Fantastic Caverns

Local sightseeing prompted by a visitor from out-of-town visitors….we did it a lot when we lived in the Virginia-DC-Maryland area between 1983 and 2022…and we are doing the same now that we live near Springfield, MO. I’ll be posting about some of the places we shared with our guest.

Fantastic Caverns is north of Springfield. It’s a ride-thru cave so works for people that aren’t sure they want to walk a lot. It was discovered during the Civil War (by a dog and then the landowner) but kept secret until after the Civil War. It has always been privately owned (including the land above the cave). The ride-thru tours started in 1962 and have helped preserve the formations – keeping them in view while reducing the risk of people touching them.

Picture taking is allowed and the lighting – while not overly bright – is enough to get interesting images. I used the ‘night scene’ setting on my camera; it worked well when the tram was stopped (since it takes multiple images and then stacks them in the camera for a final image).

There were fossils visible in the ceiling at one stop: starfish and crinoids (Cheerio looking nodules).

Outside there were trays of popcorn for the squirrels and birds between some of the tall trees (popcorn was available inside for people)…

And the peonies were beginning to bloom.

We didn’t hike the trail down to where the water exits the cave this time.

We bought a season pass since we thought we might come back to do the hike and enjoy the cave again.

Lessons learned for us:

• We were there for the 9:45 tour. When we returned there were a lot of students there (a great field trip for the end of school…and it might be for summer camps as well). We’ll go early when we go next time. They open at 8 AM.

• It’s a viable activity for a rainy day (if it hasn’t been raining for a long time…the cave has flooded occasionally over the years).

• The cave is 60 degrees year round….a good activity for a hot summer afternoon!

Settling in, developing new routines – 1st month

A new house – neighborhood – city – state (Missouri)…a lot has changed for us this past month. We are still unpacking but have done enough to live comfortably…do the rest of the opening of boxes and distribution of ‘stuff’ at a slower pace. I am starting a monthly post to document the new routines we are establishing.

Trash/recycling. I like that we have a bin for the weekly trash collection rather than just putting big plastic bags at the curb like we did in Maryland. The downside is that recycling comes every other week rather than weekly like it did in Maryland…and the first cycle was cancelled because they were short a crew! Another difference: neither trash or recycle curbside collection take yard waste. So – I’ve been to the recycle center 3 times already (twice for boxes there were not reusable and once for yard waste after I cut down a Callery pear that was taking over a crepe myrtle in my front flowerbed); fortunately, the recycle center is not that far away from our neighborhood.

The mini-kitchen in the basement near my office is perfect for making my favorite snack: popcorn! What a luxury to have it close rather than a flight of stairs away.

It is also a luxury to do my back exercises on the twin bed near my office rather than getting down (and then up) from the floor.

Groceries are different too; the closest store is a Walmart which does not have as much selection as Wegmans in Maryland. I may look further afield for groceries eventually even though the close location of the Walmart is a big plus. I get to the store about 6:30 AM just as I did in Maryland; shopping in a store with more stockers than customers is something I’ve grown accustomed too…prefer!

Laundry has been an adventure. There is still a flight of stairs between the laundry room and the bedroom, but our Missouri house has a laundry chute! We’ve added handles to the doors of the chute (not sure why they didn’t have handles before) and bought large baskets to catch all the laundry at the bottom. And what a luxury it is to have so much room to hang up clothes that we don’t want to put in the drier!

Barn swallows. When we moved into the house, we noticed almost immediately that we had bard swallows nesting under the deck….easily viewed from our patio or through the windows around it. The babies hav since fledged and I’ve tried to clean up the bird poop that fell from the nest onto the patio…the price for having an easily observable nest. We didn’t have barn swallows at our Maryland house, so this is a new bird for our yard. We put out two bird baths but they haven’t been used very much….the neighborhood ponds are too close probably. We haven’t put up bird feeders yet.

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More new routines next month….

Unique Aspects of Days – June 2022

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.

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2021

Celebrating fall…

Fall view from my office window. The view from my office window includes a tulip poplar and a red maple…the first has leaves of yellow…the second red although it will be the last to turn completely and let go of its leaves. Celebrating the most colorful views of the year from my office window.

