My two pumpkins. Came up on their own, from my compost I guess.

Today is BAD--Blog Action Day. An unfortunate acronym but here's my 2 cents.

I've been trying for a year or so to read enough about climate change to have a shot at a slightly well-informed opinion on this subject. It's taken me that long to figure out that the subject is way too complex for me to have a truly well-informed opinion so instead I have a list of thoughts-questions, interesting people who have unconventional opinions on climate change, and a couple of fascinating historical weather events.
Thoughts-questions:
1. The subject would be easier to talk about if we could forget about whether or not humans caused the situation. Of course, our actions (like when the first humans dug up some trees and planted a garden) are causes but there are other factors so why waste time blaming or denying?

2. I believe what I read (in the IPCC report, for example) about the trends and likely causes of our current global warming (deforestation, burning fossil fuels, too many cattle on the planet, etc), but I have no faith that humans have the ability to stop or reverse the trend. With a massive, massive effort we could maybe slow it down but that's it. But that doesn't mean we shouldn't change our ways.

3. Every country should be looking for fossil fuel alternatives b/c fossil fuels are running out, they're dirty, and we have to be international hypocrites (and total ass-kissers) to keep the Saudi oil flowing into our oversized cars. I still don't like nuclear power plants even though I know we have 80 or so plants in this country and France gets about 80% of its electricity from nuclear energy. Have we been lucky or is it really possible to keep them safe from angry evil-doers of all stripes and human error?

4. Our two biggest problems are overpopulation and dwindling supplies of water. If I wanted to be, you know, part of the solution, instead of buying a Prius I should lobby on behalf of reducing population growth or increasing research on how in the hell we're going to have enough water in the future.

Interesting people with unconventional opinions on climate change:

Freeman Dyson:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/03/29/magazine/29Dyson-t.html?_r=1

James Lovelock:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Lovelock

Interesting weather and geological events:

Mount Tamboro and the Poverty Summer of 1816
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Tambora

The cooling of 535-536 AD (leading to widespread famine, drought, and plague): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extreme_weather_events_of_535–536

Next book I'll read about all this stuff:

The Long Summer: How Climate Changed Civilization (Paperback)
by Brian Fagan

High up in my magnolia tree. Wasp nest?

A garden lesson for me. Two crops of lettuce. Mine at top (no thinning of plants); Susan's at bottom (much thinning of plants). Thin your seedlings!

Gus just had a nice drink of water. See the drop on his chin? He's such a sweetheart.

I've often admired his rosy nosetip. It's a great color--dark rusty rose.

This may be just as depressing as the Snark book but I have to at least skim it. Great title!

But first a word from our sponsor. How can you not love these singing pepperonis?

I read this very short book & it's ruined blogging for me I think.

It's made me hyper-self-conscious .... who the hell do I think I am? As my friend GR said to me when I first started blogging "Why, exactly, do you blog?" I'll never forget him squinting and eyeballing me up close while he asked this question. I don't know what I said in reply. Probably "because it amuses me." I may keep up the worm and weed blogs and go dormant on this one for a while. Other bloggers I follow (or used to follow) have done the same thing. Maybe blogging has a natural lifespan and mine is near the end? What do I know? nothing.

Saw him the other night at the Birchmere in Alexandria, VA. James McMurtry.

P is for Pencils.

My father whittled. He also got obsessive from time to time about little projects. So does my sister, but that's another story. He made a few of these little pencils and I loved them so much I gave them to most if not all my cow-orkers (thanks again Kitt for that wonderful way to spell cow-orkers) who of course all loved them too. This made my dad so happy that he went on a mass-production spree. Here are some of the results.

Late harvest & one of the last salads of 09. But until the first frost I'll have lettuce, nasturtiums, fennel,chives, basil, beans, & sickly tomatoes.

Some of my sister's flowers.

Listen to the rain. First minute or so of this Slovenian group's performance. Speakers up, please.

"Toto's Africa," performed by Perpetuum Jazzile live at Vokal Xtravaganzza 2008 (October 2008). Thunderstorm simulation effects inspired by Kearnsey College choir (South Africa).

New category: New Yorker cartoons I don't get.

Beans and Autumn Joy sedum.

I did almost every single thing wrong in growing these beans. But I learned a lot and the deer are only nibbling at the edges. Next year's goal: make my vegetable garden neater. It looks fine for a 5-year-old, not so fine for an adult.

Growing in a mossy area under a pin oak.

These mushrooms looked like potatoes buried in my lawn. Nice deep black centers.

My jeans quilt is growing larger. It's going to be heavy, man. Literally heavy.

I'm taking an odd pride in how messy it looks. It's lumpy, bumpy, and nubby.

More fungi.

Except for the top one these mushrooms came up in one of my compost piles. The big ugly monster at the top is from the park next door.

This delicate vine is covering the netting around my vegetable garden. Hummingbirds love it. Cardinal creeper (Ipomoea horsfalliae).

So many purple perennials. The far left is rosemary but I'm not sure if the others are all the same.

My two volunteer pumpkins are turning orange.

New lettuce. If we get more sun it might grow enough for a salad or two.

My sweet potato vine survived two deer maulings but produced this single tuber. Yes, single.

Do I eat it or save it until next year to make new "starts" in the spring? I'm not a sweet potato fan.

Very odd fungi. Hard as aged leather, not soft and mushy like most mushrooms.

My faithful frog. He's been living (alone?) in my tiny pond all summer.

Adorable old match book covers from Mrs. K's Toll House, the older on the right. I ate there just 2 months ago.

Late beans. Poor things. I planted them in such a bad place in late summer but still they produced these nice flowers.

Lesson learned this summer. Look UNDER tomatoes to decide when they're ripe. Tops alone can be deceiving.

Are we getting tired of tomatoes yet? Not quite, but almost.

Pumpkin?

It's one of four volunteer melons in my garden. I had to pick this one before its time (I accidentally trampled the vine). One other is definitely a cantaloupe and the final two are probably also pumpkins. I hoped they were watermelons: they're very green. But I think pumpkins don't turn orange until later in the season. To be continued.

Pale but pretty. Not an outstanding tomato but OK.

Fungi near a compost pile.

Lavender (center) looks dead. I can't grow lavender; I always do the wrong thing. I may cut this to the ground & see what happens in the spring.

Deer proof. From my neighbor's front yard. What is it?