Gleanings of the Week Ending February 18, 2023

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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.

Farmers Find Wild African Cat Wandering Around Missouri – A serval found when a farming family set a live trap to capture the culprit leaving bones and feathers between their stacks of hay bales! The Turpentine Creek Wildlife Refuge came to the rescue. This is all close to where I live and I was saddened that evidently the new Big Cat Public Safety Act does not include the smaller non-native wild cats…and that someone was cruel enough to release this cat of the African savanna into the wild in Missouri.

Caribou have been using the same Arctic calving grounds for 3,000 years – Analysis of antlers found on the tundra….discovering some of them are 3,000 years old! But the Arctic is warming faster than other parts of the globe. The elders of the village south of the calving grounds comment that they have noticed a lot more trees, less barren tundra. What will happen to the barren ground caribou as this habitat gets converted to forest?

Why fabric fraud is easy to hide – The fashion supply chain is fragmented and very dense….most apparel companies do not track their own supply chain (or don’t go past their immediate suppliers). Organic cotton is one of the prime examples of how end products labelled as organic cotton…might not be. It is hard to determine where the fraud is inserted in the process; the result is that the consumer is paying a premium price…not getting what they are paying for. And to improve the system will require big changes in the fabric/apparel business.

A Field Guide to Unexpected, Out-of-Place Wildlife – Sometimes animals have ranges that are changing or are a lot larger than we anticipate…sometimes birds are in very different places that their usual range!

Dirty Laundry: How much microfiber do we emit with our laundry – A study done in the UK…but probably relevant to the US as well. Microfibers from laundry in the UK weigh 6,850 to 17,847 tons per year. Yes…that’s a lot and pollutes water…however, it is a dwarfed by the 365,000 tons of clothing going into UK landfills per year.

Antibiotic use in farming set to soar despite drug-resistance fears – The increase in bacterial infections that cannot be treated with antibiotics (because of bacteria developing resistance to antibiotics) has been growing in recent years. Overuse of antibiotivs in agriculture is thought to be a major driver of the problem. Governments around the world have attempted to curb the use of antibiotics to promote growth but the use is still expected to grow by 8% between 2020 and 2030. The article includes a chart of agricultural antibiotics by country in 2020…and a projection for 2030.

The Lifelike Glass Models of Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka – Thousands of realistic models of plants and sea creatures made by a father and son from the 1860s until 1938.

8 everyday foods you might not realize are ultra-processed – and how to spot them – I am cutting back on ultra-processed foods this year. Some of the 8 listed in this article are easy: I don’t eat breakfast cereals, I only eat protein bars as ‘emergency rations’ (i.e. not frequently) and avoid yogurt, meal bases and sauces, processed meats, and margarine. I’m still looking for a soy milk that has fewer ingredients; will give up on soy milk soon if I don’t find one. And I try to buy bakery bread.

Did Philip II bring invasive fish to Spain? – Evidently his efforts to acquire fish and crayfish from afar spanned at least 25 years!

Study reveals that much still not known about cognitive decline - Data came from 7,068 participants in the 1996-2016 Health and Retirement Study. Participants were born between 1931 and 1941. Researchers measured their cognitive functioning at age 54 and how it declined until they were 85. At age 54, socioeconomic status, education and race -- explained only 38% of the variation in functioning. Those same factors explained only 5.6% of the variation in how quickly cognitive functioning declined in people between age 54 and 85. So much we don’t know about cognitive decline although it is pervasive in older adults, even those without dementia.

W. Westhoven – Engineer Artist

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Six South African Scenes and verse  was published the year Wilhelm Westhoven died (1925) and contained 6 of his paintings. I selected two of the paintings for this post…encourage looking at the book on Internet Archive to see the other 4!

According to a brief biography on Artefacts, he was born in German in 1845, wrote a paper about the Forth Bridge in Scotland (a cantilever railway bridge), and emigrated to the Cape Colony in 1892 where he was an engineer in the Department of Public Works until he retired in 1904. After reading the biography…I checked to see if the paper Forth bridge was available on Internet Archive….and am looking forward to browsing through its illustrations (here).

