The Shepherdsville Times: If Climate Changes, Why Not The Calendar?
...If the world is going to be a wetter, hotter place, with many of our current seaside cities under water, and our ways of providing food, clothing, and shelter violently disrupted, agreeing on new ways of thinking and talking about what we’ve always taken for granted will become an important survival skill...
Jerry Selby suggests that long-term climate change will compel us to adopt new ways of thinking about weather, climate and time.
It appears that we are at the beginning of a long-term climate change, for whatever reason. This might be a good time to start the wheels in motion to develop and adopt some new ways to think about weather, climate, and time.
The months we use to divide a chunk of time we designate as a year, are concepts which have been virtually unchanged for at least 2,000 years. Even hours and minutes are arbitrary divisions. Mathematically, and as descriptions of the galaxy and the universe, they are not very accurate, in terms of the instruments and knowledge we have now.
They were coined mostly by peoples who were wandering desert herders and subsistence farmers and fishermen. They were needed to discuss and resolve real problems in their times. They have been stretched beyond all reasonable bounds in an effort to make them describe our world and its activities.
Undoubtedly there will quickly pop up a weed patch of religious and political loud mouths, each claiming to have the one true set of names for our vital need to standardize and communicate things relating to time and to climate. And of course, with no desire to profit or gain fame from their leadership.
If the world is going to be a wetter, hotter place, with many of our current seaside cities under water, and our ways of providing food, clothing, and shelter violently disrupted, agreeing on new ways of thinking and talking about what we’ve always taken for granted will become an important survival skill.
Big bird
Wednesday afternoon, about two, I glanced out the kitchen door at the weather. Along our driveway is what landscapers call a feature. A planting of several evergreens and flowering shrubs. To add some interest, and in this case to hide the unlovely looking well head and an equally ugly old stump, which has now become mulch.
At one end of this small island of shrubs was a new feature, blending in so quietly as to be almost invisible.
I called Avie to come quietly and look. It’s amazing how a living creature, strongly colored with stripes, flashing eyes, long strong claws, and so on, and about as large as a big cock pheasant, can almost disappear in plain sight. But there he was, our male Northern Harrier, a large hawk who very much appreciates our bird and animal feeders.
He continued for several minutes to stand, unmoving, near the main stem of a shrub, looking like part of the landscape.
Then, either because he got tired of our staring, or because he decided to move to a better stand, he stalked across the sidewalk and disappeared at the far end of the milkhouse. Moving, on the ground, like an arthritic turkey who had somehow missed Thanksgiving.
Beautiful dog
Wednesday, Sox made her periodic trip to the canine spa of health and beauty: The dog grooming salon at the Lebanon Veterinary Clinic. I took her in before 8:30 a.m., and picked her up after 3 p.m. Several other assorted canines, all looking not quite at their best in the morning, but happy, well-groomed, and sociable in the afternoon.
One thing I always notice, though. Because a dog’s sense of smell is about a thousand times stronger than a humans, a dog’s sense of self involves its own scent. Even if that is lost, or temporarily covered, say by an encounter with a small striped woods person, the dog is extremely embarrassed and ashamed. So a groomer who finishes the job with a strong-scented deodorizer is not doing the dog any favors. How would you like it if your hairdresser insisted on finishing the job by painting you green, and tying a bandanna around your neck with a knot you couldn’t untie?
Our new groomer at Lebanon Veterinary Clinic seems to have avoided the temptation to make Sox smell like what she ain’t. That certainly should gain some favor with her clients, even if the client’s guardian feels shorted. Save a lot of time, too. It would have taken poor Sox, who is entirely a house or leash dog, a good deal of time and furtive efforts to get rid of that perfume and at least close to her normal odor.
Valerie
Our newest family-member-to-be has been duly introduced. And everyone in the tribe who met her felt at home and comfortable with Valerie immediately. We didn’t have any big formal parties or inspections. Except for some smile-provoking moments which reminded us of when the kids were officially declaring themselves to the world, Valerie fit right into the family circle.
I hope she feels the same about us.
If everything goes as planned, they will be married Jan. 10, in or around New York City. As you can tell, I rely, as usual, on my spouse to keep such things straight. They want just a small wedding, which means no great family assembly.
Valerie has three adult children, and I believe she said four grandchildren. Bob has pointed out that he has become a grandfather without ever learning to change a diaper.
That is subject to change, Bob.
I could still handle that job, but none of today’s young mothers travels with a supply of cloth diapers and safety pins. That’s the only system I know.
