Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/1/2020 – eBotanical prints

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

20200401_063217.jpg

Weighing in at a new low for the year. 0.6 pounds lower than my last ‘new low.’ I am celebrated with 2 squares of dark chocolate for breakfast!

Hearing the recycle truck at 6:25 AM. That’s their usual time. It’s reassuring to know that they are still on the job making their rounds…that some things continue at a normal pace. I am thankful to the crews to hoping they stay well.

Catching up on Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safaris:

Making two Ad Rinehardt Black Painting inspired Zentangle® tiles. I didn’t make the whole tile black but I did make a black square. The technique was not the same either since I used Sharpies and layers rather than making the special matte low-oil paint that Rinehardt is known for. I finished the Rinehardt module in the Coursera course: In the Studio: Postwar Abstract Painting yesterday.

Taking breaks with nature cams. There are a lot of them out there! A post from the Nature Conservancy here (the spoonbills and alligators swamp cam can be very noisy in the morning – a great way to start the day – they are in the EDT zone). A list I collected from the Maryland Master Naturalist emails:

Clearing my calendar for April. I had left some volunteer gigs on my calendar in April – being overly optimistic. I took them off this morning. The organizations are closed. Everyone is preparing for the coronavirus peak in Maryland; as of today, the model is saying it will be around April 28th. Maryland has a stay at home order (since 3/30), all educational facilities are closed (since 3/16), and non-essential services were closed (since 3/23…and the definition of non-essential is not ‘loose’). It looks like the social distancing measures are flattening our curve but there have been some outbreaks that are troubling (nursing home and mental hospital) and sad.

Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts  here.

And now for the normal monthly post about botanical prints from eBooks.

There are 16 new books added to the list in March. There is quite a variety this month --- mostly from the 1800s although one book from the late 1700s and another from the early 1900s, some color others drawings, exotic places (Ceylon, India, Madagascar, and Australia), some traditional botanical prints and some textbooks of botanical traits.

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet by clicking on the hyperlinked title. The whole list of 1,864 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 16 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view). Enjoy!

A hand-book to the flora of Ceylon Plates I-XXV * Trimen, Henry * sample image * 1893

A hand-book to the flora of Ceylon Plates XXVI-L * Trimen, Henry * sample image * 1893

A hand-book to the flora of Ceylon Plates LI-LXXV * Trimen, Henry * sample image * 1893

A hand-book to the flora of Ceylon Plates LXXVI-C * Trimen, Henry * sample image * 1893

The British flora, or, Genera and species of British plants V1 * Thornton, Robert John * sample image * 1812

The British flora, or, Genera and species of British plants V3 * Thornton, Robert John * sample image * 1812

Indian medicinal plants : plates * Kirtikara, Kanhoba Ranachodadasa; Basu, Saman Das * sample image * 1918

Histoire naturelle des plantes (Madagascar) Atlas V3  * Baillon, H; Drake del Castillo, E. * sample image * 1903

Histoire naturelle des plantes (Madagascar) Atlas V4 * Baillon, H; Drake del Castillo, E. * sample image * 1890

Histoire naturelle des plantes (Madagascar) Atlas V1 * Baillon, H; Drake del Castillo, E. * sample image * 1902

Histoire naturelle des plantes (Madagascar) Atlas V2 * Baillon, H; Drake del Castillo, E. * sample image * 1904

Giftpflanzen-Buch, oder, Allgemeine und besondere Naturgeschichte sämmtlicher inländischen sowie der wichtigsten ausländischen phanerogamischen und cryptogamischen Giftgewächse - Atlas * Berge, Friedrich * sample image * 1845

Traité de botanique générale V1 * Herincq, Francois * sample image * 1860

Traité de botanique générale V2 * Herincq, Francois * sample image * 1860

A specimen of the Botany of New Holland Vol 1 * Smith, James Edward * sample image * 1793

A course in botany and pharmacognosy * Kraemer, Henry * sample image * 1902

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/30/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Hearing traffic noise in the early morning. I woke up about an hour before my time to get up and heard traffic noise. We’re close enough to I95 that sometimes in the winter when the trees don’t baffle the sound and the weather conditions are right…we hear the trucks. I hadn’t heard it as much recently and thought it was the effect of the pandemic. Today it seemed more like a pre-coronavirus Monday. I dosed until my Fitbit vibrated at the usual time.

Discovered HiJinx podcasts from my local library. I listened to the most recent one - ‘A most notorious woman’ about a Grace O’Malley – Ireland’s Pirate Queen. (Anne Chambers’ book on O’Malley available at Internet Archive here.)

Seeing deer just after 8 in the morning….going back to the forest. I wonder where they spent the night. The forest behind our house is part of the green space along the river. Did the deer spend their night elsewhere or did they leave the forest for a morning browse on tender plants in the neighborhood (like my daylilies) for ‘breakfast’ and were returning to the forest because a car or two had come down our street.  