Settling in, developing new routines – 8th month

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We moved to Missouri eight months ago and have adjusted in many areas…but there are still things to do. My previous ‘settling in’ posts were made in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 4th month; it’s time for another update. The upheaval of the move is waning. The changes between our 4th month and now are more gradual; there isn’t the frenzy of activity like in the first few months. We’ve voted in the mid-term election, subscribed to a local news feed… are experiencing winter and working on our 2022 tax filing (it is more complex this year with the sale of a house and two state taxes). I’ve sustained my treks to Texas; it’s become apparent that the monthly plan might need to be adjusted quickly depending on the care my parents need; the priority of being available for my parents will keep me from signing up for volunteer gigs or university classes. Our three kittens are keeping us close to home too; they need a lot of attention but we have successfully done day trips and 1-2 nights away; my daughter checks on them when we are gone for more than a few hours.

There are still things we are anticipating:

Spring in Missouri. The rhododendron flowers were already fading by the time I first looked at the house…the irises had already bloomed too. I’ll enjoy seeing the flowers…supplemented with the additional bulbs I planted last fall. We are also talking about day trips for gardens and birding hotspots within the state.

All-electric. We are talking more about the order of steps we will take to move the house toward being ‘all-electric’ over the next 3 years or so…and then adding solar panels/battery.

Dark sky. My husband is keen to go to a dark sky site…hopefully once the temperature is a bit warmer, he’ll be able to do it.

Yard. I have been putting off contacting a nursery…but need to do it soon if I want things in before it gets too hot (and potentially dry) this summer.

Overall – we are not venturing out very much right now because of the cold…but we’ll do more outdoors in the spring. And maybe meet more of our neighbors too!

Our Nixa, MO Yard – February 2023

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February started out bitterly cold – with sleet/snow that stayed on the ground for days. I bundled up and ventured outdoors with my camera to document the situation in our yard. There had been some freeze-thaw cycles already, but the concrete and rock covered beds were still very white. A downspout had dribbled water than had frozen before it could escape. In the yard, the grass bristled through the whiteness; I left footprints, but they didn’t go very deep. The yard was pristine; our Missouri yard (and neighborhood) is not a deer highway like our Maryland house was.  The iris leaves in one bed seemed unfazed by the cold (hope that continues to be true!).

I went through the house to go out to the front because all the gates were frozen in place. I was surprised that mine were the only footprints on our sidewalk; with schools closed and the bitter cold, people were not taking walks as usual.

I was intrigued by the round seed pods on one of our larger crepe myrtles. The wind and gravity had emptied some of them, but others still contained the seeds from last fall.  The seeds were ready to scatter…they fell out easily with a nudge of my fingernail.

Frosty Valentine’s

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Valentine’s Day is a very commercialized celebration --- lots of red roses, chocolate and other candy often in red heart shaped boxes or the candy itself in the heart shape. If my husband and I do anything for Valentine’s – we do it on our monthly wedding anniversary which is within a few days of the 14th. This year it will be our 601st monthly anniversary!

One positive outcome of the commercialization of the celebration, I am anticipating lots of candy on sale on the 15th….hoping for a good selection to buy at a reduced price for my daughter and son-in-law to have in their campus offices for their meetings with students!

Another positive aspect to Valentine’s is its position in February. The winter can be gray, cold, and icy. Maybe Valentine’s Day should be a prompt to look around for beauty in the ‘wild’ to share with someone near and dear: a sunrise or the beauty of ice crystals at close range….choose to see beauty in February outdoors (or through a window)!

