[ExI] Death Valley

[spike]

-----Original Message-----
From: extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces at lists.extropy.org] On Behalf
Of BillK
Sent: Tuesday, February 23, 2016 12:02 PM
To: Extropy Chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org>
Subject: [ExI] Death Valley

I wondered why Spike was camping in Death Valley???  :) I thought it was all
desert and bleached bones.......

<http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/23/science/death-valley-is-experiencing-a-co
lorful-superbloom.html>


BillK
_______________________________________________



Hi BillK, it is that way most of the time.  Once in a long while, conditions
are just right for what is happening now.  Here's a wild coincidence for
you.  I just happened to be passing thru Death Valley in March of 2005 on
the way to somewhere else.  It was a motorcycle trip where I went over
Carson and down 395 heading for Phoenix, decided to pass on thru while I was
that close.  I didn't even know at the time that it was super blooming, just
happened to catch it after being away for a long time.

Last fall my bride suggested going down there camping in the spring, and I
agreed having not been there in a decade.  She made the campground
reservations in about September, which were already filling up, before any
of the unusual conditions had happened.  Then... odd rainfall year, which in
Death Valley means you can measure some rainfall.  Go down there, flowers
all over, and nothing to compete with them.

I saw things this time I had never seen before, for when there is a rare
super bloom, a lot of unusual fauna (somehow) shows up with it, but they are
weird things.  The buggage this time was astonishing.  I saw beasts there I
hadn't seen before, beetles and such.  I don't know my beetles, especially
the really tiny ones.  Oh for a thousand lifetimes to learn them all.

spike