Zooming (and Macro) – December 2023

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There was not as much time for photography this past month; I am combining macro (getting close) and zoomed (optical magnification) images in this post.

The macro images go first. The yellow cosmos were part of a small bouquet I cut and put in mini-vase for the middle of my parents’ breakfast table. They enjoyed the enlarged view that I showed them just after I photographed them. The leaves are probably the last new ones of the season on a rose bush that has been blooming next to their garage for over 30 years!

The leaves on a millet plant (came up under the bird feeder!) are interesting as they begin their end-of-season decline.

The zoomed images for December included some birds and plants at Josey Ranch, fall foliage, and zoomed images of glass orbs in yard art…the last flowers in the garden.

In the coming months – the stainless steel iris will be the highlight of the garden!

In the coming months – the stainless steel iris will be the highlight of the garden!

Fox Squirrels

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The fox squirrels are very active in my parents’ backyard this time of year – chittering in the high branches, chasing each other around the treetops and along the fence tops (spiraling up and down the trunks)…dashing through the thick vegetation in the garden and a row of low bushes that separates the yard from the driveway.  This is the time of year the squirrels are enjoying the bounty of fall food….and increasing their interaction to produce the next generation of fox squirrels!

The squirrels ate the best parts of a bowl of scorched popcorn I threw into the garden within 24 hours!

They are more fun to watch than the birds!

Josey Ranch – December 2023

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I took a walk around the larger pond and small garden at Josey Ranch a week ago.

The first birds I noticed were cormorants – very active on the water (finding fish) and in the air.

Most of the ruddy ducks were snoozing…bobbing in the water.

A group of buffleheads were fishing….then spent a lot of time preening.

There were several coots

And I was thrilled when one of them came up onto the bank and I was close enough get good images of their feet! They are so unusual.

The scaups are around but not in as large numbers as last year.

The resident swans were asleep on the back as they have been every time I have visited recently. Are they elderly swans?

There were a few late flowers in the small garden; there has not been a hard frost in Carrollton yet.

Where are the northern shovelers? Maybe they are still further north? Usually they are present at Josey Ranch by November…but not this year.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 23, 2023

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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.

Houses built to survive floods - The Manobo indigenous people live and thrive on a vast wetland in the Philippines – despite dealing with dozens of storms and floods per year. Their homes are built on floating platforms as a traditional way of coping with regular floods and storms, and the method proved resilient even in the face of aexceptionally powerful typhoon.

Hunter-Gatherer Childcare Studied - The infants of ancient hunter-gatherers were likely to have received attentive care and physical contact for approximately nine hours a day from about 15 different caregivers. Working with modern hunter-gatherers (the Mbendjele BaYaka who now live in what is now the Republic of Congo), researchers found that the children often have more than 10 caregivers, and sometimes more than 20. These people, including older children and adolescents, support the mother in responding to more than half of her baby’s cries, resulting in improved maternal rest and well-being and thus enhanced maternal care.

Why Does Everything Taste Like Chicken? - Comprised of white muscle fibers, chicken breast and wings rely more on glycogen than myoglobin since they are specialized for more sporadic and brief energy demands. Likewise, unique meats such as frogs and alligators are also considered white meat. They boast a leaner meat profile, a palatable flavor, and a chicken-like texture.

Socio-cultural practices may have affected sex differences in stature in Early Neolithic Europe - Biological effects of sex-specific inequities can be linked to cultural influences at least as early as 7,000 yr ago, and culture, more than environment or genetics, drove height disparities in Early Neolithic Europe.

People Can Be Prescribed “Photography” as a Mental Health Treatment in the UK – “Once a GP or healthcare professional refers a patient to the “Photography on Prescription” program, they will be granted access to photography equipment and masterclasses by Wex, with the intention of giving them the tools to improve their mental health.” What a great idea! It appears that the classes from Wex are available on YouTube!

