Back to Missouri

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The drive back to Missouri was different this time. Both my husband and I realized we would not be back to Maryland any time soon. We were leaving an area of the country where we had lived since July 1983…39 years. We were both aware that this was a pivot point in our lives just as the prior move had been. In 1983, we were moving to enable the type of careers we wanted….now we are moving to be near our daughter and within a short day’s drive to much of our extended family. We talked a little about what we were leaving behind…and the significant effort still required to be settled into our new home. Now that we own one house again…home is Missouri even if we aren’t quite comfortable – yet.

The weather was wet for most of the drive, so I didn’t take as many pictures at the rest stops. On the plus side, it was not as hot, and the rain only caused minor delays. The navigation system took us around the beltway of St Louis rather than through the city because of a road closure; we saw the arch from a distance. I took more pictures through the car window…two of Louisville (KFC Center and a bridge being renovated (somehow it reminded me of a stylized open mouth of a dragon!).

We were glad to be home again…relieved that the last long road trip associated with moving was over and that the remaining tasks relative to moving are ones we could do at our own pace and all in Missouri!

In Maryland

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Our first local stop in Maryland was our old house. We loaded up the few things we had left (which included some things we had left accidently). I took one last picture through the windows on the upper floor into the back of the house (view of the sycamore and the red maple). The room that had been my office (the picture on the right) was my favorite of the house. I realized that the room I’ve chosen in my new house is quite different…but my favorite of the new house.

The only furniture we left was the table and chairs on the covered deck. The table was just too awkward to move (didn’t fit through doors without disassembly).

We cut two daylilies (with buds) from the front flower bed and added them to a bouquet we purchased at a grocery store to put on my mother-in-law’s grave. She died in 1990 and had purchased the original daylily bulbs the year before…it seemed fitting to include the flowers in this bouquet. We’ve had annual times that we put out flowers/wreaths on her grave – her birthday and the Thanksgiving/Christmas holiday. We don’t know when we’ll be back in the area so this might have been a last time.

We took a short walk around Brookside Gardens…a place we enjoyed during all the years we lived in Maryland. It was not a thorough walk around…but enough to be a gentle goodbye to a special place.

We stayed in a hotel near the title company where the closing would occur. It had an impressive shower: a different kind of drain and well-balanced barn type glass doors and textured walls without seams.

The next morning, we were the first appointment of the day at the title company with a waiting room like a sitting room…with a carpet that needed a good vacuuming.  Our part of the closing was uneventful; I was disappointed that the buyers were coming in later and we did not get to meet them.

We made a stop at my favorite grocery store for one last purchased of my favorite salad dressing. It was a bust since it was sold out, but I was still glad to be in the store on last time.

We left the area to head back toward Missouri before noon.

Last Trip to Maryland

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We opted to drive to Maryland one last time…for the closing on the house there and last goodbyes to some favorite places. We started out shortly after 6:30 AM for the two-day drive – with a much longer drive on the 1st day. The first stop from Springfield was the Route 66 rest stop along I-44 near Conway. Our route was the interstate along the old Route 66 until St. Louis.

It was sunny and hot for most of the day – traversing Illinois and Indiana and most of Kentucky. The only big cities on the route were St. Louis and Louisville. We stopped in Ashland, KY for the night; we had driven out of the hot and dry Midwest and into rain. The last rest stop of the day (in Kentucky) was one that included oak leaf hydrangeas in their landscaping…reminding me that I want to plant one or two in my new yard.

The next day it rained…and rained. Most was not too heavy and did not delay us as we travelled through West Virginia and into Maryland. It did change the type of photography is did at the rest stops I switched to macro photography– lichen, moss, buds, insect, shelf fungus. I took several pictures from inside the car (since I wasn’t driving). Sidling Hill is more interesting from the highway than the eastward rest stop!

And then we were at our old house…more on the time we spent in Maryland tomorrow.

Springfield Conservation Nature Center – June 2020

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My husband and I did a short hike at the Springfield Conservation Nature Center in late June. It’s a place I anticipate we’ll explore more fully in the months to come. The area is an oasis with high volume traffic arteries on two sides…neighborhood and lake on the other sides. We started out our first hike on the Boardwalk Trail (map) but extended to the Sycamore Cut-off down to the bridge over a branch of Lake Springfield….downhill to the lake level then back up. The forest is dense with a different kinds and ages of trees…there are cliff faces too. The paths are gravel. We spotted a great blue heron (still roosting) in shallow water….and a very active small bird in the bushes nearby (maybe a prothonotary warbler). There were probably some invasive plants in the mix – but they didn’t seem to be overwhelming. The slideshow below contains my favorites from the pictures I took with my bridge camera.

