Engineers’ wonder glides me home.
Two wheels, pedals. … People Power!

O’er asphalted soil which was loam.
Engineers’ wonder glides me home.
Yields carefree living, worlds to roam.

Mine an orange and blue flower.

……

Engineers’ wonder glides me home.
Two wheels, pedals. … People Power!
*********************
pbm
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

And a little bird said:

“Why? don’t you humans practice what you preach?
… the Golden Rule … PEACE … Love … Humility.”

Why? We Developed This Book!

The sky is falling for some living things at various points in time in the universes and cosmos. This can be observed … through lens of the Hubble space telescope, at eye levels here on Earth, or in the use of micro & nano technologies. On the other hand, at all of these dimensions, in certain spatial/temporal sectors for some species complexes (ecological communities), life is good! Moreover, this dynamism, incongruity, dilemma, enigma, mystery of humanity, Nature1, and Eaarth1—which includes War and catastrophes as well as lovers’ love and beautiful harmonies–can be studied and to some extent understood via physics, chemistry, geology, paleontology, anthropology, sociology, and psychology and/or a combined application-process of all of these and other disciplines in a manner which profoundly and comprehensively focuses on life and living systems, i.e., biology and ecology.

Despite the enigmatic and dark, fearful mysteries, and probably because of them, we all love life. We might especially love life, for example, on a day in my place of residence, Clean (or Real) Seguin, Texas, U.S.A. when we have the grandkids over and it’s a cool fall day after a recent rain. Or when the birds are chirping … and we’re sipping on a caipirinha made with quality cachaça, partaking of some of cousin Gilda Colley’s crunchy, tasty strudel, and we’re listening to John Prine singing “You Got Gold” (or even “Some Humans Ain’t Human”).

We who collaborated in developing this book do love life … and especially children and grand children! But beyond offspring, life includes all species, and the authors seek quality life and healthy life systems for ALL, and for as long as possible. We are, as Edward O. Wilson proposes, … WE ARE holistically biophilic.

Furthermore–in order to realize this love and to have healthy, quality lives for all–we recognize the urgent need for: comprehensive, in-depth education or ecology across curricula and campuses of all human organizational entities. And the appropriate application of this knowledge will inevitably involve a process of: reducing growth of human and domestic animal numbers, a reduction of consumption and collective ecological footprints … and redistribution of power to powerless humans, and other species. Herein we are using the symbol of: 7 Ss /VV->^^1, and the phrase, positively ethical applied community ecology/PEACE, for this very appropriate journey.

There were four major collaborators on this Zine-book dealing with applied ecology. A significant force, Joaquina Guevara–a Gen-Next and the youngest involved, received her ecological ethos from her generalist and agitator of a mother, Laura Salazar, and from a boarding school and at the liberal arts school of Wesleyan University in the northeastern U.S. Laura, a Gen-X, whose mother was from Guanajuato, Mexico, became a woman of many ecological talents, including within the arts, in a hard-scrabble world in the barrios of Houston and San Antonio.

A key collaborator on this little book, paul bain martin, is convinced that if everyone in the world lived sharing lives of small ecological footprints, such as that of his parents, Luther Alton Martin & Lousie Katherine (Kneuper) Martin, the world would be relatively sustainable, and much better in terms of quality life for all. During his formative years, paul was raised by Alton and Louise, or rather Louise and Alton, in a family of eight on a five-acre diversified hog farm in a two-bedroom home. After Alton booted him out to sort of fly ecologically on his own … he earned degrees in (agricultural) entomology from Texas A&M and the University of Florida. He started adding to what he learned about applied ecology from Louise and Alton, Ms. Ruth Allen, Mrs. D. Marshall, and Henry Moss and others in the Devine, Texas and environs … with more academic learning facilitated and taught through direct guidance and/or books of R.L. Ridgway, E.J. Dyksterhuis, P.D. Lingren, D. Pimentel, Archie Carr, H.T. Odum, E. Farber, V. Smil, H. Haberl, and others. Later Miguel Angel Altieri, P. Sechrist, P. Maddox, D. Birkenfeld, Lupe Romero Ramsey, Rosa Lilliam Gomez Diaz, and Marvel Maddox helped push him into applied ecology efforts which involved advocacy and activism. Others who very significantly inspired paul have been Dr. Joseph Schaffner, E.O. Wilson, D. Suzuki, Wendell Berry, D. Orr, J. Diamond, W. Jackson, D. Worster, V. Prashad, F. Kirschenmannn, C. Miller, and J. Kiel. And recently Hilario Martinez, Susan Kinne, and Alphonso Rincon have been wonderful role models.2