Coursera Again – Neuroanatomy

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The beginning of Coursera coincided with the beginning of the post-career portion of my life a decade ago. It burst on the scene offering auditing of online courses for free (a small fee was charged for the testing and projects for credit). I was like a “kid in a candy store”…so many topics of interest that I never had time for during my undergraduate/graduate years….and some topics that didn’t exist until more recently! I audited a flurry of courses in the first few years then settled into an occasional course – usually in the wintertime when I spend more time indoors; there was an uptick during the COVID-19 pandemic but not to the levels of the first few years.  

I recently looked at my records and discovered I have audited 74 courses! The topics are varied: art, anatomy, nutrition, history, meditation, education, entomology, exoplanets, poetry, psychology, design, and architecture! The nutrition course was one of the early ones…and is where I learned about the Cronometer site that I am still using to track what I eat so that can take off a few pounds.

This month I completed a Neuroanatomy course from the University of Michigan. It is a 7-week course; I completed 3 weeks before I went to Carrollton TX in late January and completed the other 4 after I got back. I did my usual notetaking as I made my way through the material – trying to learn the vocabulary and the anatomical structures. Now I find I want to learn more about neurobiology!

This course pointed me to a new-to-me source of reference books: PDF Drive. Just look at the list of books available for Neuroanatomy! There are lots of other topics as well. I am getting the “kid in a candy store” feeling all over again!

Our Missouri Neighborhood – February 2023

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There were a few days of snow and ice early in the month; I stayed indoors for the first days but then the sun came out and I decided to bundle up and walk around the neighborhood to document the event. The pumps in the largest pond were keeping some open water.

Two geese ventured out on the ice…but turned around and rejoined their friends on the bank before getting all the way to the unfrozen part of the pond.

The snow that fell on the slides in the playground had gone through some freeze-thaw cycles and was extending past the end of the slides!

The contrast of tree trunks and snow/ice was stark…the snow creating a different pattern than usual when the mulch around the trees is almost the same brown as the tree trunk.

My favorite sights of the morning were the neuron shapes in the pond. My theory is that the center part that looks unfrozen is either a shallow spot or has a lot of water plants near the surface. The ‘dendrites’ coming out from the center are cracks in the ice that are mostly refrozen. I zoomed in on one of the centers; the texture of the ice looks like cut glass!

Or maybe I was just thinking about neurons too much since I’ve been learning about them recently…stay tuned for tomorrow’s post for more about that.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 11, 2023

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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 world feels so unstable right now – Intermittent instability of nonlinear systems of nature and global society –weather and climate, the economy, a pandemic, a war. We attempt to model nonlinear systems to predict these intermittent instabilities…but it is hard. Right now there seem to be significant nonlinear systems interacting: weather/climate + diseases (COVID-19 and bird flu (US)) + inflation + Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Completing The Electrical Circuit at Kilauea in Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park – The technique to get a detailed ‘CAT scan’ of the volcano…..mapping locations of subsurface magma in 3D.

Ex-cell-ent Clouds off Chile’s Coast – Open and closed-cell marine stratocumulus clouds photographed by Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Terra and Aqua satellites. Learning more about these clouds….contributing to better weather prediction and improving the accuracy of climate models.

The Surprising Substances Ancient Egyptians Used to Mummify the Dead – Evidently some of the substances the embalmers were using came from Southeast Asia. Perhaps embalming instigated early global trade.

Algae robots transport antibiotics to infected tissues (infographic) – Researchers inserted the modified algae into mouse windpipes…they spread into the lung tissue and killed pathogenic bacteria!

Hundreds of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Designs were never built. Here’s what they might have looked like. – Computer generated models from David Romero.

5 expert tips to protect yourself from online misinformation – We all need tools to help us distinguish information from misinformation.

Montessori: The world’s most influential school? – I sought out a Montessori pre-K and K for my daughter about 30 years ago…and it fit her needs. I have no way of analyzing how closely the school adhered to classical Montessori ideals.

An action plan to prevent Alzheimer’s disease – Defining what 2nd generation memory clinics should include.

