24 Months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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24 months in COVID-19 pandemic and cases/hospitalizations are continuing to decline rapidly in most parts of the US. Most states, local governments, school districts, and businesses no longer have mask mandates. My personal choice is to still wear a mask when I am indoors in public places. A lot of other people are making the same choice where I do my grocery shopping. In the medical building where I went for an appointment recently, the ‘mask required’ signs were still up….and everyone was complying (it’s become the norm for medical settings).

I am traveling today – another road trip to Missouri and then Texas. Hand sanitizer and masks are in the car for rest stops. I am taking the food I will need for the 2-day drive to Missouri with me. An air purifier is going into the hotel room in Lexington, KY (turned on ‘high’ to filter the air for the duration of my night there)…and I have a supply of rapid test kits. I am using the CDC’s COVID-19 Community Level map to assess the higher risk areas along my route. There is a lot of yellow and orange in West Virginia and eastern Kentucky. Springfield, MO is green. The route between Springfield and Carrollton, TX is green with some yellow (and Carrollton is green). I’ll be gone for a little over two weeks and the trip back to Maryland will be less risky if the trend continues.

My rationale for continuing to wear a mask indoors is all about protecting the high-risk family members (older and immunosuppressed) I will be with in Missouri/Texas and when I return home. At the same time – my husband and I are in the process of house hunting…getting ready to move from Maryland to Missouri…not something we could have done last year at this time. Progress has been made and I hope the COVID-19 cases will continue to decline…in the US and around the world…that the pandemic will end.

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 12, 2022

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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.

Why soil is a surprisingly noisy place – Wow! A whole new way of studying soil…listening to it.

Gas flares tied to premature deaths – A study done by Rice University environmental engineers with data from North Dakota and Texas. There are currently no limits to flaring, unfortunately. Why can’t we use the gas productively? It bothers me when we hear that we need more fossil fuels to observe the way the industry still is so wasteful and polluting.

Dying for makeup: Lead cosmetics poisoned 18th century European socialites in search of whiter skin – I had heard of lead makeup before…but never is this detail.

Top 25 birds of the week: forest birds – The only one of these that appears in the forest behind our house in Maryland is the Tufted Titmouse.

Study questions the role of vitamin D2 in human health but its sibling, vitamin D3, could be important for fighting infections – The labelling on foods fortified with Vitamin D does not say which type is used – hopefully it is D3. The supplemental Vitamin D I take is definitely D3.

The Prairie Ecologist – Photos of the Week – February 26, 2022 – Winter photography….it’s about over for us. Daffodils are up!

What is the best age to learn to read? – There is more variability that I realized…generally between 4 and 7. There is growing consensus that there is no reason to rush it. Learning language is key and often older children learn to read faster because their spoken language skills are greater.

Effects of noise on marine life – The study was focused on turtles and observed noise-induced hearing loss (sometimes temporarily) which hampers their ability to detect predators, communication, navigation, etc.

Rash-causing moths are spreading in Maine because of climate change – Browntail moths (native to Europe). I thought when I saw the headline that it might be about the saddleback caterpillar which is native to North America and has stinging spines that cause a painful rash. We had a specimen in the Brookside Gardens Wings of Fancy exhibit back in July/August 2018.

Study of algae in Acadia National Park lakes shows recovery from acidification – A success story…the Clean Air Act Amendments enacted in the 1900s are making a difference!

Gleanings of the Week Ending March 5, 2022

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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.

Scientists develop long lasting anti-fogging coating for plastic surfaces that 'self-cleans' – It seem like the current antireflective coating on my glasses is a little ‘sticky’ – making my glasses collect particles easily…need cleaning frequently. It would be great to have something that is self-cleaning! Somehow I doubt this would eliminate the need to clean my glasses but it would be good to get back to the way glasses were before the fancy coatings!

Rare Baby Ghost Shark Caught in New Zealand’s Chatham Rise – What an odd-looking animal. There is a 3-minute video that shows adult sharks.

