Blog Archives

Scarcity is Real - But It's NOT Scary

1/31/2022

Scarcity is real. Oil, for example, is a finite resource and it will eventually run out.

In a capitalist society, scarcity is (at least partially) reflected in the cost. As prices for a particular product increase, smart people develop alternatives and consumers learn and adopt ways to conserve.

Fossil Fuel
As fossil fuel reserves are consumed prices will increase and alternative energy sources become more competitive. In the previous post we saw that fearmongers are predicting the end of oil in about 47 years. Well, that is sufficient time for the orderly development of alternatives.

Keep in mind that oil is just one form of fossil fuel. Natural gas is cleaner and more abundant. Proven reserves of natural gas will last 52 years at current consumption. www.worldometers.info/gas/

More importantly, the proven reserves have been steadily increasing, in spite of greater consumption as the world transitions from coal to natural gas.

Fresh Water
Fresh water is a concern in many locations, but it's definitely not going to disappear in 17 years (or ever).

To be specific, there are many areas where agriculture relies on drawing water from ancient underground aquifers. Throughout the world, these aquifers are being drained much faster than they are naturally replenished.

The following map shows areas (in red or orange) where water is being depleted, while the areas in blue have a rainwater surplus. This is a genuine problem that our governments should be focused on rather than squandering vast resources on The Green New Deal.

There is plenty of fresh water... it's just not always where it is most convenient for growing crops.

In Conclusion
Yes, there are many things that are scarce or expensive. And there are some resources that will eventually be depleted. Humans are smart and adaptable and we WILL develop alternatives and create solutions. We do not need Progressive Elites to run our lives.

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Scary Scarcity - Part 3

1/29/2022

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The End OF Oil Is Coming!!
OMG... We are going to hit Peak Oil real soon and then it will all be gone. Here is the countdown:

The funny thing is that the Prophets of Doom have been predicting the end of oil for at least 60 years. But the end-of-oil keeps getting further into the future as humanity discovers more and creates better technology for extraction. More on that in the next post...

The End of Food
But don't worry about the oil because the End Of Food is coming even quicker:

The End of Water
Hell... don't worry about food either. We're going to run out of water even faster!!

The funny thing is that we get approximately 60 inches (i.e 5 feet) of rain per year here at neoTerra. This is somewhere between 15,000 and 20,000 cubic feet per year just on the roof and deck.

There are about 7.5 gallons per cubic foot so we receive about 115,000 gallons of fresh water for free every year. We are so wasteful, we don't even bother to collect it. We just let it run off into the forest so the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees can enjoy it.

The End of EVERYTHING
And it's ALL your fault. However, if you will just buy overpriced 'responsible' products from their website you can save planet Terra. https://shop.theworldcounts.com/

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Scary Scarcity Part 2

1/28/2022

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Honestly – In my wildest moments of satire I can’t come up with crap like this.

The UN has declared that we are facing a new, serious shortage that threatens our sustainability. Is it a shortage of oil?? A shortage of rare metals needed to make batteries?? Perhaps a shortage of clean healthy water??

NOPE – we are threatened by a shortage of… SAND. I quote “the world is facing a shortage –[of sand] — and climate scientists say it constitutes one of the greatest sustainability challenges of the 21st century”. Those clever climate scientists. When Global Warming is proven to be a hoax they can get new lucrative jobs at the UN as Sandologists (my new word).

The threat is so dire the UN has created a new institute (at our expense) to study the SAND Crisis. Please keep me honest and check it yourself. https://unepgrid.ch/en/activity/sand

We will need to embrace Global Sand Management (by the wise and benevolent UN) to fight against thriving “sand mafias”. Good globalist places (like Amsterdam) have already committed to be 100% Sand Neutral by 2050! https://www.cnbc.com/2021/03/05/sand-shortage-the-world-is-running-out-of-a-crucial-commodity.html

If you can’t sleep at night please read the 56 page UN report. “Sand And Sustainability: Finding New Solutions For Environmental Governance of Global Sand Resources” (you can just click the image to the right)

I can’t believe that AOC has not picked up on this emerging threat to humanity. I’m waiting for her to propose a Brown New Deal.

