Category Archives: Uncategorized

The Ebola Song

Turn on any news program these days and you’ll probably be exposed to high levels of irrational fear and paranoia of the Ebola virus. Never mind that the number of cases in North America is minuscule, or that you have a higher chance of being struck by lightning. Yes, it is an ongoing tragedy in several countries in West Africa (see image below), and the global medical community needs to continue efforts to stamp it out. But throughout North America the news industry should stick to a simple and effective message:

“Ebola is still a very low-risk proposition. If you want to do something effective about your health, get a flu shot.”

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Heat Transfusion

A few weeks ago, our good friend Andy Johnson emailed to ask whether we’d like to get a bunch of fresh New Mexico chiles. It sounded great, so last week when we met at the American Ornithologists’ Union meeting in Estes Park, Colorado, we transferred 40 lbs. in a large gunny sack from the trunk of Andy’s car onto my shoulder, and I marched off happily in the dark to put them in my room. All during the meeting my room smelled fantastic. I rotated them every day to keep them as fresh as I could, then packed them into a recycled box I found behind the dining hall and checked them as baggage for my return flight from Denver.

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Mystery at Bird Tree (a Tail Tale)

This morning under Bird Tree I found the remains of a grisly incident: the tail of a northern flying squirrel. There were no other clues. No tufts of fur, no blood—nothing in fact to indicate whether the whole animal met its demise or whether it only lost an appendage. Who did it? And is the victim still alive?

A northern flying squirrel tail. The evidence of the case.

A northern flying squirrel tail. The evidence of the case.

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Chicken Stinkum

When you don’t get a moose and you’re tired of salmon, there’s chicken. This recipe began as a quick way to whip up a tasty tortilla filling from leftover roast chicken. It has since grown into its own entity, and it’s a favorite.

Chicken Stinkum (a recipe from The Church of Chicken)
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 medium onion
1 jalapeño
5 chilpotles in adobo sauce
1/2 can of black beans
salt to taste
chile powder, or salsa as taste dictates
cheese if you’d like it
good tortillas

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Power to the People

We had a nice snowfall last weekend that ended in time to clear the driveway on Sunday afternoon. It was a good, 8-10 inch powder that had the skis rattling in the racks in anticipation. But a late warm front blew in mid-week and wreaked havoc in the Fairbanks area. On Wednesday morning I got up early to do some writing before having to give it up and go in to work. (It’s not possible to get any serious writing done at work, unfortunately.) Rose had gone in but had come back shortly afterwards—her trusty CRV’s defroster couldn’t keep her windshield free of ice. Although the temperature was in the teens, a very fine drizzle was falling and freezing on contact. It took me almost 20 minutes to chisel the incredibly hard accumulation off of my windshield, but the drizzle had turned to snow, so I had no trouble getting in with a clean windshield (though I kept the heat off and the window open to keep it cold and prevent any melt-and-stick). Not many people were in at work, and meetings were being cancelled. One of our dedicated staff described an hour-long commute on the way in, stopping often to manually clean the windshield. Yuck.

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