Local Links of the Day

Before pharmacology, there was herbalism -- the study and medical use of plants. Most documented herbal know-how concerns Eurasian plants, with the most scientific study done under German auspices. However, in the Southwest and Mexico indigenous use of native botanicals continues. To learn more about uses of the plants around us, you can refer to these resources: Michael Moore's Southwest School of Botanical Medicine and the Arizona Ethnobotanical Research Association.

Sociology Side Swipe

OK, OK -- I won't do this often. But here's an academic quote I came across while checking out the subject of mushrooms at The Google. It's too choice not to receive proper notice!

Although nature often has been treated as an unproblematic reality, I argue for treating it as a contested concept, suggesting that "nature" is a cultural construction. Drawing on interactionist and ecological theory, I claim that the creation of social problems involving the environment is inevitably grounded in cultural choices. Through a set of ideological structures (a protectionist vision, an organic vision, and a humanistic vision), social actors develop templates for understanding the proper relationship between humans and nature. Based on an ethnography of mushroom collecting, I contend that these models lead us to experience nature through cultural eyes - wishing to be away from civilization, to be at one with nature, and to engage in the pragmatic use of nature for personal ends. Conflicting stances toward nature account for debate over the moral acceptability of the commercial collection of mushrooms and the "problem" of overpick. Templates of human-environmental interaction, leading to models for experiencing the wild, provide the basis for understanding the conditions under which environmental change is defined as a social problem--from the journal Social Problems.

Just for the record -- I did major in sociology, once upon a long time ago. It was more rational -- and spoke in the English language back then. At least that's how I recall it.

Insects & Arachnids

There's no story line here -- simply a collection of pictures of challenging subjects! My little digital box camera is not really up to macro photography, but I keep trying! Besides, insects, spiders and other creepy crawlies make fascinating photos. Even their homes are interesting -- take a look at the ant lion holes above. Surely you recall that as a kid you carefully pushed a little sand or gravel into those little holes to watch the ant lion kick up a fuss to capture whatever poor critter had fallen into his trap.

I hadn't seen one of these creatures all summer, but the other day this katydid flew by and landed in the grass. The only reason you knows it is not a leaf is that it landed on the wrong type of plant.

I don't know this fellow at all, but he is a pretty light green and has a wonderful criss-cross pattern on his folded up wings.

This remarkable spider web appeared in my kitchen recently. In between the two hanging baskets is this third basket, made by a small spider, which reflects the form of the two manmades. Effective, too -- there were skeletons of small insects in the bottom! Sorry I couldn't get a more definitive picture, but this was truly a tough call.
This little hunting spider was a lot easier to capture -- he was right there on the garage wall, holding his own captive for anyone to see. Not a web builder, he was a lot smaller than...
this fine tarantula that my neighbor alerted me to this afternoon. Kind of late in the season for a male to go looking for his lady love! Husband & I made the trip back and forth through the mountains on the White Spar when we first moved to these parts. About late monsoon time, many male tarantulas would emerge from their burrows and strut down the highway, looking for potential mates. One day we saw a parked car along the highway, with father and son looking at a frightened tarantula. "He's in Attack Mode!" the man warned his lad. Poor misunderstood spider! Poor foolish Flatlander!


Note: One of my regular readers, k at ksquest, is raising a brood of io moth caterpillars. You should go take a look and read about her many adventures with such critters. Be sure to page down a couple of posts. The greatest picture is of caterpillars, head-to-tail around a bottle of rubbing alcohol!

Link of the Day

Awesome images! How else to describe Our Earth as Art, seen from the Landsat-7 satellite. The Atlas Mountains. The Netherlands shore line. A complete Brazilian river system. Colima volcano. The fjords of Iceland. The Volga River delta and many other remarkable sights. All available as high-def image files for downloading, no charge (your government at work for you...) Be sure to take a good look.

The Last Pumpkin

In our weird modern hi-tech world, farmers are too often hard put to earn a decent living. One answer: go into the tourism business; let big city kids and their parents experience a small, safe and sanitized taste of old-fashioned country living.

Thus was born the annual Young's Farm Pumpkin Festival. It's been a tradition with our family for several years, especially for the young one (above and over at OmegaMom's site.)

The corn fields are interlaced with pumpkin vines (and a few of those giant sunflowers I love); come October and harvest time, there's literally a pumpkin midway (above) for folk too weak, too old or too impatient to venture out into the fields (below.)

Above -- a huge sunflower in seed, ready for the birds.

And here, the granddaughter poses amid the pumpkins.

Local kids pick up tips acting as "Pumpkin Packers"; they tote prize selections for customers in wagons, wheel barrows and carts.

Other goodies from the farm: chile braids (above) and sized pumpkins, gourds and butternut squash (below.)


