Snippets 3/2026

In terms of seasonal markers, the flowers of Shooting Stars (Primula clevelandii) are right up there with the first bird songs in early January from Oak Titmice. When the light from the first Shooting Star’s magenta petals strikes my retina, it creates an electrical zing that connects my brain to that flower and for several seconds, the world is intensely complete.

I read up on Shooting Stars and learned that they are buzz pollinated, something I had never heard of before. The pollen is not easily dislodged so a solitary-type bee clasps the flower and buzzes. This vibrates the flower and dislodges its pollen. According to Wikipedia, potatoes and tomatoes are also buzz pollinated.

We are moving
Alysia is accumulating orthopedic issues that make living on our homestead increasingly difficult and dangerous. Just climbing the four steps into our house is difficult for her. So we are in the process of moving to Chico, CA (70 miles away) where we will be close to Alysia’s family and the culture of a university. We are renting a small, first-floor, no stairs apartment in a +55 community. It’s a major shift from our dark at night, quiet, 13 acres woodland full of birds, squirrels, and unseen gray foxes. Over thirty years, we’ve responded to the land and the land has responded to us. We know we will miss it but we also go into the transition without regret (which is different from missing it), knowing it is necessary as our bodies transition.

Next school year, Alysia and I will drive up on Tuesdays to teach math to Chrysalis kids so we will sustain that connection.

Also, Alysia has been developing an on-line math tutoring service in case you know a child who would benefit from outstanding tutoring.
https://www.buildingunderstandinginmath.com/

Population Demographics
For several years, many op-ed pieces have lamented the United States’s falling birth rate, seeing it as a sign of the United States in decline. In the last couple of weeks, an in-depth analysis of US demographics made headlines. In case you missed it, they found that what was causing the falling birth rate was a significant birth rate decline in teen-age girls and single women.

I learned decades ago in an ecology course that there are two variables that influence the reproductive potential of a species. One, of course, is how many offspring a female has. But mathematically, the more powerful is the female’s age at first birth. Generation time. The shorter the generation time, the higher the reproductive potential of the species. So the falling birthrate among teenagers is overall a powerful lengthening of generation time.

The analysis also found that for those women who wanted children, most of them had achieved the number of children they wanted by the time they were forty. They had postponed children until they were professionally more secure but they were also still able to fulfill their maternal desires.

That is great news! both for the women and for the Earth. A gentle way to keep lowering our impact on ecosystems by assisting women to have fuller lives.

“The Family” in Pictures
Since this posting is snippets without a single topic, I’m going to throw in two images that have beguiled me for many years. One of my 8th graders brought in the civics textbook her grandmother had from the early fifties. This image was SO classic that I made a copy of it.

Just as classic was the accompanying text.
The American Home
A child is born. His parents provide him with warm clothes, good food, and a home in which to live. They give him love, security, and companionship. His mother teaches him to eat and to walk. She teaches him to live happily with other members of his family. As he grows up, his parents teach him to get along with his young playmates. They teach him how to perform tasks that boys of his own age should be able to do. The teach him to be honest, truthful, and dependable. In a totalitarian country, parents are forbidden to teach their children things which are disapproved by government leaders.”

I wonder what happens to the “her” child after she is born?

The moment I saw the second image from an eighties ad, I recalled the first image. The two make an interesting “compare and contrast.”

No Kings Rally – March 28th.
We’ll be there. Hope you will too!