Category Archives: Uncategorized

(Click to access an audio version of this blog!) Neonicotinoids are a group of insecticides that are molecularly similar to nicotine. Nicotine itself is produced by a wide variety of plants including tobacco (in very high levels) and tomatoes and … Continue reading →

The woods around us are showing the off the abundances and leafing orders of our local tree species. They are letting us, for a short period of time, see the trees instead of just the forest! They are also reminding… Continue reading →

Last Saturday we headed over to Harrison Hills Park to check out the latest wildflower bloomings and to see how our new dog (“Izzy”) would fare on a woodland trail. We parked in between the Spicebush and Pond Loop trails… Continue reading →

(some parts of this blog were previously published in a 2008 essay) The full moons of the year have long lists of descriptive names that reflect the occurrence of important ecological events that affected early human cultures and societies… Continue reading →

A few mornings ago it was five degrees here in Apollo with a minus eight wind chill and swirls of falling, icy snow pellets. The next afternoon it was 61 degrees with bright blue skies and abundant sunshine. An amazing… Continue reading →

I Googled “biodiversity” and got a list of 14,600,000 web sites (in 0.17 seconds!). These sites defined the term (“the variety of life in a habitat, ecosystem, or the world”) and gave many specific examples (the biodiversity of this exotic… Continue reading →

January 6, 2013: I am sitting in front of my usual window watching very unusual things outside. The air temperature has plunged to nine degrees (Fahrenheit) below zero and with a steady, swirling wind of 23 mph. The wind… Continue reading →

Deborah and I have been out hiking on quite a few woodland trails this spring. One of the generalized observations we have made concerns the preponderance of alien, invasive plant species that make their ecological presence known long before most… Continue reading →

Almost two years ago (June, 2011) I wrote about the war I had fought with woodchucks over my big field garden. The woodchucks won, and I had to move my tomatoes and beans from the sunny, open field into smaller,… Continue reading →

Last weekend’s warm temperatures (70 degrees in Apollo on Sunday afternoon!) not only woke up the hibernating lady bugs and stinkbugs out on my porch (and in my living room, and in my kitchen, and in my…) but also mobilized… Continue reading →