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

Dear Eveangeline.

I have just been writing to you as you replied to a thread that I was on. And I found this thread of yours which certainly I never found at that total catastrophe which happened with the BP pipeline.

It was on our news every single day, and those horrid globules of oil and someother stuff which appeared around the leaking broken pipe was heartbreaking.

So you live in an area which has experienced two calamities.The hurricane on the City of New Orleans and it's devastation and now the oil leak.

I am so terribly sorry that your state has had to suffer so much. Not that being sorry helps, but my loving thoughts are with you. And my friend Paul H also appears to offer you empathy. Is that because you are also in Texas?

Je ne le savais pas. !!

Go well and do let me know about what has happened to the oil leak. Has it been stopped or is it still polluting the whole area? Nothng is mentioned on any of the media now.

Christiane
AlsoRan 80

Wednesday 30th June 2010 7.10 BST

Hi, Christiane.

Evangeline lives in Louisiana, and I live in Boston.

I'm a tree-hugger and a big fan of fields full of daisies and bees and butterflies. I read books about oak trees and rewilding the world. I've never been to the Gulf of Mexico, but it's the end point for a river that I've been madly in love with since I was ten: the Mississippi. I once drew maps of all the streams in the Mississippi--10,000 of them.

The Gulf *must* be brought back to it's pre-spill ocndition. Nothing less will be acceptable. Restoring the Everglades would be nice, too, but I won't be going down there to work on it because it has 100,000 pythons living in it . I may be a tree-hugger, but I have my limits.

Dear Eveangeline,

I wonder what has happened to my postings to you.? They seem to have "disappeared". Anyway, this is just to renew our friendship and I am so pleased that you have come across the "pond". and people can read what really did happen.

it was in all the newspapers and on the Tv. I know that many of us had been unaware of what the was going on.

Thank you for reminding us. It really is dreadful the havoc which huiman kind perpetrates in name of progress. I have just been talking to Willem about the diamond and gold mining in South africa and the "scars" left on the country and under the earth.

With good wishes,

Christiane
Alsoran80

Tuesday 7th July, 2010 7.45 BST

Oh my very dear tree hugger. dobn't you dare go to the Everglades and get swallowed by a python. !! That would never do. !

"since you were ten......" You have been interested in our world for a long time my dear spwecial freind.

Lovely of you to transfer this across to here. I am unfortunately not clever enough to do things like that. I did not know how to do it., I did try - mais sans succes. !

With much affedtion and thank you for all the wonderful wake-up messages you have sent me. I needed them.

With affection


~christiane
AR80
Tuesday 7th July, 2010 7.50

When I was 12 [50 years ago, in other words], I saw a nice little maple tree that was struggling to get enough light deep in the forest. We had a field nearby. I dug up the tree and transplanted it in the field. I was looking at it a couple days ago. It has become quite a huge tree with a magnificent crown. It has been through some ups and downs, but I always sent it my best wishes. I don't know if my wishes had any real effect, but I'm delighted at how the tree has turned out. In the Fall, it has gorgeous red and yellow leaves.

Dear Evangeline,

I have not heard any news for some time. I wonder if the leak has beem closed?

Regards

Christiane/
AlsoRan80
Thursday 8th July. 2010 7.-7 BST

Hi paulh,

What a lovely story. |You have been truly well rewarded by the tree/

What a lovely way to say thank you. I have never seen a maple tree.


Have a great day.

Christiane
AR80

Thursday 8th July 2010 7.14 BST

I'm glad you liked my story, Christiane. I have a tender heart where trees are concerned. I hate to destroy the many little saplings that spring up on my lawn. There just isn't enough room for all of them to grow. The maple leaf is the symbol of Canada. They put it on their flag http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Canada
and also on their gold coins
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_Gold_Maple_Leaf
The tree I transplanted was probably a sugar maple.

The oil spill still has not been plugged. In mid-August, a relief well will reach the pipe that is emitting the oil. It might take more than one (or as many as 5) tries to plug the hole once and for all.

Meanwhile,

Hi Paulh,

Thank you for the update on the oil situation. I have learnt a lot about American geography from you. !!

Thank you so much.

How can they go on drilling without being certain of the outcome> They should never have startedin the first place. !!

It is bakingly hot here. I do not really mind, except that it is a humid heat which makes life a little bit uncomfortable. !

How can they go on drilling without being certain that they are going to be able to stop the oil? it really is a tragedy.

I love the nmelody of that song which goes - I think

"I talk to the tres,
"but they don't listen to ....."

Well your sugar maple has listened to you. I suppose that your have friendly bees who make honey from the sugar maple flowers. wonderful that.

Go well,

Christiane
AR80
Thursday, 8th July, 2010 19.15 BST

Sugar maple trees don't have flowers of the sort that bees would pollinate. They are pollinated by the wind.

I have planted coreopsis and blackeyed susans in front of my house. The bees absolutely love them. I've seen every kind of bee that we have, honeybees, bumblebees, many of the smaller bees. No butterflies though, but I'm going to get a ;ink coreopsis that ttracts butterflies.

