August 04, 2022

It has been getting so hot over the last weeks that the plastic I put over the back door began to melt off.  Actually, it is not the plastic that is melting, it is the sticky glue on the back of the Velcro I used to seal the plastic to the door.  I was surprised as we had not had this problem before.  Then I realized we only put up our DIY porch greenhouse two winters ago, and last year we had taken the plastic off during the summer.  I had taken it off again this year, but Zena did not recognize the screen and went through the door, then the raccoon got into the bird seed.  Putting it back up solved the problem of both Zena and the racoon.  Now it is melting off the door during the day and I have been resealing it every night.  Melissa took Zena outside when we got up Sunday and the plastic had again fallen to the ground.  Zena saw a squirrel and took off, and since the plastic was not there as a deterrent, she went right through the screen again.  That meant it was time to buy new Velcro and redo the plastic over the bottom of the door.

When I looked online, I found Velcro was the creation of Swiss engineer Georges de Mestral, who had been inspired by a walk in the woods with his dog in 1941.  When they returned home de Mestral noticed the burrs attached to his pants and his dog’s fur.  When de Mestral examined the burrs under a microscope he saw the tips of the burr contained tiny hooks that attach themselves to fibers in clothing, like a hook-and-eye fastener.  The first challenge was finding a fabric he could use to create a strong bonding system.  He tried cotton but found it too soft and unable to stand repeated openings and closures.  After repeated testing, de Mestral learned synthetics worked best, and settled on heat-treated nylon.  To mass-produce his product, de Mestral needed to design a special loom that could weave the fibers in just the right size, shape, and density.  By 1955, de Mestral completed his improved version of the product.  Each square inch of material contained 300 hooks.  This was a density strong enough to stay fastened, yet easy enough to pull apart when needed.  De Mestral named his product “Velcro,” from the French words “velours” (velvet) and “crochet” (hook).  In 1955, he received a patent for Velcro from the Swiss government and began mass-producing Velcro in Europe and eventually expanding to Canada and the US.  Now if they could only develop a glue that did not melt in the summer heat.

While it took a while for Velcro to be accepted, it is now used everywhere from healthcare (blood pressure cuffs, orthopedic devices, and surgeons’ gowns) to clothing and footwear, sporting and camping equipment, toys and recreation, and more.  Velcro was used in the first human artificial heart transplant to hold parts of the device together.  Velcro has been used by the US military but has recently undergone modifications.  Velcro can be too noisy in a combat setting and tends to become less effective in dust-prone areas (deserts), causing it to be temporarily removed from military uniforms.  In 1984, on his late-night television show, comedian David Letterman wore a Velcro suit and had himself catapulted onto a Velcro wall.  His successful experiment launched the new trend of Velcro-wall jumping.  The game took off in New Zealand then moved to the US in 1991.  To no one’s surprise, this became a favorite bar game activity in the 1990’s.

𝗧HOUGHTS:  The process de Mestral used to develop Velcro by examining an aspect of nature and using its properties for practical applications has come to be known as “biomimicry.”  Biomimicry is about valuing nature for what we can learn, not what we can extract, harvest, or domesticate.  In the process we can learn about ourselves, our purpose, and our connection to each other and the earth.  Biomimicry has three elements at its core values and essence.  It learns from and emulates nature’s forms, processes, and ecosystems to create more regenerative designs.  It has the ethos of understanding how life works and creating designs that support and create conditions conducive to life.  Finally, as a concept it can (re)connect humans as part of nature to find our place in the Earth’s interconnected ecosystems.  This seems like affirmable ideals.  Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

August 03, 2022

Zena has gotten good about coming back to my office and letting me know it is time for her to go outside, and even better about letting me know it is time to eat.  Somehow, I have become the designated outside person.  She will often get up from in front of Melissa to walk back to my office to let me know it is time to go out or to eat.  When I am in my office it means that I am writing, and Zena will invariably come get me while I am in the middle of a thought.  Since Zena is still learning that she needs to go out I believe it is my responsibility to take her whenever she comes to me.  Melissa is suspicious that what Zena really wants is the treat that comes with her obedience.  I had fed Zena lunch and now an hour later she came back to tell me it was time to go out.  I put her leash on and opened the door to find a very large package sitting on the front porch.  Zena is always curious, but something about this package really got her attention.