2020 03 IMG_8611.jpg

Later in the day – when it was warmer – I walked around the yard and noted that the daylilies were recovering from the deer browsing several weeks ago. They were not eating them this morning. Also, the daffodils are on their last legs. I took some macro shots of them.

More violets were blooming.

o IMG_8625 (2).jpg

Dandelions are becoming more numerous too. I’m being lazy and leaving them alone. After the heavy rains a few years ago caused some of our lawn to turn to dirt with patches of grass I have come to appreciate the deeper roots of dandelions that hold the soil.

The leaves on the tulip poplar are a little bigger but the flower buds are not open yet.

o IMG_8625 (3).jpg

The cherry tree was attracting bees!

o IMG_8625 (7).jpg

It was a wonderful sunny day and warm enough to have the windows open again. Hearing birdsong in the forest never gets old.

Remembering something I forgot to include in the post for last Friday – my husband had a telemedicine session. It was a first for us. It was a follow up after some tests and lab work from back in February….not coronavirus related. It was a lot less stressful than going into a doctor’s office during this time.

Receiving a communication from our Community Supported Agriculture farmer about what they have been doing to social distance while they work and the modified share pickup process planned when the season starts for us in June. I am reassured that they are thinking ahead…that I can still enjoy the bounty of fresh veggies this summer.

o IMG_8625 (8).jpg

Photographing the sunset. The sunset is not in my line of sight from my desk, but I can see it if I stand in front of the window and look to the left. I timed it right last night. The clouds reflected the orange light in an arc over the tall trees.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, 3/27, 3/28, 3/29





Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/28/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Watching Winchester Mystery House Virtual Tour. I saw the blurb about the tour in one of my news feeds…and followed the link to view it (a little over 40 minutes). I remembered having an afternoon free during a business trip to San Jose – probably over 10 years ago - and touring the house. It was memorable and this virtual tour showed it very well…a good reinforcement to the memory.

Turning electronics off during thunderstorms. There was a line of thunderstorms that came through while I was watching the Winchester House Tour….I switched to watching on my laptop screen (on battery) rather than my big monitor. The lightning and rumblings passed quickly; the rest of the day was just rainy.

20200329_062319.jpg

Stir-frying with ground turkey. Using a seasoning packet I found in the pantry – a few months past the ‘use by date.’ This was my first experience using ground turkey; I’d put it on the list since it would be easy for the shopper to get what I wanted. We liked it – but I think I’ll go back to chicken breasts for next time. Maybe I’ll used ground turkey for chili though.

Taking end of day photos. It was a raining most of the day – not a good day for pictures…so I opted to experiment with the ‘night scene’ setting on my camera for the ‘through the window’ picture in the early evening.

Reviewing the birdfeeder camera videos. Saturday evening might become my regular time to review the videos from the birdfeeder cam for the week. It worked well for this past week. Here are the highlights:

Camera_01_20200323080719_20200323080826_Moment1.jpg

On Sunday – a Carolina Wren was in the first video of the day at 7:38 AM…a female Cardinal was in the last. A frustrated squirrel was first at the feeder on Monday about 8 AM.

Camera_01_20200325173959_20200325174028_Moment1.jpg

On Tuesday, a female Red-Bellied Woodpecker was first at 7:47 AM. On Wednesday, a pair of House Finches were at the feeder at 8:27 AM and there was a grand finale with a pair of House Finches and a female Cardinal at 5:40 PM.

On Thursday, the Carolina Wren came while it was very foggy at 7:06 AM. There were a lot of birds at 5:49 PM: female Red-Bellied Woodpecker with a Titmouse and a Carolina Wren. Then a chickadee just after the woodpecker flew away with a peanut.

Camera_01_20200327184557_20200327184643_Moment1.jpg

On Friday, a Titmouse was the first visitor at 6:55 AM. And the Cowbirds arrived – males first…then females…then male again. The last bird of the day was at 6:45 PM…a male Cowbird.

Camera_01_20200328184828_20200328184902_Moment1.jpg

On Saturday, the Carolina Wren was the early bird at 7:31 AM. There was a grand finale at 6:48 PM with House Finches and Chipping Sparrow. Most of the time the house finches come as a male/female pair.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26, 3/27

6 Free eBooks – March 2020

/

With so much time at home this month – I have browsed through many more online books and ramped up my monthly post about eBooks from 3 to 6. I’ve chosen 2 novels for their illustrations, 2 Ernst Haeckel collections, and 2 volumes from the 1840s with drawings of Yucatan ruins. Enjoy!

95j 20 03.jpg

Poe, Edgar Allan; Clarke, Harry (illustrator). Tales of Mystery and Imagination. London: George G. Harrap & Company Limited. 1923. Available from Internet Archive here. The illustrator, Harry Clarke, was also a stained-glass artist.

09f 20 03.jpg

Basswitz, Gerdt von. Peterchens Mondfahrt : ein Marchen. Berlin-Grunewald: Verlagsanstadlt Hermann Klemm AG. 1920. Available from Internet Archive here. The story started out as a stage play in 1912 in Leipzig; it became one of the best-loved German children’s books.

