Another Cloudy Cool Day

I spent part of yesterday and this morning working on some new window screens. It isn't urgent though. We have had only a handlful of days so far this year that we wanted windows open at all and the four screens we already had allowed for more than adequate ventilation on those days. It is 62º outside and 69º inside as I type. We'll probably fire up the pellet stove this evening to get rid of the dampness.

My evening was brightened yesterday by the one bloom on the cyclamen by the kitchen window. I shot several views of it. This is the best one.

Discrimination

I'll probably be on the wrong side of the fence with my liberal friends but I agree with the Supreme Court decision on the Connecticut Firemen. Before anyone leaps to the conclusion that I condone discrimination against minorities, I don't. I'm a firm beliver in civil rights and I believe the laws against discrimination were, and still are, needed. OTOH they can be carried too far.

As an illustration I'll relate an incident from my own past. After I graduated from college I intended to teach art in the public school system but I graduated just as the state universities produced a glut of teachers and I found myself searching for a non-existent job. At one point I ran onto an SBA (Small Business Administration) brochure that was promoting small business loans to individuals who had skills they could turn into a business but had resources too small to support themselves much less get a traditional loan. That was me at the time.

Per instructions in the brochure I went to my local bank and asked to speak to the loan officer who handled SBA backed loans . The loan officer listened to my proposal but said he'd never heard of this program. I showed him the brochure and he promptly called the SBA and asked about it. After a conversation with several "Uh-huh"'s and a "No" he said "Thank you" and hung up the phone. He then told me that although there was such a program and I met all the qualifications that the brochure listed, he couldn't help me because I lacked one qualification that was not in the brochure, I wasn't black.

I didn't sue. I had no money to get a lawyer and at that time, almost 40 years ago, it probably wouldn't have gone anywhere in the courts anyway. After three and half years of temporary minimum wage jobs interspersed with periods of unemployment and food stamps I finally found a steady job that I didn't like but felt lucky to get so I stuck with it until retirement 30 years later. Because of my experience though I sympathize with those firemen. If the city couldn't show that the test was actually discriminatory against minorities, those who passed should have gotten the jobs. Discrimination is discrimination no matter who it is against.

Chaumont Barrens

I went to Chaumont Barrens on Tuesday in hope of finding some Yellow Lady Slippers to photograph. Unfortunately they apparently peaked last week. I found only two quite small ones, one of which was in a clump of 4-5 that had wilted to the point of turning brown. My day was rescued however by the discovery of some Wood Lilies growing up in the midst of a dead Spreading Yew that was all silvery from being weathered. I had never seen a Wood Lily before but the Barrens is a unique environment for the North Country with several species not normally seen around here.

The Wood Lilies in this photo are all on one stem, two full blooms and a bud. The others I found were all single flowers per stem. In the past I've only gone to the Barrens when the Lady Slippers and Prairie Smoke were in bloom. I guess I should go back at other times of the year. Who knows what else I may discover.

Camping

For several years now I've gone camping in June with a couple of fellow retirees. We spent the last two days at the Eighth Lake campground. Our site was actually on Seventh Lake just North of Inlet, NY. The DEC Eighth Lake campground straddles the space between the two lakes. John and I attempted to ride the Moose River Plains Rd. on our mountain bikes. I attempted, John succeeded. I ran out of gas after 16 miles and rode the last 6 miles with Bruce who was running support for us in his SUV. My excuse is that I am out of shape because I hadn't been exercising regularly after my gall bladder surgery but it was a pretty tough trip anyway. I'm not sure I'd have been in good enough shape even if I had been riding more this spring.

We found some Pink Lady Slippers in the woods right by our campsite. I even got a shot of one with a bee on it. Last night was a beautiful evening, clear sky that turned black with glittering stars. An owl and a loon sang us to sleep.

The Bees & the Birds

Our crabapple tree is in full bloom and appears to be preparing another bumper crop of apples. That will be three years in a row. In past years it often produced only every other year. We've had milder winters in recent years though so perhaps that has something to do with it.

Not only is it a delight to look at but standing under it, the smell is wonderful. It buzzes too. The whole tree is full of bees, both bumble bees and honey bees, flitting about from blossom to blossom collecting nectar. There is no danger in standing there as they work. The bees pay no attention to me at all. They are too intent on their work.

Within days the blossoms will be gone, the ground beneath the tree white with petals, and the birds will have the tree to themselves again, a place to hide in the foliage while they work on the sunflower seeds we put out for them. Come fall I will pick the apples and give them away. I still have more jelly from last year than we can possibly eat.