I am beginning to appreciate my phone – with it digital zoom – for macro photography. I took one image of a bloom that was hanging over the trail…

And then did more as we left the nature center after our hike.

The round blooms of the button bush look intriguing at every stage!

I am looking forward to seeing the trails in different seasons…stay tuned.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 9, 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.

Bonsai trees tell of winters past – An elfin forest of hemlocks on the outer coast of Glacier Bay National Park…and they hold the history of 4 centuries of winters in their growth rings.

See the vibrant, long overlooked colors of classical sculptures – Greco-Roman marble sculptures were covered in bright hues (polychromy) originally!

Pioneering recycling turns mixed waste into premium plastics with no climate impact – Wouldn’t it be great if suddenly mixed waste could replace fossil raw materials for ALL plastic production?

Understanding horseshoe crabs at Cape Cod National Seashore – A short video about a research project just starting.

Get a Sneak Preview of the 2022 Bird Photographer of the Year Finalists – Capturing birds in action…rather than portraits.

Invasive species taking over some American forests - Amur honeysuckle (a shrub from Asia) is a big culprit. Callery Pear (the ‘wild’ version of the Bradford pear) is a close second.  I just cut down a Callery Pear that was growing in the front bed of my new house in Missouri…almost obliterating a crepe myrtle! Other foreign species that have become problematic: porcelain berry, tree of heaven, winged euonymus, European buckthorn, Oriental bittersweet, common privet and lesser periwinkle...Norway maple, Amur cork tree and white poplar along with herbaceous species such as lesser celandine, garlic mustard, Japanese knotweed and Japanese stilt grass.

A Surprisingly High Number of Wildfires Are Caused by Electrocuted Birds – Awful….good that there is a way to reduce the carnage…at less cost than the consequences of the fires.

Rural areas near coast will bear the brunt of US sea-level rise – Analysis focused on the Chesapeake Bay…marshes forming where forest and farmland is today.

Once-Common California Bumble Bees Have Gone Missing – The survey did not find the formerly abundant Western bumble bee. The last statewide survey was conducted 40 years go…and a lot has happened in that time: habitat loss, pesticides, and climate change. None of the species were doing well. Big problem – since bumble bees help pollinate $3 billion worth of crops in the US each year (including tomatoes, peppers, and cranberries).

Scientist war of links between soil pollution and heart disease – The author of the study commented: “Until we know more, it seems sensible to wear a face mask to limit exposure to windblown dust, filter water to remove contaminants, and buy food grown in healthy soil."

Springfield Art Museum

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The first time I went to the Springfield Art Museum was back in June 2019 when I was helping my daughter move from State College PA into a rental house in Springfield MO; the key had not worked to open the door to the house and it was too hot to wait outside for the rental agent; we escaped to the air conditioned space of the museum. It was another hot day last month when my daughter, sister and I visited although we went for the museum itself rather than an escape for heat.

The Mend Piece participatory exhibit was just off the large entry way. There were tables of broken white cups with supplies to put them together (twine, glue, white rubber bands).  My daughter and sister went on to see the other exhibits while I made my ‘creation’ with ceramic pieces, rubber bands, and a little twine. The twine was more decorative than structural.  It was a good experience for me…caused me to realize that my daily Zentangle practice has developed my artist side that had been buried for most of my life! A man that was working on his creation when I came into the room and was still working on it when I left commented that it seemed like it was very familiar with this kind of activity!

I caught up with my sister and daughter in the Watercolor USA exhibit.  That exhibit encouraged people to vote for their favorite. It was a difficult choice.

After walking around the rest of the museum, my sister decided to do a Mend Piece as well. She created a flower! It looked best still on the table…not clear that the glue was going to hold well enough.

We both put our pieces on the display shelf along with creations of other museum visitors.

A hot afternoon well spent!