I found two collections of Ernst Haeckel’s works that I hadn’t found previously:

Radularia. Berlin: G. Reimer. 1862. Available from Internet Archive here.

Art Forms of Nature. Leipzig and Wien: Bibliographisches Institut. 1904. Available from Internet Archive here.

14j 20 04.jpg

Stephens, John Lloyd. Incidents of Travel in Yucatan. New York: Harper & Brothers. 1843. Available from Internet Archive: here. Frederick Catherwood made the drawings for both volumes. Stephens and Catherwood were important figures in the rediscovery of Mayan civilization.

15c 20 04.jpg

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/27/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Blooming violets. As I was getting ready to do some yard work, I noticed that the violets were beginning to bloom in our yard. I couldn’t resist taking some pictures. I appreciate their deep color…and that they grow in the area of the yard that doesn’t get enough sun for the grass to grow well. They help to fill in some of the holes…keep those parts of the yard from becoming bare soil.

20200327_123617.jpg

Spreading out compost from bin. The bin was getting a little full and most of the kitchen scraps and dried leaves were decomposed…time to put it someplace else and start again. I decided to put in in an area of the front flower bed where I will plant some flower seeds. I got the wheelbarrow and loaded it up.

Aargh! The tire was a little flat on the wheelbarrow. I could feel my back not responding well as I pushed it up the slight hill to the front yard. I dumped out the load, spread it out a bit and decided my back was complaining enough to just stop; I managed to put my tools away. I’ll mix the compost with soil another day.

20200327_123612.jpg

Popping buds on the Ninebark shrub. Next to the area spread with compost, I noticed the Ninebark leaves were emerging. They are still so tiny it’s hard to see them when looking at the whole bush; looking more closely, they have a lot of sunrise/sunset colors…and texture. The picture also shows another outdoor task for another day…weeding the area around the shrub.

20200327_181950.jpg

Hearing more sounds from outdoors – an open window. The temperature was in the 60s with very little breeze so I opened the window in my office and enjoyed hearing more birds nearby…and back in the forest. There was a lot of activity. The smells of spring came in too. It was supposedly a high tree pollen day; I didn’t seem to have any allergy problems. The fresh air felt and smelled good.

Receiving a grocery delivery. This was our first experience with a grocery delivery; it was a good one. The shopper was interacting with me while she was in the store filling my order which allowed me to participate in selecting substitutions. And then it all arrived at my front porch about 15 minutes after she finished. The only downside is getting a lot of plastic bags; I will return them to be recycled at the store at some point.

20200327_140530.jpg

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25, 3/26

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 28, 2020

/

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.  

Tree Rings, Wildfires, and Climate | The Scientist Magazine® - Evidently the linkage between winter precipitation and fires in the spring in California – long documented in tree ring studies – has disappeared. Wildfires now are as likely to happen after a wet winter as they are after a dry one.

New Research Shows Healthy Agriculture Means Healthier Birds – Honing our understanding of healthy agricultural schemes that promote healthy farmland birds.

How cutting your food waste can help the climate - BBC Future – Over the past few years, I have started composting and reduced my food waste by eating food – never forgetting what I have in the refrigerator. Keeping a mental inventory of fresh fruits and veggies…freezing anything that I might not use before it goes bad….has been key. I enjoy frozen bananas in smoothies more than the unfrozen! This time at home (social distancing) gives me an opportunity for another round of reducing food waste….although it’s harder now since I’ve done all the easy actions.

'Grand Challenge' review stresses global impact of microplastics -- ScienceDaily  - Where major research and discovery are needed re microplastics impact on the environment and health. Recognizing that all plastic is not the same and new tools will be needed.

20+ Photos of a Snow-Covered Winter Wonderland in the Forest and 15 Incredible Finalists of the Smithsonian Magazine Photo Contest – So many beautiful pictures. I needed the boost of natural images this week.

Dragonflies are efficient predators: They consume hundreds of thousands of insects in a small area -- ScienceDaily – Exploring predation in the insect world…its impact on prey species and the community.

A Naturalist’s Guide to the South African Cape – Some unique species.

Top 25 birds of the week: Migratory birds - Wild Bird Revolution – I always enjoy the 25 bird pictures each week.

Sinking ships to stop erosion - The Landslide Blog - AGU Blogosphere – The example shows ships sunk after World War I to stop erosion…and now more than 100 years later – it’s obvious that it worked!

Staying in? Keep learning with science activities that kids and families can do at home | National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration – Some resources from NOAA….ocean and atmosphere topics to explore without leaving the house!

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/26/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday – a beautiful sunny spring day:

IMG_8575.jpg

Noticing the first dandelion flowers while I took a walk in the neighborhood. I want to take advantage of every good spring day to either work in the yard or take a walk in the neighborhood. As it gets warmer – I’ll do it early…get a picture of the sunrise from a better vantage point that my front porch.