Gelatine: The ingredient with the wonder wobble - Gelatine, made from the connective tissues of animal parts, is an unlikely staple ingredient. A thousand years ago in Iraq, when the cookbook containing the recipe was written, party guests might have welcomed a slice of the jiggling substance, much the way the attendees of a Tupperware party in Omaha in 1963 would have tucked into a brilliant green molded Jell-O larded with canned mandarin orange slices. Gelatine is made by boiling the bones and connective tissue of animals, breaking down the protein known as collagen. The proteins released by the process will cling together at room temperature, but if they are mixed with hot water and then allowed to cool, the water is threaded through the network they form. Different concentrations of the proteins will yield different firmness of the final gel.

Massive Ancient Mosaic Floor Discovered in Turkey -  A large floor mosaic covering some 6,400 square feet has been uncovered in central Anatolia, in a Roman villa dated to the fourth century A.D.

These Are the Best Northern Lights Photos of 2023 – Color in the sky. My favorite is the one full of greens titled “Circle of Life.”

How ancient civilizations dealt with trauma - Just a year after the Norman conquest, a group of bishops got together to create an unusual list - a set of instructions for those who had participated in the bloodshed – setting out the repentant actions they should perform to atone for their deeds. To help veterans avoid trauma and give them tools to deal with it, medieval societies relied heavily on religion. There were prayers and blessings from priests before battles, and penances allowed veterans to absolve themselves of any atrocities they had committed. Later, during the Crusades, people were told that entering into war was a holy act itself, and could do away with all your previous transgressions. the Ancient Romans invested heavily in getting the proper permission from the gods for their wars. In the ancient world, as today, war often spilled over into the world of the general public – leading to rape, torture, slavery, theft, murder and the mass displacement of people, with entire cities razed to the ground.

Incredible Winners of the 2023 Environmental Photographer of the Year Highlight Our Planet’s Climate Struggles – Some of these are disturbing. “Corals at night” is my favorite and is the closest to a nature photography picture.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 16, 2023

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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.

The World’s Oldest Living Land Animal, a Tortoise Named Jonathan, Turns 191 – He lives on St. Helena (the small island in the Atlantic where Napoleon Bonaparte died). He has lost his sense of smell and is virtually blind from cataracts, but his appetite is good!

Extreme Weather Inflicting Higher Costs but Fewer Deaths – Improved warning systems have been key to reducing the loss of life from cyclones, floods, and fires. Kudos to the governments that have implemented them. Hopefully Africa will be able to increase their weather stations and early warning systems…catch up with other parts of the world.

25 Incredible Photos in the Running for Wildlife Photographer of the Year People’s Choice Award – Which one is your favorite? Mine is the ‘happy turtle’ with the dragonfly on his nose.

Here’s What Can Cause Itchiness – Interesting….Staphylococcus aureus could the culprit for some people with eczema….maybe resulting in effective treatment/relief.

Nēnē: The Recovery of the Hawaiian Goose - Today, there are some 3,200 nēnē in the wild. By almost any measure, it’s a stunning conservation success. The threats of habitat fragmentation and invasive predators are omnipresent, so the birds need constant attention from conservationists and wildlife managers. Currently, there are populations on Hawai’i, Kaua’i, Maui and Molokai.

Secrets of the Catacombs - A subterranean necropolis offers archaeologists a rare glimpse of Rome’s early Jewish community. More than 60 catacombs, amounting to hundreds of miles of passages, have been identified beneath the Rome; they were the common approach to burial from the second through fifth century AD. Villa Torlonia, discovered in 1919, was the sixth, and so far the last, Jewish catacomb to be found in Rome and is one of just two accessible today. The catacomb’s passageways are lined with nearly 4,000 shelves carved into the walls to hold the dead. Many of the names of the deceased are still visible, generally painted on or carved into stucco used to seal the graves, along with blessings to rest in peace and other inscriptions. In a few places, the catacomb’s narrow passageways open into atriums where colorful frescoes decorate the vaulted ceilings and many of the arched recesses. In addition to menorahs, these frescoes feature Jewish motifs such as a holy ark to house Torah scrolls; shofars, ram’s-horn trumpets blown on religious holidays; and lulavs, palm branches waved during the festival of Sukkot, which celebrates the harvest season. There are also geometric designs and illustrations of peacocks, roosters, flowers, and fruit trees, possibly meant to depict paradise.

Wild Kiwis Born Near New Zealand’s Capital for the First Time in More Than 150 Years – Another bird conservation success in this week’s gleanings!

