We had pancakes this morning, so there is no granola update for you. But Monday, there will be a granola update. I’ll be sure to have plenty of things to update you with, in fact. Because I’ll have a good two, three days of opportunities to do things that can fill this space.
Today I worked outside a bit, and rode my bike downstairs for a bit and did some work upstairs for a bit. And that was it, really.
Also in the basement is where the plants are growing. I brought in eight plants when the weather turned. I put in two grow lights. Water them lightly every other day and mist them on the alternates. All of them are doing quite well.
Two of them are flowering. This guy, in fact, is doing better in the basement than he did all summer on the back step.
I wonder how many of them will need to be replanted in the spring. I wonder when I can take them back upstairs and outside. March, probably. Maybe April. Though the long-term forecasts are contributing to this unshakeable feeling that spring is just around the corner. Unshakeable. And entirely mistaken.
Let’s wrap up this week with some more beautiful underwater scenes from Cozumel. (Man, I want to go diving right now.)
Behold, this aquarium shot, which will soon be on the front page of the site.
I was able to sneak up on another boxfish.
And here’s a beautiful stoplight parrotfish.
We saw a little spread of coral nurseries. One of our divemasters was also a biologist, and we were talking with him about these sorts of cultivation efforts. Turns out they aren’t always easy. I think working on a program like this, or a seagrass restoration project would be a terrific vacation.
“Blue carbon” is the name for carbon captured by the world’s ocean and coastal ecosystems. Seagrass meadows play a massive part in this.
Often referred to as the ‘lungs of the sea,’ seagrasses are capable of capturing and storing large amounts of carbon from the atmosphere. And, although seagrass accounts for less than 1% of our ocean, seagrass is responsible for up to 11% of the carbon intake! In fact, oceanographers estimate seagrass can be up to 35 times more effective than rainforests in terms of carbon uptake and storage abilities.
Projects like these are wildly successful.
Coral reefs are complex and ancient habitats. They have been a feature of life on Earth for around 500 million years.
They are a critical component of life in the ocean. Often referred to as “rainforests of the sea,” coral reef ecosystems are one of the most biodiverse in the world.
Around 25% of all marine species rely on coral reefs, including sharks and sea turtles, crustaceans, and schooling fish.
And cute, shy little guys like this grunt live around the coral.
And my favorite fish swims around coral, too!
Have a great weekend. We’ll hear from the kitties, talk books, see more fish and much, much more.
