General Grant & Sherman - The Trees

Grant fought Sherman in the 1860's for the honor of being the biggest tree in the world. General Grant was discovered in 1862 in what was to become Kings Canyon National Park, and 17 years later General Sherman was discovered, and dominated what was to be Sequoia National Park.

In 1921 a team of surveyors were hired to settle the question of which was the bigger giant. Sherman's 274 feet, and greater overall greater volume, compared to Grant's 267 feet, makes it not only the champion between the two, but the biggest living thing is the whole world.

Green and White Day

The basketball Boys move to the National championship game!
Unbelievable
Earlier we watched the baseball team sweep Northwestern in the first games at the new McLane Stadium. To make things even better, East Lansing's own, Nolan Moody, threw a complete game no-hitter.
Unbelievable

Some more photos from the game.........

Oh, the Places We've Gone!

We have just updated our map of North and Central America. The black lines are roads that Leslie and Tom traveled together, while the brown lines are Leslie solo, and the blue lines are Tom solo. If you double click on the maps they get larger.

Not All My Heroes Have Been Cowboys

This is a photographic tribute to my all time favorite ball player: Ryne Sandberg. To learn more about him go here. My prediction for the 2009 baseball season follow the photos.

From that rookie year as a Phillie to that first year as a skinny 3rd baseman, to getting moved to 2nd base, and becoming the all time best at that position, to the MVP season of 1984, to the rest of a Hall of Fame career, and now managing in the minors, first at Peoria, and this year with the Tennessee Smokies, and hopefully soon with the Cubs.

I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am.
Ryne Sandberg

I was in awe every time I walked on to the field.
Ryne Sandberg

I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.
Ryne Sandberg

Predictions for 2009
National League
East
1. Mets: No choke this year
2. Phillies: Almost impossible to repeat
3. Braves: Improved, could be a factor
4. Florida: good young pitching, but not ready yet
5. Nationals: at the bottom and staying there
Central
1. Cubs: They win for 3rd year in a row, but it is close
2. Cardinals: The rivalry really heats up this year
3. Reds: Improving despite Dusty
4. Brewers: They had their chance last year
5. Pirates: Up out of last place, a baby step
6. Astros: One great pitcher, and nobody else
West
1. Dodgers: Manny makes the difference
2. Giants: Good pitching overcomes everything else
3. Rockies: The surprise team of the league
4. Diamondbacks: Everything falls apart for them
5. Padres: Worst team and without hopeful signs
American League
East
1. Yankees: Order is restored in the baseball world
2.Red Sox: This race goes right down to the wire
3. Rays: Good again, but fade in August
4. Orioles: Have a good year, just in the wrong division
5. Blue Jays: Not enough pitching to compete
Central
1. Indians: They are good every other year, 2 ex Cubs help
2. Twins: They always find a way with sound fundamentals
3. Tigers: Just too many question marks with pitching
4. Royals: Watch out could really put it together
5. White Sox: Where all Cubs fans put them
West
1. Angels: Should cruise easily again
2. Athletics: Added the missing pieces, its possible
3. Texas: Best bats, worst pitching
4. Mariners: A lot better, but still in last place

Visitors That Would Not Leave

A pair of Carolina Wrens (a unique, but not rare species this far north) appeared at the feeder in November, and have hung around ever since.

They appeared appreciative of the seeds in this past weekend's slight covering of snow, and we have appreciated their presence over this long snowy winter.

What Matters

I am currently reading a book by David Elliot Cohen called What Matters. In it some of the world's preeminent thinkers depict essential issues of our time. All pictures and facts are from this book.

The first chapter is called Meltdown. In this visual age that we live in it is not surprising that we went 15 years knowing about global warming and doing nothing, because we had no pictures. Now the pictures have started to come, and they will not cease.

Some facts:

1. Americans make up 4% of the population, but produce 25% of the carbon dioxide. China's emissions have caught us, but there are four times as many people there. We have been doing it for a hundred years. This one's on us.
2. A stack of 40 billion one-dollar bills is 10,856 miles high. That is how much profit ExxonMobil made in 2006. It takes but a small fraction of that haul to buy the political juice that keeps Congress from acting responsibly.
3. Our greatest climatologist, James Hansen, has given us eight more years to reverse the flow of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, or else soar past the red lines that guard the great ice shelves. There is 25 feet of sea level rise in the ice above Greenland alone. Can we change that fast? It is not clear we can.
4. The next few years are a kind of final exam for the human species. Does that big brain really work or not? It gives us the power to build coal-fired power plants and SUV's, and thereby destabilize the working of the earth. But does it give us the power to back away from those sources of power, to build a world that isn't bent on destruction?
5. At some level, the answer depends on our imaginations. We can and will dream up new technologies. Lets just hope it is in time.
   

First in the Neighborhood

Our daffodils burst into color before anyone else this year.

We are planting seeds today (in the flower pots).