Summer Has Arrived

In this part of the world, it seems that summer emerges fully formed from winter with the briefest of springs. The warm temps mean my favorite working times are morning and evening. Unusually, there are few if any mosquitos as yet. I was noticing the fact in Fargo earlier in the week as well.

I was just out tilling up a garden beset by a plague of gophers that keep eating about 80 percent of the seeds planted. After I replanted, the garden is still only half planted. Like summer, the problem emerged fully formed this year and was of little note the past several years. It may be indicative of a shortage of predators or some kind of birth boom. Third time is a charm and it may pay to just plant starts instead of seeds.

I just finished reading the biography of Elon Musk and it has spurred in me the desire for an electric car. As I was tilling the garden this morning, sucking in gulps of exhaust every so often, I thought of the possibility that electric tillers can't be too far away. In fact, electric locomotives and cars predated their internal combustion engine counterparts by many years. The diesel-electric hybrid locomotive has been around as long as the two power sources have been in existence. Where would we be if the electric and hybrid path had been chosen instead of the internal combustion path?

I think we are just on the verge of electric technology exploding all over the map. How pleasant would it be to drive an electric snowmobile that doesn't roar through the woods, an electric boat motor that doesn't detract from the outdoors and leave a trail of oil in its path or a chainsaw and string trimmer that won't infuse your clothes with the smell of hydrocarbons?