Revolution Watch

I have been following the Sustainable Revolution for many years now realizing that at some point, and I suspect soon, we as a country must do things in a sustainable way. In my view, most of what we do, particularly how we use power, has to dramatically change. Oil, like other forms of fossil fuels, are finite and will reach a point where no matter how hard we try, we will not be able to increase the amount coming from the ground. Its called Peak Oil.

All indications say peak already occurred in July of '08. What it comes down to is that once this is admitted, our world will change and our never ending economic growth will probably come to a very sudden end. This is not a pretty picture and it may well be under way as I write.

From that point on, we will have to get very serious about being sustainable. This will not be an easy task because we are very accustomed to a lifestyle that is not even marginally sustainable.

But there are a few things that must be done to allow us to scale down without eating the big one. While I hate to admit it, nuclear power happens to be one of them, in fact it may be the only real one. Yes, I know there are other alternatives like wind and solar but the truth is, they will never scale up.

It has recently come to my attention that the OBama administration is going full speed ahead on getting nuclear power going. To me, this means they are on top of their game and see the problems of fossil fuels. I see it as a positive step, maybe one of the only steps. The reactors will have to be accompanied with a reduction of consumption of at least 50%--to European level. The nucs will take 10 years to come on line. I don't like that gap.

Wild, Wild TV Action

Through the years I have watched some TV. Not a lot, but there are some very exciting events and programs that I am glad I did not miss. We have seen many Bronco games and screamed and cheered, and just acted stupid and I like swearing. After all it was exciting and we did win, you heard it, two Super Bowls---and you can't take that from us. In your face white man!

We laughed a Saturday Night Live and loved Boston Legal, not to mention John Stuart. But yesterday as I walked by the TV room, I heard Ann muttering something that indicated she was getting seriously roused up---no it wasn't a porno because we can't get it. I think our kids put some kind of blocker on that---a heart attack prevention thing. She was actually talking to herself or to the TV seeming to agree with something.

"Oh wow, that's how that goes." she exclaimed. After few minutes, while sitting at my stinking computer trying to see if we had any stocks left after the afternoon massacre, I again heard rumblings and sounds of excitement. My God, was John Elway back in football. The woman was intent and glued to the damn thing. I dashed in and there on the tube was a couple of women knitting and jabbering about pearling and some other action packed event involving needles and yarn.

What next?" I thought. I mean, knitting on TV! There was an entire channel devoted to knitting and other needle things. An entire station! It is bad enough that there are endless programs that do nothing but talk about Jesus day in day out and then what money.

I remembered there is a new yarn shop in town. Life in America

Missonary's Position

It is hard to know where to start with this one. The attached photo is an actual man-made machine that is used to mine tar sands in Canada. It apparently can move form location to location. It is so rude it is almost impossible for me to imagine and one has to wonder if it is for real.

Can you imagine this thing coming to your property, a place where a big corporation owns the mineral rights? Can you imagine it just crossing your property?

Is there something wrong about this? Does the earth need to be attacked by this monster? The sad part of it is that the digging done by this elephantine pile of man's ingenuity is only part of the destruction. The processing of the tar sands uses some 100 gallons of water to process a barrel synfuel and believe me when the water is passed through the sand it ain't exactly going to be pristine when it comes out.

In addition, unbelievable amounts of natural gas has to be burned in the process. Now if you were a Canadian and knew that almost all of this synfuel was going to the USA, how would you feel? I guess they like the money. But oddly enough, the project is not really profitable and has to be subsidized by the government.

The word out there says this thing is not really efficient because every time a tooth breaks the repair Job is daunting. Please go away.

Our Crafty Squirrels

Every individual that has a bird feeder has squirrel stories. I have always liked the one about a neighbor who decided to hook his dangling feeder to a motor so that when a certain amount of weight, in the form of a squirrel landed on the platform, the motor would be turned on and the entire contraption would spin wildly. The squirrel would be expelled by a centrifugal force only found on astronaut training vehicles. They would hold on, their little toothy faces distorted, with great determination but in the end they were tossed far and wide like sock squirrels.

I suspect this method was more a form of entertainment for the owner but then, in my world, both are fair game.

I also appreciate the greasing of the metal pole that holds the feeding platform. The squirrels mount the pole with great anticipation only to find there is not traction and then slide hopelessly downward. Not only are they discouraged but also covered in whatever form of grease was used. The grease part of this is also a deterrent to breeding as the mate is rumored to be very turned off by the odor and implications of bear grease. Again a two for one.

We have not been as lucky because, I suspect, we don't have the commitment. The squirrels have found that they can actually jump some ten feet horizontally to our hanging feeder landing with a great fanfare, swinging wildly on the suspended trough. In minutes, they fill their gullets and launch off in soulful bounding leaps.

