kaidub @kaidub@mastodon.art

C4 PHOTOSYNTHESIS: A grand increase in metabolic efficiency. Only about 5% of plants use the pathway but it accounts for 20-30% of biomass sequestration on Earth. An interesting plant adaptation that has probably indirectly amalgamated carbon into you.

Whenever I enjoy pancakes in the morning I forget the fork tines and coffee and simply enjoy. But afterward I look down at the wreck of maple syrup that I've become.

Just found out about this interesting research on direct electrical metabolism in bacteria. It's pretty amazing that there is an entire foundation of biogeochemical reactions removed from solar energy that support life. https://dornsife.usc.edu/labs/nealsonlab/research/
Some other examples of crazy metabolism that I recall reading about are methane metabolism in ancient underground Antarctic ice and arsenic aided photosynthesis in saline lakes.

Found this awesome notched concrete retaining wall corner in a wasted gully behind a fancy sprawling subdivision. https://mastodon.art/media/Bx1MUee7B9aA81vi2k4

Pistachios
Tobacco
Grit
Brut
Cigarette filters fluffed
Make a life steeped in aroma, call it culture, a stasis cell.
But then how to find these scents?
Coffee's good. Pine sap sticks. Horse shit and vegetation mold themselves around a person. It'll happen without grasping for it. When the smell comes, cultivate. Sauerkraut in the closet. https://mastodon.art/media/Ar9cz74w4NkH6lB0Wok

Some other observations from the same stream: https://mastodon.art/media/Ha8iezG5Rw3MgFCzBP8
Abruptly narrowing the stream... https://mastodon.art/media/WvKFezSwCx5w698gfn0
Slowed by the gradual slope and the aspens... https://mastodon.art/media/jYoGCJbSqZ0JxshJk0Q
This isn't even the stream, it's the trickle of a spring that got backed up by ice. https://mastodon.art/media/Z20EmmJHp3_qEHHuL8w
Roots dam the ice near the source of the erosion problems.

I think that this has some pretty interesting implications for storing and spreading water in temperate regions. The ice will melt slowly and release water onto the banks of the stream and when the high water of spring rushes down it will be slowed by the ice. I imagine that it also reduces the amount of ice wedging and eroding into the more narrow parts of the stream.

I put a line of rocks in a stream to slow down the water because there's extreme downcutting from people developing higher up in the watershed. The effect on the frozen water was surprising! The rocks spread the ice over the normal sides of the stream as the top layer thawed, ran along the ice and then froze (Or at least that seems to be what happened). The log in the pic is normally out of stream but now it's holding back a mini glacier. Awesome dog for scale. https://mastodon.art/media/Mg06o8N1EmwyI_2ZqHo

The other day I went to a city park surrounded by rushing cars but for some reason the park was peaceful quiet. I realized it was the first time in weeks that I hadn't heard cars. I think it had something to do with all of the big trees around the large central lake, which disrupted the sound. There was also a cemetery next to the park. Seems like a good template to experiment with to achieve quiet amidst mad metropolis music.

Winter came and the warm inside of buildings felt "better". All of the objects I pick up and put down are easy and linear. Then I go outside and there's the sun. I roll up my sleeves and pick up a tumbleweed. Birds go beside me to the last of the day's sun but whir off to unseen hulking trees. Not so satisfied with the word, but when the outside world with it's birds and trees is experienced after a dim inside of dishes and screens, it seems like a miracle.

Got book libraries, seed libraries, tool libraries, software libraries, lots of useful libraries. Why not land libraries?

Was out catching pokemon. Then they needed to heal so I took them to a self help poke terminal. Put all the balls on the cart and slid them in. Ding-Ding-DingALing! On the other side there was steam and my poke balls emerged as hot plates and bowls so I put them away. #dishwashingdreams4lyfe.

This morning, instead of an alarm clock, I woke up to the ground shaking from a trash truck heaving bins of cardboard and cans. Without paying attention to the news, prepping or ever really feeling that concerned I woke up thinking there was a nuclear war. The blip of fear was long enough that I concocted an escape route. If it had been a dragon bombarding the city the fear would have subsided quickly but the realism of the situation took hold. Just that the fear of nuclear war was present and came to the surface is not nice let alone woke me.

I think that earth works like swales or ponds to slow the water down would be ideal especially if fruit trees were irrigated by the flood waters. Denver gets about 15inches of rain a year so it's semi arid and over 3 million people are now relying on this highly regulated, mismanaged resource. Instead of dealing with the "problem" of water by sending it and it's sediment down to the Mississippi the water would be sequestered in ground water for future use. https://mastodon.art/media/ZkjaumT7jtEE5m0U4ik https://mastodon.art/media/vnSc4_vARkBsmshN3hM

There are threads of park or steep, undeveloped land running through the suburbs of Denver. These places usually have little creeks running through them with cottonwoods holding the conglomerate together. Usually the slopes have big chunks of concrete and asphalt as if there were settlements in the ravines.
Noticed that there is an extreme erosion problem in these areas and I suspect that it is because of the surrounding suburbs. Roof and road run off is conveniently shuttled to the parks where it rips gorges during rainhttps://mastodon.art/media/OPh67D66LrYYif3zGMs

Maybe it's just wishful thinking but when random people walk by me when I'm picking little fruits off trees near sidewalks or scooping handfuls of seeds into bags under apartments I get the distinct feeling that they are jealous. Or, better yet, that they are fighting a desire to reach out a hand with me and grab some russian olive branches. https://mastodon.art/media/30fC-2Qxg8r5xHZ4N_w

Was standing on the concrete base of a lamp post in the parking lot of some bank or office to get a better angle on some haws. Big security guard waddles over and, at a hesitant distance asks what I'm picking. I prance over with my loaded grocery bag and show the uses of washington hawthorn. He says I can't stand on the lamp post. Might fall off and hurt myself. He asks what the brown pods are. I say "honey locust, the inside is sweet." He says I should be on naked and afraid so I laugh and offer a haw. He declines, doesn't want to hallucinate