Haircut. We’ve perfected getting haircuts while wearing a mask…still wait a little longer between haircuts than we did pre-pandemic – so it is a celebration to have neatly trimmed hair!

Morning walk in the neighborhood. Cooler mornings and days. Celebrating very pleasant temperatures for the whole day (although a jacket may be required in the morning).

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Middle Patuxent River with students. Celebrating the restart to volunteering that I did pre-pandemic. The river is so beautiful when I am standing in the shallows in my big boots!

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A new low weight for the year and a beautiful sunrise. Taking off the pounds is hard….but I am doing it! I celebrate every new low weight for the year. Recently I was in the right place to see the sunrise on the same day. I bought and enjoyed a slice of pumpkin roll to celebrate both!

Getting out cool weather clothes. It’s not a whole new wardrobe – but one I haven’t worn in months. I always celebrate my favorite clothes as I hang them up (and also the ones I am packing away). I didn’t have anything that I decided to put in the donate pile!

Patuxent Research Refuge. Celebrating the closest wildlife refuge to where we live. There is always something to see there and I always chide myself for not visiting more frequently.

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Smell of butternut squash in the oven. It’s that time of year where the smell pumpkin pie spices fill my kitchen…celebrating the special foods and family events that will continue through the end of the year.

Popcorn with butter. Most of the time I eat popcorn with just garlic salt….it’s a special celebration to have it with butter (and much higher calorie)!

Longwood Gardens. A beautiful place…and a celebration every time we go. Some parts I enjoy again and again…and sometimes there are sights that are totally new.

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Favorite Foods – October 2019

My favorite foods were all about using the fall CSA bounty.

I made chicken salad with fennel (the feathery part and the stalk), raw sweet potato, spring onion, and bell pepper chopped up in the Ninja food processor with a little mayo…French fried onions on top. Tasty and nutritious. A meal in a bowl.

Popcorn is a favorite of mine but this October I worked for it a bit more. I got 4 ears of popcorn from the CSA and learned to rub the kernels off the cobs into a big bowl (so I didn’t have too many escapees). The popcorn had a few silks with it but by the time the corn was popped I didn’t notice them. I use a popcorn bowl (from Amazon) in the microwave then add garlic salt and butter just before I eat it!

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I also made butternut squash custard (using the same recipe as for pumpkin custard) since I had 3 large butternut squash from the CSA. I still have cooked squash in my freezer to use for another custard or two.

Ten Little Celebrations – October 2019

October is a transition month – warm to cool (sometimes cold at night), leaves turning colors and falling. There is a lot to celebrate. Below are my top ten little celebrations in October:

The river at Middle Patuxent Environmental Area - It is a little hike through the woods to get to the Middle Patuxent River and then a scramble over rocks to set up our field tables and gear on gravel bars near the water. It’s a serene place before the students arrive…and then full of activity. Every field trip is a celebration of the natural world and the sparks of awareness/realization that happens for most of the students.

Arby’s chicken salad – I always celebrate when my husband’s choice of fast food place has their signature chicken salad…wish they had it all the time.

Heron standing on a turtle – Seeing something unexpected often sparks a little celebration that I was in the right place at the right time. A heron stepping on a turtle (and then being surprised when it moved) was one of those times.

Conowingo cormorants – We go to Conowingo Dam to see Bald Eagles, but sometimes other birds are more active. On an October morning it was the cormorants….successfully fishing. Often the fish looked too big for them to eat!

CSA popcorn – This was the first year that we got ears of popcorn from the CSA….the last two weeks of the season.  The kernels came off the cob with relative ease and I popped them in my usual microwave popcorn bowl (not all at once…a little popcorn goes a long way). The pop…the curling up with a good book while eating popcorn…a celebration on a rainy fall day.

CSA fennel – The CSA is my source for fennel…I like the bulb and the feathery top. It’s a different flavor from other veggies and one I celebrate as a rare veggie since I know it never looks as fresh in my grocery store and I haven’t found it in the organic section at all.

