I went to the UMM Commencement ceremony today, sorta. I’m afraid I had to bail out before I died — it was being held outdoors, for the first time in a half dozen years, and the sun was blazing down, and I was expected to line up with other faculty an hour ahead of time for the processional, in the sun…and then we were going to march out to some shadeless folding chairs to sit for an hour and a half. Keep in mind we’re all wearing black robes. I decided I didn’t want to watch whole families collapsing with sunstroke, nor did I want to collapse myself.
I came home instead, and watched the colorful weeds commencing in my yard.
I think I’ll also take a nap this afternoon. Apparently the northern lights are going to be flaring some more tonight, and I want to get some better photos.
They’re only weeds if you don’t want them there.
Nice flowers. Years ago i collected a three color variants of the same species of violet (Viola sororia) that have flower colors that are reddish-purple, white, and white with blue centers. They have spread vigorously around my yard just like the common blue colored violet does. If anyone is traveling through Lyon county MN and wants some of these violets these i have plenty to share.
I once attended a commencement at the Air Force Academy in CO at the invitation of one of my former students.
The speaker was then-VP Joe Biden. I nearly passed out from the sun and the high altitude just before he spoke.
I did manage to listen and cheer for him while re-hydrating and cooling off at the medical tent.
Flowers.
Let’s upgrade them to super-flowers.
(Crossposted from the infinite thread)
“Scientists unlock key to breeding ‘carbon gobbling’ plants with a major appetite”
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-scientists-key-carbon-gobbling-major.html
Improving the efficiency of crops… Maybe you could make dandelions convert some of the extra biomass to ethanol?
Somewhere a Karen is pounding her keyboard about the state of your yard.
It does look lovely though. I’m sure the spiders appreciate the plethora of hiding spaces.
Do you have a gravel pit nearby?
You know, like the MAGA gravel pit of despair.
.https://youtube.com/watch?v=4qHgijlw-M0