After clawing ant-farm routes through the bouillon cube of pollen that DC has been for over a week, a fresh rain has arrived to wash it away. Spring chicken soup for allergies.
Interesting piece on "All Things Considered" a few weeks ago about the city pollen problem being a result of a decision a decade ago to only plant male trees in the city to avoid having to sweep up seeds dropped by female trees. The rain not only brings hay-fever relief to us, but also works as a cold-shower for our arboreal brethren who remain partnerless (the straight ones anyway).
I heard that piece too, Steve, and I thought it was an interesting unintended consequence. Along those lines, I saw a show about birds the other day which showed how gas pipeline engineers were surprised to learn that the odorant added to natural gas attracted vultures to the rotting meat smell. This had the unintended consequence of allowing for the easy location of leaks by simply looking for the vultures circling over the pipeline.
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Interesting piece on "All Things Considered" a few weeks ago about the city pollen problem being a result of a decision a decade ago to only plant male trees in the city to avoid having to sweep up seeds dropped by female trees. The rain not only brings hay-fever relief to us, but also works as a cold-shower for our arboreal brethren who remain partnerless (the straight ones anyway).
Love your imagery, Helmut! Madam Mayo says "hola."
I heard that piece too, Steve, and I thought it was an interesting unintended consequence. Along those lines, I saw a show about birds the other day which showed how gas pipeline engineers were surprised to learn that the odorant added to natural gas attracted vultures to the rotting meat smell. This had the unintended consequence of allowing for the easy location of leaks by simply looking for the vultures circling over the pipeline.
DC planners.... We got your woods and your flowers and your aggressive male trees.
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