EQV Analytics

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Biologist. Fair-weather farmer. Compulsive NC voting data analyst. World's oldest campaign digital/comms guy (Dem). Advisor to folks crazy enough to launch startup biotech companies. Friend to the disenfranchised. Passionate opponent of COVID denial. Dog guy. Pray without words.

Photo: Anita Earls & Rosanell Eaton, shortly before Justice Earls' election to the state Supreme Court & Ms. Eaton's passing. How did we fit so much North Carolina courage & accomplishment into one room?

LocationDurham County, NC
PronounsY'all, Y'uns
Sitehttps://EQVAnalytics.com
WhyI think of Neal Cassady.
Open letter to my NC state Rep. B. Ray Jeffers (Durham), expressing my disappointment in his sponsorship of HB347, which would legalize online bookies' operations and highly addictive sports gambling in NC. If your state Representative is on this list of HB347's co-sponsors please join me in writing to express your disapproval. You can find your state Rep's email address at https://www.ncleg.gov/FindYourLegislators
The thing about virtual food is that five minutes after eating it you're hungry again.
This darling little ruby-crowned kinglet, not much bigger than a hummingbird, spent several days hanging around our manure composting bins, feasting on the bugs that flourish in their year-round warmth. Seeing one is a lifetime first for me. It's gone now - I like to think it's back on its way to its Canadian breeding grounds after spending a few days tanking up at our place. Vaya con Dios, little friend.

One of the benefits of getting old is the greater ease with which one may find delight in small things.

TBH my favorite Christmas present this year is this spiffy little "Bull City" refrigerator magnet from Bull City Fair Trade.

Things are really looking up for COVID in North Carolina.

Per CDC's latest data:

A new study estimates that 7% of Americans (19 million people) have Long COVID (LC). 25% report it affects their daily activities "a lot." Interestingly, LC is more prevalent among folks age 25-34 than among folks age 65+.

But masks make you look silly, amiright?

https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciac961/6948437

epidemiology of long COVID in US adults

In a population-representative sample, we observed a very high burden of long COVID and estimated 7.3% of US adults (about 18 million adults) had symptoms of lo

OUP Academic

5/5:

And this, at the end of the day, is what all the poop-picking, compost-turning, horse-shoeing and herd-husbrandry is all about: Grandma passing on to grandbaby the ageless wisdom of horsemanship, with an able assist by the world's most patient pony, Casper. Someday, perhaps, this wee one will choose to graduate up to our quarter horse, Grace, our chunky Haflinger, Tank, or even our magnificent track-rescue Thoroughbred, Remi.

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Spreading a warm blanket completes today's compost pile maintenance. This stuff is designed for composting, letting the pile breathe while keeping rainwater out.

By February the pile will weigh half its original 5 tons. Spread on my pasture it will build the soil, sequester carbon, feed the grass for the horses to eat again – the circle of life. But for now it’s time to wash up and tuck into the sausage gravy and biscuits my spouse promised me if I’d turn the compost this morning!

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One by one, the tractor bucket-loads of manure are 'sprinkled' (rather than dumped) into an adjacent empty bin, thus mixing in fresh air for the composting bacteria. I work fast to conserve the pile's heat, since a cold pile has to start the composting process all over again from scratch. Pretty good job – at work’s end my 3 foot long probe thermometer shows the transferred pile is still 113°F at its core.

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This bin of composting horse poop is HOT: 130°F at its core despite Durham's recent bitter cold. Digging in with my tractor's bucket releases clouds of steam on this 45°F morning - a sign that the composting process is progressing as desired with just enough water, air, carbon and nitrogen to keep my buddies the thermophilic bacteria beavering away manufacturing humus and converting the manure's nitrogen to a stable form that won't run off and pollute Durham's water supply.