However, it was paul’s wife Betsy, and his children, their spouses, and grandkids who have sacrificed most for paul. They have given him a major impetus in his efforts toward PEACE.

paul and Betsy’s lives began immediately after World War II in the baby boom of conventional capitalism and massive advertising propaganda, consumerism, and materialism. However, their parents, influenced greatly by the Great Depression and a simple rural ethic, were humble, cautious, and frugal, and demonstrated that life can be full of love, learning, and robust community interactions while being sabido, simple, small, slow, steadfast, sharing, sustainable. Moreover, Catholic schoolings, teachings, and preachings infused in paul and Betsy a desired lifestyle of the 7 Ss1. And the civil rights-, anti-War-, and holistic ecological health-movements of the 1960s and 70s expanded a personal desired ethos of empathizing and sharing with other humans and other species, i.e., an Ethic of Reciprocity1, or a holistic interpretation and realization of the Golden Rule.

Even though paul, in particular, has always had trouble articulating eco-literacy and eco-values (as is the case with most folk), he eventually began to passionately believe that rather than seeking individual and tribal power, money, stuff, glamor, and arrogant satisfaction, …

1. We need to fervently and massively work toward reducing the individual and collective ecological footprints1 of the Haves (perhaps 0.5-1 billion humans, ca. 2020) and living the 7 Ss. (Reduction should be from about 150,000-300,000 kilocalories1 used /capita/day to about 60,000, or a reduction of about 2/3rds. In acres the ecological footprint in the U.S.A. should be reduced from about 20 global-acres/capita to seven (7). … Also, growth of human and domesticated animal population numbers needs to be reduced.

2. The power over the natural resource base (top soil and quality air, quality water, photosynthesizers, biodiversity1, free available energy1) needs to be shared and shifted toward the 3 billion (ca. 2020) Have-nots, and especially to the 1 billion in extreme poverty, and to other species (Ethic of Reciprocity).

3. Major actions and progress toward a world of the 7 Ss would include:

• Realization of positively ethical applied community ecology-PEACE across curricula and campuses of all human organizational entities. (All parents/adults should be tasked with teaching their children/other kids … biology and PEACE.)

• Open borders (but with regulation and caution in realizing this in order to not have net harm to havenot humans and other species).

• Setting aside ½ of Eaarth (with a goal of it becoming Earth again) to Nature (Proposed by E.O. Wilson et al.; Wilson 2016 Half-Earth: Our Planet’s Fight for Life).

• Realizing appropriate applied agroecology1 (As proposed by Dr. M.A. Altieri et al.; Altieri 1989 Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable Agriculture).

• Having a significant (critical) mass of humans from everywhere who would go to war zones, and actively, but peaceably!!/non-violently!, protest against actions of War and the possession and use of armaments/weapons.

• Through legislation, regulations, protest, lobbying, and a dramatic change in buying habits, force corporations and other primary manufacturers, processors, and packaging to appropriately deal through holistic life cycle-, embodied human appropriated net primary productivity1– and emergy1– analysis, etc. with all negative externalities like pollution, trash, waste; loss of biodiversity; and resistance to antibiotics.

When we begin to propose the aforementioned ethos and actions to others, we almost immediately receive “a deer in the headlights”-, “You are crazy!”-, or “Yeeaaah. Right.”- look/response. These general responses come from close family and friends, “Progressives”, “Nazis”, Christians, Muslims, ignostics, capitalists, socialists, anarchists, etc., etc., i.e., almost everyone.

Herein, we are making another stab at articulating what is inevitably, logically, and ecologically, morally and ethically, necessary! We are hoping it might open up constructive and robust dialogue in community toward a goal of quality life for all.
……………………………………
Some years ago the non-profit organization, Ogallala Commons, had its first community intern, Angela Ludolph, in the Seguin area, and Angela wrote this in her portfolio for this internship (Something which is very relevant to the mission of this little book on applied ecology) :

“Sustainable agriculture, which should always be a community affair and involve community gardens, was addressed via the U.S. 1985 Farm Bill as LISA1, Low Input Sustainable Agriculture. That’s the way a conserving, resilient, sustainable agriculture has to be: An agriculture which puts the Precautionary Principle1 up front and is slow with respect to energy flux and transformation, and material flow, and that places women and a mothering instinct in the driver’s seat. Nevertheless, barriers to what is truly sustainable agriculture — and low input, and community, and gardening — were quickly set in place in the 1980s via controlling high-energy (fossil energy and fossil energy-dependent high-input “renewables”1), status quo interests.”