New Thoughts on Neanderthal Hunters - Neanderthals may have gathered in large groups to hunt and consume an elephant, and they may also have been able to preserve and store such a large amount of food.

Rare, White Alligator Born at Florida Wildlife Park - The leucistic reptile was born at Gatorland, a 110-acre park located south of downtown Orlando. The new gators are descendants of a group of leucistic alligators found in a Louisiana swamp in 1987. Since 2008, three of those Louisiana gators have been living at Gatorland.

500 year old hand grenades (China) – 59 spherical projectiles discovered in a storeroom along the Great Wall near the popular Badaling section. They were made of stone and had been drilled with holes that could be filled with gunpowder and sealed, creating an explosive effect when hurled at an enemy.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 9, 2023

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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.

Restored Glass Negatives Capture Daily Life in 19th-Century New England – Photographs taken from the 1860s to 1930s….Massachusetts…different photographers.

As Temperatures Rise, Dengue Fever Spreads and Cases Rise – The mosquitos that carry dengue viruses are extending their range. There were 0.5 million cases in 2000…5.2 million in 2019. In recent years, dengue has popped up in places it had never been seen, including Afghanistan, parts of Southern Europe, and, this year, Chad. An additional 2 billion people would be at risk of dengue exposure by 2080, compared to 2015. Areas unfamiliar with dengue may be hard hit even if case numbers aren’t high as people won’t have immunity from previous exposure to the virus, and public health systems may not be strong enough to cope with dengue outbreaks.

The World’s Largest Iceberg Is Drifting Three Miles Into the Ocean Each Day - The world’s largest iceberg, which had been grounded on the seafloor since the mid-1980s, is moving away from Antarctica and picking up speed. It could disrupt the foraging of seals, penguins and other seabirds. Called A23a, the iceberg measures around 1,500 square miles—more than 20 times the size of Washington, D.C.—and it’s roughly 1,300 feet thick, making it two and one-third times the height of the Washington Monument. It weighs nearly one trillion metric tons.

Landscape Photography Awards Rewards Authenticity in Photography – My favorite was “Little Leaves”….maybe because it didn’t have time to see a lot with fall foliage this year.

Expansive Alexander Calder Exhibition Opens in Seattle – Take a look at the museum’s site for the exhibit at well.

Bird Photography Contest Celebrates the Unique Diversity of Australia’s Wildlife - Nine winners were singled out for their work, rising above more than 6,000 images that were submitted. My favorite of this group is “Jambalaya on the Bayou.”

Volcano Monitoring Can Be A Risky Business: How Scientists Work Safely - Common PPE used in the field by HVO staff include respirators to filter volcanic gases, gas badges to monitor sulfur dioxide (SO2) concentrations, along with helmets and eye protection.  When molten lava sampling, crews will carry a face shield, fire-resistant clothing, and gloves to protect the wearer from radiating heat.

Best of 2023: Top 42 Photographs From Around the World – I have two favorites in this group of photos: the bald eagles and the dancing mantises!

African Penguins Tell Each Other Apart by Their Polka Dot Patterns – Evidently the chest plumage is unique to each bird….and the birds recognize the dots of their partners!

Photographer Chronicles the Enchanting Life of a Wild Red Fox for 8 Months – A Hungarian photographer’s project at his cottage in the forest after he noticed a fox running under the window one night.

2023 in a Carrollton Yard

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My parents’ yard in Carrollton is almost overflowing with plants. They have accumulated over the years. Many of them are from seeds/cuttings/gifts from extended family…my paternal grandmother’s sisters (pink maiden sage), my father’s cousin (a 30+ year old rose bush), my maternal grandparents gardens (cannas), sunflowers that started from a granddaughter’s kindergarten ‘flower in a cup’ project more than 20 years ago, and orange spider lilies that came up in one of my sisters yards when she bought her house more than 30 years ago. One of my sisters does most of the maintenance these days…to the joy of my parents. My dad helps with mowing the yard (this month is more ‘mowing the leaves’ rather than grass)!

The year started out very cold with heavy frost on the first mornings of the year.

