1/30/12 SUMACS IN WINTER, AND BELIEVING IN YOUR GROCERY BILL

MALE SUMAC, SANS BERRIES

FEMALE SUMAC, WITH BERRIES

Monday, 8:30 AM.  20 degrees, wind SW, light.  The sky is overcast with snow clouds, we received 3”  of snow last night and the barometer predicts more of the same.  We haven’t gotten a lot of snow at one time this winter, which is fine with me, but it has been pretty consistent of late and is beginning to build up.
        Most people who are familiar at all with the out-of-doors recognize the shrub we commonly call staghorn sumac (Rhus typhina) when they see it, as distinctive as the persistent red fruits are in fall and winter.  Most don’t know that there are  a number of other sumacs that are less common, including the smooth sumac (R. glabra), very  similar to the former but without the fuzzy hairs on  branches, or the fragrant sumac (R. aromatica), an aromatic, spreading shrub of sand dunes and other dry habitats; or the poison sumac (R. vernix), a tall shrub of mostly inaccessible swamps.  And few would easily recognize poison ivy (R. radicans) as a close elative.
        But, back to the staghorn sumac itself; most people who are casually familiar with it probably don’t know that only shrubs with female flowers bear the characteristic conical panicles of fuzzy flowers and fruits, and that the male shrubs, being devoid of the fruits in winter, are also present on the hillsides and woods edges.  In the fall these male shrubs are just as obvious as the females since both have similar brilliant red to orange colored leaves.  So, next fall, take a closer look at the sumacs in their brilliant coloration, and note which ones have fruits and which ones do not.  Often whole stands of sumac will either have fruits or will be fruitless.
        Joan and I went to the grocery store yesterday and were again shocked by the savage inflation which is taking place on the shelves and in the freezers; canned mushrooms, for instance, have doubled in price in the last eighteen months, the same for turkey thighs. which used to be inexpensive protein. Bread prices have also skyrocketed.  It isn’t just retirees that are affected, since most people are also now on “fixed incomes,” their salaries not rising comparatively with inflation.  It is no wonder so many families are on food stamps.  I cringe when I hear that the “fed” is going to print more dollars and dump them into the system, for when they do, we will have yet another round of inflation.  Instead of dumping dollars into the financial system we should be dumping clueless or conniving politicians out of office.  And probably do away with the Federal Reserve as well.  The wealthy are not hurt by inflation, as they can buy hard assets with low interest loans and pay for them with increasingly inflated dollars.  The poor are crushed by inflation, and the middle class eventually forced to sell their few assets in a declining market to survive, and are eventually reduced to poverty. 
        We are well on our way to being a two-tiered society, rich and poor, the condition of every other economy throughout history. The most vile aspect of this scenario for Americans is that it is purposeful, foisted on us by our government (politicians and bureaucrats) who see inflation as an easy and stealthy way to pay off the national debt they have created, while increasing the dependence of the citizens on the state and thus ensuring their own perpetuation.    Don’t believe the government’s inflation statistics.  Believe your grocery bill.