Photo Caption: Yesterday, today and tomorrow… The yellow blooms of witch hazel, appearing now, glow next to a seed capsule that resulted from successful pollination of last year’s flowers. When it opens the capsule will send its seeds flying 10-20 feet, and future witch hazel shrubs get their start. Good Natured: Witch Hazel December 4, […]
There’s no place like home. Dorothy Gale said it as she clacked her ruby slippers together, and Perry Como and the Carpenters sang about it, noting that it’s even better at the holidays. In fact today, given our COVID mitigations, we often find we really have no place BUT home. […]
What comes to mind when you think of a good neighbor? State Farm? The folks next door? Bald-faced hornets? Okay, that last one may sound like a stretch. After all, aren’t hornets the critters people get “mad as”? Isn’t “stirring up a hornet’s nest” the last thing you want to do? […]
Generally speaking, eruptions attract a lot of attention. There’s no mistaking when a volcano blows, or a crowd expresses its views. Or when a facial blemish pops up, usually on a day of major importance. (“With this zit, I thee wed…”) But irruptions? […]
We all have our dreams…a fancy house, a fast car, maybe fame or fortune. Mine, go figure, have to do with snakes. One of my earliest dreams dates back to the year I turned three. […]
I can remember every detail of the day I told my high school guidance counselor that I wanted to be a naturalist. First, there was the look on her face. A stern woman by nature, Mrs. Kobak pursed her lips and furrowed her brow–even more than usual–as she looked over the top of her glasses and stared a hole into my naïve, 16-year-old soul. […]
Working as the park safety supervisor for the St. Charles Park District, patrolling our public lands late into the night, Tim Timberlake has had plenty of close encounters. But only recently did he come across a bona fide UFO. […]
We’ve all been there… That awkward moment when you realize there’s a poppy seed from your morning muffin wedged between your two front teeth. Or that you’re wearing a milk moustache from your lunchtime latte. Or when you find–as I have, more times than I care to count-that you have chocolate frosting […]
Turkey vultures are the sorts of birds that command attention. For one, they’re VULTURES-dark-feathered and hunchbacked, they look vaguely creepy even under the best of circumstances. For another, they’re big-their 6-ft. wingspan rivals that of the bald eagle and makes them hard to miss […]
Certain signs of fall are unmistakable. The changing colors of the leaves, the masses of migratory geese. And the persistent, almost petulant, calls of young red-tailed hawks being asked-more like told-to leave the family territory and strike out on their own. […]