For the most part, the authors of this little applied ecology book do not think many of the currently in-vogue “sustainable” practices (or ones proposed to be “the answer”), such as biochar or application of sea weed solutions, or high input systems of photovoltaics, electric or smart-hybrid cars, hydroponics, conventional organic food production, urban agriculture, or other high input/throughput systems … are moving us much toward ecological community resilience & sustainability. On the other hand what makes more sense in terms of quality life for all are: planned controlled rotational grazing/browsing for appropriately utilizing native grassland/savanna systems (and even for utilizing and managing vegetation within forests and urban areas); local low-input production of appropriate types of vegetables, grains, herbs, and fruits, and domesticated animals as well as honey production; passive solar designs of buildings; lowering consumption by individuals and populations; low-input & -throughput-/appropriate-technology; and the development of small schools holistically integrated with the Land/Nature and with ecology across the curricula and campuses.

Moreover, if any of us are truly going to be of help as Elders–or Masters of anything, we must be first be generalists/master naturalists/positively ethical applied community ecologists. Our goal and process of conservation and development of sustainable ecological community should be primarily reliant on inputs from the local community and not dependent on grants, fossil/mined energy, and materials from outside (especially including plastics). As much as possible, the systems we develop as wise ones should be relatively closed with regard to energy flux and material flow, and should be mostly utilizing local solar energy received daily.

There are several major reasons that development of low input regeneration and conservation of resilient, sustainable ecological community is largely ignored in South Central Texas and other parts of the world:

1.Our socio-political/economic systems emphasize an artificially built environment, mechanization, and instant gratification, which results in destroying Nature and natural cycles and processes. They reward quantity over quality which results in an increasing accumulation of unnecessary material goods which are not conducive to healthy life for all (including other species). They do not reward ecological soundness and resilience. … Moreover, they do not adequately reward social justice and humaneness.

2. Our education systems do a very poor job in facilitating a development of knowledge of ecological principles and processes.

3.We do not critically think about:

• Why Nature and the natural, and sense of ecological community and place, are necessary;
• The fact that a high rate of local and global energy transformation is harmful to quality
life;
• What quality life means as individuals and in community (locally and globally, and including
other species); and
• How we will effect effective change toward sustainable community.

[Other barriers to a process of sustainability are discussed in: http://www.paulpeaceparables.com/2019/09/04/from-ecology-across-campuses-and-curricula-and-ecological-literacy-toward-sustainable-livelihoods-and-conservation-and-sustainable-community-revisting-by-siempre-sustai/ & http://bannedbookscafe.blogspot.com/2013/09/normal-0-false-false-false.html .]

Therefore, for these aforementioned reasons we do have much difficulty in sitting down at a common table and in beginning to effectively communicate about what quality life means and how we might go about realizing it, i.e., what our local and global community goals are and what are the objectives, action items, and assessment tools for realizing these.

Even though we the collaborators on this book do recognize that we haven’t personally done much of significance in our many years of life–and that we are all sinners, we also know we can do better … and that today is the proverbial first day of the rest of our lives. Therefore, we can do better and we can begin now. There is hope! Moreover, we strongly feel that efforts toward smaller schools and ecology across curricula/campuses is where all of us should be expending much of our energy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small_schools_movement http://www.ecoliteracy.org/change/greening-campus )

We know that for those who are broadly- and deeply-learned, experienced, moral, and ethical, … most of what is in this little book on applied ecology is obvious and is nothing new! In additional we know that for these wise Elders as well as those of us who are wet behind the ears and less learned and experienced, … worldwide peace is the goal.

Finally, collaborator paul martin heard from a Franciscan priest in his youth, and was impressed by, the following biblical quote: “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would thou wert cold or hot. But because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will begin to vomit thee out of my mouth.” paul and all of the collaborators on this little book DO NOT want anyone to be comfortable, complacent, entirely peaceful until all in the world have peace.