Celebrating a family birthday virtually. Sharing pictures and video…talking on the phone…there are ways to share the celebration other than being in the same place!

Assisting my daughter’s test of her virtual class delivery. My husband (on his iPad) and I (on my laptop) were the ‘students’ in my daughter’s test of the technology (Zoom) she will be using for her two classes beginning next week. The university is closed…all classes virtual. The professors are doing it from their homes. My daughter and son-in-law have the additional challenge of teaching classes in the same time slot. The bandwidth at their house might be an issue and so might the sound of them both lecturing at the same time!

Surprise – just as we were finishing the Zoom test with my daughter, an American Goldfinch (male) flew to our birdfeeder and I got a picture. It’s getting its summer plumage – the first I’d seen that was yellowing this season. It was the grand finale of the meeting for me.

IMG_8573.jpg

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24, 3/25

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/25/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

20200325_141357.jpg

Relaxing with an at-home facial. I found a pomegranate mask packet that I’d had for months…enjoyed it while I listened to a video that was about 15 minutes long…the time in the directions for the mask.

Catching up on the Life in the Universe Pandemic Series from Charles Cockell:

Scheduling a grocery delivery. I placed an order for delivery with my grocery store on 3/25 (morning) and it going to be delivered on 3/27 (afternoon) to my front porch. This is a first for me and I have all the usual concerns – will the bananas be bruised and produce wilted? Will they have everything on my list? Will they make good substitutions if what I requested is not in stock? I guess I’ll find out on Friday afternoon.

Noticing that the tulip poplar is leaving out. The little leaves have the tulip poplar shape almost immediately. The flower buds are still just enlarging.  

2020 03 IMG_8502 (5).jpg

Receiving most of our orders. We wash ours hands with soap and water after we bring boxes or envelopes into the house then let them sit around unopened for a few days to give any coronavirus on them plenty of time to die. The most critical outstanding one came on 3/25 – the last of our over-the-counter medications supply that would help us with symptoms should we get sick. The only package we are still waiting for is the bugs we ordered back on 3/19; it’s good to have a project ‘on the way.’

20200325_153824.jpg

Catching up on shredding. I collect items to shred around the shredder….doing the job when I need ‘browns’ for my compost pile. Toilet paper rolls are my favorite because they are an easy size for my shredder, and they are unbleached cardboard; they deteriorate very rapidly in the compost pile with my kitchen scraps and other ‘greens.’ I plan to empty out finished compost on the next nice day and restart the pile….so the shreds will be outdoors and fodder for decomposers within the next few days.

Trying some macro shots of spicebush leaves. The leaf buds on the small spicebush plant that I brought inside have popped. The leaves have not quite unfurled yet. The flowers are done for the year….but maybe some of them will make seeds if they were fertilized before the branch was brought inside.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23, 3/24

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/24/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Sarah_part-2000000000034247_.jpg

Receiving a flowering plant – virtually. My daughter sent a picture of her Persian violet in bloom. She was excited since it is a plant that requires a lot of sun….lots of grow lamps in her office in Missouri. She has it at home now since the university buildings are closed. And in all the turmoil….it’s blooming! She is getting ready to begin teaching her classes virtually next week.

Beginning the experiments with Dutch Chocolate protein powder. We ordered it at my daughter’s suggestion - protein with a longer shelf-life and doesn’t require refrigeration. Chocolate for me; vanilla for my husband. My first experiment was a red smoothie: 1 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk, 1/2 scoop protein powder, 1 heaping teaspoon beet root powder, banana, 1/4 cup walnuts – yummy and pretty too.

Making a list and checking it twice. My daughter encouraged me to stop going into the grocery store beginning this week. I made an online list for curb side pickup with my usual grocery store…reviewed it carefully with my husband to make sure it would be everything he wanted for the next week. And then – just before bedtime – I tried to submit it. I quickly discovered that there were no available times for curbside pickup! I went to bed extremely frustrated deciding to wait until the morning to look at other options. The saga continues tomorrow….

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20, 3/21, 3/22, 3/23

Jigsaw Puzzle of the Moon

/

Cleaning out a large box that had been in our basement since we moved to our house 25 years ago, I discovered framed pictures and other wall hangings. Several pieces were from the 1980s – a macramé piece made by sister on a large hoop and a collage of astrophotographs my husband made in the late 70s and early 80s. Other things were much older: a picture my husband remembers being in the houses he grew up in from the very beginning of his memories and a jigsaw puzzle of the moon that I remember helping to assemble in the 1960s. The puzzle was very difficult – made possible only because of the labeling of the features; my family was so pleased when we finished it that we glued it to a board. Someone carefully cut the circle and painted the raw edge black. I not sure when I ended up with it because of my husband’s interest in astronomy.

The 1960s were full of optimism about space exploration. It fueled an uptick in science and engineering interest overall. I’m glad to have this memento of the time. But where does this jigsaw puzzle go next?