Springfield Botanical Garden – June 2022 (2)

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June is the month the lilies start to bloom and the beds at the Springfield Botanical Garden lived up to my expectations. The leaves were a rich green….there were lots of buds and plenty of flowers. Some of the beds had wire fencing; do the deer (or some other animal) only eat some of the lilies? I didn’t find a bed of the bright orange lilies that often grow wild along roadsides…the lilies here are the fancier kind: frilled petals, double petals, lots of different colors (even green!). Enjoy the slide show of the summer lilies.

I wonder if there will be some left in July. Now that I am a resident of the area, I am setting a goal for myself to visit the place at least once a month.

Springfield Botanical Garden – June 2022 (1)

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So much in gardens changes between visits. The mosaics near rose garden of the Springfield Botanical Gardens are a constant although they depict aspects of the garden during the warmer part of the year.

June is still early enough in the season that the roses were full of blooms although the hot days were coming earlier in the year; hopefully the watering regime would keep them going a bit further into the summer.

The hosta garden is one of my favorite places when it is hot…very shady and plenty of plants that thrive in the dampness (sustained by mist watering) under the trees.

It was a bit of slog over to the Kickapoo Edge Prairie…but I was rewarded with a stand of milkweed in bloom near the end.

My route looped back by the Monarch play area…on the way to….

More about my walk around the garden in June tomorrow.

Posts about previous visit to the garden and Mizumoto Japanese Stroll Garden in April 2022

Zentangle® – June 2022

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30 Zentangle tiles for June; it was challenging find the time to make tiles in June with the crescendo of activity for our move to Missouri…but very worthwhile to help me decompress.

I found myself enjoying new Sharpie Ultra Fine pens and savoring some newly discovered gel pins; both provided the smooth glide of color onto the variety of tile materials during the month. The paper coasters (round and square) were in the box I carried with me on all my travels. I rediscovered an unopened box of the round ones as I was packing…will return to them in the months ahead.

My favorite tiles are probably the light brown ones made from recycled lightweight cardboard or old file folders. Both square

And rectangular.

There are still a few tiles made from old pocket folders saved my daughter’s K-12 days; I found more of those folders as I packed to move…will cut them into tiles as some point.

I had a few tiles that were a narrower rectangle…the back of pads of paper I used up….and then had the cardboard left to repurpose!

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The Zentangle® Method is an easy-to-learn, relaxing, and fun way to create beautiful images by drawing structured patterns. It was created by Rick Roberts and Maria Thomas. “Zentangle” is a registered trademark of Zentangle, Inc. Learn more at zentangle.com.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 25, 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.

Ukrainian Students Are Taking Haunting Grad Photos in Rubble Created by the War – Life going on during war…graduation pictures that reflect a very different year in Ukraine.

The surprising benefits of fingers that wrinkle in water – A lot more questions and research than I expected!

Single brain scan can diagnose Alzheimer’s disease – Faster and earlier diagnosis…a component that could improve outcomes over the long term.

Photographer Captures Colorful “Moonbows” – In Yosemite National Park.

Walking toward healthier knees – “Those who reported walking for exercise had 40% decreased odds of new frequent knee pain compared to non-walkers” --- that’s a good stat to keep in mind as we get older and want to avoid increased knee problems.

Living with the prospect of assisted dying – A post about a man diagnosed with ALS…difficulty with the bureaucracy of assisted dying laws even with a clear-cut terminal diagnosis.

Alaska Ablaze – 5,000 lightning strikes…dozens of wildfires.

How to turn your garden into a carbon sink – Turning more yards into gardens…with more diverse plantings….a few more trees. Sometimes going a little wild is a good thing!

Pollen and Heat: a looming challenge for global agriculture – heat is a pollen killer for canola, corn, peanuts, and rice. It is becoming more important than ever for crops to bloom before the temperature rises…and it is getting more challenging as multi-day stretches of excess heat are becoming more common early in the growing season.

The life of a solitary bee – There are as many as 4,000 bee species in the US….and most of them are solitary. 98% of the native bee species in the US are solitary.

Ten Little Celebrations – June 2022

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What a month! It is probably the busiest, most stressful in my post career decade….with so much that has gone right in the end…lots of little celebrations.

Hearing a phoebe in the morning….seeing a crane fly – The sights and sounds of nature often become little celebrations for me…they just happen and make the day brighter.

New low weight for the year – With all the work getting ready to move and then moving, I expended a lot more energy and lost a few pounds. I celebrated a new low weight for the year in June.

