Anticipation doesn't always lead to action

Now that it is warming up, the vegetation is drying out. During spring, February through April, it was very green here. Grasses and weeds sprouted everywhere. There are large unused areas of the FOB which are just left fallow, and were carpeted with tall, green grass. There are also many varieties of wild flowers, or blooming weeds.

Some look like golf ball sized tulips, right red. Some have tiny yellow flowers, or tiny white flowers. I ran down a long road that reminded me of the field of poppies in the Wizard of Oz, acres and acres of densely growing yellow blossoms.

There are also some prickly weeds. One impressive weed grows about a foot tall, and about that big around. It is a light mint green, with yellow spines on the end of its leaves. The yellow really stands out against the green, and I wonder why. What natural selection force was at work to make the visible spines good for reproduction. I’m guessing that sheep can’t eat it, since sheep have been here for about 10,000 years and over that length of time a plant could adapt.

Unless, of course, you live in Kansas and don’t buy the whole evolution argument. In which case, I guess, we attribute the vibrant yellow spines to the work of a creator. Although why a creator would purposely create something as obnoxious as these nasty thorns, or mosquitoes or flies for that matter, is beyond me. Surely an intelligent designer could design an organism that fills the ecological niche as well but isn’t so unpleasant to encounter. Wait, there I go again, because isn’t ecology just a hand maiden to evolution?

Anyway, back to the point. All that wonderful green has now turned brown, and folks living in arid areas know what that means. Apparently some time back, when a previous unit was here, one from a humid area, the dry grass lit on fire and it burned into the ammo holding area and caused an explosion. Took them by surprise, and blew out lots of windows. I guess they didn’t anticipate the combustible nature of fields of tall dry grass. Admittedly, we’re not out there mowing, either. Like Mark Twain said about weather, everyone complains about it but nobody does much about it.