Samhain New Moon of the Winter Solstice
Up again. After noon. Oh, well, sleep counts even in fragmented chunks.
On the docket today, Ovid. Groceries. Making more home made pot pies, perhaps an all veggie one. Maybe some other kind, too.
A snow day.
Restored Wonder
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
“The one common experience of all humanity is the challenge of problems.” – R. Buckminster Fuller
Once again, awake. I know why this time. Over stimulation. The interview process at the Sierra Club has my head cranking over time, weighing this aspect and that, noodling out the implications, going over what ifs. I’m familiar with this kind of insomnia, it happened a lot when I worked for the Presbytery, particularly when I had several projects in the air all at the same time, which was the norm rather than the exception. Leaves my jaw a bit achy, not so good with my still healing wisdom teeth extraction.
This is my (now mild) neurosis at work, continuing to work over nuances, much like the front tires on the Celica last night, trying, trying, trying, but gaining no traction, spinning in place, unable to move forward and accomplishing nothing moving backward.
Added to the interviews, of course, was the commute home last night and my sling-shot derby trying to use momentum to move my car up the slope of our driveway. Last night after I closed out my blog for the evening, our neighbor, Pam Perlick, called and offered a berth in her garage so our plow guy could work unobstructed. A kind and thoughtful offer which I accepted. That meant putting back on jeans, boots, parka, hat and gloves, taking my Berea College whisk broom out and sweeping two new inches off the car before moving it to safe haven.
The night was dark and cold, the snow swept up and swirled as it fell. Once outside, as is often true, I found the storm exhilarating, especially since Pam’s gesture meant the Celica would not interfere with the snow removal. I could embrace the cold and the falling snow for what it was, rather than for the problems it brought into my life.
Based on NOAA weather spotter’s it appears we got another 5 inches of snow. Which would square with my guess. Snow shapes itself to the objects on which it lands, often in unusual, even bizarre shapes. I’ll put out some photographs today, once it becomes light.
These kind of storms and the deep cold of January define the north for me. They’re why I’m here and why I love this state so much, so I’m happy my neighbor restored my wonder. Thanks, Pam.
Protected: Jim on Nick
Parked Outside. At Home.
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
Yee Ow! Into the Sierra Club for the final interview round. Snow began coming down. The interviews were good, and the after processing was good, but the snow continued to fall. When I googled MNDOT for road conditions, all roads were red leading home. So. I went over to the Merry Lanes and hung around while the Sierra Club staff engaged in team building by knocking (some) pins down. It was fun, but I didn’t get me home. Finally, around 5:40 I decided to come home anyhow. It took me over an hour–a ride that took me 30 minutes just this morning–never going higher 30 mph and mostly 20 mph.
Then, to sink the knife in deeper, the great unsolved problem of our homeplace confronted me, again. That is, a sloped ascent packed with snow. I tried for another half an hour to drive up and into the garage stall, but even with the help of the granite grit, I finally gave up, too tired from the day and the commute. So the Celica sits about half up the driveway, a task for tomorrow. Sigh.
Once Kate retires I plan to drive the truck (4 wheel drive) in instances like this. No problem crawling up the hill then.
Latin went well this morning. Decided to stay on a weekly schedule for now.
The Seventh Generation
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
Any of us who work the legislature and the administration for any purpose have to take the 6.2 billion dollar deficit seriously. It will disrupt state work, occupy legislative time and distract attention from other matters, especially longer term matters like environmental and conservation issues. It could also, in light of its direct cause, the economic crisis and slow return of jobs to our state economy, tilt the scales in favor of jobs based proposals like the Polymet hard-rock, sulfide mine proposed for the edge of the Iron Range.
In times when the books balance and the state’s economy hums along at full employment decisions with long term consequences are still hard to make. It would be easy, then, in hard times, to simply duck the issues of logging off our state and national forests, their resiliency in light of climate change and the damage to them wrought by invasive species and powered vehicles. It would be easy, then, in hard times, to put off financial investments in mass transit. Why spend money when we already have roads and buses? It would be easy, then, in hard times, to put off more ambitious clean energy goals, continuing to pump electricity out of toxic emitters like coal plants, balking at ground floor investments needed in wind and solar energy.
It would be easy, but it would not be wise. We have learned already, the hard way, that mountain tops once removed, will no longer rise toward the sky. We have learned, the hard way, that sulfide mining produces heavy metal and sulfuric acid waste that lasts not years, not decades, but centuries, outlasting the companies that produced it, the jobs created and the governments that allowed it. We have learned, the hard way, that generating energy with dirty fuels like coal, gasoline and nuclear fission has consequences, world changing, life shattering, additive changes.
