Kittens! – Day 4

The kittens became harder to photograph by the 4th day because they were much more active and the light was not bright enough to freeze the action. Sometimes they all three seemed to be playing a game of tag that ranged all over the 1st floor. They still went to the drawers under the futon but not as often.

Sooty is the most adventuresome and he is the only one that wants to be picked up. He wanted to climb up my leg but I managed to dissuade him before he put his claws out all the way (and into my skin). He discovered that the upholstered chair in the living room is a quiet place that, so far, he has all to himself; we’ve put a pad on the seat for him.

Puma is probably the largest although not by much. He likes a central location where he can see all the action. He was the first to try climbing drapery (which prompted us to take down the ones that were most tempting to him).

Pooky (formerly Suki) always seems to be in the thick of activities. She is probably the smallest and is the one my husband watches to make sure she gets her share of food.

All three of them play with toys differently than our adult cats did. They use their teeth a lot. They tore apart some older toys and tried to pull an automated wand toy across the room by the feathers on the end of the wand (that toy has been put way…saved for later). We’ve noticed that the scratching pads surrounded by a ball trough move on the wood floor which sometimes makes them even more fun – but also makes noise. Overall – I notice a lot more noise coming from the first floor when I am in my basement office!

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3

Kittens! – Day 2

We kept the kittens in a room, attached bath overnight. The next morning it was already obvious they were less timid. All three of them liked the string toy! From top to bottom in the image below: Suki, Puma, and Sooty. Note Pumas fully extended paw!

Sooty was the first to play with the ball in the round toy. Puma liked the bell that hangs from the center of the arch. Suki found something of interest in the sheet I had put over the futon (note the books on the floor which she had knocked out of the bookcase as she exited her hiding places there). They all retreated to the drawers under the futon when they were startled (and they apparently slept there). Occasionally they made turns into the carrier but didn’t stay.

We opened the door on the other side of the bath into my husband’s office. They started exploring. The synthesizer/electronic keyboards provide interesting height and texture for them (Suki in the picture). My husband was a little concerned about them chewing on cables so he unplugged everything that he could and keeps an eye on them. They all investigate the smell of everything (Puma at the multiple outlet strip).

My husband’s office chair is a popular place. My husband commented that Sooty (top) and Suki (on seat) were taking over the office.

Overall – by the end of the day we were both agreeing that the kittens were going to be ready to come out of sequestration on day 3. Stay tuned for their 1st day of adventures roaming the 1st floor of our house.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 13, 2022

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.

What a decade of Curiosity has taught us about Mars – Looking for signs of life.

Zion National Park, Utah – A view of the park from the International Space Station. A piece of trivia from the post: Cyanobacterial blooms are a threat to hikers and wildlife – exacerbated by intense summer heat.

Air pollution, including during wildfires, shows ill effects in children -So many questions popped into my mind as I read this article: Does keeping children indoors with modern air conditioning/heating filtered air help? Further air purification required? The children in the study were 9-11 years old; are some of the markers also indicators of stress they may have developed knowing there were wildfires?

Ultra high-speed photography captures hidden human figures in moving water – Eye candy

Heat pumps prove themselves during a harsh Maine Winter – Modern heat pumps do the job even at -21 degrees in Maine!

Neolithic Watermelons may have been valued for their seeds – Snacks! And now most watermelons we buy in stores doen’t have seeds at all!

Nahuku Lava Tube in Hawai’i Volcanoes National Park Closed to study its stability – Also known as Thurston Lava Tube. I walked through it when we were in Hawaii several years ago.

Vitamin K prevents cell death: New function for a long-known molecule – Important for blood clotting….but new research shows it is also a potent antioxidant that ameliorates cellular iron’s role in cell death (ferroptosis). There will probably be a lot of subsequent research following up this finding.

The science of making cheese – Infographic that shows the 4 steps: acidification, coagulation, reducing moisture content, and maturation.

The mysterious inner life of the octopus – Interesting article….or just look at the pictures!

Kittens! - Day 1

Last weekend my husband got 3 kittens (siblings) from a foster family. They are 10-12 weeks old. Our house has two bedrooms with a bathroom in-between that made a good place to initially sequester them.

They arrived in a cat crate…cuddled together. The first one out was Sooty. He might have been hungry since he gobbled down some treats and then some kitten chow. He walked all around the room…sniffed the litter boxes…then returned for kitten chow…before exploring the other room. He likes to be picked up; has a big purr.

