NBL

POST # 55


I awoke this morning with many thoughts on my mind. Watson hadn't noticed that I was awake, which I could tell because of the continuous snoring sound that was emanating from his nose, so I took adavantage of this fact and just lay there thinking about things, and about what I was planning to do with this new precious day that had dawned.

Because it was blog day, the last blog for the year as a matter of fact, I was pondering what I would write about today. One of the thoughts I did have was to write about the year just spent, about where I have been and what animals I have cared for. With this in mind I pushed back the covers, which caused the snore machine to wake up out of his slumber and soon we were up and at it.

It was a relatively early start to my day and so things were looking good as far as getting my writing done, and the fact that I had some idea of the subject matter made things look even more promising. So this is where I found myself early this morning. And then the phone rang.

The call was from a friend back in Canada, and it was unexpected and if it wasn't for the call display on the phone which let me know where the call was coming from, I quite likely would have just let the answering machine pick up. Most calls at this hour are from some robot trying to sell something. But I did answer and we ended up talking for quite a while. We talked about a variety of subjects but at some point in the conversation, the subject swung around to a website that I have been following for a couple of years now at least, called "Nature Bats Last" which is produced by Dr. Guy McPherson. I've touched on the subject matter contained therein from time to time on my blog but I don't think that I have ever mentioned the website by name up until today. Anyhow, this came up in our conversation, and this friend was very open to at least listening to what I had to say regarding the information presented at NBL. He was interested to the point where he said that he would follow up by having a look and perhaps we could discuss it on a future call. I guess time will tell whether he looks at it or not, but I trust his word, so I imagine that we will be talking about it in future phone conversations. The information presented there really gets to the heart of the matter regarding the subject of climate change, and it's a subject that I have followed now since way back in 2005. It's also a subject that seems to be one of those topics that one is never suppose to talk about in polite company, like politics or religion as it can alienate a lot of folks. Thankfully I am beyond worrying about the impact the topic may or may not have on the listener now, and so it does come up in conversation time and again. So, this friend and I ended up talking at length about the website and after I got off the call, I thought for a while, and decided to write about it here. If as a result of our conversation, the information presented there is explored by one more person, then it was a conversation worth having. If by writing this blog and mentioning the website by name causes others to read the information contained therein, then all the better.

Our conversation was over and it was good to have an opportunity to catch up and talk even though some of the subject matter wasn't easy to talk about. Sitting here at the computer, the snore machine which is Watson the dog, is right back to doing what he does best. He is curled up on my lap and is snoring away contentedly. It amazes me that he doesn't wake himself up as a result of the sound of his own snoring, but I suppose he's used to it by now. After almost two weeks here, I too am slowly adapting to his sound as well.

This is a rather short entry but it seems to be all the words I can come up with for now. Perhaps 2013 will help to pry a few more words out of my head. We'll have to wait and see.

Happy Trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

A late PS:

At precisely 6:18pm tonight, I stood in the desert and watched awestruck as the full moon rose in the eastern sky. It may well be the most spectacular moonrise that I have ever had the pleasure to experience, and I was happy to be alive to watch it.

ELEMENTARY MY DEAR WATSON

POST # 54


The chair that I am sitting in as I begin to write this blog, has one of those adjustable knobs underneath the seat. One moment I am at the level that is suitable for my typing and then the next thing I know is that I have descended in an instant and the computer keyboard is now way up high in comparison. What the??? I know it can't be blamed on the Mayans, because here it is the 21st, and I'm still here and so is everything else. The answer to the problem is elementary my dear Watson. It's Watson.

Watson as mentioned in my previous entry is the Boston terrier that I am now in charge of for the next six weeks or so. He is only about ten months old at this stage and so he has that puppy tendency to want to play with and or chew on anything and everything that is within his reach. The black knob underneath my chair is just one of those "toys" that Watson has discovered is fun to play with. I think he takes pleasure in watching me drop like a stone, when he chews the knob just right. One would think that he has enough toys to play with around here that he doesn't have to choose my chair as another one. However in the short time that I have been here, he seems to be destroying those other toys at a rapid rate of knots, so I guess the chair is just a natural extension to his toy collection.

Watson is the first Boston terrier that I have ever had the pleasure to care for and so it's a learning experience to find out how he ticks. I have to give him full marks in the affectionate department. In fact, just a moment ago, he was sound asleep on the floor next to me, and it's almost as if he read my thought about being affectionate, because the next thing I know is that he has hopped up on my lap for a cuddle. His head is actually lying across one of my wrists at the moment and he is beginning to snore. This makes for challenging typing, but I will be able to use him now as my excuse for any typing errors from this line forward.

Speaking of snoring, Watson has that down to a fine art, and it's loud. This wouldn't be such a big issue except for the fact that he wants to share the bed with me at night. Now I am used to having pets curled up with me in bed. It comes with the territory, but I have never come across one that snores as loud as Watson. So loud in fact, that I have resorted to using ear plugs so that I can fall asleep. I hope that I will get accustomed to his sound soon, so that I can discard the plugs, but time will tell.