Gallup: Fewer than half of Americans believe US healthcare is good enough – Not surprising really – it’s expensive and we are all getting more skeptical that the system is as effective as it should be for what it costs. Evidently the people in my age group (over 55) were generally more satisfied with their health care than other age groups; people old enough to qualify for Medicare may not be as anxious about costs but I was surprised that I am in the minority in thinking US healthcare is ‘subpar’ rather than ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ based on the effectiveness issue and the structure of the system overall.

Maria Martinez (potter) in 1925

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The first picture in Carl E. Guthe’s  Pueblo Pottery Making - a study at the village of San Ildefonso published in 1925 is one of Maria Montoya Martinez that is widely used elsewhere (including in the Wikipedia entry for her). 1925 was before she started making her black ware pottery that survives in many museums. I recognized her name when I first started browsing the book; it was one of those times I appreciated Wikipedia and Google search to learn more about her before I continued browsing. I celebrated finding Guthe’s books on Internet Archive and the myriad pictures that documented the situation in 1925…the state of the art then, before she was producing black ware pottery.

1925 was during the time when much of the culture of the Pueblos was fading….the challenges of people trying to survive in the world. Fortunately, Maria learned pottery skills from her aunt… a “learning by seeing” beginning in her pre-teens. She, with the collaboration of her family members, continued to experiment and produce pottery throughout her long life (she lived until 1980) and taught others the same way she had learned. She helped establish pottery of the Southwest as an art form we recognize today.

Surprisingly, Guthe’s biography (archived from the University of Michigan Museum of Anthropological Archaeology) does not mention this book at all. His work establishing collections and institutions overshadows this book!

The Whole Orange

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I’ve enjoyed oranges all my life….sometimes cutting them in slices…sometimes in wedges. In recent years, I cut them in wedges so that after I eat the pulp, the peels fit nicely into the food processor.

Once the peel is chopped up, I let it dry on a plate to be used in cooking…or in hot tea.

It feels good to use the whole orange….getting all the nutrition from the fruit! I have some recipes that use the whole fruit as well; my favorite is cranberry orange relish that I make any time I see fresh cranberries in the produce section (usually November and December).

My mother reminisced that oranges were special treats of the holidays when she was child, and her mother often candied the peel. Every time I use the whole orange, I feel an affinity with my maternal grandmother…good vibes through the years!

Spring Yard Dreaming

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Moving to a new area of the country….a new house…I am full of dreams for the yard.

I’ve already bought way too many seeds for the existing flowerbeds. Most of the beds contain landscaping cloth covered by river rock. Maybe I could plant mini-pumpkins in those beds by poking a hole in the fabric. I’d like to grow enough plants to have a good harvest in the fall. I’ve already identified some beds in the back of the house that will be changed dramatically. And there are areas between trees that I will turn into flower beds because I don’t want to mow there. One plant I want to grow…and harvest…is stevia; my CSA in Maryland had hardy plants that withstood harvesting of their leaves/small branches all during the growing season; putting a few leaves to steep with tea gives just a hint of sweetness that I enjoy; I will order organic seeds.

I have chives seeds gleaned from my parents’ Carrollton yard that I will plant to grow as ‘edges’ of flower beds. Since I purchased seeds as well (that have pink flowers) I will probably mix those seeds with the ones I gleaned to add splashes of color/texture variety.

My larger plan it to plant some native bushes in the back yard to reduce the amount of yard that is mowed and have some deeper rooted plants on the slopes at the side of the house. I need to go to a nursery to hone my list of natives that are hardy in this area. I’ll ask about some of my favorites: oak leaf hydrangea, beautyberry, and ninebark. I’d like to plant something that would provide winter food for birds; maybe the nursery will have some recommendations. I need to check the guidelines from our Home Owner Association to see if I need to get permission; if I do, hopefully it will be an easy process.

February is the ‘yard dreaming’ month….I’ll need to act soon to make it happen…but maybe it won’t all get done in 2023!

Carrollton Frosts – January 2023

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There were two frosts in late January when I was in Carrollton. The first day started out at 30 degrees and 96% humidity. I made the first round of pictures around the yard of my parents’ house not long after sunrise.

