its hot

Yes,
Summer is in the air. The past few days have been so hot! Especially when you are hiking on steep slopes in the East Bay hills checking snake traps. Boy was I thirsty.

Yesterday I went to Baker beach on the rare occasion that the sun was out in my neighborhood. It was nice to take of my shirt soak up the sun. I have a sort of "farmers tan" right now but worse. The back of my hands and my face are really dark right now compared to the rest of my body. I look really Mexican when i have a long sleeve shirt and pants on. Otherwise I am milky.
One glance around the beach confirmed that I am not alone. There were lots of pasty people out. I guess it is the price we pay to live in the fog. We were all in need of some vitamin D.

But of course the sun can only hold the fog at bay for so long and by the evening, fog had engulfed our beloved city. Our typical summer pattern. Good thing that we only have to dive a short distance north, east or south to get out of the doldrums and find sun.

The Environment is cool...

As the United States celebrated Earth Day this weekend, I reflected on how the environment is the new fad. No matter where you go there is someone talking about the environment or how we can take small steps in our lives to help the environment. Academy awards, hybrid cars, floral designs on fashionable hipster clothing, the environment is the new cool.

I for one am excited. Increased awareness and education help define environmentalism not as a left-wing, hippie issue but as something that concerns us all. Everyone should want clean drinking water and pollution free soils. Gas is expensive and we should be pursuing other forms of clean energy. The biggest crisis we face in the coming years will be securing a clean source of energy that is not finite. We have the technology to make clean energy and to make it affordable to all, especially to developing countries. Sadly this is not a priority!

This planet is all we have. Let us not have the environment go the way the Atkins diet went. Keep up the fight!

goodbye Kilgore...

My favorite literary superstar passed away yesterday. Kurt Vonnegut. He was 84 and smoked like a chimney but did not die of lung cancer.

I loved his writing style. he would tell you how the story was going to end at the beginning of the story, sometimes in the first few pages. The characters were always interesting.

one of my favorite books is Galapagos, the story of how we humans evolve a million years from now. It was interesting from a biologist standpoint, humans have stopped evolving. At least that is what I took from the book. We keep everyone alive as long as we can. In nature, not all babies make it to reproductive stage. Many die via predators, the environment and other causes. Humans save everyone, even the sick that would be weeded out in nature. Vonnegut explores that theme and how we "evolve" when placed back into a natural setting where we have to fend for ourselves.

My other favorite book is Cat's cradle. I like the idea of the karass and the granfalloon. I like the idea that we are connected to random strangers by our thoughts and actions. also Ice-nine is cool. I did not know that he wrote this book to receive his Master's degree. Interesting.
I will miss his writing.

Happy Easter!!!

Look what the easter bunny brought me this morning! Yes.

Thank you four-legged fuzzy bringer of chocolate and other treats!

the grind...

Well I haven't published in a while. Don't know why. Could be that I am tired when I get home. This working thing is hard! I mean every week for five days! What is that!

I like my job! it is fun. I get to look for snakes and walk around and put on sunscreen. I am never in the office and if I have to do some work, I get to do it at home. I love working in my pj's and slippers. That is the best. The only thing that would make the job perfect would be nap time!

April fool's...

Hope you all did not get pranked yesterday.
here is a link to the best 100 April Fool's Pranks of all time. Check it out!