The watering Hole, Tuesday January 5th, 2016 – Environmental News and Food Politics

The first stream restoration I was ever involved with took place on a dairy farm. A small three foot wide tributary carved through a dairy pasture, warmed and silted by the lack of vegetation along its course of 1700 feet of the property. We had no idea what to expect but the speed of the results were mid-boggling, and all we did was erect fencing and crossings to keep the cows out of the stream. Trout re-population was our goal, but they came last after many more restorations due to temperature issues upstream, but ducks, otters, water snakes and tons of aquatic insects appeared withing a couple of months. Seventeen years later, scientists are here to tell us that river restoration does not take generations, that the positive effects are speedier than first thought, and that they are inter-specific.. Hell, they could have just asked my Trout Unlimited chapter.

The tandem effects of restoration.

Cattle impacted stream segment.

One year later

Sunday Roast: Spider!

Photo by Zooey

This beautiful spider has set up an abattoir on a huge web outside my kitchen window.  He’s got about five of these little “packets” in his web at any given time, and just goes from one to another, stabbing in his sippy straw and chugging away.

It’s really rather disgusting, but fascinating at the same time — and as long as he stays on his side of the window, we will remain the best of friends.

This is our daily open thread — Anyone know what kind of spider this is?

Sunday Roast: Summer Solstice

Happy Summer Solstice, all y’all?  Heh, all I know is that it’s supposed to be the day of the year with the longest daylight hours.  I won’t say it’s the longest day of the year, because, as we all know, that is a rather subjective concept.

Anyhoo, enjoy this lovely video of Alaska during summer solstice.

This is our daily open thread — Brace yourselves for summer…

Sunday Roast: Gravity Glue…again

“The Man” in Boulder was trying to mess with Michael Grab aka Gravity Glue guy, because stupid reasons, but the prosecuting attorney told those cops to piss off, which I like in a prosecutor.

If you go to Grab’s video list on YouTube, you’ll find all kinds of awesome balancing going on.

Is it just me, or does anyone else’s hands get super cold watching him convincing those stones to do what he wants them to do?  Brrrrr….

This is our daily open thread — Enjoy it while you can, cuz 2016 is coming…

Sunday Roast: Sea Lions Doing Sea Lion-y Stuff

Lounging…

Swimming…

Vocalizing…and more lounging…

Blowing bubbles…napping…maybe waving?

Photos by Zooey

I definitely waved back, just in case.  😉

Sea Lions, I like ’em.  Some people hate ’em.  Whatareyagonnado?

This is our daily open thread — Get on with it!

Sunday Roast: Road Trip pics

Some sort of duck in a pond

Fields, farm & hills, Cougar Ridge area, ID

Awesome canoe sculpture, Lewiston, Idaho

View of the rolling hills of the Palouse, from Steptoe Butte, WA

Dried thistles, Steptoe Butte, WA

Basalt formation, Columbia River Gorge, Biggs, OR

Photos by Zooey

So it was a good trip, with beautiful sunny days and cold nights, visits with friends and family, and lower gas prices than Oregon.  It’s the little things that count.  🙂

This is our daily open thread — Did you turn your clock back or forward?

Sunday Roast: Happy Birthday, Pale Blue Dot!

I’m only a day late, but it’s been 25 years (yesterday) since the famous photo was taken by Voyager 1.

I don’t know about all y’all, but every time I hear Carl Sagan talking about “the only home we’ve ever known,” I weep like a baby.  It’s so hopeful, but, at the same time, it’s a severe reality check.

This is our daily open thread — Remember, we’re all in this together.

Sunday Roast: Neat stuff on Earth

Unfortunately, this means the secret about all these cool places is now out, and we can expect Wal-Marts to begin popping any time now…

This is our daily open thread — Love the Earth!

Sunday Roast: Brown Pelicans

Photos by Zooey

My oldest boy wanted to see Brown Pelicans, so we went to the Devil’s Punch Bowl and saw some damn pelicans.  Bam.

What did you do with your first Saturday in November?

This is our daily open thread — You know what to do.

The Watering Hole: Sept 15, 2014 — Devil’s Churn

Photo by Zooey

Okay folks, this is your late, late, super late, open thread.  🙂

I took this photo on a trip to the Oregon coast in 2008, and I’m standing above the top of Devil’s Churn.  It’s pretty damn awesome!

This is our daily open thread — let the abuse flow.

 

Sunday Roast: Cats & Zooey take a day trip

Yesterday, it was such a beautiful day that Cats and I decided to take a spur of the moment day trip.  We made a loop from Eugene, down past Cottage Grove, over to Reedsport, then up to Florence, and back to Eugene.