I leave you with one closing thought on this issue…

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The Boogeymen of Doom - Scary Scarcity Part 1

1/28/2022

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I'm going to take a break from the Great Reset and talk a bit about the Boogeymen Of Doom.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, the Progressive Elites have been shouting about Doomsday for at least 60 years. Doomsday is always about 30 years (one generation) away and there is always a critical 10 year window to save humanity.

Here are two of the classics:

Global scarcity (aka Scary Scarcity)
Climate Hysteria (Next Ice Age -> Global Warming -> Climate Change)

In addition we have some new, more immediate boogeymen.

The Biden Border Crisis
Spiraling Crime
Pandemics

In every case, the 'solution' is that we must sacrifice our liberty, give the wise and benevolent government more control, and reduce our standard of living. It's funny how every problem seems to have the same solution.

So let's talk about Scary Scarcity.

In 1972, the Club of Rome published The Limits to Growth, which predicted depletion of resources, environmental/agricultural collapse and social upheaval by the 1990's. The book is no longer in print but you can downloaded the original version as a PDF by clicking on the image below

In 1992, the authors released Beyond the Limits. This book added climate hysteria to scarcity for a double dose of destruction. Although none of their dire predictions of scarcity from 1972 had come true, they doubled down stating that the Earth was merely more resilient than they originally modeled. And the Earth was now stretched beyond its limits like a giant bungee cord about to break.

In 2004, the authors wrote the Limits to Growth 30 Year Update. In this book they moved the goalposts but still predicted impending doom. They acknowledge that food production (the brown line) was better than they predicted even though population growth was greater (the black line). They also acknowledged that resources were not being depleted as fast and the pollution was less than expected.

Nevertheless, they predicted that food production and Global GDP would collapse by 2015. Well, it is now 2022 and global prosperity is continuing to increase.

In fact (prior to COVID shutdowns) global prosperity has been accelerating! It has quadrupled since their first Limits to Growth in 1972.

In 2012, the 40th anniversary of The Limits To Growth, Jorgen Randers broke ranks and published 2052. While this book is still pessimistic and gloomy, he acknowledges that the world will not suffer resource depletion and humanity will continue to be able to feed its ever growing population. You can read the summary here:
http://www.2052.info/wp-content/uploads/2019/05/p120801-2052-A-global-forecast-15p-illustrated-CPSL.pdf

Of course the UN will continue to come up with new versions of Scary Scarcity and our current, self inflicted supply chain issues will make Scarcity seem real.

More next time.

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Sustaining Liberty - The Great Reset

1/25/2022

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The World Economic Forum
In the previous post I mentioned that The Great Reset is NOT a conspiracy theory; it is right out in the open. The World Economic Forum (WEF), headed by Klaus Schwab, has been working to undermine capitalism and the United States for 50 years. They have recently outlined their goals for the year 2030 in a short video.

The WEF is composed of global puppet-masters; billionaires, monarchs and UN bureaucrats. They have created the progressive Creative/Elite class to promote their views (I'll write more about this in a future post).

Here are their 8 primary goals for 2030:

Destroy private ownership so you will own nothing and be happy while the puppet masters are given all wealth and power
End America as a superpower and the dominant economy. The world will be “equitably” ruled by an international consortium appointed by the benevolent WEF
3D printing of human organs (this has nothing to do with the WEF)
No more meat... you'll eat bugs instead. (more on this in a future post) neoterra.us/blog/self-inflicted-scarcity-no-more-meat
Facilitate and even glamorize mass migrations of unskilled, uneducated “refuges” to overwhelm Western culture and Industrial societies. Because of the Climate Change boogeyman
Make energy far more expensive (restricting supply, introducing a carbon tax) to reduce your standard of living. And they will use Climate Change Hysteria to frighten you into acceptance
Exploration of Mars (this has nothing to do with the WEF)
Western values pushed to the breaking point.

This is not some right-wing conspiracy theory.

