Just Thinkin' » Environment

Feels Like April in Virginia in Vermont

Kirk M — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:23:56 +0000

Good God, it’s 80 degrees out according to my weather sticker in the sidebar or it was when I began writing this post and I have to agree with that. I just came in from working out in the yard with Laurie’s youngest son, Kenny (he and his family live upstairs) and by the time we tied up the last ancient bush in the old hedge row (forgot what type of bush it is), we were sweating like it was midsummer. Seems kind of weird to have to watch where your stepping due to the last few remnants of the winter lurking in the shadowed areas. We still have a good pile of snow in and around our tent style shed out back.

80 degrees and slipping on icy snow…only in Vermont….or maybe Michigan too…who knows?

So here’s a few pics of our endeavors to finally rid all the creepers, trash plants and crap from what used to be a well manicured gardens full of bushes, mini-sunflowers and the occasional tulip. One in the middle of the yard with an old Silver Maple as the center piece and one out by the railroad bank where the miniature sunflowers will come to glory during the late summer through early Fall.

In the first 2 pictures above both areas around the Silver Maple and by the railroad bank (the guy with the rake is Kenny) used to be a solid mass of creepers, bamboo and trash plants. Laurie and I started working on it 2 years ago and all 3 of us at different times or together went at it once Ken and company arrived at the upstairs apartment.

And it felt like April in Virginia out there even though the lawn looked like it should really be around 55 degrees with a frigid wind blowing off the lake. grass must still be asleep. This should be the height of mud season for heavens sake but it looks more like late May to me and the weather folks are calling for nice days with the temps between the high 60’s to mid 70’s all the way through next Saturday.

So what is this? Global warming or something? The way things are going it will probably hit 112 degrees by the 1st of August with tropical rains every 3 days. Either that or Lake Memphremagog will dry up…all 27 miles of it.

Guess I can put away the snow blower now and pull out the old hammock, huh?

Tags: global warming, Spring

Possibly Related posts

Punxsutawney Phil Sees His Shadow. No Early Spring for us then.

Kirk M — Sat, 02 Feb 2008 15:47:41 +0000

Yes folks, Punxsutawney Phil was yanked out of cozy burrow in his tree stump, saw his shadow and jumped back in, slamming the door behind him so it looks like six more weeks of winter are upon us. Up here in the Northeast Kingdom we kind of take that for granted anyway but I’m sure that those folks in the Midwest and around the Great Lakes are more than ready for a break. Sorry for the bad news.

In the meantime I understand that ‘ol Phil is packing to go south for the rest of the cold weather especially after the ice storm that came through yesterday and I can’t say as I blame him being yanked out of a deep sleep like that.

So keep the shovels oiled up (cooking spray works good for this) so the snow doesn’t stick to ‘em, stock up on the ice melt (that environmentally safe stuff) and keep your snow boots handy ’cause here we go again.

Spring is always worth waitin’ for!

Tags: Spring, weather, winter

Possibly Related posts

Punxsutawney, PA. Weather Iffy for Feb. 2nd

Kirk M — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 15:37:00 +0000

Will there be six more weeks of winter or not this year? The answer is up in the air as the forecast for Punxsutawney, PA is either going to be cloudy, mostly cloudy, partly cloudy or mostly sunny depending on which weather service you’re looking at. Much like the weather we’ve been experiencing so far this winter–unusual to say the least.

So will ol’ Phil see he shadow this year? Seems like the answer is as iffy as the weather forecast itself so keep your eye on the Groundhog Weather and hope for the best. This winter has been weird enough already without six weeks more of it to put up with.

Tags: Spring, weather, winter

Possibly Related posts

Blog Action Day: It’s Our Children’s World.

Kirk M — Mon, 15 Oct 2007 00:00:11 +0000

I wrote the original version of this post back in July of this year and try as I might I couldn’t come up with something that said the message I was trying to get across better than that post did. Now, with the fabled Northwest Passage open for the first time, what I was trying to get across seems to be is even more valid. So I’ve moved the entire post up to the front and added the new section for October 15th’s Blog Action Day when over 15,000 blogs will be posting about issues relating to the environment. of course I had to sign up.

On October 15th, bloggers around the web will unite to put a single important issue on everyone’s mind - the environment. Every blogger will post about the environment in their own way and relating to their own topic. Our aim is to get everyone talking towards a better future.

And here’s my small contribution to the cause:

Arctic Melt Opens Northwest Passage

Climate models had projected the passage would eventually open as warming temperatures melted the Arctic sea ice—but no one had predicted it would happen this soon.

