eBotanicalPrints – February 2018

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Two more years have been added to the eBotanicalPrints area of the site – those books that I discovered in 2011 and 2012. Look at the botanical blog to see what’s happened in the past month in slideshow form. There are now almost 1000 eBooks containing botanical prints with links to access the whole book and a sample image. The list is getting long enough that I am looking for other ways that I can display the lists -maybe a tabular format rather than lists. Hopefully I’ll work out a better way during March.

In the meantime – enjoy 24 books that I browsed last month. The sample images are below, and the titles are at the bottom of this post. Enjoy the colorful blooms in the prints!

Zentangle® – February 2018

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60 tiles in 28 days…that is the Zentangle count for February. I picked 28 to display below. During the month, I kept cutting blank tiles from folders of various kinds that I find while I am cleaning out office supplies….boxing up the blanks and comfortable that I’ll use all of them eventually. I am enjoying the new pens this month; it’s wonderful to not have skips!

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

3 Free eBooks – February 2018

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I’m saving the wonderful botanical print books I viewed in February for a post on botanical prints…so the three books featured today are from the rest of my online reading in February.

Mochizuki, Gyokusen. Gyokusen shūgajō. Tonaka Jihe, Kyoto-shi, Meiji 24. 1891. Available from the Smithsonian Libraries site here.  I liked the soft colors and the depictions of familiar things. The dragonfly on grassy stems was my favorite.

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Mori, Yuzan. Hamonshu. Yamada Geisodo, Kyoto-shi, Meiji 36. 1903. Three volumes are available from the Smithsonian Libraries site here. These books are all about depicting water. I got a lot of ideas for Zentangle patterns from these volumes

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.Ladies Realm – an illustrated monthly magazine. Published by Hutchinson and Co. London. The volumes from the late 1800s to 1913 are available on Hathi Trust here.  This period was one of transition. There was a lot of change in fashion and technology and what women were reading. At first there were a lot of pictures of the royal family and other aristocrats….and lots of pages devoted to fashion from Paris. As time when on, there was more fiction, more ‘how to’ articles, and by the 25th volume (1908-1909) an article showing pictures of London at night.

Ten Little Celebrations – February 2018

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February 2018 has been busier than usual for me than in previous years since ‘graduation’ from my career (that does sound better than ‘retirement’!). The activity that caused that was the day long HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment) classes once a week. I celebrated 1) after the first one – realizing what a rich learning experience the institute was going to be – and after 2) after the second week when we are at Goddard learning about how and what satellites help us understand the Earth…and having the serendipity add on to the class seeing the big rock with dinosaur and early mammal tracks. I could have counted all 4 days as ‘celebrations’ but decided to choose some other items to add variety to this post.

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I celebrated seeing 3) 2 kinds of woodpeckers within about 10 minutes from my office window: pileated and downy and 4) the springtime tussling of male cardinals in the maple tree while the female looked on and stayed out of the way (a sign that winter in waning already).

The old crock pot being replaced by 5) an Instant Pot was a little celebration (because of immediate success using it) and continuing.

Usually I don’t find anything to celebrate in the news…but the 6) successful launch of the Falcon Heavy was something to celebrate. It’s great that there is a heavy lift capability available - a capability we need to further our exploration of space.

Several things came together this month – focusing my attention on how much I’ve enjoyed being a 7) Maryland Master Naturalist…I celebrated the 4-year journey.

I vicariously shared some of my daughter’s experiences this month – 8) celebrating her post doc – teaching – and ‘what next’ search. It’s invigorating to understand how full her life is --- how much we still share so easily.

The weather after mid-month has turned very mild here in Maryland. Earlier I celebrated 9) enough snow to be pretty and that I had 10) no commitments and could stay home on the day it turned icy.

HoLLIE – week 4

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The Week 4 of HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment) class day was held at Belmont Manor and Historic Park. There are 8 weeks to this institute so its now half over. Time flies…

I arrived early since it was my class to bring snacks and I wanted to have them unpacked before other students arrived. While I waited a few minutes for the most convenient door to be unlocked, I noticed a small bird on one of the hooks used occasionally for bird feeders. I managed to get out my camera and use the zoom to see what it was. A bluebird! What an excellent way to start out the day.

