the great number of cucumbers and carrots I harvested from this year’s garden. After taking a load of cucumbers to the food Bank I thought I would try and share the wealth by bringing a basket filled with both to a potluck on Sunday. Although this could provide fresh vegetables, it would not do much for the meal itself. Having lived in different parts of the country I have noticed regional variations in potluck customs. Since this was going to be my first Arkansas potluck, I did not know what to expect. The potlucks I attended people have mostly brought side dishes, with fewer entrees and desserts. The organizations hosting the potluck often provide a main meat dish to make sure there is at least some protein. Since I had a lot of carrots, I decided to make something to feature them. Cooked or even glazed carrots did not sound like the zing I wanted to bring. What I decided was to make carrot cake.

When I went online, I found carrot cake (also known as pastel de zanahoria) is a cake that contains carrots mixed into the batter. While the origin of carrot cake is disputed there is an English recipe published in 1591 for “pudding in a Carret [sic] root”. This is essentially a carrot stuffed with meat, but it includes elements common to the modern dessert. That includes shortening, cream, eggs, raisins, sweetener (dates and sugar), spices (clove and mace), scraped carrot, and breadcrumbs (in place of flour). Many food historians believe that carrot cake originated in the carrot puddings eaten by Europeans in the Middle Ages when sugar and sweeteners were expensive and many people used carrots as a substitute for sugar. In volume two of L’art du cuisinier (1814), Antoine Beauvilliers, former chef to King Louis XVI, included a recipe for a “Gâteau de Carottes” which was popular enough to be copied verbatim in competitors’ cookbooks. Beauvilliers published an English version of his cookbook in London (1824) which includes a recipe for “Carrot Cakes” in a literal translation of his earlier recipe. The popularity of carrot cake was revived in the UK because of sugar rationing during WWII along with government promotion of carrot consumption.

My carrot cake mix became a conglomerate dessert. I bought a white cake mike and tub of cream cheese frosting several weeks ago when I had a craving for a cupcake. It seems almost impossible to find one cupcake in a store (my sister later reminded me I could have gone to a bakery). I ended up not making the cupcakes for the same reason, I did not want 24, just one. The potluck was different. I could bring the dish, eat my one cupcake, and share the rest. I took the boxed cake mix and added cinnamon, nutmeg, egg whites, candied pecans (it is The South, everyone keeps a batch in the fridge), and a cup of grated carrots. I also added cinnamon and nutmeg to the frosting mix to give it an extra umph. I only had 18 cupcake tins, so I turned the rest of the batter into a small carrot cake for Melissa and myself. I arranged the 18 cupcakes in a large corning ware roaster dish and brought them to the party. Walking in from the car the platter slipped and shattered in the street. That was the end of my carrot cake cupcakes.

THOUGHTS: Without my carrot cake cupcakes, I felt bad about going to the potluck without a dish. I told myself, “At least I have the vegetables to give away.” I labeled them as giveaway and provided paper bags to take the vegetables home. At the end of the meal not one was gone and I took them all home. The first potluck I attended when I lived in Utah had another twist. A friend and I both arrived “fashionably late” and ended up walking in together. As we came through the door the host exclaimed, “They are here, now we can eat!” Apparently, the custom was to arrive early and start the event “on time”. Getting to know customs can be a matter of trial and error. It could be more efficient to ask. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

Red-bellied

July 14, 2025

Last weekend Melissa called me into the kitchen to watch the large bird that had been battling two squirrels over “rights” to what was left in my soot feeder. I grabbed my camera and by the time I arrived the squirrels had been driven off, but the bird was still there. Melissa said she had watched the bird attack the two eastern gray squirrels (Sciurus carolinensis) for about 20 minutes. The bird alternately flew at both squirrels keeping them at bay. This was a new species identification for Melissa, and the bright red head led her to believe this was a red headed woodpecker (Melanerpes erythrocephalus). I occasionally see one of these birds at my feeders and had even identified one early in January (although without a photo). At first, I also thought it might be a red-headed woodpecker. My apps instead identified this as a red-bellied woodpecker.

When I went online, I found the red-bellied woodpecker (Melanerpes carolinus) is a medium-sized woodpecker of the family Picidae. While the species breeds mainly in the eastern US, it ranges as far south as Florida and as far north as Canada. The most prominent feature is a vivid orange-red crown and nape, but this is not to be confused with a separate species in the same genus, the red-headed woodpecker. The red-headed woodpecker has an entirely red head and neck, a solid black back, and white belly. Red-bellied woodpeckers are 9 to 10.5 inches (22.85 to 26.7 cm) long, have a wingspan of 15 to 18 inches (38 to 46 cm), and weigh 2 to 3 ounces (57 to 91 g). The red-bellied earns its name from the pale reddish tint on its lower underside. Adults are mainly light gray on their face and underparts and have black and white barred patterns on their back, wings, and tail. Adult males have a red cap going from the bill to the nape while females have a red patch on the nape and another above the bill. White patches become visible on the wings in flight. The reddish tinge on the belly is difficult to see in field identification.

I have never noticed the red spot on a red-bellied woodpecker and have instead identified them by the black and white barred pattern on their backs. I always wondered why they were called red-bellied, and now I know. Predators of adult, red-bellied woodpeckers include birds of prey such as sharp-shinned hawks (Accipiter striatus), Cooper’s hawks (Astur cooperii), black rat snake (Pantherophis alleghaniensis), and house cats (Felis catus). Known predators of nestlings and eggs include red-headed woodpeckers, owls (Order, Strigiformes), pileated woodpeckers (Dryocopus pileatus), black rat snakes, and eastern gray squirrels. When approached by a predator, the birds either hide from or harass the threat with alarm calls. They will defend their nests and young aggressively and may directly attack predators that come near. While this bird did not have a nest, it was aggressively defending its food supply.

THOUGHTS: By driving off the gray squirrels the red-bellied woodpecker was it was exerting its territorial rights. A defended territory is typical of songbirds but is also found in many other orders of birds. Territory may be held by one bird, a pair, or a flock and can be held for all or only part of a year. It may be very large (eagles) and provide all the resources the bird needs or be very small such as nesting territories. It may be vigorously defended or loosely guarded. Typically, territories are defended against others of the same species but may also be defended against other species. Humans also claim both small and large areas we define as ours and actively defend. These are also shared, but generally only with those we define as “us”. Globalization is forcing humans to make new choices on us and them. Cooperation and sharing resources may provide for all. Hoarding resources has and will always lead to conflict. Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.