A Day in the Life…Part 52

Posted on December 31, 2015 by

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It is December 31, 2015 and we have come almost full circle. The picture below first appeared in Part 1 and shows Lake Odonata completely frozen over as we began 2015. At home the wood stove had been burning non-stop for over a month. This year…four days!

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A Carmen Warner’s Christmas

Posted on December 21, 2015 by

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Dr. Frank Warner and Carmen Hambleton Warner

Twelve Days of ChristmasThe Wahkeena Version

 
On the first day of Christmas 
my true love gave to me:
an old farm in Fairfield County

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A Day in the Life…Part 51

Posted on December 20, 2015 by

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Winter came back this week with cold and snow flurries. Saturday night two Great Horned owls were really hooting it up in the pine woods just a short distance from the nature center. It’s the beginning of their mating season again.

On Thursday, Nora and I made a pilgrimage of sorts to Chillicothe, Ohio. The purpose of our trip was to visit the final resting place of our founders. Read More

A Day in the Life…Part 50

Posted on December 15, 2015 by

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Well, as I stated in the last post lots of time spent pulling invasive euonymus, but also taking advantage of the good weather to do needed home repairs. Yesterday afternoon, while walking back from a euonymus pick Nora spotted something in the pond. But was it a turtle or just a log sticking out of the water? Read More

A Day in the Life…Part 48… and 49

Posted on December 5, 2015 by

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OK, so there is/was no Part 48.  What happened? Oh, the usual… Thanksgiving holiday festivities, home repairs, backed up sewer line at work….you know the usual.

Meanwhile back at the preserve…. Read More

A Day in the Life…Part 47

Posted on November 22, 2015 by

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It’s been another pretty quiet week around the nature center…

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A Day in the Life… Part 46

Posted on November 14, 2015 by

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It is now mid November and most of the leaves are now off the deciduous trees and the evergreens now dominate the wooded landscape. The beaver lodge can again be clearly seen from the driveway to the nature center at the opposite end of Lake Odonata. Read More

What a year…

Posted on November 7, 2015 by

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This post has been almost a year in the making. The idea arose in early spring with a young boy who had found a piece of deer bone while on a hike. The piece of bone in question was part of a deer vertebra, the backbone, and it also had dozens of little scrapes caused by rodents chewing. Tom explained to the boy why rodents might want to chew on the vertebra in the first place: mice and other rodents chew on bones in order to get calcium into their diet. Humans also need calcium, one way we get it is by drinking milk. At this point the boy’s mother walked into the room and he jumped up, grabbed the deer vertebra and ran to his her to tell her everything that he had learned. This is what he said:
“Mommy! Did you know that there is vertebra in chocolate milk?” 

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A Day in the Life…Part 45

Posted on November 7, 2015 by

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It’s a quiet Saturday the second weekend in November. Even though the preserve is still open this weekend the visitation has dropped dramatically. And you could not ask for a nicer day. The Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea) above shows off some of the last bright color of autumn.

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A Day in the Life….Part44

Posted on November 2, 2015 by

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It’s now the first of November 2015 and much of the autumn color is fading fast. While there are still flashes of brilliant color more muted tones now dominate. Subtle yellows, like the fern above, and subdued pastel colors stand out. Read More

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