Next out of the crate was the female that we are naming Suki. She was enticed out of the crate with a treat and quickly found a place to partially hide. She ate come kitten chow – not letting Sooty interfere with her snack. Then she found a great hiding place on the lower shelf of the bookcase!

The last one out of the crate was Puma. He looks a lot like Sooty at first glance but has some brown/caramel in his fur. He seems the most timid of the three and the one that likes the crate the most.

Stay tuned for more posts as the kittens (Sooty, Suki, and Puma) acclimate themselves to their new home!

Shaggy Mane or Scaly Ink Cap

When we got back from voting the Missouri primary last week, I noticed something different about our front yard. Instead of closed the garage door, I went out with my phone in hand to get a closer look. There were two groups of mushrooms that seemed to be somewhat clustered around one of our sprinkler heads. I took some pictures for the iNaturalist app and the two suggestions were Shaggy Mane or Scaly Ink Cap. They are evidently common in yards!

I did some macro views with my Samsung Galaxy 10 phone (with 4 and 8x magnification). There were parts that were very black…some that look like part of a pinecone…like roasted marshmallow…like neatly organized fibers.

I went inside to get my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) to use its optical zoom for another round of images. There seemed to be many stages of mushroom development in the group and I realized that they must have come up overnight since our yard was mowed the previous day!

By the next morning – after a lot of rain overnight – the mushrooms were blackened. Hopefully they matured enough to create spores and we’ll have more in our yard!

Sunset Moon

I noticed some color in the evening sky from my office window and went outside to capture the color…which was already deep pink…the bright disk below my horizon, the trees and neighborhood pool building silhouetted.

I looked up further in the sky and noticed the moon already visible…and my camera managed to focus!

What a nice bonus for a sunset!

Settling in, developing new routines – 2nd month

A lot has happened over the past month. I was at home and settling in except for the one week I spent in Carrollton, TX (an easy road trip).

Roses. I enjoy the roses outside…the bushes were among the first parts of the yard I watered (before we got the sprinkler system fixed). I’ve started bringing in some of the flowers…putting them in a small glass on the windowsill in my office.

Sprinklers and some rain. The sprinkler system is now working, and it helped the yard to begin to recover before the recent rains came. Most of the grass was brown or turning brown before we started watering. There are some parts of the yard that the system doesn’t cover well but the rain has caused the whole yard to green up again.

Scan app at grocery store. One of the local grocery stores has a scan-as-you-shop app like I had in Maryland (Walmart does too but charges a monthly fee for it, so I’ll continue to use the self-checkout in that store). The grocery store is further from the house than the Walmart; my plan is to shop there once a month; I’ve already identified items that the store has that Walmart doesn’t. I did have a small accident in the store: I bumped a can when I was reaching for some seasoned pinto beans on a high shelf; it fell on my big toe; since it was wearing flip flops, it hurt (broke the skin enough to bleed and lots of bruising); the injury has kept me from doing yard work and other activities that I  need to wear close toed shoes; it should be healed enough in the next week or so.

Screens on my office windows. I have tried to take pictures through my office windows and realized that the screens need to be removed – note the grid in the picture of the dragonfly below. When I do it, the windows will need to be cleaned too.

Compost. I bought 2 pieces of cedar edging and made a circle for compost…thinking that I didn’t have enough kitchen scraps to warrant a larger bin. The watermelon rind is loading it up fast! In need to add ‘browns’ to keep it from smelling like garbage…I may have to shred some cardboard. Some of the smaller yard waste can go in too (larger pieces will still have to go to the recycle center).

Trash/recycling. We made one trip to the recycle center taking boxes since there were too many to fit in the bin for curbside collection every other week.

Telescope. The telescope ‘stuff’ has been moved from the garage to the John Deere room – the easier to get it set up in the backyard. We aren’t planning any camping/star parties near term (too hot). Hopefully, there will be some good night skies from our back yard.

Birdfeeder. We have put up one bird feeder, but it is not in an ideal spot; neither one of us can see it unless we look out one of the basement den’s windows. I have seen some house finches on the perch.

Cats. We are preparing the house for cats. That has meant getting rooms cleared of boxes and bins that need to be unpacked…coils of extension cords…anything that might be hazardous to young cats. The cat paraphernalia was in the basement…now it is on the first floor. The largest cat tree is near the big window in the piano (dining) room.

We have chairs and small tables near other windows that will give the cats good views of the outdoors. There are two doors with glass low enough for cats to look out to the deck from floor level. I put pillowcases on the pillows in the breakfast area window seat and raised the blinds a little to provide a view from that vantage point. My husband has bought supplies (litter, food). The cats we are getting are 3 siblings that have been fostered…are now old enough to be adopted. Stay tuned for more cat news!

