Phenology in my Neighborhood

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Spring is a great time to start participating in citizen science phenology (study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors) via the Nature’s Notebook app. I selected an area that included my backyard and part of the common neighborhood area that included 5 plants I would begin monitoring: 2 Eastern Redbuds, a Red Buckeye, an American Beautyberry, and a Common Hackberry. The monitoring consists of looking at each plant every 3 days and marking the phenophases as yes or no. The list of phenophases for plants is:

  • Breaking leaf buds

  • Leaves

  • Increasing leaf size

  • Colored leaves

  • Falling leaves

  • Flowers or flower buds

  • Open flowers

  • Fruits

  • Ripe fruits

  • Recent fruit or seed drop

So far, the plants are in winter mode – so all the phenophases are marked ‘no.’ I am observing some changes in some of the plants and I’ve done a little photography to document their late winter look.

The 2 Eastern Redbuds are very different: one is very young and the other is old and lost some larger branches last year. All the buds are still very small on both trees. I took some pictures of lichen growing on the older tree…nothing to do with phenology of the redbud…but something to photograph while I was looking closely at the tree.

The Red Buckeye is a very young tree and probably won’t bloom this year, but the leaf buds are very large. It will be interesting to see how they develop. The ‘breaking leaf buds’ phase is when a green leaf tip becomes visible at the end of the bud. There is one that appears to be closer to that point than the others!

Update: The leaf buds had broken when I went to look on March 6th – just 2 days after I wrote this blog!!! All the other plants were still in winter mode. It was exciting to see the Red Buckeye leaves begin to emerge.

The American Beautyberry has tight buds that I keep thinking might be getting a little larger. The plant also has some dried berries from last season which don’t count for this year.

The Common Hackberry is also an older tree and might noy been entirely health; it lost a large limb last year and the woodpeckers seem to be working on the scar (maybe finding insects there). The tree has some dried leaves and fruit from last year. The buds are still very tight.

This is my first experience with a project like this. I will get to know these 5 plants very well!

Plastic Crisis - Actions at the Community Level – February 2026

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At the end of January, it seemed like my community level activities about plastics had started out at a bit faster than I anticipated….and I wondered if it would continue. February was a month of preparation for things that would happen in April and beyond; I didn’t anticipate that there would be plastic-related legislation to begin tracking too!  

There currently are two plastic-related bills filed in the Missouri House. Neither is on the House calendar but they both had ‘read second time’ action in February:

  • HB 3193 - Phases out the use of single-use plastic products at Missouri State Parks and Historic Sites

  • HB 3357 - Prohibits the sale of intravenous solution containers and intravenous tubing products intentionally made with DEHP

I will be following both; it will be my first experience with tracking something through the Missouri legislative process. Beyond Plastics Ozarks will have to decide how we want to include information about these in upcoming outreach activities.

Beyond Plastics Ozarks’ first tabling - outreach event will be in April – associated with an Earth Day music festival. I’ve requested copies of information sheets from Show-me Less Plastic and have ideas for additional handouts that are more locally focused. We’ll probably make a sign to advertise our ‘bring your own bag (BYOB)’ initiative that we’ll start at local farmer’s markets. I’m collecting rocks to keep handout pages secure on the table even if it is breezy.

I’ve been asked to do a presentation at the state conference for Master Gardeners on microplastics in June. I’ve gathered some presentation materials from others and will facilitate a brainstorming session that will develop some gardener specific ideas on reducing microplastics.

Having a plastics movie showing and lining up tabling at farmer’s markets is still on the Beyond Plastics Ozarks ‘to do’ list. It looks like the first 6 months of 2026 are going to be busy!

Spring Bulbs

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The early spots of color from spring bulbs are always welcome after the drabness of the winter palette. The area outside my office windows includes crocus and daffodils as the early bloomers with the green spears of iris leaves as a backdrop (the irises bloom later).

The daffodils are in the debris of last year’s violets and pine needles. I planted the bulbs a few years ago and they are increasing a little every year. I used a piece of black cardstock as background for one of the pictures.

The pine needle area has a mix of crocus and daffodils…more crocus at this point. The leaves of the crocus are thin enough that I often miss their presence until the flower appears!