Deer Mice: Get to Know North America’s Most Abundant Mammal – So small we might not notice them most of the time. A good overview of deer mice. They are vectors for Lyme disease and hantavirus….but provide food for hawks, eagles, and owls…coyotes and foxes.

Lichens Are in an Evolutionary Race Against Climate Change – They can be found almost everywhere…but are very slow growing. That slow growth makes it more challenging for them to adjust to changing temperatures.

Nearly 300 Million Visited National Park System in 2021, But Most To Just 25 Parks – I’ve been to 17 of the 25!

An insulin patch that sticks inside a person’s cheek – I’m sure most diabetics that must take injections would welcome an alternative.

Covid-19 Community Levels – In case you haven’t seen it already – this site has a map of the US with the counties color coded. The county where I live and the counties around it are green.

Bronze Age burial mound discovered in England – In Oxford…under traces of St. Mary’s College built in the 15th century.

Surprise small-cell lung cancer discovery suggests new treatment – New work from University of Virginia Health System (which was designated a Comprehensive Cancer Center on Feb. 1).

An Ornate, 5,000-Year-Old Stone Drum Is the U.K.’s Most Significant Prehistoric Art Find in a Century – Found buried alongside skeletons of 3 children cuddled together.  

Zooming – February 2022

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I did more macro that zoom photography in February! This post features the zoomed images – morning light on our forest, a morning moon, birds, a high key image of flowers, water drops and ice, and skunk cabbage. Enjoy the slide show!

Unique Aspects of Days – February 2022

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Snow on turkey tails. I always look for turkey tails/shelf fungus when I am hiking…and enjoy photographing them. This month was my first time to photograph them with snow!

Finding some new office tools – Microsoft PowerToys. My office environment is well established so it is very unusual for me to look for new tools and unique for me to find more than one new tool that makes what I do easier. Microsoft PowerTools was a great find. The tools I am using frequently now are Image resize and Power rename.

Miniature potted rose for Valentines. I was thinking of potted tulips or hyacinths when I went shopping (not realizing that it was too early for both of them)…but found a miniature rose instead. It’s a unique purchase and my husband and I are enjoying it in our kitchen window. It already has a new bud opening. I’ll plant it outside after the last frost.

Frost crystals. I have been thrilled to discover how many kinds of frost crystals there are. At some point they will become familiar to me, but February 2022 is my first concentrated effort to look at them frequently enough to see the variations!

People smoking in the grocery store parking garage. Not all unique experiences are positive. As I came out of the grocery store one morning, there were two separate people standing near their cars smoking and working on the phones. They were on the side of the garage closest to the store – maybe using the store’s Wi-Fi or maybe they were waiting for someone that was shopping. I could smell the smoke from one of them as I walked to my car and loaded my groceries even though I was still wearing my mask! It reminded me of years ago when people smoked around the entrances to office buildings, but isn’t something I’ve experienced in recent years…and it hasn’t happen on subsequent shopping trips. I glad it was a unique experience for 2022 (so far).

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 26, 2022

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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.

After a shaky start, airborne wind energy is slowing taking off – Another way electricity might be generated in the future…but still a lot of work to be done.

Crews working to cull 600-900 bison from Yellowstone’s herds – I guess this happens every year at this time…even though in the rationale to cap the Yellowstone herd at 5,000 animals involved the mistaken idea that the bison were spreading brucellosis to cattle herds (research has shown that it is elk that spread the disease).

What damaged that tree? Probably not what you think – I guessed correctly….but only because I had seen something similar on a tree during a naturalist led hike…and they had identified the animal that make the marks!

The mystery of Mexico’s vanishing stream oaks – A great piece of trivia: Mexico has more species of oak tree than any other country! The article is about trying to save one of those species.

Three in four people worldwide support a ban on single-use plastic – Wide support…but no clear path on how we can do it. As a consumer – I try to avoid single use plastics, but some products don’t come in any other kind of packaging!

Seeing ‘green’ can ease confusion, anger in navigating hospitals – It’s not just hospitals that could use more natural views and ‘green.’

Top 25 birds of the week: waterbirds and seabirds – Terns, scoters, herons, gulls, cormorants, ducks, spoonbills, kingfishers, sandpipers, plovers, grebes…enjoy the photographs!

