But He's Just a Great Big Pussycat!

A couple of days ago, the UPS man delivered a package that turned out to be a book sent to Jerry from a publisher. 

The author, who's written for the New York Times magazine among other publications,  had interviewed Jerry extensively a few years ago about the endangered butterfly, Lange's Metalmark, which is/was found at Antioch Dunes.

I flipped to the index to see if  Jerry's name was listed.

Oh, boy was it!

I flipped to the first set of pages and read this to Jerry..

"Jerry Powell is still a professor emeritus at Berkeley.  He is a stand-offish man of seventy-seven with a full head of white hair."

"It's gray!" Jerry protested.


I took issue with "stand-offish."

Then this, a quote from Jerry's pal Liam O'Brien, a San Francisco lepidopterist:

"He's got antifreeze in his blood in a curmudgeonly,  really fun way."

By now I was getting a bit hot under the collar, but Jerry just grinned and continued to grouse minorly about the white hair,

Then the author recounted an encounter he witnessed.

"One afternoon, I was working at Antioch Dunes with a group of high-ranking Fish and Wildlife Service employees when an old man suddenly appeared over a small ridge, walking briskly.  He wore a striped dress shirt and a fishing hat, with a pair of binoculars clipped to his belt.  Blood was running down his forearm--it look as though he'd opened up a network of scabs--but he didn't seem troubled by this.

Everyone in our party turned and stared:  people don't just walk around the Antioch Dunes; the refuge is usually closed to the public.  Then the refuge biologist, Susan Euing, said, 'That's Dr. Powell.'"

Old man!  Fishing hat (it's a field hat)!  The blood part is true--beat-up arms from poking around in scrub.  There's always blood on his field pants and shirt.  It's part of his field look.

Here's the cutie-pie they're talking about:

Even while dealing with the London Underground and a cranky wife.

Fine!

Remind me not to be interviewed by anyone.