THE DALAI LAMA'S CAT & MONARCHS

Sometimes life slows down like a frame on a piece of film and is captured in time, like the other day when I was riding the train up to Santa Barbara to visit my daughter Torrey and her husband Trevor, to see the annual migration of the Monarch Butterflies.
 Sitting on the train, the shadows of the trees, and the mesmerizing ocean views couldn't keep me from reading the next chapter about the Dalai Lama's Cat and the Art of Purring.

Me a dog person, reading about fur ball cats, go figure! I will have to say this one of the most enlightening books on self awareness I have ever read. Just coming back from Nepal and the Eastern philosophies of life, this perspective on happiness as we understand it, gathered me from the inside.
Even if u are not a cat person, I highly recommend this book and it's clever perspective on what it would be like to be the Dalai Lama's cat. And ask yourself the question- What makes you purr? Title: "The Dalai Lama's Cat and the Art of Purring", by David Michie. http://www.amazon.com/The-Dalai-Lamas-Cat-Purring/dp/1401943276/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1389850796&sr=8-1&keywords=dali+lama+cat+and+the+art+of+purring
PS U CAN QUICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE IT
MONARCH BUTTERFLIES, according to Gilbert, the local Nuclear physicist turned butterfly docent, Monarchs fly thousands of miles

GILBERT'S SIGN

down from the Northwest on their annual journey to Santa Barbara, to winter and beat the cold. Then on their journey back they look for milkweed to lay their eggs so the young can feed on them once they hatch.  Gilbert made this poster board sign and discussed how there are 2 populations one on the west of the Rockies and one on the the East side. Both populations fly north for the summer months and then head south following the ancient milkweed paths set up by the retreating glaciers. The ones east of the Rockies make it all the way down to Central Mexico, whose habitat is now endangered because of logging.

GATHER FOR PROTECTION LIKE SHINGLES
ON A ROOF

These fragile little insects fly thousands of miles and somehow manage to find the same tiny little forest overlooking a cliff 1 mile north of UCSB, and practically on the same tree. Simply amazing how do they do this?  magnetic fields, smell, nobody knows for sure.

SCATTERED IN BUNCHES THROUGHOUT THE TREE

One thing Gilbert did say is the overall populations of these magnificent migrating Monarchs is dwindling and they don't know why. He had several guesses: 1. insects sold at nurseries that eat the larva, 2. Insecticides/ and GMO plants where you can spray any kind of pesticide/insecticide on your produce and it only kills the weeds--maybe that's why European governments have banned GMO products. 3. Climate Change- with drought conditions limiting eucalyptus groves. Here is a link with great graphs that discusses the 90% decline of Western Monarchs over the pass 15 years in some areas: http://www.xerces.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/western-monarchs-factsheet.pdf.  So let's eat fresh organic food that is grown locally.

90% DECLINE IN POPULATIONS IN SOME AREAS

FUTURE PROFESSOR TORREY

PROUD FATHER: Of course I am proud of both of my daughters- Heather is now teaching kindergarten up in Seattle. Torrey is finishing up her PhD in 3 years up at UCSB in Education with emphasis on Educational Technology, she just accepted an Assistant Professorship with tenure tracking at the U of Mass Amherst. Yahooo! Looks like a great opportunity she will be teaching 2 classes in the Master's program starting in the fall, here is a link to their program:http://www.umass.edu/education/departments/tecs/learning-media-tech
Guess I better start making arrangements to explore New England- Go Patriots!!
CLIMATE CHANGE: It has been 30 years since I took my climate change class at UCSD, and amazingly most of the predictions have come true. Now with more precise instruments and super, super computers, data is pouring in, the scenarios are looking pretty serious and will need to be addressed. The National Geographic, September 2012 issue- "What's up with our Weather" has some interesting numbers: a 4% average worldwide rise in water vapor in the air column--what that means is, as the atmosphere warms up it gets wetter, therefore increasing chances of heavy rains, heat waves and extreme weather--look at the Australia Tennis Open taking place right now in Melbourne--Jan.16th- 2014, with 105F and 109F degree heat, players are being carted off the courts from heat exhaustion. Plus since the 1980s the summer ice in the Arctic has dropped 40%, and the air above the arctic has risen 3.6-9 degree F. And now the new evidence is pointing that this will alter (stall) the polar jet streams---let's see last week back east.
Anyway, let's do what we can: car pool, buy hybrid cars when possible, bike, bring our bags to the store, and oh yeah, pray that our politicians will wake up some day, maybe when Florida is gone.