Keeping Busy - The Bike, The Yard, The Granddaughter, And The Spanish Lessons

When I'm not posting about COVID-19, I'm doing other things.

There's bike rides.  Here are a couple of mergansers at the lake at the Alaska Native Medical Center.  I thought they were building a nest, but it wasn't there when I went by a few days later.

Sweeping from the deck the catkins from (I think) the aspens and the leaf bud scales from the cottonwood trees two or three times a day.  

The leaf bud scales are particularly pesky because they stick to the bottom of your shoe.  

But after reading The Overstory I think about them very differently.  In one sense they are a form of tree communication.  I'm still struggling with that concept.  Whether it's intentional or not, the catkins and the leaf bud scales are a signal to other plants and creatures.  Who reads the message and how it affects their behavior I have no idea.  At the very least it's like a seasonal clock.  And these add to the pile of organic material that feed the trees that drop them as well as other trees.  When the cottonwood cotton falls, it's

another story for me.  I'm not interested in letting them spread their seeds all over the yard, so I'll try to collect them and get rid of them.  I still think there are potential uses for the cotton, but I'm not the person who is going to exploit them.

I am, on the other hand, exploiting the dandelion leaves to cook up in my frittatas.  They're full of vitamins and there are no other greens I can get as fresh. 

I've finally attacked the Cateye Micro Wireless my wife gave me last year.  And I know why it's taken me so long.  I've figured out how to get it on the bike, but it's not sending the signal from the spinning wheel to report speed and distance.  Did I put it on wrong?  I don't think so.  Maybe the battery in the sensor isn't working.  I can switch the one from the computer that reads it to see if it works on the computer.  And then there are these instructions.  The editing on my iPhoto doesn't 'stick' so even though I turned it right side up, it still came out sideways.  There are things that you fix and then the problem is solved.  And there are things you try to fix and they keep spawning new problems.  And during a pandemic I'm not willing to go to the bike shop to ask for help.  

The bleeding hearts are up and unfolding.  You can't really say they are budding, because they are out, but they aren't quite yet into their full display.  

And then there are the wonderful chat messages my granddaughter sends me when we zoom.

And I do a daily 20-30 minutes of Duolingo Spanish.  If I ever get out to a Spanish speaking country again, I won't be as tongue-tied as last time.  It's a reasonably good program, free, and it has lots of positive reinforcement sounds.

If you click on these images they get bigger and easier to read

You have some really simple questions where you pick the write word of three choices.  They even have pictures so it's hard to get them wrong.  Others you fill in the blank with one word.  Then there are those where you translate from Spanish to English.  The one above I had to translate from English to Spanish.  If you get it right, the message on the bottom is in green.  But if you get it wrong it's in read with the right answer.

The hardest ones are when you have to listen to someone saying the sentence and you have to write what you hear.

The big blue speaker says it the way someone would actually say it.  Often this is impossible for me to understand.  But I know in English we also don't pronounce things quite as they are written, or we mumble over syllables.  I'm getting better at hearing what they are saying.  If you can't understand it, the turtle button says it slowly, word for word.  

On the bottom you can report a problem - "I think I should have gotten credit for that one" for example.  Sometimes they seem overly picky about how you write something in English.  The Discuss option lets you see what other learners are saying.  There are native Spanish speakers which is helpful explaining why it's one way or another.  Or advanced learners who might link to a site that explains the difference between two words, or a grammar explanation.   

I've committed to do 20 points worth a day. That's roughly two lessons.  They keep track.  I'm up to about 70 days in a row.  I was up to 190 days in a row, but when we traveled back to Anchorage at the beginning of March I missed two days.  You can buy (with rewards you get as you go along) 'get out of jail free' cards - in this case, if you miss a day you can use your card to keep your streak.  That's the only way I could have had such a long streak.  But this time I missed two days and had to start over again.  

Green Things From The Trees, Bushes, And The Ground

Spring has come to South Central Alaska.  Enjoying the wonders in our front and back yards.







Bleeding Heart.