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/21/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

Cooking corn on the cob and hamburger patties on the grill. It was a cool cloudy day…but not too windy for grilling.

  • Walking in the neighborhood. It felt good to get out of the house and get some exercise outdoors. It is easy to keep social distance…even more than 6 feet! I took some pictures along my way: bent reeds and their reflections in water, a squirrel at attention, some red maple samaras that fell from the tree too early to mature (beautiful color though) and cattail stalks from last season at the edge of the water retention pond.

Camera_01_20200321081005_20200321081034_Moment2.jpg

Celebrating birds finding our feeder again. They are still not back in the numbers before the seed was gone from the feeder. A titmouse is in the first video from the feeder cam. I’ve already seen red-bellied woodpeckers, Carolina chickadee, titmouse, eastern phoebe (not at the feeder…on a nearby tree branch), dark-eyed junco, and goldfinch.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17, 3/18, 3/19, 3/20

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 21, 2020

/

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.  

Can Destroying Senescent Cells Treat Age-Related Disease? | The Scientist Magazine® - Lots of trials going on…this may be a way to extended years of healthy life (not elongate life).

This 'Blood-Red' Snow Is Taking Over Parts of Antarctica | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – I remember seeing snow that was the color of watermelon in Colorado…it’s algae Chlamydomonas nivalis, which is the most common type of snow algae around the world. It hasn’t been as common in Antarctica until this year.

Spotted Zebras, Yellow Cardinals, and Three-Antlered Deer: What Causes these Animal Oddities? • The National Wildlife Federation Blog – Some uncommon forms of animals we all recognize.

What Makes a Venus Flytrap Snap | The Scientist Magazine® - It’s complicated…and nuanced so that the plant only invests in digestion efforts when there is food!

Just a Tiny Fraction of America’s Plastic Can Actually Be Recycled, Report Finds - Yale E360 – We can’t send it to China any more…so it’s all on us to clean up our own mess. Unless and until we can get recycling working well…it’s important for all of us to reduce our use of plastics as much as possible. It’s hard to do.

States with highest rates of melanoma due to ultraviolet radiation identified: Several landlocked states among those with highest rates -- ScienceDaily – It’s not all about being out in the sun either. The prevalence was higher in younger females due to tanning bed usage by teen girls in the late 1990s contributing.

Interactive Infographic: How Salt Transforms Coastal Forests | The Scientist Magazine® - We noticed this process as we’ve visited Blackwater National Wildlife Refuge over the years. There are some areas that used to be marsh with some trees that are now open water.

Top 25 birds of the week: March 2020 - Wild Bird Revolution – No birding festivals in our future near term….but still enjoying pictures taken by others.

Why your internet habits are not as clean as you think - BBC Future – A good compilation of studies about energy consumption for various aspects of our online activities….maybe we can skew toward the lower energy use ones more frequently. Some of the energy, we pay for in terms of our electricity use….others are embedded in products or services we use where the energy usage is not something we see directly.

Coronavirus: How hand sanitizers protect against infections – Compound Interest – Some timely chemistry.

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/18/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Going to the grocery store turned out to be a rather overwhelming experience. The store opened an hour later than posted on their website (the decision evidently made last night after I checked) and there were more people that had accumulated by the time they opened. After sitting in my car for about 30 minutes and just before the doors opened, I walked over to the far edge of the parking garage to photograph the sunrise. It was the last calm moment of today’s shopping.

The carts were all lined up outdoors and we entered the store single file….spaced out. More than half the people looked 60+ (like me).  Everyone was wiping down carts, using hand sanitizer and trying to keep 6 feet apart. My plan is to shop weekly to maintain the 2 weeks of food and supplies in the house.

  • We were running low on disinfectant for our counter tops because I had not been finding it recently; they didn’t have what I wanted today either, but I did buy something else. I didn’t find disinfectant wipes either.

  • No toilet paper. I’m down to about a 1.5 weeks supply in the house…so I need to find some soon.

  • I did find buy some boxed flax milk that can be stored in the pantry rather than the refrigerator because keeping 4 cartons of milk in the refrig at all times (which is what is I drink in 2 weeks), takes up too much room.

  • The meat counters were bare as was the canned chicken shelf so we are dipping into our two-week supply if we don’t find any at the store we will try tomorrow morning.

  • They had cat food but not the kind we were running low on. I didn’t buy any. That could become an issue next week. Hopefully the cat will eat some foods that he typically does not like as well (we pamper him…he’s 19 years old).

  • I couldn’t find any dried beans. I cooked what I had in the pantry recently…wanted to restock.

  • Medication we would typically use for a cold or the flu….just in case we somehow get sick…was sold out. My husband had bought a small supply before but it’s not enough if we both got sick and needed it for a week or more. We need to find some tomorrow.  

  • My husband’s protein shakes were not available in the flavor he likes. I’m not sure what I am going to do about that.

  • I found everything I wanted in the produce section (radishes, celery, kale, bananas) – fortunately.