I don't know if the COVID pandemic was engineered, but here is a quote from Herr Schwab celebrating the pandemic. Please note this is directly from the World Economic Forum website. "The pandemic represents a rare but narrow window of opportunity to reflect, reimagine, and reset our world"

Many other anti-American globalists agree. Prince Charles and Antonia Guterres (head of the UN) refer to the pandemic as a "Golden Opportunity".

In this post, let's consider Goal #1. I will discuss most of the other goals in future posts.

The End of Private Property
A cornerstone of the Great Reset is that (by 2030) you will own nothing and you will be happy. The first step on this journey to poverty is Dematerialization.

Dematerialization
A precursor to ‘owning nothing’ is the growing push toward Dematerialization (there are now several scholarly books on the subject and it is the foundation of the movement for Universal Basic Income - UBI). As an aside, this concept was previously known as minimalist… but dematerialization sounds cool and is more extreme.

Dematerialization, does not state that private property should be eliminated. It states that you can be happy with a lot less. For example:

You don’t need an SLR camera because you should be happy with your cell-cam.
You don’t need a big-screen TV because you should be happy watching movies on your phone.
You don’t need a car because you have Uber
You don’t need a kitchen because cooking is a chore

This is a seductive argument because most of us have way more stuff than we really need. But it is a slippery slope with nefarious intent.

The Nomad Life
There is no doubt that a minimalist lifestyle can be rich and enjoyable. There are many people who have embraced the Nomad Life (tradeMark) and are traveling and living in motor homes or travel trailers.

They are enjoying life in a minimal amount of space.   A retired couple (i.e. no rug rats) can be very comfortable in a well designed coach that is no more than 300-350 square feet. And that includes a small, but functional kitchen.

300 square feet leaves no room for any superfluous crap. No giant cactus-shaped margarita glasses, no silly nick-nacks, no collection of hard-cover books. Everything must be boiled down to what is really necessary. It takes discipline.

Note: Minimalism is completely separate from any discussion of self-sufficiency, which is quite the opposite… it takes a lot of stuff to be self-sufficient.

One other observation on Nomad Life: It is enjoyable because of mobility and because most time is spent outdoors. It is an adventure. Weather and climate are critical… spending winter in Minnesota in 300 square feet would not end well.

In short, my theory is that compatible adults can enjoy life with minimal property when they have maximal freedom. But keep in mind, the Nomad Life is voluntary… it is a choice; not a mandate from the World Economic Forum.

Own Nothing and Be Happy
The Great Reset wants to convince you (or coerce you) to take the next step beyond dematerialization. They want you to believe you will be better off and happier if you own absolutely nothing. No house, no car, no furniture, no pots n’ pans, not even an apartment or your clothes (and definitely no motor home).

Everything will be provided to you by the government or by expert digital subscription services (like Amazon) when you need it.   Consequently, private ownership can be abolished for the good of society and you will be happy.

You don’t need a wasteful private home because you will have a Residential Subscription Service. This concept is a cross between a studio compartment complex and a hotel. Since you don’t own anything you can crash in a different ‘unit’ every night. Tonight in Naperville, tomorrow a different unit in Naperville because you were out late, a couple of nights in St. Charles and the weekend in Madison for the beer festival. And don’t worry about packing because you don’t own any clothes.

You clearly don’t need any furniture (or mementos or personal shit) because you don’t have a permanent residence to keep it. You will be very happy with whatever furnishings your compartment has provided for you.

You don’t own any clothes because your Trendy Fashion Expert Service has fresh clothes selected for you and delivered to your compartment du jour every morning before you wake up. You toss yesterday’s clothes into the recycling chute and a Servant Class beta will collect them, and some Working Class epsilon will launder and re-package. Someone else will get those cloths tomorrow. Keep in mind that the underwear you have today was on someone else’s ass yesterday…. But you will be happy.

You don’t need a washer or dryer (or a laundry room) because you don’t own any clothes.

You don’t need a car because you use public transportation.

