High 75. Cloudy and rainy.
I don't complain about the weather. This is because my father, a rugged yet sensitive guy with Canadian heritage, always told me not to complain about things you can't fix. We all have to live with the weather, and there's nothing we can do to change it, so I might as well just move on with my life.
That said, this has been a rainy June. So much so that I am starting to get concerned about the tomatoes and basil I am expecting in August. And what makes me even more concerned is that my farmers are disheartened by the weather. Farmers!
Nevertheless, between rain drops I went down to the Manhan River trails and saw a lovely belted kingfisher (female)!
Monday, June 22, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Pictures
[caption id="attachment_61" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Columbines"]
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And the visitors...
[caption id="attachment_62" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Racoons!"]
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[/caption]And the visitors...
[caption id="attachment_62" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Racoons!"]
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Revival
High 74 (expected), Cloudy!
Summer is upon us! This past spring, I taught Zoology for the first time and loved every minute of it. Well, not the minutes that were filled with the smells of the preserved animals. Some of those really stunk! But it was a pleasure to learn and teach about the animal kingdom. I am currently teaching an Anatomy and Physiology lab (during the first summer session for the college), and I am having a great time with it. The course is challenging for the students since it is an upper level Biology course, but the students are dedicated and strong. Their patience, enthusiasm, and dedication never cease to surprise me. I get to teach some real good people.
Out of doors, I have been coaxing my garden to bloom. I had an amazing bunch of huge columbines, fragrant lilacs, vibrant tulips and fluffy apple blossoms (in no particular order). As I look out my office window, I see the salvia, astilbes and feverfew all in bloom at the moment. The yellow aster-like flowers of lovage are on their way.
Although I haven't been hiking much this summer due to the rain and other distractions, I have seen some fantastic wildlife! Cardinals and catbirds are plentiful this spring. I saw an oriole in Monson, and a few woodpeckers around the house in Easthampton. On my way to work yesterday, I saw a bear in Holyoke ! Maybe that's what inspired me to get back into writing this blog! It was a young bear, and it seemed confused that it had found its way out of the woods and onto Jarvis Street. This morning I was visited by a family of racoons. Two young racoons pushed their way through my fence gate, followed soon after by their mother. I got a couple pictures of the babies, but of course my camera died when the mama came through. She hissed at me for disturbing her morning stroll.
Pictures will be up shortly!
Summer is upon us! This past spring, I taught Zoology for the first time and loved every minute of it. Well, not the minutes that were filled with the smells of the preserved animals. Some of those really stunk! But it was a pleasure to learn and teach about the animal kingdom. I am currently teaching an Anatomy and Physiology lab (during the first summer session for the college), and I am having a great time with it. The course is challenging for the students since it is an upper level Biology course, but the students are dedicated and strong. Their patience, enthusiasm, and dedication never cease to surprise me. I get to teach some real good people.
Out of doors, I have been coaxing my garden to bloom. I had an amazing bunch of huge columbines, fragrant lilacs, vibrant tulips and fluffy apple blossoms (in no particular order). As I look out my office window, I see the salvia, astilbes and feverfew all in bloom at the moment. The yellow aster-like flowers of lovage are on their way.
Although I haven't been hiking much this summer due to the rain and other distractions, I have seen some fantastic wildlife! Cardinals and catbirds are plentiful this spring. I saw an oriole in Monson, and a few woodpeckers around the house in Easthampton. On my way to work yesterday, I saw a bear in Holyoke ! Maybe that's what inspired me to get back into writing this blog! It was a young bear, and it seemed confused that it had found its way out of the woods and onto Jarvis Street. This morning I was visited by a family of racoons. Two young racoons pushed their way through my fence gate, followed soon after by their mother. I got a couple pictures of the babies, but of course my camera died when the mama came through. She hissed at me for disturbing her morning stroll.
Pictures will be up shortly!
Friday, April 10, 2009
April Showers
High 60. Partly sunny.
Holyoke Community College is situated on a ridge of both sedementary and igneous rocks. On one end of campus, near the main entrance, you can see the layers of shale in which dinosaur fossils can be found. A professor told me once that there is a large fossil on display in the courtyard, but I have yet to see this (even though I look every time I walk through). Perhaps they were joking with me. The other side of campus abuts a natural area with trails throughout. The introductory Biology labs go there to study community ecology, and I go there to relax between classes. This time of year, the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), a member of the lily family, is starting to poke up in the moister locations. The vernal pools are full of blossoming life.