This means that especially now we must be vigilant, careful, thinking about the seventh generation when we make our decisions. Will the seventh generation of Iron Rangers be better off with hard-rock sulfide mines spread along the Range? Will my seventh generation, my grandchildren of the distant future, find a boreal forest in Minnesota? Will there still be unpaved portions of the metro area? Areas saved by the development of rail, bicycle and pedestrian pathways?
Hard times, hard as they are, come and go. The clean waters we love, the dense forests through which we hike, the fresh air we breathe can all be imperiled by decisions made with long term benefits lost, traded for short term gain.
Ugly Words
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
What are the ugliest words in current usage? Mentee is my choice. Seems like the person identified by this word should have a mermaid tail and a squashed pug face. Others chose orientate. Incent and incentivize as in, We should incent them to do this. Emily came up with the best one though from her years at the state legislature, mute point. She said she’d cover her ears every time she heard it. Pretty good.
Do you have a candidate? Send it along.
Tomorrow the final interviews and decision time. That will take the afternoon. Latin in the morning. Then, a snow storm.
Good Tired
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
Two days of interviews plus a tour day and all the attendant driving, 3 trips in and back, has left me with a good tired feeling. Participating on a hiring committee puts me in the guts of an organization again. I like that, even if it is only a volunteers part. It’s true, though, that in my work with the Presbytery much of my work came in situations where I had an extra-organizational role in what was happening, so this is not so different from that.
My embarrassment of riches tour today went well. Three folks came along and we spent our way wandering through the whole exhibit, talking and oohing and awing right along. I like this smaller, adult tour where we can work it as a casual stroll, thinking together about the art, offering ideas as we go along. I have two Thaw tours next week and I’m hoping for a better performance than with the Rochester Friends.
Another snow storm appears imminent, coming tomorrow night and Saturday. Thankfully I don’t have a commitment outside in that time frame. That way the driveway can get plowed, I can do the sidewalk and spread granite grit if necessary afterward. I’ll be able to enjoy the snow this time.
One of these days, when life slows down a little bit, I need to get the chainsaw out and take out the cedar and the amur maples broken by the first heavy snowfall.
Leave It Alone
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
Coming home tonight from the city I encountered a traffic slow down. It allowed me to get close to an older model GM car with a bumper sticker in letters too small for me to read from a distance. The bumper sticker read: Leave the Constitution and the Bible Alone.
The world of such a person, that is a person who would both buy and display such a message, must have a lot of fear leaking into it. Not surprising. Job losses. Uncertain economics at the national level. A black President. The furor stoked by the Tea Party folks.
Think of it though. A whole world bounded by two written documents, documents written by men, interpreted by men and now some women, too, but documents of humans nonetheless. A world with absolute faith in those two written documents, a faith so necessary, so critical that if others tamper with them… Well. They’d better not. Leave’em Alone. This feels like such a lonely and fettered existence, cramped, perhaps like a one room apartment or a small economy car.
Any conversation with such a person must not start with the constitution and the bible, it must start with the aspects of their life they believe protected by them. Their sense of identity. Security. Safety. Morality. Only as people feel safe can they begin to question, until then, too much is at stake.
So, for God’s sake, leave them alone.
Working At It
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
All day today at the Sierra Club finishing up the first round of interviews for the new policy position. A bit much for me in terms of people interaction, though very interesting in terms of the people I met.
Afterward, I had to eat dinner in the city because we ended at 4:3o, the gut of rush hour. I knew I needed a good hour and a half, so I chose the Red Stag, a full sit-down meal with dessert. The Red Stag serves local beef, lamb, vegetables and I imagine, fish, though I don’t know that for sure. The food is excellent. I had the grilled lamb on chopped leeks with carrots and kale. Following through on my decision to eat more vegetables and fruit, I have also chosen to eat only half of what I would have normally of the entree. That means I have a small box of lamb and leeks with one whole carrot of the six on the plate in the fridge.
This time I made it up the driveway with no problem thanks to the quarry derived granite grit I put on the slope yesterday. The night has turned colder, heading down perhaps below 10 degrees by tonight. 9 degrees Acuweather describes as extreme cold; 4 degrees, predicted for tomorrow night is extremely cold. These folks are not from here.
Teaching Pigs to Sing
Samhain Waning Thanksgiving Moon
“Trying to get people to reason in a way that is not natural for them is like trying to teach a pig to sing. You don’t accomplish anything and you annoy the pig.” – E. Jeffrey Conklin and William Weil
This seemed like a useful thought as we approach the opening of the 2011 legislative session. We need to change our message so that those in charge of the legislator can hear it and realize that safeguarding our environmental heritage is a non-partisan responsibility to our kids, our grandkids and their grandkids.
More interviews today, more with talented people who want to work with the Sierra Club.
Little new snow today so I don’t anticipate the crush this morning that I experienced yesterday. And more Big History on the drive.