The theme for the day – which will carry over to week 5 - was “Earth System Science with Humans in the Equation”. The agenda for the day included a morning focused on government approach to environmental policy (international, national and local) followed by an afternoon hearing about volunteering and a group of organizations needing volunteers in our area. As usual – I took copious notes.

The most important aspect of these classes is probably what actions I take afterward. After this one – I’ve volunteered with the school district for programs like what I’ve done with the Howard County Conservancy and wrote off two emails to my representatives in the state legislature about pending legislation. I also followed up looking at websites mentioned in the lectures or in the materials provided by the organizations that spoke. This was a lot more than an academic series of talks!

Previous HoLLIE posts: Week 1, Week 2, week 3

Zooming – February 2018

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I use the zoom on my camera a lot to get the picture I want. What’s not to like about a photograph of the moon that is better than I can see with my eyes!

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These water droplets were on the top of a tall pine…and I took the picture from the comfort of my office!

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I’ve posted a lot of the bird pictures but not this one. I like it because it shows more detail of the flicker’s feathers…..where the down fluffs to keep the bird warm on a cold day. Without the zoom, the feathers have a sleeker look.

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I appreciated using the zoom for the skunk cabbage since there was standing water or mud around them…and it was too cold to risk getting my feet wet if my boots leaked.

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The ice crystals were so delicate I did not want to get close and risk breaking them before I could get the photo I wanted. The zoom also makes it easier to avoid working about casting a shadow.

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Of course – the squirrel would have run away very quickly if I had been closer. As it was, the pose seems like something Beatrix Potter would have used for one of her characters!

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Gleanings of the Week Ending February 24, 2018

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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.

#ColorOurCollections & Europeana Colouring Book | Europeana Blog – I’d rather draw my own Zentangles rather starting with an existing picture. For those who want images already on the page - here is a free downloadable coloring book of historical images.

Top 25: Wild Birds on the Edge – National Geographic Blog – Endangered birds….many factors causing stressing these birds…no quick fix.

Explore Thurston Lava Tube At Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park By Flashlight  and The Nature Conservancy Transfers 222 Acres To Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park  - Reminded how much I enjoyed our trip to the big Island (and the national park there) a few years ago.

11 Chocolate Desserts That Are Totally Healthy – Dark chocolate…it’s wonderful that it is also good for you too – in moderation.

Long-term economic impact of cover crops: 29-year study finds cover crops offer benefits with no-till cotton systems -- ScienceDaily – Decreasing soil erosion….always a good thing.

Artists envisioned the future of work, and the results are pure fantasy - MIT Technology Review – What do you think? Some of these are (somewhat) logical extensions of existing technology and jobs.

Why Are You Seeing Robins in Winter? – Cool Green Science – I didn’t see any robins at my birdbath this winter, but we don’t have trees with berries that might be food for them. I did see some robins at Mt. Pleasant yesterday…a small group…and wondered if the warm weather we had earlier in the week (in the 70s) is bringing them in larger numbers to our area.

Saving a Crown Jewel – National Geographic – We spent some time at Santa Ana National Wildlife Refuge last November when we were at the Rio Grand Valley Birding Festival See my post here). The short video is worth watching. The wall that is being built through the refuge (destroying the refuge) is the proof of concept for the wall that some in our country want to build. It’s very sad.

BBC - Future - An effortless way to improve your memory – After reading this, I wondered if creating a Zentangle tile has the effect of a short rest period for me. I’ve noticed that it is easier for me to learn new material if I include breaks to make tiles!

Creative Ways to Boost Creativity – How many of these just come naturally to you?

Birding through a Window – February 2018

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I’ve posted many of my bird pictures for the month already (bluebirds bathing,  before (woodpeckers) and after the Great Backyard Bird Count) so this post will have the ‘best of the rest.’ There were birds that just come to the birdbath – like the blue jays (we have a small flock that makes the rounds in our neighborhood most days with a stop at our bird bath…one bird at a time)

And the flickers (sporadically).