Warming temperatures are turning Antarctica green – Another indicator of how fast the Earth is changing….and that even Antarctica is not immune.

Drought depletes a reservoir in Spain, revealing a ghost village – The dam was installed in 1992 so this is not an old reservoir. The US is having similar drought related problems with Lake Mead behind Hoover Dam installed in 1935.

After 25 years at sea, shipwrecked Lego pieces are still washing ashore on beaches in England – Plastic is very durable…the pictures of the small Lego pieces still look pristine. Some of the pieces sank…some floated…they are all moving around and, very slowly, breaking down either in the ocean or on the beaches of Cornwall.

Daniel Giraud Elliot’s Bird eBooks

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Daniel Giraud Elliot was a founder of the American Ornithologist Union and its 2nd President in 1890. I browsed through 7 of his well-illustrated books about birds from the later 1800s. Taxonomy has changed over the years, so they are not the ‘references’ they were when first published. But - they are historically interesting…part of the the uptick in documentation of the world’s flora and fauna in the 1800s. I looked at the illustrations as ‘art’ and wondered how many of the bird species depicted no longer exist. Enjoy the sample images…and take a look at some of the volumes via the provided links.

A Monograph of the paradiseidae or birds of paradise (1873)

A monograph of the Pittida, or family of ant-thrushes (1895)

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 19, 2022

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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.

Study recommends six steps to improve our water quality – The study focused on nitrogen pollution.

The cells that give you super-immunity – Memory B cells were first discovered in the 1960s….but there is still a lot we are learning about them as we analyze the data from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Chicken Frenzy: A State Awash in Hog Farms Faces a Poultry Boom – Ugh! Hope North Carolina can figure out how to keep their groundwater and waterways from being polluted. It’s a beautiful state and it saddens me that the intensive hog and poultry production has not developed technology to be friendly to their immediate environment….or any place that is down stream from where they are located.

What’s the Weirdest Animal Courtship? Here Are 4 Candidates – A post that came out on Valentine’s Day.

Heart-disease risk soars after COVID – even with a mild case – Heart disease was already one of the chronic conditions common for a lot of people in later life… now with COVID, the numbers of people are going to increase and the age demographics are skewing younger.

Enhanced forensic test confirms Neolithic fisherman died by drowning – A skeleton from a 5,000-year-old mass grave on the coast of Northern Chile was analyzed with methods used for more recent bones to determine if a person drowned in salt water….and the method worked!

The mysteries of the Ponderosa Pine – The complex relationships between the health of pine forests and: birds, low-severity fire, squirrels, mushrooms, and carbon storage. Forests are complex!

The science of healthy baby sleep - A little history…and the bottom line: there is NOT just one correct approach to how infants should sleep.

Feeling dizzy when you stand up? Simple muscle techniques can effectively manage symptoms of initial orthostatic hypotension – There might be more validation that needs to be done across a wider demographic range…..hope this happens and if it works for a wide range of people so that doctors can immediately start encouraging their patients that have initial orthostatic hypertension (IOH) to use the simple moves before and immediately after they stand up.

Do you know the world weirdest wild pigs? – The post includes 5 of the 18 wild pig species. The only one in North America is the Africa Red River Hog – one was caught in a trap set for feral hog control in Texas (2019); there are evidently Texas game ranches advertising ‘hunts’ for red river hogs which indicates they have been intentionally imported and there has been at least one escapee from one of those ranches! Is there a free-ranging population of African River Hogs reproducing in the wilds of Texas?

23 Months in COVID-19 Pandemic

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23 months and the Omicron variant is declining. There is a lot of hope across the US that the decline in infections will continue…that another variant will not burst on the scene and cause infections to rise again. Maryland – where I live – is approaching the positivity rate of last summer (before the Delta variant) but our hospitalizations are still relatively high although heading downward. There is a lot of push to reduce mask mandates.

