Kestrel Kill

Another lousy picture of my exciting life!
I looked out the window and saw a bird covering another under the clothesline. "Wow," I thought, "It must be spring! Birds are mating in the snow!"

But they weren't mating. It was a Kestrel hawk, killing something. As it turned around, I saw red feathers and knew it was one of those exuberant cardinals that I heard a few days ago.

I tried to take a picture, but the window was too far away. The second I tried to sneak out the back door, the Kestrel was off, carrying the cardinal with him.

Granholm Pushes Alternative Energy for Michigan

I missed the State of the State address. There was nothing exciting about the news coverage of the State of the State address. But I heard the end of Governor Granholn's radio town meeting yesterday, when she was talking about luring alternative energy industries to Michigan by making a commitment to use alternative energy to meet the state's needs. I was enthralled. After all that "one state recession" talk, it is wonderful to hear her so comprehesively articulate the whole range of competitive advantages that Michigan has.

Here is part of the transcript of the State of the State address:

Why alternative energy? Because - to borrow a line from Wayne Gretzky - if you want to win, "don't skate to where the puck is - skate to where the puck is going."

The puck is going to alternative energy.

Any time you pick up a newspaper from here on out and see the terms "climate change" or "global warming," just think: "jobs for Michigan."

Because of the need to reduce global warming and end our dependence on expensive foreign oil, the renewable energy and energy efficiency industries will create millions of good paying jobs.

There's no question that these jobs are coming to our nation. The only question is, where?

I say we will win these jobs for Michigan and replace the lost manufacturing jobs with a whole new, growing sector.

Why us? Because, no other state - indeed few places in the world - have what we have to offer: our wind, our water, our woods - and thanks to the working men and women of Michigan - our skilled workforce.

Look at each of these resources.

The unique geography of our peninsulas makes us windy. Experts have said that we have the second best potential for wind generation and production in the country. In fact, the wind turbines we'd use to capture that power can be built right here in Michigan, because we have what's needed: manufacturing infrastructure; available factory space; a skilled workforce. And water - the Great Lakes - are one of the best ways to ship these huge turbines.

That Pure Michigan water will do even more for us. The natural movement, the waves of our Great Lakes waters, creates enormous energy. We are talking with businesses right now about coming to Michigan to convert water currents into electric currents.

And wood! The wood waste from the pulp and paper industry is being used to produce the next generation of biofuels. Cutting-edge companies like Mascoma, Chemrec, NewPage, and others are turning wood waste into fuel for your vehicles, and they want to come here because of our vast sustainable forests.

Our automotive base is also a huge asset: we are the automotive research capital of the world, and we are building the engines of the future - hybrids, clean diesel, electric, fuel cells, flexfuel - all of that is being, and will continue to be, researched, designed, and produced right here in Michigan.

There may be one or two other states that are sunnier than we are, but we are already a huge player in the solar energy industry. We have in Michigan the world's largest producer of the stuff that makes solar panels work. Polycrystalline silicon. Made by Hemlock Semiconductor right here in Michigan. They are in the middle of a billion dollar expansion, hiring 500 people in the Saginaw area. They have even bigger plans. And just last week, Dow Solar Solutions announced it was locating a new $52 million manufacturing facility in Midland, focusing on solar energy generating building materials. Saginaw Valley can be the Silicon Valley for the alternative energy business!

Even waste is being used: companies are taking household trash in landfills and converting it to green energy - the Lansing Board of Water and Light is doing it right now. Farms are turning animal waste into methane gas. Opportunities are everywhere in Michigan to create green energy.

Michigan must do as any successful business does. To compete, we need to capitalize on our natural advantages. For us, it's our geography and our history. Auto ingenuity. And our solar edge. Wind. Woods. Water. Workforce. Even waste. If we do this right, Michigan can be the alternative energy capital of North America, and create thousands and thousands of jobs.

But, for Michigan to win the race for those high-paying jobs, we have to out-hustle the competition. How?

First, we must commit as a state to use alternative energy to meet our own energy needs.