I could go on and on. There are entire books written on how wonderful it will be in the world of Universal Basic Income and Subscription possessions. I refer to these authors as the Cornucopians. (tradeMark)

But Only the Elites Will be Happy
But their narrative is dishonest because it is always told from the perspective of the privileged Creative Expert class. It is never told from the perspective of the Worker Class. When you view the glowing narrative you imagine your life living in luxury with fresh new stuff every day…   but that won’t be true for 95%

When you listen to the TED talk linked below you can only imagine life as a highly compensated Creative living an exciting, important life, traveling to conferences and vacationing in the Alps. What about all the regular people trapped in mundane jobs so she can be a carefree TED Talker??

If you start out in the deplorable Worker class (at the bottom of the social stack) then you aren’t flying to Brussels, weekending in Barcelona and returning to San Fran for a book (Kindle) signing. Nope, you are a Brave New World janitor and take public transportation to the same job in the same place every single day (But you will be happy).

Since you own nothing you have almost zero ability to take any individual initiative. You have almost zero ability to invest in your own ideas (investment is evil). There are a few pursuits that don’t require tools or equipment or financial investment: you could write poetry or make digital art (like Hunter Biden). Perhaps you could become a musician (but you’ll have to lease your drum set from the government).

In addition to the disingenuous narrative there are three fatal flaws in their theory.

Although the Great Reset pretends to do away with private ownership that only applies to you. Jeff Bezos will own the Amazon Clothing Subscription service, Bill Gates will own the farms and machinery, BlackRock will own the Residential Subscription Service.. etc. Billionaires and Bureaucrats will own and control everything… and you will be happy.
Though you might not own anything, you are still consuming things. 100 miles on an Uber is the same energy and the same wear-and-tear as 100 miles on a private car. The only thing that’s actually being saved is a parking space. You may not own any furniture but you are still consuming it (have you ever seen the condition of furniture or carpeting in a hotel room that’s more than 5 years old?). In other words, there is no increase in prosperity.. there is only redistribution.
Many people on Terra (aside from elite urban progressives) actually need to own things and actually need to have private space for those things. Carpenters, plumbers, electricians and other trades actually need tools and supplies and vehicles to transport them. Farmers need land, machinery and seed (unless the socialist progressives round them up and put them in happy communes).

Sustaining Liberty - Progressive Elitism

1/25/2022

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Progressive Elitism and The Great Reset

Historically, the first step toward socialistic tyranny is to create division and hatred among your own people. Billionaires and bureaucrats aren’t credible so they need to elevate a group of Elites to champion their cause. Democrat “Intellectuals” have been working to demonize working people in general and conservatives in particular for more than a generation.

As an example, The New Urban Crisis is a book I read a couple of years ago by Richard Florida, a real gem of a progressive ‘scholar’. I have to make a couple of points from this book to set the stage for future reports.

Mr. Florida correctly acknowledges that the cities were miserable (for most people) in the 50’s – 70’s. But he blames it on ‘white flight’ to the suburbs, which is totally backwards from actual, historical cause and effect. The cities did not became dung-heaps because of flight to the suburbs. People left for the suburbs because cities were already crowded, miserable and de-humanizing.
Sorry Mr. Florida but you lost all credibility in the first 50 pages.

The second (and more important) aspect of his Progressive philosophy is the Liberal division of humanity into three social classes. I’m not making this up. His previous book was titled “The Rise of the Creative Class” and it is something right out of Brave New World. His philosophy would make Hitler, Stalin and Mao Zedong proud.

The three classes are… drum roll please…

The Creative Class – these are the Brave-New-World Alphas. The urban elite who are the pinnacle of humanity and do everything amazing and worthwhile. They are utterly deserving of a vibrant urban life. Artists, musicians, actors, fashion designers, celebrities, billionaires (by whatever means), some scientists/engineers and, of course, scholarly thinkers like Mr. Florida himself.
The Servant Class – There are two categories of Brave-New-World Betas.
- Beta-A - Those who work under the direction of the Creatives to accomplish Creative brilliance (like coordinators, engineers, highly trained technical workers, administrators and bureaucrats). They get to dress well, live in a decent compartment and may even get to socialize with the Elites (if they are attractive enough).
- Beta-B - Those who sustain the vibrant urban environment the Creatives so rightly deserve (like chefs, waiters, police, and Uber drivers). They are necessary but don’t get to socialize with the Creatives.
The Working Class - These are the Deltas and Epsilons. Those who live in the rural fly-over states or have the most menial jobs in the vibrant cities. We are the drones who produce everything. We must be grateful and appreciative because we would have no meaningful existence at all if it weren’t for the amazing urban Creatives. Producing mere things (like food, houses, furniture, clothing, cars) doesn’t require any intelligence. You see, we would have no purpose or meaning in our sad little lives if it weren’t for Ellen DeGeneres, Elton John and Richard Florida. We might not exist at all if it were not for the Creatives in the Emerald City.

