Zooming – June 2024

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Lots of opportunities to capture images of some of my favorite subjects in June 2024: big cats, birds, butterflies, and (of course) flowers. Some were close to home (Dickerson Park Zoo, Lake Springfield Boathouse) while others were from our two days in Eureka Springs, Arkansas.

Big cats. The animals are obviously in some kind of enclosure. The cheetah at the Dickerson Park Zoo was photographed from a high deck over the enclosure…maxing out the zoom capability of my camera; it was the only one that did not have a fence between me and the cat! The other three images had the fence challenge; it is most visible in the lion image. It’s always a little unnerving to realize that a tiger, even looking very relaxed, is following me with his eyes!

Birds. I always see birds the best after I get home and look at my images on a big monitor. The optics of the camera allow me to get very close views without being close to the bird! The peacock (head and feet) images were taken at Dickerson Park Zoo and the bluebird and purple martin were near the Lake Springfield Boathouse.

Butterflies. The three butterflies on rocks were taken in the parking area of the Eureka Springs & Northern Arkansas Railway. The insects were fluttering around looking for moisture. The butterfly on a flower was in the meadow near the Lake Springfield Boathouse. Butterflies are as challenging to photograph as birds, but it does help to keep a distance. If the insects are on a flower or looking for moisture, they might sit for long enough to capture an image; sometimes a little bit cooler temperatures help too.

Other wildlife. The lizard shedding its skin must have been terrified of the people walking on the boardwalk; it would have felt the vibration. We stood back once we realized it was there…and I got my picture. The same was true of the cicada although it flew to the post (I saw it in the air and followed with my camera already zooming) and then flew again within about 30 seconds.

Flowers. And then there are flowers.  I love to take pictures of flowers filling the frame. I like that using the zoom blurs the background – often to various shades of green. Depending on the light, the background can also go black (the leaf on a vine). My strategy it to capture the ‘as is’ in a way that appeals to me. The blade of grass almost like a pointer to one of the stamens in the day lily image was a bit of serendipity!

As we near the end of the month – I am savoring these zoomed images!

Gleanings of the Week Ending January 20, 2024

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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.

Just how big can a snowflake get? It depends on what you mean by 'snowflake' - A snow crystal with six-fold symmetry is the kind of snowflake you might cut out of folded paper with scissors. But the word "snowflake" also can refer to white puffballs that drift down from the sky, which are made of many individual snow crystals that have collided and gotten entangled.

Treating tuberculosis when antibiotics no longer work - Substances that have a dual effect against tuberculosis: They make the bacteria causing the disease less pathogenic for human immune cells and boost the activity of conventional antibiotics.

Planning a city that gets people moving – Lake Wales, Florida has a plan to create a built environment that promotes mobility through walking, cycling, e-biking, or other means of transportation beside automobiles. One way to do that is through proximity—to a park, multiuse pathway, protective bike lane, or walkable destination. Another is to ensure that the environment is pleasant for walking or using a bicycle.

The qualities that are more attractive than our looks - When it comes to finding the right match agreeableness accentuates the benefits of other parts of our personalities. It really could pay to be kind after all.

Archaeologists Uncover ‘Exceptional’ Ancient Mural Near Colosseum - Crafted of shells, a special volcanic stone called pozzolana, marble, colored glass, and Egyptian tiles found in the remains of a house from more than 2,000 years ago. Its intricate designs show weapons and instruments hanging alongside ships and tridents. Archaeologists think a wealthy Roman officer commissioned it after a military success. Whoever the owner was, he may not have stayed wealthy for long. Evidence suggests that his family fell out of favor when the Roman emperor Augustus came to power. The building and its contents were later buried and replaced with a grain store built directly on top of it.

A Lake Born out of an Earthquake – Earthquakes can fundamentally reshape the landscape, reroute rivers, and even form new lakes. Consider the northwest corner of Tennessee in the early 19th century. Between December 1811 and February 1812, three earthquakes with magnitudes greater than 7 occurred in the New Madrid seismic zone, which encompasses southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, and neighboring parts of Tennessee and Kentucky. The last of these quakes, on February 7, 1812, centered near New Madrid, Missouri, was especially notable: It temporarily rerouted the Mississippi River, permanently dammed the Reelfoot River, and directed water to fill in a low-lying area to form Reelfoot Lake. More than two centuries later, Reelfoot Lake remains a persistent feature on the Tennessee landscape. An image from Landsat 9 shows the area in late 2023. The area of lake and surrounding wetlands is a state park and national wildlife refuge.