The quince blooms early…a splash of color near the fence. The bird feeder attracts birds that can easily be viewed from the garden room. Bulbs and dandelions mark the warming temperatures of spring. The cosmos and red yucca bloom all through the season. The 2023 summer was challenging with a longer than usual period of very hot days with no rain. Some plants survived with the water from sprinklers, but others died back (hopefully will return next spring). The naked lady lilies put up their fonds early then bloom in midsummer. The spider lilies are late bloomers too. The cosmos lasted through most of November. And now in December – the seedpods of red yucca and chives provide texture as the winter begins. We are beginning to see some of the garden ornaments that were buried in foliage previously!

My parents have lived in their house for 33 years and the garden area of the yard has evolved over time. The rose bush purchased for my Grandmother’s 80th birthday in 1992 still blooms in the spring and fall!

2023 at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge

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I made stops at Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge on my way to and from Carrollton all during the year. On the way down, I arrived around noon; on the way home, it was just after sunrise.

Seeing/photographing birds is the big draw for my visits. I spend an hour or so moving slowly down the central wildlife tour road…sometimes taking a side road. I use my car as a blind and roll the window down when I see birds. My camera is on a monopod collapsed down to its shortest length. Most of the time I brace it in the cup holder between the front seats…tilt the head to get the image I want.

In the winter there are flocks of snow geese (and Ross’s geese) along with Northern Shovelers and Pintails. White Faced Ibis and American White Pelicans are seen during migrations. Egrets (snowy, cattle, great) are numerous in the spring and summer; I enjoyed an early morning seeing/hearing them on one of the ponds where they had obviously spent the night. Great Blue Herons are around all the time although are most numerous in the summer when the young are beginning life on their own. Red-winged blackbirds are year-round residents but murmurations of the birds are seen in the fall as they move about eating the mature seeds of the prairie plants. I saw Neotropic Cormorants for the first time this year.

Of course there are other things to photograph too – prairie type flowers, drift wood, insects, sunrise. This year I noticed a cluster of Queen butterflies in July…didn’t see many Monarchs until the fall when they were probably migrating. The butterflies were photographed in the butterfly garden near the refuge’s visitor center – along with a grasshopper! I was surprised to see a dragonfly perched on a plant so close to the car that I was able to photograph it during my drive down the wildlife loop!

Hagerman has become one of my favorite places in Texas…and I will continue to stop there as often as I can.

2023 at Josey Ranch

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I am starting a series of posts that feature slideshows of pictures accumulated during 2023 of some favorite places that I visit almost every month. This post about the ponds and Pocket Prairie at Josey Ranch in Carrollton is the first in the series.

The changing of the birds over the course of the seasons: northern shovelers, scaups, widgeons, and coots in the cold months…baby birds (like geese) in the spring and juvenile birds (grackles and little blue heron) later in the warm months. The birds around all the time are swans, great egrets, mallards, and great blue herons. Bluebirds, grebes and cormorants are not seen frequently….are a pleasant surprise when they are around.

Josey Ranch is an easy place for me to get a nature fix….and enjoy some photography too. Some of my favorite photos are from an early morning jaunt in the summer…the light around a great blue heron and a swan sleeping on the water…a special moment that created a different sort of image.

The flowers bloom in the warmer months although last summer many flowers cooked in the long period of very hot weather without any rain. In the fall – the dried husks of seeds/stems is often photogenic too.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 2, 2023

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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.

Scientists found hundreds of toxic chemicals in recycled plastics - More than 13,000 chemicals used in plastics with 25% classified as hazardous. Numerous studies show that hazardous chemicals can accumulate even in relatively close-loop plastic recycling systems. We need to rapidly phase-out plastic chemicals that can cause harm to human health and the environment.

Giant Sequoias Are in Big Trouble. How Best to Save Them? - Giant sequoias are, by volume, the largest trees in the world, indigenous only to California. Reaching heights of 300 feet, they occur in 80 groves or grove complexes along the western flank of the Sierra Nevada mountains in Central California. Many of these trees live for thousands of years: The oldest sequoia is more than 3,200 years old. In North America, only bristlecone pines grow longer. The 2020 and 2021 fire seasons were a wake-up call: flames had killed between 13 and 19 percent of all giant sequoias more than 4 feet in diameter, and many trees were far larger.