After this experience – I might change to curbside pickup or delivery for next week.

Here are the unique activities for yesterday that helped me recover from the overwhelming start to the day:

  • Ordering protein powder (NutraBio® 100% Whey Protein Isolate) based on my daughter’s recommendation – just in case we are challenged to get enough protein at some point. It also has the advantage of being a pantry item rather requiring refrigeration. I’ve enjoyed the beet powder I bought before all this ‘stay at home as much as possible’ started for the same reasons: great nutrition in a small space and long shelf life. They’re both smoothie ingredients! I’m wondering if the combination of the Dutch Chocolate protein powder, banana and the beet powder will be like a ‘red velvet’ smoothie!

  • Watching the 5th video in the ‘Life in the Universe Pandemic Series’ from Charles Cockell – Will I ever meet aliens?

  • Noticing that my neighbor’s forsythia is blooming…and that the spicebush in the forest is blooming too. It’s not as showy…but it’s a native. There is a butterfly that needs spicebush for its caterpillars too: the spicebush swallowtail. I’ll put on my hiking boots and tuck my pants into socks (to avoid deer ticks and Lyme disease) to troop back into the woods to get some pictures of their flowers someday soon.

  • Responding to an email query about tips re cell phone nature photography….and was pleased to provide some links to two blog posts (one and two) with tips illustrated by examples that I did a little over a year ago. It’s nice to have some two-way interaction beyond my immediate family!

  • Ordering some bugs from https://www.thebutterflycompany.com/ for a photographic project. My husband is the one that suggested it. We are anticipating needing to supplement the projects we’ve already started for ourselves while we are ‘staying at home as much as possible.’ We ordered: cecropia moth, Luna moth, eastern comma butterfly, question mark butterfly, zebra swallowtail, and eastern Hercules beetle.

  • Watching the Cincinnati Zoo’s Home Safari – Sihil the Ocelot.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15, 3/16, 3/17

eBotanical Prints – February 2020

/

19 botanical eBooks found in February! There were two series about alpine plants and then one series about medicinal plants. The publication dates range from 1868 to 1971…although heavily skewed to the second half of the 1800s. I always enjoy looking at botanical print books but in February – when the view from my window is winter trees – I find them even more appealing.  

The volumes are all freely available on the Internet. The whole list of about 1,850 books can be accessed here. Sample images and links for the 19 new ones are provided below. (click on the sample image to see a larger view). Enjoy!

Common Weeds of the United States * Reed, Clyde Franklin * sample image * 1971

Atlas Rostlin * Joh, Jan * sample image * 1899

Atlas de la flora alpine V1 * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1899

Atlas de la flora alpine V4 * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1899

Atlas de la flora alpine V5 * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1899

Fleurs des champs et des bois, des haies et des murs * Correvon, Henry * sample image * 1922

Atlas der Alpenflora V1 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der Alpenflora V2 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der Alpenflora V3 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der Alpenflora V4 * Hartinger, Anton; Dalla Torre, Karl Wilhelm von * sample image * 1882

Atlas der officinellen Pflanzen - Band III * Berg, Otto Carl; Schmidt, C. F.: Meyer, Arthur * sample image * 1899

Atlas der officinellen Pflanzen - Band I * Berg, Otto Carl; Schmidt, C. F.: Meyer, Arthur * sample image * 1893

Pflanzen-Atlas nach dem Linné'schen System * Hoffman, Carl * sample image * 1881

Botanischer bilder-atlas nach De Candolle's Natürlichem pflanzensystem * Hoffmann, Carl * sample image * 1884

Traité pratique et raisonné des plantes médicinales indigènes, avec un atlas de 200 planches lithographiées * Cazin, F.J.; Cazin, Henri * sample image * 1868

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 1 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav);  (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1887

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 2 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav);  (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1890

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 3 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav);  (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1898

Köhler's Medizinal-Pflanzen in naturgetreuen Abbildungen mit kurz erläuterndem Vol 4 * Kohler, Hermann Adolph; Pabst (Gustav);  (Walther Otto Müller, C. F. Schmidt, and K. Gunther illustrators) * sample image * 1899

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/16/2020

/

Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….

Here are the unique activities for yesterday:

2020 03 IMG_8476 (2).jpg

Discovered some to go peanut butter in my pantry that are ‘best if used by’ April 2020 which prompted a snack of peanut butter and celery….and taking everything out of the pantry to see if there was more items that needed to be used promptly. There was some cocoa that should have been used by 2014 and some coconut flour by 2017…into the trash they went. The before and after shot of the pantry is below….it was a good ‘cleanup and out’ project for the day.

Continued “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series” videos from Dr. Charles Cockell – Is there life on Mars? And Will Samples from Mars cause a Pandemic?

Cooked pinto beans. I soaked them for a full 24 hours (part on the counter…then in the refrig) then cooked them in the morning and ate a small portion with some leftover stir fry chicken for lunch. Yum!

