The Edge of the Wood – by John Messeder, Nemophilist & Ecological Storyteller

The 50-50 Rule

storm clouds and piece of rainbow over a split rail fence — *History is built on reminiscences.* **— John Messeder photo**

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We humans are amazingly optimistic creatures – mostly, I suspect, because we don’t allow ourselves to be concerned with things we are pretty sure we can’t do anything about. A friend from another life told me humans generally abide by what he called the Fifty-Fifty Rule:

“Anything that has been going on more than 50 years has been happening forever, and farther than 50 miles away never happened at all.”

To which I offer the corollary: “If it’s going to take longer than 50 years, it will never happen.”

Wendee went to Africa

Several years ago, I attended a conference of environmental science writers. I met some interesting people there, but being a new guy in the biz, we all were like ships passing on the open ocean. Among them was a young woman who went on to clean up the Anacostia River and along the way write three books, all of which I have in my library because their subjects snared me. Then she went off on a sailboat and …

Wendy Nicole and Joyce Orishaba **— Redemption Song Foundation photo**

The trails we leave behind

*In the glare of the noon sun the resident chuck wonders what yon humans are up to* **– John Messeder photo**

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Some folks are amazed that dinosaurs existed at all. Some say they never did. I am sometimes surprised not that dinosaurs are extinct, which implies that they once were alive, but that any of us currently walking, flying or crawling around on this whirling blob ever lasted long enough to leave evidence.

We’re more alike

Canada geese pair swimming with goslings swimming — Mom and Dad showing off the brood **— John Messeder photo**

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We humans have grown up thinking we’re something special, and we are.

On the other hand, we have recently discovered trees talk to each other through underground networks they establish with completely different species. They strategically turn their leaves to create shade for their offspring, and conserve water during droughts to keep their children from dehydrating.

Always something new

*Virginia Spring Beauties carpet the floor of the Couple Acre Wood.* **— John Messeder photo**

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There is so much to see on my wanders through the Couple Acre Wood that it seems I am often discovering new stuff. Logically, I suspect it was there yesterday, but I wasn’t looking for it yesterday.

But today I noticed the large patches of bright yellow and white daffodils really comprised myriad smaller clusters of the flowery heraldry.

Invasion of illegals

Not all the turkeys are in Washington, D.C. **— John Messeder photo**

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It’s fashionable among certain politicians and their supporters to blame, as a colleague recently wrote, “… Democrats, who bear the responsibility for the invasion of illegals.”

Alas, what short memories we have.

Rule of Law redefined

Well before the 2024 election, some observers thought Big Media, notably the New York Times and Washington Post, were actually trying to get Donald Trump elected. I went so far as to cancel both subscriptions, and a couple months later renewed because I thought it valuable to know what was happening

But Jeff Bezos has officially proclaimed the WaPo as a cheerleader for Trumpism — the NYT, not so officially, but as effectively.

Cost cutting? or cost shifting

Storm clouds gatheringat sunset — *Storm clouds are gathering over the countryside* **– John Messeder photo**

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Several years ago, I was reporting on a school board’s consideration of whether to build a new middle school.

“Now is the time to do it,” the school superintendent told the board. “The new school will put us over our debt limit and the state will make the payments.”

“The school will essentially be free,” he said

I asked him whether the taxpayers might consider where the state would get the money.

“Most people don’t think about that,” he said.

Forest intelligence awakening

Dark forest trees in silhouette — *The seemingly dark wood hides a panoply of magic tricks we are only beginning to recognize.* **— John Messeder photo**

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Wandering in the Couple Acre Wood at this time of year is to walk in anticipation, mindful that life soon will return rejuvenated from its resting sojourn in winter slumber. Each year I am surprised, like the first time I met a Shagbark hickory.

I had seen the name on street signs where the species had been removed to make room for houses, but never had I noticed a live Shagbark in its native habitat. And then there it was, looking as though no other name could possibly be attached. There are other hickories in the Couple Acre Wood but they all look the same to me. I’m working on that.

PA Senators vote on Trump Cabinet appointments

**John Fetterman**
United States Senator
https://www.fetterman.senate.gov/

**Dave McCormick**
United States Senator
https://www.mccormick.senate.gov/

Following is the list of confirmed (as of 2/21/25) members of President Trump’s Cabinet showing the votes of Pennsylvania’s two senators in the format Fetterman/McCormick.