PEACE, or positively ethical applied community ecology, is an agitation process toward peace.
………………………………………..
1 See the Glossary. (The 7 Ss are living … Sabiamente/wisely, Simply, Slowly, Smally, Steadfastly, Sharingly, Sustainably.  Moreover, human populations and those of their domesticated species need to be regulated, especially consumption by the Haves with their power shared with havenots, including other species, with a goal of achieving true, holistic, and profound solidarity.)

2 There were also many others, e.g., Pope John the 23rd, M.L. King, Jr., Cesar Chavez, as well as
leaders/teachers/coaches in pbm’s home town Devine-Texas, … . We do wish that we could acknowledge and list them all.

We all must begin living sabiamente, simply,
smally, slowly SHARINGLY,
. . .SUSTAINABLY !

“To live, we must daily break the body and shed the blood of creation.
When we do this knowingly, lovingly, skillfully, reverently, it is a sacrament.
When we do it ignorantly, greedily, clumsily, destructively, it is a desecration.
In such desecration we condemn ourselves to spiritual and moral loneliness, and others to want.” Wendell Berry

……………………….
The key to following Berry’s sage advice for having holistic quality community life is through
humility and a very light ecological footprint, … and by being extremely cautious and tentative in
all policy and actions, EXCEPT in sharing with others. (These sorts of guidelines for a good life
for all, i.e., for resilient/sustainable community, have been an essential part of an ethical
and moral human ethos since Homo became sapiens.)

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

In the 1970s, ecologist David Pimentel introduced me to energetics of agricultural and world systems. Then while at the University of Florida, H.T. Odum piqued my interest. https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1815769.Food_Energy_and_Society https://www.resilience.org/stories/2005-01-01/prosperous-way-down/

Shortly after these interactions with Drs. Pimentel and Odum, I became aware of similar work (and comparable resultant conclusions) from Texan, Rice University graduate, and (later) world bank economist Herman Daly. More recently Vaclav Smil, Helmut Haberl and Timothy Morton among others have enriched the physical and socio-economic/ecological concepts my little mind attempts to handle (involving the second law of thermodynamics, overshoot, drawdown of the natural resource base, and disparity, and attempts at meeting these challenges) [ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]. http://dieoff.com/page88.htm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNV0xXy5oSg https://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319333243 https://orionmagazine.org/2018/09/four-questions-for-the-author-timothy-morton-being-ecological/

In a time with warranted concern over COVID-19, we need to have much more concern over limits to economic growth and the teaching, preaching, and politicking of ecocentrism versus anthropocentrism. I very much appreciated the article by John Cassidy in the February 10, 2020 issue of The New Yorker: “Steady State” https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/02/10/can-we-have-prosperity-without-growth and a subsequent letter to the editor from Peter Schulze of Austin College https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2020/03/09/letters-from-the-march-9-2020-issue …

“’The faster we produce and consume goods, the more we damage the environment’” … “economists haven’t grasped ‘the synergistic functioning of civilization and the biosphere,’ yet they ‘maintain a monopoly on supplying their physically impossible narratives of continuing growth that guide decisions made by national governments and companies.’”

“’People can flourish without endlessly accumulating more stuff. Another world is possible.’”

“… rather than chase ‘the growth mirage,’ governments should concentrate on specific measures with proven benefits, such as helping the poorest members of society get access to health care, education, and social advancement.”

“John Cassidy’s critique of continual economic growth brings welcome attention to a grave concern of many environmental scientists (“Steady State,” February 10th). He nicely describes the alternative economic approach referred to as “green growth,” which some people believe will allow us to “enjoy perpetual growth and prosperity while also reducing carbon emissions and our consumption of natural resources.” Unfortunately, it seems that green-growth enthusiasts have drunk a more diluted batch of the same Kool-Aid as people who think that conventional growth can go on indefinitely. Perhaps economic growth can be decoupled from carbon emissions, but we still need to deal with invasive species, desertification, and other insults to natural ecosystems. Clever new technologies can help, but efficiency gains are finite and can be overwhelmed when these technologies are scaled up. A longer-term solution may require the slowing, and the eventual reversal, of population growth, combined with a decrease in average individual consumption in richer countries. The latter change will require resisting common marketing tactics. But, once many of us do so, we will suffer less financial stress and will have more time for relationships, leisure, and other delights. After forty years as an ecologist, I believe that the transition to a less materialistic world would be a cakewalk compared with living on a planet with too little photosynthesis.”