The scenery was AMAZING, and here are just a few of the things we saw:

Canada Geese having a rest on their journey home.

Roosevelt Elk, looking a bit raggedy and having lunch of fresh green grass.

More Roosevelt Elk having a lie down.

Stunning pink rhododendrons.

Dunes in Florence.

It was a perfectly lovely day, and, as you might imagine, we discussed all the issues of the day, and solved every single one of them — if only people would listen to us.  😉

This is our daily open thread — Get on with it!

Sunday Roast: Lichen

Lichens on basalt, Skinner Butter, Eugene, OR

Photo by Zooey

From the Wikipedia:

Lichens occur in some of the most extreme environments on Earth—arctic tundra, hot deserts, rocky coasts, and toxic slag heaps. However, they are also abundant as epiphytes on leaves and branches in rain forests and temperate woodland, on bare rock, including walls and gravestones, and on exposed soil surfaces (e.g., Collema) in otherwise mesic habitats. The roofs of many buildings have lichens growing on them. Lichens are widespread and may be long-lived; however, many are also vulnerable to environmental disturbance, and may be useful to scientists in assessing the effects of air pollution, ozone depletion, and metal contamination. Lichens have also been used in making dyes and perfumes, as well as in traditional medicines. It has been estimated that 6% of Earth’s land surface is covered by lichen.

This is our very, very, very, very late daily open thread — I blame DST!!

Sunday Roast: Gravity Glue

Michael Grab balances rocks into beautiful shapes.  He calls it Gravity Glue.

“…I am referring to meditation, or finding a zero point or silence within yourself. Some balances can apply significant pressure on your mind and your patience. The challenge is overcoming any doubt that may arise.”

I think this would be useful in life, outside of your rock balancing efforts.

This is our daily open thread — Breathe.

Sunday Roast: “There’ll be no more chains.”

This is our daily open thread — Need a tissue?

The Watering Hole, Monday, July 1st, 2013: Creatures Great and Small

First, a look at some strange underwater life, including such oddities as the “Christmas Tree Worm”, which comes in a wide array of colors.

Assorted Christmas Tree Worms (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Next, although the title of the article is “What the Heck Is That? Animals You Didn’t Know Existed”, I believe that most of us nature-lovers will recognize at least some of these unusual animals, such as the Aye-Aye from Madagascar or the Proboscis Monkey.

Aye-Aye foraging at night (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Proboscis Monkey (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Once you finish checking out the “What the Heck Is That?” article, directly below it (under the heading “More on Weather.com: Meerkats and other Baby Animals) is a photo gallery of baby animals, from meerkats (loads of them) to baby rhinos, various primates, tapirs, capybaras, coatis, and tons more.

Baby Brazilian Tapir (photo courtesy of Wikipedia)

Last, here’s a happy-ending story about an unusual trio of formerly-abused animal friends.

This is our Open Thread. Enjoy Nature’s wonders at The Zoo!

The Watering Hole, Monday, February 4th, 2013: Watering Holes

Here’s some watering holes for today’s Open Thread- notice that the zebras seem to get along with everyone?

The Watering Hole, Monday, January 28th, 2013: Glory and Wonder

“First light at Daytona brought in heavy fog.” Thank you, houseofroberts, for inadvertently (and somewhat circuitously) inspiring this post. Hopefully you’ll enjoy the respite from the perpetual political perturbations in this refreshing pool of nature’s glory and wonder.

“Sunrise on Flowers” – source webmastergrade.com

After I read house’s comment yesterday morning, I went to TheWeatherChannel.com to check our forecast. After finding that it was just a chilly 7 degrees out – brrrrr! – I found my inspiration.

Let’s start with, appropriately, Sunrises. The first photo in the group, “…taken by johndhard at Smith Rock State Park in central Oregon…”, brings to mind the style of artist Maxfield Parrish, i.e.:

“Arizona”, Maxfield Parris

Winter Sunrise”, Maxfield Parrish

Feeling more human now? Then let’s learn a little about clouds, including, but not limited to “Hole-Punch Clouds”, as seen here:

Hole Punch Cloud (source, picemony.com)

This is today’s open thread. Well, that was good for me, how about you?

The Watering Hole, Monday, November 19th, 2012: Tranquility

Pause, take a deep breath. Relax for just a few moments and forget about politics, forget about the upcoming holiday(s) and the zillion things you need to get done. Enjoy a moment of solitude, at one with the ocean and sky.

Beach in Pine Point, Maine

This is our Open Thread – discuss whatever you’d like!

