A learned listen

The Biology of Desire
Why Addiction is Not a Disease

by Marc Lewis

I listened to this book and found it very thought-provoking. He reviews some of the historical research on addiction and treatments, showing how it doesn't really fit into  the disease model that the medical profession has tried to cram it into. Treating it as a medical condition is helpful in getting people into treatment, and sometimes helps with the insurance coverage. But in most ways, it just doesn't act like a disease. For one thing, a surprising percentage of people recover without treatment. For another, saying that changes in the brain observed in addicts "proves" the disease model--but the brain changes all the time, for all kind of reasons.  But he talks about a lot more.

Although highly technical and backed by a lifetime of research, the book is styled as a series of about six life histories told by various recovering addicts.  Although he notes several times why the word "recovering" is maybe not a good way to describe them.  He talks about prescription drug abuse, Heroin abuse, and alcohol, of course, but also takes a detour into anorexia, showing how it both does and doesn't match the same patterns as the others.

After presenting the first half of each life history, he steps aside to discuss topics demonstrated or discovered by the case. But he always returns to satisfy the reader with how it ended up.

Gardening in my Roots, return from spring warbler watching trip

There must have been a light frost while we were gone. In a light frost the plants on the south side of the garden are harmed but the others survive okay. And that is what I'm seeing now. The hot peppers, all planted at the southern end of the row, are dead at the tops and looking miserable. The sweet peppers at the northern end are fine. The purple hull peas are pretty much wiped out. I'll have replant them tomorrow.
And the buckwheat which is growing as a cover crop is mostly dead at the southernmost end; the rest is unchanged. I have no idea why that is. 

But nothing else looks hurt at all. It just all needs a lot of weeding.

My first crop.

Cool space stuff

 For We Are Many
Bobiverse #2
Dennis E Taylor


Very unusual. Bob is a clone...and a clone of a clone, and a clone of a clone of a clone. He--the original Bob--died some time back. But not before making a copy of himself with all his memories and personality traits. And then later, he (clone Bob) clones himself some more time. Or did they all start with the original copy?  I get confused.

But somehow this author manages to keep all that confusion and the space travel and the "guppy" units and stuff straight, and write a very entertaining story. I'm not sure if I can get through another one of the series, but I might try. Unfortunately I didn't start with volume 1--We Are Legion (We Are Bob)-- so that may explain why I felt a little lost at times. But I enjoyed it a whole lot all the same.

Failed to be funny, for sure

 How Not To Get Married: Confessions of a Wedding Photographer

by George Mahood


Mr. Mahood, what were you thinking? This book is 75% serious--and you're supposed to be a humor writer. I keep reading and reading, waiting for the joke at the end of the paragraph--and it's not there! This is seriously an advice book for expectant brides and husbands-to-be.

It could have been so funny, too!  I know he's capable of it. But that apparently wasn't the point, and I'm very disappointed. I'll keep reading it, though--I like all his other stuff and he does have a funny inserted here and there in the straight story.

Mammoth Visits Grandkids, Day 3 and return

Wednesday 3/23

Common Loon in breeding plumage!  Awesome. Also an osprey but that's not so unusual. The Loon should be heading north soon. It's a life bird for me although I suspect I've seen one before, at least once and probably more. But this is the first one in unmistakable breeding plumage. Cool.

 And below is the look again, with a gaggle of coots in the background.

We probably won't do much today. Take Molly for a walk; go to Lowe's; then go take the kids to the park.

This is an okay camping spot. Very spread out--if it were fully booked we'd have someone right in our face on one side--there's a pull-through site next door--but on the other side a big, delicious break. I suspect that's why I chose this site instead of the pull-through, but I don't remember. If the map didn't show type of site, then I would have automatically gravitated to the one at the end of a grouping.

There's a little sycamore tree next to us but other than that, it's very cleared out here. I can see the pieces of trees where they cut down a few along the lake's edge. My guess is that they died, from heat and exposure after the rest of the ground cover was removed.

But the one thing I like is all the empty space around. And lack of sticker-burrs in the grass--at least for now. I can walk the dogs a long way and not have to pass other campers. I'd prefer a few more trees but--

Cool! A small, striped tailed hawk with a white rump just glided down and disappeared past the bushes in the water. Cooper's or Sharp-shinned. Probably Coopers'.  Add that to the osprey and two kestrels I've seen, and that makes a nice assortment of hawks.

