Meeting Entropy

Recently made a visit to my father's farm to pick up some more of my stuff that has been sitting in a shed there since 1994. I haven't been back there since my father's funeral July 26, 2005. since I hadn't been out there in three years, i was relieved to find that at least my shed was still standing if nothing else. But upon opening the door I realized I had suffered a few invasions of members of the order of mammals Rodentia. Ordinarily I am friends with members of this particular family but at times they do test my patience. I forgive them their little indiscretions while gritting my teeth and cursing under my breath. Thankfully overall the damage wasn't too severe.

The above picture is off my grandfather Fredrick Arthur Carlson's homestead house. The tin roof is obviously a new addition, my Uncle put it on so at least the building would remain standing for a few more years.

River Valley ODDyssey

Today had been an interesting and eventful day. Finished the last bit of Tigers in the Snow by Matthiessen and Hornocker, then went on an expedition to the River Valley with my son, which is always a lot of fun for both of us.

Trying to give my long dormant bent toward Natural History full reign lately and instead of trying to push it to a dark corner in the back of my head Ihave started to take my first fumbling steps toward figuring out how to learn what I wish to know in my own way and see if it leads anywhere productive. Hence my recent predeliction for photographing and attempting to identify the local varieties of weeds that I have been seeing all my life without knowing their proper names, or in most cases, any name at all. I have also noticed a distinct absence in this area of the city of a lot of weeds that were common around our farm at Buck Lake, that I would have assumed would have at least a few representatives here in the city, the distance between not being great, and the climate and soil types for the most part the same. I imagine part of it is because of intensive spraying by the municipality of Edmonton. One of my favorites when I was young was Pastinaca sativa, or Wild Parsnip, which always looked very exotic with giant elephant ear like leaves and a thick hollow stem that combined to make for great fun when I felt like trouncing a mass of vegatation with a suitable stick. Aah, the simple pleasures of youth. Other favorites were Pineapple Weed, Matricaria discoidea, which I always thought looked cool and a carpet of this plant feels great on the toes and they smell good too. Pineapple Weed is related to Chamomile, Matricaria Recutita.

In any case, during our walk I was collecting and photographing various of these plants. The picking of which few would frown upon as they are scheduled weeds in Alberta. Plants I am not aware of the status of I'll simply photograph in situ. Found some interesting plants today that I am still trying to ascertain what they actually are.

Also got involved with my son playing in a rock pile and managed to shatter a piece of some variety of sandstone into a servicable cutting tool, the evidence being me slicing my thumb open pretty good leaving me bleeding pretty bad in the middle of nowhere, and my son still intent on having a picnic. So I grabbed a fistful of wild grass and wrapped it around my thumb as a makeshift tournequete while we sat for our picnic. We then returned to our rock smashing site, and I was again drawn to the same rocks which I have been finding a lot on our walks, and started smashing them again hoping to uncover something interesting. I ended up finding a couple of geodes, and was so intent on my discovery I backed into a bush which seemed to be the home of some very cantankerous bees which chased me around for a bit while my son sat and had a bit of a laugh. The bees called a halt to our geological expedition and we returned home.

Built a fence in the backyard to keep the dogs from a Peony we just transplanted, and had a quick chat with my uncle from Buck Lake where I was raised who I haven't spoken to for a couple of years and haven't seen since I was at my father's funeral. This phone call put me in much better spirits, I had been fearing the worst, but everyone was still doing well back home and I am heading out for a quick visit on Saturday to pick up some of my things that have been stored out there since I left home at eighteen for the big ol' city.

The item I am most excited about having home once more is a saddle that was made in 1867 in Kansas City that has passed down through a few hands in my family, once belonging to a cowboy named Johnny Wright from Texas, who gave it to my uncle Laurel Ives, a professional Rodeo Cowboy, who left with my father when he moved to California, and my father then gave to me a couple of years before he died. I'll rest a lot easier knowing it is with me, it is one of the few heirlooms I have I absolutely do not ever want to lose. It weighs half a ton so I hope I never have to hump it out of a burning building though.

The Joy of Weeds

Spent the day photographing and trying to classify various weeds. For fun. Yes, I know. Strange.

This is Common Hemp Nettle, Galeopsis Tetrahit, which I first was convinced was some kind of Mint. Which it is. Kind of. At least it's in the Mint family (Lamiaceae). Another burning question answered and my life is that much more complete.

Four Years Since Last Posting

Attempt number two at a consistent blog. This time I'm not going to worry so much about trying anything specific, I am just going to use this blog as a tool to get my brain rolling every day and clear out and untangle some of the various threads that are always rattling around aimlessly in my bean.

Today started with a random genealogical quest to discover something of the origins and ultimates fates of a CHARLES IVES who settled in Barbados in 1680. I was only aware of one Ives in Barbados, namely the aforementioned Charles, but it appears there were also a John, Peter, James and Urania, possibly all siblings or some variety of cousins to each other. If any Ives from Barbados end ups reading this send me a line...

So now I start poking around again and already I am reshuffling my previous assumptions. Barbados is divided into parishes, and we find Charles and Peter in St. Michael, John and James are in St. Philip, Urania in Christ Church. This makes it less likely they are all one family, though anything is possible. Christ Church borders on St. Michael's parish on the south so maybe Urania is connected to Charles and Peter. Saint Philip is on the south-east tip of Barbados, Christ Church parish borders it on the west.

Barbados come under English rule in 1625. I think out of all the areas that the British established plantations Barbados had the highest percentage of slaves versus free whites and so was became an unattractive destination for poor white emigrants, plus the climate and other factors contributed to a very high mortality rate for new arrivals. The majority of the white population on Barbados in the 1600s were either very wealthy planters, or the poor whites mostly indentured servants, the British small-holders being squeezed out by the large plantation estates and either emigrating to surrounding islands in the Caribbean, or to North and South Carolina, Panama, or British Guiana.

Next we Have a Richard Ives emigrating to Nevis, now with Saint Kitts, The Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis. 1620 beginning of English sovereignty. Beginning of settlement by British in 1628 by Anthony Hilton and 80 followers, plus another hundred from London. Richard Ives came to Nevis in 1654.

I'll return to these at a later date.

The rest of day has been spent reading Tigers in the Snow by Peter Mathiessen and Maurice Hornocker (Also heartily recommend Of Tigers and Men by Richard Ives - and any biographical information on this Richard would be appreciated). To me Peter Mathiessen and another naturalist friend of his Geroge B. Schaller have among the most interesting lives possible - roaming around the wilds of the world (or what is left of them) and observing animals. Any excuse to wander around Siberia, Mongolia or Central Asia is a good one I think. Even better if somebody funds you to do it.

Also procured a couple of the new editions of the Flashman Papers by George Macdonald Fraser and a couple more in Bernard Cornwell's Sharpe's series so overall a pretty good day.