Cottonwood leaf.  The sticky outside - leaf bud scales - fall off and stick to everything.  A good reason to take your shoes off before going inside.  The saving grace for me has always been their wonderful sweet scent.  But it appears they are much more useful than that.  From the Statesman Journal:

"Honeybees collect the resin from the spring leaf bud scales and take it back to their hives as an antimicrobial and sealant, called propolis. It is powerfully anti-microbial, inhibiting fungal and bacterial growth.
Pacific Northwest tribes and early Euroamerican settlers collected and used the bud scale resin as well. Infused into oil, the resin is known to help soothe swollen arthritic joints and sore muscles. Resin was used to waterproof boxes and baskets. The bark was made into buckets for storing and carrying food. The leaves, buds and bark of cottonwood were used to lower fevers and reduce inflammation and pain. Plant chemists isolated this analgesic compound and call it salacin; it is found in all cottonwoods and willows."

The daffodils are popping up.  The last couple of years only a few of the bulbs I planted came up.  This year I planted some with my granddaughter on Bainbridge Island over Thanksgiving and they were blooming by the beginning of March.  All them.  And it looks like the vast majority made it through the winter here and are coming up.








I thought this was kind of funny when I saw it on Carr's online order app.  I've been benefiting from our abundant back (and front) yard supply the last few summers.  Ours too have no artificial fertilizer or pesticides.  And they are starting to come up already.




When you see them in your yard, instead of cursing them, think:  $3.49 a bunch.  And remember they are full of vitamins and other health promoting properties.

Governor, oil has tanked, but we've got an endless renewable resource in dandelions.  And at $3.49 a bunch, they're probably more valuable than oil was when it was $60 a barrel.  And health food stores have all sorts of pricy dandelion products.  Here's a dandelion extract at $14 an ounce!

There's economic value all around us if we just have the right eyes.  But lets not value our flora and fauna only for their economic value.  They play an important role in keeping the earth vibrant and healthy.  If you haven't seen my post on The Overstory, I do recommend it.

High bush cranberry leaves are budding.

 Lillies.

Tulip buds are growing.

Wild geraniums.  From Common Sense Home:

"Early Native Americans [Is that as opposed to late Native Americans?] recognized the value of Wild Geranium and used it as an ingredient in many medicinal treatments. Chippewa Indians used dried, powdered rhizomes mixed with grape juice as a mouthwash for children with thrush. A poultice from the base or pounded roots of the plant was used to treat burns and hemorrhoids. The leaves and roots were used to treat sore throats, hemorrhages, gonorrhea, and cholera. Like many other tannin-containing substances, Native Americans also used Wild Geranium as an anti-diarrhea treatment. A plant- infused tea was made to achieve this purpose, though some sources say the tea could have had the opposite effect, causing constipation."

And we have visitors out for the summer too.

This fly was cleaning my breakfast plate out on the deck.

And I'm guessing this dead tree was sculpted by a woodpecker.  Dead trees often have more life than living trees.

Late Spring, Short Bike Ride, Experience With Instacart, And Seeds

This was our front lawn on March 5, 2015.

This was our front lawn on March 19, 2020 in comparison.









And below was our front lawn on March 30, 2020.  (The base of the tree is in the upper left.) Just the beginning of the earth being revealed by the sublimating snow and ice.  We're way behind this year.  At least from the last ten years or so.  We've gotten used to global warming.  But this has been a winter where the temperatures were mostly below 'normal'.

The ice between the sidewalk (that I try to keep clear) and the street is still thick, but the sunny days (even when it hasn't been above freezing), and my ice-chipping are starting to make a difference.



We've been pretty good about self-isolating.  I try and get out in the back or front yard every day and tinker around. J goes for a much longer walk.  There aren't many people out and staying six feet away isn't hard to do.

Yesterday I even got the bike out and it felt wonderful.
I didn't go very far - I saw three people walking abreast ahead of me and knew I couldn't pass them with six feet, so I turned off into a parking lot and looped back home via the alley where there was still some ice and snow on the ground - I was using the bike with the studded tires.




We also tried out Fred Meyer's home delivery.  I think it would have been faster to walk to the grocery, get our stuff, and walk home, than it was just ordering on the app.  We had to look through so many items to find what we wanted.  When I tried searching it didn't find it.  But later it did.  I think you have to be in the right department when you search.    And I'm sure it will be easier next time.  Then when I was going to check out, it had something next to most items about being out of stock and were substitutes acceptable.  For some I said no.  For others I put in conditions.  I really had no idea how it would work.  But I was uncomfortable with someone making substitutes.  As it turned out, it was fine.  The shopper texted when she started and asked about substitutions before making them.  I think there was just one - one brand of yogurt for another.  And she texted about items that weren't there - like alcohol swabs.