Sometimes the little birds visit the bird bath together. I managed to photograph a chickadee, goldfinch, and nuthatch together. It’s interesting to see how chunky the nuthatch is compared to the other two birds.

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I saw the nuthatch and chickadee several times during the month…but didn’t get any more worthwhile pictures. The goldfinches comes to the feeder and bird bath more frequently. They are still in their winter plumage…I keep looking for the more brilliant yellow feathers to appear.

At the bird feeder – a house finch and downy woodpecker shared for a few seconds. The woodpecker is a little bigger than the finch…but they both are light enough that their combined weight does not pull down the metal ‘flowers’ to cover the seed holes (the squirrel proofing of the feeder).

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The house finches are probably the most frequent visitors to the feeder. We have a resident group that makes rounds in our neighborhood.

The resident cardinal pair prefers seed on the ground but has developed a technique to flutter near the feeder and get seed when there is not enough scattered around underneath.

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A mockingbird came to the bird bath recently….which is unusual for us. They are around our neighborhood (I hear them and see them) but we haven’t had one that frequents our deck…maybe this one will stick around.

Not so mundane oatmeal

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I’ve eaten oatmeal all my life. I probably ate it before I can remember. But I doctor it very differently now that when I was growing up when I pilled on the butter and brown sugar.  Yes – I still start with some butter in the bottom of my bowl but not as much and earlier in my life.

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And I don’t put just oatmeal and water in the pan (I’ve skipped the salt for a long time). Now I add raisins and orange peel too….sometimes cinnamon.

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Recently, I decided to clean out the refrigerator – cranberry orange relish (using it up) as the topping. Yum!

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It was a good feeling to make something that tasted so good…and was very different from the same old oatmeal!

Snow Days

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The schools didn’t have to make a decision…the snow was on the weekend! It started last Saturday and by mid-afternoon had flocked seedpods

And tree branches….and it was still snowing.

As it got dark, we had a winter wonderland.

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Sunday morning, the sun came out and the melting got underway – slowly. The Tulip Poplar seed pods were still holding a lot of snow at mid morning.

The squirrels came up to the deck to dump the seed from the feeder. I never saw them do it! After the snow got slushy in mid-afternoon, one visitor left some very nice tracks.

The snow and ice on the skylight of our covered deck always slides down the slope. It reminded me of the ice shelf discussion in the HoLLIE sessions from the past to weeks. This ‘shelf’ didn’t have sea water underneath but it did demonstrate that ice and snow can bend without breaking!

By the end of the day on Sunday there were only patches of snow in shady places left…and we had a warming trend for the early part of the week.

After the Great Backyard Bird Count

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This year was by first time to participate in the Great Backyard Bird Count. It started last Friday (see my post from Friday) and ended yesterday…and was a learning experience in several ways.

I was glad I had decided to simply observe from my office window because the weather was not very cooperative. It rained and snowed! There were lots of times I looked out and saw no birds at all. I felt lucky to see 15 species. The pileated woodpecker was not one of them…but the downy woodpecker visited twice.

The juncos and doves were the most frequent visitors.

I didn’t take as many pictures because the light was so poor….but I did capture several ‘personalities: bluebirds (sometimes they look affronted…like they know someone is looking at them).

And a Carolina Wren (it seemed like the bird noticed me through the window and interrupted singing to check…then continued singing).

HoLLIE – week 3

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The Week 3 of  HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership for the Environment) class day was last week and it was held at NASA Goddard like the second week. The theme for the day was continued from last week: “what informed citizens need to know about earth systems science.”

The first talk of the day as about ice sheets and included a discussion of the speakers trek to the South Pole last year. Check out her ICESat-2 Antarctic Traverse Blog (The first post is from December 4, 2017. If you want to start with that one and read in chronological order, scroll down to the bottom of this page until you get to ‘Heading South, to New Zealand and Beyond.’ Then after reading the ‘South Pole Station: The Last Stop Before the Traverse’ beginning at the top of the page, click on ‘newer entries’ to read the rest of the of the posts – and again start with the post at the bottom of the page and work up). She spent Christmas at the South Pole!

