About random things…

…June 4, which just so happens to be my birthday, is also the date when one of the most amazing accomplishments in sports came to an end. On that day, in 1987, Edwin Moses clipped the final hurdle in his 400-meter race and fellow American Danny Harris crossed the finish line just ahead of him.  Moses had won 122 straight races over almost 10 years.

…According to nature writer Pieter van Dokkum, there are something like 5,500 species of dragonflies and damsel flies and about 450 of those inhabit the U.S. He goes on to say that dragonflies are incredibly efficient and accomplished predators, grabbing their prey out of the air with an accuracy rate estimated at 95 percent.

…Mount Eisenhower in New Hampshire’s Presidential Range is considered a ‘moderate’ hike at an elevation of 4,760 feet. Certainly it’s a mere tadpole when compared to its taller cousins, Mounts Washington (6,288), Adams (5,799) and Jefferson (5,712). However, on ascending to the summit recently, I heard someone say that the wind chill factor was 15 degrees. And it was almost the end of May!

…Beware the cow! On one of the NPR weekend shows, it was noted that more people have been killed in cow-related accidents in the past 10 years than by sharks. In fact, something like three times as many. I‘ve got to research this.

…I watched this friend of mine secure a chest of drawers to the roof rack on his car with ropes and knots tied quickly and surely. ‘When you’re a mountaineer,” he said, “knots are everything.” He went on to say that back when he and his friends were climbing they would leave nothing perchance, practicing tying their knots in a cold shower.

…There’s no better gift on your birthday than connecting with distant friends and children unless, of course, it’s actually being with them.