When I looked online, I found a USPS letter carrier’s response to why packages are left on the front porch.  “Quite simply, packages are left on the porch because employees do not have enough time to wait for someone to answer the door, or to leave a pick-up notice for each package.  During the Christmas season a postal service rout may get over 100 packages a day.  It would take over three hours just to deliver just those packages if we had to do this for each one.  If you don’t want your package left on the porch, you can leave a note on your door, and/or get a signature confirmation or insurance where the package must be signed for at the time of delivery.”  If the package comes with the mail the carrier will generally leave our mail along with the package on the table along with Melissa’s succulents.  This is convenient for us and hidden from the street.  If the package is not left and you get a notice, you will have to go to the post office during their working hours to retrieve your package. 

Zena was quick outside and rushed back to investigate the package on the porch.  When I tried to scoot it inside with my foot it would not move.  Then I knocked the package over and it made a sound like gravel sloshing.  I figured it was more of the rock Melissa buys to put around her succulent arrangements.  I drug it in the house and told Melissa her rock was here, but she had not ordered any.  Zena was still curious, and I had to push her back as I opened the package.  Then I understood why Zena was franticly sniffing the package.  Inside the box was the fifty pound bag of puppy chow Melissa had ordered last week.  As usual, the box was twice as large as it needed to be to contain the puppy food.  The rest of the package had been stuffed with filler.

𝗧HOUGHTS:  My recollection is that prior to the pandemic (in the good ol’ days) drivers would knock or ring your doorbell prior to leaving a package at your front door.  Now there is rarely any indication something has been delivered unless it needs to be signed for.  The USPS does provide a phone app that notifies when something is delivered and gives an indication of what it is.  Melissa is a techie and has this and will occasionally ask if we got a specific piece of mail, although I have never seen it.  Leaving the package on the porch has given rise to porch pirates who roam the neighborhood looking for a package to steal.  It seems some will turn any convenience into their own opportunity.  Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

August 02, 2022

My Sunday NY Times feed brought up the growing incidence of book banning in the US.  Freedom of speech is a fundamental right in America, but apparently that right ends if you write a book that says something other people disagree with.  Banning of books and pamphlets began as censorship in the Colonies in the 17th century and led America’s founders to draft the First Amendment to the Constitution.  The recent wave began at the end of last year according to a statement from the American Library Association’s (ALA) Office for Intellectual Freedom (OIF).  Between June 1 and November 29, 2021, OIF tracked an unprecedented 155 unique censorship incidents.  Most of the challenged books focus on LGBTQ issues, discuss racism in America, and/or “document the Black experience or the experiences of other BIPOC individuals.”  The crusade to suppress marginalized voices has picked up steam in 2022, with increasing numbers of parents, activists, school boards, and local policymakers seizing the chance to enact bans and restrictions on books in schools and public libraries.

When I looked online, I found book banning is the act of removing materials from a school or library’s collection because of objections from groups or individuals who say that they need to protect others (children) from the difficult information or ideas contained in the books.  While book banning today focuses on attempts to keep certain works of fiction out of the hands of impressionable children and young adults, the first instances of this censorship in Colonial America centered on objections to religious and political texts deemed too dangerous for the public.  This censorship continued even after passage of the First Amendment, with perhaps the most famous being the reaction to publication of Uncle Tom’s Cabin.  This is Harriet Beecher Stowe’s 1852 novel on the cruelties of slavery, and the first American work of fiction to become an international best seller.  Stowe’s novel was widely banned in the American South as “abolitionist propaganda” and is still challenged in the US today for its inclusion of racial slurs.  In response to the controversy, Congress passed the Comstock Act of 1873, which made it “illegal to possess, sell, give away, exhibit, or send obscene books, pamphlets, pictures, drawings, or advertisements through the mail, along with anything else considered lewd, lascivious, immoral, or indecent.”  Between 1874 and 1915, an estimated 3,500 people were prosecuted, but only about 350 were convicted.

