Earth Explorations

You can live a long time in one place and still make discoveries. Yesterday's discovery was just how many American elms there are around here. American elms used to be common as they were the preferred tree for city planting in the 19th century due to their shape and color. And they are beautiful trees, large, majestic, everything a tree should be. I assumed for quite a while that elms were pretty much a threatened species  well on their way to being extinct thanks to Dutch elm disease which ravaged the population. Dutch elm disease and the monocultivation of elms is Exhibit A in why diversity of planting is a good thing. Diversity provides built in resistance. I was both surprised and pleased to discover about a year ago that on the grounds of the science center where I work there were not one but two large elms. Outside my window. That I looked at every day. I just assumed they were cottonwoods, the other large, beautiful majestic tree in my ecosystem. It wasn't till

During Earth Science Week (which actually starts tomorrow but I like to get ahead of the rush) I try to post a photo a day on social media to raise awareness about how much earth science surrounds us.  The photos below were taken shortly after sunset. This time of year there is something of a Stonehenge effect where the sun lines up with the hallway since this hallways faces due west. I can't get the full effect on the actual day of alignment because a neighbor's house is in the way.   www.suncalc.org is a fun website to play with to find where on the horizon the sun rises and sets so you can find other Stonehenge type spots. Lots of learning opportunities there not to mention just a lot of fun to play with.