8.7 million species exist on Earth...

... according to an article in the Washington Post. I love what Jesse Ausubel (quoted in the article) said:

"There are 2.2 million ways of making a living in the ocean. There are half a million ways to be a mushroom. That’s amazing to me."

Half a million ways to be a mushroom! Sometimes it doesn't take much to make me smile...

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Thought for today: Epicurus

Epicurus once said, ‘If a little is not enough for you, nothing is.’ 

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Beefsnake Charlie

(c) ncm sundogger

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I saw my belt hanging on the door and thought "that's what a cow would look like if it morphed into a snake". Then things deteriorated.

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Canoes

Last week a friend sent me a link to an article in The Atlantic called "Caring for your Introvert". That reminded me of a list I came up with way back in 1995. Here it is: 

Why Canoes are Better than People

Canoes don't think it's weird when you need to be alone.

Canoes don't care if you don't want to spend every minute of every day with them.

Canoes let you be in whatever mood you want to be in, for as long as you need to be in it.

You can be alone with a canoe.

Canoes don't up and leave you. 

You don't have to pretend with a canoe. Anything you are is good enough.

You can't hurt a canoe's feelings.

You can't screw up a canoe's life.

Canoes don't screw up your life.

Canoes don't expect you to do stuff you're not smart enough to do.

Canoes don't ask more of you than you can give.

Canoes know how to be quiet.

Canoes don't rock the boat.

Canoes are an aid to thinking - people aren't.

Canoes don't force you to make decisions you don't want to or can't make.

Canoes go with the flow.

Canoes leave you alone when you need to be left alone and don't always ask how you are in a concerned tone of voice.

Canoes don't make me feel inferior - they let me feel real.

Canoes don't blow up buildings or throw trash into lakes.

Canoes are as shy as I am.

Canoes never fall off their pedestals.

Canoes don't tell you how to run your life or how you should feel or how you should do anything.

I fit in with canoes.

Canoes are forgiving and tolerant.

Canoes are one with the world and let you come along for the ride.

Canoes are slow and steady.

Canoes are asocial, too.

Canoes let you be whatever mental ages you are, all at the same time - you can be 5 and 125 simultaneously in a canoe.

Canoes don't give a rip whether or not you conform.

Canoes think cut-offs, T-shirts, and bare feet are ALWAYS the most appropriate attire.

Canoes think it makes sense to talk to species other than your own or even to non-species.

Canoes understand God.

Canoes know how to listen to the silence of the world.

Canoes know how to listen to my silence.

Canoes are comforting and comfortable.

Canoes don't try to categorize you.

Canoes act as a resonating chamber for your dreams - people stifle them with pragmatism.

Canoes don't know how to use telephones.

Canoes can get you away - unfortunately they always bring you back. So far anyway. Someday maybe it won't make me come back.

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Tyler II

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August weekend on MD's Eastern Shore

This weekend there was a boat trip out of Lewes, DE, for pelagic (ocean) birds. On the way there, this dorky Tri-colored Heron amused me in Worcester County, MD.

 

A bunch of us on the upper deck of the Thelma Dale V out at the continental shelf - about 65 miles east of Ocean City. Bright sunshine out here while the rain was pouring down on the mainland. The pelagic species we ran across were Audubon's, Great, and Cory's Shearwaters, Pomarine Jaeger, and Wilson's and Leach's Storm-Petrels (I missed the Leach's). My big camera didn't get to go out on the boat - I have a hard enough time picking out the birds in binocs. Maybe next time.

On the way home, this Little Blue Heron posed nicely for pictures on Assateague. I picked the goofiest one.

I obviously have to work on my sizing pictures for the blog so subjects aren't too small. Hopefully I'll get better.

What sort of sundogs am I dogging?

I thought I should start by explaining the name. The sundogs I'm interested in are not solar hot dogs nor are they a musical group. They are the atmospheric phenomena known as parhelia, aka sundogs. If you take the sun, throw in some hexagonal ice crystals of a certain shape (high, thin clouds are best), add your eyes, and mix in the magic of physics ... you might get a pair of sundogs - one on each side of the sun.

One of my favorite pictures of a sundog was taken by Ian Parker. He has a web site called Evanescent Light, which has incredible photographs. Here is a tiny version of his sundog, but you should go to his site and see the full-sized version.

Sundog by Ian Parker

So, those are my sundogs - look up once in a while, and you're bound to see one sooner or later. 

Anyway, that's the derivation of the name. And this may or may not be the only post about sundogs I'll ever do.

-- a Sundogger