Cats Prey on More Than 2,000 Different Species - Scientists have long known that free-ranging cats—those that spend unsupervised time outdoors—can affect biodiversity by hunting and eating insects, birds, reptiles and mammals. Researchers sifted through hundreds of previous studies, books and reports to put together a database of every animal cats have been recorded eating, as well as the location. In the end, their list featured 2,084 species, which includes 981 birds, 463 reptiles, 431 mammals, 119 insects and 57 amphibians, plus 33 additional species from other groups. Some of the creatures that made the list—including humans—are too large for cats to hunt but reflect their scavenging tendencies. Though the findings are useful, some scientists say they distract from a much larger threat to biodiversity: humans.

Autistic people experience loneliness far more acutely than neurotypical people -Small adjustments to lighting, acoustics, decor and wayfinding, among other sensory factors, can significantly reduce the burden on people with sensory processing differences and open up more social spaces to them.

Inhalable sensors could enable early lung cancer detection - The new diagnostic is based on nanosensors that can be delivered by an inhaler or a nebulizer. If the sensors encounter cancer-linked proteins in the lungs, they produce a signal that accumulates in the urine, where it can be detected with a simple paper test strip. It could replace expensive CT scans for lung cancer (and be more accurate…not as many false-positives).

This Photographer Captured One Image of Cambridge (England) Every Day for 13 Years - After 5,000 photos, Martin Bond has decided to conclude his project, which showcased the city’s mundane and extraordinary moments. “The best thing about street photography ... is that it is possible for the final viewer of a picture to see more than the original photographer—proof, if any were needed, that there is more going on in any moment than a single person can understand.”

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 25, 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.

20 Incredible Winners From the 2023 European Wildlife Photographer of the Year Contest – Lots of natural beauty…captured in photographs.

A known environmental hazard can change the epigenetics of cells – Formaldehyde. It is a widespread pollutant - formaldehyde enters our body mainly during our breathing and, because it dissolves well in an aqueous medium, it ends up reaching all the cells of our body. It is associated with an increased risk of developing cancer (nasopharyngeal tumors and leukemia), hepatic degeneration due to fatty liver (steatosis) and asthma.

How forest schools boost children's immune systems – It seems the benefits go well beyond immune systems.  Hopefully this type of school for 3 to 5 year old will increase in availability/popularity.

Circular Maya Structure Uncovered in Southern Mexico - Similar round structures have been found at the Maya sites of Edzná, Becán, Uxmal, and Chichen Itzá.

Health Care Workers Are Burning Out, CDC Says - The CDC researchers analyzed self-reported symptoms of more than 1,400 adults in 2018 and 2022 who were working in three areas: health care, other essential services and all other professions. Workers’ self-reported poor mental health days in the past 30 days was similar across all three groups in 2022, but health professionals saw the most significant jump, from 3.3 in 2018 to 4.5 in 2022. Reports of harassment at work also spiked among health care workers over the five-year period, going from 6.4 percent to 13.4 percent.

How To Bring Back the Prairie, a Tiny Bit at a Time – The use of “prairie strips” on farms in an effort to restore a portion of the Minnesota’s remnant prairie and to soak up polluted water.

These Ten Stunning Images Prove That Small Is Beautiful – From Nikon’s Small World Photomicrography Contest. My favorite was the cuckoo wasp.

Deforestation in Colombia Down 70 Percent So Far This Year - Since taking power last year, leftist President Gustavo Petro has enacted a slate of new policies aimed at protecting Colombian forests, including paying locals to conserve woodland. The recent gains in Colombia mirror similar advances in the Brazilian Amazon, where leftist President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has cracked down on forest clearing; deforestation is down 50 percent through the first nine months of this year. In 2021, more than 100 countries, from Brazil to Russia to Indonesia, set a goal to end deforestation by the end of this decade, but so far forest loss has declined too slowly to stay on pace for this target.

European wildcats avoided introduced domestic cats for 2,000 years – About 50 years ago in Scotland, however, that all changed. Perhaps as a result of dwindling wildcat populations and a lack of opportunity to mate with other wildcats, rates of interbreeding between wild and domestic cats rose rapidly.