Who has the authority to ban books depends on the institution where a book is located.  For schools this is generally the school board who gives the final approval on whether a book will be included in the school curriculum, the school library, or on a suggested reading list.  Most school districts have a committee that give recommendations to the board.   Book banning a set of “4 R’s” (redaction, relocation, restriction, and removal) that are contrary to the “3 R’s” taught in school (reading, ‘riting, and ‘rithmatic).  Redaction is when you put a line through a word you do not like or cover a particular image.  Relocation is when you remove something from its intended audience and aim it at a different audience (putting a children’s book in the young adult section).  Restriction is when you require permission to read something.  Removal is what most people think about when they hear about book banning.  This says the book needs to be removed “from the collection, from the curriculum, and from my sight.” 

𝗧HOUGHTS:  It is a violation of the First Amendment for the government to “ban books merely because it dislikes the ideas contained in those books, nor may it do so for partisan, political, or viewpoint-based reasons,” says Vera Eidelman of the ACLU.  Libraries are places where people can exercise their First Amendment rights by exploring a wide range of viewpoints, genres, and experiences.  First Amendment protections apply whether the government is banning books entirely or limits access to them by putting them in a separate section or behind the librarians’ desk.  There are 27 ratified amendments to the US Constitution.  You cannot have selective memory when it comes to supporting these amendments.  Each ensures a granted right.  Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

August 01, 2022

The Nation & World section in today’s local newspaper carried an AP article on the emission problems caused from abandoned oil and gas wells in California.  California law limits the amount of climate pollution and every year the limit gets stricter.  California has historically been a large producer of oil and gas, and 35,000 inactive and uncapped wells now dot the landscape.  Even though the locations of these wells are known, regulators do not monitor the wells and their methane emissions are not included in the inventory of the state’s emissions.  The amount of methane (and other gasses) leaking from the wells is not known, but a 2020 study indicated the emissions from uncapped wells is “more substantial” than from capped wells.  A ton of methane was found to be 83 times worse for the environment than a ton of carbon dioxide over a 20 year period.  The Methane Accountability Project was signed into law in June 2022 by the State of California.  This authorized spending US$100 million on satellites to track methane leaks.

When I looked online, I found methane gas in its natural form has no color or odor, which makes methane exposure particularly concerning.  Methane exposure can cause health problems if you are exposed to concentrated quantities of the gas or if you’ve been exposed for extended periods of time.  Methane poisoning is a bit of a misnomer, as rather than being toxic it acts as an asphyxiant, depriving your body of oxygen.  Methane also poses a danger to the environment and is one of several greenhouse gases that contribute to global warming and climate change. ​ Greenhouse gases​ create a layer of insulation in the atmosphere that allows heat to enter the atmosphere then reflects the rays back towards the Earth rather than letting them escape again, increasing overall global temperature.  Approximately 80% of greenhouse gases come from carbon dioxide emissions, 10% from methane, and the remaining 10% from various other sources.

An oil or gas well is considered abandoned when it’s reached the end of its useful life and is no longer producing enough fuel to make money.  Many operators will then cap the well with a temporary seal.  These wells may sit in an “idle” or “inactive” state for months or even years posing a risk for methane to leak into the atmosphere and toxic chemicals into groundwater until it is properly plugged with cement.  If the company that owned the well went bankrupt, or if there is no owner found to plug or maintain it, the abandoned well is considered “orphaned.”  The cost to plug an orphaned well varies depending on its age, depth, and location.  In North Dakota, where some wells are drilled to depths of more than 20,000 feet, it can cost US$150,000 to plug a single well and restore the surrounding land.  In Pennsylvania, the state budgets about US$33,000 to plug each well.  Many states require companies to post bonds to pay for well plugging but the bond amount is generally far lower than the cost of plugging.  On federal lands, the average amount held in bonds was just US$2,122 per well in 2018.  Some groups are pushing states to tighten rules on how long a well can remain idle or to raise the bond amounts required of operators.

𝗧HOUGHTS:  An effort in 2005 to obtain funding from Congress for a federal oil and gas well-plugging program failed to secure much money.  States like Texas, Pennsylvania, New Mexico, and North Dakota, fund their plugging operations through fees or taxes paid by the oil and gas industry, but that money is not enough to plug all the abandoned wells.  Environmental restoration by other extraction industries is also neglected or deemed inexpedient or of a low priority, even though in much of the industrialized world it has been increasingly demanded by the public since at least since the early 1970’s.  If a company is allowed to make millions (billions?) of dollars by tearing the environment apart, should they not also be held accountable to make the site safe during extraction and put it back together once they are finished?  Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 30, 2022