A new house – Settling into a new house/location is stressful…but there is also a lot of to celebrate. Noticing all the aspects of the house that I like…celebrating that it is becoming home.

A picture taking walk around the ponds in the early morning – The water features of my new neighborhood are more extensive than where I lived previously. There were plenty of sights to celebrate in my first walks around the ponds and I anticipate enjoying them all through the year.

Internet/cable at Missouri house (just in time to make hotel reservations for the follow night going back to Maryland) – Our internet/cable access was installed the morning after we closed on our new house; I celebrated that my husband had been proactive for making that arrangement.

Made it back to Missouri even with the blowout before lunch – The drama of a blown-out tire on the trek from Maryland to Missouri was not traumatic as it could have been….and I celebrated when we made it to the new house.

The movers arrived….delivering our stuff – The house was so empty…then was full of boxes. I celebrated that it all arrived intact even though the piles were daunting.

Finding the missing piece to husband’s desk – I had packed some pieces of my husband’s desk and we didn’t find the box for about 24 hours. Celebration by all when the piece was found!

Unpacking progress (slow but steady) – We are still unpacking but every day I celebrate the progress we are making. At this point, all the critical items are unpacked and put into their long-term location.

A contract on our Maryland house – My husband and I were pleasantly surprised that we sold our house in Maryland in just 4 days and for more than the asking price. At first, we were overwhelmed…and then we celebrated.

Zooming – June 2022

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I didn’t have as many photographs as usual to choose from in June…too busy moving. There were still enough to choose twelve. The locations were wide ranging: our neighborhoods in Maryland and Missouri, the botanical garden in Springfield MO, our houses in Maryland and Missouri. It is occurring to me that my multi-day road trips between Maryland and Missouri/Texas are almost over. The trek between Missouri and Texas is an easy 6.5 hours!

Enjoy the slide show!

Unique Aspects of Days – June 2022

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June was probably the most unique month of 2022; moving from Maryland to Missouri made for a lot of firsts…made more unique by the time that had passed since our last move (more than 25 years ago). It was hard to choose just 10.

Move out day in Maryland. Packing up was hard enough…seeing it all be loaded on the truck in one day (rainy toward the end) was overwhelmingly intense – certainly not a ‘normal’ situation. And I knew I would be getting up early in the next morning to head to Missouri.

A lot of armadillo road kill. In Maryland the most common road killed animals were deer. In Missouri, there were armadillos; perhaps it was the time of year they go walkabout.

Closing on a Missouri house. I hadn’t closed on a house in over 25 years and this is the only time in my life (so far) that there was no mortgage.

First sunrise at Bentwater house. Firsts are unique simply because they are the first!

Blowout of my driver’s side front tire. It was not a totally unique experience but the last one was years ago (2017) and only the third one in my 50 years of driving!

The neighborhood pool for the first time. I wasn’t sure I would use the pool but I discovered that there are times it is not very busy…a very pleasant respite from the heat.

Mend Piece. I’ll do a post about the experience in a few days….it was a unique hands-on experience at the Springfield Art Museum.

Making popcorn in the downstairs kitchen – first time. It felt a little odd to make popcorn in a place other than the main kitchen…but the mini-kitchen near my office in the basement has a microwave. I used my Nordic Ware bowl…melted butter in an old stoneware cup. It’s great to have a hefty snack without having to go up or down stairs!

Our Maryland house went on the market…under contract 4 days later. We hadn’t sold a house in a long time…and the previous experiences had not been quick. This one was lightning fast – just as the realtor had predicted. We were pleased and overwhelmed all at the same time.

New washer and dryer. I don’t remember the last time we had a new washer/dryer….so I am counting it as unique….and still enjoying the big improvement over the older models: quieter, more effiecent use of water/energy, quicker. Also – the laundry chute in our new house is a very nice feature.

Gleanings of the Week Ending July 2, 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.

What if all roads went underground? – Thought provoking…wish there were ways to make it a more practical solution since the aesthetics of a world that has more natural surfaces (rather than roads) is very appealing.

Endangered Whopping Crane Hatches at Smithsonian National Zoo Site – The egg was found on an abandoned wild nest in Wisconsin and given to a pair of whooping cranes in the zoo that had produced 2 infertile eggs. The live egg was put into their nest on 5/18 and the baby crane hatched on 5/26!

