Sometimes the day races by before I get a chance to get outside. Kiera doesn’t care what time of day it is, she just wants to make sure that, at some point, we get in our three mile walk. You see, Kiera has taken it upon herself to act as my personal fitness trainer. She doesn’t care whether I want to go or not — in her mind, not going is not an option. In the past eight years, we’ve … Read More
I’ve always loved watching birds. Once you know how to decipher their signs, they have a lot to tell you about what’s going on around you. For instance, if you’re sitting in the woods, and all of a sudden you see a flush of ground birds (robins, pheasant, turkey, etc.) fly up, you’ll know that a predator of some kind is in the vicinity. Or if the insect-eating birds (i.e. swallows) are flying lower to the ground, it’s because the … Read More
The wood’s stacked, the leaves raked, the lawn mowed one last time, and the tools put away. We’re ready for winter.
But my Maple trees? They’re still busy putting on their last hurrah.… Read More
Whales-online.org offers this podcast with Marc Bekoff, Professor Emeritus of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology at the University of Colorado and Fellow of the Animal Behavior Society. The interviewer and Marc discuss his new book Animals Matter: A Biologist Explains Why We Should Treat Animals with Compassion and Respect. Marc’s book considers the full spectrum of topics relating to animals in the human world including animal sentience and animal emotions.
From the Whales-online.org site: “Marc explains that the difference between … Read More
This is the view from the top of Owl’s Head, one of Lake Placid’s shorter hikes — just over 2 miles up and back.
Cait and I were heading back after a long weekend at my mother’s (Andrew stayed home to get in the last of some golfing, while watching the dogs). Just as we were about to pass the road that led to the trail head, we looked at each other.
“Mom?” Cait nodded to the entrance.
“Sure,” I … Read More
With summer in full swing and Cait out of school, we spend more time at my mother’s place up in the Adirondacks. Since I always appreciate seeing pictures of where you all live around the world (it helps to satisfy my wanderlust), I thought you might enjoy seeing more than just my pond.
When the locals talk about the Adirondacks, they’re usually referring to the mountains which attract hikers and climbers from all over. There are 46 “High Peaks” dominated … Read More
To Break Scape or Not to Break Scape?
That is the question no more.
When I first started growing garlic, I’d read that breaking the scapes (the flower stalks) off the garlic plants soon after they appeared would allow the bulbs to grow bigger (and so I’d always broken the scapes). Made sense, logically speaking; the energy that would be used to grow the scapes would then be forced down into the bulb. I wanted to test this logic for … Read More
I thought I was immune, but I guess I’m not anymore… For the first time in decades, I’ve got Poison Ivy. I got it pulling some vines off my trees. My hands are a blistered mess, which makes typing interesting. In others words, this’ll be a short post. Just a quick refresher for those who might have forgotten what Poison Ivy looks like.
This is what’s left of the vine that I foolishly grabbed with my bare hands.
Poison Ivy … Read More