This snoring business makes me think back on a time when I was living in Melbourne. I had just moved in to a new place, sharing with another guy whom I had only recently met through a friend. I had been there about a week and on the night in question I went to bed, and about 3am I woke to what sounded like another person snoring in the bed beside me. I knew that there was only the two of us in the house and for a few moments there were a variety of thoughts going through my head. I wasn't quite sure how I was going to handle the fact that this relative stranger, and a guy at that, had decided to sneak into bed with me in the middle of the night. I flicked on the light switch and I was immediately relieved and I began to chuckle. In bed next to me, was his cat, Motchca, snoring to beat the band, and she sounded just like a human. Needless to say, I didn't have to move out as a result, and Zoltan and I became friends and I ended up living there for a couple of years.

Back to Watson. In addition to his snoring in bed habit, he also likes to burrow under the covers and get nestled in next to me. At least then, his snoring is somewhat muffled, and he provides a little body heat for the remainder of the evening. This is all new territory for me and I am beginning to adjust to his habits and as time passes, I imagine that we will find a comfortable routine that suites the both of us.

My journey to Yuma was uneventful, even at the beginning last week in Vancouver airport, where I was sure that all the hardware in my leg would set the alarms ringing as I walked through security, however nothing at all happened. I mentioned to the security people there prior to walking through, that I had metal in my leg, and when I went through without incident, the security lady actually made a joke about it and said and I quote, "maybe the doctor just put wood in there." This made us all laugh, and it was a rare moment of humanness that is hard to find in airport security personnel in this day and age. It was appreciated by all who were with in earshot.

I was on two flights to get here, one to Phoenix and then a shorter one to Yuma from there. As we flew over miles upon miles of desert I couldn't help but wonder about what an issue water might become in the not too distant future for this part of the continental United States. As much as we in the Pacific Northwest like to complain from time to time about the rain, rain, rain, at least we probably don't have to worry about going thirsty. I can't be sure that the people living here will be able to say the same thing down the road.

Well, the hour is getting late, and so it's time to wrap this up for this week. Watson is snoring away contentedly on my lap, totally oblivious to the words that are being written about him. Poor little bonehead. As long as he has a warm lap, a few toys to play with, a walk now and again, and some food and water, he's happy. Or so he appears to be.

He seems to be saying to me, "Simplicity is best, Paul."
"Why of course, it's elementary my dear Watson."

The Yuma journey continues to unfold.

Updates to follow.

Happy trails,
Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

YORKSHIRE TO BOSTON

POST # 53


The morning dawned crisp and clear, and the baby boneheads, aka Jackson and Peach were somewhat shocked when I let them out the door this morning. A very quick scout around the back yard with just enough time for a morning pee and then they were anxious to come back in to the warmth of the house. They had kibble on their little minds. Ah, the simple life of the dog, sleep, pee, eat, go for a walk every now and again and receive some love and affection and they are happy with their lot in life. They understand the idea of simplicity and what is important to be happy. As I write these words they are now curled back up in their little dog beds, back in dreamsville again, probably looking forward to their next walk, or treat, or pat on the head.

WEATHER FORECAST FOR VANCOUVER FOR SUNDAY DECEMBER 16, 2012
RAIN, WINDY, LOW 3, HIGH 6

WEATHER FORECAST FOR YUMA ARIZONA FOR SUNDAY DECEMBER 16, 2012
SUNNY, LOW 11 HIGH 19

Comparing the above two weather forecasts it is easy to see which one looks more inviting. Fortunately for Paul the housesitter, I will have the opportunity to experience both of them on the same day. You see, on Sunday, I will be flying to Yuma for my next housesit assignment. I head out on an early morning flight to Phoenix, and after a short layover there, I will continue on to Yuma.

This will be the first time since having my accident back in March that I will be subjected to the airport security scanners, and I am curious to say the least as to what kinds of alarms will be triggered by all the new metal in my right leg. Two metal plates and twenty screws will not get through undetected I suspect. I am planning to take some documentation along with me from the hospital in case I need any proof of the legitimacy of my noisy leg. The surgeon who performed my operation told me that the only thing I would have to do would be to show the security people the enormous scar that I now have on my leg, and that should be all the proof required to back up my story. Well I guess this Sunday I'll be able to finally test out that theory. I am not too concerned about it here in Vancouver, but it might be a whole other story when I have to check in for my flight to Yuma from Phoenix. Time will tell, and if nothing else, it will be both an adventure and an education.

Yuma is probably the last place I would have ever thought that I would be going to do a housesit, however as a result of my Dawson City contacts, I have the opportunity to go on this new adventure and go to a place I have never been before. I will be down sizing in the dog department, going from two here to one there, a dog named Watson. He is another small dog, a Boston Terrier, so I am staying in Terrier Territory, from Yorkshire to Boston for the next couple of months and I am sure that I will have some Watson stories to tell as time goes by in Yuma.

