It's beginning to look a lot like Lent

Here I am, once again, face to face with my wretchedness. How long will I journey through this season before I get in bed with the old man again? Lord have mercy. Lord, make me merciful.

One thing I suppose I can say is I will attempt to read through Frederica Matthews-Greene's First Fruits of Prayer as a way to develop the prayer muscles.

Ah, Children

Driving on I-96 today, my son remarked about the song "The Day I Tried to Live" by Soundgarden melodiously pumping through the van's speakers: "Dad, is this by Alvin and the Chipmunks?"

Violence and Recoil

Reflecting on Defiance, I'm struck by the tension created in the movie, which wasn't great, but wasn't bad either, between those who relished violence and those who had to be pushed into it. Daniel Craig's character is the first to draw blood, avenging his parent's murder, but he "still sees their faces," meaning the men he shot at point-blank range. He found the taste of blood to be fetid, though this doesn't stop him from killing a challenger to his authority later. The youngest Bielski brothers are the ones who shy from violence even more. Only the second brother, played by Liev Schrieber, truly embraces that inner call to kill; even though he is killing those most acceptable of Hollywood "victims" Nazis the audience is meant to see that perhaps this isn't the way. In fact, there is a scene in the forest camp where the community of hiding Jews pummel a captured German soldier to death. They scream out the names of their murdered loved ones and they jam rifle butts into the head of the young father of two children.
This is one story where revenge is seen as distasteful, amazingly enough.

Tragedian of Middle Earth

J.R.R. Tolkien's The Children of Hurin arrived in stores last spring; never a timely reader I finished the novel last Saturday. It's not as good as The Lord of the Rings--what is?--but, it isn't meant to compete or replace that book. This tale is smaller in scope and as such, can't have the richness of a story broken up into three (really six)books. Nevertheless, this story of fate and striving is a very good read. Tolkien's style is of an older age, yet it reads smoothly, doesn't sound forced or pretentious--he brings you into his world on his terms. Without giving too much away, Hurin, a man among men, challenges Morgoth--Middle Earth's Satan and lord of Sauron BTW--and is captured(This takes place thousands of years before LOTR). Morgoth allows Hurin to live, but he cannot leave Morgoth's lair; he is fated to watch the curse that the enemy lays on his family. So the story switches to Hurin's only son, Turin, who is forced to leave his home, live with elves, and eventually become an outcast. There's a dragon, but much of the conflict is within Turin as he struggles with his pride. What I found the most compelling was the Greek sense of fate, of futile striving against forces larger than oneself, which only makes the story sadder than it is. Again, not as majestic as LOTR, but longer than the tales of the Silmarillion, and thus richer. If you enjoy sad, heroic tales, this is worth your time.

Hey, Jim Wallis--

God is a Democrat
Republican
Libertarian
Constitutional Monarchist with agrarian leanings.

Aughh! They're coming. . . the plants!

You may wonder why the hell I'm putting up a summary of my class lecture--well, this rewrite helps some of the information stick in my cranial folds.

Tonight's lecture was "Pathways and Dynamics of Plant Invasions." Yes, it was not that exciting. Before the first break I had trouble staying awake--less the prof's fault than perhaps low blood sugar.

Anyway, plant species move to new areas by two primary means: natural pathways (which always existed) i.e. atmospheric, oceanic, and river currents and, of course, us. Natural pathways usually deposited plants along coastlines whereas humans can move them much further in an interior.
Human dispersal has two ways as well--deliberate e.g. commerce, taking the pretty flowers and planting them in our garden 3,500 miles away (now how did that loosestrife end up way over here?), and using species like kudzu to halt soil erosion. That did stop the erosion, but caused other problems. The other method is accidental.
Worldwide New Zealand has the highest percentage of non-indigenous plant species with a total of 50 (holy shite!)% of their present species originating elsewhere. In the U.S. Hawaii has the highest percentage and California the highest absolute number of invasive plant species.

Invasives can be successful (see the rule of tens in a previous post) because they can make use of resources that the natives can't.
There are several theories for plant invasions: species-area relationship, equilibrium theory (put forth by Mr. Berry's buddy E.O. Wilson), metapopulations, and landscape ecology. Obviously, I'm not going in to detail, suffice it to say the more invasives the more success you'll have. There are also three barriers plants have to make it through to successfully colonize a new area: the biological, the physical (like road use, for instance), and environmental (soil conditions, climate, etc.)

What is the largest single factor in plant invasions? Disturbances. So back off with the freakin' bulldozer when you're landscaping, will ya?

Probably the worst thing about winter?

The charcoal snow. Yeeechh!