This weekend the lovely wife ran a 20k trail run right after everything melted and it rained. Needless to say, she got crazy muddy. So much so that her head got muddy, but that is a story best told by her and in another time. This is “me” time and not my wife’s. That being said, today’s topic is “Mud, dirt, soils, and earth.” This should be interesting since I work with a handful of geologists… is a group of geologists a “quarry” of geologists? If not, it should be, and in my head it is now.
Thanks this week go to StPierre, Tuesday (my wife), Chris Ring, and some other guy. Onto the questions!
1. Mud: When was the last time you sat in a mud puddle?
Intentionally in mud? hmmm… That will take me back a bit for mud and sitting. I was probably 10-ish… play in a water puddle? 7 years ago the boy (3 at the time) and I went to a local park in a downpour and we played in the rain for 30 minutes while other parents looked on aghast. That was magical… and very wet.
2. Water/Mud. Have you ever read Kurt Vonnegut’s “Cat’s Cradle?” There’s a wonderful story involving the nasty things that can happen to water, but most memorable for me was this particular prayer from a Bokanist. Bokanism being a made up religion for the story.
God made mud.
God got lonesome.
So God said to some of the mud, "Sit up!"
"See all I've made," said God, "the hills, the sea, the sky, the stars."
And I was some of the mud that got to sit up and look around.
Lucky me, lucky mud.
I, mud, sat up and saw what a nice job God had done.
Nice going, God.
Nobody but you could have done it, God! I certainly couldn't have.
I feel very unimportant compared to You.
The only way I can feel the least bit important is to
think of all the mud that didn't even get to sit up and look around.
I got so much, and most mud got so little.
Thank you for the honor!
Now mud lies down again and goes to sleep.
What memories for mud to have!
What interesting other kinds of sitting-up mud I met!
I loved everything I saw!
Good night.
I will go to heaven now.
I can hardly wait...
To find out for certain what my wampeter was...
And who was in my karass...
And all the good things our karass did for you.
Amen.
Never read it...
3. Fire. Have you ever known anyone to die in a house fire?
Nope. I know some people who watched House Party and House Party 2, and the second one of those was kind of like a small bit of dying.
4. Buried or cremated? I think I’d prefer to be cremated but only because I don’t want my death to further inconvenience anyone who may still be living. Coffins are expensive. embalming and all that funeral parlor show can be pricey too.
Cremated… you will cleanse the Earth of me with fire.
5. What was the last seed you planted?
I would have to say planting my seed in my wife which resulted in our daughter… too dirty? Dirt is the theme, baby!
6. What is the appeal of "mud runs"? Is it just an excuse for adults - who apparently don't like music festivals, happy hours, or amusement parks- to drink beer and yell loudly about how awesome life is?
It is definitely is an excuse for adults to get muddy in an acceptable manner. Other than playing in the mud with YOUR kids (not some random kids), finding a concert festival where it had rained, or doing some kind of ditch digging manual labor there is no other culturally appropriate way for an adult to get muddy, and some people intrinsically enjoy being muddy.
7. Have you heard about the growing trend for home funerals and burials? Supporters suggest that returning your body to the earth without all those toxic chemicals might be better for all involved. Your thoughts?
I think that is a great way to hide malfeasance… because the body decomposes readily and by the time the trial’s appeal is ready, the body is just gone… no evidence… no problem.
8. Difference between dirt and soil?
Soil is a kind of dirt where stuff can grow.
9. How many shoes have you lost in the mud?
None
10. Will you respect me less if I bail on the 50k if it's muddy out that weekend? Because, dude, I can't do 31 miles of that stuff.
I will not respect you any less if you do not do the crazy length trail run for your birthday celebration. 31 miles of that stuff is cra-cra.
11. Mudcakes??? No, MudPIES!!! Suck it once again cake eaters . . . C'mon you walked right into that one.
Cake is a stable foam, and mud cannot create that kind of foam structure. Mudpies are the only kind of baked dessert shaped confection that can be facsimiled by mud and water… well, maybe, mud flan... mmm mud flan
12. Better use of mud in an action flick - Rambo 2 or Predator?
Predator, by far.
13. I think all SUV's should have mudflaps, they are throwing some serious stones at my car, what do you think?
What kind of crappy roads are you driving behind and what kind of small skate sized roadster are you driving? Oh, yeah, I will answer a question with an incredulous question.
14. Best character on Truck mudflaps Yosemite Sam or Playmate Silhouettes?
Yosemite Sam, but it has to say “Back Off.”
15. Clayface -vs- Sandman who wins?
Clayface because Sandman always gets defeated by water… Clayface is not affected as much.
16. Loam… discuss.
Sand, Silt, and Clay? What is there to discuss? It is much like a mirepoix of dirt. It is a base for many kinds of classifications of soil.
17. So, have you ever had a mud bath or know someone who did?
Nope, I do know some people who have had mud masks, but no one who has just dunked themselves directly in a vat of mud.
18. So, earth is ground, dirt, soil, etc… but also our planet’s name. We (humanity, not me and my friends) named all the other planets in the solar system after Roman gods… what roman god/goddess should our planet have been named after?
The planet’s name should be Minerva, and I will accept no truck about this. Minerva is the goddess of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom are two of the overall things that humanity tends to strive toward and sometimes hits. Many times humanity misses knowledge and wisdom for some reason, but it is what we collectively strive for.
19. When someone is being sexual-ish, why are they considered “dirty?”
Because dirty is close to sweaty and sexytime sometimes causes sweaty. It is the transitive property.
20. Christina Aguilera's "Diirty" or Alice and Chains “Dirt?”
I am an Alice and Chains Dirt kind of guy. Yeah, they come to snuff the Rooster baby.
To recap:
Treadmills are evil
We hates them
We sure do hates them
It is much easier to run on a treadmill when you I am watching a mindless action movie
The past couple of runs I watched Jack Reacher
That movie is a perfectly useless and mindless action movie
I have tons of reading to do for my classes
Tons I say
It was a nice break, but breaktime is over
Now I have an hour and a half lecture to listen to
Six academic articles
And three assignments to do
My freetime has frittered away..
Yes, I know it is late.. shit's still got to get done
Have a great weekend everyone