h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Both our s and our dog snore. Of course our dog was a shih-tzu and they have a very short cute nose, don't know if that makes them susceptible or not. I don't have that excuse .

Yes for me Electra it is sleep patterns, I often wake in the very early hours, and that is fine and works for me although I do sleep again, if this point get too disrupted, I get very sleep deprived after about three days, especially if there aren't any other times to catch up, like a decent afternoon nap

I don't know why someone would want to burn down the pier CC , just have to wait to find out

I have a nature story and to tell you daydreamers about back in a few...

So today there were dragonflies in the garden and they were settling on top of the beans poles and I saw a dragonfly having their lunch, they didn't like cameras poked in their face, so didn't really do that just got up close to the dragonflies, that is my nature story

My from Spiller, a hip flask, that is just perfect and had the last of the slow gin in it, that is for you

so off to a woodland soon with no wifi, so leaves plenty of Perculiar and tucks slow gin in pocket

Much to my amazement, the weather service was right and its raining today, a little wet weather spilling over the intervening plains and mountains from the Pacific, which I'd expected to stay confined to the west end of the valley.

Forecast for tomorrow shows an even higher probability of rain.

Outside temperature now, 83F/28C, 8F/4.5C lower than predicted.

Really? So dogs and cats snore? As well as humans, with human noses. heheh. That's amazing. Ah, Ariel. , I remember Elektra and Mister D's little shih tzu, Ariel .

Splendid dear Peanut! I love the dragonflies. And that's so great to have a hipflask full of slow gin haha here's to your holiday in the woodland!

I have a dinky little hipflask. I fill it with brandy and tuck it in my handbag for those old lady moments. haha



Nice to hear the weather in Cali, ITIWBS. 83F?? That's massive hot. That's our heatwave over here.

Does the rain smell nice where you live? I imagine it smells of sage and pine, but perhaps it doesn't.



Ah yes, and I just cycled across the city. Lovely evening. There was a Mrs.Swan on the track by the river, guarding her young, even though the young are almost big swans themselves. Other cyclists said to keep going at a reasonable pace, don't stop to chat to her. As I passed, she extended her neck and gave me a disdainful look. I smiled weakly, said 'nice evening Mrs Swan, how the kids are growing!' then pedalled off, and all was well.

Hey Daydreamers, check out our hostesses charming contributions to this week. New issue is up.

Woke up and showered this morning, then found myself shivering. With cold-

Checked the indoor temperature, found it was 73F/23C, turned off the AC for the rest of the day.

The single plant that contributes most sroongly to the local aromab is the creosote bush, larea tridentata.

As an aromatic, its in a group with things like bay leaves and rosemary.

The herb can sometimes be found in health food stores and is great in spaghetti sauce.

The aroma is strongest immediately after a rain and has the effect of drying up congestion in the lungs.

Meanwhile, restraining myself from pounding my head on the wall and screaming, , typos in the 3rd paragraph were supposed to have been 'strongly' and 'aroma'.

(I know I corrected that before posting.*)

In the first sentence, the period was supposed to have come the end, the 2nd capital was supposed to have been lower case and there was supposed to have been no hyphen.





*The continuing google keyboard 'textmess' incontinence is receiving attention from avg.

Every time it hits me though, it makes me like the schoolkid who came to class with the excuse that the dog ate his homework.

(Happened to me once.

I guess the little mutt wanted more attention from me even though it wasn't even my dog.)

I love it. Heheh. I'm cheekily chuckling at your steaming, ITIWBS. It's the 73F. Waaay too cold.

The Creosote bush! I wish I could grow one here in the South of England. I wonder if I can. I think I'd definitely need a hothouse, though.

The creosote bush is an extremely hardy plant that might well survive the climate.

Its primary sensitivity is a need for well drained, sandy soil.

Its main fault is that it suppresses growth of other plants in its immediate vicinity.

Its easily eradicated and unlikely to become an invasive pest.

A mature shrub is typically a bowl shaped. shrub about six to eight feet in diameter and about that same height, takes about seven years from seed to maturity.

http://www.desertusa.com/creoste.html

With a postscript afterthought, lives almost forever.

Members of this species are thought to be the oldest living things on earth.

Oooh I love those desert piccies. I do love a desert. I never see deserts but I dream about them, I don't know why. Thanks ITI.

I love the creosote bush. I'd love to grow one. It would outlive me, that's for sure. . So how old is the oldest creosote bush, do you think? Like, what kind of timescale are we talking about?

The oldest known monoclonal creosote bush ring is estimated to be about 10,000 years old.




http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/encelia_farinosa




http://www.worldbotanical.com/croton.html

The oldest known monoclonal creosote bush ring is estimated to be about 10,000 years old.




Another important aromatic and the second most ubiquitous shrub in the local desert, encelia farinosa; encelia; or brittlebush; or incense bush.

This one produces a resin sometimes likened to frankincense, with which it is comparable, though to me, its scent seems more like a much lighter and more etheric pine, fir or spruce resin.

It was once used as Church incense by the Franciscan friars of the California missions and by the native Americans before, for that and many other purposes.

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/encelia_farinosa




Another important local aromatic is the Desert Croton, Croton, Californicus, with a scent similar to eucalyptus, but milder and not so piercing, traditionally used medicinally in much the same way as eucalyptus, for coughs and congestion.

http://calphotos.berkeley.edu/cgi/img_query?stat=BROWSE&where-genre=plant&where-namesoup=Desert+Croton&rel-namesoup=matchphrase&title_tag=Desert+Croton

Childhood experiences and objects are imbued with meaning, creating the roots and anchor points of our developing personal worlds. As adults, seeing those objects triggers memories and gives security to the worlds of our own creation. When they are lost, destroyed, changed it is only natural that we should mourn them because in a sense we are losing a part of ourselves. I believe in literature and poetry there are examples of the disappointment of returning "home" to find the "home" to be no longer there - such has been the rate of change in the modern human environment.

These thoughts can be extended from the individual, to ideas of local communities, cultures and heritage ... even to ideas of Britishness and the like.

Hey Daydreamers, have a gander at these interesting cloud formations from a Flicker compilation:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/flickr/galleries/72157645820044028/

Those are amazing clouds, Eletra, thanks!

Folks, over here in South Africa we've had something we have only rarely - an earthquake! My sister, in Centurion, felt it ... it was centred in Orkney a bit to the south. I didn't feel it at all over here in Polokwane. One person died, in a mine, and a few were injured, and there was some property damage.

Gosh, that's scary. I'm glad you are OK. I am also happy that whatever ones that are in North Carolina are relatively minor. After experiencing tremors in Greece,I don't want a repeat.

I think I've found it, Willem, a 5.4 magnitude quake at about 10:22GMT, 5 Aug 2014?

That would be about 12:22SAST?