[I don’t wish to misrepresent the ideas and proposals of good folk like Howard T. Odum and The Land Institute’s Wes Jackson, but I believe they would agree (or would have agreed in the case of deceased Dr. Odum) that redistribution overtime of humans toward a more labor-intensive agrarian system is preferable to “technologically-fixed“ urban systems.
https://www.resilience.org/stories/2005-01-01/prosperous-way-down/
https://centerforneweconomics.org/publications/call-for-a-revolution-in-agriculture/ ]

………………………

pbm 3/12/20

[ 7 Ss / VV-.^^ ]

Tuesday, I saw grocery cart after grocery cart after grocery cart after grocery cart …
of white plastic bags
roll out of HEB, Seguin, Texas.
(It was on a Tuesday,
but it could have been any day.)

GIVE IT UP!!!
………………………
Wait!

This humble, humbling attempt
at a work of art
for Creekside Poets
in this Lenten season
must be more upbeat.

Even as we enter
into the time of year
we Catholics were to give up even more meat
and to fast & abstain and to adore & pray and do penance,
and spend more time at Masses and Stations of the Cross …
Hell! … Let’s celebrate!

Let’s give it up
for the local, regional, state, national,
and international politicians and bureaucrats,
oftentimes in a limelight unasked for,
but truly attempting to sacrifice
for the Common Good.

Let’s give a robust and high peace sign
for the true Peacemakers.

Let’s really give it an up
for the teachers
who humbly learned along with us
and spent hours working
to help those in the middle, at the bottom, and even at the top
to learn to read and to write in a STEAM sort of way
what should be learned.

For teachers,
peacemakers,
politicians,
farmers and ranchers big and small
and farmworkers,
health care workers,
scientists,
journalists,
coders, IT specialists, programmers, systems analysts,
engineers,
builders and transporters,
bankers,
lawyers,
artists and entertainers, …
poets … ,
white collar workers
and blue,
past immigrants and new,
blacks, browns, yellows, pinks and blues.

Give them all a big ol’ up and healthy applause …
‘cause we ALL need it.
………………………….
And NOW we’ll work on ridding ourselves
of all this damn plastic!
…………………………..
http://www.paulpeaceparables.com/2018/09/06/a-sick-world-of-plastic/
******************************
pbm 2/26/20
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

 

In especially trying times …
durante la gran y larga sequía
en los Estados Unidos
en la década de 1950,
the terrible southwestern drought of the fifties …
it felt particularly satisfying
to drag my young
but experienced and leathery bare feet
through the warm deep Devine sand
while traversing my little niche
of south Texas savannah
to the wondrous Nature-made swing
in an old Mustang grape tangle …
and to sit in the sturdy U-shaped harness
and swing and contemplate,
unbothered by humankind.

While absorbing the sun
and sensing with all senses
some green grass pasture, wildflowers
and buzzing insects
and chirping birds—
even the sounds of wbawb—white!,
squirrels squirrelling and chattering above
in the canopy of the wise and sturdy old live oak,
and slow-hopping, and long-eared alert and speedy rabbits—
cottontails and jacks,
perhaps a stray chicken or guinea
and a cow or two …
while leisurely taking in all of this …
letting my thoughts glide and slide to where they wished,
sorting out my troubles
of this crazy human subset of symbioses

(like Brian Wilson in his room …

“There’s a place where I can go
and tell my secrets to
in my room
in my room” …

just a-swaying peacefully
in my naturally-secure
grapevine swing).

pbm 2/26/20
[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

Recycling mineral resources takes energy which in being produced and used causes pollution and environmental degradation (recycling-is-not-the-ultimate-answer principle).

To reduce resource waste and resource supply interruptions, get as much as possible of what we need locally, and dispose of or recycle wastes locally (principle of localism).

Stress the use of perpetual and renewable resources and use renewable resources no faster than they’re replenished by natural processes (principle of sustainable yield).

Everyone is downwind or downstream from everybody (principle of the global commons).

Organized or concentrated energy is high-quality energy that can be used to do things; disorganized or dilute energy is low-quality energy that is not very useful (principle of energy quality).

