It's November 5th and I've been busy

On October 28th I witnessed Dr. Keegan signing PC's climate commitment, joining with other colleges and universities from every state in the US. Now PC is committed to implementing a carbon neutral plan within two years. I'm working with Alma Chong on assessing the college's carbon footprint. A data gathering email went out to all college employees/departments, asking for commuter info. We are looking at operations budget, utility bills, etc.

I looked over the college's tree survey data compiled by James Causton in June of 2007. I happen to know James and affectionately call him 'British James' . 308 trees,over 6" in diameter are included in his survey. The species are identified, whether they have health issues, structural issues, and how urgently or non-urgently attention is required.

I reviewed two software programs we could potentially use for the tree study, STRATUM and UFORE. STRATUM seems to be the best choice. We can input the data we already have and the program automatically calculates energy savings from less air conditioning needed because of cooling shade provided by trees, the sum of decreased CO2 in the air, how many other pollutants they pull out of the air, and the amount of reduced storm water runoff. This data will be useful in the college's carbon footprint evaluation I'm working on.

I went to Curtis Beuis's lecture, Putting the 'culture' back in Agriculture. It made me feel sick and angry to hear more about the big corporate seed mongers such as Monsanto, who are buying up rights to seeds and forcing farmer's into growing GMO hybrid crops and how we are loosing genetic diversity which could cause massive crop losses and shortages.

I'm writing a research paper in biology on Human Blood because I'm interested in knowing more about the Rh- factor. I was a 'blue baby' way back before they knew what they know today and needed a complete blood transfusion at birth.

I'm working on an English assignment that requires I interview someone. I'm interviewing Nash Huber. I want to ask him how environmental policies effect the work he is doing. What about land use laws, immigration labour laws, what is he doing genetically with crops, what does he have to say about farm to school lunch programs, compostable produce waste reduction, farmer's market, etc.

Still tracking my illusive 'crypto' cat

I been back up there a few times. I ran in to a landowner who advised me to get some bear mace as my little dogie friend, Luna, is no match for the cougars. So with all the scat sign I am leery and have been sticking to Deer Park Road.

Yesterday I was stopped catching my breath when a car came down the hill. The couple stopped and asked if I knew Burnt Mountain. Yes. I hike and bike it. I told them about the cats.

They live on property up Lost Mountain and see bobcats all the time. He had an amazing story! He's seen a cat that is not a cougar and is big for a bobcat (40 pounds) and HAS NO TAIL!, which he says is strange because the bob tail is prominent on a bobcat.

Unidentifiable wildlife spotting

I've been living at Frog Creek Farm, about 5 miles up Deer Park Road for about 5 years. I've spent countless hours hiking in the hills near by. Three months ago while hiking with the dogs we ran into some kind of cat on the trail, about 20-25 pounds, dark copper and black mottled coat, small ears laid flat against the head, lean, long legged,built like a cheeta and the tail? I wasn't sure.

I googled wild cats of the area. One picture of a young couger sort of came close, but that's if it had a tail. So I thought it must have been a young cougar.

Today I had an amazing encounter while biking in the same area. There were two of them !!, mother and youngster. She was the same size as when I saw her last and the young one was the size of a large house cat. They were 20 yards ahead of me. They ran down the trail ahead of me, in full view, for 20 yards before jumping into the woods. Definately only the smallest nub of a tail. It's not a cougar. She's mature, is a mother,not big enough to be a cougar, and neither of them have a tail.

Again, I googled. The closest picture I can find that resembles this cat is the one above, Cryptomundo-a black Lynx rufus that was spotted in Florida.

What species is this cat? A ferrel (sp?) tailess house cat?