Batteries of the future? How cotton and seawater might power our devices - In markets where consumers appear to really care about the sustainability of the products they buy, appropriately sourced alternative battery materials might have more of a chance – whether batteries are made with biowaste-derived carbon or any other potentially more sustainable substance. The public could play a big role in really pushing that effort forward.

Designing cities for 21st-century weather – A data-driven model to predict how urban areas across the country will grow by 2100 found that how a city is laid out or organized spatially has the potential to reduce population exposures to future weather extremes. Carefully designed urban land patterns cannot completely erase increased population exposures to weather extremes resulting from climate change, but it can generate a meaningful reduction of the increase in risks.

Stunning 2,700-Year-Old Sculpture Unearthed in Iraq – 18 tons of alabaster. 2,700 years old. 12.5x12.8 feet. Largely intact except for its head which is missing.

Larger Beaks, Smaller Bodies: Could Climate Change Literally Change Birds? – A study analyzed 129 species of North American migratory birds collected over the prior 40 years and found bodies are shrinking and wings growing longer. Smaller species of birds, like tiny warblers or kinglets, shrink faster than bigger birds like robins and grackles, so their rate of change over the 40 years, is much, much faster. They’re able to maybe adapt to warming temperatures faster than these bigger birds.

A step closer to injection-free diabetes care: Innovation in insulin-producing cell – Potential this safer and more reliable way to grow insulin-producing cells from a patient's own blood could eventually allow transplants without the need for anti-rejection drugs.  

The Life and Death of American Dams - Many dams are now poorly maintained, clogged with silt, and pose an increasingly high risk of catastrophic failure. The recent recognition of the damage dams cause and the movement to remove them is part of the rewilding of America, long overdue.

An exotic tick that can kill cattle is spreading across Ohio – Asian longhorned ticks. The size of a sesame seed in some life stages and pea-sized when engorged. Surveillance showed they returned the following summer to the farm despite the application of pesticides in 2021. Asian longhorned ticks' secret colonization weapon is the ability to reproduce asexually, with each female laying up to 2,000 eggs at a time -- and all 2,000 of those female offspring able to do the same.

How Urban Design Impacts Public Health – Urban planning and design affects everything from air quality to temperature to risk of injury on roadways. Often with developers of public spaces it’s a sin of omission rather than of commission. In many cases, what is rarely apparent is what the health cost is, because that cost is born in a different sector and often at a different time.

Ten Little Celebrations – November 2023

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November has been a more emotional month that usual…there are some little celebrations on my list for the month that seem normal….but others that reflect the rapid changes occurring with one of my parents.

90+ birthday. Both of my parents are approaching their mid-90s and my family tries to celebrate each birthday (realizing that it could be the last). The one that happened in November was celebrated over 3 days to avoid exhausting them both. I got to be there for all three days since I stay in their home when I am in Carrollton.

Birds at the feeder (after we unclogged them). I unclogged bird feeders at both Carrollton and my home in Missouri…celebrated when the birds quickly discovered that the seed was available again.

A cool sunny day. I had grass and leaves to mow…celebrated the sunny afternoon that was not too cold for the activity. It was one of the most enjoyable mowing experiences of the season!

Twigs burned/millet planted. I had other yard work to accomplish as part of fall clean up in my yard and there was an excellent day to get it done. I burned the accumulated twigs (savoring the heat produced) and put the millet seed heads in strategic places so that (maybe) plants will grow next summer. My husband helped me store all the tools that had been out under the deck for quick access during the summer. We both celebrated the completion of our preparations for winter.

A good nap today. I drove from Missouri to Carrollton the day after my parent entered the hospital and immediately went to the hospital to stay with them overnight. My sister arrived the next morning to spend the next 24 hours helping the parent in the hospitals and I managed to drive to my parents’ house….and celebrated another sister being there to fix lunch so that I could nap. I went completely to sleep…got a full 90 minute sleep cycle in 100 minutes….celebrated feeling so much better afterward.

Bluebird at Josey Ranch. Seeing the bluebird at Josey Ranch was a boost to my mental outlook. I celebrated that I was savvy enough to know that nature often does that for me…and to stop at Josey Ranch on my way from the hospital to my parents’ house.