To understand the connection between renewable energy and jobs, just look at Sweden - a country with striking resemblances to our state: the same size population, similar geography with two-thirds of their land covered by forests, a strong automotive sector. Sweden set high goals for their use of renewable energy. The result? They created over 2,000 businesses and 400,000 jobs in their renewable energy sector. 400,000 jobs!

Alternative energy companies have watched closely as 25 other states have set aggressive goals for their alternative energy use. We have to meet and beat other states' goals here in Michigan if we are going to attract those companies here. That's why I am asking the Legislature to set ambitious alternative energy goals for Michigan - produce 10 percent of our electrical energy from renewable sources by the year 2015 and a full 25 percent by the year 2025. Thank you Sen. Patterson and Representative Accavitti for working to craft the bipartisan legislation that will transform our state.

There is no way to overestimate the importance of setting state renewable energy use goals when it comes to creating jobs.

It is interesting to actually watch the address, because you can see how flat footed the legislature seems when the governor segues from a hockey metaphor to the alternative energy spiel. She might as well be speaking French.

This is, of course, where we the people need to step in. I will be checking out Governor Granholm's proposal and leaning on my legislators to support it.

Looks Like Spring to Me

I don't care if it was only 16 degrees today, or that the north wind blew the chop ice into Suttons Bay and clear our to Peshawbestown. I don't care if it was icy in the shade; the sun on the deck was warm and drying. Spring is near, if not here.

The birds know it's spring. The chickadees and Cardinals and nuthatches have switched to their spring songs and they are singing them insistently The chickens are laying, and one is thinking about setting. I hope she's still broody when it gets warm enough to actually hatch chicks.

I went to the laundromat this morning and hung these clothes out about noon. the light stuff got pretty dry, but the towels and jeans froze stiff as boards. Still, the sun is high enough and the wind was strong enough to pull moisture out of the clothes, frozen or not. It only took a little dryer time to finish them.

I stopped drying clothes outside in November, not because it was too cold, but because the days were too short and the sun never rose high enough to clear the barn and hit the clothesline. The sun's trajectory now is the same as mid-October, and the days are lengthening faster as we approach the equinox. I'll be planning the laundry for sunny days now.

My clothesline is in full view of everyone driving by. People will comment now that I've hung laundry. It is a sign of spring for many of the neighbors. I always think of it as a statement about energy conservation and being unashamed of doing housework. The folks at The Laundry Project have a website devoted to energy conservation, clothesline advocacy and laundry tips. I tried their technique for hanging towels doubled up and pinned at the top to make them flap against themselves in the wind and dry softer. It didn't work this time, but it might work if it was warmer.

I snapped the picture around 5:30, just before I took it all down. There is a downy woodpecker on the feeder. My favorite part of hanging out clothes in the warmer months is standing out in the yard folding clothes as I take them off the line and watching the birds.

Michelle Obama

When I first wrote about Barack Obama, Liz thought my equivocating was funny: "Mom, why can't you just like him?"

I wasn't willing to spend much energy liking someone who would turn out to be a flash in the pan. Rmemeber the Dean Scream? It wasn't all that out of line to anyone who'd ever been rooting for the winning team at a hockey game, but by the time it was cut and pasted all over the TV, it took on a new sinister tone and signalled the end of the campaign.

The attack dogs are now circling Michelle Obama, pouncing on a speech in Wisconsin where she said "for the first time I am proud of my country," a seven word sentence fragment that is being repeated ten times an hour on Fox News and trotted out as proof that Mrs Obama is not patriotic.

Is the glass half empty or half full? Is patriotism a reflex or a judgement? Can someone who is highly critical of our nation's policies still shed a tear while singing the national anthem at the ball game? If someone did, would they be a patriot or a hypocrite?

Unlike eight years ago, we now have YouTube. I found and watched a couple seven word fragments of Michelle's Wisconsin speeches. The seven word fragments didn't tell me much. Then I found this longer speech, where she talks about a topic near and dear to me, public education.

But she's not talking about prospective policy, she's talking about political will:

We have to change. We have to have leadership that will inspire us to be different, to understand that we have a mutual obligation to one another in this society in order for it to work. It's not just words when you say we are one anothers' brotherss and sister's keepers. It begins and ends there. And if we're not ready to sacrfice and compromise for one another and understand that is the root of our challenge, then no policy on the face of this earth will matter.