Elitism Breeds Contempt
You may think Mr. Florida’s view is just extreme or isolated academic BS but it is at the very cornerstone of current liberal righteousness. In the following link, David Brooks of the NY Times (a bastion of unbiased truth) confirms the rise of a Progressive aristocracy when he states “A lot of people in the expert class live in blue cities who are thriving, and a lot of people left behind in the rural parts of America, they feel threatened economically, culturally, socially and they have no contact with the expert class.” He goes on to say “those of us in the expert class – journalism and academia – have to do a better job…” https://twitter.com/i/status/1336461885324091393 I guess we must add journalists to the enlightened Creative/Expert Class.

Well, Mr. Brooks, I’m somewhat educated, I actually know how to read (on a wide variety of subjects), I understand a bit of math and I occasionally think for myself.

I do NOT feel threatened or deprived by a lack of contact with “experts” like you.
I do NOT need more contact with you or other enlightened members of your arrogant Expert Class.
I do NOT need more direction from Mr. Florida’s amazing Creatives.
I do NOT need your ANTIFA thugs telling me what I’m allowed to think or what I should do.

Friends, let me remind you that this is not an isolated view. In 2016 Michael Bloomberg stated “I could teach anybody, even people in this room, no offense intended, to be a farmer, It's a process. You dig a hole, you put a seed in, you put dirt on top, add water, up comes the corn.” He equally insulted factory workers and people in trades… And he said this while he was campaigning for the Presidency.

On Dangerous Ground
Recall… Billionaires, Dictators, Monarchs and Bureaucrats are not credible to the masses. How can they expand their power and control??

When the “Elites” become convinced they are intellectually and morally superior to everyone else it becomes their righteous cause to rage against any perceived injustice (no matter how successful or beneficial society may be). If you wonder why progressives seem so smug and intolerant… understand that they believe they are entitled.

The Elites (who truly believe they are righteous Crusaders) will then convince one (or more) group/class that they are victims of some other contemptible group/class. From there, it is a small step to rationalize retribution and hatred against those who have been identified as GREEDY-STUPID-EVIL.

This was straightforward for the Marxists, the Hitler NAZIs and Mao. In each case, the intellectuals could convince a majority that they were being oppressed by a minority. With strength of numbers retribution (and a transfer of power to the puppet-masters) was rapid and violent. Millions were slaughtered.

A Nation of Victims
It has not be so straightforward in the United States. We have a very large middle-class and it is very difficult to convince prosperous people that they are victims. It has taken decades to desecrate our history, to splinter society into innumerable classes of victims and to even convince members of the middle-class that they are among the oppressors.

I contend that the United States has become a Nation of Victims (tradeMark). I contend that globalists, socialists and Democrats have exploited every perception of inequity to divide us and sow animosity.

Racial Inequity – Demonizing whites with claims of White Privilege
LGBTQ2A – Demonizing heterosexuals and nuclear families
Climate Refugees – (aka Illegal Aliens)
Young vs Old
And many more

Most recently, the President himself is using COVID hysteria to pit whites against whites: “We’ve been patient, but our patience is wearing thin,” Biden said. He went on, “For the vast majority of you who’ve gotten vaccinated, I understand your anger at those who haven’t gotten vaccinated.”

We are at a point where the elite Progressive Urban Socialists (PUSs) feel justified in restricting the rights of free speech if you disagree, restricting your rights to travel or assemble if you don’t follow their enlightened guidelines, restricting your access to healthcare because you deserve to die and suggesting re-education or confinement for the deplorables.

I do not accept that they are intellectually or morally superior.

