What's the BuZZZZZZZZ

Whew! It's been quite busy here at The Smiling Dog Perennial Farm. Snow has fallen, deer have been processed, and now it's time to harvest trees and assorted other accoutrement's for wreath designing. Most of the trees are Balsam, but we also cut Blue and White Spruce along with long needled White Pine.

The fellow in the photo is my CEO (Chief Entertainment Officer) and beloved husband of the Red Queen. They both have kept me pretty busy supervising and hunting for all types of novelties buried beneath the snow.

While harvesting trees we came upon a Bald Faced Hornet nest, snuggly secured in the top of a Balsam. These hornets are actually Dolichovespula maculata, really a wasp that belongs to the genus Vespa (no, not a scooter). The closest relative of the bald faced Hornet is called the Yellow Jacket. The male wasps are dead now(workers and drones) and only the queen survives the winter, hibernating behind tree bark or in a rotting log. The wasps are usually quite benign, unless of course you happen to bump or threaten their nest. They can sting multiple times and usually go for the face....best course of action...run like hell.

The Ever Darkening Sky Does Hold

a grip of chill, fast, sliding down
spineward to clutch at
unmistakable pasts.


How the dark does flow for the nether months,
until small white crystals pervade the still silent air.
Clouds perfect composites unleashing the flying and crackling
small insects of winter.

Crafted butterflies of the light, they float to ground and up again,
lacing trees with their dignified and final touch.

A. (2008)







My how a day at the lake can change a poodles outlook on life....Lake Superior, the largest of the Great Lakes and the world's largest freshwater lake by surface area (Lake Baikal in Russia is the largest lake by volume). It holds 10% of all the Earth's fresh water surface and produces the greatest lake effect snows on Earth with the lake effect extending from 20 to 30 miles inland. The average temperature for this lake is 40 degrees F and it rarely freezes over in winter.



This day was relatively quite, no wind, very dark, silent except for the punctuation of city life in the background. Until the snows come the landscape is bleak, but beautiful. The lake has a large impact upon the mind and the soul...it is a lake to be respected and has taken many, many lives.

The Beer Tree is Blooming!

Venerable Deer Hunters everywhere in this great state are now picking their beer trees along with their apples and sugar beets. Orange and camouflage is disappearing from the shelves and the ritual beards have begun to itch....just like fingers on a trigger. All different disciplines of work stops, young gents are free from the confines of public school. November 15 is soon approaching....hey where's my orange collar?

Dear, dear, how queer everything is today!

And yesterday everything went on just as usual. I wonder if I've been changed in the night? Let me think: Was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I'm not the same, the next question is : Who in the world am I? Ah, that's the great puzzle!

-Lewis Carrol,

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

The world of fractal mathematics....self-similar and infinitely detailed....what a wonderous definition of so many aspects of nature.... and truely ourselves! Benoit Mandelbrot's (born, Warsaw Poland) idea of mathematics can be sumed by his statement "I don't study books, I study nature." Fractals are now used in Pixar animation, cardiology, ongoing research for cancer, forest management, and many other disciplines in science that require a different look at math. While working for IBM he investigated a problem with transmitting computer information via telephone lines. After charting out the interference, he discovered that all the interference had the same pattern, no matter what time of day or length of duration. The pattern reminded him of the mathematical "monsters" he had studied at University. His interest in this occurence and his research has opened massive doors to the understanding of nature and items that aren't geometric. For informative interviews and how this all began visit www.PBS.org and click on Hunting the Hidden Dimension. So really....who in the world am I?