Why grazing bison could be good for the planet - The shortgrass prairie makes up 27,413 sqare miles of remote land straddling the US/Canadian border to the east of the Rocky Mountains. This rare habitat is in ecological decline. Plains bison co-evolved with the short-grass prairie. In the 12,000 years since the end of the Pleistocene, they have proven themselves to be potent ecosystem engineers. An adult bison eats about 25lb (11kg) of grass a day. The grasses adapted to their foraging. Vegetation across the plains uses the nutrients in their dung. Birds pluck their fur from bushes to insulate their nests. Bison also shape the land literally. They roll in the dust and create indentations known as "wallows" that hold water after rainstorms. After the bison move on, insects flourish in these pools and become a feast for birds and small mammals. Pronghorn antelope survive by following their tracks through deep winter snows. Replacing cattle with bison greens floodplains…setting the stage for beavers.

Tall Cats

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Two of our three cats have managed the leap from the kitchen counter to the space above the cabinets. They apparently like the vantage point. The one with the white patches is the smallest of the three but she is the most agile…and she is persistent enough to open doors with lever knobs (we had to replace the knob on our closet for that reason). The darker cat is the largest; he was the first one we found on the cabinet tops.

There is a glass cabinet in the piano room that is also a ‘tall cat’ destination. They use the passthrough from the kitchen as their launching point.

The platform is small enough that they take turns being there (and exploring).

My husband has a step stool handy for him to help them get down but they seem to be as adept at finding their own way as they are at jumping up.

Gleanings of the Week Ending December 31, 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.

Best of 2022 - A Fun Map Puzzle – There are parts of the world where political boundaries have changed a lot since my elementary school geography class. The MapPuzzle game is a fun way refresh (or relearn) countries/states/provinces.

The year in chemistry: 2022’s biggest chemistry stories – I like these summary articles…and think about which one of the stories will be the most impactful in 2023.

Top 7 Building Decarbonization Wins In 2022 – Finally….now to maintain the momentum of these ‘wins’ and more into 2023!

Ten Remarkable New Plants Discovered in 2022 – And one of them is the largest waterlily on Earth…from Bolivia.

Shrinking Pollinator Populations Could Be Killing 427,000 People Per Year – The world is losing 3-5% of its fruit, vegetable, and nut production because of shrinking pollinator populations and lower pollinator diversity. That translates into less healthy food available…and associated health conditions like diabetes and heart disease. In Honduras, Nepal and Nigeria, the pollination deficits are responsible for a reduction of 3-19% in crop yields. This highlights the importance of making changes to support pollinator populations such as limiting pesticide use, maintaining existing natural habitats, and restoring others, and planting more flowers and diverse plants.

Overlooked Gems of The National Park System – In the cold of winter…time to plan some trips to parks for the year…including a few of the overlooked gems highlighted in this article.

Snow Day in Delmarva – Reminder of the area where we enjoyed a lot of day trips while we were living in Maryland….

Stunning Satellite Images of Our Changing Planet in 2022 – The before and after pictures have different elapsed times…be sure to read the captions.

22 Photos Honoring the Triumphs and Challenges That Face Wild Cats – A collection of pictures from Panthera, the world’s leading wildcat conservation organization.

Home Depot Does a Big Energy Deal, But It Does More Behind the Scenes – The Home Depot commitment is to produce or procure 100% renewable electricity equivalent to the needs of all its facilities by 2030 and they are taking actions to make it happen. Hope more big box stores will be taking similar actions.  

Kittens! – Month 3

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Month 3 included a big milestone for our 3 kittens: they handled minor surgery well; Sooty (the male) was neutered and Puma and Pooky (the females) were spayed. They were a little less active for a few days after the surgery but resumed their more boisterous activities within a few days. We had our big cat tree turned on its side and put away the wand toys that encourage jumping until the females got their stitches out a week after the surgery. All three had their claws trimmed before their surgery; that might have discombobulated them more than then surgery…they couldn’t grab onto carpet as they raced around the house or their scratching posts (or things they are not supposed to grab onto!).

My husband is still enticing them into their suite for the night with a late evening snack. Restricting their access to 2 rooms has helped keep the odd thumps in the night to a minimum. They adjusted to the time change without incident although my husband updated a lamp in their suite that was on a timer to not change to new time which might have helped.

Sooty (the male) is still the largest of the three. He is the only one that likes the cat bed that my daughter gave us since her cat didn’t use it.