Learned about Anna Atkins’ Photographs of British Algae Cyanotype Impressions in a Europeana Blog post (one of my news feeds) and then searched to find an online copy. I was frustrated that the Internet Archive only had one print! It turns out that The New York Public Library Digital Collections has a digitized copy of the volumes once owned by Sir John Herschel. I enjoyed the first volume and added the others to my reading list for subsequent days.

Watched the first Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden Home Safari…daily at 3PM EDT…for children but interesting for adults as well…the first video is about their young hippo Fiona. From their Facebook Page.

Went to dentist to get permanent crowns. I was worried about the temporary ones that I had for over 3 weeks coming loose/off at a bad time….having a painful dental problem when the office might be closed. So - I had a very short breach of social distance…but I decided it was worth the (slight) risk.

Overall, this is my 8th day of adhering to the low density, 6 feet rule (except for the dentist which was low density but could not always achieve the 6 feet separation)…stay at home as much as possible…hand washing with soap/not touching face. The last time I was at a place with more than 25 people in a room was 19 days ago. I’m beginning to realize that some of what I am doing now (like the more frequent hand washing with soap) might be on the way to becoming habits.

Previous “filling a day of social distance” posts: 3/15

Filling a Day of Social Distance – 3/15/2020

/
2020 03 img_8448 clip.jpg

I normally do a daily blog post…but during this time, I might do an extra post from time to time. Since I am ‘staying at home as much as possible’ to reduce our COVID-19 exposure (and potentially slow the spread of the virus), I have more time at home.

Normally this time of year I travel, get training for upcoming volunteer activities, and take day trips---as spring is unfurling. This year was no exception, but it all came to a screeching halt last week. So – what am I doing with this extra time at home? Fortunately, I have a house that I enjoy and there is a lot to do. If you are at home and getting a little low on ‘things to do’ maybe these extra posts will give you some ideas.

There are the usual things that I always try to work into my day (but don’t always succeed when I have a lot of other things going on):

  • Zentangle (more than one)

  • Breathing App (this is an smartphone app that provides tones for breathing – in and out – in a rhythm that people meditating achieve….I find it very relaxing for 15 minutes…better than a substantial nap and makes me even more focused on whatever I do afterward)

  • Yoga (I’ve already built up my routine in the past week!)

  • Browse through 3-4 books on Internet Archive and other online sources. (I like variety. Today I am still working my way through 1) The Vermont Life magazines – I am up to Autumn 2011; 2) Starting The English Home magazines; 3) Working backwards through the Quarterly Journal of the Audubon Society of Missouri – I am back to 2013 now…getting to know to birds found in the state where my daughter is living; and 4) Keeping in reserve the Internet Archive collection by or about Alphonse Mucha.)

  • 12,000 steps (this one is a little harder being at home all the time although I am taking walks around the neighborhood or working in the yard on days that the weather is good)

  • Pictures of birds at the feeder or birdbath – right now the feeder is empty because we are discouraging a hawk from frequenting our back yard and it’s been raining so the birds don’t need the birdbath as often

But what I am doing more than the usual today…what are some ‘different’ things that I did today to keep boredom at bay?

  • Cleaned the foyer and kitchen floors. I don’t do this often enough.

  • Dusted the top of all the door frames. It might have been over a year since I did it. They were dusty!

  • Photographed the plum tree (once the rain was over). There were blossoms at different stages of development and the day was cloudy enough to avoid the harsh shadows of sunny days.

  • Read a chapter in a physical book (I usually read online these days but have a stack of books I’ve been meaning to read for several years)

  • Started soaking some pinto beans (the bag has been in the pantry for over a year, their ‘best if used by’ date was December 2020...I’m going to cook them to use in chili…we have plenty of time to do slow food!)

  • Watched Are Viruses Alive? Video by an astrobiology professor from University of Edinburgh (recorded at home for his “Life in the Universe Pandemic Series”). I enjoyed his Coursera course several years ago.

What I am trying not to do?

  • Eat more than usual

  • Spend too much time looking at COVID-19 news and analysis

NISE

/

Update: This blog post is about a visit to Robinson early in March. Like all Howard County Recreation and Parks facilities it is closed today as part of the strategy to slow the spread of COVID-19. Check the county web site for more information.

One of the things about volunteering – there are always new things to try. Robinson Nature Center recently got some kits from the NISE (National Informal STEM Education) Network which is a community of informal educators and scientists dedicated to supporting learning about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) across the United States. Before I signed up for the training Robinson was offering, I looked at the NISE site. It offers many program and activities with great documentation (some kits). I was thrilled to know about the site and enjoyed the hands-on experience at the Robinson training.

Then I tried the “Exploring the Universe: Orbiting Objects” one Sunday afternoon. It included the ”gravity well” apparatus (made with PVC pipes and elbows, slip tees, PVC snap clamps, and 4-way stretch fabric). The picture shows the heaviest sphere representing the star/sun. The idea was to use spheres of various sizes and weights to simulate planets.