We have become increasingly dissatisfied with the pest service who has been treating our house.  They primarily spray for insects around the outside of the foundation and put granules in the yard to kill the grubs and worms which proliferate and attract the moles.  They last sprayed in May, and I mentioned when Melissa later went to work on the front bed, she was attacked by pavement ants (Tetramorium caespitum) that had gathered underneath one of her agave’s.  Early summer we were still having rain and the ants had also entered inside and were on the kitchen bar.  I had gone out and re-treated the front bed and sidewalk with both granules and spray and we put ant traps in several locations along the bar.  I do not know if this worked or whether the rains stopped, and the ants no longer had incentive to come inside.  Although they were no longer inside, we continued to have trails along the sidewalk and bed.  That was when Melissa had enough and told me to cancel the service. 

When I looked online, I found ant infestations are among the most difficult to eradicate.  There are four common species of ants in our state.  The banded sugar ant (Camponotus consobrinus), also known as the sugar ant, refers to the ant’s liking for sugar and sweet food, as well as the distinctive orange-brown band that wraps around its gaster (posterior).  They are often found in the kitchen looking for something sweet to eat and cause problems when they get into food and contaminate it.  Odorous house ants (Tapinoma sessile) are a species also called the odorous house ant, sugar ant, stink ant, and coconut ant.  This species can be brown or black and are known by the rotten coconut smell they emit.  Fire ants (Pogonomyrmex barbatus) refer to several species of ants in the genus Solenopsis.  These little red ants are aggressive and bite in unison, causing severe pain and anaphylaxis in people allergic to their bites.  Fire ant nests look like little mounds of sand in the grass, and they expand rapidly.  Carpenter ants (Camponotus spp.) are large (0.3 to 1 in or 8 to 25 mm) ants indigenous to many forested parts of the world.  They build nests inside (preferably) dead, damp wood and may be attracted to your property when there are wood piles or wet firewood stacked in the yard.  The site indicated ants are almost impossible to get rid of without turning to a pest control service.

Like most pest services, it is easier to sign up than to cancel.  After Melissa had asked me to cancel, I had gotten busy with other projects and forgot about the service.  Then I received a text this week saying I was scheduled for the next treatment.  I called and canceled and was told a supervisor would call back to see why I was dissatisfied.  Several days later I got a call and explained the reason we used the service was to get rid of the ants and moles that we had in the yard, and the service was doing neither.  I agreed to give them one more chance to try and eliminate the ants (the mole was not their problem).  They would complete a thorough service, check back in seven days, and if it had not been effective, they would respray.  If I was not happy, I could still cancel.  We will see next week.

𝗧HOUGHTS:  Regardless of what happens with the ants I admit the technician was more diligent than they have been in the past.  When I told him of the problem, he took time to spray the yard as well as scatter the granules.  I asked him to spray the interior porch and the entryways, and he placed gel on all the probable traffic areas.  I was guaranteed these were all plant based substances that would not harm our succulents or Zena.  The final deterrent was to place glue traps near entryways.  One failing I noticed throughout out the pandemic was a lack of customer service.  I seemed we were all so stressed out that taking care of the needs of other was not high on the list.  This technician was an exception.  Great service should be the goal for all.  Act for all. Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 29, 2022

When Melissa let Zena out to play on the porch yesterday, she ran to the back of the fence and began to bark incessantly.  Zena usually only barks when she gets excited when we play at night or if she finds some new object in her familiar surroundings.  When I put my jar of sun tea out the first time she barked until I finally went outside and introduced her to the jar.  She quit barking when she knew it was not a threat and now ignores the jar if it is outside.  Zena will also bark at strange dogs or people she meets on our walks, but again stops when she knows they are not a threat.  That led Melissa to believe Zena must have found something new and she went out to investigate.  There was a young armadillo frozen along the trees just off the back fence.  When it saw Melissa, it decided to take off and Zena quit barking.