BLM, Forest Service, Five Tribes of The Bears Ears Commission Commit to Historic Co-Management Of Bears Ears National Monument – Wishing the best for this endeavor.

Fifth of global food-related emissions due to transport – The takeaway message for us in the US: eat locally! This summer I am visiting the local Farmer’s Market weekly…maybe next year I’ll join a CSA.

Antarctica’s ‘Doomsday Glacier’ melting at fastest rate in 5,500 years – Thwaites Glacier (nicknamed the Doomsday Glacier…Florida-sized) and Pine Island Glacier were studied. The ice shelf holding the Thwaites Glacier could collapse withing 3-5 years.

Finding mini frogs: these aren’t babies, they’re just little – And they hatch as frogs…no tadpole stage. They live in leaf litter…humid and moist but not near water.

New safe-sleep guidelines aim to reduce infant deaths – New guidelines have been coming out from time to time at least since my daughter was born over 30 years ago. When she was a baby, the recommendation was for babies to sleep on their tummy…very different from these current guidelines.

2021 Share the Experience Photo Contest (National Park Foundation) Winners – Special places…full of great experiences.

Los Angeles becomes the latest city to hire ‘chief heat officer’ – Miami and Phoenix as well as cities in other countries (Athens, Greece; Freetown, Sierra Leone; Monterrey, Mexico; Santiago, Chile) have similar positions.

One in 500 men carry extra sex chromosome, putting them at higher risk of several common diseases – A surprising result…most of the men were unaware they carried an extra X or Y chromosome. Those that are XXY had higher chances of reproductive problems. Both XXY and XYY individuals has higher risks of type 2 diabetes, deep venous thrombosis, pulmonary embolism, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Whirlwind trip to Maryland and Back

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I left early after only one day in the Missouri house that was now ours…to go back to the Maryland house. It would be a 4-day trip with lots of driving each day. The weather was good for the whole trip although it had been very wet the days before. The early rest stops were soggy. I drove from Springfield MO to Huntington WV the first day…a bit long but I knew I would need time at my Maryland house to load the car on the second day. It rained heavily after I was at the hotel!

The Red Roof Inn in Huntington was a surprise. Perhaps it had been recently renovated because the lighting over the bed and the size/arrangement of the desk area were more functional than most hotel rooms.

I was up early the next morning and heading to my Maryland house. At one of the West Virginia stops, I noticed a dead tree…took a closer look at the fungus growing on the trunk.

The drive was uneventful…arriving early enough to have lunch with my husband on our Maryland house deck…and then start the daunting task of loading the cars. Our plan was to caravan back to Missouri with everything from the Maryland house….but we couldn’t quite fit everything so we’ll return to Maryland for the closing on that house; everything left will easily fit in one car. I took pictures of the house without furniture…with the new carpet…before we headed to a nearby hotel for the night.

We headed out early….saw morning sun on the Sidling Hill road cut.

After another night in a hotel, we got another early start…destination our house in Missouri. The drive took a dramatic turn at mid-morning: the front driver’s side tire blew out on my car just east of the Skeeter Mountain rest stop in Indiana. I was glad my husband was following me. It occurred on a bridge….part of the tire flying off…I managed to control the car well enough to pull onto the shoulder past the bridge. I sat in the car after I got it stopped. My husband came up and asked if I was OK…’not really’ was my response. Fortunately, the trauma was emotional rather than physical. We both stood further off on the shoulder, and he called for a tow (my car does not have a spare). I took pictures of the car…and the vegetation nearby. The tow truck came in about 20 minutes…about 10 AM; the tow to a tire place took about 30 minutes and a new tire was on the car by about noon. We continued toward our Missouri home.

Fortunately, the rest of the drive was uneventful…the blow out episode causing a 3-hour delay…not bad overall. Both of us went to bed early - emotionally exhausted once the drive was over.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 18, 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.

Archaeologists Uncover Hundreds of Colorful Sarcophagi at Saqqara—and They’re Not Done Yet – The seeming endless interest in Egypt…sustained by continuing new finds.

8 cool wild cats you probably don’t know – So many wild cat variations!

Fjords emit as much methane as all the deep oceans globally – When storms churn up water in fjords….oxygenating the fjord floor…methane emissions spike. If the water mixed more frequently the methane emissions would drop because anoxic environments at the bottom of fjords would disappear.

