Earth Day 2008

Some photos from my recent travels to celebrate Earth Day...

Under the Weather

I've been a zombie for the past week—bad cold. I caught it on the last day of my ski trip to Mammoth with Grace and family. It's been so long since I had a cold (the last one was in September of 2006) that all the medications in my medicine cabinet were out of date. I don't even remember what I took when I had the last cold as I was in Arizona at the time. When I finally dragged myself to Walgreen's last week for more supplies, I discovered that my favorite medication has been pulled from the shelves. Somehow I missed the whole pseudephedrine thing. Not knowing what the reason was, I bought the PE substitute. It's the antihistamine that I want anyway. I just don't want to end up with bronchitis.

It's interesting that I caught both colds the same way, I overexerted myself physically, and then got a chill. In Arizona, my son and I went for a long hike up Pass Mountain in the 90 degree heat and then headed for the pool afterwards. We both came down with a cold simultaneously. At Mammoth, I skied all day and headed for the hot tub afterwards. Both times I was not getting my full 8 hours of sleep every night either. And sugar was involved. I pooh-pooed that idea at first. I mean how could one little slip, one little yielding to temptation cause so much trouble? I'd had flour-less chocolate cake two nights in a row. Flour-less, but not sugar-less.

Then I discovered one theory that glucose and vitamin C are similar in structure and too much of one displaces the other in our cells.

It has been known for many decades that sugar depresses the immune system. It was only in the 70s that they found out that vitamin C was needed by white blood cells so that they could phagocytize bacteria and viruses. White blood cells require a fifty times higher concentration, at least inside the cell as outside, so they have to accumulate vitamin C.

There is something called a phagocytic index, which tells you how rapidly a particular macrophage or lymphocyte can gobble up a virus, bacteria or cancer cell. In the 70s Linus Pauling knew that white blood cells needed a high dose of vitamin C and that is when he came up with his theory that you need high doses of vitamin C to combat the common cold.

Insulin and Its Metabolic Effects
By Ron Rosedale, M.D.
Presented at Designs for Health Institute's BoulderFest August 1999
Seminar

I also tried the hydrogen peroxide in the ear cure. But I was way too late in starting this therapy, so whether it really worked or not, I can't tell. I had already had my cold and slight fever for a week when I tried it, so maybe I was due to start feeling better anyway. The joke is that no matter what you do, or what you take, a cold lasts two weeks.

Anyway, after a week of rest and recuperation, I am feeling much better and am left with a honking cough which I hope will go away soon as it scares people away.

Tumacácori

Tumacácori National Historical Park is located in Southern Arizona just north of Nogales and the Mexican border. It was originally a mission established by the Jesuits and later run by the Franciscans. I was inspired by the adobe ruins to try my hand at artful photography and so will just post the photos without further explanation except for the last photo which does require an explanation.















Taking a break from our tour of the ruins and birdwatching in the garden, we sat at a picnic table to have a snack. My grandson decided to give this ant one of his cashews (the cashews that I had roasted myself in coconut oil for two whole hours! But I digress.) The ant took off at such great speed with it that we were surprised and everyone requested that I take its picture. What is even more surprising now that I have had a closer look at the result is the fact that the ant was moving backwards (towards the upper left corner) not pulling, but dragging the nut along!

Birds of Arizona

Isn't he beautiful? This is a Broad-billed Hummingbird, one of those little jewels, only about 4 inches long, that flit about from flower to flower and fascinate us not only with their speed, but with their bravery. Perhaps one precludes the other. I was chasing down the Vermilion Flycatcher in the picture below when my DIL said, "Mom, look behind you!" and there he was just sitting on a branch, posing for me to take his picture.

There are many such colorful and interesting birds that can be found nowhere else in the U.S. except in Arizona. Most are birds of the Sonoran Desert which extends down into Mexico and are at the northernmost extent of their range. Others are migrants that pass through in spring and fall. Any birder worth his salt will make a trip to Arizona to add these birds to his North American life list.

For a map of the North American birding area as defined by the American Birding Association, click here. The 947 species that make up the North American checklist are here. Most birders in the U.S. are trying to see every one of these birds and when they speak of their Life List, this is the main list that they are talking about. I have seen over 400 of these birds, but I have a long way to go! The problem is that as the number gets higher, you have to go to more exotic places to find the birds. (Not a bad thing, actually.)