This device insulates them from us

We’re all together whirling through space on a starry night – John Messeder photo

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Back in the day, in homes across our land, newspapers — those once-treasured carriers of life affirming information — were stuffed between the walls and rafters to ward off the assault of frigid winter winds.

Winter of a different sort has brought us a different insulation —that ubiquitous device that has migrated from our kitchen wall, generally one to a family, and multiplied on its way to our blue jeans’ back pockets, generally one to a person. With an R-rating somewhere around 7000, that ever-present piece of technology isolates all manner of intrusions from …

Cold is relative

*Spring is making a tentative foray and winter won’t surrender. We’re ready!* —John Messeder photo

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The temperature gauge at the edge of our flower garden claimed a balmy 50 F. From within our home, the 10 mph breeze sounded much colder.

The snow that has been hiding the grass for the past nearly two weeks is about gone. The TV weatherman said snow had been covering the ground for a record number of days. He neglected to point out that the snow piled up to the six-inch mark and stopped abruptly, and the bottom fell out of the thermometer.

Snow does not melt quickly when the mercury is below the 20 degree mark, though if today’s wind had occurred last week, more snow would have gone away earlier. But sublimation is another topic.

Snow ain’t what is used to be

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This week started with snow falling gently on the Couple Acre Wood. Outside my window, half-inch gray branches turned white, two inches and getting fatter.

The pup seemed not quite as confused as the first time he encountered snow. I watch him romp in the six-inch blanket, acting as though he’s not sure where it came from or why, occasionally looking back at me as though to ask, “what is this stuff?”

But it’s soft and he can smell the neighbor’s cats, so it’s all good.

The cost of the L.A. fires

*September 2020 smoke from California fires dims the afternoon sun over Middle Street, in Gettysburg, PA* (John Messeder photo)

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The fires in Los Angeles County make excellent television, with plenty of flames and smoke, burned hulls of homes with their former residents telling us through their tears how they’ve “lost everything.” Night after night of rerun videos of fire-fighting aircraft dropping water and chemicals on “hot spots” — a cool word some reporters repeat in reference to burned, burning and soon-to-be-burning homes, businesses and forests.

A HEAP of cold

Plowed snowbanks lead to an aged singlewide mobile home at the edge of a snow-covered field near a river. — AI-generated image by John Messeder

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A young woman of my earlier acquaintance lived with her two boys in a singlewide parked in an abandoned pasture. The field of weeds and young trees sat alongside a state highway where it paralleled a virtually unnoticed river flowing from the upper reaches of the rural county.

Alikeness

We are so much alike, Field mouse and me. Let’s be friends and play. *Photo by John Messeder*

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Among my youthful studies, I remember being admonished to avoid anthropomorphizing critters of the animal world. (Science teachers are paid more to use the long word than are folks who simply say it’s just a dog. Either way, they’re both wrong.

Bowie the dog-person proves the point. His anatomy is similar to a human. He, like me, is equipped with a nose, eyes, lungs, liver and legs. His core internal organs perform the same functions as their counterparts in my body, which is their own cause for wonderment.

Merry Christmas, y’all

Christmas morning, long ago. —John Messeder photo

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Oh! The weather outside is frightening — ly cold! In at least two of the past five years we have not even dragged the snowthrower out from under the pile of gardening equipment stored in the barn. But it’s Christmas Eve and there is a bluebird and a Carolina wren outside my window and Bowie the dog who thinks he’s human lies on the recliner behind me.

Thank you for your service

*So many opportunities and experiences lie just beyond the fences we build for ourselves.*

I wrote most of this a few days after Veterans Day, the Monday in November when we honor those of our citizens who have faced death in battle, many of them who have made “the ultimate sacrifice” to preserve our nation.

The guys who come in big trucks to disappear our household waste came at their usual hour, as they have every Monday in the time before, and likely well after, I’ve lived here.

A common language

*Not nearly as relaxed as he appears, Bowie awaits permission to chase.*

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Bowie, the four-legged dog in our family, would like to visit his friends, instead of looking out the window in their general direction, but most of them are trapped in their owners’ houses. As he is, much to his chagrin.

There are those who say dogs do not need social interaction. They are mistaken.