My strategy still includes wearing a mask when I am indoors with unfamiliar people…until the stats get a little lower. Over the past month, my indoor interactions have been going to the grocery store and doctor’s office…plus arranging for the replacement of the swelling battery in my laptop (it was under warranty and the manufacturer provided the service at my home).

My husband has picked up the free COVID at-home tests and masks that became available over the past month. We probably have plenty for our needs at this point….may have some we never use if the downward trends continue.

I haven’t had COVID (the precautions and vaccination have worked for me so far) but I am thinking more now about the impacts on our economy and individuals from “long COVID.” At this point it’s hard to predict how much the impact might be but so many people have had COVID that even a small percentage dealing with physical or cognitive challenges over the coming years from long covid would be a significant cohort in our workforce and requiring specialized medical expertise. I wonder if the current mix of specialists in our medical system is going to be adequate. Since there is some indication that the severity of the case does not always correlate to having “long COVID,” the potential for long term impacts is increasingly important in my motivation to continue masking for myself and others until I feel confident that I am unlikely to be infected.

I have broader plans with increased interactions with other people over next 6 weeks: hiking with a group and road trip to Missouri and Texas (I haven’t been since November because of weather, Omicron, and my surgery). Keeping plans flexible is key…reacting to the local infection rates…staying informed about new variants…taking precautions to mitigate risk.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 12, 2022

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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.

Why the Dutch embrace floating homes – Maybe other coastal areas around the world should be looking at this kind of development…or mitigation strategy. Otherwise - there is going to be a lot of migration away from coasts that will become more and more prone to flooding in the decades to come.

New Antarctic Penguin Colonies Discovered Further South than Normal – Good news for the Gentoo penguins - there is more space on Antarctica now; previously the areas were too icy for these birds. On the downside – there is less area suitable for penguin species that previously lived there and there might be less food available for them all as warming continues.

Three people with spinal-cord injuries regained control of their leg muscles – There has been a lot of research in this area over the past decade; perhaps we are coming to a point where rapid advances are going to be made.

Why to flickers knock on your house? – Not just why they knock but other interesting behavior…made me consider putting up a flicker box to give them a place to raise young.

Dog feces and urine could be harming nature reserves – A study providing rationale for requiring dogs on leashes and owners removing their dog’s feces in natural areas.

Top 25 birds of the week: February 2022 – My favorite this week is the Great White Pelican. Somehow pictures of birds from the front like this always give them a rather assertive appearance.

US household air conditioning use could exceed electric capacity in next decade due to climate change – Not good. Implementation of mitigation strategies need to ramp up quickly. As an individual homeowner, I am thinking: 1) increase efficiency (heat pump or geothermal, more insulation, solar screens on any window getting full sun sometime during the day, maybe upgrade windows/doors) and 2) solar panels on the roof with storage battery.

Threats from QAnon conspiracists force butterfly sanctuary to close – Sad. My husband and I visited the butterfly sanctuary on a rainy day during the Rio Grande Birding Festival in 2017; it wasn’t a good day for butterflies, but we always thought we’d come back on a warmer/sunnier day during some future visit to the area --- then the border wall and the conspiracists has ended it all.

More spice could help seniors avoid salt – Yes! Lemon pepper (the kind without salt in it) is one of my favorites…and any of the components that come under the heading of ‘Italian seasoning.’ I dry my own orange peel (any time I eat an organic orange…the peel gets processed and dried). It helps to use fresh ingredients too (i.e. avoid no-salt version from cans…they have never tasted good to me no matter how they are prepared).

Star Bright: What are Dark Sky Reserves? – Staunton River  (where we’ve been for ‘star parties’) is a Certified IDA International Dark Sky Park….maybe we’ll visit one of the Reserves post-pandemic. Right now – the closest one to us is the one in Canada (just north of Vermont/Maine).

Cancer Diary – Entry 12

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4 weeks after surgery:

  • The surgical glue has flaked off the incision. I collected the bigger pieces and did a round of macro photography – commemorating the milestone – before throwing them away. The texture of the glue varied…crinkled, fibrous, crystalline. Blood that became embedded in it provided some color.

  • I’ve started putting Vitamin E and cocoa butter on the scar to help it fade over time (and am keeping it protected from exposure to sunlight).

