More on the camping tomorrow. Today I want to talk about average.
There are lots of averages. C used to be average. Now B is. W got C's. We should go for a an above average candidate in '08.
The batting average for the National League was .268 last year. My fantasy team (NL only) currently has a batting average of .264. So here at the All-Star break, I'm below average. Way below. Last place below.
I'll resist giving the average speed of cyclists at this year's big bike race that can only be named a few times. It's higher than mine. MUCH higher than mine.
Yesterday, Honey and I stopped off at my favorite sequoia tree in our National Park. It's called The Sentinel and used to stand guard over a gas station and food store. In the late 90s, the National Park Service decided that probably wasn't good for the trees. Sequoias grow in this little magical zone in the Sierra Nevada and nowhere else. Gas pumps and cars are not the best companions for them.
Anyway, The Sentinel was described as an "average" sequoia. The Sherman tree, "the largest living thing" is 52,508 cubic feet. Sentinel is about half that. It isn't even "ranked" in the biggest tree rankings.
Here's it's plaque:
If average deserves that kind of plaque, imagine what above average gets.
Here's Sentinel (it/him/her)self:
Here's Honey at Sentinel. It may give a little perspective. There's a LOT of tree above the top of this picture.
So what does it mean to be average and extraordinary at the same time?
I'm no poet, so I won't try to say.
I will say I'm glad Sequoia is my National Park. I almost got an "adopt a Sequoia kit" at the store, but the kit said, "no transfer of ownership of tree is expressed or implied." At $25 per kit I can see why. Sentinel may be average but it's still a pretty awesome thing.
Tomorrow: sporks, deer coughs, and DonnaFreakingFargo at the campsite in our National Park.
4 comments:
You're back! *Does a happy dance*
Sequoia does appeal. I can't wait to hear more about DFF, despite the fact that you're blaming me, and despite the fact that the Missus was singing Happiest Girl... again tonight.
Are you now angling for the Bailey Campaign Manager position? ;p
Still lives involving Honey are good.
As your Campaign Manager, I can marshall all the efforts of every spork ehtnusiast in this country (which includes, I'll have you know, former President William Jefferson Clinton) to fend off the foolish foon brigade. Worst President Ever probably uses a foon. Foon. Pah.
WPE definitely uses foons, and demanded that a set be made decorated with the presidential seal. That's where our tax dollars are going, people!
I should think that if I were an average example of an extraordinary species, maybe I would emphasize the species part of myself.
People should know that at 3,200 years of age, the General Sherman tree (a.k.a., Largest Living Thing) has 1,000 years on the Sentinel. The Sentinel is not an underachiever.
I could live in a tree like that.
In above-average style.
Is this a good time to admit I've never dined with either a spork or a foon?
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