Ten Things Learned in May

This month’s Learned List will be full of irrelevant photos. Not much was photogenic.

  1. Did you know that only 2% of the population takes the stairs when there is an elevator nearby? I learned this from Michael Easter, the author of The Comfort Crisis.
  2. The Mineral King Road repairs are in progress.
  3. I learned (again) that sometimes there are no answers; my viburnum snowball bush is dying for no apparent reason; I also learned that all the websites say the same things, which is a whole lotta nothin’. This is how it looked about 4 years ago (the white flowers on the left).
  4. I read The Comfort Crisis after hearing the author on a presentation called “America’s Labor Shortage”; one day after I finished it, Mike Rowe interviewed the author. I highly recommend this book.
  5. The author I am working with on the book about TB taught me two new words: “grok” and see #6. “Grok” is a verb that means “to understand profoundly through intuition or empathy.” 
  6. “Tyro” is a noun meaning “a beginner in learning something”.
  7. Milorganite is a slow release fertilizer that just might solve many of my gardening woes, along with something called “Nitro Humus”. Can’t wait to try them!
  8. The Frugal Girl mentioned having “titers drawn”: titers are blood draws to test for antibody levels  for immunity to things like measles, mumps, rubella, etc. If antibody levels are high enough, you can avoid unnecessary vaccines.
  9. Sometimes, a person needs to know when to say “When!” I have withdrawn from painting the murals at the big Catholic church until October; they may have to choose another muralist if they don’t want to wait. They contacted me last September, with the idea I would be finished by December of 2022. Perhaps I will be able to finish by December 2023, or perhaps a more hardy soul will be able to tackle this in the heat of summer. (Not this little gray duck.)
  10. I knew this, but you might find it helpful. A gopher snake resembles a rattlesnake. If you can see the head or the tail, you will see a gopher snake’s head isn’t diamond shaped nor does its tail have a rattle. But the patterns and colors on the body are awfully similar. This is a gopher snake. I have no photos of a ratttler. (Nope, don’t want any either). #10’s photo was gross. Here. Wash your eyes out with this.

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3 Comments

  1. 5. Did the author give the source/origin of the verb, “to grok?” Would you like to make this “Things I Learned in May” #11?

    It’s from the fiction novel “Strangers in a Strange Land” by Robert A. Heinlein. “Strange” is a good word to describe this book. But if you like Sci-Fi/Fantasy you may enjoy reading it.

    • NO to science fiction or fantasy. Big loud NO. But thank you for the reference. The word was so peculiar that I thought it was a typo.

      • When I read that book, I though, “That’s a strange, made-up word” but then it’s used often throughout the book so it made an impression. Do you grok?

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