Earth Explorations

 I'll be brief but just had to share. I micro-meandered to the ditch and saw the most beautiful Banded Garden Spider. On one side she was banana milkshake with chocolate syrup lines, on the other she was a dark and light braided wool rug. She had not one but two grasshoppers in her web and I caught her feasting on one. The other had so recently become entrapped it wasn't even wound with silk yet.  A beautiful and unexpected gift. Thank you, Spider.

  My weird COVID19 dreams are back. Last night's dream while weird was kind of nice as I dreamed I saw a slime mold. In fact, I several different types of molds all, now that I think of it, were indoors which is not a great place for mold to be. Of course I ran and got my camera and uploaded the mold photos to iNaturalist. Perhaps I dreamed this in part because I have been busy adding observations to iNaturalist lately. I mentioned a few weeks ago the need to take a meandering nature walk where I look at things just to see what's there and take pictures if the thing I'm looking at will allow it. In the last ten days I've taken three such meanders (not much walking involved) in Badlands National Park, Indian Cave State Park in Nebraska, and the road ditch near my house. The road ditch near my house yielded the most interesting observations of the three. I meandered out there to check on a rubber rabbitbrush that in years past has often had multiple butterflies and bees s...

  I have written elsewhere about the American elms found on the property of my workplace. To summarize, American elms were a favorite of city planners in the 19th and early 20th centuries until Dutch Elm Disease started mowing them down. Anyway, there is a stand of American elm trees where I work that somehow avoided Dutch Elm Disease. I suspect they are volunteers from nearby elms planted long ago since these volunteers seem randomly placed, milling about rather than taking a designated spot. True to the way of elms, the elms in this stand branch beautifully, forming a canopy that creates dense shade particularly in the mid to late afternoons. The arching of the branches reminded me of buttresses in a medieval church, thus I began referring to this area as the Elm Cathedral. A recent heat wave drove me to get my two walks done early in the day. Leaving aside the safety of walking briskly in 100° heat, there are the social mores about being red faced and sweaty at work. But to sit...

 As noted below, I take my walking seriously. I'm the one out there with earphones and arms pumping like I am sprinting the 100 meters at the Olympics. I listen carefully to Coach Hartshorn (the female voice on the Map My Walk app) when she gives me my splits and times, putting a little more burn into it if I'm lagging. Because of Coach Hartshorn I've gotten faster which in the way our society measures things is seen as improvement. There's a reason they call this style of walking power walking. Power walking does not lend itself to deep observing or really observing of any type. If I'm lucky I see the flits and flickers of critters when I power walk, a bird here (one yesterday aptly named Flicker), an insect there, a blooming flower, a tree with the first yellow leaves. Mostly though I'm watching my footing and if I think of it, I look up at the sky. Nature walking is meandering, directed by curiosity, called by sights and sounds that might yield discoveries (o...

A few times a week, tiny black ants will emerge from between the bricks in the back patio. During a recent emergence, a juvenile brown thrasher flew in and started picking off ants one by one. I can't imagine that these tiny ants were satiating which is why I'm guessing the brown thrasher soon hopped away to under a nearby bush and emerged with a beak full of grasshopper. All About Birds says brown thrashers are omnivores and I, for one, am glad they eat grasshoppers. Apparently, they enjoy many insects which are pests to humans like tent caterpillars. This is important information. I'll keep some shrubbery in the backyard to encourage them to if not live here then at least feed here. 

Basil, eggplant, and new potatoes. Sounds like a meal or a new friend.

My last post was in mid February 2020, in what I sometimes refer to as the Before Time. My posting schedule during the Before Time was a post every two weeks or so at the beginning and middle of the month.   I was due for a post in early March, when COVID was rising. By the time I was overdue for a post in mid-March, COVID had risen and I was in no condition to write anything. All my emotional energy was spent on Zooms and getting through the day. There was nothing left over.  In April the smidge of brain space and emotional energy earned by coming to terms with a new-and-hopefully-temporary normal was consumed by doing live streams and the Nature in Place challenge on iNaturalist. As stretched as I was, it was deeply satisfying to see the Earth awake into spring. One year, I may write about it. But then May happened. May is when the White dominant culture learned about Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor and when on the same day, May 25, there was Christian Cooper and Ge...