Last night, I found myself thumbing through the DVR trying to find stuff to watch, and I decided to watch an episode from the series “planet earth”, which is an HD series looking at the amazing spectacle that is our planet. I don’t usually watch those nature shows (even though they are extremely interesting), but when they are in HD, it is a must see; it is seriously and impressive sight to behold. The program I watched focused on forests, and I found myself captivated by the immense presence trees have in this world. It was amazing to me that most of the trees in the world live in the taiga and replenish most of the oxygen in the world. The taiga has more trees than all of the tropical rainforests combined. Wow. In fact, there were tons of things about trees and the environment that I learned that I had never heard before. The series takes you to places that most humans will never go; and to places where we may have never actually been. Amazing. It makes you realize just how large and amazing this planet truly is.
During the episode, they went on to talk about old trees, large trees, strange trees, etc, and I have to say, that I was fascinated. The oldest and largest trees in the world are right here in North America. The largest is a redwood tree called the General Sherman; which is the largest known organism in the world. Just saying that seems so amazing to me, something so large and amazing not only exists, but has done so for thousands of years. The oldest tree, named Methuselah, is a bristlecone pine tree, and is estimated to be over 4800 years old. That tree was alive a good 2500+ years before Christ. It was alive before the pyramids were built. And it is still alive today (just for reference, and because pictures are pretty, that’s a bristlecone pine pictured to the left… image from the internets, not me). That tree is a true testament of the amazing things this planet holds. It also represents the need for us to learn about our planet, and do everything we can to protect it. I was ultimately humbled by the program, and I am going to do my best to watch the rest of the series. I love learning new things, and doing it in HD is definitely a great way to do it. I highly recommend you see this series; it is amazing what we don’t know about the very world we live in, isn’t it?
Also, they are putting in the sewer connection today. I was awakened early this morning by a man pounding loudly on our back door. Our BACK door. I freaked a little, because I didn’t know he was coming, and if he is at the back door, that means he is inside our privacy fence, which stays locked. WTF?! So yeah, after I calmed down about him being in the back yard, I talk with him briefly about what they are going to do, and all I can say, is that I am SO GLAD James is out of town, because they will be digging a HUGE trench right through the middle of the back yard. This will effectively kill most of his prized grass… They are supposed to re-sod, though, so I hope they do that before he gets back. I can’t handle that melt down, because this is stressful for me too. I am just glad we don’t have to pay for anything. I hope that they are finished soon too, because they have to take part of the fence off, which means the back yard isn’t the enclosed dog area that we need anymore. I just need to take a few deep breaths… Ahhh.
Other than that, just enjoying a quiet Friday, and hoping that this weekend is fun filled. Hope everyone else is having an interesting day. Now I am going to upload some photos to flickr!
7 comments for “trees, HD, and our amazing planet”