Frost covered the upper surfaces of everything.

The seed pods of the red yucca are my favorite images – coated with frost that highlights the ridges and folds of the pods.

I went inside for about an hour then photographed more plants and objects. The crystals on a tiled counter near the gas grill were the largest (mostly columns).

On another morning, the temperature was 34 degrees and the humidity was not as high…but frost formed anyway. I wondered if the oxalis would be able to withstand the two days of frost. The tiled counter was encrusted with crystals again.

A Patient Perspective of Medical Care in the US

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Part of the aftermath of making a long distance move is establishing new doctors. I’ve completed the process at this point – 8 months after the move. It’s been a learning experience. I started out with the intention to find a primary care physician and specialists in the same system so that I would only have one portal for all my medical information – unlike my legacy situation that involved at least 4 different portals. The portal for my new doctors is well organized and has become the primary way I get results and send questions/messages to my doctors. In general, the lab work is done very quickly and posted on the portal; I see it about the same time that the doctor sees it. The system of doctors – specialists – labs – hospital also includes several urgent care facilities that I appreciate; their availability can help avoid a busy ER; I’ve already used an Urgent Care facility prior to my first appointment with my new primary care doctor when I got a very painful bite that looked infected. On the downside -

  • Vision and dental care are not general part of ‘medical care’ from an insurance perspective or systems with MDs; vision and dental are still separate. The initial dental practice I selected wanted to do very different (and expensive) kinds of cleaning for my teeth and I’ve opted to go to a new one that is more like the dental practices I’ve used in the past. It’s hard to know how to evaluate dental recommendations since they are outside of the primary medical system. I like the vision care practice I chose but may have similar misgivings as I get closer to needing cataract surgery.

  • The various specialist doctors and non-blood labs/radiology are in separate buildings; they are relatively close together, but I am careful to record the building address  in my appointment calendar; it’s a high traffic area and it could be challenging to get to the appointment on time if I went to the wrong building first.

Thinking about the big picture of medical care in the US - It is not achieving ‘best in world’ results based on healthy lifespan stats. Why is that?

  • Insurance is expensive and confusing. I’ve had health insurance since the late 1970s and the trend has been increasing cost and complexity over the duration. Checking that doctors are in-network and drugs are ones that are on the formulary is a required skill to get insurance to cover costs….and even then, sometimes surprise charges occur. What happens when your doctor prescribes a drug that is not on the insurance company’s formulary? I am very aware that I have been fortunate to always be insured….understand that the cost of good medical insurance is prohibitive to many and that often means not getting medical care until there is a health crisis…and going to an emergency room.

  • Cultural reluctance/aversion to embrace public health measures. Over the past decade, there has been increased resistance to public health measures (for example, not getting vaccinations for children, older adults declining vaccines, flying when sick (coughing, sneezing),  and aggressively against mask wearing at any time) and demands on health professionals for treatment that is not appropriate for their condition (for example, demanding an antibiotic for a viral infection or are an ineffective drug for COVID or a drug advertised on television that is for a condition the patient does not have). I am mentioning the demands for inappropriate treatment under public health because it impacts the costs for medical care overall, increases resistance of microbes to antibiotics making them less effective when they are needed, and makes the workplace for doctors/nurses more stressful (and some decide to leave the profession resulting in shortages of skilled personnel).

  • Dominate lifestyle. We live in a world of fast food and ultra-processed foods…people are more sedentary because of their jobs or the type of entertainment they choose. It is harder to “eat healthy” now that when I was growing up and as a young adult. Many people in the country are obese and/or in poor physical condition. However – there are a lot healthier foods available now if we educate ourselves. For example – kale was not something I ate as child, now it is my ‘super green’; other foods that I’ve only know in the past 20 or so years include: pomegranates, edamame, beet greens, red cabbage, butternut squash, ground turkey. There are also a lot of ways to measure physical activity…and some have leveraged those metrics to become more physically fit. Still – healthy lifestyles are not as prevalent now. The bump in life expectancy that was achieved after many people managed to stop (or not start) smoking is being eroded.