It is time for priority registration here at HCC, and I am swamped with work. My days are filled with students who want to get into classes-"Can I have Mondays and Fridays off and still take the 12 credits I need to be full-time?"-and out of classes-"Do I really have to take Anatomy and Physiology to be a nurse?". I was able to escape for a little while this morning and sit in the sunshine, resisting all the while the temptation to lay down in the grass.
Holyoke Community College is situated on a ridge of both sedementary and igneous rocks. On one end of campus, near the main entrance, you can see the layers of shale in which dinosaur fossils can be found. A professor told me once that there is a large fossil on display in the courtyard, but I have yet to see this (even though I look every time I walk through). Perhaps they were joking with me. The other side of campus abuts a natural area with trails throughout. The introductory Biology labs go there to study community ecology, and I go there to relax between classes. This time of year, the skunk cabbage (Symplocarpus foetidus), a member of the lily family, is starting to poke up in the moister locations. The vernal pools are full of blossoming life.
It is time for priority registration here at HCC, and I am swamped with work. My days are filled with students who want to get into classes-"Can I have Mondays and Fridays off and still take the 12 credits I need to be full-time?"-and out of classes-"Do I really have to take Anatomy and Physiology to be a nurse?". I was able to escape for a little while this morning and sit in the sunshine, resisting all the while the temptation to lay down in the grass.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Spring is here
High 60. Sunny.
What took Oregon State University so long to post the headline that Jane Lubenchenko was going to head NOAA? That's the question on my mind this morning. That's old news, OSU!
In Western Massachusetts the air has turned warm. The snow has completely melted from my shaded backyard, and I am starting to see my herbs poke their green heads out of the mulch. Spring has arrived, and after the long, hard winter we've had, it had better be here for good. I will protest an April snow storm! It's happened before.
I have not posted in a while because it has been a busy semester! Truth be told, I knew it would be busy, and now that it's almost over I can't tell where the time went. Teaching General Zoology for the first time has kept me busy day and night-creating new lectures, tests, assignments and grading these and all new lab reports!
I've been learning so much through this experience. Of course, I am delving into the Animal kingdom much deeper than I ever have before, and I am building so many new schemas to relate my old knowledge to the new knowledge. I can practically feel the neurons firing new pathways! I am also learning more about teaching, and particularly about how to teach the Animal kingdom. I won't get into the details here, but my students have given me some very useful feedback about how they are learning. And to top it all off, I've come up with a service-learning project for the course-salmon stocking with Mass Fish and Wildlife. Busy, busy!
And speaking of Zoology, I have to go teach. Today we are covering the Phylum Platyhelminthes-the Flatworms. I'm looking forward to this one!
What took Oregon State University so long to post the headline that Jane Lubenchenko was going to head NOAA? That's the question on my mind this morning. That's old news, OSU!
In Western Massachusetts the air has turned warm. The snow has completely melted from my shaded backyard, and I am starting to see my herbs poke their green heads out of the mulch. Spring has arrived, and after the long, hard winter we've had, it had better be here for good. I will protest an April snow storm! It's happened before.
I have not posted in a while because it has been a busy semester! Truth be told, I knew it would be busy, and now that it's almost over I can't tell where the time went. Teaching General Zoology for the first time has kept me busy day and night-creating new lectures, tests, assignments and grading these and all new lab reports!
I've been learning so much through this experience. Of course, I am delving into the Animal kingdom much deeper than I ever have before, and I am building so many new schemas to relate my old knowledge to the new knowledge. I can practically feel the neurons firing new pathways! I am also learning more about teaching, and particularly about how to teach the Animal kingdom. I won't get into the details here, but my students have given me some very useful feedback about how they are learning. And to top it all off, I've come up with a service-learning project for the course-salmon stocking with Mass Fish and Wildlife. Busy, busy!
And speaking of Zoology, I have to go teach. Today we are covering the Phylum Platyhelminthes-the Flatworms. I'm looking forward to this one!
Sunday, March 1, 2009
Recycling Plastic
High 32. Cloudy and lightly snowing.