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She recommended a book that I found could be checked out from Internet Archive when I got home: The two-mile time machine by Richard B. Alley. The book is about the annual rings of ice from cores drilled in Greenland and what they tell us about Earth’s climate over time.

The second talk was about the Land-Based Hydrology Cycle. This talk included what we can learn from satellites but also what measurements are taken on land too (and how much effort that takes…to get even sporadic data). With fresh water being so key to life – the very highs (floods) and very lows (droughts) are major impact all around the world.

The third talk was about the Black Marble project…about what we can learn from looking at the earth at night. Back in April there was good summation of the project – to create the images more frequently so that they could be used more even more applications (like short-term weather forecasting and disaster response): New Night Lights Maps Open Up Possible Real-Time Applications - https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2017/new-night-lights-maps-open-up-possible-real-time-applications; take a look at the map of India midway through the article and slide the vertical bar to the see how the northern part of the country was electrified between 2012 and 2016. There is more at https://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/NightLights/.

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The fourth talk was about how the Montreal Protocol saved the earth’s ozone layer. I knew the protocol concerned Ozone and CFCs….but didn’t realize any more history than that. The timing of a report that linked CFCs to ozone depletion just before the ‘hole’ was discovered in the ozone layer (a major change from measures of ozone for many years beforehand) over Antarctica made for a dramatic beginning to the conversation. It has been effective because governments engaged industry that provided substitutes (some transitional) that made it possible to move away from compounds that were ozone damaging in the stratosphere.

Next we visited NASA’s Scientific Visualization Studio – seeing some of their recent work on a wall sized screen. Here are some web versions of what we saw in the studio:

NASA's Near-Earth Science Mission Fleet: March 2017

Global Temperature Anomalies from 1880 to 2017

Weekly Animation of Arctic Sea Ice Age with Two Graphs: 1984 - 2016

Previous HoLLIE posts: Week 1, Week 2

Icy Crystals on Grass

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Last week when I took my walk at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm, there were ice crystals all over the grass on the paths. It was early enough in the day that the sun had not been out long enough for the ice to melt completely. The ice was in feathery crystals along the stems.

When I got to the bridge over the little stream near Hodge Podge Lodge, the moving water looked on the verge of freezing; the places that were shallow and slow over rocks has crystallized overnight.

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The largest crystals were on some straw near the skunk cabbage. They make the straw ‘fuzzy’ although there are some that look like nodules too.

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In one place the ice had melted but there were lots of tracks – deer and human! It must have been wetter when they came through since I did not leave any tracks at all!

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Gleanings of the Week Ending February 17, 2018

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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.

Who’s still smoking: Report highlights populations still at risk -- ScienceDaily – I rarely see people smoking these days. The overall smoking rates in the US has dropped from 42% in 1965 to 15% in 2015. The analysis of the types of individuals in that 15% reveals that there are populations vulnerable…and that novel interventions will be needed to further reduce smoking in the US.

Top 25 Wild Birds Against Spectacular Landscapes – National Geographic Blog – I’m thinking about birds even more than usual this weekend – participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count!

Being A Homebody Has A Surprising Environmental Upside | CleanTechnica – I know that I used less gasoline and don’t spend as much on clothes as I used to when I went into the office every day….evidently there are enough people that are working at home or retired that the energy savings is significant. Now to just make the energy we use at home skew further toward the renewable variety!

Magnesium makes chromosomes: A new chemical tool, MARIO, shows how free Mg2+ ions regulate chromosome shape -- ScienceDaily – Some work by Japanese researchers. They note at the end of this blurb that this new understanding about magnesium may be a piece to the puzzle of how cancer happens…and maybe treatment.

LASER SCANS REVEAL MAYA “MEGALOPOLIS” BELOW GUATEMALAN JUNGLE | National Geographic - National Geographic – more than 60,000 houses, palaces, elevated highways, and other human-made features….under the jungles of northern Guatemala. The civilization peaked some 1,200 years ago and was comparable to ancient Greece or China. There were probably 10-15 million people in the area too – far more than previously estimated. The LiDAR also revealed pits from looters.