A few days ago Ann noticed that the lughead of a squirrel had found out how to get the suet, which I didn't even know they liked. The suet is nothing but animal fat and is intended to feed wintering bug-eaters like Nuthatches. Squirrels are nut eaters. Oh well, in the world of beef production, they are feeding cattle left over animal parts, including cattle offal. However, The squirrels have a choice. I want no part of either. I wish they would stick to seeds and nuts. Even the art work will not keep this one away.

Revolution Watch

Just when I thought the Sustainable Revolution was moving along, events happen that make me wonder how much depth the revolution has. I had noticed last weekend a screaming sound coming form the local fair grounds, that would be the grounds that has a race course.

Now keep in mind, it is winter here so one has to wonder just what is screaming around the oval. Oh that's right, this is the land of the beeler. The beeler is a person who drives a snowmobile. While it is true that beeling is not what it once was in that now when I snowshoe, if we should bump into one, they frequently stop the engine to let us pass, and in doing so we usually chat. The engines are frequently four strokers and don't really smell.

The racing part of it still similar to the past in that it seems most are still two strokers that smoke and scream like a high speed stuck rabbit. Now, if we had a truly well-intended revolution going on, one would think these rather unsustainable machines would start to fade out. No luck there. I would reckon that until they are actually outlawed, they will remain. As a long time motor head, I suppose, I have little room to comment, but one day they will go.

Banking Local

Our dog Chester, or Chessler as Ann calls him, is a pleasant sort. He was designed to herd sheep and cattle but his skills we found wanting and he was abandoned by the cowboy who worked for us up on the ranch. The young man was having a serious rift with his wife and Chester was just another issue he couldn't handle. Leaving a terrified dog was not cool.

That is were we came in and from a good friend in the canyon, we got Chester. While he has some abandonment issues, he is a very lovable dog and is immensely good at laying around the house and giving affection and begging for the same. He still is not known for any working attributes other than be lovable. He has no hobbies.

However, he has a certain personality trait that, while not confined to this one type of dog, has taken a new twist. He does sit in front of the cabinet staring, knowing full well that if perfectly administered, he will get a milk bone. He knows that if comes in from the outside after performing his duty, he may also get a treat by looking at Ann with sad intent eyes.

Maybe a year ago he learned that when we go to make a deposit at the International Bank, if he sits up in the car he will also be rewarded by the teller. But about three months ago while walking to the Harvest Home Bakery, he ran over and sat in front of the deposit window at the bank looking up with those big eyes suggesting that even though he was not making a deposit maybe he could have a biscuit. The first couple of times, I whistled him off. But one day while he did this, the drawer came out and on it was a prized biscuit which after a little coaxing he grabbed.


It was at that moment I realized why I bank locally. Chester now makes frequent withdrawals.

Wisconsin Night Walk

We missed the blue moon because of clouds, but the next night the path was well lit and the moon was back in all its beauty even if it was January 2010. The 15 degree temperature was perfect for a night walk.


Chester bounded over the groomed trail only briefly trying to go forest bound where the snow was deeper and ice encrusted. One drop through of the crust and he was back out on the trail more informed and bounding as if it was Sunday on a Friday night. He was going to church.

The moon shown right down the trough and lite the trail almost to the point of offering us color, but even a winter day has almost no color except the many shades of gray, so the night trail remained just darker shades of gray---or is it a whiter shade of pale?

We walked fast and at times I found myself accentuation my stride in a Monty Python silly walk, it was exaggerated, rather a sign of pure joy, with my arms flopping wildly as we sauntered eastward. Ann appeared less animated as she peered out from under her Zhivago scarf. I am sure she thought I was an idiot, maybe like some insane buffoon loosened from the chains of the Cuckoos Nest. That's OK pure joy can have its moments of insanity, or can insanity have its moments of joy. Just "Once in a very blue moon"

Missionary's Position

"Treat the earth well: it was not given to you by your parents, it was loaned to you by your children. We do not inherit the Earth from our Ancestors, we borrow it from our Children." Native American comment


Now doesn't that just hit it on the head? And these were the same people we saw as savages. It would seem to me that somewhere along the line we so-modern types would figure this one out.

I suspect that it all comes down to an innate greed and the never-ending desire to have it all. I recently read The Spirit of the Gene by Reg Morison and he made an interesting observation that humans were actually a plague species. Like locust we would continue to expand our populations consuming every consumable resource until it was all depleted and would suffer the demise of all plague species. How about that one?

One would think we would have transcended the life style of the locust and the lowly yeast. We, after all, have a highly developed brains and the ability to see ourselves in relation to the environment. We supposedly have the ability of reason and to make the connections. Thus, we should be able to recognize our weaknesses and make adjustments.

Well, for 2010 I'm going bust my ass trying to keep it simple, keep my eyes open, scale it down even if I know that if every American did so, the economy as we know it would collapse. It is a strange world. Instead of buying a big board and riding the wave, I'm going to go for a nice handful of beets, long walks in the woods, and do my damnedest to make a decent place for the next generation.