Previous ‘settling in’ posts: 1st month

eBotanical Prints – July 2022

20 botanical print books in July. The topics include: plant relations/structures/geography (3), roses, gardens, orchids, ferns, water plants/lilies (3), wildflowers (3), and The Plant World periodicals (7). I will continue to browse The Plant World periodicals into August.  

The whole list of 2,432 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the July 2022 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the July 2022 eBotanical Prints!

Plant relations * Coulter, John Merle * sample image * 1901

Plant Structures * Coulter, John Merle * sample image * 1906

Popular geography of plants; or, A botanical excursion round the world  * Catlow, Maria E.; Daubeny, Charles * sample image * 1855

Roses and their Cultivation * Sanders, Thomas William * sample image * 1917

The Flower Garden * Sanders, Thomas William * sample image * 1919

Select orchidaceous plants [First series] by Robert Warner ; the notes on culture by Benjamin S. Williams. * Warner, Robert * sample image * 1865

Select ferns and lycopods * Williams, Benjamin Samuel * sample image * 1873

The Water Garden * Tricker, William * sample image * 1897

Water-lilies and how to grow them * Conard, Henry S.; Hus, Henry * sample image * 1907

The waterlilies: a monograph of the genus Nymphaea  * Conard, Henry S. * sample image * 1905

Wild flower preservation; a collector's guide * Coley, May; Weatherby, Charles Alfred * sample image * 1915

Useful wild plants of the United States and Canada * Saunders, Charles Francis; Aring, Lucy Hamilton (illustrator) * sample image * 1920

California Wild Flowers * Saunders, Elisabeth Hallowell * sample image * 1905

The Plant World Vol VI 1903 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1903

The Plant World Vol V 1902 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1902

The Plant World Vol IV 1901 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1901

The Plant World Vol III 1900 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1900

The Plant World Vol II 1899 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1899

The Plant World Vol I 1898 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1898

The Plant World Vol VII 1904 * The Wildflower Preservation Society * sample image * 1904

Carrollton Yard – July 2022 (3)

The final in my Carrollton Yard in July posts….

The ferns are on the north side of the house and generally in the shade. The place is well watered by the sprinkler system. But even with those advantaged, the 100+ days are damaging the fronds. The ones that get the most sun were brown…cooked in the heart. I noticed that almost all of them that were still green (even a little ) were producing spores.

The mulberry trees in my parents house are very old…and several have been cut down completely.  The ones that remain have been dramatically trimmed to reduce the weight of their canopy. There was a pile of recently trimmed branches at the back of the large patio…cut by the crew into fireplace length (plenty for my mother’s enjoyment of almost daily winter fires!). I took pictures of the cut ends…and realized that even the smallest ones took over a decade to grow!

And the mulberries are still putting out leaflets on their trunks and big branches! There were at eye level on the trunk closest to my parents’ garden room. The room is the best in the house – where they work on puzzles and spend a lot of their day. The few of their backyard is spectacular from that room!

I enjoyed the garden decorations among the foliage. Most have been in place for years – some are toys left over from when grandchildren were young (the youngest is now in his 20s).

On the edge of the side patio there is a rock with several kinds of lichen.

I used my phone’s (Samsung Galaxy S10e) digital magnification to get closer views. I like the colors and texture of the lichen and then the bare rock where, perhaps, some long ago lichen weakened the rock and water eventually washed it and the rock particles away.

I will be traveling to Carrollton again later this month…and look for other perspectives/changes in the Carrollton yard.

Carrollton Yard – July 2022 (2)

Walking around a familiar place….composing images of my favorite plants. In my parents’ yard, the red yuccas are always a big draw. This time of year, they are a mix of bids, flowers, and seed pods of varying maturity. I photographed them on a couple of mornings while I was in Carrollton. My favorite of the images I captured with my bridge camera (Canon Powershot SX70 HS) was the one with the black background…a flower hanging like a flower moving like a bell over the buds and very green seed pod.

With my phone (Samsung Galaxy S10e), I used its digital magnification to capture macro images of the same plants. The developing seed pods always fascinate me. They were a few pods beginning to split open. By the time I am in Carrollton again (later this month), a few will be split open with visible seeds.

There were other things that were surviving the Texas heat – although more stressed than the red yucca. The kale that is multiple years old is probably too tough to eat!