Tree rings are evidence of megadrought – and our doom – Tree ring data indicates that the 22-year period from 2000 through 2021 was the driest and hottest in the last 1,2000 years for the North American Southwest. There was another 22-year drought from 1571-1592 that was nearly as dry but not as hot as the current drought. And the water distribution allocations were made based on a 22-year period between 1900 and 1921 that we now know was an anomalously wet period for area! Not good signs for the future.

A 3400-year-old city emerges from the Tigris River – Drought lowered the Mosul reservoir. There was a quick survey…discovery ceramic vessels with 100 cuneiform tablets…and the conservation measures to project the site as the water rose again. The site is now completely submerged.

Fifty years later, Kim Phuc Phan Thi is more than ‘Napalm Girl’ – One of the most iconic photos of the Vietnam war…still makes be as emotional now as the first time I saw it. She says – To confront violence head-on…’the first step is to look at it.’

Two articles about the flooding in Yellowstone: Repairing and reopening Yellowstone National Park won’t be easy and Extreme flooding devastates Yellowstone, forcing the closure of all park entrances – Very sad….also scary.

Wildlife bedtime: weird nesting habits of North American wildlife – Black bears, black-footed ferrets, jumping spiders, bald-faced hornets, and red-sided garter snakes.

How Vivian Maier, the Enigmatic Nanny Who Took 150,000 Photographs, Found Her Place in History – Street photographer…that only became known after a storage locker of her photographs/negatives was auctioned off when she couldn’t make the payments on it.

Zapping orange peel oil into new, pleasant aroma compounds – I’ve always liked the smell and taste of orange peel (I buy organic oranges and use the whole orange!) but evidently the compound that is in orange peel, limonene, can be the starting platform for other scents as well.

When will the movers arrive?

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The timing of the arrival of truck truck at our new house in Missouri was a range of more than a week at the beginning; on the day they loaded the truck, we were told it would arrive the last day of the range. On the day after closing, the driver called in the morning. If he could get a crew to help, he could deliver  later in the day and finish unloading the day after. I went into panic mode to get the house ready: putting everything I had brought in the car out of the way and making signs for the floor or walls to indicate where major furniture would go.

Later in the day, the driver called to indicate that he had not been able to arrange for a crew so the truck would arrive a day before the original delivery date…in 5 days. I was almost overwhelmed by the whiplash of changes but I quickly recovered and made plans to make a return trip to Maryland to get the last items our of our Maryland house and then drive back with my husband --- both of us with fully loaded cars.

What a flurry of activity the day after closing on our Missouri house!

MD to MO with a very full car

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My car was loaded to the ceiling behind the driver’s seat after the movers left; I was relying on side mirrors and backup camera for the drive between Maryland and Missouri. The next morning, I loaded the passenger seat and floorboard (not to the ceiling), took a few pictures of the front of our Maryland house, and was away before 6:30 AM for the 1st day drive…projected to be 10 hours.

I made the usual rest stops in Maryland. The weather was excellent for driving…a comfortable temperature and dry. Once again – I appreciated adaptive cruise control…after I got acclimated driving at highway speeds again; it took me about an hour to feel comfortable going 70+ mph.

The highway through West Virginia is a pleasure – lots of great scenery and curves to make it interesting. I discovered that the extra weight of the car (fully loaded) made it more stable on the curves! On a sad note – along with deer roadkill, there seemed to be quite a few foxes; saddest of all…there were two very small fox carcasses not far apart. I noticed catalpas blooming along the highway…remembered the trees from my childhood; considered planting one in my new yard.

Kentucky is also scenic – and this time there was no traffic problems getting through Louisville into Indiana (bridge renovation closes a lane…but the traffic was light enough that everything flowed smoothly).

The hotel for the first night was in Indiana and I took a picture of at sunset from my hotel window. I parked my car where I could see it and kept checking to make sure it was OK; other people parked around me --- made the obviously stuffed car less obvious. The area is still in the eastern time (very close to the western edge of the zone) so it didn’t get dark until after 9; I closed the blackout curtains and went to bed early after the long drive.

I bought the most expensive gas of the trip in Illinois. I’ll remember when I make the next trip to fill the tank in Missouri or Indiana!

