“Death with dignity is mostly an oxymoron.”
Rabbi Sam Karff
From: Old Man Country
By Thomas R Cole
Photo is from a 2015 hike up My Baden Powell in the San Gabriel Mountains.
Dignity
Nietzsche Nine
Without music, life would be a mistake.
Friedrich Nietzsche
Photo Credit: This is a New Mexican Locust, it is a flowering tree or shrub that grows throughout the SW. We encountered it on our Horton Creek Hike in early June. The photo doesn’t let you hear the sound of the bees pollinating the pale pink flowers.
Oak Galls
I went hiking, with Peter and Jim, north of Cave Creek, Arizona last Sunday and one of the wonders we came across was an oak tree with oak galls on it. The ones pictured above are about a half inch in diameter. They were mostly empty and the shells weigh less than a gram. They appeared to be growing on leaves. Sometimes called oak apples they are formed by wasps and are related to their reproduction cycle. Until about 100 years ago they were a major ingredient of ink. There is lots more about oak galls on Wikipedia. It reminded me that I need to use my Backyard Scuba techniques more often. Thank you Peter B.
Halloween Tree?
Why should Christmas have all the fun? I believe this is a Halloween Tree.
Seen at my local Fry’s. I suppose it is worth a try to the fake tree manufacturer. It might catch on.
Lot more riffs on “Change is….”
Logs vs Dead Trees
Last week in Oregon we had a nice discussion about when a dead tree becomes a log.
Our conclusion (open to revision if more data comes in) is that a reasonably large tree has to be cut down and the branches have to be cut off before it can be called a log.
This is a log:
Made into a bridge
(hey I don’t take that many pictures of logs)
This is a dead tree:
Hence the name Christmas tree
It is similar to a Deer that has been shot is a dead deer until it is dressed and then it becomes venison.
We didn’t attempt to define: Pole, Timber, Lumber, Snag, Driftwood etc. But it is an excellent road trip project.
Mimosa Tree
This tree in our neighborhood has the same name as the orange juice and champagne drink and is beautiful when it flowers.
It is unclear which came first the drink or the tree.
They are roughly the same color.
Again this was taken just around the corner from our house near where the Passion Fruit Vine is growing.
The fruit of the passion flower looks like this before it turns purple/black and becomes edible.