"Billions upon billions"...Carl Sagan
This is one of my favorite pictures of all time. It is The
Hubble Telescope’s deep field photo of the galaxies in our region of
Space-Time. I include it because the other night I was on my bodega roof and
caught the faint glow of our nearest neighboring galaxy, Andromeda. When I put
the field glasses on it, it was a sight to behold – 2.5 million years in the
past. Please note, these are galaxies (islands of stars orbiting a black hole
and separated by millions of light years from the next galaxy) and each
contains at least as many stars (suns) as The Milky Way. There are somewhere on
the order of two hundred billion of these in our “known” universe...and we are
the only life?? Over eight hundred extra-solar (outside our solar system)
planets have been discovered in the last decade. To think that life does not
exist “out there” is like thinking that evolution through natural selection is
a theory!
Well it just keeps getting greener. Tropical Storm Norman
passed close enough that we received another good amount of rain this year. I
am walking through 3-6” grass on the paths that have been stark desert for the
past four years that I have been here full time.
A small part of Norman
This is a minor squall just off the village but one that
gave us a fine, gentle rain for hours.
One of the things all the rain has brought out has been
millions of butterflies. I mentioned these in my last post. One of them is
actually a moth called The Black Witch. Here’s her pic, I had a “coven” of
eight of them in my bodega – super good luck!!
And lots of the insect called the Walking Stick.
Walking Stick
This one watched as I repaired a screen door outside. We carried on a very one sided conversation but informative nonetheless. This
is a male. Females are beautiful green and considerably larger.
I caught my first whiff of mountain air coming from the
highlands of Mexico and California. I woke up to it and could almost smell the pine
cones!
I have been reading Will Durant’s first volume (of ten) of
his “The Story of Civilization” literary epic. There is NO WAY that I could
over emphasize the grandeur of his work. The man was brilliant, absolutely
brilliant and though some of his archeology is dated, his analysis of the
development of the story is breath taking. I read it during my cocktail hour
which has now become my scholarly pursuit just before dinner - the book, not
the cocktail...delightful.
Now to get to something I really dislike doing but is
nevertheless necessary.
It is time for me to begin my fund raising for the 2013
whale season. This note is to ask you to help me in my effort to insure the
survival of the great whales of the eastern pacific. These are the same whales
many of you see returning each summer to the waters of California, Oregon,
Washington and Alaska for massive feeding and “communion”.
Some of you may be aware that the past eight years of my
work, supported 100% by private donations, has helped result in the strong
possibility that the cape region will be soon designated as a Marine Mammal
Protected Area. This is one of only four breeding/calving grounds in the entire
North Pacific Ocean and is the winter home for as many as 6-7,000 humpback
whales. We also have a substantial number of blue, fin and Bryde’s whales as
well as Orcas and a number of species of dolphin.
The MMPA will be only as effective as our continued
monitoring of these whale populations allows. I therefore ask you to donate
what you can to my efforts. Every dollar I receive goes to just one thing,
“boat time” (paid panga & pilot) in the field. I have never taken a dollar
of the donations for my time spent tracking and photo-identifying the whales.
The work has also generated an interaction with “The Whale
People” that I had not anticipated and that is now described in a book I have
written (THE OTHERS “The Whale People”, A Personal Journey of Discovery,
Transformation and Healing) that has been published by Balboa Press.
It is
available online at Barnes & Noble Bookstore, Amazon and Balboa Press (with
the best return to me). Though the book may generate some revenue it will be
miniscule and I therefore must continue to ask for donations at this time.
I also have an “Adopt a Whale” program whereby for a $50.00
donation, you will receive a photo of your whale (the identifying fluke shot),
a data sheet for that whale, an opportunity to name it and if I see it again
you will be updated. This makes a wonderful and valuable Christmas gift.
All donations can be made out to MioSah and sent to me C/O
Susan Janssen, 106 Canyon Dr., Ukiah, CA 95482
Donations are tax deductible and if you are adopting a whale
please indicate so in your letter and provide an e-mail address where I can
send the photo and data sheet.
Your donations have been instrumental in the success of our
work to protect these highly intelligent and delightful creatures. You know my
track record with this work, we are accomplishing what we set out to do –
insure the survival of “The Whale People”.
Thank You,
Urmas Kaldveer
And I leave you with this photo, our local area of the
galaxy. May we find knowledge and peace in it’s magnificence.
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