October 2019 – Stone Fig

Transit of Mercury – Get Ready!

The Transit of Mercury will take place in the early morning of November 11, 2019. Now is the time tor prepare.

There is a shelf in my garage above the cabinets.. Its way up there, and if I want to reach it I have to stretch, and maybe get a stick to push things so I can grab them.Up on the shelf are tools, and hard hats, and a rabbit box, plus equipment we made for old science fair experiments, and overlying it all is a contraption made of two pieces of plywood and numerous hinges. Lying on top of that is a spindly item with four threaded rods for legs that support a celluloid viewing screen.

This was my viewing platform for the transit of Venus in 2004; and then again for the transit of 2012. In 2012 it was cloudy where I was so I could not observe the sun – or Venus.

But the previous event in 2004 was the event for which I made the contraption. The contraption was built to hold my old Newtonian telescope. It was an inexpensive ($20.00) telescope but very functional. I have had the telescope for more than 30 years. I bought it in 1986 to view Halley’s comet. Since then I have used it often. In 2004 I planned to strap it into place on my T.V.P. (Transit Viewing Platform) and see what I could see. I made the T.V.P. so I could mount it on a hand cart for ease of movement. It had several elevation blocks to get the elevation that I needed, and I attached a small, hinged elevation board that gave me the ability to fine tune the elevation. Lastly I used a broad-headed “brad” (a nail made of wire) that helped me aim the device. I mounted the nail so it was pointed towards the sun. When the shadow of the nail head was centered on the base of the nail, I knew the telescope was pointed right at the sun.

A week before the transit I drove out to my viewing location in a local National Park. I needed to test my device. I am pleased to say it worked as planned. A ranger stopped and asked what I was doing and what the contraption was. I told him what I was doing, and assured him that the telescope and mount were not a rocket launcher. Although I must admit that it looked like one.

I was ready!

On the morning of the transit I got up early. When I looked out the window I was stunned. It was incredibly foggy. I have never seen fog so thick. But I was going! I was sure of my contraption, I was certain of my site with a good eastern exposure, and I hoped that the weather would break before Venus crossed the disk of the sun.

I was wrong.

As I drove out to the site I was unsure of what I would find. It was foggy, but I didn’t care, I was ready. The appointed time came, and the fog was no less thick. By the time of the transit being half completed the weather had not improved. I had to make a choice. I decided to go – and find a fog-free spot.

I put all my equipment back into my car and headed west. The road was covered with the fog, and I had to be careful in my driving. Finally, I made it out of the fog. I took a turnoff that I hoped would have a place to set up my telescope. I finally found one. I only had ten minutes before the transit was complete. I found a good spot. I took out the telescope and its T.V.P. and aimed it at the sun. There were still some clouds in the sky, but I had a good projection onto my screen. And there in the lower right was Venus! It was a small black dot against the disk of the sun. I stood in awe not of myself by of others who had chased this dot around the globe only to be disappointed by the weather. In 1761, the British expedition to Saint Helena, in the south Atlantic, did not see what I had just seen. They were explorers. I had followed in their footsteps.

On 11 November, 2019 Mercury will transit the sun. Venus makes its transits in pairs as in the 2004 and 2012 transits. There is a period of 105 to 122 years before another pair of Venus transits happen. Mercury has its transit more often. A transit of Mercury will occur 4 more times before 2060. So there are good opportunities to see it.

If you want to see the 11/11 transit you will need to find a place with a good eastern exposure. You must also have a projection device to see the small black dot on the face of the sun. Do not view the sun or the transit directly. Do not look at the sun. It will severely damage your eyes. Try to find a place that can help you observe the transit. And know that you are participating in an observation that has been important to scientists since they first were able to use telescopes and projection screens to observe it.

More information on the 11 November transit of Mercury may be found at https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/events/2019/11/11/watch-the-transit-of-mercury-2019/

Earthworms on Parade

I could hardly believe my luck. On my morning science news from the American Academy for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) list was not one – but two articles on earth worms. I am a fan! I can’t remember the first time I picked up an earthworm from the sidewalk after a rain. Which, by the way, I still do. But there is no way that I can get them all, yet I hate seeing their little desiccated carcasses lying on the sidewalk the next day. It seems that they are often caught between a rock (the sidewalk) and a hard place (the dirt). After a rain the layer of ground which they normally inhabit can become saturated and the tunnels the worms make as they move about become flooded. Just like you and me, the earth worms cannot breathe under water. They breathe, as in taking in oxygen, through their skin, not through their mouths. So they will often come to the surface of the ground and wander onto the sidewalk. If they stay in the grass they are pretty much ok.