They all like to sit (sometimes nap) in upholstered chairs – usually one at a time rather than sleeping in a cuddled group as they did when they were younger. Pooky is shown in an old rocker recliner. She is the only one with different colored digital pads.

Pooky and Puma weigh the same…but Puma looks bigger because her fur stands out more.

Puma might have the loudest purr; I hear her more often than I do the others.

I am trying to train all three kittens to not jump onto the kitchen counters. I have a magazine that I used a few times to gently nudge them off….and usually now I simply pick up the magazine and they exit the counter. They still seem to enjoy watching the action in the kitchen from the back of the couch!

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 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.

How Tucson, Arizona is facing up to a 1,200-year drought – Harvesting rain!

The demented gift American politicians handed to China – About electric buses….and more. The suggested acronym by the author: GAGA (Give American Greatness Away).

New clues into a serious neurodegenerative disease – So many sources of cognitive decline….and we are just beginning to understand some of the mechanisms (and thus effective treatment). The research described in this post is about frontotemporal dementia.

World headed in wrong direction one 5 key mechanisms of climate progress – And the 5 are: share of unabated fossil gas in electricity generation, carbon intensity of global steel production, share of kilometers traveled in passenger cars, mangrove loss, agricultural production of GHG emissions.

Researchers reveal why shingles can lead to stroke - The risk of stroke is elevated for a year after having shingles. This study found that prothrombotic exosomes which can cause blood clots are found in those with shingles…and persist after the outward symptoms of shingles are gone. Using antiviral agents longer with the addition of antiplatelet and anti-inflammatory agents could help reduce the risk of stroke.

Will we ever…. live in city sized buildings? – Maybe. But would it be pleasant? Maybe an apocalyptic event would force us to do it to survive.

Vitamin D deficiency linked to premature death – The study evaluated 307,601 records from the UK Biobank. Take away message from the results: ensure that vulnerable and elderly maintain sufficient vitamin D levels throughout the year.

Omicron keeps finding new evolutionary tricks to outsmart our immunity – Variants within a variant!

Powerful Aerial Photos Show the Consequences of Drought on the Colorado River – The dry situation in the western US.

Cats react to ‘baby talk’ from their owners, but not strangers – And does this mean we are more than just a food provider in their world?

Kittens! – Month 2

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The second month with our 3 kittens has continued the small adventures within our household.

The kittens had their first visit to the vet…which confirmed our suspicion that Puma was a female rather than the male her foster family had thought. The kittens took the visit in stride, traveling together in a large cat carrier and not being too traumatized by their first shots. They will have more shots in the coming month and are scheduled for surgery in early December (we don’t want more kittens!).

Their favorite toys often have dangling (snake like?) parts….like my husband’s shoes. They are hard on feathers (note the white fluff on the blue rug from the toy Pooky is clawing and knowing). My husband is on the hunt for toys that are more durable than feathers.

They are big enough to not generally sleep in a pile like they did when we first got them. They often are in the same room for their naps though. In the picture below Puma is in the blue chair, Pooky is in the box and Sooty is curled up in the gold chair. Note that my husband still leave things precariously perched on the end table….when the kittens play chase through the room, those items often end up in the floor!

The cats like high perches for both play and sleep. The cat tree is still popular (and shedding carpet fibers from their antics). Puma likes the bar stool in the big bathroom. She has to endure Pooky grabbing for her tail….but the height makes it worth the hassle.

All the cats seem to like being on top of the suitcase. I must always keep it zipped!

The unique aspects that we’re noticing at the end of the second month are:

  • Puma leaps the highest.

  • Pooky is the most vocal and will stay cuddled in a lap the longest.

  • Sooty is the biggest and can be the bully…maybe he’s feeling the pressure of being the only male. On the flip side, he enjoys being picked up more than the other kittens.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, week 1, week 2, month 1

Kittens! – Month 1

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The first month with our 3 kittens has been full of small adventures for the whole household. They quickly got comfortable outside their sequestered area. Sometimes they were quiet enough for us to take pictures.

When I started packing for my trip to Carrollton, one of them decided one of the bags was a good perch….and he didn’t want to vacate.

While I was gone, my husband experimented with them out of their room during the night. The first night was OK but the second one they wanted to play most of the night. So - we’ve reverted to enticing them into their room with a late night snack.