  • Aggressive intervention with drugs. The medical system tends to treat with drugs rather than recommending lifestyle changes. Part of this skew is the way doctors are trained (often nutrition is not included in their education) and part is probably based on their experience that most patients will not follow through and make a change. If a drug can change the measure the doctor is seeing (like blood pressure or cholesterol levels), then the doctor tends to immediately medicate. Any unwanted side effects from the drugs are resolved through changing to a different drug or adding a drug to reduce the side effect or telling the patient that the benefit of the drug is greater than the impact of the side effect. But – if people can change their lifestyle, they are probably addressing the root cause of the problem rather than artificially doing something that changes the measure but leaves what is causing the problem the same. Long term maybe we’ll know if the drugs really do very much for increasing healthy lifespan.

  • Specialists with blinders to anything outside their specialty. The notion that a primary care physician can integrate care is overly optimistic.

    • Many times, the specialists are proceeding with their focus; if treatment is meeting the measures they want, side effects or over medication are not a priority for them.  For example – an endocrinologist adjusting medication to get the levels of hormones to a precise level is often unconcerned or dismissive of a patient reporting heart palpitations, hot flashes, and eyebrows falling out.

    • Emergency room doctors are focused on resolving the primary cause of the emergency visit and sending the patient home as soon as possible; this leads to quick fixes that often do not prevent the same issue occurring repeatedly. A good example is cellulitis in older patients; the ER gives them antibiotics and they go home…often returning with cellulitis again in a month or so. If the ER is not overwhelmed and there is an alert attending in the ER or in the hospital, more proactive measures can be taken…perhaps re-evaluating the dosage levels and complexity of existing medications, adding a prophylactic antibiotic, etc. that can prevent rapidly recurring ER visits for cellulitis.

  • Lack of trust. Patients believe doctors may have alternative incentives than patient health when recommending treatment/drugs and doctors believing patients may not be doing as they say and/or taking meds as prescribed. Not sure how this can be bridged other than encouraging more transparency on both sides.

The bottom line – I want to believe that I am proactively maintaining my health and being a knowledgeable patient that asks relevant questions to understand my doctors’ logic….thus making the best of the medical care available…but there are certainly times that I have some doubts. So far, I have been able to resolve those doubts and am satisfied that I am on a healthy path. However - I am increasingly concerned about individuals with fewer financial resources, less healthy or not as knowledgeable. The trend is toward more challenges within the US healthcare system!

Josey Ranch – January 2023

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The birds on the water at Josey Ranch in Carrollton, TX changed from when I was there in December. The Northern Shovelers were not there in January! The American Wigeon were there the first day I went in January but not on the second. It seems a little early for them to be migrating; maybe they have moved to a bigger pond. On my first visit – I saw American Wigeon, Lesser Scaup, American Coot, Great Egret, Ruddy Ducks, and gulls.

The surprise birds of the day were a pair of Buffleheads. They were busy diving for food! I’ve seen them occasionally at Josey Ranch before but they are not in the ‘regular’ birds there.

On the second day I visited, there were gulls lined up on the walkway near the parking lot. The Lesser Scaup, American Coot, and Great Egret were still around. The mallards seemed more numerous than on the first day (seemingly skewed toward males). There was a Great Blue Heron almost hidden in the reeds. The Ruddy Ducks were still there but sleeping just as they were on the first day.

I walked around to the native plants in a terraced area between the Library and Senior Center. It was almost too windy for macro pictures…but I tried anyway. Some berries were the only color….but the shapes of the dried remains of the plants from last summer are interesting enough.

Gleanings of the Week Ending February 4, 2023

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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.

Milk packaging influences its flavor – Light blocking containers are best….and plastic/glass is better than paperboard. So why aren’t paperboard cartons being phased out (they are also harder to recycle than plastic milk cartons).

