Walking and "Weedy" and "Common" is good

I went for a three-mile walk today and a two-mile walk yesterday.

OK, maybe I am gilding the lily. I turned around 40 yards short of the stop-sign because the brush that was breaking the wind stopped.

14F actual. +1F if exposed to the wind (which I avoided).

I was wearing carpenter jeans (unlined), tee-shirt, Sherpa-lined and hooded overshirt, light work-coat, gloves. I also had a knit hat and was wearing socks and light hiking boots unlike savages in Alberta who stroll about Oddmanton in January wearing cargo-shorts, boonie-caps and crocs as they nibble on pickled eggs skewered upon their dirk.

God willing, I hope to lift tomorrow at the gym.

Neighbors

I ran across a neighbor while walking. I collected his phone number which could be handy in the future.

Weedy trees and trashy fish

I had a fellow kindly point out that Black Locust is considered a "weedy" tree in many locations.

The weedy trees to the left of the ditch are mulberry trees. China. Mulberry can be a very abuse tolerant species.

I am not going to disagree with him. Any species (plant or animal) that is described as "weedy" generally means that it thrives in the disturbances created by humans. I, for one, appreciate the over-achievers that increase in spite of our insults to the environment. Yes, orchids are beautiful but there is much to be said for mulberries, Black Locust, Box Elder, dandelions, blackberries, bullheads, Channel Cats, rabbits and starlings.

Even tomatoes can be weedy. I have seen a dense jungle of Yellow Pear tomatoes growing on a a sandbar in the Red Cedar River half a mile southwest of downtown East Lansing. Squash can be a weed in compost piles and grape vines along fences.

I sort of understand the mystique of exotics, but life is so, so very much easier if you invest the majority of your effort on boring, proven, robust crops and technologies:

• Potatoes
• Cabbage
• Corn
• Beans
• Squash 
• Tomatoes
• Peppers
• Garlic
• Cucumbers
• Turnips 
• 12 or 20 gauge shotguns
• .22LR rifles
• 9mm-to-.45 handguns
• .308 Winchester or 5.56 NATO rifles (or anything in between). Or if you have a source of ammo, 30-06, .303 Brit, 8mm Mauser, 7.62X39mm Ruskie.... 
• Lots of patches and ATF fluid or 0-20 synthetic motor oil for cleaning and lube
• Knives with full-tang, carbon-steel blades between 3" and 8" long
• Angus cross beef animals or Holstein or Jersey crossed with anything.
• Plymouth Rock or Rhode Island Red chickens 

Daniel Boone or Davey Crockett would have been thrilled to have any of those technologies available to them.

They are "common" to the point of forgettable for very good reasons. They work.