This year the daffodils and crocus seemed to start their bloom together…with a lot of flowers opening on March 3rd!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 07, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

2/20/2026 BBC How ultra-processed foods affect our gut microbiome - The additives added to processed food to keep it fresher for longer might be having an unexpected effect on the health of the microbes in our guts. Research carried out on both animals and humans appears to pinpoint a direct link between emulsifiers and ill health. One French study of more than 100,000 adults in 2024 found those who were more exposed to emulsifiers had a greater risk of type 2 diabetes. Another study of more than 90,000 adults found a potential link between emulsifiers and breast and prostate cancers.

2/20/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Researchers Retrieve the Deepest-Ever Rock Core from Beneath Antarctica’s Ice. It Holds Clues About the Earth’s Past—and Future - The 748-foot-long sediment core contains a record of roughly the past 23 million years, including periods when the planet’s surface temperature was hotter than it is today.

2/20/2026 National Parks Traveler Tidal Basin Gets Hundreds of New Cherry Trees - Paid for by a generous donation from the nation of Japan, the trees represent the most recent chapter in this remarkable cultural exchange dating back to Japan's original gift of cherry trees in 1912.

2/19/2026 Science Daily New sodium ion battery stores twice the energy and desalinates seawater - Being able to use sodium vanadate hydrate in salt water is a really exciting discovery, as it shows sodium-ion batteries could do more than just store energy -- they could also help remove salt from water. In the long term, that means we might be able to design systems that use seawater as a completely safe, free and abundant electrolyte, while also producing fresh water as part of the process.

2/18/2026 The Guardian Hazardous substances found in all headphones tested by ToxFREE project - Bisphenol A (BPA) appeared in 98% of samples, and its substitute, bisphenol S (BPS), was found in more than three-quarters. Synthetic chemicals used to stiffen plastic, BPA and BPS mimic the action of estrogen inside organisms, causing a range of adverse effects including the feminization of males, early onset puberty in girls, and cancer. Previous studies have shown that bisphenols can migrate from synthetic materials into sweat, and that they can be absorbed through the skin. Given the prolonged skin contact associated with headphone use, dermal exposure represents a relevant pathway, and it is reasonable to assume that similar migration of BPA and its substitutes may occur from headphone components directly to the user’s skin.

2/17/2026 The Conversation Air pollution may directly contribute to Alzheimer’s disease – U.S. researchers tracked nearly 28 million older adults over six years nationwide. They found that those exposed to higher levels of fine particulate air pollution were more likely to develop Alzheimer’s. The US study used Medicare insurance claims to confirm Alzheimer’s diagnoses and area data by postcode for fine particle pollution levels. It also looked at other factors that could explain the link, such as the proportion of smokers or overweight people living in more or less polluted areas.

1/15/2026 Science Daily Scientists question the safety of BPA-free packaging - BPA-free is an incredibly misleading label. It usually means one bisphenol has been swapped for another, and there are more than 200 of them. Some may be just as harmful, or even worse. We need to test these compounds before they're widely adopted, not after.

2/11/2026 Archaeology Magazine What Caused Ancient People to Abandon a Fruitful Bison Hunting Site? - For around 700 years, Native people of the American Great Plains hunted bison at a site in central Montana that archaeologists call Bergstrom. Then, around 1,100 years ago, humans abandoned the site even though bison remained abundant in the area. Researchers discovered that drought caused the water supply to process the animals at the site dried up…forcing the hunters to move away.

2/23/2026 Planetizen California Seals 21 Urban Oil Wells in South LA After Decades of Activism – There are too many stories like this – why do we ever trust the oil companies to not walk way and leave a toxic mess? I’m glad the state is stepping in…but the companies that made money from the site over the years need to be held financially accountable.

2/23/2026 Science Daily Babies exposed to far more “forever chemicals” before birth than scientists knew - By using advanced chemical screening on umbilical cord blood, scientists detected 42 different PFAS compounds, including many that standard tests do not routinely check for. These long lasting chemicals are found in common products like nonstick cookware, food packaging, and stain resistant fabrics, and they can build up in the body over time. The study helps show that prenatal PFAS exposure is more complex and widespread than earlier studies suggested

eBotanical Prints – February 2026

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Twenty more books were added to my botanical print eBook collection in February – all are available for browsing on Internet Archive.   I continued working my way through the Carnivorous Plant Newsletters; there are 4 volumes per year so I only browsed late 1994 to 1999 in February; I’ll continue browsing this periodical in March.