And then I was in Missouri – making very good time even though the traffic was heavier on I-44 than anywhere else along the route. The first rest stop is due to close for renovation soon so it will be a long stretch without a rest stop….we’ll have to make a stop at a fast food place instead. There was a marked difference in the type of roadkill once I got into Missouri – no deer or fox…there were a few racoons and (surprise) lots of armadillos! Evidently the animals were first seen in the state about 40 years ago and their numbers have been increasing in the southern part of the Missouri ever since; they are not seen in the northern part of the state (yet)! I learned that they often destroy yards very quickly (they root around searching for invertebrates in the soil) and are very active in the Springfield area!

On both days, I made such good time that I made up for the rest stops…arrived within minutes of what my car’s navigation system calculated first thing in the morning as I was starting the drive!

I stayed with my daughter overnight. Stay tuned for a post about the next day: walk through…closing…unloading the very full car…a first night in a new home.

Gleanings of the Week Ending June 4, 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.

Under Water and Under Pressure – 100 national parks are coastal…and are already taking action to mitigate sea level rise.

Where do ‘Hawaiian box jellies’ come from? – Evidently the box jellies appear close to shore like clockwork 8-10 days after full moon. This research reveal that the jellies are spawning during that time…and where they are when they not close to shore. This is important for providing better information to ocean swimmers and beach goers…trying to avoid stings. Another benefit…learning to keep the food web balanced to control box jelly numbers in Hawaii and other tropical localities.

Stirring up a mid-Atlantic bloom – Lots of nutrients flowing into the water from the coastal watersheds during spring rainstorms.

Vancouver requires gas stations & parking lots without EV chargers to pay $10,000 per year – Interesting idea…hope it increases the number of chargers and the trend to EVs!

Photography In The National Parks: More Favorite Places For Photography - We’re not going to be traveling to any of the western parks near term….so I enjoyed them through these photographs: Crater Lake, Redwood, Yosemite, Great Basin, and Lewis and Clark (Washington state portion).

Maya tooth treatments may have prevented infection – In the Mayan world - holes were drilled to attach stones to teeth; an analysis of the sealant used for 8 teeth from across the Maya empire (AD 200-900) revealed that most sealants included ingredients from pine trees that have been shown to fight the bacteria that cause tooth decay.

Top 25 birds of the week: Forest Birds – I always like bird pictures….

Scientists recreate Cleopatra’s favorite perfume – Recreating Mendesian perfume…the result so far has been a strong, spicy, faintly musty scent that tended to linger longer than modern fragrances…with ingredients like desert date oil, myrrh, cinnamon, and pine resin.

Grand Canyon of Texas – I remember (tent) camping in Palo Duro Canyon in the 1970s on the way to Colorado…being very hot and worried that our tent was too close to a red ant bed! At the time, I didn’t realize that it is the second largest canyon in the US (behind Arizona’s Grand Canyon).

Why humans get less sleep than other primates – A different type of sleep research…teasing out the differences in sleep of humans and other primates….and between non-industrial human populations and industrial human populations. It turns out that in the human populations…the hours of sleep are about the same but the perception of getting enough sleep is higher in the non-industrial populations than the industrial ones!

Our Maryland Neighborhood

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I took an early morning walk in our neighborhood – down to the water retention pond…savoring the familiar sights and sounds. The first was our oak near our mailbox. It was a much smaller tree when we moved to the house over 25 years ago. I planted day lilies around its base about 10 years ago; they never get a chance to bloom because the deer eat the buds like candy but the leaves make a lush collar for the tree that keeps the mowers from damaging the trunk.

I took pictures of some of my favorite trees against the morning sky/shadow – maple, ginkgo and oak. The maples are thriving while the oaks are declining. The builder planted one of each near the street originally.

The ginkgo is near the street in one of the yards along the way to the pond. It leans a little toward the street.

At the pond, cattails were thick with old and new growth, the red winged blackbirds and green frogs (rubber band sound) were noisy, and I appreciated once again that the slopes are no longer mowed.

I managed to photograph a female red winged blackbird and a rather scruffy looking fledgling that she was feeding. The fledgling stayed down in the cattails more than the adult.

I took a picture of the oak overhead as I sat on the bench near the pond. It is a lot like ours…more dead branches than it should have.

The arborist that worked on our sycamore and plum talked about the oaks dying…that making sure they are watered is about all you can do to help prolong their life; it looks like all the oaks in our neighborhood are experienced a slow death. The Virginia Creeper that is growing on our tree makes it looks greener than it would be on its own!