A parent coming home from the hospital. The sunrise I noticed at the hospital was a good start on the day my parent was projected to come home from the hospital. I celebrated the beauty at the beginning of the day…glad that the homecoming occurred later in the day.

The home health nurse coming for a 1st visit. I celebrated that we got a visit from the home health nurse on the Friday after Thanksgiving (i.e. we didn’t have to wait for the week after Thanksgiving)!

The time I have with my parents now….being in the present. I celebrate the time I am having with both parents now. Appreciating joys in every day shared with them.

Thanksgiving. The holiday was very different this year. I spent it with my parents and having various family bring special foods throughout the weekend rather than one huge meal. Gratitude is integrated with all my other emotions right now…and I celebrate that it is. It makes everything else easier.

Zooming – November 2023

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November 2023 was a month of contrasts…an increase in day trips (to the Springfield Botanical Garden and Butterfly Palace in Branson) and then the more confined views while a parent was in the hospital/recovering at home. Photography is something I enjoy in almost every circumstance. I am either trying to capture a moment or create an artistic composition. And the zoom feature on my cameras are almost always used!

Beautyberry in the Fall

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The only scenic stop I made on my unexpected trip down to Carrollton TX was at the Texas Welcome Center (on US 69/7 just after crossing the Red River from Oklahoma)….to see how beautyberry looks in the fall. The leaves on the bushes were thinning…turning yellow and falling in quick succession. The berries are still thick on the stems. I wondered how long they will last after the wildlife (birds) begin to eat them. Will they be like holly trees suddenly not having any  berries any more after a flock of birds (like cedar waxwings) come through? I’ll continue to check the beautyberry bushes every time I pass by the Texas Welcome Center.

A short escape into nature

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On the way back to my parents house after a 24 hour stint with my parent in the hospital, I stopped by Josey Ranch (in Carrollton TX) for an escape into nature.

The first bird I saw was a bluebird! Whether or not it was a good omen – it was a great boost to my mood.

I thought at first that there were only scaups on the water.

But then I noticed the coots…and that one of them was smaller than the others. Was it a juvenile? The grass that had grown in the pond over the summer when the water level was low is now flooded and the coots seem to love eating it.

And then a grebe swam by near the coots.

I photographed the sleeping swans with some grebes feeding in the grass nearby.

It was only a short escape from focus on what was happening at the hospital and at my parents’ home…but time well spent for sustaining a positive mental outlook.

Hospital Thoughts

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Supporting someone in the hospital is high stress…but there is a lot of waiting that allows for contemplation as well. The blog post is gleaned from those quiet times between flurries of activity/trauma when my parent was in the hospital.

Observing medical professions – techs of various kinds, nurses, doctors – is always a learning experience. Going into learning mode is a better way to engage than adversarial….and expressing appreciation helps everyone through a difficult time.

There is art in the most public areas of the hospital…and I always notice it…realize that I appreciate the snippets of beauty/uniqueness along the way in and out of the hospital that can, momentarily, distract me from the stress of the place.

The view from the hospital room is also a distraction. This time it included a helipad! My sister saw one land during the night (mostly heard it rather than saw it) but then I got to see one land the next afternoon. It was the big excitement of the afternoon…and that was a good thing.

Another view from the window included curves of the drive into the hospital and a major intersection near the hospital. The open area is  appreciated since the hospital itself is a cluster of buildings and parking garages. It’s a big place. I figured out my route to my parent’s room and didn’t deviate!

Along the walk to and from the closest parking garage, there is a wall that reminded me of a Zentangle mosaic….and I made quite a few tiles during the waiting time at the hospital.

The up and down of the day at the hospital always seems more extreme that a normal day. I found that I never quite relaxed as much as I do during a normal day…but didn’t get any physically intense time….it was all mentally intense.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 25, 2023

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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.

20 Incredible Winners From the 2023 European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – Lots of natural beauty…captured in photographs.

A known environmental hazard can change the epigenetics of cells – Formaldehyde. It is a widespread pollutant - formaldehyde enters our body mainly during our breathing and, because it dissolves well in an aqueous medium, it ends up reaching all the cells of our body. It is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer (nasopharyngeal tumors and leukemia), hepatic degeneration due to fatty liver (steatosis) and asthma.