The kittens like my husband’s office. They sometimes attempt to take over his keyboard and monitors. He has tried putting towels and boxes over the electrical cables on the floor to discourage their biting on the cables….they prefer the towels for naps. They still get into the extra office chair, but it will soon be too small to hold all three at once.

Puma discovered the receipt bin and Pooky joined him…tussle ensued. Typical behavior when they meet anywhere in the house.

The kittens have broken two glass coasters as they race around the house and over/under end tables. One end table fell over sending a coaster flying and another was swept clean when the racing kittens used it as part of the route through the den…another coaster flew and shattered. I’ve put the remaining glass coasters away and we are using unbreakable coasters.

It is now impossible to keep them off the kitchen counters completely. I made a small bouquet with items from the yard. The roses and crepe myrtle are still in place, but the wavy grass seed heads are bent and scattered. Maybe they looked too much like a toy to the kittens.

Overall – it’s been an eventful month and we are anticipating continued kitten adventures.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5, week 1, week 2

Kittens! – Week 1

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One week of kittens….and we are all still in get-acquainted mode. My husband is managing to corral them into a bed/bath for night time but it takes a before-bed-meal as an enticement. We heard their first full meows when he was carrying the plate of food back for their night area…trying to avoid stepping on them as they all swirled around his ankles. They are generally up by about 5:30 AM; we hear them playing; by 6:30 they are indicating they want out and breakfast too.

They have gained proficiency on the cat tree – rarely jumping from the top to the floor like they did initially (we almost put the tree away but they learned to take intermediate jumps very quickly) …and they like to play on the tree as an added challenge to there activity on the floor.

Puma was the first to discover how to get into the tube part of the tree but the other two quickly followed; sometimes the tube has two of them at one time.

They like small toys and with guard one after intense play (hoarding it from siblings). A soft drink box became another part of the obstacle course in our den….the cats alternating between high levels of activity and napping. The highest activity level seems to be immediately after breakfast but there are other bursts throughout the day.

Early to mid-afternoon seems to be their quiet time. Sometimes they enjoy the office chair but there can be quiet times in the tree as well….as long as they are on separate levels! (Below – Pooky in the tube, Sooty, Puma at the top)

My husband serves their food on one plate – divided into three piles. He maneuvers to let Pooky (the female and smallest) to have the first bites). Puma and Sooty follow.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4, day 5

Kittens! – Day 5

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The kittens were contained in the room with the futon overnight and we started thinking about continuing that indefinitely because they are so rambunctious when they have the run of the whole 1st floor. We introduced the donut (round tube with openings on two sides, dangling toys in the openings) that our adult cats enjoyed so much. The kittens used it very differently….not as a place to curl up for a nap….rather an obstacle course they could run through or around taking a swing or bite at the toys as they entered or exited. Action was too fast for good pictures!

After a lot of running around, they still enjoy a nap together in the extra office chair…but only if my husband stays in the office with them! They all want to play if there is a human moving around in their vicinity.

The big discovery of the day was the cat tree. It’s been in front of the piano room windows from the beginning but they didn’t notice it immediately. Puma was the first to climb it and he went all the way to the top the very first time. Sooty followed --- also all the way to the top. Their little claws are sharp; my husband has bigger scratches than me because he kept trying to rescue them before they jumped down from the top of the cat tree. We moved a chair close to the tree to give them an easier path up and down. The chair may need to be reupholstered after they graduate to adulthood!

This is the last daily Kittens! Post…but I will do some weekly posts.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3, day 4

Kittens! – Day 4

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The kittens became harder to photograph by the 4th day because they were much more active and the light was not bright enough to freeze the action. Sometimes they all three seemed to be playing a game of tag that ranged all over the 1st floor. They still went to the drawers under the futon but not as often.

Sooty is the most adventuresome and he is the only one that wants to be picked up. He wanted to climb up my leg but I managed to dissuade him before he put his claws out all the way (and into my skin). He discovered that the upholstered chair in the living room is a quiet place that, so far, he has all to himself; we’ve put a pad on the seat for him.

Puma is probably the largest although not by much. He likes a central location where he can see all the action. He was the first to try climbing drapery (which prompted us to take down the ones that were most tempting to him).

Pooky (formerly Suki) always seems to be in the thick of activities. She is probably the smallest and is the one my husband watches to make sure she gets her share of food.

