Monday, May 27, 2024

Black on White; White on Black

Last year, we had a Memorial Day firing in the Swell; this year we were on Wood Hill.  Last year, all the pieces were in pieces; this year none of them were.  VSO is becoming skilled at making primitive pottery.  

Probably the biggest change from last year to this year is that we have learned how to make the fire hot.  Last year, we may have been achieving two or three hundred degrees Fahrenheit; this year we are at eight-fifty.  Last year, we were guessing; this year we are using the pyrometer.  VSO remains dissatisfied with the color:  The black on white was not as expected.  I think they look beautiful.

Saturday, May 25, 2024

New Type

I'm about ready to call this a new type.  I've been working in this landscape for a month and I'm closing in on the conclusion:  This is a Douglas fir-oak type.  Pine-oak types are probably the best well known, but Steinhoff (1978) also identifies pinyon-juniper-oak, serviceberry-oak, and pure oak.  I'm paraphrasing of course, but little, if anything, has been said about the Douglas fir-oak type.  Well, here it is.  I know, I know, there is a fair amount of aspen in the picture . . . but the rest of it is oak . . . I swear.

Saturday, May 18, 2024

VSO in Training

VSO will be attending a field school this summer.  On the agenda are some (possibly) six miles days with a 30 pound pack.  I don't think she'll have any problem with it, but she is concerned that she will fall behind and has decided to prepare.  So, she has been walking everywhere with a weighted backpack.  Not fun.  My theory is that, if you are forced to undergo a hardship, there is no sense practicing it before hand:  On the way to get the tetanus shot, I don't stick myself with a training needle.  At any rate, VSO does not subscribe to my theory.

Does this Count as Science?

"[O]ne should be a scientist in this world.  In the simplest terms, this means one should count something.  It doesn't really matter what you count.  You don't need a research grant.  The only requirement is that what you count should be interesting to you.  If you count something you find interesting, you will learn something interesting."  Atul Gawande

Those who work in the academy, and make their reputationif not their livingpublishing scientific literature, have many sophisticated tools:  They have good sampling design, good laboratory equipment, good statistics, and good software.  For the rest of us, there is counting.  I, for one, am a hell of a counter, especially one through ten!  But, Gawande may be correct:  Sometimes counting leads to literature (above).  And, because Dr. Gawande is a surgeon, Harvard professor, and a National Book Award finalist, I will take his recommendation (below).  Note:  Despite my bragging, on this plot I miscounted the two seedlings as Douglas fir; when I looked at the picture, I realized that the smaller one was a white fir.

Saturday, May 11, 2024

Enjoy It While You Can

This is what it looked like on the Skyline when I was returning from Ephraim on Wednesday.  I know that people are starting to complain:  It has been a cold spring.  But, we will have hundreds of monotonous daysalmost too many to countof hot sun and miserable temperatures.  We should enjoy this while we can.

Sunday, May 5, 2024

Bristlecone Ridge

A couple of years ago, VSO and I made this climb in the winter.  Well, we made it part way up until we tired of walking in the snow.  Yesterday, EDO and I climbed all the way to the ridge1800 vertical feet.  The trail is only about two miles long, so this was steep going.  On the ridge, though, was a very beautiful stand of bristlecone pine.  Well worth the walk.