The Elysian Fields

It was confirmed: three coyotes were spotted at the Lehigh Gap Refuge, which means that when Justin and I were there hiking with kk1raven and lj-less Chris last fall and we spent some time speculating on exactly what kind of creature made those coyote, wolf, or family-dog type tracks. Naturally, we did not have the same difficulty identifying the tracks left by the hordes of penguins that had marched through the area on their way to world domination (they had made a wrong turn at Albequerque and thus wound up in NEPA.)

Just moments ago, I had the distinct pleasure of tasting Reese's Peanut Butter Cups with Caramel, and, having done so once, need not do so again. The caramel did nothing for (or, to be fair, against) the peanut butter cup. Out of all the variations, I must say the original is still the best. As a matter of some related news, the price of the common candy bar has now gone up to 65 cents. I half-imagined that somewhere the price increase was being blamed on the increase in gasoline prices.

( Ramble on... )

It is interesting how we can advance technology so far, but when a job needs doing, the best equipment isn't always the latest and greatest.

Take crop dusting or aerial reseeding of a mountainside stripped bare by a bunch of frickin' idiots (that'd be our ancestors) wafting chemicals exhausted from a zinc mining and processing operation that knew in its heart of hearts that the raping of the Earth that it engaged in enabled industrial society and all of its technological advances.

Of course, I doubt the biplanes that are putting down fertilizer, native grass seed, and other assorted components are actually of ancient construction - although I suppose they might be - but they are certainly of an elder design, and they do their job quite admirably, buzzing within a hundred or so feet of the slope of the Kittatinny Ridge, dusting where it's too steep to use ground equipment to restore native grasslands (ref. Lehigh Gap project.)

Maybe some day this superfund will stop getting dragged down by all the kryptonite and other heavy metals spread along the once-forested land. Maybe after the grasslands have established themselves, the native trees - Eastern hemlock, river birch, gray birch, and others - might continue to build on what poor soil they can and the land no longer resembles a scorched Earth.

Speaking of Scorch, I was watching Ralph Bakshi's Wizards recently, and one of the final lines just popped up - almost earworm like - in my head: "It is done, it is done! The world is free!" in reference to the ending of the war, the destruction of the technological marvels that nearly destroyed the world (again,) and the return to things natural and kind.

I found myself thinking, in response, "if only..."

( Rambling on... )