  • The hematoma is mostly gone. The speed of the ‘clean up’ increased over the last week.  

  • On a not-so-positive note – I’ve been celebrating too much with food and my weight has started to creep upward…starting work to reverse that and continue on my plan to reduce 5+ pounds from my weight at the beginning of the year.

This with be the last Cancer Diary post unless something else happens. Right now -  the prognosis is good with continued monitoring tests to confirm. All the baseline tests indicate that the cancer was caught early and that my ongoing risk is low.

My experience has prompted me to think about what ‘good medical care’ means….what led to the early diagnosis and treatment. Looking back…it was a 12-year progression from a blood test revealing a risk factor prompting annual monitoring blood tests and ultrasounds. There was a biopsy with a benign result 6 years ago….and lastly a biopsy that revealed the cancer last fall. My primary care doctor coordinated all the monitoring until 2 years ago; I opted to go to a specialist thereafter. The specialist recommended the surgeon. Of the three, the specialist is the best at sharing his rationale of monitoring and treatment….and that is something I have come to appreciate more over the past few months.

Previous cancer diary posts:

Hawk on Deck

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I was enjoying the snow flurries as I looked out my office window in late January when I heard a commotion below my window on our deck. I moved closer to the window to see what it was. A hawk was perched on the deck railing. I guessed that it had swooped down onto the deck – maybe for a meal of junco or mourning dove – but whatever the intended prey was, the hawk was not successful. It was looking all around the narrow strip of grassy yards and into the forest recovering from the failure and seeking a new target. Note: There are several pictures where the dark nictitating membrane is closed over the eye.

And then the bird flew off toward the forest. I used the picture id feature of the Merlin app to confirm my initial ID: red-shouldered hawk.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 5, 2022

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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.

Oyster Hatcheries Help the Industry Adapt to Climate Change – There are lots of aspects of climate change that impact oysters – making mitigation more complex. The industry is trying to be proactive as problems are recognized.

Could COVID-19 still be affecting us in decades to come? – A summary of some research particularly about brain function/Parkinsons and diabetes relationship with COVID-19 just beginning…there is so much we don’t know yet.

The porcupine’s winter in slow-motion – How do porcupines in Alaska survive being out and about in the winter?

Top 25 birds of the week: Bird Interactions – Mostly adults of the same species…but there are a few with different species and the first image is a pair of young owls (siblings).

2,000-Year-Old Roman Bowl Discovered Intact in the Netherlands – Blue glass that look like it could have been made very recently.

Locations of ancient Maya sacred groves of cacao trees discovered – History of cacao (chocolate) trees…grown around sinkholes…so special that the beans were used a currency.

Monarch butterfly numbers soar in California after dramatic losses – It’s great to have some good news about Monarchs….but they’re still a species that needs our help.

AccuWeather shares how an electric school bus fares in Alaska – Evidently the bus has done well even at -48 degrees Fahrenheit!

Musings from the parks: Navigating National, Wild, Recreational, and Scenic Rivers – Prompted by a proposal to refine limits on the horsepower boaters can use in Ozark Scenic Riverways in Missouri…a look at regulations at other rivers in the National Park System. I’d prefer that we begin the transition to electric motors (if motors are allowed at all) rather than only focusing on horsepower.

Epidemiologists develop advanced state-of-the-art tool for measuring the pace of aging – A blood test to measure the pace of biological aging…with the possibility of identifying interventions that would slow aging… and attempt to build aging health equity.

Deer at Dusk

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The deer seem to always come through our yard at dusk…heading back into the forest for the night. One evening it was a small heard with a male…females…youngsters. The male was the last to leave our yard. They all looked healthy…well fed.

Our area has an overpopulation of deer. Managed hunts are held in the fall to reduce their numbers but there are still a lot of deer. My neighbor put up mesh around a young holly because it was being so heavily browsed; I am surprised that the holly in our yard that came up on its own (planted by bird droppings probably) has not had the same problem.