Woodpeckers show signs of possible brain damage, but that might not be a bad thing -- ScienceDaily – Analysis of woodpecker brains from collections of the Field Museum and Harvard Museum of Natural History. The picture with the article is of a downy woodpecker…one kind of woodpecker we see in our area.

Mushrooms Are Good for You, But Are They Medicine? – The question is still open…but they taste good so why not enjoy them even if they aren’t medicine!

Another Kind of Migration: A Visit to Mexico’s Monarch Butterfly Biosphere Reserve – National Geographic Blog – I just found out recently that they’ve planted milkweed at all the schools in our county…and will be monitoring to make sure it thrives…a little action to help the Monarch butterflies as they come through our part of Maryland on their way to Canada.

Surreal Images of Frozen Niagara Falls at Night by Adam Klekotka – Winter eye candy.

Black Lung Study Finds Biggest Cluster Ever of Fatal Coal Miners’ Disease: NPR – So sad. It’s happening to younger miners than it used to; ‘improvements’ in mining equipment? This is probably another reason we should move to renewable energy as quickly as we can.

The Great Backyard Bird Count

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Are you participating in the Great Backyard Bird Count? It starts today and continues through Monday (i.e. February 16-19). I am doing it from the comfort of my home office window that looks out to our deck with a birdbath and feeder…and then forest. The forecast for my area is rain and snow…with only Sunday being sunny. It will be interesting to see which birds are out and about. I’m ready with the binoculars on the window ledge.

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Recording the birds I observe in my backyard in eBird is about as easy as it can get: through a window, most of them already familiar, and not during a busy time of the year for me. Earlier this week I observed two different kinds of woodpeckers in our yard within about 10 minutes: Two pileated woodpeckers and

A downy woodpecker at the feeder.

I hope they come back during the event so I can include them in my sightings during the event!

Spring Cleaning (in February)

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During my winter lull in volunteer activity, I always try to do some major cleaning out of the house. It never works out to be as major as I want it to be, but I try again every year. I’ve already had a charity pick up one front porch full of ‘stuff’ late last year and now I’ve accumulated another pile that is big enough. It was a real mess at first because I didn’t have boxes to put things in….then I had a box of ‘stuff’ that ended up being trash and decided to donate some luggage/backpacks – hurray! Containers to hold giveaway stuff.

Two questions that I ask myself about each item that help me decide:

  • Have I used it in the last year?
  • Do I want to take it with me when I move from this house?

If the answer to both those questions in ‘no’ then the logic becomes:

  • Does my husband agree (if it is an item that has anything at all to do with him)?
    • If so – Is it something that could be used by someone else?
      • If so – Do I know someone that I wants it?
        • If so – Deliver the items as soon as possible to that someone.
        • If not – Put it in the giveaway pile
    • If not – it goes in the trash or recycle for the week (or spread out over a few weeks if it is a lot of stuff or some items must be taken to the landfill directly in our area)

Of course – when we do eventually move from this house, there will be a lot of effort to clean out stuff to avoid moving ‘stuff’ that we don’t need (or want).

Skunk Cabbage – Take 2

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Yesterday I was at Howard County Conservancy’s Mt. Pleasant Farm and hiked down to take another look at the skunk cabbage. It had progressed a little since I saw it three weeks ago (post with pictures here) but it wasn’t a far along as it was on February 11th last year (post here). There were spathes (hood structure, wine with vertical lighter speckles) but I didn’t see any with visible spadix (looks like a golf ball inside the spathe).

When I first got to the location where I always see the skunk cabbage, I had a hard time spotting it at first. They like to grow near the water and this time a year, they can be some of the more colorful things around although one ‘color’ I spotted turned out to be a wet rock and oak leaf with the sun shining through – glowing. Then I started seeing them everywhere!

Sunk cabbage is one of the earliest ‘wild flowers’ and in some cases will pull itself deeper in the muck if the weather becomes really cold. With the amount of muck around some of them – I think our weather recently might have been slowing down their development – they had to deal with cold rather than bloom!