I couldn’t resist 2 books I happened upon from the early 1800s by Elizabeth Warton….no photographs in those vintage books!

My list of eBotanical Prints books now totals 3,303 eBooks I’ve browsed over the years. The whole list can be accessed here.

Click on any sample image from February’s 20 books below to get an enlarged version…and the title hyperlink in the list below the image mosaic to view the entire volume where there are a lot more botanical illustrations to browse.

Enjoy the February 2026 eBotanical Prints!

British Seaweeds * Warton, Elizabeth and Margaret * sample image * 1827

British Flowers * Warton, Elizabeth and Margaret * sample image * 1811

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.23:no.3 (1994)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1994

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.23:no.4 (1994)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1994

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.24:no.1 (1995)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1995

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.24:no.2 (1995)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1995

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.24:no.4 (1995)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1995

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.25:no.1 (1996)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1996

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.25:no.2 (1996)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1996

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.25:no.3 (1996)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1996

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.25:no.4 (1996)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1996

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.26:no.1 (1997)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1997

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.26:no.2 (1997)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1997

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.26:no.3 (1997)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1997

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.26:no.4 (1997)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1997

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.27:no.1 (1998)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1998

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.27:no.2 (1998)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1998

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.27:no.3 (1998)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1998

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.27:no.4 (1998)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1998

Carnivorous plant newsletter v.28:no.1 (1999)  * California State University, Fullerton. Arboretum * sample image * 1999

Kousa Dogwood

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Our Missouri house came with a kousa dogwood – an Asian dogwood. It does not fit my ‘plant natives’ goal but I’m leaving it. During the winter, when its leaves are gone, I always notice that it has a nest or two in it, so it does provide shelter for breeding birds. I also like that it flowers and produces interesting seeds.

This spring I happened to take some closer looks at the terminal buds – noticed that they have a covering that splits in the spring – forming a little hat on the buds!

The hat eventually falls off, and the buds begin the process of enlarging and eventually opening. I’ll try to catch a series over the next few weeks to show what happens to the buds.

I am not doing formal phenology logging on the tree, but my monitoring for eastern redbuds, common hackberry, American beautyberry, and red buckeye has increased my awareness of the phenological phases of other plants. For example – my hybrid maple is blooming right now!

Table Rock Lake

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One of the Master Naturalist hikes that I planned was at the end of February – hosted by a person that lived near Table Rock Lake. It was a great day for a hike – not a wintery day at all!

There were winter trees to observe in the forest when we started our hike – sassafras, redbud, dogwood, eastern redcedar, honey locust….and a lot of dead ash trees. Anything that had bark sluffing off (or already missing) was probably an ash. Emerald Ash Borer is taking out Missouri’s ashes just as happened on the east coast before we moved from Maryland.

We also looked for minerals in the rocks during our downhill hike.

There were ledges of rock with water dripping in some areas. Moss is the greenest part of the forest this time of year.

When we got down to the lake, it was obvious that the water was low; hopefully the spring rains will begin to fill it again. There were gulls….and double crested cormorants that dramatically flew out of a nearby cove.

On the way back up the hill, we discovered a spring wildflower….coming up through the leaves on the path!

And there were some interesting shelf-fungus and lichens as well!

Road Trip to Texas – February 2026

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I made my monthly trip to Lewisville TX to visit with my dad near the end of the month. It was a more structured road trip than my usual. I stopped to meet my sister that had prepared his tax filing on my way down – since I am the one that must sign for him.

Once I got to the memory care facility, I had a meeting with a couple of staff members to work on some outstanding issues. He is starting his 5th month at the place, and I am a little frustrated that there are a few things that seem to not be as easily resolved (for example, they can’t seem to help him shave daily…and the stubble on his face is something he doesn’t like). On the plus side – they consistently cut is food so that it is easy for him to feed himself (something we had been unable to get done in his previous home).

