Feb 27, 2011 by Naomi.

That’s what the seventh day was set aside for. A fantasy bearded bloke “worked” for six days to create light, dark and all the creatures He saved from drowning when He made rain for forty days and forty nights. But Oh Boy that was such hard work the Almighty sat back the next day to admire His work. What a conceited smoke, He was. That’s not entirely fair. When I do a good job I am proud and pleased with myself, too. But when He wants to take credit for the whole shebang that technically he had no part of is going too far, don’t you think? I know why and how I came to be here because science tells me so. Well really I am here and that speaks for a long long long period of development that resulted from chemical and physical action we named evolution. Which is also responsible for humans having imagination to make up anything they choose. Maybe in the dark ages people had to dream up how we got on this ninth rock from the sun but our brains figured out the truth. So on this day of rest I drink coffee with a wonderful godless group and consider the world for what it is.

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Feb 25, 2011 by Naomi.

Today was a day for which I had nothing planned except to return pelts and bones to McNary. I did my deed for the Refuge last night and when facing a very unpleasantly cold north wind I thought once I got cozied in my house and ready for bed I wouldn’t leave until the temperature lightened up – at least got above freezing. Think again. A telephone call informed me that my new glasses were ready at the Kennewick store so off I went in my furry winter helmet and layered vests and wool socks. Well I wore other stuff too but the special weather gear was pretty darned nice. I have had the glasses on now for three hours and everything looks very clear and focused. So what I didn’t have planned turned out to be quite a happy experience. Tomorrow I will stay home.

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Feb 25, 2011 by Naomi.

February 24, 2011, once more found me at an elementary school - Jason Lee - in Richland, with two tables lined with pelts, bones, and feathers from McNary NWR Education Center to explain the relationship of wild nature to humans. Kids and parents noted the difference in teeth of meat-eating predators compared to those of the grass-eating animals which they would eat providing they caught them. People seldom relate the canine teeth in their own jaws as a leftover during evolution. All my visitors were happy to maul the hair on the pelts of beaver, raccoon, otter, and skunk until admonished that hair of dead animals would not grow back once destroyed as the hairs of their own live heads would. Chris explained the feathers and beaks of birds and we were hoarse by the time we braved the freezing north wind to our cars. This Science-Night adventure is an annual event and was attended by over a hundred curious and interested families. I brought vertebrae of a coyote and a huge bovine from the prairie of Montana, on which I showed the hole through the spine that held the nerves sending messages to the body. The message my body received this morning reminded me I must be vigilant about doing stretches and aerobics to keep the flesh connecting my vertebrae and other bones flexible and well toned for daily use in the years to come. However, I think of Pooh Bear as he repeats: Oh bother.

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Feb 16, 2011 by Naomi.

Home was comfy warm when I arrived at four thirty this afternoon. The five hours of roads were bare and dry. There was a narrow belt of clouds I passed under where snow flurried at me but only to dampen the road for a mile or so. Traffic was sparse so I had few cars or trucks with which to quarrel. I stopped for milk, butter, and salad on the way and will not need to shop until I have a more critical list. At home I was surprised with an awful lot of thawed apricots for which I must decide the future. I had mistakenly turned off the fridge, darn! But the neighborhood looks as it did when I left, no new neighbors. There is a pile of mail but I am going to wait until tomorrow and tackle that when I am fresh although I made up my mind the last time mail accumulated in my absence that I would seriously considering trashing it all. Most of it is mail begging for sweetening somebody’s important pet project. No sense in my encouraging their dreams. Nothing wrong with cleaner water, more trees, and better roads. Some things will just have to happen without me. How easy it is to be complacent when one is debt-free and enfolded in a comfortable private domain.

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Feb 15, 2011 by Naomi.

My eyes were due for a checkup which is the primary reason I went to visit in Bellingham. Turns out there had been a major change in both eyes, requiring a new prescription. The fresh look from new glasses will settle upon familiar stuff in and around my house. I had only a short time to spend in my “new” sun porch and I look forward to more time there. I expect my Douglas Fir will be what Gramma Sherer would call “a sight for sore eyes” when I cast my new eyes upon it and no doubt I will even enjoy the dreary look of foggy February that I view from my kitchen window. Nevertheless it will be a welcome view of houses that would not have changed even though the occupants might. Along the fence the dead weeds will have their own look of mystery about them as the seed heads persevere against wind, rain, snow and lack of warm comforting sunshine. New green shoots will begin to show in cracks of the sidewalk and I must decide whether to treat them as happy immigrants or sly intruders. All this I have in my near future to fulfill as visions in one way or another.

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Feb 14, 2011 by Naomi.

When I plan an extended stay at a familiar destination, I am aware of the reading material available and look forward to becoming reacquainted with those sources. My accommodating hostess encourages me to peruse the local library as well and indulge in subjects otherwise unexplored or temporarily ignored. I read a sweet romance adventure “Cypress Nights” by Stella Cameron. I also sampled “Denialism” by Michael Specter and “The Botany Of Desire” by Michael Pollan. Both books contain passion beyond human emotions and are books I’ve read before. The first touches on dangers of denying science and the latter embraces the concept of co-evolution of plants and animals. Both are subjects which I find fascinating. I returned to the series about Hobbits, a unique species inhabiting “Middle Earth” a fantasy world concocted by J.R.R. Tolkien which dwells on human resourcefulness and determination never mind nature and its unique relationships. All this content for a day set aside in honor of love and devotion beyond the expected ordinary emotion between friends, families, or lovers.

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