One plant was so green in macro view that I couldn’t resist the macro shot – for the color and texture of the apex growth. It was benefiting from its proximity to a automatic sprinkler!

Finally – after the sprinklers one morning I enjoyed finding water droplets in the purple heart wandering jew…in the joint between two leaves where new leaves and flowers begin.

I’ve come to appreciate places I can photograph again and again….seeing them in a little different way each time and beginning to capture the specialness of the place that I associate with the longest relationships of my life.

Japan’s 1891 Earthquake

The Great Earthquake in Japan, 1891 is available on Internet Archive; it was published shortly after the event and includes photographs by K. Ogawa. I picked 6 of them for this blog post. They must have been some of the first pictures of a major earthquake and I wonder how many people saw them around the world. Photography extends the understanding of this type of disaster beyond the people experiencing the destruction more effectively to the general population than written descriptions or drawings.

The Wikipedia article for this earthquake says that this is the still the largest known inland earthquake to have occurred in the Japanese archipelago.

One of the authors of the text, John Milne, had been in Japan since 1876 and had focused on seismology in Japan following an earthquake in February 1880 and initiated what would become the earthquake reporting system of the Japan Meteorological Agency. The 1891 earthquake was well measured because of the proactive work in the decades before it occurred and added to the data in the reporting system allowing for better understanding of aftershocks.

Unique Aspects of Days - July 2022

Settling into our new home in Missouri is still prompting unique aspects of our days!

1st doctor’s appointment in Missouri. Getting medical records transferred from a specialist in Maryland to a new specialist in Missouri was a first for me…and I was pleasantly surprised that it happened so easily and that the new doctor continued the monitoring/treatment as I expected.

Callery Pear to the recycle center. It was a unique experience to discover a pear tree growing in a crepe myrtle in a front flower bed of my new house. I cut it down…discovered it had thorns…and was very pleased to get it cut up enough to fit in the back of my car and then to the recycle center yard waste bins without injuring myself. It was an experience I hope is unique!

Unpacking the art glass. I packed it but my husband unpacked it. There was a joy in packing and unpacking the beautiful pieces….savoring them individually and then again as a whole in the display cabinet. We left 2 pieces that are on light stands out on a desk beside the piano to act as ‘night lights’ in that part of the house. It has been over 25 years since we enjoyed the glass the way we did in July.

Making a compost ring with cedar edging. I bought two sections of edging made with 3-6 inch vertical lengths of cedar branches and formed a circle to hold my kitchen scraps and soft yard waste under one of our pine trees. There is not enough material to require a bigger compost bin so this is a relatively unique solution. I’m not sure whether I will move the ring once the compost is deteriorating enough to continue as a pile without the ring or ready to spread out. There is space to move the ring and start another collection nearby.

Finding the camera battery charger. It seemed like there were about 5 times this month where we came close to panic because we couldn’t find something we needed in our new home. The one that had me most worried was not knowing where the charger was for my camera battery; luckly I found it after an hour or so of hunting through boxes. Now that we have unpacked most of the boxes, it is less likely to occur…making this particular kind of anxiety unique to July 2022.

Forgot my toiletries. I travel frequently enough that I rarely forget anything I need…but I did for our trip back to Maryland for the closing on our house there! The compartment bag for toiletries was left hanging on the bathroom door in Missouri. I quickly bought essentials…glad this event was unique in my travels.

Hot and dry Josey Ranch lake. The lake at Josey Ranch near where my parents live was lower than I’ve seen with deep cracks where there is usually water or mud. The cattails area is dry and other plants are taking over. I hope this is unique and not what it will be like every summer from now on in Carrollton TX.

Hummingbird moth. I was surprised…glad I had my camera with me…when I spotted a hummingbird moth at the Springfield Botanical Garden. They are fun insects to watch and I always feel priviledge to see even one a year.

Hummingbird outside my office window…on the crepe myrtle. I looked out my window one morning and saw a hummingbird checking out the crepe myrtle outside my office window. It was the first I’d seen in our Missouri yard.

Missouri watermelon at the Carrollton (TX) Walmart. I noticed that the watermelon I bought for my parents in the Carrollton Walmart had been grown in Missouri…and discovered when I got home to Missouri – the watermelons in the Walmart were from Missouri too!

Carrollton Yard – July 2022 (1)

It takes regular watering to keep my parents’ Carrollton yard from drying when the coolest it gets is the low 80s…the high being over 100 degrees…heat advisories almost every day. Many flowers have bloomed and then dried very quickly.

