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In the 1920’s physicists
discovered that electrons are not “things” until
they are observed. Because electrons are an
important part of atoms, and therefore an important
part of physical reality, this new idea was very
disturbing to a lot of people—including those who
made the discovery. But a lot of research since
then has confirmed this discovery. So as strange as
it seems, until an electron is observed its location
remains only a possibility.
I have been asked by many of
you if I will be writing this column again next
year. The best answer that I can give is
“Probably”. In other words, the probability is
high that I will be writing this column again next
year. But as with the unobserved electron, no one,
not even I, will know for sure until about the
first Thursday of March next spring.
Here’s what I can tell you
for sure.
I expect to be living a Charles Dickens life—“The
Tale of Two Cities” --for at least another year,
spending one to two weeks a month in western
Nebraska. I’m also finding that the landscape
environment in northern New Mexico is remarkably
similar to that of Wyobraska—and the region has a
thriving landscape profession. What that means is
that there are probably several columns worth of new
ideas to report on from Santa Fe that will work in
Wyobraska.
I am also sure that there
are plenty of columns left to write. When I began
writing these columns 13 years ago, I would have
thought that 300-400 1000 word columns would pretty
much cover everything that could be said about
gardening and landscaping in Wyobraska. But no,
that seems to have only scratched the surface. The
landscaping and ornamental horticulture professions
are experiencing change almost as rapidly as
information technology. That’s no small statement,
my current cell phone has more computing power than
the personal computer I used to write the first
column 13 years ago. I used to physically deliver
the columns to the Star Herald on a floppy
disk—anyone remember those.
Some topics that I would
probably enjoy writing about next year
are: sustainable landscape design and maintenance,
increasing biological diversity in human landscapes,
a world of interesting new plants thanks to some of
the same gene splicing techniques that are
transforming agriculture, to name a few.
The first snow flakes of the
2011-2012 winter season are falling as I write
this. It appears that most of the region will be
spared the arrival of winter for the foreseeable
future, though, with normal fall weather predicted
to return by the weekend. As has been my practice
for several years, this will be my last column for
this year. My thanks to all of you who take the
time to read it and to offer comments and helpful
suggestions.
My wife and I drove our
rented U-Haul truck into Scottsbluff on November 9,
1977. We were moving here from Lincoln. I
remember being somewhat surprised, as I started
meeting people in the community, that people who had
grown up here or lived here a long time, seemed to
no longer see the beauty of the natural setting in
which they lived, or appreciate the easy quality of
life in these smaller, but vibrant communities.
To live among such natural beauty and have the
uncomplicated life of a small town resident for over
30 years has been a privilege that I’m afraid I also
took for granted for much of the time I lived here.
The natural beauty of
Wyobraska and the easy quality of life here have
recently been very clear to see for me from the
distance of 540 miles. My wish for all of you is
that you don’t have to drive so far to see the
beauty of your home so clearly.
See you next spring,
probably.
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