I managed to visit with Dad too. We walked around the courtyard because the day was very pleasant – and then I accompanied him to the assisted living side of the place to visit with a friend and then do some PT in their gym.

Later in the day – about the time he went off to dinner, I joined a group of other families in a dementia support group. There were three other families…and a facilitator. It was a bit of a disappointment. My dad is about a decade older than the other residents that had family members at the meeting! I am realizing that, while he needs assistance for daily living, he is very easy to work with compared to some other situations.

The next morning, he seemed tired when I saw him after breakfast – maybe a result of the amount of activity from the previous afternoon. It was too cool to walk outside in the courtyard, but we did walk in the hallway. I noticed that there are a few St. Paterick’s Day decorations, but they are relatively subdued compared to the Thanksgiving – Christmas – Valentines decorations of the past few months.

I noticed some framed botanical prints in the hallway that I hadn’t noticed before. I wondered how many of these things he can appreciate with his eyesight declining so much in the past 6 months.

That thought continued when we got back to his room – does he know there is a pinwheel in his potted plant…that the tractor and beagle figure are on the dresser. There is a large screen television that we use to play a slideshow of outdoor places; he seems to notice that the picture is changing but can’t tell what the picture contains. The visual appeal of the environment is likely not as important to him now – but it does make it more pleasant for us when we visit!

Plastic Crisis: Milk

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My regular grocery store only had milk in plastic jugs and plastic lined cartons. That is not good since milk has enough fat to make the chemicals in the plastic more likely to leach into the milk. Recently by daughter noticed that there was an option of milk in glass bottles at her grocery store and I am trying it! There is a deposit on the glass bottle to encourage people to return them…and buy the milk again!

The milk is from a dairy located about an hour from Springfield MO. They use low temperature vat pasteurization; I read that many people with lactose intolerance can drink the milk without problems…and I am pleasantly surprised that it is true for me.  

While I don’t know the plastics that might be in the dairy processing, at least the packaging of the milk is in a reused glass bottle and the ability to drink it without taking a Lactaid is just another benefit. The only downside is that it is a bit more expensive; for me the benefits outweigh that expense.

Zentangle® – February 2026

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28 Zentangle tiles for February (not counting the 8 extra ones I posted just after Valentines).

I used plain cardstock – mostly black ink with a few bits of color using up some older Sharpie Ultra Fine pens. Now I am moving on to new set of gel pens for the color pops in March!

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 28, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

2/16/2026 Journal of Advanced Research Association between exposure to microplastics and lipid disorders: A case-control study – Study with 239 patients aged ≥18 years who underwent fiberoptic bronchoscopy with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) collected. Microplastics in BALF were identified and quantified using laser direct infrared spectroscopy. Fourteen main types of microplastics were detected in BALF with PE being dominant. Exposure to microplastics was associated with elevated levels of total cholesterol.

2/16/2026 National Parks Traveler A Day in the Park: Canyon de Chelly National Monument – This article reminded me of a visit to the park in 1983! We hiked the White House Trail, and I remember wading across a stream with the 4 of us holding hands just in case there was a pocket of quicksand. We managed to get through with neither of the two cameras getting dipped in the water.

2/13/2026 Science Daily Scientists make microplastics glow to see what they do inside your body - A new study proposes an innovative fluorescence-based strategy that could allow researchers to track microplastics in real time as they move, transform, and degrade inside biological systems.

2/15/2026 Our World in Data Four minutes of air conditioning - In at least 45 countries, the average residential electricity use per person for an entire day is less than the electricity that is required to power an air conditioner for one hour. In India, the daily electricity budget is sufficient for only 44 minutes of AC. In Nigeria, just 13 minutes; and in South Sudan, just 4. Most people in some of the world’s hottest countries do not use AC. The most recent data from the International Energy Agency suggests that just 5% of households in India, 6% in South Africa, and 16% in Brazil had air conditioning. In the very poorest countries, almost no one has it. In colder countries, we wouldn’t accept people freezing in their homes. The opposite is also true: we shouldn’t accept people working and living in oppressive heat without ways to cool themselves down.

2/15/2026 Planetization South Carolina Mapping Tool Tracks Marsh Migration From Sea Level Rise - A new mapping tool funded by the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation maps South Carolina’s shifting salt marshes, which are pushing inland as seawater levels rise. The mapping tool translates theoretical projections into actionable data. For a more detailed explanation and videos see the article on Governing.

