In the southern US tulip trees (also called yellow poplar) were at one time used as timbers in mines (in the South was primarily coal mines). The story is that while the wood is strong, if it begins to fail in the mine it makes loud cracking noises (moreso that other wood) and gives people time to escape. That's a bit of my park ranger lore collected when working in the Smoky Mountains, and is pretty much the extent of my mine architecture knowledge. I'm more conversant with the contents of tailings of western gold, silver, and copper mines.

Executive decision today when I went looking for a couple of new silicone mats for the kitchen sink and decided not to shop Amazon. The Container Store had a sale going, so I found mats plus a modest sized new trash can, an upgrade from the bag in the unlidded Rubbermaid bin. As if I didn't already have two surplus large trash cans now I have this smaller one to find a new use for or give away. How many am I going to drill holes and fill with soil for gardening?

Lentil soup and a pork chop for dinner tonight, with a salad on the side. I'm finally shaking some of the side effects (munchies) of the Prednisone and should be losing the weight it packed on over the summer and fall. I'm realizing my memory is better, the Prednisone effects synapses that have to do with short term memory, but it seems to be temporary.

Do I want to watch the Olympics? Not much, but I usually get sucked into the individual and pairs figure skating if I come across it. The best routine ever was Torvill and Dean in 1984 dancing to Bolero.