Another Bloodroot Photo

I've been editing the photos I shot at Stone Valley two days ago and I think this one turned out the best of the lot. There will be no more bloodroot photos this spring as I caught them at the tail end of their blooming.

New Series of Photographs

Recently I have been playing with some images of details that I have taken over the years. I crop them round and simplify the image to reduce the unnecessary detail. The idea is that the finished image is an object for contemplation.

Spring is Here

Time for a photo in my blog. I haven't posted a photo in for quite a while. I went out photographing this afternoon. A friend called this morning about a place we both like to go. He had been there this morning and called to tell me that there wasn't much happening there yet. Some trillium but not much else. It is at a higher altitude than here and spring gets there later. During our conversation I mentioned that I had taken a couple of photos of Bloodroot yesterday but they weren't very good and I wished I knew where to find more. Ron said there was a large patch of them by the South end of the Stone Valley Trail so off I dashed after lunch and spent the afternoon happily shooting photos of Bloodroot, Trillium and more.

Passport to Paranoia

Today I finally broke down and applied for a passport, not to go overseas but so that I would be allowed back in the US after visiting family in Canada. I've always thought of myself as being part Canadian. My maternal grandfather was from Canada, my paternal grandmother was Canadian and I married a Canadian. Half the family lives in Canada. That's a figurative half, not a numerical half. I've never actually added up the total living relatives on each side of the border because the border wasn't really important to me (or them). They're just family.

When I was working at my first job after high school I used to go to a barber whose shop was just barely in the US by the Dundee crossing in NNY. It was past the US Customs office. I'd get my haircut and pull up by the Customs on my way back past. The agent would look out the glass door, I'd point to my fresh haircut and he'd wave me through.

When I was dating my future wife I crossed into Quebec so often I got to know most of the border agents on both sides at the two crossings I used to get to Huntingdon. When I stopped they'd ask if I had any liquor or cigarettes then we'd often have a chat. Just small talk like you'd have with a neighbor you met on the street.

But as of June 1st if I want to visit relatives across the imaginary line that is the US/Canadian border I need a passport. The border agents that scrutinize my newly minted documents are wearing sidearms and there is no small talk.

It is not as if there are potentially dangerous people only on the Canadian side of the border and we have to do this to keep them out. There are dangerous people on both sides of the border (think Timothy McVeigh). At one point in our past history some of my own US ancestors were dangerous from the Canadian point of view. One of my grandfathers was a member of "the Hunters", a group that decided in 1838 to "liberate" Canada in a fiasco known as The Battle of the Windmill. Fortunately for me my grandfather missed the train to join the battle or I might never have been born.

Whenever I complain about the nuisance of the new rules I'm reminded that "9/11 changed everything" to which I respond 'Only in the minds of those who choose to see it that way'. The 9/11 attackers all had passports and visas. They did not come from Canada. Those responsible for our security knew they were in the US and knew they were dangerous people, but didn't stop them. I can't see how making all the non-dangerous people get passports makes us any more secure. It is nothing more than a bandaid on our paranoia.

Surgery

On Tuesday I'm having my gall bladder removed. It is only functioning at 29%, well below the 35-40% that is considered minimal. It's "Minor surgery" they tell me. "No big deal". Then they get into the questions. They want to know every pill you are taking. Not just the prescriptions but even vitamin pills, what dosage and what time of day you take them. They want your total medical history and then they ask if you have a living will. A will? And then they ask if you turn into a human vegetable who do you authorize to pull the plug. Okay, they don't really phrase it that way, what they asked was "If you become incapacitated, who do you authorize to make decisions for you?". Same thing but less blunt and still not very reassuring for no big deal minor surgery. It is 'ambulatory' surgery, in the hospital in the morning, out in the afternoon. I'll be glad when it is over.

Big Plans

For several years now I've been telling myself "I need to climb..." or "I need to go back to...". The list has grown while I have not been diligently whittling away at it. Last year I did climb two of the High Peaks but the 'to-do' list grew by more than 2 so I'm further in the hole. So far the list has only been in my head and thus easy to forget about. This year I'm writing it out and checking things off. Hopefully by being more organized I'll get them done. My list so far:

Mountains - Hurricane, Noonmark, Spreadeagle/Hopkins/Baxter and Algonquin. I want to be on Algonquin when the mountain azalea is in bloom. I tried last year on Marcy but the one I'd seen there 8 years earlier was no longer there. I also want to climb Rocky Peak Ridge from Rt.9N in autumn when the leaves are turned and Colden via the slide over Avalanche Pass if that is possible.

