I’ve been hiking in these boots for at least 25 years, and I don’t think I’ve ever conditioned them. But this winter, my socks have been getting soaked, so it was time to apply some waterproofing. I found an ancient can of Nikwax under the bathroom sink; it had separated into a sticky thick orange wax, and a light creamy grease. Hopefully the grease will do the trick, because that’s what I rubbed into the leather. 🥾
My daughter Rhea’s birthday card—she’s learning German, and always uses two tea bags. The tags say “GO AWAY” and ”LET ME READ”. I have no idea what the background text says. Something to do with the rise of Uber? 😉
I haven’t used commercial fertiliser in the veggie garden so far, instead relying on our home made compost. But some of the beds aren’t performing as well as I would like, so I’ve decided to try this booster, on the recommendation of San Diego Seed Company.
Easy section this time, in one of my favourite parts of Malibu Creek State Park. It was fun to see thousands of acorns sprouting on the forest floor, even knowing that only the slimmest fraction of them will grow into trees.
I was browsing the Smithsonian open access web site and came across this invention of a clip-on earring from 1877. I had never thought of tethering my earrings to my hair for security! This thing looks pretty heavy, even without a dangle, so the “anchor” was probably necessary.
The widespread Schizophyllum genus contains six wood-rotting species. Schizophyllum mycelium only needs to generate one set of fruiting bodies per year. Unlike some mushroom species, split gill fungi have the ability to dry out and rehydrate, allowing them to open and close numerous times throughout a growing season. This is an excellent adaptation for climates with sporadic rainfall, and surely contributes to their success.
Did you hear about the fossil they just found in South America?
It’s like a Brazilian years old.
The Backbone adventure proceeds apace. Five sections down, eight to go. This section is particularly enjoyable, with spectacular rock formations and awesome views. And, at this time of year, lots of fungi!
The bird bath camera continues to bring us surprises. While it’s a little tedious scrolling through the many, many house finch captures, it’s worth it when we see a new arrival. The red-breasted nuthatch is another winter visitor to our region. Like other nuthatches, these move quickly over trunks and branches probing for food in crevices and under flakes of bark. They creep up, down, and sideways without regard for which way is up. Such fun to see this one at the bath.
Book group meetings are one of my monthly highlights, and I enjoy spending a few hours afterwards trying to distill our conversation into a page of sketch notes.
hashiworks 