I decided to check some of what I thought I knew and ended up at the University of Illinois Extension Service where Herman the Worm holds forth on all things worm-ish, https://web.extension.illinois.edu/worms/anatomy/index.html . The site states that worms like moist environments as their skin must stay moist in order to be able to absorb oxygen. So, wet ground is good for their skin, so they can breathe easier. But saturated ground is not good; it does not allow air to penetrate to the levels of the worms. They will drown. They will escape to the surface. Earthworms also come to the surface to mate. Both are important functions for these little creatures.

But back to the main line. The first time my grandfather took me fishing, I wanted to look for worms. He took me out under a old sycamore tree on his farm and told me to dig. I was fascinated by the worms I uncovered in the dark moist soil. My grandfather told me to leave them alone, that he had other bait to use for the fish. So I took a parting look at the worms, and off we went to his boat on the river bank.

All of us have probably found worms when we have dug into the soil. And because they like to be moist it would make sense that they prefer shaded places where the earth is soft and not dried out. But where in the world are they all? Both of the articles in my AAAS science news link mentioned a coordinated study of scientists which included 6693 sites in 57 nations across the globe. The study asked about their work with earthworms. Personally, I have found that worms always show up to work on time.

And what an amazing amount of work they do. We all most likely remember a science class in grammar school in which we learned that worms are an important constituent in soil health. They aerate the soil as they tunnel about. Their tunnels allow the flow of water into deeper levels of the soils. Their droppings (known as castings) fertilize the soil. All of these; fertilizer, water , and air are important aspects of plant root growth for healthy and robust crop production.

We salute you, little worms, and out of respect I will continue to help you off the sidewalk.

Two sites with information about worms and agriculture:

University of Illinois: https://web.extension.illinois.edu/worms/anatomy/index.html

Pennsylvania State University: https://extension.psu.edu/earthworms

Information about extension services:

https://nifa.usda.gov/extension

First Drive Out

Not in ever, but today was my first drive-out since my accident and recovery. Under the laws of my State if a driver has a medical emergency of a certain type while driving, they must relinquish their driving privileges for six months. The first two months were spent in the hospital and recovering at home. But whether it is six months or four months, for someone like myself who is used to the freedom that a car gives; it was a long time.

Although I could get rides to the store or the doctor, I could not drive myself to the park for a morning walk or to the woods for a hike.

But today, the six months were done, and I could get into my car and drive myself out to the woods and fields beyond my City for a walk.

You may have noticed that I have not characterize the length or the intensity of my walk or hike. Right now, that is not what matters. I am preparing myself once again for a long hike. So, I need to engage in re-conditioning. I am preparing for a mountainous hike; a hike with both length and intensity. But I have to start with a simple walk in fields and wooded hills. I will build up to the longer, more arduous hike. My preparation is physical, and it is mental – and perhaps also spiritual.

My walk today, through woods and open fields, was my first in six months. And the drive by myself out to these woods was also my first in six months. My first drive-out was for my first walk-out. A drive in my car should not be just for the drive itself. In these days of changing climate, my drive should have a higher purpose. Each of us must be aware of and reduce our impact on the atmosphere which is driving the changing climate of our Earth. Does my simple drive out to the woods tip the scales? I don’t think so. But I must be aware that my short drive, added to your short drive, plus his and her short drives, multiplied by several billion short drives, has a significant, multiple, negative impact on the atmosphere and on the climate of our world.

But I consider my drive worthwhile. For me it is part of my physical, mental, and spiritual recovery. My walk took me back into familiar patterns and into familiar places. I walked down to the foot bridge that crosses a stream that can swell in rainy weather, but is now a wandering rivulet. My return path took me past the small wetland that resides on the back side of the upward slope of a hill. On its upward slope the hill is covered in grasses and wild flowers. It is a browsing ground for the local white-tailed deer. At a point on the far side where the woods line the open field, a stream enters from the woods. This stream on the lower part of the hill has created a wetland. The wetland resides on both sides of the the course of the meandering stream. Horse Tails and Broom Sedge dot the wetland among the other wet grasses. It is is bordered with the last of the late summer flowers, Red Clover and Queen Anne’s Lace, along its margins.

