And with it, cool enough temperatures that I dug out a sweater out of the chest of drawers last night.

This happened close to where I live:

Girl Scouts swim away from charging alligator

HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KPRC) - A Texas Girl Scout group may need to add a new badge to their sashes: The ability to escape an alligator.

It happened as the Spring-area troop took an overnight camping trip to Huntsville State Park.

“This is an emergency here! The alligator, it’s in the water - what the (bleep),” someone says on phone video of the incident.

The emergency at the park’s swimming area caused panic and chaos just minutes after Girl Scout Troop 114204 jumped in.

The gator was estimated to be 14 feet long!

Waging Peace?

America is the aggressive global bully, and I think most of the world is aware of our hypocrisy. Just think about the obvious arrogant actions of our country.

• Jailing a journalist... torturing him in a maximum security prison for revealing US war crimes, as we criticize other countries for lack of press freedom.
• Declaring a new unelected president of Venezuela and stealing their national wealth, companies, and gold, as we install crippling sanctions because we don't like countries with governments who help their people more than our corporations.
• Constantly harassing Cuba over decades for daring to try socialism.
• Refusing to recognize our own agreements whether it is the Iran Treaty, our guarantee not to move NATO one inch East, or our endless broken treaties with our own first nations peoples.
• Promoting global war with Iran, China, Russia...and anyone who challenges US hegemony.

It is past time to try to wage peace. To be a global friend and neighbor assisting countries not raping their resources and peoples. The US political system has been captured by the oligarchs and their corporations, so how to promote peace? Perhaps we just need to practice as individuals and refuse to participate in the political farce. Let's look today at some successful practitioners.

Never Admit Defeat
Nor a Mistake

I once had a boss who said you should never admit a mistake because it makes you look weak. Whaaat? How can you learn if you don't recognize (and admit) failure? Seems to me that denying your mistakes is the weakness. I didn't work with him for long. I like the line in Joni's "Woodstock", But you know life is for learning. Mistakes, failures, defeats are part of the process, part of life. They should be embraced so that you grow and improve. I guess you can imagine what brought this to mind...our ole buddy, Trumpolini. But this week I really want to focus on my learning path in the garden...mistakes and improvements. I wrote a comment this week about the systemic system we've created with our greed for profit. I used my agricultural education as an example. I was taught fertilizer rates, herbicide use, animal feeding, depreciation and profit...not permaculture nor ecological farming. I was offered a lucrative job as a farm chemical rep upon graduation, but I took a low paying research position instead. It took years for me to learn to garden without chemicals, plowing, and constant weeding....production for pleasure not profit.

Skipping Through the Holidays

For decades we've gone down to Birmingham to spend holidays with both of our families, but not this year...just phone calls. COVID is spreading rampantly and holiday gatherings WILL drive the spread. Vaccines appear to be on the horizon, and perhaps that will be the light at the end of the tunnel. The accompanying economic collapse will be more difficult to overcome quickly. I feel for all those who lost their job or business and as a result their health care...or worse yet, lost their home in the middle of a pandemic. Comparatively we're doing great... we're still eating well from our Thanksgiving leftovers, and the garden is still productive though the weather has shifted to wet and cold. It is hard to believe that it is time to start planning the spring and summer garden, inventorying the seeds we have, and ordering seed we need. Looks like limited supplies this year. Despite the situation we've got a full plate...

Chaos Creations

Crisis brings opportunity for change...both good and bad. Running the gambit from the autonomous zone in Seattle to the out of control expansion of the Fed. This week I've been pondering the lens which we could use to better see our way through these uncertain times. My nature is to focus on nature. I understand others have different perspectives. That's okay. However, there's no doubt we are hurdling toward big changes in our ecosystem and biosphere, as well as our society at large. Our basic needs of air, water, food, and energy hearken back to the four elements of the Greeks. The planet has the ability to recycle these basic resources naturally, but human activity has thrown a wrench in the machinery. Is it even possible to limit our footprint to have an equitable sustainable human existence? There are techniques which suggest it is possible.

To Our Good Health

We are likely to get COVID-19 (I've heard estimates of 70 to 80% of us). Fortunately, most people have mild to no symptoms. The severity of the disease is primarily dependent on the strength of our immune system and the initial viral load at infection. About 70% of the severe cases are in people with some level of obesity. We can influence these factors folks. Wearing a mask, even a homemade one, will reduce the initial infection load. Obesity is a result of poor (misinformed) dietary choices and is really pretty easy to correct. The truth is that we blame people for being overweight and sick, but it’s not their fault. Our taste buds, hormones, and brain chemistry have been hijacked by the food industry. Stress is also a complicating factor, as is poor sleep and lack of rest. The concurrent economic collapse coupled with worry about family and friends add to our susceptibility. Perhaps some of us will manage to avoid infection until there is a vaccine. That appears to be a year to 18 months away. That's a long time to be isolated using good antiseptic measures. So this week I thought we should focus on maximizing our own healthy immune system and reviewing protective techniques to minimize infection. Let's try to do more than just survive, but to thrive... and come out of this seismic event better, more thoughtful, and kinder people.

Leftover Potluck

Another holiday come and gone. I hope yours was rewarding. Visiting with family can be a two edged sword - sometimes stressful and combative, other times pleasant and fulfilling. We see one another rarely these days so it tends to be pleasant. My Mom is 88, so I'm glad to spend some time with her while I can. Both my sisters were there this year, one having returned from a tour of teaching in China. They are close to the same age and they have had issues in the past, but all was well this year. This week I thought I would pull together several sources I've collected but not posted and serve a smorgasbord of ideas from food to politics to the economy. Let's begin by getting back to the garden...

Here Comes the Sun
or
Come on Baby Light My Fire

The wheel of the year turns to spring this week. There will be more sunlight...longer days... here in the Northern hemisphere. Light is the key to fixing carbon...through photosynthesis. Plants taking CO2 and building it into sugars and other compounds. When we eat plants we burn them back into CO2 and H2O. This balance of photosynthesis and respiration maintains the carbon cycle. For most of human history we have burnt wood as our primary fuel. Trees will regrow and recapture atmospheric carbon. However over the last century we converted to fossil fuels over plant based renewable energy sources. That (and population growth) is what put us on the path of rapid climate collapse.

This diagram of the fast carbon cycle shows the movement of carbon between land, atmosphere, and oceans. Yellow numbers are natural fluxes, and red are human contributions in gigatons of carbon per year. White numbers indicate stored carbon.
https://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/features/CarbonCycle

Out with the Old, In with the New!

Like Janus, the name sake of next month, let's look back at what has happened and look forward to what we might do. There are many things I wish we would throw out as the year changes...perpetual war, massive inequality, our prison state, fossil fuel extraction and use, indebtedness for college, the greed of capitalism, and so on. Similarly I wish we would accept a new paradigm of greater good for the masses... a green energy revolution, worker owned business and coops, living with less and leaving a lighter footprint on our planet, excellent public education, green mass transit, and so on. As our environment spins out of control with massive extinction and climate disasters, we don't have time to deliberate. We must act or go extinct ourselves. This is the challenge of the future.