Mowing the whole yard – Usually my husband handles the mowing, but this fall I’ve done more since I decided to mulch leaves in place rather than rake. I started out doing half the yard…but I celebrated a day when I did the whole thing and the yard looked great….until the next round of leaf drop. There will still be at least one more mowing since there are still leaves on our maple.

Pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay – I celebrated to see so many pelicans in the Chesapeake Bay when we went to Smith Island. The birds nest and raise young in the area! Based on the number of juveniles we saw – 2019 was a good year for pelicans.

Virginia Museum of Fine Arts – What a great place in Richmond. I celebrated that we chose to make the stop in Richmond for a couple of hours….and was pleasantly surprised that my husband enjoyed it too.

A rainy day – finally – We had no rain for about 6 weeks in last summer and early fall…so when it rained, it was cause for celebration.

Last of CSA Veggies

Last week was the end of the regular season with are Community Supported Agriculture (Gorman Farms CSA). The share was robust as usual. I was surprised by the late season tomatoes. They had both purple and green cabbage; I chose the purple, of course. The choice table was overwhelming, but I decided on the fennel after staring at it for a minute…with big a big feathery top that made the reusable bag look too small. I’ll use that top part first (chopped up and combined with grated sweet potato to make a colorful chicken salad.

I haven’t quite kept up with the veggies this summer. The freezer is reasonably full and a bit more will go into it from the freeze from this last week. Nothing goes to waste! I’ll enjoy the tomatoes, mixed greens, and onions in at least one salad; maybe I’ll eat them fast enough to avoid putting them in the freezer to use in smoothies or soups. With the shift in seasons – I lean toward the soups. I’ll probably not buy any veggies in the produce section of the grocery store for at least 6 weeks!

I’ll miss the weekly newsletters and ‘about your harvest’ boards. Every season with the CSA is a learning experience.

This was the first year for popcorn. There were lots of my favorites too - veggies I’ve learned to love with the CSA (fennel, sweet potato leaves, all kinds of peppers, uncured sweet potatoes, all kinds of squashes, all kinds of tomatoes…the only thing I’ve not learned to love is eggplant). This year was a drought year and last year it was too wet. Our farmer pulled though with lots of good veggies in both years but the variety this year was greater than last. CSAs are a great way to ‘eat local.’

Gleanings of the Week Ending November 25, 2017

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.

Millions of Free Botanical Illustrations from the Biodiversity Heritage Library – I look at a lot of books digitized by the Biodiversity Heritage Library via Internet Archive – but their Flickr Account is a good way to see images – lots of them. And it isn’t just botanical. There are birds and insects and mammals and people that study them!

Gorging on Top 25 Wild Bird Photographs of the Week #112, #113, #114 - Three of them!

The Ultimate Guide to the Wild Turkey and The Fascinating Behavior of Wild Turkeys and Tracing the Wild Origins of the Domestic Turkey – Lots of articles about wild turkeys came out before Thanksgiving. These were my favorites.

BBC - Future - How popcorn became a much-loved snack – Learn a little fun history. Who doesn’t like popcorn?

A Short History of the Crosswalk | Smart News | Smithsonian – Another little history of something that is now quite common. Crosswalks didn’t exist until 1951!

Best National Parks – There are a lot of preferences! How many of the 10 ‘most visited’ have you seen. I’ve been to 7 of them. I’ve only been to 1 of the ‘least visited.’

Urban Refuge: How Cities Can Help Rebuild Declining Bee Populations - Yale E360 – Some examples of how urban gardens impact bee populations; it turns out they are measurably positive! 13% of New York State’s bees were found in New York City community gardens.

Paper Engineer Creates Magnificent Pop-Up Cards – Beautiful and fun to watch opening (i.e. the video).

Stunning 100-Megapixel Moon Photograph Created from NASA Images – From the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter…my daughter helped do the initial image calibration on LRO bak in 2009

See a Brilliant Blue Butterfly Take Flight for the First Time – A video of a blue morpho butterfly emerging from its chrysalis and tumbling to its first flight (it may take time to start…but it’s worth the wait!