The crepe myrtles are blooming almost normally.

The cosmos are not as lush as they were last summer – fewer blooms and they seem in a hurry to make seeds.

The same is true for some other flowers.

There are two tiger lily plants with multiple flowers on each stalk blooming in the center of a large bed. My sister wades into the foliage to cut some to bring inside….making a short bouquet for the table.

I went outside multiple times first thing in the morning to take pictures with my phone and my bridge camera. The flowers always draw the eye first but the other plants in the yard are often more interesting on closer observation.  Stay tuned for subsequent posts…different perspectives on the same yard.

Blooming in our Yard

It’s been very dry in Missouri since we arrived in June and the sprinkler system was not working until we had it repaired….but there are still plants that are managing to bloom! The hostas are thriving in the shady parts of the yard and ants seem to enjoy them.

There are 4 crepe myrtle plants (one in back and three in front) in various stages of blooming they all seem a little different shade of red – pink – purple.

I’ve cut one to branch bring inside and have read some articles about how to prune them.

The roses are small, but the 2 bushes are prolific.  I occasionally bring a flower inside but enjoy photographing them on the bush; I’ve noticed that they are different shades of red. After the blooms are done, I clip off the forming hip and hope that it will give the plant more energy to put on new growth.

Overall – I am pleased with the plantings in the yard…already full of plans to supplement them: bulbs, a oak leaf hydrangea, some perennials for pollinators.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 16, 2022

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.

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve: A windo into the past – A prompt for an early fall road trip? It is about 4 hours from where we live now.

Psoriasis: Study lays foundation for new treatment strategy – Hope more targeted treatment can be developed….avoiding the drugs used currently that suppress the immune system overall.

Winners of the 2022 Audubon Photography Awards Celebrate the Beauty of Our Feathered Friends – Images of birds in action.

The silent danger of gum disease – More reasons to sustain regular dental checkups….and for dentists to be vigilant.

The Milkweed Gang – Milkweed attracts quite a few insects…even if it is an island surrounded by invasive plants!

New species of giant waterlily is the largest in the world – It has been growing in Kew Gardens in 177 years and in a herbarium in Bolivia for 34 years….always assumed to be the well-known species of giant waterlily named after Queen Victoria. The leaves can grow up to 10 feet wide…and support at least 176 pounds!

Toads surprise scientists by climbing trees in UK woodlands – Even when we think we know a species well…there are still surprises!

This New Species of Carnivorous Pitcher Plant Traps Its Prey Underground – In the rainforest of Borneo at elevations of 3,600 – 4,265 feet.

Ozone Hole — New, Large, Constant Ozone Hole — Appears Over Tropics – 7x larger than then Antarctic ozone hole!

Unlocking the secrets of the ancient coastal Maya – More than a decade of interdisciplinary work increasing the understanding of how these people lived and responded to rising sea levels and changing political/economic systems. And still more to be learned.

Back to Missouri

The drive back to Missouri was different this time. Both my husband and I realized we would not be back to Maryland any time soon. We were leaving an area of the country where we had lived since July 1983…39 years. We were both aware that this was a pivot point in our lives just as the prior move had been. In 1983, we were moving to enable the type of careers we wanted….now we are moving to be near our daughter and within a short day’s drive to much of our extended family. We talked a little about what we were leaving behind…and the significant effort still required to be settled into our new home. Now that we own one house again…home is Missouri even if we aren’t quite comfortable – yet.

The weather was wet for most of the drive, so I didn’t take as many pictures at the rest stops. On the plus side, it was not as hot, and the rain only caused minor delays. The navigation system took us around the beltway of St Louis rather than through the city because of a road closure; we saw the arch from a distance. I took more pictures through the car window…two of Louisville (KFC Center and a bridge being renovated (somehow it reminded me of a stylized open mouth of a dragon!).

We were glad to be home again…relieved that the last long road trip associated with moving was over and that the remaining tasks relative to moving are ones we could do at our own pace and all in Missouri!

Last Trip to Maryland

We opted to drive to Maryland one last time…for the closing on the house there and last goodbyes to some favorite places. We started out shortly after 6:30 AM for the two-day drive – with a much longer drive on the 1st day. The first stop from Springfield was the Route 66 rest stop along I-44 near Conway. Our route was the interstate along the old Route 66 until St. Louis.

