Mardi Gras live!

Mardi Gras has arrived on a cold February day. But the cold temperatures will not dampen the spirit of this year's Mardi Gras. The major parades today include the Zulu and Rex, both of their Kings, Jimmie Felder and Hunter Pierson having been revealed, along with Rex Queen, Katherine Duncan. Zulu's president, Charles Hamilton, Jr., hand delivered a specially painted coconut to President Barack Obama in Washington D.C. on Monday. Handing out painted coconuts along their parade route is one of the traditions of the Krewe of Zulu. The Krewe of Bacchus had a very special king this year, namely Drew Brees, who everyone knows, has deservedly achieved the status of royalty in New Orleans. The printed coverage of Mardi Gras is nola.com, and live coverage is WDSU, if you care to follow some of it today, to get of flavor of what it is all about.

Pigs can fly and its freezing down here

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From Superbowl weekend to Mardi Gras

The excitement of the upcoming events has all of southern Louisiana in a frenzy. It's really quite a phenomenon! We had a Black and Gold Friday pizza luncheon at work today with background music appropriate for the occasion, starting off with, "When the Saints Go Marching In." I forgot to wear a Saints T-shirt, but fortunately, wore a tan work shirt, so I wasn't too far off. Someone thought it might be a nice touch to take a picture of the USDA Who Dat Nation. They forwarded it to everyone, so I am posting it here. I can't even imagine what this area is going to be like if the Saints win the Superbowl. It will be total non-stop craziness from the win until Mardi Gras has passed. Geaux Saints!!!

Mardi Gras parades will be rolling tonight in many areas besides New Orleans. In Houma the Krewe of Hercules will begin rolling at 6:00 PM down and will go through downtown. Parades will continue to roll all the way up to Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) on February 16 this year. Win or lose, there will be an added parade to pay tribute to the Saints this coming Tuesday (Feb 9).

USDA's New Sugarcane Crossing Complex

Today, I finally had a chance to get a close look at our brand new crossing complex, made up of a 6-bay photoperiod facility (PF)(Pic 1); a 3-compartment crossing facility (XF) (Pic 2); 12 mobile crossing carts of which four can be rolled from the PF into the XF; and finally an isolation pad (Pic 3). I was excited, in part, because I had a lot to do with its design. The concept behind the crossing facility is novel in the sense that it does not follow the model of any other sugarcane crossing facility in the world that I am aware of. To see something that you and your associates draft on paper actually come to fruition and exceed your expectations is very exciting indeed. There are bugs to be worked out, but all in all, I couldn't have been more pleased with the outcome.

Tomorrow, Argus will be showing us how to use all of the controls. The 3-compartment XF has 1) a room for rolling in two-sets of carts (= 4 carts) with sugarcane plants on them, 2) a crossing room where crosses are arranged and fertilization occurs in one of 99 isolation cubicles (Pic 4), and 3) a maturation room where tassels are maintained while being somewhat isolated from one another until the seed fully matures and can eventually be harvested from the tassel (Pic 5).

In the past, our seed production has varied greatly from year to year, ranging from roughly 100,000 to 1,000,000 seeds. With the much greater temperature control, we should be able to maintain optimum conditions for pollen production. I anticipate much better seed production from now on, and will be disappointed if we cannot consistently produce at least 1,000,000 viable seeds per year from now on.

By the way, if you look at the greenhouse (XF), you will notice the super-structure that supports it. It was designed to withstand the wind force of a Cat 4 hurricane, as I understand.

HC&S plantation on Maui gets a one-year reprieve

The one remaining sugarcane plantation in Hawaii, HC&S on Maui, has avoided getting the plug pulled on them for at least one more year, so they will continue planting sugarcane for at least another full year. My guess is that the decision to extend their life was hotly debated, the debate being driven by several factors.