Birds through my Office Window - January 2022

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There seemed to be a lot of bird activity visible from my office window this past month. The most common ones – juncos, sparrows (white-throated and house), finches (gold and house) - do not feature as much in my photos but they were always around.

Mourning Doves are too heavy for the feeder, but they are frequent visitors under the feeder on the deck and out in the yard. They also perch in the maple. They look largest when it is cold, and their feathers are fluffed.

The Northern Cardinals come to the feeders and flit all over the yard and trees. They seemed to be more activity in January than usual because there were more of them around. We have a resident pair that are around all year but in January there were at least 2 other pairs that were occasionally coming for food…and the interactions of both the males and females were high drama to watch.

The other resident pair that we usually see all during the year are a male and female (pictured) Red-bellied Woodpecker. Hopefully they’ll have young again this year. The birds dig through the seeds at the feeder…always leave with a peanut or sunflower seed.

There was a hawk that was around occasionally. Once it was at the edge of the forest diving into the leaves…came up empty. Another time I heard a tussle on the deck and glanced out to find the hawk on the deck railing – also without prey that it had probably been stalking. I was particularly relieved that it didn’t kill one of the birds coming to the feeder!

I’ve noticed Northern Flickers more in our yard. They blend into the leaves so well they are hard to spot…don’t come to the feeders.

The White-breasted Nuthatch comes to the feeder and is very assertive – drives away all except the Red-bellied Woodpecker.

There was a mixed flock of Red-winged Blackbirds and Brown-headed Cowbirds (pictured) that flew into the treetops of at the edge of the forest. I was glad they didn’t come down to our feeders! There were occasionally some cowbirds that came in the subsequent days; hope they don’t stick around for nesting season.

The downy woodpecker doesn’t come to our feeders frequently; they must be very hungry when the do because they eat quite a few seeds!

Zooming – January 2022

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Not as many zoomed images to choose from in January – I did more photography with my phone than my bridge camera. I was in extra-rest mode for part of the month after my surgery and it was very cold outside. Still the usual January photo subjects have a showing this month: snow, birds, deer in our neighborhood and flowers indoors. Enjoy the January 2022 slide show!

Cancer Diary – Entry 11

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The doctor that referred me for cancer surgery scheduled a follow up appointment for about 2.5 weeks after the surgery - assuming the surgeon would complete his role at about 2 weeks after the surgery (which I posted about in the 10th Cancer Diary post). The appointment with the doctor that will continue my care is the most recent milestone in my journey with cancer and getting treatment. He confirmed that I would not need radiation/chemo and ordered blood lab tests immediately and developed a plan for the next year: periodic blood tests and an ultrasound in a year. I am pleased that my cancer was caught early enough that I am on track to be ‘cured’ rather than living with cancer for the rest of my life.

It was bitterly cold the day of the appointment…but I was buoyed by the results I already knew from the surgeon and the continued fading of the hematoma/healing of the incision. The doctor provided excellent feedback and answered questions…the tech that did the blood draw did a great job getting the needle in smoothly then filling the multiple vials of blood required. On the way out of the building, I stopped for a few seconds to photograph the garden that looked so inviting when the weather was warmer; the fountain is turned off now and it’s too cold to linger but I still like the look of the place. I hurried to my car, thoroughly chilled, but appreciating the time out in the world, away from home. I celebrated that the appointment had been early enough that I got a close parking space!

I am so buoyed by the results that I am feeling more optimistic than I have all during the pandemic; I realize that, even though I was consciously reminding myself that the cancer had been detected early, I experienced a deep anxiety about it that became part of everything I was thinking and doing for the past few months.  Now I’ve started wearing earrings again (when I am not going to be taking a mask off and on), buying flowers every week at the grocery story and making multiple arrangements to place everywhere in the house. This is a time of celebration…a time to be happy that I am healthy and enjoying winter 2022.

Previous cancer diary posts:

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 29, 2022

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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.

Photography In the National Parks: My 10 Favorite Shots From 2021 – I only went to one national park in 2021: New River Gorge (in West Virginia). There are so many beautiful National Parks to see…and they’re worth seeing again and again.