As I look out my window at the few flakes of snow that are marking the start of the newest winter storm, I can't help but notice the bright pink plastic bags jammed into the snow in front of my neighbor's house. I'll have to go pick them up later. Trash on land usually ends up in streams, rivers and then in the ocean, following a crooked path of hydrology that culminates in enormous islands of trash out at sea. Once out there, ocean currents act like a vortex and all that trash gets pulled together. Right now, there is a giant mass of garbage (mostly plastic) floating in the Gulf of Alaska and similar masses are developing in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. I am greatly disturbed by the thought of this.
What can be done about this massive pollution? How long will it take before the plastic islands grow so large as to be seen from land? Or reach land? I can imagine, in several decades, the oceans being completely covered in trash and plastic like a buried treasure. The best thing we can do is reduce, reuse, recycle and INVEST in technology that will lead us away from waste as a byproduct of daily life.
Reducing personal waste and reusing packaging materials are the two most important actions we can take in reducing pollution. I try to keep my garbage and recycling to a minimum mainly by composting and buying food in bulk. There are numerous ways to reuse old containers-jars can be cups, old food containers can be next year's Christmas boxes... But we all rely on recycling for the things that are impossible to reuse or worn out. The following is a list of what plastic can be recycled in western Mass.
Containers- Milk, water, soda, juice, water, cooking oil bottles; condiment bottles, peanut butter jars, margarine and butter tubs, yogurt containers, liquid dish and hand soap bottles, liquid household cleaner bottles, shampoo and conditioner bottles, mouthwash and lotion bottles, pump hair spray bottles, vitamin bottles, liquid laundry detergent bottles and jugs, bleach jugs (rinsed well), liquid fabric softener bottles.
These things cannot be recycled in western Mass-
Polystyrene (styrofoam), plastic egg cartons, deli trays, berry cartons, microwave trays or containers, packaging peanuts, plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic swimming pools, lawn furniture, flower or plant pots, black plastic, toys, coat hangers, plastics from electronics or appliances, pails, buckets, hampers, cds, video tapes, cassettes, medical supplies, caps, lids, pumps, jugs and pails over 2 gallons, prescription bottles, and bottles that contained motor oil, automotive products, poison, pesticides, solvent, adhesive, paint or other chemicals.
That's alot of stuff that can't be recycled. I'm going to try to buy non-plastic versions of things when the plastic version can't be recycled. For example, plastic hampers cannot be recycled so the next time I need a new hamper I'll look for one made of wicker or light wood. I'll opt for metal coat hangers instead of plastic.
My students are often frustrated with environmental issues. They tell me that they are sick of hearing about problems and want to hear more solutions. I do too, and here is something we can do. I urge you all to think about your plastic waste and reduce it. Aim for zero trash. Know what you can and can't recycle and look for alternatives to non-recyclable items. No one wants to see a pile of garbage on top of our oceans.
As I look out my window at the few flakes of snow that are marking the start of the newest winter storm, I can't help but notice the bright pink plastic bags jammed into the snow in front of my neighbor's house. I'll have to go pick them up later. Trash on land usually ends up in streams, rivers and then in the ocean, following a crooked path of hydrology that culminates in enormous islands of trash out at sea. Once out there, ocean currents act like a vortex and all that trash gets pulled together. Right now, there is a giant mass of garbage (mostly plastic) floating in the Gulf of Alaska and similar masses are developing in the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans. I am greatly disturbed by the thought of this.
What can be done about this massive pollution? How long will it take before the plastic islands grow so large as to be seen from land? Or reach land? I can imagine, in several decades, the oceans being completely covered in trash and plastic like a buried treasure. The best thing we can do is reduce, reuse, recycle and INVEST in technology that will lead us away from waste as a byproduct of daily life.
Reducing personal waste and reusing packaging materials are the two most important actions we can take in reducing pollution. I try to keep my garbage and recycling to a minimum mainly by composting and buying food in bulk. There are numerous ways to reuse old containers-jars can be cups, old food containers can be next year's Christmas boxes... But we all rely on recycling for the things that are impossible to reuse or worn out. The following is a list of what plastic can be recycled in western Mass.