Earlier this week, it rained a lot and there were plenty of deer tracks on part of trail where it had been very muddy. Unfortunately, there were some deep ruts made by a vehicle that closed one of the trails…very sad that someone was so thoughtless, and it is not the first time it has happened. Hope the person is caught and prevented from doing it again.

Foldscope Adventure - 1

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I participated in the Foldscope Kickstarter and got foldscopes in the thick of volunteering and traveling activities last fall. The instructions on how to put the pieces together were a little daunting; it took me a month to discover that there were videos that made the process a lot easier to understand.

I managed to put one together and

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Took a few pictures with my phone of one of the sample slides that came in the kit using the attachment for smartphones included in the kit (I had to take the case off my phone which means I will collect several samples and then do photography all at once – and not in the field).

Now I am carrying around a small vial and will collect some stream water at the next opportunity…and will look at other ‘micro’ stuff as I go along…stay tuned.

HoLLIE – week 2

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The second HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership for the Environment) class day was last week and it was held at NASA Goddard. I was worried about hitting rush hour traffic so left very early since we were to meet in the Goddard Visitor Center parking lot to catch the bus into the facility. The day was sunny and clear…but very cold and breezy. I managed to take this picture of the visitor center (not yet open) without getting out of my car!

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The theme for the day was “what informed citizens need to know about earth systems science.” It was the first of two days that our classes will be at Goddard; last week we started with lectures on “understanding the tools and the state of the art in earth science” from the Project Scientist for the AQUA satellite and then got a tour of mission control for several earth science satellites from the Aqua Mission Director. They did a good job of demonstrating the types of data that can be collected, the methods used to collect it, and the ways it has been analyzed. I was surprised to see the LRO (Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter) mission control in the same building. That brought back the memory of my daughter being on the team to do image calibration shortly after it launched during her undergraduate days!

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On the way back to our classroom, we stopped by the replica of the big rock found at Goddard that has mammal and dinosaur and mammal tracks. This was not on our agenda originally but was a wonderful serendipity aspect to the day even if it took part of our lunch time. I’d read about it in one of my news feeds and followed the link to the paper…but it was such a thrill to see the exhibit and hear the short lecture. I managed to take a few pictures.

We started the lectures on ‘understanding the science of earth’s cycles’ that will continue in this week’s class. We talked about the oceans and the carbon system in this second class. One of the interesting videos in the lectures is available online: twenty years of global biosphere data mapped on a slowly spinning globe; it easy to see the annual cycles. With the massive amounts of data, visualization becomes an important component.

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When I got home an article in one of my newsfeeds talked about climate models that are developing that explain why there might be a linkage between melting of Arctic sea ice (one of the topics for the HoLLIE lectures this week) and droughts in California (How nuclear weapons research revealed new climate threats). It was easier to understand since I had the background of the lectures!

Previous HoLLIE posts: Week 1

Becoming a Volunteer

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It’s been 6 years since I retired and started volunteering more regularly. I got off to a slow start during the first year – taking 18 months to settle on what I wanted to do as a volunteer and the organization. Being outdoors in nature and working with a variety of age groups turned out to be ‘calling;’ it helped that the Howard Country Conservancy provided focused training to give me the know how to do it – first with elementary school field trips and then to preschool through high school. The interactions with hiking groups is something I don’t think I will ever want to give up!

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Over the years, I’ve ramped up the amount of time volunteering and increased my knowledge over the last 4 years to be more effective as a volunteer by

  • becoming a Maryland Master Naturalist,
  • taking a 2-day course on benthic macroinvertebrates,
  • attending an annual Maryland water monitoring conference, and
  • (currently) enjoying HoLLIE (Howard County Legacy Leadership Institute for the Environment).
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Last summer I added volunteering at Brookside Gardens (Wings of Fancy butterflies and model trains) in addition to the volunteering for Howard Country Conservancy programs. That filled in the volunteering lull in summer and December in prior years.

At this point, the only season of the year that I don’t have a lot of volunteer activity is the depths of winter! Right now – that seems like a good thing since the lull is allowing time to savor the HoLLIE days.