Clean Energy Saw as Much Investment as Fossil Fuels for the First Time in 2022 – Good! And hopefully this will continue to be the case…and we don’t allow any fossil fuels to be counted as ‘clean.’

What Secrets Lie Beneath This 17th-Century French Aristocrat’s Smile? – Decaying teeth and an ivory prosthesis (in front) held in place with gold wire….and a woman kept her smile and place in society.

A curious Colorado bear strikes a pose for 400 selfies on a wildlife camera – A bear that noticed the camera!

Leprosy: the ancient disease scientists can’t solve – There is treatment…but diagnosis is complicated and there is no cure. And we still don’t know how it is transmitted.

Researchers find rare 17-pound meteorite in Antarctic ice – A team spent a week and half in the Antarctic summer (14 degrees Fahrenheit…so still very cold) sleeping in tents and riding snowmobiles to search for meteorites. They found small ones….and a big one!

New mosquito repellents that work better than DEET – Maybe the next generation mosquito repellent?

In 2021, 20% of electricity in the US was generated from renewable sources – And wind surpassed hydroelectric in 2019 as the predominant renewable source. Hopefully, the percentage of electricity from renewables will go up quickly in the coming years.

Three grizzly bears tested positive for avian flu in Montana - The animals were euthanized in the fall; suspected to have rabies, they tested negative. But they were positive for avian flu. The bears were ‘in poor condition and exhibited disorientation and partial blindness, among other neurological issues.’ So – the current outbreak of avian flu that has impacted wild and domestic birds (more the 52 million have been killed or culled to contain the virus) is impacting more than birds.

Drone video of moose shedding its antlers – Wow – it happened so quickly; the video is only 16 seconds! The moose just shakes its body, and the antlers fall off. It seems to want to leave the scene quickly once they are off too.

eBotanical Prints – January 2023

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Twenty more books were added to the botanical print collection this month. Two series were from Australia: 8 volumes of A Critical Revision of the Genus Eucalyptus and 3 volumes of the Australian Orchid Review (there are many more volumes of the orchid review that I will browse in February). And there were two additional books about Australian plants: A manual of the grasses of New South Wales and How to know western Australian wildflowers.

The whole list of 2,552 botanical eBooks can be accessed here. The list for the January 2023 books with links to the volumes and sample images is at the bottom of this post.

Click on any sample images in the mosaic below to get an enlarged version. Enjoy the January 2023 eBotanical Prints!

The Algorithmic Beauty of Plants * Prusinkiewicz, Przemyslaw; Lindenmayer, Aristid * sample image * 1990

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V1 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1909

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V2 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1914

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V3 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1917

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V4 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1920

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V5 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1922

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V6 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1924

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V7 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1929

A Critical Revision of the genus Eucalyptus V8 * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1929

A Manual of the grasses in New South Wales * Maiden, Joseph Henry * sample image * 1898

Trees Of Northeastern United States Native And Naturalized * Brown, Harold Philip * sample image * 1938

Cotton in India * Sikka, S.M.; Singh, Arjan et al * sample image * 1962

House Plants * Van Tress, Robert * sample image * 1937

A description of the genus Pinus V1 * Bauer, Ferdinand; Lambert, Alymer Bourke * sample image * 1803

A description of the genus Pinus V2 * Bauer, Ferdinand; Lambert, Alymer Bourke * sample image * 1803

Malcolm Howie Watercolors * Howie, Malcolm * sample image * 1935

How to know Western Australian wildflowers : a key to the flora of the extratropical regions of Western Australia  * Blackall, William Edward * sample image * 1900

Australian Orchid Review 2019 (February - March) * Orchid Society of New South Wales * sample image * 2019

Australian Orchid Review 2019 (April - May) * Orchid Society of New South Wales * sample image * 2019

Australian Orchid Review 2019 (June July) * Orchid Society of New South Wales * sample image * 2019

Carrollton Yard – January 2023

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I was in Carrollton, TX the last week of January. It was almost spring-like on a day early in the week. I took pictures of the yard – dried or frost damaged vegetation – but noticed signs of spring as well: the Japanese quince in bloom, the fronds of the naked lady lilies up through the mulch and some new leaves on the rose bushes. The oxalis had recovered from the deep freeze in December…providing swaths of green in the flower beds.