All three of them play with toys differently than our adult cats did. They use their teeth a lot. They tore apart some older toys and tried to pull an automated wand toy across the room by the feathers on the end of the wand (that toy has been put way…saved for later). We’ve noticed that the scratching pads surrounded by a ball trough move on the wood floor which sometimes makes them even more fun – but also makes noise. Overall – I notice a lot more noise coming from the first floor when I am in my basement office!

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2, day 3

Kittens! – Day 3

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The kittens’ third day at our house was another milestone…the doors were opened to let them out into the whole 1st floor of the house. They played hard with each other and with us…lots of mad running to hiding places when anything startled them. Their favorite sleeping place was the extra office chair in my husband’s office….in various heaps. They’ll soon outgrow the chair…at least for all three at once.

Sooty was the first to do a lot of things – find the low window/door where he could look outside, jump up on the kitchen counter using a couch as ‘steps,’ explore the inside of the grand piano using the bench and keys as ‘steps’.

We renamed Suki to Pooky (we remembered that Pooky was Garfield’s bear in the comic strip…decided to spell it the same way) because Suki sounded too like Sooty. She is a little more timid than Sooty but often follows his lead on some adventures. She might be the smallest of the three.

Puma is more reclusive, but he is out and about when people are not too close. He, like the other cats, likes to sniff everything. They all like the small mouse toys with catnip inside.

In the early evening, a thunderstorm made some loud noises and they all retreated to the drawers under the futon; that is their ‘safe’ place.

We sequestered them in the room/bathroom overnight. Overall – they did very well in the larger space although they didn’t like the large cat tree. Maybe its size is overwhelming for them right now.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1, day 2

Kittens! – Day 2

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We kept the kittens in a room, attached bath overnight. The next morning it was already obvious they were less timid. All three of them liked the string toy! From top to bottom in the image below: Suki, Puma, and Sooty. Note Pumas fully extended paw!

Sooty was the first to play with the ball in the round toy. Puma liked the bell that hangs from the center of the arch. Suki found something of interest in the sheet I had put over the futon (note the books on the floor which she had knocked out of the bookcase as she exited her hiding places there). They all retreated to the drawers under the futon when they were startled (and they apparently slept there). Occasionally they made turns into the carrier but didn’t stay.

We opened the door on the other side of the bath into my husband’s office. They started exploring. The synthesizer/electronic keyboards provide interesting height and texture for them (Suki in the picture). My husband was a little concerned about them chewing on cables so he unplugged everything that he could and keeps an eye on them. They all investigate the smell of everything (Puma at the multiple outlet strip).

My husband’s office chair is a popular place. My husband commented that Sooty (top) and Suki (on seat) were taking over the office.

Overall – by the end of the day we were both agreeing that the kittens were going to be ready to come out of sequestration on day 3. Stay tuned for their 1st day of adventures roaming the 1st floor of our house.

Previous Kittens! Posts: day 1

Kittens! - Day 1

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Last weekend my husband got 3 kittens (siblings) from a foster family. They are 10-12 weeks old. Our house has two bedrooms with a bathroom in-between that made a good place to initially sequester them.

They arrived in a cat crate…cuddled together. The first one out was Sooty. He might have been hungry since he gobbled down some treats and then some kitten chow. He walked all around the room…sniffed the litter boxes…then returned for kitten chow…before exploring the other room. He likes to be picked up; has a big purr.

Next out of the crate was the female that we are naming Suki. She was enticed out of the crate with a treat and quickly found a place to partially hide. She ate come kitten chow – not letting Sooty interfere with her snack. Then she found a great hiding place on the lower shelf of the bookcase!

The last one out of the crate was Puma. He looks a lot like Sooty at first glance but has some brown/caramel in his fur. He seems the most timid of the three and the one that likes the crate the most.

Stay tuned for more posts as the kittens (Sooty, Suki, and Puma) acclimate themselves to their new home!

Settling in, developing new routines – 2nd month

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A lot has happened over the past month. I was at home and settling in except for the one week I spent in Carrollton, TX (an easy road trip).

Roses. I enjoy the roses outside…the bushes were among the first parts of the yard I watered (before we got the sprinkler system fixed). I’ve started bringing in some of the flowers…putting them in a small glass on the windowsill in my office.

Sprinklers and some rain. The sprinkler system is now working, and it helped the yard to begin to recover before the recent rains came. Most of the grass was brown or turning brown before we started watering. There are some parts of the yard that the system doesn’t cover well but the rain has caused the whole yard to green up again.

