It’s been a cold spring. Last spring it was so hot that our Rhododendrons never bloomed (a friend told me the unopened blooms essentially fried in the sun). This spring there’s not quite enough sun; the leaves on the oak trees are still in winter mode, taking their time coming out of their protective buds. The insects must be […]
Archive for the ‘Guest blogger’ Category
Where the bugs are
Posted in Fauna, Flora, Guest blogger, Interesting on May 16, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
On Black Garden Ants, and other assorted critters
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on April 27, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
In the wild kingdom that my kitchen has become with the onset of warm weather, I have come across more black ants than I seem to remember from last year, along with all kinds of spiders. The other day I caught a harvestman hitching a ride on my shoulder. Then I opened a cabinet to get […]
Noisy New Neighbors
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on April 12, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Today I was walking down Route 6A when I heard what I thought were some loud birds. Getting closer to the sound I started to imagine that it was actually heavy machinery – this time of year there is a lot of repair work done on people’s summer homes in Barnstable. It turned out the […]
Bird Up!
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Rants & Raves on April 6, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Every day now there is a fashion show going on in my backyard. My admission price is supplying the models with plenty of food. These models definitely don’t like to starve. The stars of the show are the red-winged blackbirds with their shock of striking color hidden in each fold of wing. They top understated elegance when it comes to bird-style. You can’t […]
Really ticked off about the trees
Posted in Guest blogger, Interesting, Rants & Raves on March 22, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
When I lived in the city, I had some sad looking trees on my street that often ended up covered with trash on the weekends (making them look that much more sad). One day a public utility truck backed up into one across the street from my apartment and left it there, broken and dying. […]
Killer on the loose
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on March 20, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
A few weeks ago, I was taking my pet to the vet and noticed a rather odd looking bug crawl out of the pet carrying case. Before I could ascertain what it was it had slipped under the car seat. My impression was that it sort of looked like a tick, if only because it […]
Thank You, John Hay
Posted in Guest blogger, Rants & Raves on March 4, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Today I opened the Cape Cod Times news and saw that John Hay had passed. Hay is quoted on the home page, and every page of this blog: In particular “Get down in nature, down in the water and the dirt” resonates. Now that he has passed on, that quote for me has even more impact […]
Getting Mushy Over Mushrooms
Posted in Guest blogger, Interesting on March 2, 2011 | 1 Comment »
I first became fascinated with mushrooms while reading The Omnivore’s Dilemma where author Michael Pollan describes them as a mysterious third kingdom species theorized to get their energy from the moon instead of the sun. This is one of those strange scientific stories that always makes me want to learn more. In Colin Tudge’s The Tree: A Natural History […]
More Bobcat Banter
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on March 2, 2011 | 7 Comments »
A couple weeks ago I had the pleasure of seeing Jonathan Way speak at the Brewster Natural History Museum. During his lecture about coyotes, or coywolves, some of the attendees brought up the return of wild animals to Cape Cod such as bears and fishers. Recalling this story to a friend, I tried in vain to remember […]
Deer trivia
Posted in Fauna, Guest blogger, Interesting on February 24, 2011 | Leave a Comment »
Two and a half million years ago, creatures that sort of looked like humans ran from the same predators as creatures that sort of looked like deer. As we humans grew into our new skins and created cultures, deer became part of our religion and way of life – from our creation stories to the […]