At departure time, folks are checked out and their pumpkins are priced. And there were crowds to handle!

Unfortunately, this is the last pumpkin festival at Young's; next weekend is the finale. The state's arcane water laws tilt in favor of the real estate developer vs. the farmer. The Young's have sold and next year -- more houses down in Dewey. Aren't we the lucky ones?

Rumors say that there may be less elaborate pumpkin events at an organic farm up in Chino Valley and another near Flagstaff in 2007.

Note: more to come -- there's a carnival side to the festival, too!

Local Link of the Day

I usually consider Sedona chi-chi a bit over the top and vortexes leave me pretty damned cold. On the other hand, I was enchanted with Chicago's recent cow sculpture episode. Now that Sedona has done something similar, I can only applaud -- and wonder that Prescott didn't do it first. The subject is the javelina. Fifty sets of raw javelina forms were passed out to local artists to decorate; now the results are standing in front of businesses throughout the city. More info here.

Serenading Bankers

What a great way to start the day. My Flagstaff family came down to pick me up and head out to the final Young's Farm pumpkin do. But first everybody needed cash. Each to his/her bank.

I entered the Chase over on Gurley street to a serenade!
He was sitting in one of the waiting areas, plunking and singing away. Comes in most Saturdays, said the teller. It's certainly a lovely change from the cold, sterile, corporate look that Chase has imposed on the old, friendly, locale-sensitive Valley National.

As for the pumpkin scene: it was splendid, as usual. I'm too tired right now to select the right handful from the 150 shots I took. I'll miss Young's. Rhubarb pie, remember?

Link of the Day

Some modern things technical are great -- like the internet. On the other hand, there is the modern corporate switchboard which bounces you from menu to menu to frustration -- if you aren't put on hold forever. Here's a database that might help out. It's called gethuman500 -- corporate phone numbers plus info on how you can reach a Real Live Human Being at each company.

Banners & Flags: Color For Every Occasion

The idea probably originated with the peace movement of the 60s and 70s: "why not an anti- nationalistic flag." Like everything else from that period, colorful flags and banners celebrating, well, whatever, have been co-opted by the general culture and you find them here, there and elsewhere.

There's one house near Park Avenue that flies a flag for each season of the year. Currently, of course, a monster suitable for Halloween, a universal for autumn.

In keeping with its cottage look, this nearby home welcomes visitors with old-fashioned apples.

Here's a barn, plus a patriotic touch...

...while this house with a landscaped wall features a robin on its banner.

Businesses, too, fly these flags with light-hearted themes in company with the American colors. Here at the stamping craft shop on west Gurley Street...

...and over on Miller Valley at the sunglass emporium.

JBs hangs a couple with seasonal themes on the inside of the restaurant. This one shouts "Thanksgiving".

And, not to be outdone, the city has its own standard decorating light poles downtown. I believe there are at least two other designs, one featuring the "Christmas city" logo.

Note: Already I'm out of date! The Christmas City banners are already up. And Halloween hasn't even happened yet.

Local Link of the Day

Perhaps you never realized that Prescott was the site of a new religious movement. That would be because you have never had breakfast with Derek or been to his web site, Must Be Funny. Which is also the only rule of his theology, which considers such matters as "true, false or funny?"

More Trader Joe Gossip

I received a forward this morning from daughter up the hill:

Sounds as if Trader Joe's might be interested in Flagstaff! They're
taking votes between Flagstaff and Prescott. Here is a link to a page where you can suggest Flagstaff as a new location for them.

Well, folks, you know what you should do right now. Go to that location, vote for Prescott and pass along the URL to anyone else who might vote for our home town. I've already had my say.

Note: now she writes me that this seems to be just one more of those rumors about TJs that surface every couple of years. Sigh.

Local Links of the Day

Sorry to be so late with this, but I just learned of the Agua Fria Festival this evening. It's happening Saturday, primarily at the Horse Shoe Ranch down where the Bloody Basin Road crosses the Agua Fria River. Sponsors are the Bureau of Land Management and the Agua Fria National Monument; the festival celebrates the Antiquities Act Centennial. It was this act which authorized creation of the monument by Pres. Bill Clinton in January, 2000. FYI, this section of the Agua Fria is a lovely perennial stream running through an awesome canyon that's only a couple of miles or so away from I-17. Lots of Indian ruins and petroglyph sites. If I ever get the slide scanner working, I have many pictures from explorations my husband and I made in this very neat area.

A Mailbox for GrannyJ

The tale begins with my neighbor, who looked at the trees in her yard and decided that it was time for the treeman to bring his chain saw. Problem #1: the Siberian elms -- host to myriad leaf miners who left major windows in the leaves (above and below), which then yellowed fast and ugly. Problem #2: a mighty oak, which had served well over the years but was now dying.