Scan app at grocery store. One of the local grocery stores has a scan-as-you-shop app like I had in Maryland (Walmart does too but charges a monthly fee for it, so I’ll continue to use the self-checkout in that store). The grocery store is further from the house than the Walmart; my plan is to shop there once a month; I’ve already identified items that the store has that Walmart doesn’t. I did have a small accident in the store: I bumped a can when I was reaching for some seasoned pinto beans on a high shelf; it fell on my big toe; since it was wearing flip flops, it hurt (broke the skin enough to bleed and lots of bruising); the injury has kept me from doing yard work and other activities that I  need to wear close toed shoes; it should be healed enough in the next week or so.

Screens on my office windows. I have tried to take pictures through my office windows and realized that the screens need to be removed – note the grid in the picture of the dragonfly below. When I do it, the windows will need to be cleaned too.

Compost. I bought 2 pieces of cedar edging and made a circle for compost…thinking that I didn’t have enough kitchen scraps to warrant a larger bin. The watermelon rind is loading it up fast! In need to add ‘browns’ to keep it from smelling like garbage…I may have to shred some cardboard. Some of the smaller yard waste can go in too (larger pieces will still have to go to the recycle center).

Trash/recycling. We made one trip to the recycle center taking boxes since there were too many to fit in the bin for curbside collection every other week.

Telescope. The telescope ‘stuff’ has been moved from the garage to the John Deere room – the easier to get it set up in the backyard. We aren’t planning any camping/star parties near term (too hot). Hopefully, there will be some good night skies from our back yard.

Birdfeeder. We have put up one bird feeder, but it is not in an ideal spot; neither one of us can see it unless we look out one of the basement den’s windows. I have seen some house finches on the perch.

Cats. We are preparing the house for cats. That has meant getting rooms cleared of boxes and bins that need to be unpacked…coils of extension cords…anything that might be hazardous to young cats. The cat paraphernalia was in the basement…now it is on the first floor. The largest cat tree is near the big window in the piano (dining) room.

We have chairs and small tables near other windows that will give the cats good views of the outdoors. There are two doors with glass low enough for cats to look out to the deck from floor level. I put pillowcases on the pillows in the breakfast area window seat and raised the blinds a little to provide a view from that vantage point. My husband has bought supplies (litter, food). The cats we are getting are 3 siblings that have been fostered…are now old enough to be adopted. Stay tuned for more cat news!

Previous ‘settling in’ posts: 1st month

Gleanings of the Week Ending August 6, 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.

An effective new treatment for chronic back pain targets the nervous system – A 12-week course of sensorimotor retraining had a positive effect and participants reported improved quality of life one year later (i.e., the relief was lasting). Hopefully the results can be replicated, and the treatment applied to a broader population. There are a lot of people with chronic back pain!

New Study Links Cat Hormones and Gut Microbiomes to Their Social Behavior – Hard to resist a cat story!

Millions of Americans have long COVID. Many of them are no longer working – 4 million full-time equivalent workers out of work because of long COVID (conservative estimate…and that 2.4% of the US working population). There is a push to provide accommodation in the workplace but some of the symptoms are so severe that the person cannot perform the work they did before and maybe too disabled to work at all. No wonder unemployment is low, and some jobs are not finding applicants. Because long COVID is new, it is unclear when, or if, this population will recover enough to re-enter the workforce.

Arche Roach: the great song man, tender and humble, who gave our people voice – An obituary – and history of aboriginal people in Australia over the past century or so.

The promise and danger of Scotland's bog – 80% of the UK’s peatlands are degraded and in deteriorating condition. They store a lot of carbon…motivating restoration efforts. It takes decades to reverse damage done in a short time by a few ditches and a grid of planted saplings.

New molecule may prevent age-related diseases and increase life expectancy and wellness – A group of molecules that enable cells to repair damaged components has been identified….and efficacy was demonstrated in a model organism. The researchers and Hebrew University’s tech transfer company are moving toward pre-clinical studies.

Parts of the moon have stable temperatures fit for humans – Pits and caves that stay roughly 63 degrees Fahrenheit! There are still big challenges for living on the moon: growing food and finding sufficient oxygen, for example

Coming wave of opioid overdoses 'will be worse than it's ever been before' – Fentanyl and carfentanil…combined with methamphetamines and cocaine. The accelerated rates of overdoses are happening everywhere according to a Northwestern Medicine study.

