animals

Scientists have more confidence in their estimate of the numbers of stars in the universe than they do of the number of species on Planet Earth. Today, it is 2 million to 100 million +, with 10 million being the number most reliably reported. The entomologists, the tropical bug guys, know that that is low by far. Also the oceanic biome has opened up in the last couple of decades with discovery of communities of life forms living around deep-sea hydrothermal vents, good for a million more species, estimated. There are three times more square miles of oceans than of land and the mountains therein are higher, the valleys deeper. There is an undiscovered planet on this planet under water.

Yesterday, I built a rack and moved this firewood into an orderly arrangement for the winter. I can feel it this morning, but such physical effort is still invigorating. (By still, I mean I am getting old and my physical being is changing)

Last week, it rained non-stop, a hard downpour for days on end. It was some kind of weather system coming up from the Gulf. Today, the sky is free from clouds and as blue as it ever is. As I eat lunch in the sun, the Red Shouldered Hawk who lives in my neighborhood cruised motionless high above in a straight line across my field of vision over the valley that plunges below. It must be such a thrill.7 hours ago clear