Big Gulp: Blue Catfish Eat Wood Duck – We’ve seen fishermen catch blue catfish at the base of Conowingo Dam (we’re there for the bald eagles). They are huge…sorry to learn that they eat ducks.

Top 25 birds of the week: Raptors! – How many of these live in your area of the world?

Air Pollution Makes It Harder for Bees to Sniff Out Flowers – Not just a problem for bees…also moths, hoverflies and butterflies are having a harder time. This results in a 14-31% reduction in pollination among plants exposed to polluted air.

Ocean microplastic pollution may be greater than estimated – Not a good trend…and this form of pollution that is new enough that the full impact is still being discovered.

With Fewer Animals to Move Their Seeds, Plants Are Stuck in Threatened Habitats – Another way the world is becoming less resilient at a time when climate change is pushing all life to use all the resilience available.

Large Permian Basin Methane Leaks Are Causing As Much Climate Pollution as 500,000 Cars – It’s frustrating that the oil industry has not been a better steward of resources they are extracting for energy. The methane leaks are a waste of the effort put into extraction….and bad for the planet too.

Dinosaur food and Hiroshima bomb survivors: maidenhair trees are ‘living fossils’ and your new favorite plant – Learn more about the ginkgo tree! There is one along my walking route in my neighborhood and others I find in local gardens and parks near where I live. They are so different from other trees…worth noticing.

North Sea Fossil Fuel Companies Plan to Invest More in Wind than Oil Drilling – Hurray! Maybe other companies around the world begin to do this too….a strategic move for Shell, Total and BP.

Antimicrobial resistance now a leading cause of death worldwide, study finds – This challenge will increase over time…if we don’t take action to slow the development of resistance and develop new antimicrobial techniques (maybe we need more strategies than simply trying to develop new antibiotics).

Paleontology of Missouri

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The late 1800s were a time of paleontology and geology publications across the US…and Missouri was no exception. Internet Archive has Charles Rollin Keyes’ two part Paleontology of Missouri (volume 1, volume 2). Keyes was the State Geologist of Missouri when they were published in 1894. Both volumes have plates after the main text of the volume.

I am interested in the paleontology of Missouri since my daughter now lives there. My idea was to learn as much about the paleontology and geology and natural history of Missouri as I know about the state where I grew up (Texas) and the one where I’ve lived for more than 20 years (Maryland). These volumes blend paleontology and a historical perspective because of when they were written.

According to Wikipedia, Keyes got his PhD in 1892 from Johns Hopkins University (i.e. in Baltimore, Maryland) and worked for the states of Iowa and Missouri…later he was the President of New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology (Socorro, NM).

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2022

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As I look at my list of little celebrations in January 2022, I am realizing that my surgery stands out so significantly that getting through the surgery itself (the 1st surgery, the reopening of the incision to release blood, the 2nd surgery) is the major celebration of the month! There are little celebrations around that big one: a sunrise and good grocery shopping experience before the surgery, an excellent chicken soup I made a few days after coming home, the hematoma beginning to fade (although it is still not completely gone 2+ weeks afterward…I am checking/celebrating progress every morning), and my first grocery shopping after the surgery (with the assistance of my husband).

The other celebration that stands out this month….more than a little one…is the death of our cat, Boromir. I was glad I held him close for over an hour on his last day….that he seemed at peace. We are still missing him but also celebrating that Boromir was with us for so many years and particularly through the pandemic when we were at home most of the time; he contributed to the positive vibe that seemed so natural…so easily sustained.

And then there were some ‘usual’ little celebrations:

A great meatloaf. I discovered that adding a little olive oil if the ground beef is very lean and using spaghetti sauce instead of salsa improves the texture and flavor!

Red velvet cake/carrot cake for our 49th wedding anniversary. We both savored our slice of celebratory cake…not having any leftovers!

Peppermint snow ice cream. Celebrating a seasonal favorite and plenty of snow to make it!

A new garage door. It was awful to have a damaged door….I celebrated that we could get it replaced quickly.

Snow on the ground. Celebrating the beautiful scene from the windows of our house….and the different perspective as I walked through the neighborhood.