Duncan Golicher’s weblog

Apart from the bionicles Mickey’s big thing at the moment is star wars. He still wants to go to Hogwarts and be a wizard, rather than a Jedi, when he grows up but that may change.

Interestingly on my statistics list there was an recent thread about the Australian census. Apparently a large number of people answered “Jedi” to the official question on religion. The Australian authorities took a very dim view of this. The official document on the issue is a minor classic. Here are some highlights…..

“ABS has not issued warnings or threats to anyone

The ABS hasn’t threatened anyone. We have explained the reasons for the census question on religion and the possible impacts of people providing misleading answers to this question. In this way we hope to get the willing cooperation of people in filling out the census form accurately. We have been highly successful in this regard in past censuses.

ABS recognises that people have a wide range of belief systems

If your belief system is “Jedi” then answer as such on the census form. But if you would normally answer Anglican or Jewish or Buddhist or something else to the question “what is your religion?” and for the census you answer “Jedi” then this may impact on social services provision if enough people do the same.”

Recently a pair of white collared seed eaters (Sporophila torqeola) have been seen, but not yet photographed, feeding around the house. They are common in cattle pastures in the lowlands and seem to move up into the highlands in the summer.

A mass of Phyllophaga beatles below the light. Most are males, although a few find females and mate. Their larvae are serious crop pests in the region. 

Large nuumbers of gallina ciega or May bugs (Phyllophaga spp) are in the air at night following the first heavy rain. The males, and to a lesser extent females, are attracted to light. 

We have recently had quite a few scorpions visit the house. They like warmth and stones and so our patio suits them. The species found in our region don’t kill you, but they do sting worse than a bee. Fortunately you have to really annoy them to get them to attack.  

Today was “el día del niño” in Mexico. Mickey had already celebrated the event at school and didn’t go to any special parties (for a change!). But he did get the red Bionicle he had been wanting for the last month as a present. He’s getting very handy at putting his toys together and had the thing assembled in five minutes. I always end up with a piece left at the end. Adriana is feeling a lot more herself these days but the bulge is beginning to show and does make her feel very heavy and fat.

We spent the last week taking cuttings of everything we could find that looked remotely green in order to try to get enough plants together for the garden. One interesting fact that I never realized is that petunias root from cuttings! Apparently it’s done quite regularly here and the ones I started off last week look as if they will take. I suppose in Britain the season is too short to make it worth while. The first rains have come, but we still have to buy in water as not enough has fallen to fill the cistern. It is really clear that even though our growing season has now begun, things are not moving at anything like the daily rate that they would in Britain. We have not had to cut the grass for six weeks, although it is green enough looking.

Mexican news broadcasts were full of the sound of slipping cogs as everyone involved in the “desafuero” of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador frantically back peddled. A few, including the Procurador General de la Republica (attorney general) found themselves on a steep slope with no chance even of slamming on the brakes. Mexican politics under Fox had degenerated into a terrible mess of Machiavelian machinations and maneuvering. The point about politicking without policies is that you have to be really good at it to make it work. Machiaveli himself was full of contradictions. In “The Prince he states “It is necessary for a prince wishing to hold his own to know how to do wrong, and to make use of it or not according to necessity.” Later he says” When it is necessary for him to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause.”

Those in Britain who despair of the confrontational nature of British political journalism should see what happens when journalists are deferential. The day before the resignation of the attorney general his deputy was interviewed for a full hour on one of the more independent Mexican stations. He was allowed to get away with inanely pompous sounding repetitions of “the law is the law” when it was obvious to all concerned that his office had become untenable. I would have loved to have seen him try to hold his own for five minutes with Paxman. What is disconcerting here is that no-one forces public officials to say what they mean, or even help to interpret their statements in an unambiguous way. Fox’s declaration this week was “I will ensure that the case of Lopez-Obrador is reopened and studied in detail”. Well we all knew what that meant, but it would have been nice if he had actually told us.

Adriana has been feeling much more comfortable in the last few days. Mickey, as always, has been helping to keep us on track. He decided to play football with me when I got back from work today, which pleased Adriana no end. She thinks we both need all the exercise we can get. Mickey looked so good as a footballer in his bouncer when he was six months old, but he has somehow not built on this early promise. He really needs some coaching. Unfortunately all I know about it is that you have to keep your eye on the ball, which is hard when you play after dark. Mickey also insists on wellies to play football, which might explain his difficulties. They do tend to fly off in all directions when you aim a good kick.

The garden is beginning to look much better even though two of the most colourful (and expensive) plants in the new bed somehow got very badly trampled when the ball went out of play. We’ve promised to be more careful next time. Fortunately neither of us kick hard enough to break any windows, or we really would be in trouble.

Adriana and I were both disappointed to see the white smoke today, for various reasons. We had decided that the obvious way to run the conclave was as a big brother house. If they didn’t come to a swift conclusion under the old system it would have been nice to see the cardinals going with the current trend. More democratic and more entertaining. The smoke signals would have been an especially cool touch. Maybe next time.

The identity of the Pope might be irrelevant for most Europeans, but it is rather more important for us. We didn’t expect a liberal Pope (there were no candidates), but we did hope for someone with closer contacts with our part of the world an a better understanding of the challenges we face. A Latin American would have given hope and inspiration to so many.

My concern now is of course whether oposition to relativism will have any effect on Bayesian ecology. Hopefully such issues are unlikely to top the new man’s agenda!

Thank you to Grandpa and Granny Pat for new additions to the garden. We are slowly turning the wasteland that was left after the builders had finished into something more colourful. Making hanging baskets from petunias is a good quick fix, but we really want to get the flowering shrubs going this year. 