Sunday Roast: Glacial Lake Missoula

Photo by Zooey

I took this photo on my recent trip to Glacier National Park, having taken a detour down to the National Bison Range.  Over 13,000 years ago, this lush farmland was the site of a huge glacial lake; today we refer to it as Lake Missoula.

The lake was the result of an ice dam on the Clark Fork caused by the southern encroachment of a finger of the Cordilleran Ice Sheet into the Idaho Panhandle (at the present day location of Clark Fork, Idaho at the east end of Lake Pend Oreille). The height of the ice dam typically approached 610 metres (2,000 ft), flooding the valleys of western Montana approximately 320 kilometres (200 mi) eastward. It was the largest ice-dammed lake known to have occurred.

Approximately forty times over a 2000 year period, the glacial ice dam ruptured, and the contents of Lake Missoula went screaming across the Idaho Panhandle, Eastern Washington (creating the Scablands), and the Columbia River Gorge.  You can see that the flood even reached my little corner of the world on the Snake River.

The cumulative effect of the floods was to excavate 210 cubic kilometres (50 cu mi) of loess, sediment and basalt from the channeled scablands of eastern Washington and to transport it downstream. These floods are noteworthy for producing canyons and other large geologic features through cataclysms rather than through more typical gradual processes.

If you drive across Eastern Washington, you’ll see that even today it looks like a virtual wasteland.  Being in the rain shadow of the Cascades has something to do with it, but the main culprit was flood after flood after flood scouring off the land.  It’s really quite fascinating to imagine the raw and determined power of WATER.

This is our daily open thread — Hey, you learned something new today!

Sunday Roast: 11 Sacred and Iconic Trees

National Geographic

A car drives through the so-called Chandelier Tree in California’s Underwood Park in the 1930s. An iconic giant, this 315-foot-tall redwood was tunneled out as a novelty during the early days of gas-powered cars.

I remember driving through this tree with my family when I was 12 or 13.  We had a great big Dodge van at the time, and the door handles barely missed the sides of the tree tunnel.  It was so cool, but I remember thinking that it was too bad that whoever hollowed out that tree had no respect for such a lovely Redwood giant.  Thank goodness the tree managed to stay alive.

Check out the other ten sacred and iconic trees, such as the baobab,  the dance tree, and the Bohdi tree, at National Geographic.

This is our daily open thread — Enjoy the trees!

The Watering Hole: September 21 — Happy Friday!

Timelapse Montage, by Mike Flores

I totally spaced doing my Friday post, and it’s almost midnight, so here’s a cool video!

I’m off to help my dad’s wife with a ginormous yard sale, for which she’s going to owe me a ginormous bottle of wine.  I’ll see ya for music night!

This is our daily open thread — TGIF!!

The Watering Hole: August 24 — Photo Friday

Photo by Zooey

Another picture from my Glacier Park trip, taken from a wide spot on the Going To The Sun Road.

Just imagine the sheer size and weight of the glaciers that carved out this valley and the sides of those mountains.  Absolutely amazing.

This is our daily open thread — TGIF!!

I Love This Little Bird

This is the song that I hear every morning and every evening.  It’s a very comforting sound and relaxing sound. The woods echo with the wonderful, sweet, musical sound coming from the Wood Thrush.  What a great way to start and end the day.

The Watering Hole: June 15 — Planet Earth, Handle With Care

Now and then, I need a reminder that the political ugliness in this world is not the only thing of which we’re made, so I search out the beauty of this planet on the YouTubes.

This video is comprised of clips from the BBC series “Planet Earth,” and it helps restore my perspective, within the greater scheme of things.

My favorite part is…all of it.  In particular, I can’t help but notice the amazing and powerful effects of WATER in etching the wonderful and gorgeous features of our home.

A quote from one of my favorite movies sums it up…

Sayuri: My mother always said my sister, Satsu was like wood. As rooted to the earth as a sakura tree… But she told me I was like water… Water can carve its way through stone. And when trapped, water makes a new path.

I can relate.

This is our Friday open thread — What’s on your mind?

The Watering Hole: February 3 — Totally cool awesomeness!!!

That bit of vegetation, it looks quite odd
But it’s not a plant it’s actually a cephalopod!
It hides away to avoid being seen,
by sharks and divers who can be quite mean
when it is found it squirts its ink
and the confused diver cannot help but think
that the mimic octopus is fucking amazing

~Zoo Jr

The camouflage ability of the octopus is just amazing, isn’t it?  I had to watch the video several times.

What would you do if you could camouflage yourself as well as our octopus friend?

HT:  Zoo Jr

 This is our daily open thread — Happy Friday!!