Hikes - I want to spend a long day photographing around Avalanche Lake and on the Opalescent River above Lake Colden. Another long day on the West River Trail to Rainbow Falls. I'd like to climb Pyramid and shoot a panorama of the Great Range but that is a bit of a stretch so I probably won't get to that this year. I want to photograph Wanika Falls which may get rolled into an NPT hike. I've been meaning to hike the NPT for several years but haven't. A thru-hike would be my preference but I may do a 2 part section hike, Northville to Rt.28 then Rt.28 to Lake Placid.

That's a lot for one year. When I started listing it off to Diane, she asked if she would need an appointment to see me this summer or fall. It is unlikely that I'll get to all of them but the list is going up and waiting to be checked off. Check back in late Oct./early Nov. to see how I did.

The Rage Over AIG

I read in the paper that Mr. Liddy and some of his staff have received death threats over the awarding of fat bonuses to the traders who caused the crash of the company. He came out of retirement and took on the job of guiding AIG out of the mess for a token salary of $1/year. The contracts in question were not written on his watch and he told the congressional committee that he took offense at the tone of their questioning.

I sympathize with him. When I worked in unemployment insurance during the downturn of the 80s I got at least one death threat (there were others that were implied but not explicitly stated). It is unnerving to have someone tell you they will kill you if you don't do what they want and I do not for a moment condone violence as a solution. That being said, what was he thinking? My father-in-law, a very practical man, once observed that there is nothing less common than common sense and lately those in high places seem determined to prove him right.

If Mr. Liddy really didn't think it was right, if he really found it distasteful, why didn't he refuse to honor the bonus provisions and make his refusal public? Had he done that, instead of him taking the heat for this debacle, those who tried suing to enforce the contracts would be getting blasted for their audacity in demanding to be rewarded for their malfeasance. Their names would be public, the outrage would be properly directed at those who deserve it. Mr. Liddy would be held in high regard for taking an honorable, if legally tenuous, stand. Is he really so naive that he did not foresee that the taxpaying public would be outraged? Where is his common sense?

Letter Writing Campaign

This morning I heard and read in several places that AIG is about to pay out 165 million in bonuses to the managers and executives who created the mess in that company. The bonuses will be paid out of the money that we taxpayers are giving AIG to bail them out so they don't fail and take the rest of the country down with them. According to what I read the bonuses are written into these employees contracts and AIG (and thus you & I) are legally bound to pay them. Further I am given to understand that Federal attorneys have looked at said contracts and agreed that they are indeed legally binding.

When I worked for the Dept. of Labor my salary, like all public employees, was public information. Since the taxpayers now own 80% of AIG I'm asking my congressman and senators to pass a bill stating that because these AIG execs are being paid out of public funds they should, like everyone else paid from public monies, have their names and the amounts of salary and bonus they receive from us the taxpayers released as public information, available to anyone who wants it. In fact I think that the web site that the Obama administration has established to show where the stimulus plan money is going would be the perfect place to list them all. I suggest to anyone reading this that you also write your Federal representatives (and the White House while you are at it) and suggest the same. If we're stuck with rewarding them for creating this mess perhaps we can at least shame them a bit for their greed.

Getting Over the Hump

Wow, it has been over a month since I last posted anything. The doldrums of winter combined with economic doldrums are my excuse. I have had no enthusiasm for posting.

I've been reading about AIG and why we 'need' to save it from collapse. It seems that they are not just the largest insurance company in the world backing up millions of pension funds but they are diversified with fingers into all aspects of our economy. As one example the paper said that a subsidiary of AIG leases airplanes to most of the major airlines. If AIG goes broke, the subsidiary goes broke and the airlines go broke, etc. My son and daughter-in-law know about that kind of chain reaction. It wasn't many years back the (profitable) company they were working for went out of business because it was owned by a larger company that went bust and left them both out of work. It was a much smaller scale version the sort of what would happen if AIG goes down.

Diversification is a good thing if you are an investor or a small business. If one of your investments goes bad or one of your customers fails you have others to fall back on. Working in reverse however, a top down diversification of huge conglomerates apparently has the opposite effect of destroying the otherwise successful below it when the top fails. In my economically untrained opinion one of the things we should be looking at is limiting the size of companies so that none are allowed to get so big that if they fail they take the whole economy down with them.

Weatherwise Northern NY is seeing the start of the annual wrestling match between winter and spring. After a string of nights hovering around 0ºF (-18ºC) we had a couple of mild days where the high reached around 50ºF (10ºC) and then yesterday we enjoyed a mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. Over the course of the day I got to clean ice off the windshield three times. Oh joy. I'm looking forward to green shoots pushing out of the ground.