Both the hummingbird and the flycatcher are year-round residents of southern Arizona. We happened to be at the Tumacacori National Historical Museum, which I will blog about later, when I took their pictures. There was also a female flycatcher with the male. Females are not so colorful. As we tried to get closer to the trees in which they perched between rapid flights to catch bugs, they moved further away. The Chipping Sparrows, with the rusty crowns, and Lark Sparrow, with the bold face stripes, on the left were also in the museum's lovely garden.

One of the main places birders go in Arizona to find the birds is Madera Canyon in the Santa Rita Mountains which was just across the valley from where we were staying. In fact, it was a visit to the canyon that was the impetus for the whole trip. I had been there nine years ago and wanted to see it again. At first we were going to stay at the cabins right in the canyon at Santa Rita Lodge, but we were too late to make reservations there. The lodge has feeders out that attract birds and birders to sit and watch each other. This Mexican Jay with his head in the shade was at one of these feeders.

But there were plenty of birds to watch right at our condo at the Inn at San Ignacio in Green Valley. I gave my grandson a pair of binoculars and a field guide of the birds of Arizona and together went went out in the early morning to see what we could find in our own backyard—a covey of Gambel's Quail, Black-throated Sparrow, Inca Dove, a pair of Cardinals, and a mother hummingbird (possibly Black-chinned) feeding her baby.

There were some mystery birds, too. In fact, quite a few were mysteries either because you never got a good look at them, or because they defied identification even with a nice long look. We encountered one such mystery bird on a hike up at the end of Madera Canyon. This little guy sat high in a tree long enough for me to take several pictures of him, but I am still not sure of what species he is. He is all fluffed up because it was very cold that morning in the mountains (42 degrees), cold enough for their still to be snow on the ground. My first thought was that he is another Vermilion Flycatcher. If so, he was in the wrong place. My second thought was that he is a Hepatic Tanager, but the bill seems to be too sharp. I vacillate back and forth.

On our way home, we stopped at the Arizona Sonora Desert Museum which has a world-famous hummingbird exhibit as well as a large aviary. My grandson was disappointed when we told him that these birds do not count for your Life List. They have to be in the wild. But I will never get this close to an American Kestrel (female) in the wild to take her picture. These beautiful birds can be found all over the U.S. They are a small, delicate falcon. But we did see one out on the top of a Saguaro at the north end of Saguaro National Park, so Nick was able to check that one off.

Arizona Wildflowers

It has been awhile since I posted anything but I just got back from a trip to Arizona and have lots to blog about. I was visiting my son and family and together we went down to Green Valley which is a retirement community south of Tucson. There are a lot of things to see and do in that part of Arizona and Green Valley was a nice central location. We did so many different things that I took over 500 pictures! It's a good thing "film" is so cheap these days. But it does take time to download all of them and sort through them for the best ones.

I am going to start with the wildflowers. The desert is bursting with blooms right now. The drive across Route 10 to Phoenix was the prettiest I ever remember. The area around Chiriaco Summit was especially beautiful. But there was no place to stop and take photos so I had to let the colors just whiz by me—lots of yellows, blues, purples, and whites. The Ocotillo were just sending up buds and the Saguaro will not bloom until later.

On our way down to Green Valley we stopped in Saguaro National Park and found it also bursting with wildflowers and with people who had come out to view them. Here are just some of the photos I took at our first stop. If I have the wrong names for any of these plants, please feel free to set me straight. I am by no means an expert! I did happen to latch on to a lady who seemed more knowledgeable than me as I was wandering around (an expert is someone who knows more than you do), plus she had a book in hand and she was happy to look up anything I pointed to. So some of the identifications are from her. The Visitor's Center had a nice display of exactly the flowers you could expect to find in the park, but as it was a display, I couldn't take it with me. I should have photographed it. (I'm a great one for taking pictures of signs. "You are here," etc. Otherwise you don't remember where you were!)

Arizona Jewelflower Streptanthus carinatus ssp. arizonicus The whitish blooms, not the purple or yellow. Click on the photo to view it larger and see these blooms better. They were almost spent when I took this photo.

Desert Pincushion Chaenactis stevoides



?-Lupine (Possibly Arroyo Lupine Lupinus sparsiflorus.)



Rancher's Fireweed or Devil's Lettuce Amesinckia menziesii var. intermedia. It is a fiddleneck kind of plant.



White Easter-Bonnet Eriphyllum lanosum and a Bladderpod (Gordon's?) Lesquerella gordonii



Blue Dicks or Wild Hyacinth or Coveria Dichelostemma capitatum



This is either Desert Chicory Rafinesquia neomexicana or White Tackstem or Cupfruit Calycoseris wrightii. They are very similar. The lady told me that if it felt sticky it was the latter, but I think I felt the wrong part—the flower and not the stem.