The bird feeder is very popular with a flock of house sparrows. They like the larger seeds – often flying to nearby bushes with their seed – leaving the feeder available for their friends. There are occasional chickadees and house finches that comes to the feeder too.

The mourning doves clean up the seeds on the ground – the rejects of the feeder birds.

There seemed to be more robins around in the front of the house – another sign that spring is on the way!

Zentangle® – January 2023

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I created 97 tiles in January…made some hard choices to select the 31 to feature in the blog post. The skew toward square tiles continued. I am enjoying new pens too. In addition, I found a great red gel pen in a draw with pencils and ballpoints in Carrollton…not sure where it came from but it was fun to use; red became the most frequent color for the month!

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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.

Ten Little Celebrations – January 2023

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January is usually the calm after the flurry of holidays and other big celebrations in November and December. Still - there are plenty of little celebrations to choose from; these are the top 10 for January 2023.

50th wedding anniversary. My husband and I celebrated our 50th anniversary….a delivered lunch with our daughter. Our anniversary celebrations have always been relatively low key; this year I thought more about my parents’ 70th anniversary back in December…savoring enduring relationships with my family.

A new low weight for the year. I put on some weight in November and December. I put myself on a “healthy food” diet (logging my food into the Cronometer app) and celebrated that it worked…slowly but surely taking off pounds!

Lake Springfield. A winter meadow…and black vultures. Celebrating being outdoors in winter.

Another frost data point. I celebrated getting a second frosty morning to add to my project…noting temperature and humidit and photographing the crystals.

Hurray – bone density results still in the ‘normal’ range. Every time I get new bone density check, I am always a little anxious. I am leery of medications to treat bone density issues so I’m glad my preventative exercise - calcium – magnesium – Vitamin D regime seems to be maintaining my bones.

A sunny day in Carrollton (and seeing a downy woodpecker). After clouds and rain, a sunny day is always welcome and seeing a small woodpecker getting breakfast in a tree near a window adds to the celebration.

Coursera anatomy course. Starting a new course…celebrating filling in gaps in what I already know. Its always fun to slip back into the student role.

Pumpkin custard with peanut powder. I celebrated the success of my culinary experiment of the month: adding a cup of peanut powder to pumpkin custard (and rounding up on the spices). Yummy…and high in protein.

Snow (pictures) from Nixa/Springfield. I celebrated the event while I was in Texas.

Frosty morning in Carrollton. I added 2 frost events into my project while I was in Texas…celebrated that the conditions were cold enough…humidity high enough too.

Missed the Snow at Home - Again

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I was in Texas last week when I snowed at home in Nixa, Missouri – this is the third snow in Missouri that I’ve missed entirely! This time there was about 5 inches of snow overnight. I enjoyed the event vicariously through pictures.

My daughter sent pictures of the snowy scenes from her windows in Springfield first thing in the morning; she has big plans to enjoy her Snow Day. Her house is on a corner; one street was plowed but it wasn’t the one her driveway is on! The magnolia – with its big leaves – held clumps of snow. Even the maple, that doesn’t have any leaves at all, looked flocked.

My husband sent pictures a bit later. Around our house, the pines and hollies held a lot of snow. There were tracks in the snow from an animal – not sure what it could have been; the area we live in now is not at all like our Maryland yard that seemed to be a highway for deer heading back to the forest.  

I was surprised that the Japanese dogwood (a deciduous tree) held so much snow. I checked it when I got home and was glad that none of the branches seemed damaged.

My husband walked out our back gate and then around the pond. It was a winter wonderland!

Maybe eventually – I’ll be at home when a big snow event happens!