Michelob Ultra

 

It has been reported that Progressives are boycotting Michelob ULTRA beer because that is the brand that the Gold Medal winning, US Hockey team was drinking in the locker room after winning against the Canadian team.

The Michelob marketing team responded that Progressives drink, on average, 3.4 bottles of beer a year and that they stand by their decision to provide the beer to the team. 

***Satire***

LED Headlight flicker and migraines

I was driving this evening and the vehicle behind me had LED headlights.

The flicker of those lights made me wonder if they trigger migraine headaches in those who are susceptible to that malady.

I know there were workers who could not work in the shop where there was welding because the sudden flashes of bright light lit-off migraines.

I THINK the flicker of the lights is a way of modifying their intensity in an RMS kind of way. It seems to me that a capacitor would smooth that out or perhaps there is some rate of on-off that is faster than our eyes can perceive.

What do you think? Do you get migraines? Have you ever heard of anybody complaining about the flicker? 

 

An email from a friend and a reality-check video

 

I got an email from one of my friends in an unnamed state west of the Mississippi. Springtime hits sooner out there than it does here in Michigan.

He wrote about replanting orchards, potting plants, picking mushrooms and trapping pests. I think he was trying to cheer me up. It worked.

The video at the top of this post is a good reality check. We start molding our property with a lot of ideas in our heads. And then reality hits us upside the head with a two-by-four.

Some people can deal with reality. They improvise, adapt and overcome. They adjust their expectations. Others fold. 

"Active" aging: What does it mean?

A friend emailed me one of those "maps that makes you think". It purported to show which states were most favorable for "active seniors". It listed the average age for each state that seniors remained "active".

It looked to me like they took the median life expectancy and subtracted ten years from that number, but it got me to thinking, "How would you measure that? Is there a standard for what defines an active-adult?"

It turns out that Occupational Therapists and people who study senior citizens do have a measure and it has little to do with how physically fit you are. 

The Basic Activities of Daily Living

• The ability to move yourself from one location to the next (usually in your home) as you go about your daily routine
• Personal hygiene, brushing your teeth
• Showering and bathing (which combines novel movements and slippery surfaces with hygiene
• Toileting and cleaning up afterward
• Dressing, including selecting appropriate clothing for the day
• Self-feeding 

Instrumental/Intellectual Activities of Daily Living

• Housekeeping, laundry, and other home chores
• Money management
• Meal Preparation
• Moving or changing residents
• Managing your medications (including arranging doctor visits)
• Using the telephone or computer to communicate and get information 

A sad reality

It is a sad reality that many people feel righteous in ripping-off old people.

If they bother to rationalize their actions, they say that the only reason an old person can afford something is because "they exploited others" during their working years.

A million years ago, an older people had no problems finding a neighborhood "kid" to mow the grass with a push mower, rake the leaves,  shovel the snow or clean the gutters on the roof.

Now you have to hire a business to do those chores on an annual basis. They show up driving $50k trucks and pulling another $15k in high-speed equipment. The only way they will do anything extra (like not mow down your prize peonies) is if you pay the EXTRA money.

And the entire "money management" issue has become a goat-festival. We are being pushed into "Apps" that come and go at a bewildering rate. We get messages "We discontinued this app here at the Doctors office and you have to sign up for this new one".

Oh, and data breaches happen daily. So how do we discern if the message is real or bogus?

It is no longer safe to put checks (in envelops) into your mailbox for the mailman to pick up. Scammers pull outgoing mail and "wash" the checks to create a signed but otherwise-blank-check on YOUR account. Note: Uniball 207 pens are more resistant to "washing" than most other pens. 

At least the thief has to put some effort into stealing your money when you use paper checks. He can't do it from the other side of the globe with the push of a mouse-button.

And don't get me started on inflation and the heat-death of Social Security. 

Yes, modern technology has advantages. Ride-share apps are a life-saver for my blind sister-in-law. Home delivery of groceries can take the sting out of the inevitable restrictions on driving.

It doesn't mean that I have to like it. 

Rejuvenating a pollard willow tree

Before

After

From a different angle

Before

After (close up)

The electric pole saw is a good tool for this job.

I was able to be off to the side of where the limbs dropped. The larger limbs are about 6" in diameter. Willow wood has a nasty tendency to "barber-chair" when they fall.

I planted this tree beside the gully that drains my property. My thinking was that the tree gave me one last chance to capture nutrients before they left the property.

Nutrient runoff is a real issue with livestock operations. The animals poop on the frozen ground and then it is leached by rain or washed downstream. That is not good for the surface water quality nor is it good for the long-term fertility of your soil.

The logical fallacy of this concept is that the tree does not have any leaves when the ground is icy. It cannot absorb those nutrients unless you have some kind of swale or settling pond to slow the water before it leaves the property. Then the particles can settle out of the stream and your tree can harvest them as they decay in the spring and early summer. 

Speaking truth to power

Black podcasters responding to the "Chicago" Bears possibly moving out of Chicago.

Savage.

Winning quote "I know the people who are living in Indiana. They are quite happy and quite fine. Thank-you very much." at the 7:14 mark.

Thinking about willow trees

The image above is an elevation slice along the property line that will be getting a windbreak.

What is notable is that more than half of the distance the elevation is at or only slightly above the water-table.

Joe, the fruit and nut grower instantly sees the elevated areas with good drainage. The soggy parts are much harder to populate.

At this point, in a rare moment of practicality, the initial plantings in those areas will almost certainly be various types of willow trees. There are other species that would work, Bald Cypress, Tamarack, American Elm, Silver Maple and a few others...but it is tough to beat the ease of propagating willow cuttings.

This clone was collected along Peppermint Creek and is typical for the species. It is currently trained as "pollard" and needs a haircut.

Several of the clones I will be using were collected "in the wild". Michigan grew a lot of vegetables on "muck fields" before most of that moved to Mexico. Muck is not a "mineral" soil. It is mostly grass that grew in marshes and the old roots and blades of grass fell into the water and did not decay due to lack of oxygen. It is organic. It burns when dry. It also blows away when it is drained. So, most muck fields had windbreaks of...willow trees (or spruce). The farmers used White Willow (Salix alba) or Crack Willow (Salix × fragilis) which are European species. They have more vigor than our native Black Willow (Salix nigra).

Some of the selections have twigs with brown bark. Some have yellow bark. Some of the selections have better "tree" form (called "apical dominance" in the biz). I even have some selections with "curly" twigs which don't get as tall and have denser branching than the standard forms.