Tuesday, December 22, 2020

Three Beautiful Things 12-21-20: Packages and Riley, The Luxury of Pizza, Managing Nature

 1.  The Roberts family met in Moscow for lunch and some gift exchanging today. Christy met a friend in CdA for lunch and she ran a few errands. I pitched in by hanging out at Carol and Paul's house until their UPS delivery arrived, put it safely in the house, and then went to Christy's house to leash up Riley and bring him over to stay with me until Christy returned home. Riley had about 5-10 minutes of being riled up when he first arrived and then settled into a long stretch of relaxation and mellowness -- he did, however, get pretty excited with Kathy Harper brought gifts by, but I was able to keep him from leaping excitedly on her! 

2. Some days, while reading, writing, cooking, or doing things around the house, I think about pizza and sometimes I consider having one delivered or picking one up at the Yoke's deli counter. I never do it, though. No good reason. Well, on Sunday, Christy told me she planned to pick up a pizza at Papa Murphy's and wondered if I'd like to have some of it. I calmly agreed, but inside I wasn't so calm. I was pumped. 

So, Christy brought home a Cowboy pizza, baked it, and I strolled over to her house, served myself three slices, came home, turned on the Zags game, and slowly ate the pizza and drank a couple Coke minis. 

I hadn't eaten pizza since July or August and it felt luxurious, almost like having my once or twice a year steak dinner (which, by the way, I missed out on this year by not going to the Wild Horse Casino in November). 

3. I didn't read a lot of Legacy of Conquest today, but was keenly interested in what I did read as Patricia Nelson Limerick delved into the relationship between humans and the world of nature out west. Western settlement and economic development in the West has been an ongoing conflict between humans working to bend nature to the will of development in farming, ranching, mining, logging, fishing, and other enterprises and the consequences of introducing these industries to open ranges, forest land, hills and mountains, waterways, and other natural areas. Limerick examines the efforts of humans to manage the natural world, whether managing forests, rangelands, farmlands,  rivers and streams, or hills and mountains through irrigation, pesticides, introducing non-native grasses and crops, and other means. 

I'll reserve further comment until I've read more of what Limerick explores in this highly contested and central plot line of the western history. 

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