Winter moments

Down by the creek, cold and quiet, after our only snowfall of the season.

Odd fact of the day

From Wikipedia:

"When an Apis cerana (Eastern Honey Bee) hive is invaded by the Japanese giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia), about 500 Japanese honey bees (A. cerana japonica) surround the hornet and vibrate their flight muscles until the temperature is raised to 47°C (117°F), heating the hornet to death, but keeping the temperature still under their own lethal limit (48-50°C). European honey bees (A. mellifera) lack this behavior."

Japanese humans also enjoy heating the hornet to death, but for other purposes: they deep fry and eat them.

First of the garden

I practically sprinted out of my last meeting of the afternoon, drove home and headed for the back yard. Carried with me a dish of warm water in which a handful of wrinkly Chicago Red hybrid beet seeds had been soaking.

Time, finally, to plant.

I dug out two furrows in the bed that grew beans and squash last year, layered last fall with shredded leaves and lawn clippings. I plunked the seeds into the warm earth, blended with some crumbly black cow manure and humus.

I retrieved the old, beat-up taped-up garden hose from behind the shed where junk sits until I can make trips to the landfill and sprinkled the ground. Belatedly, I remembered that I had planned to get a new garden hose during the winter and will have to pay premium price this time of year.

Now I've done my work, at least until weeding time arrives. Now it's up to them, these little seeds, to be the vanguard of this year's garden. Should be able to harvest the first two rows April 27.

I'm a little worried about the feral rabbit I've seen bouncing around the neighborhood these past few months. He chewed my pecan seedlings to stubs and finished off the spearmint. My beets would be no match for him. I should perhaps invest in a fence, since Sweetie would change the locks on the doors and hand, no, throw, Her ring back at me if I ventured to make a stew out of him.

Where's old Elmer Fudd when you need him?

Proud of myself

Twenty years ago, I was a lonely, angry kid terrified to grow up. Was about to learn to drive, and hated every minute of it -- was scared to leave the very driveway behind the wheel. Barely knew how to write a check, let alone any of the other responsibilities of being an adult.

Last night as I successfully dodged black ice, heavy traffic and demonic detours to drive deep into the city after a long, but rewarding day of work, to meet my Wife and Her father at the Center to see a basketball game, I felt really good about just how far I have come since then.

I've driven all the way across the United States and in the maelstrom of Washington, D.C. I have met the Woman of my dreams and we've lasted fourteen years. I have a job with serious responsibilities, that for the most part I enjoy.

Like that country song they're playing these days, I sure wish I could write a letter to that miserable kid back in 1989 and tell him, hang tough, everything is gonna be okay.

The weird world of Rome on the decline

I have entered a new, unhappy era in my studies of world history.

***
Pertinax was a good man. It wasn't his fault that the Roman Empire had already begun its long slide into collapse. The golden Julio-Claudian era that brought Augustus and kin was long over, the silver age of the Flavians had also ended and then had come to a close the bronze years of the Antonines, ominously marred with the murder of Marcus Aurelius by barbarians, far from home.

Pertinax had rather humble origins for a Caesar. According to Wikipedia:

"Originally Pertinax made his way as a grammaticus (teacher of grammar), [how about that, Chase?] but he eventually decided to find a more rewarding line of work and through the help of patronage he was commissioned an officer in a cohort. In the Parthian war that followed, he was able to distinguish himself, which resulted in a string of promotions, and after postings in Britain (as military tribune of the Legio VI Victrix) and along the Danube, he served as a procurator in Dacia."

The Roman masses were coming to expect that their Caesars would bribe, amuse and feed them. And when it didn't happen, Caesars didn't live long. Thus, Pertinax, again from Wikipedia:

"On 28 March 193, Pertinax was at his palace when a contingent of some three hundred soldiers of the Praetorian Guard rushed the gates. Ancient sources suggest that they had received only half their promised pay. Neither the guards on duty nor the palace officials chose to resist them. Pertinax sent Laetus to meet them, but he chose to side with the insurgents instead and deserted the emperor.

"Although advised to flee, he then attempted to reason with them, and was almost successful before being struck down by one of the soldiers. Pertinax must have been aware of the danger he faced by assuming the purple, for he refused to use imperial titles for either his wife or son, thus protecting them from the aftermath of his own assassination."

Bahrain, for March

Time to get to know another country on the world map, the little Persian Gulf nation of Bahrain.

It sits on the shoulder of Saudi Arabia, looking out over the Gulf waters towards the restive immensity of Iran - a precarious political position if ever there was one.

This was one of the British Empire's strategic outposts until it became independent in 1971. It was once the pearl diving capital of the world and the pearl is still its national icon.

Beginning in 2002, the nation of 650,000 took steps towards democracy, holding elections for representative bodies - and though it is a Muslim state, Women are not only allowed to vote, They may also run for office.