Inside King Tut’s Tomb – New research using the tomb walls to understand the real-world turmoil cause by the death of the young king.

Cocoa shown to reduce blood pressure and arterial stiffness in real-life study – Cocoa flavanols only decrease blood pressure if it is elevated! I enjoy my morning dark chocolate (70+% cocoa) squares…a healthy way to begin the day!

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.

Gleanings of the Week Ending May 22, 2021

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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.

Top 25 birds of the week -May 2021 – Starting out the gleanings list with bird photographs!

Why cats love to sit in boxes – even fake ones – All of our cats have liked sitting in boxes….it was fun to see some research showing that even the 2D shape is appealing to them!

An incomparable intellectual who fell through the cracks of history – A woman, of course. In this case it was Robert Boyle’s older sister, Katherine Jones, Lady Ranelagh.

Strange and surprising facts about Opossums – The only marsupial north of Mexico. Odd look and behavior.

Irish farmer stumbles onto ‘untouched’ ancient tomb – Turning over a rock and finding a stone-lined passageway!

Ancient pottery reveals the first evidence of honey hunting in prehistoric West Africa – Analysis of potsherds from Central Nigeria revealed that around 1/3 of the pots they came from were used for processing or storing beeswax! The pieces of pottery are from the 1st millennium BC.

Big Spring Lodge, Cabins Rehabilitation Lags at Ozark National Scenic Riverways – I hope the project now planned to start in the fall gets completed on time. The place would be a good vacation destination for us since my daughter lives in Missouri.

You are how you cook – Research on the cooking methods in different parts of China and the relationship to the type of grains utilized over time. The areas that boiled/steamed food tended to use millet over wheat or barley since the later two grains take longer to cook by that method.

Fighting dementia with play – A pilot study with a game consisting of a screen and floor panel with four fields that measure steps, weight displacement and balance….users attempt a sequence of movements with their feet requiring physical and mental skills. The pilot was promising. Perhaps these types of games will become one of the strategies to enable people to handle daily life longer.

Meet Benjamin Banneker, the black scientist who document brood x cicadas in the late 1700s – Benjamin Banneker Historical Park and Museum are close to where I live in Maryland. I’ve been there several times (posted about it in March 2015 and December 2018, but hadn’t realized that noting the periodic cicadas was one of his numerous observations.

Gleanings of the Week Ending April 17, 2021

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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.

Top 25 birds of the week: Forests! – Photographs and birds….always a great start to the gleanings list for the week.

Regulators Ban Fracking Permanently in the Four-State Delaware River Watershed - Yale E360 – The watershed provides drinking water to 13 million people in Pennsylvania, Delaware, New Jersey and New York….critical to not have toxic leaks into that supply….and the fracking industry does not have good track record when it comes to water quality.

Scientists stunned to discover plants beneath mile-deep Greenland ice -- ScienceDaily - Long-lost ice core provides direct evidence that giant ice sheet melted off within the last million years and is highly vulnerable to a warming climate.

The legendary fabric that no one knows how to make - BBC Future – Dhaka muslin…with thread counts up to 1,200.

Diphtheria risks becoming major global threat again as it evolves antimicrobial resistance -- ScienceDaily – Resistance to antibiotics and vaccine escape becoming more common/likely….not a good prospect.

Climate Change Lays Waste to Butterflies Across American West | Smart News | Smithsonian Magazine – The total number of observed butterflies west of the Rocky Mountains has fallen by 1.6 percent every year since 1977….that adds up to over 65% decrease!

Reflecting on your own capabilities boosts resilience -- ScienceDaily – Thinking about memories of successfully overcoming past challenges may help us cope with crisis situations we are facing in the present.

Great Lakes people among first coppersmiths | Science – The Old Copper Culture began earlier and faded earlier that previously thought…starting about 9,500 years ago and ending about 5,000 years ago. A climate shift might have caused the culture to shift from using copper for tools to adornment at the end of the period.

Waste from making purple corn chips yields a natural dye, supplements, kitty litter -- ScienceDaily – I like processes that dramatically reduce the amount of agricultural waste. I wonder if the purple kitty litter would stain carpet if it was tracked out of the litter box though.

Why cats won’t punish a stranger who harms you - BBC Future – Evidently cats do form emotional bonds with their humans…but they probably don’t pick up on human social relationships….not as domesticated as dogs.