Wednesday Shorts 04-01-2009

☼ Currently researching/reading: about our extravagent indulgence in our pets in this country. I dunno, learning that we spend $40 billion a year on pets in one way or another makes me uneasy, even as we consider our dog a family member and feed him the protein equivalent in his food that exceed that for a few billion humans who go to bed hungry every day. How do we find a balance? What changes might we expect / should we make in a shrinking economy and anemic biosphere so that our non-working animals and their care are brought into some kind of rational balance with the state of the world?

☼ The tracking of moisture out the Gulf so far this year seems to be moving back to patterns we saw more commonly before the past five years of relative drought–especially in the southernmost states where bodies of water like Lake Lanier north of Atlanta had dried to practically nothing. So we’re getting much more regular soakings, and our water table surely is rising, finally, so I try not to complain today about the inconvenience of another day of rain.

☼ As usual, the calendars for April and May are getting very colorful at my Google Calendar, what with family visits, gardening reminders, our travels, book events, town events, press dates and such. I continue to contend that we make these two months 45 days each and that we consider these spring months a national moratorium from work, a Seasonal Siesta, to become immersed in the abundant life rising under our feet. Tell your employers. Listen: bluebirds!

☼ This book thing is an emotional roller-coaster. Lastest: possible sticker shock re the costs. No, it’s not about money but I was hoping to clear expenses and make a little to cover travel expenses, memory upgrade for the desktop, and maybe even a new lens for the camera. I’ll find out later today if I was wrong thinking there was no extra charge (as for the first book) for internal black and white images. If I’m wrong, there goes another $800.

☼ In the eternal permutations of apps to keep me on track, I’m using Gubb lists since I discovered that you can set timers and alarms for every entry. I set it up as a freestanding app via Fluid on the Mac.

☼ The Hybrid Berry Bush: Ann just deemed me the Wendall Berry-Dave Barry of Goose Creek. I like that, maybe with a little Gary Larsen thrown in, and some Euell Gibbons and Annie Dillard. A chimera I am, as we all are, of the people we listen to, care for, watch and learn from–and want to be like. Don’t you love the variety that people come in?

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