Notes to Myself

Kentucky prohibits the import of firewood from outside of Kentucky in order to prevent the arrival of the Emerald Ash Borer.
This information is outdated.  The Emerald Ash Borer arrived in Kentucky in 2009, first appearing in the counties that form a triangle between the borders of Indiana and Ohio.  Gradually, the insect is expanding its invasion in the state.

 Ash leaf showing damage from Emerald Ash Borer.

 Not every bright green insect is an Emerald Ash Borer.  On the upper left is the genuine article.


If you see an Emerald Ash Borer or evidence of its passing, contact the state entomologist at (859) 257-5838.
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People who are ill are often angry people.  One reason?  There is energy in anger.  A doctor told me decades ago that people with long-term illness, dire or not, are invariably depressed.  Energy can overpower depression.  Anger is energy.
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In 2009, Wikipedia said only 3 percent of CFL bulbs were being recycled.  One hopes that percentage has increased now that Home Depot and other locations are accepting the bulbs for recycling.  As we all know, they keep energy usage down but contribute to the amount of mercury, a highly toxic element, in landfills and elsewhere.

The hard-core advertising that convinced us to make the change.

Legislation and public education were strong factors in the switch to CFLs. Would it have killed the educators to inform the public at the same time that the bulbs contain mercury and must be handled properly?  I suppose they didn't want their message diluted.  Get the people to follow the leader before they start worrying their pretty little heads about toxicity.
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Articles to re-read:  Revenge of the Introvert:  How Social Media Is Making Nerds, Geeks, and Wallflowers the Leaders of the Pack by Laurie Helgoe in Psychology Today, September 1, 2010.

Fibonacci Poetry365. 31 Reflections on the poster at the animal shelter

Reflections on the Poster at the Animal Shelter

1    The
1    poster
2    at the
3    animal shelter requested
5    temporary homes for feral cats
8    recovering from sterilization surgeries. I thought it stupid.
13  On reflection, though, I saw we'll need those feral cats as long as
21  there are feral rats.
           Let's ship fixed feral cats to New York's subways -- big ones so that the feral rats can't eat them.
                                                       by Mary Cartledgehayes

Fibonacci Poetry 365. 2 For Mudhead Reynolds

For Mudhead Reynolds

1  Imagine
1  blue
2  squirrels released
3  from the nest
5  by a December warm spell
8  chasing madly from maple tree to magnolia tree,
13 eight imaginary blue squirrels leaping to the roof like water up a drain.
                                                                            by Mary Cartledgehayes

Varmint Watch

 This is a not-to-scale drawing of the trees in our neighborhood all summer long.  The orange lumps are bad-tempered squirrels.  Those little scumbags would cheep and click at the dogs every time they saw one. Yes, I know it's a mystic spiritual animal communication system; but I also know there aren't enough predators in my neighborhood for the number of varmints.
 
Therefore, this weekend there was a huge squirrel roundup, with professional critter wranglers stalking the grounds and roofs, installing cages and gathering up hundreds of squirrels, as well as assorted possums and chipmunks, all of which had taken to traveling in packs and shouting insults at the community dogs. We believe they all now live on a beautiful farm out in the country.  I'm cheering for the feral cats' side.

I can't believe I went to all the trouble of creating an authentic and also realistic drawing (except for the squirrels being orange).  One day you're blogging and the next day you're putting yourself out for other people who aren't visual enough to catch images on their own.

Pimping for Jesus, or The Worst Thing about Cancer

You might think the worst think about cancer is the chance, however remote, that you might die, or the fact that, at least in cancer mythology, you're forced to face your own mortality (I don't know about you but I did this a long effing time ago), or the unforgettable pain that occurs when your doctor rips out the temporary mammosite and replaces it with the permanent one without use of pain preventatives.  (Dentists learned a long time ago that it's detrimental to patient health to HURT people. Five minutes to apply lidocaine vs. the lifetime I will remember the unnecessary pain of that day -- bad call, Matt.) But I digress.

The worst thing about cancer is that some people who have kind intentions are nonetheless unable to prevent themselves from insulting patients and violating their religious freedom.  The impulse is, I believe, the result of totalitarian American Christians, those people who believe their willingness to be "kind" overrides other people's freedom of religion and/or their freedom from religion.

For example:

This jewel was delivered to me a few hours before surgery but, thank heavens, I didn't see it until the next day. The last thing I needed before surgery was strangers making unwarranted assumptions about me.

I was not afraid of anything the day of surgery, or the day before, or the day after, or at any time in this process.  (But thanks for trying to instill some in me.)

I do not need hope; I need the most brilliant, most professional medical care that the health insurance I am privileged enough to own can buy.

Additionally, in being free to despair on the cross, Jesus freed the rest of us to despair whenever we please.

I understand that "in Jesus' name we pray" is a closure taught in many Christian denominations; however, it was not part of my tradition. I find it simple-minded and always think the pray-or doth protest too much.

Finally,any time I want somebody to write a prayer for me, I don't want it to be a stranger who knows nothing of my faith tradition, of my relationship (or lack thereof) with God, or my repulsion at the Barbie doll pink paper inflicted on breast cancer patients.

If you want to perform an act of kindness, do so. If you want to proselytize, do so.  Just don't confuse the two.  Jesus really doesn't need you pimping for him.