How forest schools boost children's immune systems – It seems the benefits go well beyond immune systems.  Hopefully this type of school for 3 to 5 year old will increase in availability/popularity.

Circular Maya Structure Uncovered in Southern Mexico - Similar round structures have been found at the Maya sites of Edzná, Becán, Uxmal, and Chichen Itzá.

Health Care Workers Are Burning Out, CDC Says - The CDC researchers analyzed self-reported symptoms of more than 1,400 adults in 2018 and 2022 who were working in three areas: health care, other essential services and all other professions. Workers’ self-reported poor mental health days in the past 30 days was similar across all three groups in 2022, but health professionals saw the most significant jump, from 3.3 in 2018 to 4.5 in 2022. Reports of harassment at work also spiked among health care workers over the five-year period, going from 6.4 percent to 13.4 percent.

How To Bring Back the Prairie, a Tiny Bit at a Time – The use of “prairie strips” on farms in an effort to restore a portion of the Minnesota’s remnant prairie and to soak up polluted water.

These Ten Stunning Images Prove That Small Is Beautiful – From Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Contest. My favorite was the cuckoo wasp.

Deforestation in Colombia Down 70 Percent So Far This Year - Since taking power last year, leftist President Gustavo Petro has enacted a slate of new policies aimed at protecting Colombian forests, including paying locals to conserve woodland. The recent gains in Colombia mirror similar advances in the Brazilian Amazon, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has cracked down on forest clearing; deforestation is down 50 percent through the first nine months of this year. In 2021, more than 100 countries, from Brazil to Russia to Indonesia, set a goal to end deforestation by the end of this decade, but so far forest loss has declined too slowly to stay on pace for this target.

European wildcats avoided introduced domestic cats for 2,000 years – About 50 years ago in Scotland, however, that all changed. Perhaps as a result of dwindling wildcat populations and a lack of opportunity to mate with other wildcats, rates of interbreeding between wild and domestic cats rose rapidly.

Why grazing bison could be good for the planet - The shortgrass prairie makes up 27,413 sqare miles of remote land straddling the US/Canadian border to the east of the Rocky Mountains. This rare habitat is in ecological decline. Plains bison co-evolved with the short-grass prairie. In the 12,000 years since the end of the Pleistocene, they have proven themselves to be potent ecosystem engineers. An adult bison eats about 25lb (11kg) of grass a day. The grasses adapted to their foraging. Vegetation across the plains uses the nutrients in their dung. Birds pluck their fur from bushes to insulate their nests. Bison also shape the land literally. They roll in the dust and create indentations known as "wallows" that hold water after rainstorms. After the bison move on, insects flourish in these pools and become a feast for birds and small mammals. Pronghorn antelope survive by following their tracks through deep winter snows. Replacing cattle with bison greens floodplains…setting the stage for beavers.

Ramping up Elder Care – November 2023 (update)

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My sisters and I thought we had time to learn about various options at a comfortable pace and then ramp up support for our parents in a targeted way over the next few months. We ordered two cameras to install in their home and made appointments to meet with two service providers for the next time I was in Carrollton – but that plan changed quickly when one of my parents entered the hospital.

I went to Carrollton early - entering 24-hour rotations with one of my sisters to support my parent in the hospital. My other two sisters and my daughter handled things at my parents’ house (it is traumatic for two elderly people married over 70 years to be separated for even short periods).

We learned a lot during the hospitalization about changes we need to make to avoid aspiration of liquid into the lungs (i.e. thickening of ALL liquids to honey consistency is now required). Previously some liquids had been thickened to a lesser amount (nectar) but water was unthickened….and now even that will have to be thickened. But – the reward is no coughing while (and after) eating or drinking!!!!

Small anomalies can make big impacts…low potassium and dehydration were two that our parent experienced. And the associated weakness/dizziness curtailed almost all physical activity for a little over 24 hours which required some slow increase of activity on the following days to get back to ‘normal’…and maybe that was a ‘new normal’ that was a little reduced from the prior normal.

Two cameras were installed and we used them along with virtual meetings to help our parents talk to each between physical visits. We decided a third camera would be worthwhile, so it was ordered.