In any conversion of energy from one form to another, high-quality, useful energy is always degraded to lower-quality, less useful energy that can’t be recycled to give high-quality energy; we can’t break even in terms of energy quality (second law of energy or law of energy-quality degradation).

Everything runs on moderate- to high-quality energy, that can’t be recycled, so choose and use energy resources wisely (principle of energy use and flow).

Everything is connected to and intermingled with everything else; we are all in it together (second law of ecology, or principle of interrelatedness).

The earth’s life support systems can take a lot of stress and abuse, but there are limits (laws of limits).

No population can keep growing indefinitely (principle of carrying capacity).

Nature is not only more complex than we think but more complex that we can ever think (principle of complexity).

The market price of anything should include all present and future cost of any pollution, environmental degradation, or other harmful effects passed on to society and the environment (principle of internalizing all external costs).

The more things you own, the more you are owned by things (principle of overconsumption and thing tyranny).

Human population growth ultimately makes democracy and individualism impossible (principle of freedom erosion).

Don’t ever call yourself a conservative unless what you want to conserve is the earth (principle of true conservatism).

We are a part of nature (principle of oneness).

We are a valuable species, but are not superior to other species; all living beings, human and nonhuman, have the same inherent worth (principle of humility).

Every living species has a right to live, or at least struggle to live, simply because it exists; this right is not dependent on its actual or potential use to us (respect-for-nature principle).

Our role is to understand and work with the rest of nature, not conquer it (principle of cooperation).

It is wrong to treat people and other living things primarily as factors of production, whose value is expressed only in economic terms (economics-is-not-everything principle).

We have a right to protect ourselves against harmful and dangerous organisms but only when we cannot avoid being exposed to such organisms or safely escape from the situation; in protecting ourselves we should do the least possible harm to such organisms (principle of self-defense).

We have a right to kill other organisms to provide enough food for our survival and good health and to meet other basic survival and health needs, but we do not have such rights to meet nonbasic or frivolous wants (principle of survival).

When we alter nature to meet what we consider to be basic or nonbasic needs, we should choose the method that does the least possible harm to other living things; in minimizing harm it is in general worse to harm a species that an individual organism, and still worse to harm a biotic community (principle of minimum wrong).

We must leave the earth in as good a shape as we found it, if not better (rights-of-the-unborn principle).

No individual, corporation, or nation has a right to an ever-increasing share of the earth’s finite resources; don’t let need slide into greed (principle of enoughness).

To prevent excessive death of people and other species, people must prevent excessive births (birth-control-is-better-than-death-control principle).

Everything we are and have or will have ultimately comes from the sun and the earth; the earth can get along without us, but we can’t get along without the earth; an exhausted earth is an exhausted economy (respect-your-roots or earth—first principle).

To love, cherish, and understand the earth and yourself, take time to experience and sense the air, water, soil, plants, animals, bacteria, and other parts of the earth directly; learning about the earth indirectly from books, TV, images, and ideas is not enough (direct-experience-is the-best-teacher principle).

Learn about and love your local environment and live gently within that place; walk lightly on the earth (love-your-neighbor principle).
……………………………………………….
1 From a longer list in: Miller, G. Tyler, Jr. 1990. Resource Conservation and Management. Wadsworth Publishing Company. 

pbm

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]

Yes fifty years of one Quihi-Love.

Twenty-four and eighteen they meet on the Quihi dance floor.
The lighter wood was there.
The Johnny Hoffmann smile, a somewhat revealing blouse, alcohol, great music and smooth tight dancing …
Sparks ignited a bright enduring flame.

A young bull and a heifer with hormones flowing.

Or perhaps young dolphins? …
(Love in the warm Gulf waters off the amazing pristine white sands of St. George Island.)

