Great Tumbleweed Migration

On the prairie west of Pueblo, the tumbleweeds are migrating.

Think nature-documentary film: "Onward they come, their destination unknown, driven by a force they cannot name. In twos, sixes, and twenties, large and small, the tumbleweeds march inexorably eastward across the savannah."

The wind was blowing the dogs' ears inside out, and a cloud of dust in the distance looked an awful lot like a grass fire, but was not.

(M.'s thought: "At least we have both dogs with us." My thought: "It's too far from my department's territory—unlikely that we would be called out.")

Fisher the maniacal Chesapeake galloped into the wind, propelled by jets of craziness from his butt — or whatever motivates him.

When he squatted to poop, tumbleweeds piled up against his legs.

Blog Stew in the Wind and Sun

¶ Yes, it has indeed been a windy year. But Jamison isn't bothered any more.

¶ The evolution of elephants.

¶ Britain's Daily Telegraph's take on environmental hurdles to large-scale solar-energy projects in the American Southwest.

I have been wondering about the value of such projects -- with the associated cost of transmission lines, etc. -- versus putting solar energy next to where it will be used, such as on the roofs of office buildings (all those acres of tar and gravel!).

¶ You can try this solar power esimator to see how residential solar power would pay off for you. For my house they showed a 21-year amortization on a system with an assumed 25-year life span. So four years of "free" power, and then I would have to start over again. Hmmmm