The point was to not be out amongst people exposing either of us to the virus since we're in the high risk age group.  And since I couldn't get tested, I have no clear sense of whether what I had (the cough still lingers, but I cough less frequently) was COVID-19.   But when I saw our shopper get out of the car at the bottom of the driveway and then slowly, almost painfully, lug up the two bags to the doorstep, I felt terrible.  If she wasn't also in the high risk age group, she certainly walked like she was.

So that was my introduction to Instacart, which really hadn't been on my radar.  It was just under $10 extra for someone to shop and deliver for us.  A company called Instacart does it.  This is the gig economy and like with Lyft there are upsides and downsides.  In our case, we connected with the market, not Instacart.  And our shopper may have gotten several other people's orders at the same time.  We only live about 1.5 miles from the market.

Gigworker.com did an analysis of Instacart the other day that you can look at.  In any case, there's no the extra hazard pay for potentially getting the virus.  I left more tip than they suggested, but what they suggested was pretty low.  But you also had to add the tip when you ordered, not after the delivery.   And then there's the question of how we deal with the groceries without knowing whether anyone who touched them has the virus.  I brought the bag in wearing gloves and put the veggies that needed refrigerating into an empty drawer to let them sit a couple of days.  When I got everything squared away, I washed my hands thoroughly.

One of the things I was happy to get from the market was seeds.  

I haven't planted too many vegies in recent years because our yard is so shaded by trees.  But it seems like a good idea to have some fresh veggies one can grow oneself this year.  And I do look forward to the early dandelion leaves - an abundant freebie in our yard that can be cooked in stir-fries and omelets.   They're very high in Vitamin A and K, and we don't use any pesticides in our yard.  

With the added part of the deck, we have a little more sunshine and we can use pots.  But I think the broccoli is the only thing I can plant early inside.  The others seem like they should go directly in the ground.  But maybe I can put some seeds in pots inside and then take them out when it's warm enough.  

And here's a last picture while I was sitting downstairs in what we call our greenhouse reading a book with the sun streaming in.  It's getting crowded down there and I've been trying to make room so I can plant some seeds.  

Catchup: RBG At Bear Tooth, May Day Tree Invasion In Back Yard,

The much abbreviated (from last year) bike rack at Bear Tooth Cinema was packed when I rode over Sunday to see RBG, the movie about Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  What I didn't know about her (well there was a lot of personal stuff too) was the key role she played in winning cases at the Supreme Court that broke barriers for women before she got on the court.

I did think about how conservatives might view this movie.  But then we would probably need a couple of hours to define conservative.  After all, Orin Hatch (certainly we'd classify him as a conservative) seemed convinced (in the movie)  that she was well qualified to be on the bench, even though he didn't agree with her on many issues.  I also wondered how I'd react to a similar film on Antonin Scalia, who also had some screen time in RBG.  I was also encouraged by the scenes of her working in the gym with her personal trainer.

I've written in the past about the May Day Tree (also known as choke cherry) invasion in Anchorage.  They've snuck into our backyard.  Last summer I clipped off the branches of one I discovered blooming profusely on the other side of the fence way in the back.  I had to get all the flowers and put them in the garbage.  I didn't want any stray seeds growing in the yard.  The I let the leaves die and fall off and cut up the branches.  Some I've shown out in the garbage, most I've been able to scatter in pieces around the yard.

I was planning on cutting down the tree, but someone - I'm guessing the utility folks since it was growing into the power line - did that for me.  But what they left has green shoots growing out of it this year.

Blooming May Day tree well hidden on left

There is another one near our deck. Last summer I clipped all the flowers off it as well, but decided to leave it for the rest of last summer because the leaves were green and partially blocked the neighbor's yard.  My plan was to get rid of it this summer.  It's green now - and lovely - with only one bunch of flowers. It's going soon.

 But to my dismay, I found another tree, about 14 feet high - full of flowers.  It's well hidden by the other trees - it's on the left in the picture.  But I can't see it, which is why I didn't spot it last summer I guess.  Our yard is just a normal 1/4 acre city lot, but it has a hill and lots of trees.  But I was checking on what's growing and found it.  So yesterday I clipped all the flowers, put a few in vases in the house and bagged the rest.  Cut off all the branches and I'll cut that one down too.