This conversation reminds me of when my late husband was dying that a Baptist preacher relative told him he needed to give his heart to Jesus. Fred was baptized into the Christian community as an infant and never took a vacation from it.  Anyone who presumed that Fred needed effing INSTRUCTION in FAITHFULNESS didn't know a thing about him. My fervent desire is that said relative go to the grave despising me for not inviting him to speak at the funeral.
If you have overstepped into someone's spiritual life in a stressful time, please understand that I intend kindness in stating clearly how I feel, just as you intended kindness with your pinko prayer. 

Read over my shoulder

Remember "Ain't It Amazing," the great country song by Don Williams? I was cleaning off the coffeetable this morning -- by which I mean piling into one stack all of the newspapers and magazines in which I've read something amazing in the last few weeks. Months. Year. The table is still crowded.

I'm now going to post those amazing nuggets here. I could make clickable links for you, but I'm pretty sure you know how to google. Besides, once I start linking I can't stop, and the last thing I need is more roads to diverge down.

Here we go:

Viral hemorrhagic septicemia, a virus deadly to fish that was first identified in the Great Lakes in 2005 and thought restricted to those waters, was discovered in the Clear Fork Reservoir near Mansfield, Ohio, in 2008. Kentucky's warm summer water temperatures may help prevent the disease entering our waters. July 2008

A local five-year-old called Emergency Services this week after being left at home with two siblings, no supervision, and no power for 12 hours. He was quite calm when he told the dispatch operator, "We want our mama to come home now."

Louisville Metro Department of Public Health and Wellness is giving nicotine patches -- for free -- to people 60 and older who sign up for stop-smoking classes. With the city's high rates of particulates and lung cancer, I'm glad to see we're finally offering concrete assistance. Speaking of cigarettes, A Mayo Clinic study revealed that women suffer more intense nicotine withdrawal symptoms (including weight gain) and often start smoking again when they gain 5 to 10 pounds. Glad to see there's a study backing up what we've been telling you all along. January 2009

In a home slowly being overtaken by electronic gadgetry, I will never again be able to listen to a CD if my compadre can't remember where he put the cord when he installed batteries in the CD player last summer.

Last year Pakistani artist Huma Julji showed an assemblage called Arabian Delight. Materials included a suitcase and a (this is awful) taxidermied camel. Local authorities banned the piece on the second day of the show. By then, some idiot had already bought it. Note to self: include taxidermy in future artwork to establish my cutting edge style. January 2009

The snow and ice are more treacherous in Louisville today than they've been since this ice-snow-sleet-freezing rain--freezing fog mess began -- and I have the skinned knee to prove it.

The temperature is to reach the 40s and higher by the end of the week. Forget generators. It's time to buy hip boots.

Stop me before I blog again

I've been thinking about it for a month now, and I've done it. I've started yet another blog to go with this blog, my daily art blog, my art documentation blog, and my haven't-posted-anything-on-it-in-months blog. This time I used wordpress. Not because of any problems with blogger, but because I was curious. How is it different? Is it easier to use? Which is more effective?

I can't answer the questions, or at least I can't answer them yet. Blogger now offers me the comfort of familiarity. Setting up a blog on wordpress, even though it only took a few minutes, had the hairs on the back of my neck standing up. It's nothing but discomfort with the unfamiliar, but that's a significant discomfort to many people.

The new blog has only one post so far, so you don't need to rush over there. Take your time. Give me a few days to collect my notes and start putting order into the topics I'll address. The title is Stop them before they kill again. The blog is about non-native invasive species in the United States. I don't have a background in science or environmentalism, but I'm an informed citizen, and this topic strikes me as vital.

The commodity of the day is green. Marketers have hit on it as the new way to sell their products. But going green is only part of the equation. Ripping out the oriental bittersweet in parks and replacing that bluegrass lawn of yours with native species is another part. Thus a whole 'nother blog in a whole 'nother place.

Honeysuckle sucks

You like the smell, but do you really want it to move in with you? Yep, I'm talking about honeysuckle.

In the summer 2008 copy ofThe Lady-Slipper, the newsletter of the Kentucky Native Plant Society, Sarah Wolff from the Olmsted Parks Conservancy writes about the devastation honeysuckle caused in Louisville's Cherokee Park. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted (yes, the very same man who designed Central Park in New York City and numerous other parks in cities across the country), by 2004 Cherokee Park was overrun -- 80% of it with bush honeysuckle (Lonicera maackii) and much of the rest of it with "familiar --but invasive -- vines such as English Ivy, Creeping Charlie, Bittersweet, and Porcelain Berry" (Wolff, 10).

The Conservancy has been working since 2004 to allow the ecosystem to regain its original sturdy health. You can almost feel the sweat dripping when you read the statistics: 50% of the bush honeysuckle removed, 2000 native flowers planted, and 1600 trees and shrubs. The project continues. Read more about it -- or find out how to get your hands on a Hike Every Trail T-shirt for only $20 -- or join the Conservancy and get a free hat (gotta do it by September 1, though) at their website.

Second growth forest

In my November trip to Pine Mountain, the park naturalist took us on a sightseeing tour up a second growth mountain. Here you can see evidence of black bear activity in the bees' nests ripped open.






Earlier in the day, we'd seen evidence of evidence of deer presence. These photos show deer rubs and scrapes, methods by which male deer announce their superior size and strength to the other male deer. The last photo shows (unfortunately, not very clearly) evidence of woolly adelgid on an Eastern hemlock branch. Look for the small white traces.