My path takes me from hill top to stream to wetland to hilltop.

It was a grand, first walk-out.

The art work is from pictures I captured this morning. In it my shadow is superimposed on red clover (an introduced fodder plant) in the field.

There is also a picture of the Chinese Chestnut at the hill top.

Wetland plants identification using https://plants.usda.gov/core/wetlandSearch

Water Stress

Where I live, we have been without appreciable rain for nearly two months.

My garden wilted. My flowers wilted. The leaves on the trees started dropping early. But I have no real problem. I may be concerned for my garden, but I can take a hose and water it. I could do the same for my flowers, but I know they will survive and will return when the rain comes back. And I am sure the rain will come back.

Where I live, when compared to other places, we are water rich. We have clean water that flows from our taps whenever we want it. Where I lived before was along a wide meandering river that flowed down from up-state. My water came from a well. In my current location, I have water from the city. Both of these areas may be considered water rich. But where I had a well, I had to work at it a bit and have the well drilled deeper. Why? Because the water level of the native aquifer was slowly but continually falling.

Why was it falling? Was there less rain? No. There was plenty of rain throughout the state and the region. In many instances, it seemed there was too much rain. So why was the level of the ground water aquifer falling? Because there were more people. There were more people upstream and all along the river’s banks. There were more people taking surface water and ground water for their personal use and for industrial use, and in my state for agricultural use. So the aquifer level was falling – and it continues to fall.

About every five years I would notice my pump was struggling to lift water up the well. I would need to call a well-driller and have my personal well drilled deeper and deeper. This was not a solution. If anything, I was exacerbating the problem.

In that state, along the Atlantic coast, the total population of 24 coastal counties grew between 2000 and 2007. Several of the counties lost population or had a low growth rate, but half of the coastal counties had a growth rate greater than 15%. All these new people and their jobs were using more and more water. The counties up river were experiencing even more growth. The metropolitan areas drew in more and more people. And they took their share of the surface water and the ground water.

But compared to many places in our country and around the World, these 24 coastal counties were water rich. Some of the population increase was due to people moving into the state from other states. Part of it was the growth of the existing population. Both of these trends continue. It can be seen even on the state level that the more people there are, the more water is needed.

When you look at the World, our nation as I have mentioned is water rich. The September 14, 2019 issue of Science News, including an article , “One in four people live in a place of high risk of running out of water”. The article highlighted a growing, World-wide water crisis. It discussed a series of tools used by the World Resources Institute to calculate what is considered a high level of “water stress”. The article states that the World’s use of water increased 150% from 1961 to 2014. In that same time frame the World Bank indicates that the World’s population has more than doubled, from 3.1 billion to 7.2 billion. At a glance it might appear that the World’s population has learned to reduce their water requirement. But in actuality it indicates, that overall, the World’s people have less access to water.

In a water rich country like the United States, this is not evident, unless you have a well that you have to push deeper every few years. But for many people in the World safe and adequate water supplies is an issue.

As the World population grows toward 8 Billion, this issue will get worse. New methods of water use that conserve water will be needed, and new sources of water, such as the salt filled oceans, will have to be tapped. This will require improved – or new – technologies to prepare the water for consumption, including desalination of ocean water, and new distribution processes to get the water to the people, the animals, and the crops that need it.

The picture of the map is taken directly from World Resources Institute, https://www.wri.org/aqueduct/ .

The Science News article may be found at, https://www.sciencenews.org/article/one-4-people-lives-place-high-risk-running-out-water .

Yellow – Rain

I have always thought that yellow was a good color for rain wear. It shows up!

On the most gloomy and rainy days you can see a person in a yellow rain coat even when they are a good distance off. A a recent study reported this week by several science news organizations that provides information related to another benefit.