When I looked online, I found the Great Pyrenees do tend to bark a lot.  They were initially bred to guard livestock, and they use their bark to scare away predators and to alert their owners of potential dangers.  This protective instinct is what makes them excellent watchdogs.  This same instinct can make them a difficult pet to raise.  Pyrenees have a deep, loud bark to scare away intruders.  They also tend to sleep more during the day and stay awake at night to act as protection.  The continuous night barking at the slightest unexpected noise or movement can make them a challenging pet to keep in urban or suburban areas.  Pyrenees also have a reputation for being stubborn, independent, and hard to train, and it can be difficult to control their urge to bark.  Early training, which rewards them when they stop barking may help, but Pyrenees are not very treat-motivated.  The site closed, “If you’re looking for a quiet dog, other breeds may be a better choice for you.”  Lucky for us, Zena does not tend to bark and is highly motivated by treats.  We also keep her inside at night, so she does not investigate and bark at strange sounds.

When I went out to water my plants later, I saw the night critters had been active again.  I have had problems with something eating the tomatoes and strawberries but assumed these were the birds, especially since I have watched the blue jays flying out of my strawberry patch.  I have had problems with the soot cage being opened and knocked to the ground and have assumed it was the squirrel that I have seen nosing around the feeder.  I even had the raccoon that got onto the porch and into the bird seed bags forcing me to confine it in 5-gllon buckets.  With the heat most of my vegetables have only produced sparsely, but my pride has been the two small cantaloupes that have been growing on the vine near the house.  While one is still green, the other was beginning to ripen.  While I do not know, I assume the armadillo got to it, as it was torn off the vine and there were holes where something had chewed through the rind.  Maybe I should have left Zena outside to bark after all.

Thoughts:  The Arkansas Gardeners group that I am part of has two basic types of posts.  The first is the cool do-it-yourself projects.  These raised beds, makeshift greenhouses, and sun-shaded crop rows were prevalent as the growing season really got going toward the end of June.  Most posts now are of the second type, asking for advice on ridding the garden from insects and organic ways to eliminate weeds.  Now with the heat, there is a new category where people bark about the money spent preparing, planting, and watering plants without seeing any real produce.  One reason for my garden is an attempt to learn what it takes to be self-sustaining.  What has been re-impressed with this year’s vegetables is how fragile subsistence living can be.  Maybe I should go to the market for another cantaloupe.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 28, 2022

I received an update yesterday from my Audubon Bird site touting the recent advances in determining what birds eat.  Until recently determining what different species were eating has been cumbersome and required close observation of the berries or fish included in the diet.  Now biologists are turning to genetic tools to eliminate the guesswork of figuring out avian diets.  This builds on methods scientists have used for the past decade to solve other ecological questions, like which animals use a specific environment by looking for samples of DNA.  The process used for birds works like a barcode scanner in a grocery store.  Scientists match chunks of DNA found in avian poop to a species identification database to pinpoint the plants or animals the bird consumed.  Those snapshots are providing a fuller picture of the health needs of species from the tropics to the poles.  I was amused as the site designer had set the page so wherever you clicked on the page it would produce a splat of bird poop.

Delving deeper, I found another article on baby bird poop.  While the ground beneath the nests may be littered, the nests often contain little evidence of poop.  Diaper duty is one of the most unique and understudied behaviors among birds.  A nestling turns its rear toward the parent and ejects a floppy white bag of poop encased in mucous (a fecal sac).  The parent then either flies away to dispose of, or at times eats it.  Fecal sacs are only produced by the nestlings and are common among passerines and other “altricial” birds (requiring 24-hour parental care at birth).  Videos of fecal sacs abound but scientists know relatively little about them and only a handful of studies have been done on the sacs.  Evidence suggests the fecal sacs have several uses.  A fecal sac is essentially a diaper that allows the parents to pick up feces and remove it from the nest keeping the birds healthy by isolating them from any potential harm from the feces.  Occasionally birds eat the sacs, allegedly because the nestlings cannot completely digest the food they eat and there are still nutrients available in the sacs.  The third idea is that poop free nests might be less noticeable by predators that are drawn to the sight or smell.  As said, there needs to be more research (scientist for, “I do not know.”).