I believe in free speech.
I believe in freedom of travel and assembly.
I believe that my body (and mind) belong to me and not to the state.
I believe in the 2nd Amendment and that the right of force stems from the individual like every other right.
I believe that I worked very hard for what I achieved and I reject “White Privilege”… though I do believe in “American Privilege”.

I understand that I am a deplorable.

The Great Reset

I have never been one to embrace conspiracy theories. Sure, there are conspiracies… lots and lots of competing conspiracies. But I have never believed there is one to rule them all. Until the Great Reset came out and publicly stated their goals to destroy capitalism and usher in a socialist utopia where you will own nothing and be happy about it.

I'll write more about this in the next post.

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A New Direction - Sustaining Liberty

1/25/2022

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Sustaining Liberty
As an engineer I have been interested in sustainable design, energy efficiency, and the use of recycled and/or durable material for several decades. As an environmentalist, I have been interested in enjoying and preserving natural spaces, particularly forests.

Today, the neoTerra Blog is starting a new direction. Our Constitutional rights and our Republic are under assault from 'democratic' socialists and globalists. It is time to focus on Sustaining Liberty.

Sustaining planet Terra means nothing if we lose our fundamental rights as free people. I do not intend to save trees while losing my rights and dignity as a human being.

Elitism and the Globalist Agenda
Elitism has always existed. Emperors, monarchs, priesthoods, dictators and university intellectuals have always promoted the belief they were entitled to rule over the common people. Often, two (or more) of these groups collaborated to maintain power. For example, monarchies granted religious orders land and wealth and the priesthoods convinced the masses that the monarchy was ordained by GOD.

With few exceptions, this situation prevailed over humanity ever since the rise of agriculture and the establishment of towns and cities (the ancient Greeks and the Roman Republic being two exceptions).

Today, Progressive Elitism is on the rise. This is not due to any superiority of progressive philosophy which is nothing more than fresh rationalism for age-old tyranny. It is funded by globalists who create foundations to hire armies of lobbyists, activists and 'experts' to promote their agenda. I will provide concrete examples in future posts.

Individual, Unalienable Rights
The United States was founded on a simple belief that governments have no natural right to exist. That ALL rights (and all responsibilities) inherently belong to individual human beings. That governments shall be formed by people for their mutual benefit and that those governments shall only have the rights, authorities and powers that the people choose to grant.

Our Declaration of Independence, our Constitution (and its many refinements through the properly enacted Amendments) categorically reject aristocracy and elite rulers.

Our friend, Colin McWay, has written an excellent book on the Constitution. You can find it by clicking on the image.

Furthermore, the United States is NOT a democracy to be governed by mob-rule. It is a Constitutional Republic designed with checks and balances to insure that the rights of ALL individuals are upheld.

I will discuss these topics at length in future posts.

A New Direction - Future Topics
The Progressive Elites have intentionally created a number of boogeymen to induce fear within the population and convince people that only by relinquishing their individual freedoms can Big Brother save them from destruction.

Some of these boogeymen include:

Global scarcity, famine and dog-eat-dog warfare over scraps
Climate Hysteria
Spiraling crime
Pandemics

The globalists have been pushing these topics since the Limits To Growth was published by the elite Club of Rome in the early 1970's. None of their predictions have come true in the past 50 years.

They have succeeded, however, in fostering mass fear. Please watch the following video from The Academy of Ideas for a primer on the intentional creation of fear. When you begin to fear your neighbors more than you fear the government then you are well on the road to serfdom.

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Snowpacolypse 2022

1/18/2022

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We get snow a few times every year, but this storm has been especially beautiful.

We had three overcast days and some high winds so it was a good occasion to fire-up the wood stove.
I brought in two loads of logs from the woodshed and burnt it all on Sunday and Monday.

I really enjoy sitting by the fire basking in the free heat.

It's so nice to live in the forest!

Today is bright and sunny. Yesterday we had freezing fog/mist that left all the trees coated in frost. The sun on the trees looks amazing.

This ancient tree died a couple of years ago in a drought. The top broke off in a windstorm last summer. Miraculously, the owl house survived.

I can't believe this palm tree survives in our climate. This is it's fourth winter.

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