It was sunny and hot for most of the day – traversing Illinois and Indiana and most of Kentucky. The only big cities on the route were St. Louis and Louisville. We stopped in Ashland, KY for the night; we had driven out of the hot and dry Midwest and into rain. The last rest stop of the day (in Kentucky) was one that included oak leaf hydrangeas in their landscaping…reminding me that I want to plant one or two in my new yard.

The next day it rained…and rained. Most was not too heavy and did not delay us as we travelled through West Virginia and into Maryland. It did change the type of photography is did at the rest stops I switched to macro photography– lichen, moss, buds, insect, shelf fungus. I took several pictures from inside the car (since I wasn’t driving). Sidling Hill is more interesting from the highway than the eastward rest stop!

And then we were at our old house…more on the time we spent in Maryland tomorrow.

Springfield Conservation Nature Center – June 2020

My husband and I did a short hike at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center in late June. It’s a place I anticipate we’ll explore more fully in the months to come. The area is an oasis with high volume traffic arteries on two sides…neighborhood and lake on the other sides. We started out our first hike on the Boardwalk Trail (map) but extended to the Sycamore Cut-off down to the bridge over a branch of Lake Springfield….downhill to the lake level then back up. The forest is dense with a different kinds and ages of trees…there are cliff faces too. The paths are gravel. We spotted a great blue heron (still roosting) in shallow water….and a very active small bird in the bushes nearby (maybe a prothonotary warbler). There were probably some invasive plants in the mix – but they didn’t seem to be overwhelming. The slideshow below contains my favorites from the pictures I took with my bridge camera.

I am beginning to appreciate my phone – with it digital zoom – for macro photography. I took one image of a bloom that was hanging over the trail…

And then did more as we left the nature center after our hike.

The round blooms of the button bush look intriguing at every stage!

I am looking forward to seeing the trails in different seasons…stay tuned.

Baby Bird in the Grass

The first sad event at our new house in Missouri was seeing a baby bird in the grass of our front yard. It seemed to want to stay cuddled down in the grass…kept looking toward the maple tree and calling; there was an answering call so maybe the nest where it had hatched was in that tree. It seemed too far from the tree to have simply fallen out of the nest. Maybe it did a glide from the high location in the tree and couldn’t return. Unfortunately – the baby was probably too young to survive away from the nest. We checked on it for about an hour and it didn’t budge. Eventually it would starve or be eaten be a predator.

There were too many leaves on the maple to see the nest properly but the blue marking on the wing of the young bird might indicate it was a blue jay. Hopefully some siblings did survive.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 9, 2022

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.

Bonsai trees tell of winters past – An elfin forest of hemlocks on the outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park…and they hold the history of 4 centuries of winters in their growth rings.

See the vibrant, long overlooked colors of classical sculptures – Greco-Roman marble sculptures were covered in bright hues (polychromy) originally!

Pioneering recycling turns mixed waste into premium plastics with no climate impact – Wouldn’t it be great if suddenly mixed waste could replace fossil raw materials for ALL plastic production?

Understanding horseshoe crabs at Cape Cod National Seashore – A short video about a research project just starting.

Get a Sneak Preview of the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year Finalists – Capturing birds in action…rather than portraits.

Invasive species taking over some American forests - Amur honeysuckle (a shrub from Asia) is a big culprit. Callery Pear (the ‘wild’ version of the Bradford pear) is a close second.  I just cut down a Callery Pear that was growing in the front bed of my new house in Missouri…almost obliterating a crepe myrtle! Other foreign species that have become problematic: porcelain berry, tree of heaven, winged euonymus, European buckthorn, Oriental bittersweet, common privet and lesser periwinkle...Norway maple, Amur cork tree and white poplar along with herbaceous species such as lesser celandine, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed and Japanese stilt grass.

A Surprisingly High Number of Wildfires Are Caused by Electrocuted Birds – Awful….good that there is a way to reduce the carnage…at less cost than the consequences of the fires.

Rural areas near coast will bear the brunt of US sea-level rise – Analysis focused on the Chesapeake Bay…marshes forming where forest and farmland is today.

Once-Common California Bumble Bees Have Gone Missing – The survey did not find the formerly abundant Western bumble bee. The last statewide survey was conducted 40 years go…and a lot has happened in that time: habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. None of the species were doing well. Big problem – since bumble bees help pollinate $3 billion worth of crops in the US each year (including tomatoes, peppers, and cranberries).

Scientist war of links between soil pollution and heart disease – The author of the study commented: “Until we know more, it seems sensible to wear a face mask to limit exposure to windblown dust, filter water to remove contaminants, and buy food grown in healthy soil."