It sure seems like this would be a great place for some owls. But none seen or heard. The owls of open country don't occur this far south.

LATER We returned just after dark, having done our grandkid thing and picked up Food Court meals for ourselves and the others. Boston Market seems to work well for them--the boys like mashed potatoes, corn, and chicken; Elyanna likes the mac'n'cheese. I didn't like my Japanese "light" vegetables with steamed rice, but the vegetable egg roll was great. Ed did a Charley's cheesesteak and liked it very much.

 

Thursday 3/24

Done with it all and time to head home. Nothing interesting this morning--just a large Buteo in a tree by the water while we sat at the dump station, waiting for the tank to clean. Same old same trip home. It's over and spring camping season has begun.

Return time 3:45 which included an unusually slow fill-up at Love's in Burleson -- almost 20 minutes.

Mammoth Visiting Grandkids, Day 2

Tuesday 22 Mar 2022

My enthusiasm of the day before was much dimmed. A bad night's sleep will do that to you.

Our visit yesterday was...not good. But we've had worse. The baby is one and a half years old now, but when we came into the house she pitched a screaming fit that lasted for a half hour. She didn't show the reaction I'd expect, either--not like she was scared of us, but more like she was scared of us to the point of breakdown. It was weird and unexpected.

And the boys don't talk. I'll try harder today, I promise. Yesterday I was so freaked out by the girl's screaming, I basically ignored Ethan. Assuming he'd warm to us after a minute. But I should have realized he was trying to play with us and didn't know how. I suspect he vaguely remembers us--it's only been a few months, after all.

Thunderstorms came through in the night in scattered fits. I don't think our campsite got one drop of rain, but parts of Killeen sure did. And other parts did not. Weird, but hey--this is Texas. If only if only my garden got some!

And now it's fiercely windy. It was very awfully windy yesterday, but today it's much worse. A cluster of birds--coots and redheads, I guess--is hanging out across the lake, on the sheltered side. Yesterday I saw four pied-billed grebes and a Pelican. Plus two kestrels, some meadowlarks, grackels and such.  Some kind of long, slender shorebird. Sounded like a yellowlegs but I didn't see any yellow.

Some campground pics:

LATER
Molly and I had our long walk. The stopwatch said 1:10 or so, but I stopped it when I was chasing down a Bewick's Wren in the cedars. Not a golden-cheeked warbler, of course. It could have been...but it wasn't. The song was all wrong.

Funny thing, when we were off in the hills with a wind-break, it was pleasantly warm. I took off my hoodie a couple of times. But back at camp, the wind was blowing so hard that I couldn't close the Mammoth door. The weather app said 19mph but I could swear it was 30 at a constant speed. I guess we were in some sort of wind tunnel.

After that we went to visit and I got May to come up with a list of things she'd need to tide her over until Edward gets back. Which we still don't know when. "Sometime" in April.

Mammoth pays a short grandkid visit

 Monday 21 March 2022

Home to Dana Peak Park on Stillhouse Hollow Lake

Actual time 4:00
Stops: 7 minute pee shop in rest area; 22 minute gas stop at Love's--there was a long wait at the pumps, with many trucks in all lanes. They all appeared to be slow.

This is it. Then end of our long layoff and the start of the spring camping season. I didn't schedule anything for February or early March, thinking the weather would be so cold and miserable that we wouldn't want to go anywhere. Other than the same old places in central Texas we've been so many times.

That was dumb of me, because there are still plenty of places in Central Texas we haven't been. But I also wanted to get some work done in the garden, and I have.

But now it's spring...pretty much. As the lady on JRW said, it's a late spring in North Texas. That's because it's so bone-crunchingly, utterly dry.  Yesterday I finally saw my redbud tree starting to squeeze out a little faint pink. I've been giving sugar water to the bees because there aren't any flowers yet. I may put out one last cup before we leave.

Anyway, now it's the start. Roughly every two weeks from now until September we will be pulling up stakes and hauling out of here. 7-1/2 weeks out of 23. Mammoth will be carrying us along, except for the last trip when American Airlines will do the chore. I should be happy, and I am--
If only it would rain.

View out the window: