A Dozen Things Learned During 2015

To keep the mind sharp, it is said that we should learn something new every day.  At this age, much of what we ‘learn’ is something we have actually simply forgotten.  Other stuff we learn new is a shock.  Like me, you might ask yourself ‘how did I not know that?’  Especially if others seem totally familiar with a concept, word, or factoid, you may wonder ‘where was I?’

So here is a list of some of the random points I kept track of last year.  Some may be new, others forgotten (only my subconscious knows for sure).  You too may wonder where I was during these lessons.  If not, you will enjoy learning along with me.

 1.   Spiders do not like lemon.  And I do not like spiders.  Lemon juice sprayed around rocks, cervices or other hiding spots (especially outside) will stop their web work.  If you have an excessive number of the critters; it works fairly well, not great.  [Don’t bother telling me all the glorious work that spiders do.  I have heard it all before.  I get it. And I still don’t like them.]

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3.   There is an ice cream shop in Missoula MT called the Big Dipper that has CARDAMOM ice cream – and I learned that it might be my favorite EVER.

4.    The word ‘awful’ originally meant filled with awe.  We have not used it that way for hundreds of years.  I bet a lot of us missed this one.  Many of the ‘mistakes’ that are ‘pet peeves’ to us now have historically not always been mistakes.   Sometimes rules were accepted as correct when WE learned them, but not necessarily now, and perhaps not even previous to the time of our learning.  Supposedly the 1996 version of Webster’s Dictionary had 315 misspelled entries – now I wonder if any of them were ‘alternate’ spellings fluctuating over time. English is always changing – best to lighten up a bit.

5.    Pine trees don’t produce “fruit” every year.  It is thought that they do this to disrupt predators (seed eaters like squirrels and birds) from seeing ‘their’ tree as a food source to return to over and over.  This alternate blooming is the tree’s way of perpetuating their species with less interference.  They produce their fruit every 3-7 years.

6.    Why the word ‘Federalism’ is confusing.  If you read a lot you may often feel like the usage of this word is the opposite of what you believe.  Why?   Historically in the US, ‘Federalism’ referred to support of a strong central government.  The Federalist PARTY was one which supported a strong central government.   Anti-Federalists wanted a weaker central government and stronger localized powers.  All this is understandable.  But in modern times the ‘anti’ Federalist name has generally been shortened to the ‘Federalists,’ who are mostly concerned with states’ rights.  In my mind, the Federalists Papers (before the Bill of Rights) are not clearly on one side or the other.  However the modern ‘Federalist Society’ (born in the 1980s) is based on preserving the rights of states over a central government (so really the ORIGINAL anti-federalist position).  The Federalist Society (which boasts membership of at least 3 current Supreme Court Justices) seems to have firmly changed the title of ‘Federalist’ to be opposite the original definition.  So, good reason for confusion, wouldn’t you say?

7.    When we hold our breath in anticipation – it is not ‘baited’ as to catch the breath, but ‘bated’ as in abated or restrained (so in a state of restraining or ‘holding ‘ your breath).  No excuse for this, I was just asleep during that English class.

8.    Glacier National Park was established as a federal park in 1910.  However, the largest historic lodge in Glacier NP known as ‘Many Glacier Hotel’ was neither part of the US National Park Service nor the Roosevelt Work Progress Administration (WPA) program like many NP lodges.  ‘Many Glacier’ on the banks of the Swift-Current Lake was built by the Glacier Park Company congruent with the Great Northern Railway Co’s building of the railroad going west, and overseen by Louis Hill.  It was supposed to keep tourist ‘home at the American Switzerland’.
[As an addition to #8, I always thought that WPA was the Works Projects Administration. Beeeeeeppp.  Incorrect.]

9.    ‘Raceway’ can mean something other than a place like Lebanon Valley NY, which was close enough to where I grew up that weekenders could go car racing. The type of raceway that is new to me is a sort of canal or trough built to flow a current of water.  It can also be called a sluice, which is confusing since a ‘sluice box’ is different and used in mining to filter out things like gold.  The raceway or sluice was used for hundreds of years to direct water from other sources (like a pond) to a waterwheel.

10.   Why our local NPR station is called ‘Jefferson Public Radio’ while the three counties within air-transmission are Jackson, Josephine and Siskiyou.  The ‘State of Jefferson’ is a (relatively) fictional area between southern Oregon and northern California.  At one time, independent folks from these areas considered forming their own state and seceding from the two established ones.  Far enough from Sacramento and Salem as to feel never listened to, every Thursday secessionists blocked the roads and declared themselves a new state.  This went on for years, and the Jefferson state idea, and spirit, still has some vocal followers (minus the road blocks).

11.    Not everyone cries when they peel an onion, and some varieties are too mild to complain about.  However, peeling under water or while chewing gum during the chore will supposedly stop the tears.  If I decided to try either I would pick the gum; better that I irritate my jaws instead of my delicate sense of unwise water use.

12.    STARTING a blog is a lot of work, fairly difficult (for me at least).  But building readership seems an even greater challenge.  When readers share my posts with friends, family or others it boosts my energy to do the hard work.  So I thank you for the pieces you have shared, and all the more for any you pass along in the future.

This proves it.  We are not too old to learn.

Happy New Year everyone.
drB