Obsurban

Pastry ingredients make great art, although maybe not great food.

I have finally spotted my guardian angel:

And his/her wife/pet:

I had heard that Olympia had an artesian well, but never thought I’d stumble on it cutting through a parking lot to examine some monsters.  People were standing in line waiting to fill up their plastic jugs, young and old.  Next door was this inspired business:

Murals abound in Olympia, surviving selective demolition, such as this hillside horizon painting:

And of course, evidence of businesses that have shut down are all around, but even in their absence, the street scenes are far from lifeless.

It’s unclear whether these items are abandoned or if someone will return to use them. There were some tents that were not assembled, but the place seemed like a village that could awaken. How does one make it through a rainy Astoria winter on this drenched ground?

Larry Warnberg describes his S.C.A.T. (Solar Composting Advanced Toilet) as “a self-contained freestanding structure using inexpensive convenient organic materials such as peat moss or sawdust to promote effective composting. Earthworms provide mixing and aeration, eliminating the need for a rotating drum. A durable watertight plastic bin in the solar chamber has enough capacity for 4-6 persons in daily use. Easy access to the compost bin simplifies emptying at 6-12 month intervals, depending on loading.” It can be seen here:

Why do they put crescent moons on the outhouses anyway?

Check out his site http://www.solartoilet.com/ for information on his composting toilet design and http://potluckfarm.wordpress.com/ for information on his farm with Sandy Bradley in Raymond, Washington.

Why not compost human waste?  This article gives a current synopsis of current “extreme composting” projects, which take a little over a year to turn human feces into usable fertilizer.  Chicago ecologist Nancy Klehm’s projects produced zero detectable fecal bacteria in coliform tests.  Her work can be seen in this video as part of a Simparch “Clean Livin’” project at the Center for Land Use Interpretation (CLUI) in a Utah desert:

Oregon Field Guide episode – Invasive Species: The View from China

Dr. Chung-Hsin Chung pioneered the use of Spartina at the Institute of Spartina and Tidal land Development, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing, China, naming uses such as “tideland reclamation, coastal stabilization, partial control of siltation, countermeasure against disasters of sea level rise, soil amelioration, pollution control, animal fodder, green manure, fish feed, primary producer of detritus food webs, food additive, etc.” To view this article, enter: doi:10.1016/j.ecoleng.2005.09.012 into http://dx.doi.org/

Glyphosate and imazapyr are currently being sprayed on Willapa Bay, WA to eradicate Spartina grass by Washington state and the Nature Conservancy. Spartina is causing environmental change in a narrow intertidal zone on the mudflats, and may be affecting some species (although its harm on shorebirds, oysters, and clams remains in controversy). For a summary of the history of oystering and Spartina alterniflora in the Willapa Bay, see Larry Warnberg’s Letter to the Editor in the Seattle Press from May 31, 2000. Various treatments for eradicating Spartina, including pesticide use, have been also been used in San Francisco Bay.

The old downtown area of Birmingham, AL is famous for its art deco promenades, but has many hidden corners elegantly ornamented too.  This passage is a decorative pedestrian walkway, motorist tunnel, and overpass for trains. Feathers stacked like steps are rendered with graphic edges alongside unraveling, orderly flower parts.

Partially disassembled fishing boat near McClellanville, SC has been here for years.  It is visible from SC-17, going north from Charleston.  It no longer has any deck floor or hardware.  It is seated at the edge of a creek coming off the Intercoastal Waterway.