I've been combing the websites of the three remaining candidates. Both Democrats have pages of pages of PDF files on policy positions, much of it remarkably similar. The difference is coming down to the difference between "I will..... " and "We can......" One is a promise and the other is a challenge.

And let's salute YouTube! Eight years ago, all we could see of Howard Dean was what the networks chose to show us. Now we can see any portion of any speech that anyone thought was important enough to post online. I set out looking for the worst of Michelle Obama and found the best endorsement of Barack that I've seen yet.

Lunar Eclipse Walk

When Anna and I left the house about 9 pm the temperature was about 10 degrees with patchy clouds. We could see the moon through holes in the clouds; it was already looking less than round. We walked down Popp road towards Lake Leelanau only using the flashlight at the corner so that drivers could see us should they turn off the main road.

We walked when the moon was behind the clouds and stopped when it came out. By the time we reached the lake, the moon was less than half. Snowmobile tracks told us where the ice was strong so we walked out on the lake and stood there, back to the wind, for a long time.

There was a big patch of open sky with stars right above us. I thought I was looking at Cassiopeia, but I couldn't be sure. Anna said that the clouds looked so close she thought she could put her hand up and knock them out of the way. We could see lights from the new courthouse on the horizon, lights from the casino fainter and more to the north, lights from Leland on the other side. Anna thought that she saw a bonfire on the opposite shore of the lake, but I thought it was just yard lights.

The moon got smaller. Now we could see the dark part of the moon faintly glowing red. When the lit part was a little bigger than a fingernail we watched our big patch of open sky close up without ever making it to the moon. We started for home.

On the way home, we walked with our eyes on the moon. It was just a sliver now, sliding in and out of the clouds and the trees. We knew if we lost sight of it, we wouldn't know where to look to find it again. We didn't need to watch the road, we just walked and looked at the moon. Finally, the moon was just a bare sliver and the clouds were closing in. We stopped and stared at the moon, just above the tops of the trees, covered then revealed by the clouds. The trees swayed back and forth in the wind; we stared until it seemed the moon was swaying back and forth. We tried so hard to see the moon that the trees suddenly jumped out in their own vivid relief. There was nothing left in the sky but clouds and building lights.

Even with no moon there was enough light pollution to light our way. Anna wanted to know what the various glows were from. She remembered when I used to go to town board meetings to protest the streetlights in Lake Leelanau. We talked about how little lights add up to a ruined night sky, but everybody thinks that someone else is to blame.

There were no cars on the way home. There were no more holes in the clouds. The snow was soft on the side of the road. I walked through the gate, but Anna walked on the drifts over the fence.

Everything about Caffeine

I drink a lot of coffee. I met my husband when we worked for a small Honolulu coffee company and have been drinking the stuff daily in the 20 plus years since. Working nights, coffee is essential to my ability to continue to do to math in my head while people holler at me well past midnight.

I know some of the kids in Anna's class start out each day drinking a cup of coffee with Mom. But last year's fifth grade field trip surprised me. The kids all had pocket money and bag lunches. I expected them to spend the pocket money on cheap trinkets and postcards, but the conspicuous spending was all on caffeine in the form of energy drinks at upwards of three dollars a pop. Most of the cans said "not recommended for children" but the snack stand guy didn't care. The kids claimed that they drank that stuff all the time, but it was clear that Amp and Rockstar and Monster possessed the lure of the forbidden.

The kids told me that they did better in school when the used caffeine. They knew how much they needed to "get a buzz". I thought that was strange, and I ended up talking to my bike riding companion about alcohol, and how binge drinking in teens impairs brain development. I didn't know much about caffeine, so I just listened, except to point out that if they spent their money on energy drinks at the beginning of the trip, they would be broke for the hour of shopping at the end of the field trip.

At Developing Intelligence, a blog written by a graduate student in cognitive Neuroscience at CU Boulder, I found today's entry to be a user's guide for caffeine. It doesn't answer my questions about kids and caffeine, I will be using the information there to modify the way I drink coffee for maximum effect.