Firstly, profitability or the lack thereof. HC&S reported losses of $13 million in 2008 and an estimated $30 million in 2009, primarily due to lowered yields resulting from a 3-year drought, and imposed water restrictions. The drought and water restrictions have caused sugar cane production at HC&S to fall from 200,000 tons six years ago to 127,000 tons in 2009. More favorable prices for sugar and an expected improvement in the long-term weather situation undoubtedly weighed into the final decision to extend the life of the plantation.

Secondly, the parent company, Alexander & Baldwin, recognizes that HC&S is positioned as well as any company could possibly be, not only in Hawaii but anywhere in the U.S., to produce renewable energy from a short-rotation crop. After all, who else in the U.S. is capable of producing well over 100 tons of fresh weight biomass and 13 tons sugar every two years per acre of land, and do it by harvesting incrementally throughout almost the entire year. HC&S has the advantages that other biomass producers in the U.S. can only dream about having. Even Brazil's sugarcane yields, as much as they have improved over the past 20 years, fall short of the yield potential that HC&S has demonstrated in the past as an energy crop plantation.

Lastly, the State Commission on Water Resource Management has yet to rule on a dispute between HC&S and environmental activists, Native Hawaiians, and farmers over water the sugar mill diverts from 19 East Maui streams, and the Commission may not rule in the plantation's favor. An unfavorable ruling would pretty much spell the end of the plantation.

Jared Tew - Putting the name "Tew" on the map

Caption: Air Force running back Jared Tew (42) scores against the Houston defense in the Armed Services Bowl. Tew rushed for 173 yards and two TDs to help the Falcons control the clock.

Air Force profile of Jared. ESPN Stats on Jared in 2009. Footage from the Armed Forces Bowl game, Dec 31, 2009.

Tew football fans originating from Utah and Idaho, including myself, became curious as to our pedigree connection with Jared Tew, who hails from Park City, Utah, after he starred in this game. I decided to make contact with Jared's father, Steve, in Park City, and he was gracious enough to get back with me. It turns out that Jared comes from a different Tew line than do the vast majority of Utah/Idaho Tews. I always thought that the only Utah/Idaho Tews were those descending from my great-great-grandfather, Thomas Tew, Sr. who immigrated to Utah in the mid-1800's having been converted to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in England.

Steve informed me that his grandfather (Jared's GGFather), Arthur George Tew (1903-1999), was born in England and immigrated to the inter-mountain west in his youth. He married Larue Morris from the Malad City, Idaho area, and settled down in Malad.

This is what Steve shared with me, "My grandfather was a dairy farmer most of his life in Malad, Idaho. My father [Farrell Eugene Tew] entered the military when he was 17 and went to WWII in the Navy. Following the war, he transferred to the army and we lived in El Paso, TX, where I was born. We then went to Germany for four years with the army, then back to Fort Bliss in El Paso. When my father retired from the army, we ended up in Ogden, Utah, where we would be close to my parent's hometown of Malad. A few years after I was married, we moved to the Park City area where we have been for almost 20 years. My mother did a fair amount of genealogy but never connected us closely with the other Tews we heard of in Utah and Idaho, so who knows the connection. "

We may never know our pedigree connection with Jared but I'm sure that at some generation not too far back in England, we share a common ancestor. We wish Jared well during his Senior year at Air Force. Many of the Tews from Utah and Idaho in particular, will be his fans this coming fall, and wish him well in his future military career as he serves our country.

Saints are still Alive!

From the agony of the badly damaged Superdome with huddled masses inside of it following Hurricane Katrina...to the ecstasy of the New Orleans Saints cheering their beloved team on to their first ever appearance in a Superbowl four years later, it doesn't get any better than this. The Saints are actually going to the Superbowl!!!

The two teams were so evenly matched that the outcome of the game essentially came down to who would win the flip of the coin in overtime. Of course, the Saints and their fans deserve all the credit in the world for making it actually happen!

Can you imagine what New Orleans is going to be like between now and Mardi Gras, which happens this year on February 16, with the Superbowl being on February 7. As was said on our local news cast early this morning, "After last night's victory, there are going to be a lot of people calling in sick because they have "black and gold fever," over the next three weeks.