That should have been *pink* coreopsis.

Good morning kind sir,

Thank you for the very interesting posts which came after I had taken to my bed. !!

I think coreopsis come in all colours. I also believe that they grow wild in kenya and are lovely.

have just woken up after a most restful night. Thank goodness I still sleep very well, without medication. and always wake up refreshed and rarin' to go.

Am now starting another Friday. always a nice day because a super friend comes to spend a few hours with me this afternoon.

Have a happy day when you awaken from your lovely sleep.

Christiane
AR80

Friday 9th July. 2010 5.20 a.m.

Hi, Christiane.

Might they have been bidens? Bidens and coreopsis can be hard to tell apart. Some decades ago there were almost 40 species of coreopsis in Africa that the experts decided to reclassify as bidens.
They're probably so similar that the name doesn't matter a lot, except to botanists.

Hi, paulh

Fountain of Knowledge!!

AS soon as I have finished checking my post on this site I shall go and look at "biden(s)" I have never heard of them before. !!

I also did not know that coreopsos was either indigenous to Africa and/or had a very similar "relation" called "biden"

Oh dear! Here am I, trying to rebuild the circulation to my poor brain by "darting sheep" and now I have a whole lot of bew "Facts" to absorb.!!

I did actually think coreopsis were yellow. Now I must remember that they are no longer called coreopsis but are cvalled Biden! I must and look it up. !!

See y9ou soon.

Christiane
AR80

Saturday 10th July 2010 6.54 BST

I hadn't known about bidens either until I checked on your Kenya reference. Kenya grows a lot of fruits and flowers for export to Europe. It would have been easy for a few of these plants to seed wild populations in the surrounding countryside.

So, you might have been right about a few coreopsis plants taking root in that country. Or, they were known as coreopsis when you were there, but have since become bidens to the scientific community. They have a common ancestor, so don't worry.

DEar Evangeline,

How are the "mopping-ip" operations going? I do hope well. I have written to kwtdave asking him to keep in touch. I would love to do it with you if you have the time.

sincerely,

~Christiane
AR80

Thursday 15th July, 2010 7.35 BST

Hi Paul,
i really think that I was very "distraite" last week. I have absolutely no recollection of posting this and never did look up bidens. which I am going to try and remember to do as soon as I close this to you. Hopefully I shall remember to look it up again.

Go well,

Christiane
AR80

Thursday 15th July, 2010 BST

They're cheerful and hardy flowers, and the bees love them.

Sorry I haven't replied sooner. It's been a very busy few months.

Hello, Christiane. Nice to meet you.

The final official word was that the work done in late August sealed the well. There have been murmurings about minor leaks. I'm not sure of the truth to the murmurings. More oil has been found farther inland in the marshes than had been hoped. The clean up operation is not mentioned much on the local news any more.

The moratorium on drilling in the gulf has choked the local economy. Fuel costs have increased. Gasoline is just about where it was right after hurricane Gustav. So, everything else has increased in price too. There is a lot of speculation that this moratorium is a politically motivated strategy rather than safety concern.

November and December were gobbled up by work. The preparing for year end, end of month, end of year and preparing for inventory while being under staffed for a couple of weeks sort of ate my holidays. Still haven't had my vacation for 2010. Inventory chewed up two weeks of January.

We have this new device for ordering, inventorying and more stuff we haven't figured out, yet. http://www.easytree.net/ Basically it's a palm computer (without phone) with a scanner that can read UPCs. It took a couple of weeks to figure it out then convince the boss to trust it. Another week to show him how to use it. Two days to inventory the store with it. The time it saved me manually entering data into spreadsheets was worth it.

Along with everyone else (and that's not often said in Lousiana), our winter has been colder overall than usual. We have had more days of cold and colder temperatures than we are used to. That being said, Today should reach 70F for a while with a sunny sky. It's 48F now. Then, we are expecting colder weather next week.

My nephew is doing well. His follow up Doctor visits have all been good news. He finished his course at MIT. Still in the Air Force.

Anybody want an opera singing ?

It's Mardi Gras season.

How have y'all been? I hear Justin Wilson when I type y'all... 'How y'all are?'.

I love hearing from you, Evangeline. Sorry about the overwork and cold weather. Boston is fast approaching a record snowfall for the winter, but the winter isn't even over yet. We have some snowbanks that are easily ten feet tall. Everyone here (myself included) had aching muscles from shovelling so much snow. I woke up yesterday morning finding that more than a foot of snow had fallen overnight, bringing the snow depth on the ground to three feet easily. I dragged my eight-foot ladder out from behind the sofa so I could put it against the side of my house and shovel some of the snow off the roof so the air intake in my smokestack wouldn't get blocked and turn the heat off. My neighbor just told me that the overhang over my front door is holding up too much snow. I'm baking a casserole now, but I'll probably go out later with the ladder and shovel and clear *that*.

I have about 150 opera CDs, so I can manage without a cat that sings opera, but it was kind of you to offer.