• birds: For the first time I can remember, two hummingbirds in an uncomfortable detente, sharing our front porch feeder. A third hovered in the distance, out by the daylilies. Why can’t we all just get along?
• paper of the day: For reasons that will eventually become clear – Holocene Vegetation in Chaco Canyon, by a very young Julio Betancourt. “Instead of climate, Anasazi fuel needs may explain the drastic reduction of pinyon and juniper after 1230 years ago.”
• reading: The Averaged American: Surveys, Citizens, and the Making of a Mass Public, by Sarah Igo. They survey us. They use the data to tell us about ourselves. We believe them.
• listening: Portrait in Jazz

update:

• word of the day: mesic – having a well-balanced supply of moisture