The last poop article declared that in the hierarchy of animal droppings, bird poop stands supreme.  Where most poop is buried under grass, bird poop lands all over the place, including on our freshly washed cars.  Bird poop begins in the cloaca where instead of urine, nitrogenous wastes are excreted in the form of whitish acid and are expelled along with the feces.  The volume of droppings depends on the size of the bird, but the varying shapes of splat are all physics.  “Most bird poop has the classic smatter, that heavy drop with a slight sperm-like tail.  Other familiar shapes include the double-execution shot, the spiral galaxy, Philip Baker Hall eyes, the crater, the radish rose, the melted Dali clock, the wax postage seal, the two-dollar taco, and the halfhearted runny egg.  As a collective, the drops take on a feeling of abstract expressionism, channeling the drip paintings of Jackson Pollock.”  While the designs may be interesting, the uric acid can corrode the paint on your car.  Personally, I have never thought of the bird poop found after parking under a tree to be an expressionist work of art.

Thoughts:  When I was in Jr. High our driveway was lined with a row of trees and it was not uncommon to come out in the morning and find one or two splats of poop deposited as the birds took flight in the morning.  One morning we found the entire car covered by dozens of fresh droppings.  While there must have been a large flock of birds roosting in the trees above our car, we deemed this the work of Eddy Eagle.  This has continued to be remembered as part of our family lore to this day and is invoked when one of us encounters a large splatter of poop.  Childhood memories shape us all.  Whether they are good or bad (or just odd), they affect our thoughts and impressions as adults.  That is why it is so important to nurture each child with a positive upbringing.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 27, 2022

Zena and I have been continuing to do our morning walks despite the excessive heat warnings.  We try to get out by at least 10 am (Melissa’s scheduled daily zoom call) to avoid the warnings which are typically from noon to 8 pm.  I check the temperature on my weather app and if the feels like is over 100F (33.7C) we try to shorten our time out.  We have found a runoff drain that is located about three-fourths of the way along the walk and this allows Zena a quick recuperative drink.  I have noticed that by the time we are through I am sweating profusely, and Zena tends to take a nap after I give her (and me) a cool drink of water.  When I came home from work yesterday, I felt exhausted and the two of us took a nap together.  After our walk today I began to wonder about the prolonged effects of heat (btw, I do not have heat exhaustion or stoke and quickly recover).

When I looked online, the Mayo Clinic defined heat exhaustion as a condition whose symptoms may include heavy sweating and rapid pulse stemming from your body overheating.  It is one of three heat-related syndromes, with heat cramps being the mildest and heatstroke being the most severe.  Heat exhaustion is caused by exposure to high temperatures, particularly when combined with high humidity (feels like), and strenuous physical activity.  Without prompt treatment, heat exhaustion can lead to the more life-threatening condition of heatstroke.  Heat exhaustion may develop suddenly or over time, especially with prolonged periods of exercise.  Symptoms include heavy sweating, faintness or dizziness, fatigue, weak or rapid pulse, low blood pressure on standing, cramps, nausea, and headaches.  The Mayo recommends if you have any of these symptoms to stop all activity and rest, move to a cooler place, and drink cool water or sports drink.  There was no mention of taking two aspirin and calling in the morning.

If fluids and rest do not resolve the symptoms, you will want to see a doctor.  With quick and effective treatment, most recover with little or no problems from heat stroke.  If heat exhaustion is treated promptly, the individual will usually be fully recovered within 24-48 hours.  As summer athletic camps continue and August practice days approach it is good to remember that heat illness during practice or competition is a leading cause of death and disability among US high school athletes.  An estimated 7.5 million students participate in high school sports annually.  A CDC study in the mid to late 2000’s reported high school athletes experience more than 9,000 heat-related injuries every year.   Football players are 10 times more likely to experience a heat-related injury, compared to other high school athletes.  Football players are also at a much higher risk of heat stress, accounting for about five percent of all heat-related visits to the emergency room between 2005 and 2009.  Since 1995 an average of three football players a year have died of heat stroke, and most of them were high schoolers. 

Thoughts:  Research shows that when signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke appear, there is a 100% survival rate when someone with a 104-degree core body temperature is immersed in cold water within 5 to 10 minutes of diagnosis.  That is why it is important to keep an ice bath on hand when practicing in excessive heat.  Whether playing games or working outside, excessive heat poses a real threat.  Coaches need to be aware that athletes are not being lazy.  Employers need to allow workers the option to take frequent breaks and provide plenty of fluids.  Heat illness is preventable, if you have the luxury of being able to stay out of or not work in the excessive heat.  Act for all.  Change is coming and it starts with you.

July 26, 2022

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

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

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

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

July 23, 2022

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

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

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

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