1/23/2026 The Scientist Antibiotic Resistance Is Rising: 4 Trends Could Change That Course - Antibiotic resistance is sometimes framed as an inevitable catastrophe. But I believe the reality is more hopeful: Society is entering an era of smarter diagnostics, innovative therapies, ecosystem-level strategies and policy reforms aimed at rebuilding the antibiotic pipeline in addition to addressing stewardship. For the public, this means better tools and stronger systems of protection. For researchers and policymakers, it means collaborating in new ways. The question now isn’t whether there are solutions to antibiotic resistance – it’s whether society will act fast enough to use them.

2/11/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Ice Fishermen Catch Record-Breaking 244-Pound Atlantic Halibut After Hours-Long Struggle - The fish measured more than six and a half feet long and easily broke the previous record—194 pounds—for the largest halibut caught on the Saguenay, which had been set last winter. The record-breaking Saguenay fish was the 27th halibut hooked this winter as part of the research project. After organs are removed for study, the fishermen will get to keep and split roughly 170 pounds of meat.

2/16/2026 Science Daily Microplastics have reached Antarctica’s only native insect - Scientists have discovered that Belgica antarctica — a tiny, rice-sized midge and the southernmost insect on Earth — is already ingesting microplastics in the wild. While lab tests showed the hardy larvae can survive short-term exposure without obvious harm, those exposed to higher plastic levels had reduced fat reserves, hinting at hidden energy costs.

2/16/2023 Cool Green Science 8 of the World’s Little-Known Wildlife Migrations – Lots of different kinds of animals of this list!

2/16/2026 Yale Environment 360 Despite Rollbacks, U.S. Fossil Fuels Face Tough Road Ahead - The weakening of environmental regulations belies the downward trajectory for fossil fuels under President Trump. Today, the U.S. coal fleet is the smallest it has been in decades, having shrunk roughly in half since 2010. There are no new coal plants under construction. Oil is expected to stagnate as global production outpaces demand. Oil executives say the shale boom may be coming to an end. Natural gas remains a bright spot for U.S. fossil fuels as a recent boom in gas exports continues to drive demand for U.S. gas

Life Magazine in 1946

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Internet Archive has digitized versions of many Life Magazines. I have been browsing through them – slowly since there was an issue for each week. As I looked at the issues from 1946, I noticed a lot about veterans returning, application of technology from the war applied to civilian purposes, and tragedies of famine in places that World War II ravaged. There were hotel fires and flash floods…slums in cities – photography depicting the peace time news.

 (Click on any of the sample images below to see a larger version and the links to see the whole magazine online.)

 Life Magazine 1946-01-07 - Veterans at College

Life Magazine 1946-01-14 - La Guardia waves farewell to New York’s City Hall

Life Magazine 1946-01-21 - Polio

Life Magazine 1946-01-28 - First family portrait (the Trumans)

Life Magazine 1946-02-04 - Marion Anderson records

Life Magazine 1946-02-11 - Coca Cola and returning veterans

Life Magazine 1946-02-18 - Candy is Dandy – Keep it Handy (Valentines)

Life Magazine 1946-02-25 - Pearl Harbor Committee Report

 Life Magazine 1946-03-04 - Modern kitchen

Life Magazine 1946-03-11 - Ritz crackers

Life Magazine 1946-03-18 - Eiffel tower

Life Magazine 1946-03-25 - Industrial destruction left my Russians in Manchuria

Life Magazine 1946-04-01 - Fuller House

Life Magazine 1946-04-08 - Slums of New York

Life Magazine 1946-04-15 - Hyde Park opened to public

Life Magazine 1946-04-22 - Planes in Arizona dessert

Life Magazine 1946-04-29 - Packed with good taste (ad for gum)

 Life Magazine 1946-05-06 - Ice cream dixie (cups of ice cream)

Life Magazine 1946-05-13 - China famine

Life Magazine 1946-05-20 - Robin nest at the White House

Life Magazine 1946-05-27 - Test rockets in New Mexico

Life Magazine 1946-06-03 - Mr. and Mrs. Ford in 1898 Ford….the first Ford

Life Magazine 1946-06-10 - Flash floods on Susquehanna and Texas

Life Magazine 1946-06-17 - Chicago hotel fire kills 60 people

Life Magazine 1946-06-24 - Electricity (in kitchen) works for peanuts!