The activity is designed for ages 4 - adult. During the hour I was doing the activity with people coming to the nature center, the age of the children skewed young. If there were 2 children in the visiting family, the youngest was younger than 4. But it was still fun. We simply had some escaping planets and the children were not quite old enough to understand the content --- other than direct observations of the different size/weight of orbiting planets/balls and the star ‘wobble’ particularly with the heavier planet/ball orbiting. It was a learning experience for all!

Mycology Class Remnants

/

Way back in the 1970s when I was working on my undergraduate degree in Biology, I took a mycology (study of fungi) class. It was one of the most memorable upper level courses in my undergraduate work…but it’s been a long time. The textbook, lab book and spiral notebooks are long gone. When I was cleaning out the basement (continuing projects during the ‘stay at home as much as possible’ strategy to avoid COVID-19), I found remnants of the course: some black and white negatives in protective sleeves – unlabeled. As soon as I looked at them, I knew they were microphotographs of the microscope slides I made during the mycology lab even though I don’t remember which species they are (some are penicillium species).

The negatives were somewhat deteriorated – maybe they were never crisply focused. I scanned them with my Epson V600 Photo Scanner then clipped the best portions of some of the frames and colored them blue in Microsoft Powerpoint. They have an abstract art look.

I remember that in the lab we inoculated growth medium (agar and other types), let the fungus grow onto the glass…then stained the fungus (methylene blue, I think) to make the filaments and fruiting structures and spores appear blue under the microscope. I would love to take a mycology lab course again….and take lots of pictures!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 14, 2020

/

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.  

Shrikes: Meet the Bird That Impales Prey on Spikes – The bird creates its “pantry” on barbed wire…other spikey objects. Gruesome…but it’s an adaptation that works for the bird.

The color of your clothing can impact wildlife - ScienceDaily – For water anoles – orange is better than green if you want to see the lizards!

We're Destroying Virgin Forests for Toilet Paper -- What Are the Alternatives? | CleanTechnica – Not good! We in the US are the biggest users…change is hard.

Why Clouds Are the Key to New Troubling Projections on Warming - Yale E360 – Fewer clouds as the planet warms? If so, we’ll heat up more because more solar energy will strike the planet. That’s what the most recent models are predicting and real-world data from satellites suggests that the modelers’ predictions may already be coming true. We’ll have less snow and ice around too to reflect solar energy back into space. It seems like we should make all sky facing manmade surfaces (like roofs) white or lighter colored (unless they are generating energy)…and look for other opportunities to reflect like clouds.

New Research Rewrites the Demise of Easter Island | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – There is mounting evidence that Easter Island people created the statues until at least 1750 – after contact with Europeans. And their population has been relatively stable since the 1400s. By the time the British explorer James Cook arrived in 1774 the statues were in ruins. By 1877, just over 100 people remained on Easter Island.

How do woodpeckers avoid brain injury? – Woodpeckers avoid concussions with some adaptions: 1) specialized skull bones, neck muscles, beaks and tongue bones 2) less internal fluid surrounding their brain to limit the motion of the brain during pecking. Interesting…and maybe can help devise ways to protect and heal human brain injuries.

Anti-solar cells: A photovoltaic cell that works at night -- ScienceDaily – Some research…potentially a way to balance solar power over the day-night cycle.

How did the last Neanderthals live? - BBC Future – From caves in Gibraltar….the insight that they were much more like us than we once believed: they exploited seafood and marine mammals (they could swim…hunted dolphins), wooly mammoths, woolly rhinos, ibex, birds (maybe used their feathers…particularly the black ones); they decorated walls and shells; their hyoid bone was like ours (which means they might have had speech like ours); they made tools of bone that were copied by modern humans.

Florida scientists study health effects from exposure to toxic algae - UPI.com – Blue-green algae toxins make people sick (liver damage/disease, skin rashes, headaches, trouble breathing) but does it cause disease when it is absorbed via breathing (i.e. airborne particles) during algae blooms? Fish kills are bad too. It’s good to research the topic but shouldn’t we do everything we can to prevent the blooms in the first place?

Researchers Find Cell-Free Mitochondria Floating in Human Blood | The Scientist Magazine® - Surprise! Now to figure out their function….

Full Moon

/

Sunday night was clear – and I took pictures of the full moon before I went to bed and when I got up.  I used the ‘night scene’ setting on my Canon Powershot SX60 HS bridge camera which takes multiple shots and melds them in the camera. The picture I took in the evening was focused on the moon. There is an unfocused branch in the across the lower right of the picture.

2020 03 IMG_5565.jpg

The picture from the morning is focused on the tree branches – clear enough to know that it’s a tulip poplar! I like it better than the evening picture.

2020 03 IMG_5574.jpg

Both pictures were taken though second floor windows of our house. We have so many big trees that it’s impossible to photograph the moon close the horizon where it can be yellow orange. Still – I liked what I got…pleased that my hands could hold the camera steady enough for the ‘night scene’ setting to work.