We quickly established a contingency sleeping arrangement in case the hospitalized parent required more support at night immediately after coming home from the hospital.  The room includes a twin bed with plenty of room for a caregiver to move around….and for extra equipment. We are anticipating that ambulation will need to be monitored/supported (i.e. a belt around our parent … a caregiver with a hand on it) during their recuperation until we are sure the fall risk is minimal.

As I write this, our parent is still in the hospital but due to go home within 24 hours. We hope we have ramped up our support plan sufficiently.

Stay tuned for the next installment of Ramping up Elder Care!

Previous posts: November 2023

Our Missouri Neighborhood – November 2023

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I am planning to do a lot more walks around my neighborhood – get some quality outdoor time/exercise…maybe even what the Garmin calls ‘intensity minutes’. I’ll take a small camera with me…just in case I spot anything interesting. My daughter called me just as I was heading out so I didn’t photograph the great blue heron that was in a sunny spot at the edge of the pond; I just watched until it flew away while I talked to her.

I did some power walking almost to the furthest bridge before I stopped to photograph some oak leaves that had caught in the grass at the edge of the pond. The tree still had quite a few leaves to drop!

The willow seems to still have mostly green leaves!

A little further along there was debris on the walk; looking closer I realized it was seeds rather than leaves!

Even though the temperature was only about 40 degrees. The sunshine must have made the bank warm enough for a turtle to leave the water.

After I got to the other end of the ponds, I noticed a lot of maple leaves had fallen in the drainage channel and the grass along the path.

A short length of sidewalk on my route was almost covered with pine needles. I enjoyed photographing some cones that had fallen as well.

There was a stump at one end of the row of pines that must have been cut several years ago – maybe before we moved to the neighborhood. The color of the pine needles stands out against the gray of the wood and the powdery green of lichen/moss.  

A big plus – I accumulated 29 intensity minutes!

Plant of the Month – Holly

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Holly is full of color this time of year – the waxy green leaves and red berries. At first, I thought I would feature it as the December plant of the month – but the birds might eat all the berries by then; so here it is in November.

The berries are an early winter treat and go rapidly once they have enough frosts to make them more palatable (although sometimes they start to ferment too resulting in tipsy birds)!

We have three holly trees in our yard and my daughter has two. Hers are older and had a lot more berries this year than our trees did…so the picture is one of her trees.

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 18, 2023

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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.

Are pumpkins a future superfood? – Maybe. The plants are high heat and drought tolerant….. and tolerate salinity. Nutritionally they have essential vitamins, minerals, and fats.

Do or dye: Synthetic colors in wastewater pose a threat to food chains worldwide - Dyes create several problems when they reach water systems, from stopping light reaching the microorganisms that are the bedrock of our food chains, preventing their reproduction and growth, to more direct consequences like the toxic effects on plants, soils, animals and humans. Remediation technologies for dye-containing wastewater, including chemical, biological, physical and emerging advanced membrane-based techniques.

Billions Of Snow Crabs Have Died in Alaska. Will Billions of People Be Next? – Starvation….but linked to marine heatwaves that affected snow crab metabolism.

Even treated wood prevents bacterial transmission by hand – Maybe we should be using wood more frequently for surfaces where keeping bacteria at bay is important (countertops, for example).

Staring at the Sun — close-up images from space rewrite solar science – Results from Parker Solar Probe and Solar Orbiter…and the ground-based Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope.

Higher levels of triglycerides linked to lower risk of dementia – A correlation…not necessarily a causal relationship.

Jupiter's volcanic moon Io looks stunning in new Juno probe photos – From an October 15th flyby.

The Rio Grande isn’t just a border – it’s a river in crisis – So many rivers are in trouble. The Rio Grande drought story is complicated by international treaty…and contentious relations at the border.

These Rare Daguerreotypes Are the Earliest Surviving Photos of Iran in the 1850s – It would be interesting to see what these same places look like today.

Why are bed bugs so difficult to deal with? – They are increasingly resistant to pesticides that previously were effective. Creating policies that require reporting and resident notification by landlords…and requiring the landlords to treat infestations within 30 days has been effective in New York. Infestations can be managed, but probably not eliminated.