 Life Magazine 1946-07-01 - Atomic bomb test in the Marshalls

Life Magazine 1946-07-08 - US shows off flying wing

Life Magazine 1946-07-15 - Farm machines

Life Magazine 1946-07-22 - Empire State Building suicide

Life Magazine 1946-07-29 - US produces second biggest wheat crop in history

Life Magazine 1946-08-05 - New York at night

Life Magazine 1946-08-12 - British uncover hidden weapon in Jewish farm community

Life Magazine 1946-08-19 - Yellowstone

Life Magazine 1946-08-26 - France rebuilds her railroads

 Life Magazine 1946-09-02 - Glaciers in Alaska

Life Magazine 1946-09-09 - Archaeology in Arizona 

Life Magazine 1946-09-16 - Model airplanes

Life Magazine 1946-09-23 - Coca Cola after school

Life Magazine 1946-09-30 - Graphic depiction of LA traffic

Life Magazine 1946-10-07 - Crowded schools

Life Magazine 1946-10-14 - Nurnberg trial ends

Life Magazine 1946-10-21 - Houston

Life Magazine 1946-10-28 - Shell Agricultural Laboratory

 Life Magazine 1946-11-04 - Stranded whale (Long Island)

Life Magazine 1946-11-11 - The road back to Berlin

Life Magazine 1946-11-18 - Land of Yemen

Life Magazine 1946-11-25 - Synthetic rubber plant

Life Magazine 1946-12-02 - Margaret Wise Brown

Life Magazine 1946-12-09 - Nazi brains help US

Life Magazine 1946-12-16 - Worst hotel fire in US (Atlanta GA)

Life Magazine 1946-12-23 - Christmas Rush

Life Magazine 1946-12-30 - Europe’s children

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2026

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I celebrated getting outdoors in February and a flurry of education related activities!

Melting snow. We had snow on the ground for the last week of January and into February. We all celebrated when it finally melted although it was pretty as long as one didn’t have to get out and about.

Cranberry orange relish. I used my last frozen cranberries to make cranberry orange relish – savored the flavor….and will miss it until the cranberries are in the stores again in the fall.

Ozark Witch Hazel blooming. My small Ozark Witch Hazel I planted last spring is blooming. It retained its leaves so the blooms were a little difficult to see.

Missouri fish and amphibian webinars. There were two webinars that were a pleasant surprise in February – they were very well done.

Salmon salad. I celebrated the flavors of salmon, pear, and cabbage with a lemon honey olive oil dressing – with a feisty lime blend of seasonings.

Training for master naturalists. I celebrated that the training plan for the new cohort of Missouri Master Naturalists in our area seems to be coming together. It looked daunting at first.

Macro and high key flower photography. I celebrated a winter photography project – a purchased bouquet on the windowsill in my office.

Ecoregion maps of Missouri. Looking at maps from an out-of-print Atlas was interesting and I celebrated how great they will fit into a presentation for the master naturalist training next fall – the module I will be presenting.

Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield. I celebrated the longest hike of the month – interesting place for birds and habitats…and also thinking about history and the way it looked during the Civil War.

Plastics and human health webinar.  I heard a webinar on the same topic with the same speaker from a year ago – and realized that this topic is progressing rapidly. I celebrated that she’ll likely continue to present webinars and include new information.

Zooming – February 2026

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The images from this month were all close to home: my yard, my neighborhood, Wilson’s Creek National Battlefield, and Lake Springfield Greater Ozarks Audubon Trail. There was a mix of snow and winter images….the beginnings of spring. There would have been more places if the big snow had not cancelled two hikes that had originally been planned for February! Enjoy the zoomed images of my times outdoors during this month!

Stockton State Park

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I enjoyed a hike at Stockton State Park with another Master Naturalist on a cold Saturday! We made a 1.7 mile loop on the Umber Ridge Trail. It was a good choice for winter with lake views through the winter trees.

Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

There was a vine on a trunk (maybe poison ivy?)…and I noticed quite a few trees in the immediate vicinity with the same type vine.

We took the downhill ramp to the beach area and I experimented photographing the pebbles and sand. I was relieved that were no colorful plastic bits there (although they could have been too small for my camera to capture). The beach could be used for a geology tutorial (although some of the rocks higher on the beach were clearly brought into the area).

At several points along the trail, we noticed long curly pods of honey locust on the ground and looked around to find the trees with big thorns nearby). There didn’t appear be too many thorns on the ground – even though our hiking boots would have probably protected our feet. Later we saw some black locust pods…so both species are found in the park.

There were many logs that looked burnt – mostly from controlled burns probably. In some areas the fire had been long enough ago that moss was already green on the log again.

We could have changed the hike to be partly on the road but opted to stick to the trail with rocks and roots! I used my hiking poles and my back didn’t hurt….maybe I can get the same effect with only one pole. It would make it easier to take pictures. I’ve learned to use the loops on the poles but having two to keep attached to me while I am trying to use my camera is awkward.

The trek to get to the park from my house is about 1.5 hours each way…and takes about ¼ a tank of gas. I still might do it again in the spring when the trees will be leafing out….maybe take my daughter and have lunch afterward. The park is evidently very popular in the summer with lots of activity on the lake; I think I will stick with non-summer visits to this park!

Plastic Crisis: Creating a ‘Reduce your Microplastic Exposure’ Mind Map

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One of the first mind maps I worked on after purchasing the MindNode app was about reducing microplastic exposure. It was a good way to collect my thoughts and learn the tool. I am gearing up for spring and early summer tabling and talks on plastics – feeling the need to get organized and hone the way I deliver the message!

The mind map is still a work in progress – I still don’t have anything about household cleaners or water filtering (for drinking and maybe for shower). The things I feel are the biggest issues (heat/plastic/food and synthetic textiles) are there, but they may get more detail over time. I haven’t figured out where to put ditching the plastic cutting board. My goal is to create one page mind maps on various perspectives of the plastics issue and either use them directly as conversation starters or translate them into other forms for presentation.

It feels good to be creating mind maps again and I like MindNode. Years ago – during my career (over 15 years ago) – I created a lot of mind maps using MindManager but it is now too expensive for individuals (and overly complex for what I need)!

Lake Springfield Greater Ozarks Audubon Trail

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I had a form to drop off at the Lake Springfield Boathouse on a sunny day when the temperature was in the upper 50s. I opted to take the Greater Ozarks Audubon Trail to the overlook  (the trail head is just past the boathouse).

I took a picture of sycamore near the edge of the water. It still had a lot of seeds from last season.

The trail is up ledges of rock….gentle steps most of the time.

Most of the trees are deciduous but there are quite a few eastern redcedars there too. I zoomed in to take a collection moss and redcedar on fallen log – an intimate landscape.

At the top there is an overlook of Lake Springfield. I didn’t stay long because there were other people waiting to enjoy the scene too.

I walked down the hill and saw some honey locust pods on the ground…looked up to see the thorns in the tree! Nearer my car, I noted goose (?) prints in the area at the edge of the parking lot. There were a lot of Canada geese around!

I remembered that there were mallows down near the water’s edge…their seed pods were open and empty.

The last time I was on this trail was in Fall 2024 when I took the Identifying Woody Plants class; it was hot that day and my back was hurting for the entire hike. This time I did it with my hiking poles and didn’t have any problem at all!

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 21, 2026

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The items below were ‘the cream’ of the articles and websites I found this past week. Click on the light green text to look at the article.

2/2/2026 York Daily Record Mountains of plastic turf in limbo after Pa. recycling project falters - A Danish company's plan to build an artificial turf recycling plant in Pennsylvania has failed due to bankruptcy. The state is now responsible for cleaning up thousands of tons of abandoned turf stockpiled across three counties. The abandoned turf, which may contain "forever chemicals," will now be sent to a landfill instead of being recycled.