“We’re probably 30 years ahead of schedule in terms of the loss of the Arctic sea ice,” said Mark Serreze, a senior scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado.

“We’re on this fast track of change.”

I’m looking up at a plaque that resides upon the wall above my computer desk. It’s a relatively bad relief of a nuclear Fast Attack sub surfaced at the north pole. The name of the sub is called the USS Silversides, one of the “stretch hull” versions of the Sturgeon class of nuclear powered fast attack boats that were the workhorse of the US Naval submarine force during the 70’s and 80’s, a very volatile time of the Cold War in it’s last two decades. On this plaque is inscribed “North Pole. On Top Of It all. ICEX 81. USS Silversides”.

What we were doing up there is irrelevant but the point of mentioning this at all is that we surveyed and plotted the underwater “ice-scape” of the Arctic ice pack surrounding the north pole for a hundred miles around and more and I can assure everyone, since I was the one who initially came up with the technique for effectively plotting this strange and extremely hazardous underwater ice field, that there were no kilometer wide open areas of water anywhere within several tens of miles surrounding the North Pole. My boat had to punch through over 4 feet of ice (a “thin” spot…for a sub that is) just to gain the surface.

Now, 26 years later we have this:

(Photo source: National Geographic News)

North Pole, July 20, 2007? For most of us, swimming a kilometer (0.62 miles) in under 19 minutes is a lofty, if not impossible, goal. But swimming in below freezing water?

When British endurance swimmer and adventurer Lewis Gordon Pugh dove into the icy waters of the North Pole on Sunday, he had two goals in mind: become the first person to swim in the North Pole, and draw attention to global warming. And that’s just what he did.

Gordon swam one kilometer in 18 minutes and 50 seconds in temperatures of minus 1.8 degree Celsius (28.7 degrees Fahrenheit), ?the coldest water ever swum in.

“I hope my swim will inspire world leaders to take climate change seriously. The decisions which they make over the next few years will determine the biodiversity of our world,? Pugh told the world media after emerging from his icy dip.

Pugh, who swam in a water hole once covered by thick polar ice, said “I am obviously ecstatic to have succeeded, but this swim is a triumph and a tragedy: a triumph that I could swim in such ferocious conditions but a tragedy that it’s possible to swim at the North Pole. ”

Source: National Geographic News Photo Gallery: Week in Photos: Space Geysers, ”Fossil Fish,” More

Whether by some natural cycle of things, man-made or more than likely; a combination of both, global warming is very real and from the point of the general population, it’s not trying to slow the process down or attempt to reverse it that matters. For the average human on this globe, it’s preparing for what may turn out to be a major climatic shift. And not just for ourselves but much more importantly, preparing our children and grandchildren who will have to live in what may turn out to be a very different world than the one we know now.

Even if global warming doesn’t turn out to be as severe as some predict for the long run, we need to instill the idea into our children that it is our responsibility to take care of this world we call home and not to interfere in it’s natural processes by polluting it’s biosphere with the waste products of our apathy. This is our home and the home of countless other species as well and we, the people, are the ones who can make our world a safe haven for all life forms on this planet or we can be the ones to ruin it.

A short, cold swim for a man, a great decision for mankind. Let’s hope we choose wisely.

Technorati tags: Blog Action Day, Global warming, north pole, submarines, submariners, Cold war, USS Silversides, Lewis Gordon Pugh, northwest passage

Tags: Environment, global warming, submariners

Possibly Related posts

October 15th, 2007 is Blog Action Day

Kirk M — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 01:03:08 +0000

Blog Action Day. When is it and what is it? It’s coming October 15th and it’s all about participating bloggers writing up a post related to keeping our environment safe. You do it in your own style and in your own way whether it be political, money related, family related, personal or whatever fits your blog’s style and context. The point is to get the issue out there in the open in a massive sort of way and what better way to do that than hundreds or even thousands of bloggers pushing out their own unique outlook about the environment on the same day?

Posts do not need to have any specific agenda, they simply need to relate to the larger issue in whatever way suits the blogger and readership. Our aim is not to promote one particular viewpoint, only to push the issue to the table for discussion.

Blog Action Day is about MASS participation. That means we need you! Here are 3 ways to participate:

Post on your blog relating to the environment on Blog Action Day

Donate your day’s earnings to an environmental charity

Promote Blog Action Day around the web

Considering that the sign up started on the 14th of this month and when I just now checked there were 933 bloggers already signed up to participate, I do believe there will be an excellent chance that we’ll be seeing those thousands of voices all posting about the environment on the same day.

Think about it…

More info can be found by following the link in the logo.

Technorati tags: Blog Action Day, environment, community

Tags: Community