Novel and adventure/getaways and service experiences kept the flame a burning …

Gainesville (Lake Alice), swimming the Ichetucknee, Apalachicola seafood festivals, Paynes Prairie, Devil’s Millhopper, Woody’s sandwiches, lots of canoeing on the lovely meandering rivers of north Florida, … .
The Coastal Plains Experiment Station and ABAC nursing, the birth of three bright Martins and arrivals of seven creative creatures from these.
Tent camping in “bucket of warm spit’s” state park, Unicoi, the Smokies, Oasis State Park, the majestic parks of the west, Big Bend, Santa Fe, Glacier, Yellowstone, Banff, Yellow Bear Canyon, Crazy Horse, … .
Falls along the Gorge, Mount Rainier, the Hoh, Palouse Falls.
Pike Place Market and the Russian Bakery across the way, the French Quarter (Beignets and coffee at Café du Monde), San Francisco, Montreal.
Grant Park Blues Festival.
At home in their South American world … Caminho das Índias, Caminho do Mar-Bahia, Ouro Preto, Trem do Pantanal, El Tren de la Muerte-Brasil to Bolivia, La Paz, strudel and pinhões in Gramado, churrascarias, Foz do Iguaçu
Barcelona, Portugal.
Classic Texas dance halls … Floore Country Store, Cheatam Street, Gruene Hall.
Two Tons of Steel, Raul Malo, Chris Knight, Charley Crockett, Jon Voight’s brother Chip, Randy Rogers, Buddy Miller, Jim Lauderdale, Joe Ely, Willie, and even the Doors after Jim.

And Rio. Amazing Rio!!! Even with its sores a beautiful place of mountains and beaches, comidas deliciosas, and beautiful people!

And RIO MEDINA!!!!!!

Adventures and love. But not always peaches and cream.

They also suffered … and learned.
Tough living in Pearsall … struggling with the green bean pickers stuck in muddy fields, fall armyworm-devastated popcorn, truck drivers arriving at all hours of the night, … .
Trying to earn a living on a 140-acre dryland farm near Stockdale.
Teaching high school science and community college evening classes at the air bases while taking six+ hours of night classes all in the same semester.

They sometimes fell off “The Way” and argued bitterly. But they learned.
The flame of lighter wood was still there. Strength and strong determination, stubbornness but willingness in each to learn.

Commonality and difference developed the love.

They both had German genes, were from rural Medina County, appreciated 40s/50s country music and 60s/70s rock & roll … and big-chunk barbeque.
They both studied and taught science and ecology.
Every other Saturday one semester, she attended the community ecology lab of migratory sea turtle pioneer-researcher, Archie Carr … OR local flora ID.

On the other hand they WERE from different ends of the county—much deep sandy soil vs. limestone-based, rocky loam.
Alton Martins were utilitarian and almost puritanical. Johnny Hoffmanns worked hard equally at work AND pleasure. Schott-Hoffmanns drank beer, ate lamb barbeque, and celebrated weekends, vacations, Holidays and birthdays too.

……………………………………

(With kids of two, four, and six years of age clinging tight, she scowlingly glared at the hairs on the floor of the common bath, the rain-water stained walls and crammed-in beds of our little room to which we’d arrived via train and horse-drawn cart in Corumba. “Only the best for my beautiful bride!” “Paul Martin, not one of your sister-in-laws would put up with this!!!” … “But it’s a bargain! $2.50 per night!” … “Yeah. Some bargain.”)

………………………………………..

He always had more of a socio-ecological chip on his shoulder.
His dream was to effect change.
She dreamed too. But she better understood we gotta learn to live with what we cannot change.

So she dreams what is pragmatic … doable. He shoots for the sky in his dreams and fervently believes they are pragmatic and doable. … Pragmatic actions. Idealism. … Dreaming. Doing what is practical.
They do work and play together … and separately. There is a deep love, and they (mostly) get along.

She accepted and even learned some of his Way.
Still … she’s always herself, and she does buck this hard-headed Alton Martin.

She mostly raised the three young uns all born in the Southeast amongst many southern pines. … But HE raised them too.
………………………………………….
They’re de facto grayer now, more wrinkled, heavier, and slower … and his knees ache.
The flame of the lighter wood is long gone but plenty of embers still glow on.

