Blue Planet Journey

  Visiting an alien planet... I don't know how else to describe the experience of exploring underwater. "Alien" can be defined as "coming from another world." To a terrestrial, air-breathing, homeothermic bipedal hominin , being underwater can only seem like being, well, on a different planet. There's a reason astronauts train in a pool to experience " neutral-buoyancy" diving to simulate the weightlessness of space travel. And creatures have been evolving in Earth's seas for a LONG time. Complex life appeared in the Earth's history about a half billion years ago. "The basic body plans of all modern animals were set during the Cambrian Period, 542 - 488 million years ago." Since then, species have come and gone (mostly gone), but if you visit a thriving reef environment, you won't even think about what has disappeared, because there is just so much still there! This week we (Caroline, Wes and Mignon) went on a dive trip in t...

  Perhaps nothing defines success in America as much as home ownership. When Caroline and I married, our life together started in a 900 square foot rental in northern California. It was located on state-owned property, on a university research station, and the rent was set by a process where an assessor compared rent for similar ranch housing. Our rent? $81.25/month.  Our first home. Painting by Geneva Butler. That allowed us to save for a house we bought about 5 miles north, which we owned for about 18 months before moving to Utah. We lived in our beautiful Utah home for 32 years. But, with kids and grandkids living hundreds of miles away, we decided it was time to live closer to family. The beloved house went up for sale. Over those 32 years, we, well, lived. We used the kitchen and the appliances. Our cats barfed on the carpet.  Our kiddos spilled their popcorn, drinks, and sometimes blood. Dust, and possessions, accumulated. Selling the house meant we needed to consid...