Purple Owls' Clover or Escobita Castilleja exserta



I am not at all sure of these next two. Possibly Desert Bluebells but they are more purple than blue and the leaf isn't quite right. They do seem to be in the Hydrophyllaceae family.







And last but not least, Gold Poppies. I think these are Mexican Gold Poppies or Amapola del Campo Eschscholzia californica ssp. Mexicana. Very similar to our own dear California Poppies.

Project BudBurst

The March 7th issue of Science Magazine, which I am only now getting around to browsing through, mentions an organization that gives everyone a chance to be a scientist and help with tracking climate change. The project, called BudBurst, started in 2007 and has already collected data from 26 states which will be analyzed by university and government researchers. Basically, what you do is report the timing of the appearance of leaves, flowers, and fruits in your own backyard and neighborhood. It helps to sign up and get started before things start blooming because they want to know the date that the first bloom appears. They also want to know when things are in full bloom, and when the last flower dies.

In Southern California, that can be tricky. Some plants bloom all year, and especially this year, there has been no rest for a lot of them. Other times, things start blooming before I have had a chance to check them out and I am pleasantly surprised. That happened this year with my Mickey Mouse plant, or Ochna serrulata. It's over on the side of the house and was planted by the birds. I hardly ever water it, only once a month in summer. (Someone told me that just means that its roots extend into my neighbor's yard and it is getting water there.) Anyway I was surprised recently to find it in full bloom. The sepals of these blooms will later turn red with black seed pods in the center making it look like Mickey hanging upside down.

Bulbs that sent up their green shoots in early fall are just now blooming like these red Freesias and the Ixia below. I have yellow, white, and one or two of the red kind of Freesia planted around the "estate." Someone asked which ones smell the best and I have to say they all smell good and just slightly different from each other. I like to cut them and bring them into the house to adorn my table. Then I can enjoy the aroma while I eat. Plus the yellow and white blossoms together make a dazzling arrangement.

My friend Kathy says Ixia reminds her of colored Easter eggs. These bulbs were given to me by a music friend. One way for a plant to get itself propagated by humans is to have irresistible flowers or aromas.

Amaryllis has greens all year. This clump was started by seeds from a nearby bed of flowers and blown by the wind. These plants have been in bloom for months while the original plants are just starting to send up their fat flower stalks. They do get more sun. I received my first amaryllis bulbs from the woman who took care of my son while I was giving birth to my daughter. My daughter was born in March and the amaryllis has bloomed every year in March reminding me of that happy occasion. I used to dig the bulbs up every January, divide them, and distribute the extras to my neighbors, but lately, I haven't done that and they don't seem to mind. The bulbs, that is.

This Jasimine has produced profuse flowers this year. It started out as a plant in a pot hanging from my patio cover. After a few years, it started looking very sad, so I took it down and deposited it over by a wall where it gets much more shade. It obviously likes the change, plus all the rain water it got this year. I might mention that this species has a delicate fragrance. It is not overpowering like the night-blooming kind. When it is warm enough to open the patio door, the gentle scent fills my kitchen.

But Project BudBurst is more interested in native plants naturally and none of these plants are natives of my area. Most of them were planted before I became a native plant enthusiast and since they have adapted so well to my infrequent waterings, I have left them. New plants, whether drought-tolerant or not, require water to get established.

Now... That's... Slow...

Over a year ago, I blogged about the trash collection in my neighborhood. One day, without warning, my neighbors and I were supplied with three large trash collection barrels, one for garden waste, one for recyclables, and one for the other stuff. Along with the barrels came instructions on how to fill them and place them on the street such as 18 inches apart, wheels against the curb, lids closed, away from trees, etc. Besides being so large the barrels do not fit in many people's side yards (including mine). They are very heavy, especially when full and hard to manage even with wheels. And to make matters worse, the day of trash collection was the same day they swept the streets. With the trash barrels out on the street up against the curb, the sweeper could hardly do a very affective job. Some streets have no parking signs, but that does not include the trash barrels, I guess.

The entities involved both refused to change their schedules and we have been living with this situation for 18 months. Many meetings were held, many petitions signed, surveys filled out, and finally there has been some progress on the matter. Starting in April, the trash will be picked up on a different day. Yay.

So, take heart, there are still some elements of our lives that are very slow, usually those involving a government agency.