Living with Newtonian Principles

As I pointed out in a previous blog, the riding accident I had two weeks ago was a perfect example of the Newtonian principle of motion that states; “An object in motion, remains in motion, unless acted upon by an outside force”.  Check- got that one.  Now as life progresses, momentarily in a wheelchair, I am relearning another one, his third law of motion; “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction”.

As the pain has subsided from the “ten plus tears”, thank you God, I have spent the week discovering how to do the things I usually do, at least housekeeping-wise, from a chair on wheels.  I love to vacuum, it’s a personal quirk but there you are, and because I have had dogs for some 28 years now it is good that I do.  10 days without vacuuming resulted in enough billowing dog hair to knit several sweaters, if I were a knitter, which I am not.

No reason I can’t vacuum from the chair, and luckily I still have one of the last rolling canisters.  Now, with the hose over my shoulder, fireman-entering-a building, style, I would roll forward, shove the wand ahead of me, and promptly roll backward.  Newton knew this would happen.  Well, there are brakes on wheelchairs so although it makes it tedious, I brake, push, un-brake, advance, repeat, repeat, repeat and the dust dogs are corralled safely in the canister

not me but you get the idea

This week I decided to add waxing all the wood floors to my wheelchair adventures, and, even though I had to fight that Newtonian principle all the way, I did it.  Go me! and the wood looks great.

Out the window, I see the same principle confounding the youngest of the Scrub Jays.  I have one of those cones you can put corncobs in, ostensibly for the squirrels, but the jays find it worth the effort to try and get the kernels too.  

 The older birds land a heavier blow, which knocks a kernel off; they alight to the ground, then either eat it, or stash it somewhere.  As an aside, I have corn growing in the wildest of places! 

Note to squirrels and jays: corn kernels aren’t keepers like acorns!   As I can’t leave the house for at least a month, no weeding, it will be interesting to see what becomes of my scattered-under-trees, corn plants.  Not much probably, cross pollination being key in corn.  But I digress. 

Whereas mature Scrub jays have the hang of it, the young ones, known by their gawky teenage look and gray rather than blue heads, are discovering Newton’s laws the same way I am.  Same law too: “For every action, there is an equal an opposite reaction.”  The bird pecks the corncob with its bill, which pushes it away from the bird, only to smack back at the bird a second later; Newton’s law at work. The bird’s grip on the trunk of the tree it hangs onto is nowhere near as good as the squirrels so the return blow almost knocks it off the trunk except for a flutter of wings that keeps it in place.   These young birds are not lacking in perseverance and so eventually it too can dislodge a kernel and down to the ground it goes. Hopefully to eat it, not bury it, for it must have worked up an appetite with all that work!

Again, these pre-K learning days for young fledglings are things I never would have seen if I were rushing out to my many volunteer places.  Newton and his many practical observations would have been just words on a page, long forgotten, but now they permeate my days. 

Next blog: “Gravity-it’s not just a good idea- it’s the Law.”  Saw that on a T-shirt and loved it!  I have a ringside seat to how, even fledglings with wings; learn a thing or two about gravity.  

More to come then from the one-legged, window Naturalist-  Pat