In the recently published journal article, the authors describe their study in which they polled participants in 55 different countries. They present their findings that the color yellow can give rise to feelings of joy, a yellow-joy association. However, the level of rise of joy was found to be dependent on the climate and physical environment of the country. Less than 6% of the participates in Egypt found joy in yellow. The countries in which there were more sunny days did not rate high on a yellow-joy association. But in Finland where the weather is not as sunny, and clouds and fogs and plenty of snow all abound, the color yellow leads to expressions of joy in 88% of the participants.

The study not only investigated emotions related to yellow, the 6,625 participants across the 55 countries were asked to rate their emotional feelings of 12 colors. The countries in which the study was conducted span the globe and include all continents except Antarctica. The study is representative of many cultures and climatic conditions.

Of the twelve colors, only yellow could be specifically linked to an increase of emotions and be related to environmental conditions the participants found within their home country.

Across the full set of participants, the study found a yellow-joy association in over 48% of the participants. But as presented earlier the countries in which sunshine was prevalent had a lower association. In the countries where sunshine was less prevalent, there was significantly higher yellow-joy association.

When I was a child I had a long skirted yellow rain “slicker”. I remember enjoying rainy days because when I was outside I could enjoy the world in a different way. There were puddles to jump in. I could feel the rain being blown into my face. I could hear the wind blowing through the canopy of the trees. I not only enjoyed the experience, but according to the study my enjoyment may well have been enhanced due to the yellow slicker that I was wearing. The picture below is based on a drawing I made when I was a child. It provides an expression of my feelings at that time, in the rain.

Today, I have a yellow rain suit. Now there are streams in the woods that I enjoy forwarding. The grey skies to me mean that I can enjoy the natural aspects of the woodlands and fields, and still experience what is not an every-day occurrence. And wearing my yellow rain suit becomes an amusing experience for me – and perhaps for the squirrels too. The color yellow can make you happier. When the sky is grey and there’s a chance for being moody, put on yellow and enjoy the day.

The study by D. Jonauskaite (et. al.), The sun is no fun without rain: Physical environments affect how we feel about yellow across 55 countries, is published on-line in The Journal of Environmental Psychology, as a pre-proof edition.

3 BILLION

Three Billion birds are gone. And all in just 50 years. It happened in the trees and fields. It happened where there were no longer any trees and where the fields had been treated with pesticides. It happened when a cat left out at night brought home a bird it had killed – as a gift – but in this reckoning it might as well have been in a tiny body bag. It happened without much notice. It happened in our yards, at our offices, along our streets, on our favorite country road. It was happening all around us. But it happened without much of a hue and cry.

There might have been a Fall when you said, “That “V” of geese overhead looks smaller than when I was a child”. But geese have found places to stay without going farther north.

And your cat seldom brings home birds, and then its only one. Its not only roaming domestic cats; its the wild, feral cats. The lower end of the estimate for feral cats in the United States is 65 million. If that number of cats each dropped one bird per year at someone’s doorstep that would surpass the 3 Billion count over the 50 year time frame.

And Dogs are not free of the blame. Ground dwelling birds and their nest are particularly susceptible to dogs. The dogs may catch the bird and will most often eat the eggs if they are in the nest. I’ve seen both of these events happen.

Another ferocious animal that can decimate bird populations are feral pigs. A pig will eat anything, acorns and other nuts, snakes, lizards and other reptiles, young dogs, eggs in ground nests, and birds. Feral pigs are worst in the southeast United States from North Carolina to Texas and Oklahoma. And California has a large population of feral pigs as well. These wild pigs can decimate wildlife populations. They can also severely damage the habitat for birds reducing nesting and breeding area.

These bird deaths can invade your home and office building. Did you hear that thump? It was a bird that thought the sky reflected in your penthouse window was a space to fly through. The bird flew right into the window. Buildings, especially high rise building, end up being death traps for bird. The light of the big cities compound the problems for birds on their historical migration path. Studies by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and the University of Michigan, reveal the scope of these issues. The Cornell study named Chicago as the worst city for bird deaths from flying into windows. This is chiefly because the city and its tall buildings, including the tallest in the U.S., is on the historical Mississippi flyway. The flyways are highways in the sky that birds follow on the migrations.

Birds in the United States are in trouble, animals, construction activities, wanton destruction of breeding and nesting area, office buildings, confusion due to lighting; all these are playing a role in the loss of bird populations in the United States.

