January 30, 2024
I woke up in the middle of the night with sharp stomach cramps, peering over at the clock. It was 1:37 AM. I spent the next hour being sick in the restroom. I must have eaten something bad. Who’s running this place? I definitely want to speak with the house manager. After falling back asleep, I woke up at 6 AM, the latest I’ve slept in a while.
I felt better in the morning and had some coffee while I wrote for an hour. The dogs were feeling tired and slept while I worked. They were probably awake last night while I was sick.
After work, I took a long walk into the woods. On the central portion of the property, I found a new animal trail and followed it, spotting droppings from a rabbit, fox, and deer. The trail led me to a small tree that was being crushed by the top of a large pine that had broken off during our last storm. The little tree was still alive, but I thought the weight of the pine might kill it. That would be a shame. This little tree was special.
Working hard in the cold, I tried to dislodge the large pine. I walked it up off the surrounding trees, but it was too long to untangle. I would have to return with some equipment. In the meantime, I propped a large section of the tree against another pine, taking pressure off the little tree.
The small tree was special to me. A forest has its own ecosystem. The trees all compete for sunshine, which is reserved for only the tallest. Young trees lie in wait for old trees to die, and when they do, the younger trees shoot up toward the sunlight in the open canopy. However, some species of plants have learned a workaround to get to the sun.
Vines have adapted to the forest by using tall trees, climbing them like poles in order to reach the sunlight. They are not everywhere, but in the forest, you see several trees covered, if not smothered, in vines. Of these few trees, something special occurs in a select few. After the vine spirals up the tree, the tree continues to grow. After some time, the vine becomes too tight and seems to cut into the tree’s bark, but something else is taking place. The tree slowly, but steadily, expands its girth until it swallows the vine. After several years, the tree completely envelopes the vine, killing it. The tree, however, bulges where the vine once grew, creating a permanent scar. The mark gives the tree the appearance of being spiraled, as if someone twisted it while it was growing.
While I've seen a couple of dozen trees like this on the property, this small tree being crushed by the dead pine stood out with its nine or ten spirals. I’ll go back in the next few days to remove the pine and use it for firewood.
The air was damp and felt cold. I made my way to the pine grove to check the deer corn. There was still plenty left. After I arrived back home, I made a quick dinner, something easy on my stomach. Then, I practiced the guitar and read a new book I purchased. Robert Solpolsky wrote the book titled Determined. It examines the notion that free will does not exist, but goes a step further in describing how we can use this understanding to improve our society and social interactions. I’m looking forward to reading on this topic. I think most people believe we have the free will to make the choices we want in our life, but science has known for a while now that determinism is real. And because it is real, then we must accept that free will is likely a cognitive illusion. The truth ain’t always pretty, but it is the truth. I’ll take that over ignorance any day of the week.