The African Dust is gone. My hay fever is gone. Coincidence? I don’t think so. The sorghum continues to bloom all around us (…and I am not sneezing).
A crested caracara
And a northern mockingbird
Sharing a moment.
Gun Violence
The United States has 10 deaths per 100,000 people per year attributable to gun violence. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_firearm-related_death_rate It’s in the news every day. It seems to have a lot to do with schools right now. Australia has 1 death per 100,000.Canada has 2.France has 3.Germany has 1.Japan has 0.06.New Zealand has 1.Spain has 0.6.Sweden 1.Switzerland 3.8.United Kingdom 0.25. Mexico has 11. We consider Mexico an unsafe country to visit. Our government posts travel advisories against it. The Cartels have gone wild and control entire regions of the country with bloody violence. We have the equivalent level of violence in our country *without* the Cartels. We’ve achieved third-world status all on our own. One might think a rising level of gun violence could motivate us to look for ways to reduce that violence; that our violence could reach an unacceptable critical mass and trigger national outrage and action. So far, not so. Is there a level that could trigger that response? Will we be okay with 20 per year? 30? Swaziland has 37. Venezuela has 50. Maybe if we claimed the lead from Venezuela. I wonder if in Venezuela they think 50 is too much.
A walk at La Sal del Rey
…over the weekend. There is a string of three hyper-saline lakes a half hour north of us. Standing water, no outlet, located over a salt dome.
The shoreline is a good place to walk when it hasn’t rained recently. Along the way are massive mounds of poop.
More than one critter could put out all on its own.
White-tailed deer signposts, I presume.
The shoreline is a good place to walk when it hasn’t rained recently. Along the way are massive mounds of poop. More than one critter could put out all on its own. White-tailed deer signposts, I presume. Hayfever
I used to get hayfever every spring in Colorado. It got worst in early June. That has never been a problem here in Texas… …until this year. The hayfever has been going crazy on me the last few days. We saw something on the news that may be a contributing factor. The weather report referred to less-than-perfect visibility. We hadn’t noticed. The visibility culprit? African dust. A dust storm in the Sahara put enough dirt into the air that it has drifted across the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico to affect us. I wonder if that’s the unusual thing I’m reacting to; dust from Africa. That would explain why it’s a problem now and never has been before. Or, I suppose, my hayfever *could* have to do with the endless fields of sorghum in full bloom all around us.