Cut branches of Choke Cherry (May Day)  flowers

The problem is that these trees, which are not native to Alaska,  thrive in Anchorage.  They grow fast and spread seeds all over choking out native plants.  And they make moose sick.  The older post explains the details and how it kills moose.


There are other invasive species as well.  The one I've come to terms with is the dandelion.  Especially now as the new ones start growing; soft and tender leaves make a nutritious mea.  So I go out and pick very fresh greens for omelets and salads.  Here's some nutritional information from an earlier post.

cooking dandelion greens

I also used dandelions as part of blog contest much earlier in this blog's history.

Dandelions: Free, Nutritious, and Abundant Veggie

The Boreal Herbal:  Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North has renewed my commitment to take advantage of the free, no effort crops growing in my back yard.  Dandelions are the most productive such crop.  So while the dandelions are still young and fresh, I've been incorporating some into my daily meals.  Here's from breakfast yesterday.





                                                                                           

Dandelions And Chickweed Aren't Weeds

This blog is about how you know what you know.  When you look out at your garden and see lots of little yellow flowers what do you see?
1.  sunshiny color brightening your yard
2.  weeds
3.  nutritional food
4.  medicinal herbs

It all depends on who was able to shape your brain.  The chemical companies that need you to think they are weeds so they will buy their poisons?  A Korean friend who eats dandelion leaves regularly? An herbalist who taught you about natural cures?  Or your brain may have competing models in your head about dandelions.

When I first learned that dandelions and chickweed are edible, after a few summers fighting 'weeds' in my garden in Alaska, I toyed with a book that I would call "50 recipes of dandelions and chickweed."  But I had lots of other things to do and never wrote it.

So when I saw this book - The Boreal Herbal:  Wild Food and Medicine Plants of the North, by Beverly Gray - in the book section of Costco, I started turning pages.

There are pages and pages of plants you'll see if you hike anywhere in Alaska.  (Beverly Gray, appears to live in the Yukon.)  Besides the obvious dandelions and chickweed, it includes uses for all sorts of common plants including spruce tips and devil's club.






Here's part of the section on dandelions:

click to enlarge and focus

And here's a little bit from the chickweed section.

There was a big stack of them at Costco on Debar last week.  This is a great field guide (though it's kind of big to carry around) as well as a guide to food and medicinal uses.

I mentioned the book to someone Saturday.  As I described it, she asked, "The one written by Beverly Gray?"  "That's the one."  She'd taken a workshop with Gray and couldn't say enough about it.

I think about the story of the Japanese visitors who were visiting an Alaskan cannery and were appalled to see all the fish roe being tossed.  That encounter resulted in a significant new export product for Alaskan fishers.

We have an abundance of nutritious plants in Alaska.  Judicious harvesting could lead to another market.  Our forests are a rich source of healthy foods.

Spring Flowers And Bugs

The thalictrum tends to attract aphid larvae (at least that's what I've thought they were but I'm having trouble finding online confirmation) every year.  It's relatively easy to just clean them off.  But I was hoping that the blue damsel flies nearby might find them tasty.  But they didn't seem interested.

Our first iris is budding. 

Some of the dandelions have gone to seed already. 

I'm probably most excited about the lilac, which after 10 or fifteen years has a bunch of flowers.  Last year was the first it had any at all. 

And the tiny phlox flowers cover their green with a profusion of pink.

Backyard is starting to Bloom

 Things are blooming already in the yard, like these two narcissus,


Wikipedia gives us some background on the name Narcissus:

In Greek mythology, Narcissus (/nɑrˈsɪsəs/; Greek: Νάρκισσος, Narkissos) was a Hunter from Thespiae in Boeotia who was known for his beauty. He was the son of the river god Cephissus and nymph Liriope.^[1] He was proud, in that he disdained those who loved him. Nemesis noticed this behavior and attracted Narcissus to a pool, where he saw his own reflection in the water and fell in love with it, not realizing it was merely an image. Unable to leave the beauty of his reflection, Narcissus drowned.

New hosta leaft. 

Phlox.

The dandelions are here already too.