And tomorrow’s Valentine’s Day! paul’s in for an unbelievable treat!!

pbm 2020

[ 7 S’s / VV->^^ ]

“Rollin’ in my sweet baby’s arms
Rollin’ in my sweet baby’s arms
Lay around the shack
Till the mail train comes back
I’m rollin’ in my sweet baby’s arms”

Wish I’s rollin’ in sweet Earth’s arms
Just a rollin’ in sweet Earth’s arms
Gotta get off my back
Ain’t ’nuff good-railroad-track
Rollin’ in sweet Earth’s arms

Well … Beautiful spaaacious skies
Beautiful spaaacious skies
They were there
For the natives and the bear
Beautiful spaaacious skies

You think that this is your Land
But once, believe me, twas mine
“You pushed my nation
To the reservation”2
You stole all this Land such a crime

Don’t want amber waves of grain
No not those amber waves of grain
They’re imported you see
And killed man-y a tree
These damn amber waves of grain

Hey! …
Don’t you love … the warm sunshine
Frio water which really is so fine
South Texas clean air
Native grasses over there
Wish this truly was our sweet lair

Gotta reduce our ec’logical footprint
Remove that bad synthetic scent
Yes I’m telling you true
Or this Earth’ll be all through
Gotta reduce our ec’logical footprint

Artificial can be a terrible menace
In agreement with me is old Dennis
Cars, big homes should be banned
Do more with our legs and hands!
Artificial can be a terrible menace.

Living within our means
Living within our means
That does not mean
Brand-spanking new jeans
Living within our means

Well you ask what’s the ‘cautionary Principle
Well this is the best that I can do
Critically think
Or you’re thick as two short planks
That’s the ‘cautionary Rule

Social justice is the most important
Must all heed … the Golden Rule
But ecological sanity
Also good for humanity
Holistically … heed the Golden Rule

Yeah it really is a big disgrace
I’ll tell you right to your face
Unions are an ace
But Cit’ United a disgrace
I will tell you right to your face

Agin! …
Cit’ United just ain’t quite right
No! Cit’ United just ain’t quite right
Was all about
Lousy quests for more might
Cit’ United just ain’t quite right

He’s no statesman haaas no shame
No decency ne’er takes the blame
I’m so god-damned depressed
As you may well have guessed
Ugly America’s the name of his game

Winning without any ethics
Lying and brainwashing too
They really piss me off
Wanna dump ‘um in a pig trough
Winning without any ethics

It all has to do with complacency
Brought on by religions you see
Some propaganda to win
Even screw your next of kin
It’s mostly the gotdamn apathy

The only thing of wooorth you see
LBJ said it … to both you and me
Teach’, preach’, pooolitician
Is what you gotta be
The only thing of wooorth you see

Natural resources drawn doown an’ overshot
It really really makes me hot
[Global Climate Change]
Nevertheless
There’s one thing that is worse
Disparity is such a dreadful curse

We’ve all gotta share with all others
Leave some for the poor and forlorn
For the Palestinians over there
All the birds, butterflies and hare
Leave some for the poor and forlorn

Peace is what we must strive for
It’s that for which we do long
Pacifism!
Yes nonviolence!!
Got to be very, very strong

Hey! …
There’s one thing I have to tell you!
And tell ol’ Jack and Judy too
If this isn’t a hit
I don’t give a shit
Making War is rotten through and through.

No! …
I don’t care what they think about me
I really don’t give a damn
Got to try for PEACE3
Our lives are but on lease
Yeah I really don’t give a damn

Yeah! …
I’m not the best of examples
No I’m not a thing for you to be
Still I have to try
For PEACE3 or I will cry
Though I’m not the best of examples

Well! …
Ain’t going to hell or to heaven
Most of me’ not going to the sky
I’ll be down in the earth
Where I’ll wish you less dearth
Hope to be with some PEACE3 before I die

“Rollin’ in my sweet baby’s arms
Rollin’ in my sweet baby’s arms
Lay around the shack
Till the mail train comes back
I’m rollin’ in my sweet baby’s arms”

Wish I’s rollin’ in sweet Earth’s arms
Just a rollin’ in sweet Earth’s arms
Gotta get off my back
Ain’t ’nuff good-railroad-track
Rollin’ in sweet Earth’s arms

pbm 2/2/2020

[ 7 Ss / VV->^^ ]
………………………………………….
1 I was listening to Leon’s version of “Roll in My Sweet Baby’s Arms” on Mattson’s 92.1 New Braunfels on a Sunday afternoon on the way to Devine down 35 when much of this started rollin’ out. On this voyage (in our old pickup) to care for Mom for a couple of days, I frantically and dangerously scribbled and captured the essence of the verses on a note pad which was luckily in my suitcase in the adjacent seat. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BleiMA2TcFI
2 From Pete Seeger’s version of Woody’s “This Land Is Your Land”.
3 Positively Ethical Applied Community Ecology.