Month: March 2004

I’ve been expecting to wake from a bad dream, but had no way to express it. Now I have something concrete to write about. My sister called with news of two deaths in the family. Well, actually, one was in the family, the other was practically family growing up in Cody.

My great-grandmother, Golda Stuehrenberg, was 97, and had nearly recovered from a perforated organ (spleen, I believe). Its quite rare among my friends to have 4 living grandparents, but I’ve even had great-grandparents in my life. Golda was always a rambunctious woman, which was evidently a trait passed down to her son (my grandpa) Stan, and his children. Recently, she’d even been dating a gentleman we’d nicknamed Fast Eddy because he drove a canary yellow El Camino with yellow wheels. It was cute as all hell. She’d been relatively healthy until just the last couple months, and I’m so glad that my wife had a chance to meet her last year. We also have a shockingly colorful afghan that was a graduation present. My cousins and I are under strict orders not to use it though.

The other death was B. F. “Pepper” Curry. I don’t recall the exact reason our families became friends, but Helen and Pepper often sat for us when my parents were away. Pepper had an imagination that outpaced that of ours as children, and was the most wonderful person to be around.

Pepper often took me fossil hunting in the dry lake beds around Cody and regaled me with stories of when he and Buffalo Bill used to “hunt Indians.” These stories were fake, and we knew it then, but they were still delightful. Part of what made them so great was that he himself wouldn’t hurt a fly.

The only toy gun I owned as a child was made from a broomstick and pine that Pepper fashioned for me; burying a .22 shell into the stock of authenticity. Pepper made all manner of wood boxes, toys, and puzzles, and loved to share them. He was always playful except when in the wood shop, when he was suddenly serious about safety. My baseball cards are still locked away in a wooden chest he made for me, the top decorated with hand-carved arrowheads.

Both Helen and Pepper’s health has been declining in recent years, and Pepper’s seems to have been worse. Hilary has been corresponding with Helen for some time, and said that Pepper would thank her every day for taking care of him.

Pepper was both like a grandfather and a child-hood friend. I learned so much from him and Helen, and their impact on us is immeasurable. My early exposure to natural history, woodworking and bluegrass were all basically his fault. Thank you.

Up and coming world power China has just amended its constitution allowing for a guarantee of human rights and protection of private property. Most of the chatter around this monumental change focus on the private property aspects. A single line; “The state respects and protects human rights” is simply stated and and seems far to inchoate to be serious. However, its a start, and it will allow for precedent to be set by lawmakers.

The cynic in me cringes at the private property part of the amendment, which seems ultimately self-serving to wealthier members of the party. Sadly, this amendment didn’t happen before Three Gorges, which displaced millions, and will ultimately be an exercise in waste and power-plant envy. One of my previous college professors feels that the Three Gorges will be the downfall of the current dynasty, much in the same way that other gigantic state investments have in the past. Ironically, the other two started with a G, but all I can remember is the Great Wall. The other escapes me.

Anyway, there’s a recent NG article on China’s progression to a market economy and the environmental toll that has and will be paid by both the Chinese, and people everywhere on the planet. Its good to see that the government at least recognizes the problem.

Though our country vehemently denies that there is global warming, and stifles any official reports that suggest it, the Pentagon released a paper that details a near worst case scenario for 2020 given global warming’s affects on the planet.

It really is a worst case scenario, because many biologists, geologists, chemists, nerds in other words, don’t expect a complete melting of the ice caps for several more decades. Seven years ago I saw a rendering of what coastlines would look like around the world if there was a maximum melt. The estimation at the time was for a 33 meter rise in sea level. This would be quite disruptive because so much of the world’s population lives so close to its shorelines. The changes in Europe were quite dramatic, with sea water filling up the major river valleys several hundred miles inland. This may be somewhat hard to visualize, so just think about Manhattan (3+ million people) being submerged. That’s a very small example of the potential disaster. Even a miniscule 1 meter rise would have startling affects.

I suppose that doesn’t concern some people because their ranch outside Crawford, Tx is sitting at 750′ above sea level. It may be self sufficient, but its not an island. I hope he’ll invite us to camp on his land.