The good news this weekend is that there is no no news. The pregancy shows all the signs of settling down to normality, although Adriana still has a lot of discomfort (euphamism for nasty pains). The strain of the last few weeks has shown, but Mickey cheerfulness as always keeps us both on the strait and level. His only complaint is that Mummy won’t let him bounce on her tummy any more.

The lack of dramatic developments allows me to mention the other (local) news of the week. It is obviously (for all Mexicans) the “desafuero” of Manuel Lopez Obrador. For those who haven’t a clue what that’s all about, the short story is that the Mayor of Mexico city, who would almost certainly become the next Mexican president if he could run, has been barred from public office for building a road to a hospital by “illegally” expropriating land belonging to a very comfortably off citizen. Given the way government business is conducted in Mexico his crime is something akin to driving past a parked ambulance at over 30 mph (while competing in a formula one race). The country is now in severe political crisis. It was in a state of major political crisis a week ago. Two weeks ago we were in terminal political crisis. At that time it seemed that only the pope was in worse health than Mexican democracy.

While on the theme. Arafat, John Paul II, …….. Castro? He appeared on Mexican television this week reading from a script in a weak voice. O.K, he did read from his script for two hours (his record unscripted is apparently 6 hours 32 minutes) but maybe the writing is on the wall.

The garden is starting to look a bit more cheerful. 

We had put off telling Mickey about the pregancy because of the doubts surrounding it. We told him there might be a baby but you never can tell with babies. But just about half an hour ago he decided for himself, after overhearing various conversations and studying the matter, that there is definitely a baby in mummies’ tummy. He is very excited about it and has started listening to hear what noises the baby makes. He has even offered us a translation service as he assures us that he can still speak baby quite well and hasn’t forgotten. He wants to share his room and even his bed, so no signs of jealousy, just excitement.

Another view of the (nearly) finished kitchen. Those who saw it before the new carpentry was put in will realise why we are so happy with the change. We can be organised at last! 

The big news for us at the moment is clearly the pregnancy. A quick update. On the second of March Adriana went for a check as she had missed a period and felt very uncomfortable. The ultra sound scans showed two fertilised embryos, around four to five weeks old. Two weeks (17 March) later a rather confusing and poorly defined scan suggested that one of the embryos was no longer viable. This was confirmed (22 March) by a much clearer scan in Toluca using very sophisticated equipment. One of the embryos had definitely stopped developing and was being reabsorbed. The two sacs were clearly separate. the remaining foetus had a healthy heartbeat and appeared perfectly well formed. The prognosis was thus that despite this very worrying start, there would probably not be any serious consequences for the remaining foetus, providing that there was no rejection of the non viable foetus.

The latest check (6 April) showed that the remaining foetus seems to be continuing to develop normally and reabsorption is taking place slowly.

So.. those are the cold clinical details. How are we feeling? Confused, excited, worried, tired, sleepless but hopefull. Most days we feel optimistic that everything will turn out well, but there is a lot of inevitable stress and Adriana does feel physically drained. We´ll add more details as things progress and become clearer.

This photo was taken in Toluca over Easter. Mickey prepared well to take on all comers before heading off on the great egg hunt. 

This photograph shows a very typical state of the mixed pine oak forest at this time of year. The hawthorn bushes in the pastures are in full leaf. Pines are beginning the new season’s growth and in moister areas the oaks are in new leaf. Many still retain last years foliage. However oaks on the rockier karstic areas are still leafless, particularly at the top of a catena as can be seen here. 

This year forest fires have been rare.Some early spring rains have helped to lower risk. Nevertheless, as this photograph shows, fuel buid up in poorly managed (unmanaged) pine plantations do make some severe fires inevitable if ignition occurs. By April the highlands have experienced three months without any meaningful rainfall, and temperatures are now above 20°C for most of the day. Strong winds are not common, many days are virtually windless. Windspeeds of over 6m/second do occur at least twice a month. 

Another photo of a eastern bluebird. Bluebirds are very active in the open pasture areas at this time of year, usually in groups of 3-5 birds.

A female Vermilion Flycatcher (Pyrocephalus rubinus). Not as brightly coloured as the male, but still attractive. 

The Empidonax group of flycatchers are some of the hardest birds to identify to species. Much depends on a combination of small details, range and voice. All the signs suggest that this common small bird is the Pine Flycatcher Empidonax affinis. Again this picture was taken rather earlier in the year, but the species is still commonly seen feeding from perches aroubd 1-2m above the ground in our garden. 

The Vermilion Flycatcher is one of the most atractive small birds of open areas in the Highlands. This male was photgraphed in February, but the species can be seen throughtout the year feeding from perches on fence posts and shrubs.  

A bronzed or red eyed cowbird (Molothus aenus). Smaller than the much commoner sonate (Great tailed grackle). This is a brood parasite like the cuckoo. This individual was a member of a flock of six. They form much larger flocks in winter.  

Another view of the senecio. The shrub occasionally reaches a height of 4m, but is usually 1-2m high. It is shade intolerant and typical of road verges, lightly grazed pastures and other open areas. 

This is one of the commonest species of orchid in the highlands (I will check the name). It flowers all through the spring and summer, usually starting rather later than this. The orchid is usualy found as an epiphyte on old oak trees, but can be terrestrial. 

The senecio blooms are short lived.By early April the bushes have a scruffy look and are producing thousands of wind dispersed seeds. 

The kitchen looks a lot tidier now the alcoves have been turned into proper cupboards.