Containers- Milk, water, soda, juice, water, cooking oil bottles; condiment bottles, peanut butter jars, margarine and butter tubs, yogurt containers, liquid dish and hand soap bottles, liquid household cleaner bottles, shampoo and conditioner bottles, mouthwash and lotion bottles, pump hair spray bottles, vitamin bottles, liquid laundry detergent bottles and jugs, bleach jugs (rinsed well), liquid fabric softener bottles.
These things cannot be recycled in western Mass-
Polystyrene (styrofoam), plastic egg cartons, deli trays, berry cartons, microwave trays or containers, packaging peanuts, plastic bags, plastic wrap, plastic swimming pools, lawn furniture, flower or plant pots, black plastic, toys, coat hangers, plastics from electronics or appliances, pails, buckets, hampers, cds, video tapes, cassettes, medical supplies, caps, lids, pumps, jugs and pails over 2 gallons, prescription bottles, and bottles that contained motor oil, automotive products, poison, pesticides, solvent, adhesive, paint or other chemicals.
That's alot of stuff that can't be recycled. I'm going to try to buy non-plastic versions of things when the plastic version can't be recycled. For example, plastic hampers cannot be recycled so the next time I need a new hamper I'll look for one made of wicker or light wood. I'll opt for metal coat hangers instead of plastic.
My students are often frustrated with environmental issues. They tell me that they are sick of hearing about problems and want to hear more solutions. I do too, and here is something we can do. I urge you all to think about your plastic waste and reduce it. Aim for zero trash. Know what you can and can't recycle and look for alternatives to non-recyclable items. No one wants to see a pile of garbage on top of our oceans.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Not another plastic bag
High 34 degrees. Light snow.
Ice and snow has made it difficult to get outside much this winter. It seems that almost every winter, someone I know gets a nasty injury falling on ice. Last winter, I slipped and fell on Valentine's Day. I wasn't badly hurt, but it did shake my confidence in my ability to walk safely on slippery surfaces. A pair of YakTrax are a good investment to prevent slips on sidewalks and such.
During this cold time of year, I find myself engaging in introspection. I particularly ponder ways to live simpler-solving riddles for sustainable living, and such. Well, here's the recent riddle and solution!
Recently, my parents adopted two kitties from the Homeless Cat Project of Westfield, MA. Although these little darlings add life and fun to their home, my parents found that they needed quite a number of plastic bags for the dirty litter. My folks recently converted to reusable grocery bags, but the need for bags was making them take the plastic bags at the checkout just so they would have them for later use. So, they were reusing plastic bags. But I knew they could do better.
I work part-time at a yarn store, and we throw away alot of the plastic bags the yarn comes in. It's quite sad, really. So, I took a big load of these bags to my parents so they can use them for litter. That way, they can be good environmentalists on two ends (no pun intended). They can use the reusable bags at the grocery store, and they can put to use good bags that were headed for a landfill.
If you are in a similar situation, ask some local businesses about their bag waste. It will help you live lighter on the earth, and it's good press for the businesses that send their waste on to be reused!
Ice and snow has made it difficult to get outside much this winter. It seems that almost every winter, someone I know gets a nasty injury falling on ice. Last winter, I slipped and fell on Valentine's Day. I wasn't badly hurt, but it did shake my confidence in my ability to walk safely on slippery surfaces. A pair of YakTrax are a good investment to prevent slips on sidewalks and such.
During this cold time of year, I find myself engaging in introspection. I particularly ponder ways to live simpler-solving riddles for sustainable living, and such. Well, here's the recent riddle and solution!
Recently, my parents adopted two kitties from the Homeless Cat Project of Westfield, MA. Although these little darlings add life and fun to their home, my parents found that they needed quite a number of plastic bags for the dirty litter. My folks recently converted to reusable grocery bags, but the need for bags was making them take the plastic bags at the checkout just so they would have them for later use. So, they were reusing plastic bags. But I knew they could do better.
I work part-time at a yarn store, and we throw away alot of the plastic bags the yarn comes in. It's quite sad, really. So, I took a big load of these bags to my parents so they can use them for litter. That way, they can be good environmentalists on two ends (no pun intended). They can use the reusable bags at the grocery store, and they can put to use good bags that were headed for a landfill.
If you are in a similar situation, ask some local businesses about their bag waste. It will help you live lighter on the earth, and it's good press for the businesses that send their waste on to be reused!
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