The tale now switches back in time 20 or so years, when husband and I moved into the present house. There was no mail box; there didn't seem to be a good location for one. We dithered. Twenty or so years we dithered. As a stopgap measure, we rented two drawers at the post office downtown.

Enough already, I decided a month ago; it's time for a mailbox at home. I had signed up with FreeCycle Prescott, a wonderful service for unburdening yourself of stuff -- or locating a splendid item, such as a heavy-duty, locking mailbox for a mere nothing.

So I engaged Chris, the chef-treeman, to find/make a home for the new mailbox. He suggested the big stump of the big oak that he dropped next door. It was all systems, go. (Above) Holes in the bottom for rebar to anchor the stump in the granite that lies just six inches under the "soil" .

A major chain saw job to make the cut-out for the box. A problem encountered: grains of granite become embedded in the bark and in each year's tree ring. One sharpening later, it was time to mount the box.

And here I am, with a splendid new mailbox out front, waiting only for the house number and a reflector to protect it from parking cars. Already I have received my very first junk mail at home! Wow. (And I can add this receptacle to my collection of mailboxes with character.)

Incidentally, did I mention the other stump cut-offs I scored? They will make grand seating around and about the yard -- but do take note of the rotted heartwood, which is why the tree was on its way out. And why the stump could never have been transformed into one of those wonderful chain-saw dogs or bears or some such.
Aside from those grains of embedded granite, that is.

Local Link of the Day

Coyotes ... pronghorns ... mating damsel flies ... monarch butterflies ... all this and the Orion Nebula, too at photographer Edward Registrato's website. Most of his pictures are from Arizona, many from the Prescott area (including his astrophotography observatory at Dewey and a far more professional look at our Air Show than I am capable of producing!) Plan on spending some time!

Real Soon Now

Some things around Prescott seem to take as long (or longer) than repairing Iron Springs Road. It was more than six weeks ago that the former health foods store at Park Plaza on Goodwin Street was being gutted to make way for a new Mexican food mart. I'm still waiting.

On the other hand, the "open" sign is still not posted at the new restaurant on Miller Valley Road, tho we now know its name. It's been how many months? The affiliated Mudd Hole coffee stand got a quick make-over to match and is already up and running.

Links of the Day

Take a road trip across the Great Plains and Colorado, heading toward Arizona with Michael Totten. He is a former geek who decided he wanted to become a writer; he went off to the Middle East and has written some of the most cogent, moving articles about that wretched region that I've read anywhere. Mostly in his blog! Right now, he's travelling across the USA and has posted quick impressions plus photos. Take a look here and here.

Cowboy House Concert

The cars were there. The audience.

Guitar cases were on the porch. The musicians.

Hats were on the piano. An attitude.

Note CDs. The modern world.

Everybody had gathered at a friend's house for a musical evocation of a time that is quickly fading.

Not folk music. (That's for college students, folklorists and NPR.)

Not country music. (After all, in Nashville, today's semi takes the place of yesterday's trains.)

No, western music. Ballads of cowboys, their horses, their women, their sorrows, their sunsets, their camp sites, their gambling and, alas, their passing.

Jim Jones and Jim Wilson sang of a West more rugged yet gentler than sprawling desert suburbs and boutique mountain towns. Curious. I had forgotten how different cowboy music is from 2006's besequined country style. One of the Jims mentioned that "western" had been written out of "country and western" by the Grand Old Opry a long time back. Too bad.

What I heard Sunday night was a lot closer to folk music in style and content, yet modern. Makes sense: the two Jims are part of the cowboy poet scene. They hail from near Albuquerque and from Alpine in West Texas. Currently, they are making a tour presenting house concerts in people's homes.

I found myself wondering if any young people listen to this kind of music. Probably not -- they are ignorant of history!

After the concert, people talked, visited with the performing Jims...

...and had their new CDs autographed.

Thanks, Georgene, for a memorable evening. Next year?

Link of the Day

Love pictures of little kittens? Puppies grab you by the heart? Can't get enough of baby ferrets or wee hedgehogs? If you answer "yes" more than once, then you are a candidate for Cute Overload, a prize-winning blog that posts pictures of cute critters (and things) day in and day out, resulting in, yes, an overwhelming overload of cuteness! One of the posts worth reading: the rules for cuteness. Enjoy.

Cars Speak Up

A lifetime ago, at the very least, automobiles wore not one but two license plates, one front and the other rear. Then, on an economy kick, the various states phased out the front plates, probably because motorcycle cops usually crept up on one from the rear.

But for some strange reason, manufacturers continue to furnish plate holders at the front of cars. This has created a splendid opportunity for an owner to make a comment. Herewith, three examples I've seen around town.

It's hard to decide which is my favorite, but I think I'd have to settle for the plate below. It acknowledges the sort of face made by the car's grille.