So with only today and tomorrow left here in Vancouver I have a few things to get done before I go, but I will try and spend as much of my remaining hours with my buddies Jackson and Peach. Over the years that I have been housesitting here, we have become good mates, and I will be a little sad to say goodbye to them tomorrow night. I can already picture the scene. I will leave out the back door and as I walk to the back gate to leave the yard, they will be standing at the window in the door, looking in my direction, with that look of "why are you leaving us, what did we do wrong to deserve this?" For a moment or two I will linger at the back gate and stare back at their little faces and say goodbye. If I linger too long, I will only want to come right back to the house to see them one more time. So with a final look into their eyes, I will unlatch the gate, and head on my way to the skytrain station for my journey to the airport.

It will be the start of a new adventure and I will look forward to it, like I have all of the adventures in the past. After all, what else is a thoughtful wanderer like me to do, but enjoy my wanderings? And with this new adventure there will most certainly be new things to be thoughtful about.

Happy trails,

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer

FARTS AND METHANE

POST # 52


I was sitting in the kitchen yesterday, gazing out the windows at a couple of flies buzzing around, like it was a summer's day, and yesterday was anything but a summer's day. Flies in December? That can't be normal.

Peach walked in the kitchen and for a moment she stood looking out into the back yard, then promptly turned and began walking back into the living room, glancing my way as she did so. Was that a smirk on her face or was I just imagining it? She was only out of the room a moment or two and then it hit. I couldn't have seen it coming and I didn't hear a thing, but the fragrance was unmistakable. This cute little Yorkie with the cute name to match, had just farted and then left the room. It kind of reminded me of that Monty Python line spoken with a french accent, "I fart in your general direction." The fart was invisible but its effects certainly were not.

Now it's interesting how the brain works. There I was, thinking of flies, then farts, and how that even invisible things can have an effect, and my brain then made the connection with gas, which then made me think of methane gas and that got me to thinking about the ice in the Arctic. What? Huh? Where is he going with this thread of an idea?

Well you see, as a result of all the fossil fuels which we have been burning over the last one hundred and fifty years or so, the planet has heated up to such an extent that it has actually had the effect of warming the Arctic ocean enough, to cause methane gas, to be released into the atmosphere. Methane gas is a much more powerful greenhouse gas and because it is now venting into the atmosphere, this is accelerating the warming effect. This is what is known as a positive feedback loop. The result of all this warming is that the Arctic ice which has acted like a big planet earth air conditioning unit, is now melting at a much more rapid pace than was thought even back in 2007, when the projected date for an ice free Arctic was 2100. Professor of Ocean Physics, Peter Wadhams of Cambridge University who has been studying the sea ice now for decades has concluded that we probably will see an ice free Arctic Ocean not by 2100, but as early as 2015. And some even suggest it could happen as early as next year. Now here's the thing. The Arctic sea ice has been there for about three million years. And now the forecasts say it will be gone in about three years. So in other words, this air conditioning unit for the planet will be turned off at least for a few months of the year initially, and then as the positive feedbacks increase, the ice will melt even more, and eventually there will be no ice left at all. And with it gone, there goes the planet's air conditioning unit. This is very significant for a variety of reasons, which I need not go into here, and yet this is never talked about in the media. I wonder why?? I believe I know why, but I'll let the reader make up their own mind.

There are many more positive feedback loops that could/will add to the warming of the planet, however this one with the methane gas certainly looks like a big one. All of a sudden, the southern hemisphere is looking at least for a while like it might be a better place to hang out. Maybe those Aussies will have the last laugh after all. Or the Kiwis. Or more likely the penguins in Antarctica.

We humans have been so intelligent that we have managed to get ourselves into this situation, and now it's very questionable whether we will be intelligent enough to get our way out. Personally, I have my doubts, but as each new day unfolds I guess we will get to see how this story plays itself out. This intelligence of ours is a double edged sword. I guess if there is some good news, it is that we can at least say we are here, alive to experience it all. What is the Chinese saying, "May you live in interesting times." Well, we certainly are.

These were all the thoughts that were going through my brain yesterday as I waited for the air to clear in the kitchen after Peach's fart. In the meantime Peach and Jackson had settled nicely into their little cozy beds in the room off of the kitchen totally oblivious of course to what the housesitter was thinking about. I glanced over to have a look at the two of them lying there so peacefully in their little dog beds and called out their names. Sleepily they both looked up at me and in spite of what I had been thinking about, I just had to laugh. I am not sure if this is a trait common in all Yorkshire Terriers but these two have the habit of sleeping with their tongues sticking out. It's as though their tongues are too long for their mouths. In any event, it makes me laugh every time and I am thankful that these "baby boneheads" as I refer to them, had managed to bring my mind back to the present moment.

One last look at the flies buzzing around outside and then I said to the baby boneheads, "come on you guys, let's go for a walk," and so off we went.

Dog walking into the future.

Paul
The Thoughtful Wanderer