Filling a Day of Social Distance – 4/10/2020 - Gleanings
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Continuing the blog post series prompted by COVID-19….
Here are the unique activities for yesterday:
Finishing Vermont Life issues. I finally browsed through the last of the Vermont Life issues. The magazine was published from 1946-2018 and most of the issues are available on Internet Archive. I started at the beginning back in July and just finished the last one (from summer 2018) yesterday. Every issue contains great photography…of beautiful places. It’s a great armchair travel to a place…and through time. I had a friend that had family in Vermont when I was growing up in Texas; she visited there almost every summer. I found myself looking at the pictures from the 1960s and realizing that she probably saw some of those places. I remember her talking about picking blueberries.
IDing a plant for my sister. She sent me a picture from her Texas yard. I found a reference from Texas Master Naturalists easily enough – and passed along the id: Southern Dewberry (p. 23 of the reference).
Cleaning the filter on the air purifier. We’ve been running the air purifier more in our bedroom to keep the pollen allergies at bay – at least while we sleep. The red light came on to tell use the filter needed to be cleaned….it was an easy job…but we were without it for a couple of nights while everything dried. My husband and I both noticed the difference when we began running it again yesterday afternoon.
Hearing the wind sweeping through the forest. Yesterday afternoon was very gusty – not stormy…it was a mostly sunny day. The wind came roaring through the forest ripping off small pieces of leaves and bud coverings from the tulip poplars; some of the bits ended up in our gutters.
The red maple is full of seeds – looking golden from afar but reds/greens show when looking closer; the seeds are mostly staying put; they are not ready to helicopter away from the tree.
Links to my previous “filling a day of social distance” posts here.
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.
How to avoid touching your face so much - BBC Future – Something we are all trying to learn to do along with making masks for whenever we venture away from the house.
A more balanced protein intake can reduce age-related muscle loss -- ScienceDaily – My take away -older people (me included) need to have a high quality protein at lunch…not leave it for the evening meal!
Bald Eagles and the Unfortunate Power of Forgetting – When I was growing up, bald eagles were rare. They are not now because people took action and stuck with it. Remembering will keep Bald Eagles around and maybe provide a blueprint for the way we all move forward to a healthier Earth.
Scientists find Earth and moon not identical oxygen twins -- ScienceDaily – The finding may challenge the current understanding of the formation of our Moon…..future modeling will need to explore that possibility. Previously models have tried to account for complete oxygen isotope homogenization between the Earth and Moon.
How to escape the tyranny of the clock - BBC Future – Now that I am retired…the tyranny of the clock is not as overwhelming as it was during my career. Right now – there is even less requirement for me to do anything at a particular time….maybe a Zoom meeting or when my shopper is collecting my groceries. Otherwise I set my own time. Text messages or telephone calls or my husband wanting to talk/assistance with a project are interruptions that are easily handled with whatever I am doing. It’s an easy time to enjoy a loosening of the tyranny of the clock.
Top 25 birds of the week: Yellow Feathers - Wild Bird Revolution – Just as I was looking at this group of pictures – an American Goldfinch flew to our feeder! I even got a picture! It has quite got the full summer plumage yet.
See Seven New Dazzling, Dancing Peacock Spiders | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – A 1.5-minute video.
Does Equinox Sunset Highlight Egypt’s Sphinx? - Archaeology Magazine – The sun sets over the right shoulder on the spring and fall equinoxes!
Regular Exercise Helps Patients Combat Cancer | The Scientist Magazine® - It may benefit both mental and physical health. This is an example of exercise helping – even when you are sick and probably don’t feel like doing it.
Watch Seven Medieval Castles’ Digital Reconstruction – A animated way to learn about castles…and some history.