2/8/2026 Clean Technica Why China’s Aluminum Industry May Have Reached Peak CO2 - Relocation to hydro regions is largely complete. Secondary aluminum is rising into double digit millions of tons. Coal heavy output has already peaked and begun to edge down. Renewable penetration in coal regions continues to rise. Reversing this trend would require renewed growth in coal-based smelting or a collapse in recycling, neither of which fits China’s industrial or energy trajectory.

2/9/2026 BBC Fungi mining and giant waste piles: How to get rare earths without mining rock -Gigantic heaps of coal ash, mine tailings and red mud are traditionally expensive and difficult to deal with. But if new processes allow rare earth harvesters to engage in remediation while hoovering up rare earths, then industry and environmentalists might no longer be at odds over what to do about all that waste.

2/8/2026 Science Daily Scientists finally solve a 100-year-old mystery in the air we breathe - The new model offers a stronger foundation for understanding how airborne irregularly shaped nanoparticles (like soot, microplastics, viruses) move across a wide range of scientific fields. These include air quality monitoring, climate modeling, nanotechnology, and medicine. The approach could improve predictions of how pollution spreads through cities, how wildfire smoke or volcanic ash travels through the atmosphere, and how engineered nanoparticles behave in industrial and medical applications.

2/6/2026 Archaeology Magazine Aqueduct at Early Italian Villa Explored - Based on the construction method of this hydraulic system, it might have been originally created to serve a rural village predating the construction of the villa, during a period before the Romans had fully solidified their control over this region of Italy.

2/4/2026 Yale Environment 360 Seas to Rise Around the World — but Not in Greenland - The reasons are twofold. 1)  the massive Greenland ice sheet, which at its center is roughly a mile thick, compresses the land underneath. As the ice melts, the land rebounds, rising above the sea. 2) the Greenland ice sheet is so large that it exerts a gravitational pull on surrounding waters, drawing them higher. But in a warming Arctic, Greenland is shedding some 200 billion tons of ice a year. As its gravitational pull wanes, waters recede.

2/5/2026 Smithsonian Magazine Air Pollution Can Cause Some Ants to Turn on One Another—and Neglect Their Young - As insect populations decline around the world, the findings further point to air pollutants as a possible cause, in addition to pesticides, light pollution and other factors. The work is especially important given the crucial role ants play in maintaining healthy habitats, such as dispersing seeds, controlling pests and aerating soil.

2/4/2025 Cool Green Science Reading the Tree Rings – Great photographs by Greg Kahn for this article. One of the labs visited for the article was the Laboratory of Tree-Ring Research at the University of Arizona that I visited when my daughter was a graduate student in Tucson in 2015 (my blog post about it here).

2/4/2026 Compound Interest World Cancer Day: How antibody–drug conjugates for cancer work - Our ability to use medicines to target more effectively is improving, and antibody–drug conjugates are an increasingly effective tool in combating cancers. This graphic explains what they are, how they work, and how they might improve in the future.

2/4/2026 National Parks Traveler Florida’s Ailing Reef - The reef is fighting for its very survival, beset by the trauma of climate change and warming water, commercial and recreational fishing, and drainage pollution coming from Florida’s canal system.

More Stories of the Three Little Pigs

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Project Gutenberg has More Stories of the Three Little Pigs published in 1921 (a decade before my mother and father were born) and part of the Instructor Literature Series from F.A. Owen Publishing Company. It was written by Sarah Grames Clark and Illustrated by Bess Bruce Cleaveland. As I browsed the book I wondered if either of my parents saw it during their elementary school years.

 More Stories of the Three Pigs

High Key Flowers

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The day after the rainy-day macro flowers….the sun was out and I enjoyed creating another round of photos of my store-bought flowers – this time High Key images. These are made with bright light behind the flowers and using the zoom on my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) to compose the image. It’s a very different perspective on the flowers.

The yellow rose bud floating in water in a blue tulip glass cup was my first subject. Sometimes I like the softer focus images! I was sad when I got the bouquet home and discovered the stem on one of the rose buds was broken – but it still looks lovely floating in water and has unfurled a bit.

I took 6 other images of the flowers in the bouquet. I simply left them all in the vase on the windowsill and isolated flowers by zooming in close. I was sitting halfway across the room with the camera stabilized on my knee! Sometimes a bit of the window screen behind the flowers is visible but I decided it was not distracting enough to bother me.