What will we miss? We will miss the sight of birds wheeling in the air. We will miss their song in our yard, in our city parks, out in the countryside. Insects will be less in control and will feast more freely on our plants and crops. A fictional movie from 1971 played on this idea. The Hellstorm Chronicles, implied that the results of insect populations breeding without any natural check on it and the horrifying results. A loss of birds can result in the loss of a lot more.

What is it that we have lost in the 50 years since 1970? We have lost 3 billion birds. We have lost their song, their beauty and their economic benefit. It has been gradual, but it is real. According to an article in Smithsonian magazine, the loss of 3 billion birds equates to a loss of more than 29% of the bird population in the United States.

Take four quarters out of your pocket and throw one away. Every time you want to buy something for a dollar, you only have 75 cents in your pocket. You go away unsatisfied. That’s where we are heading.

Quoting from To a Skylark, by Percy Shelley.

Hail to thee, Blithe Spirit!

Bird thou never wert,

That from Heaven, or near it,

Pourest thy full heart

In profuse strains of unpremeditated art.

Higher still and higher

From the earth thou springest

Like a cloud of fire;

The blue deep thou wingest,

And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

How, knowing this, could we ever let it pass?

The Cornell study and that of the University of Michigan mentioned about are summarized in an article that may be found at https://www.dezeen.com/2019/04/08/skyscrapers-usa-birds-death-studies/
Both the article in Dezeen magazine and on the Cornell Lab for Ornithology website present actions that can help stop the decline.
The Smithsonian article may be found at https://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/north-america-has-lost-nearly-3-billion-birds-180973178/.
The art for this article is a modified version of he art on this catastrophic loss of American birds at https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/.
The entire poem To a Skylark may be found at https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45146/to-a-skylark .
Sign-up for Cornell Lab of Ornithology (Birds) eNews which may be found https://www.birds.cornell.edu/home/enews .

On the Beach

There was always a boat on the Neuse River. The first one I knew was my Grandfather’s boat. I remember when he built it down on the beach. I got into the paint pots, and after being cleaned with turpentine my mother rubbed my hands with mayonnaise to replenish the moisture. It was a rowboat of a heavy work boat design. It was big and wide with lots of seating. We used it for crabbing on the hottest days ever.

Then there was the SunFish, a sailboat. My brother and I spent many a day in that boat out on the wide portions of the Neuse. The only thing that would bring us in was when we saw our Mother waving a towel for us to come in to dinner. If we were in good position for the wind we could cover those two miles in 15 minutes. And then we would sit down to a home cooked meal with vegetables from our garden.

Years later my daughter and I would take the SunFish out far into the river. My son would row out, and in the middle of that old stream we would jump in and swim.

The next boat is the one pictured. My father bought it when he was deployed to Norway for a NATO exercise. He bought it in Norway. It was large row boat, but light for its size. It had two sets of oar locks for rowers fore and aft. We could have taken this boat out on the ocean. The waves on the Neuse can be pretty big, and sometimes my father and I had to work hard at our oars to bring the boat safely in. Other times, I would row across the river with our dog as my passenger. We would cross the river and explore the open pine forests on the far side. We spent hours in those woods.

This would be our last boat.

But my Uncle George next door across the gully had an aluminum row boat. He had it for a long time. He would sometimes put a small Evinrude on the back and tow Elizabeth and me on our inflatable (they were canvas then) raft. We got mouths-full of gasoline, exhaust smoke, and oily water as that engine charged along. It was great fun. And later, in that boat, I would teach my son and daughter to row. The oars we used had come to that boat from my Grandfather’s rowboat modeled on flat-bottom Core Sound boats. I wonder where those oars are now?

We finally had to pull the old Norwegian boat out of the water. We had patched and caulked it as best we could, but over several decades the wood had broken down. We kept it on blocks for a couple of years and would talk about trying to get it back in the water.

But it was not to be.

We burned it on the beach. It seemed appropriate. I still have a couple of the lead rivets from its hull.

All those days out rowing in sun and in rain and in gales, they were tremendous days. I still will go down to a nearby lake and rent a boat for a morning’s rowing. Its always terrific, especially in the Fall when the trees along the bank are covered in red and gold. On a cold morning even when the lake is calm no one else will be out. I have the world to myself. And I give an extra pull on the oars and feel the boat surge through the water.