December 26, 2009
As my family faces the definite prospect of moving down to Florida, I am faced with quite a task. I have lived in Pennsylvania for 16 years- the longest I have lived in one place in my entire life. I have grown to love the PA woods, the birds, the insects, the wildlife in general, and I undestand the in's and out's of the ecosystem here. I find it very comforting- like old friends. I know what to expect, and who to expect. I know my way around the various habitats, and what's going on in each at any given time of year. It's a very nice feeling.
But Florida is a whole new world. About the only thing I'm familiar with, aside from the water-birds, is the Live Oak, and the Long-leaf Pine. By sight. The nitty-gritty of those two I just don't know yet. But, true to the habit of a naturalist, I am never satisfied until I figure out what is what, where, when, and why. The thrill of the hunt, so to speak. The wonder of discovering new things I didn't know before, seeing strange new things (like the stick insect striped in black and white, like striped pajamas!)
I am already totally entranced with the Sand scrub of Ocala National Forest. To the untrained eye, it's just that- a rather mundane scrubby area. But as I have studied, I am amazed at the fragility of what is likely the most endangered ecosystem in the United States. Dependant on fire and the rapid drainage of the sand every plant is specially designed to live in, the vast majority of all species there are found ONLY in two or three smallish plots in the center of Florida. I have visited the area many times, with out appreciating the amazingness of it all.
So- here's my conundrum: what is better? Is it the pleasant familiarity of my "old friends", or the excitement of making new ones?
I have been wrestling with the various scrubby oaks this week...they don't even LOOK like oaks, and their leaves are all so similar. One may be fuzzier on the midrib, or maybe the midrib is yellower than the others. Very confusing. But I know I'll get them all straight eventually.
So, as we prepare to head back to Pennsylvania in three days, I know I'll see my old familiar friends, and take comfort in them. But, I also know that I'll have that guide to Florida ecosystems by my bed for quite a while. With a highlighter pen!
Saturday, December 26, 2009
Saturday, June 27, 2009
I think she gets it!
I was saddened to hear of the death of Michael Jackson. I'm a child of the 80's, and I just can't help love his music. What an incredibly talented person, what a horribly sad, tragic, lonely life! Yes, he made some unfortunate choices, but I will not cast a stone. I also have made some pretty pathetic decisions in my life as well. As have we all.
I downloaded Michael's Earth Song video yesterday. I love that video. The song isn't as effective without the visual. Very expressive, and very very powerful. It expresses visually and musically exactly the way I feel whenever I witness the heartless cruelty and wanton desecration human are capable of towards GOD's incredible creation, and each other! I want to wail and scream and tear at the earth too at our stubborn selfishness and greed. It truly breaks my heart and rends my soul.
Yesterday afternoon, Hannah, my almost-5-daughter (who never misses the chance to remind me that her birthday is coming soon!) sat down to watch the video with me. She's a very perceptive little girl, and very sensitive. I was interested to see what her reaction to the footage would be.
She sat there on my lap, and soon got a very serious look on her face. I started to talk, and she said "Shhhh mommy... I'm watching!" In a moment, towards the end, I asked her what she was thinking. She said "I think this makes God very very sad." WOW. Out of the mouth of a babe! She was so touched at the Amazon Natives clutching at the earth in despair. She did not like the dead elephant at all. "The baby too?" Yes, I said, the baby too. "Why???????" Oh my.
She brightened a little bit at the part where the "wind" reverses everything.... the rainforest trees are upright again, the elephant is resurrected- with tusks again- and the tanks are blown out of the city, and the man who was shot comes back to life again. God was blowing all the bad away. I said "only in the movie, honey. It's not real." She was puzzled. I continued. "It would be so wonderful if God really would just blow all the bad away. But he won't. He CAN, but he won't. " She was still puzzled. But I knew this was important, and she really wanted to know.
"Honey... when you do something wrong,like breaking something, and you KNOW it's wrong, do I come and fix it all for you?" "No, mommy. You make me clean it up." "That's right. I COULD clean it up, but I don't. Because that's YOUR job. You knew better, so I leave YOU to do it." There was a flicker of comprehension in her eyes.
"God is like that. The very first job GOD gave us was to take care of His creation. All the plants, all the animals. To care for it, to keep it safe. We all KNOW that, deep down inside. But most people don't do it. They hurt His creation, the hurt the forests, the animals in it, and they hurt other people. We KNOW we aren't supposed to do that, but we do it anyway. So, I believe God is expecting US to do our job. To clean up our mess. He could do it, but we are supposed to do it."
"Mommy?"
"Yes sweetie?"
"Can I see it again?"
"Sure."
This time we didn't speak at all. She was silent for the whole thing. Then she said, at the end, "God made that tree. We shouldn't chop it down! And that's GOD'S elephant! God must be sooooo sad."
She gets it. She definitely gets it. How full my heart is!
Saturday, May 16, 2009
Legend of the Dogwood
The Dogwood Trees are in full bloom now, here in Lancaster. I love them so much. The other day I pulled over in the park alongside a lovely white tree. Iasked Hannah to come over, and I told her to pick ONE blossom. Then she she sat on my lap, and, holding the flower, I told her the "Legend of the Dogwood".
An old and beautiful legend has it that, at the time of the crucifixion, the dogwood was comparable in size to the oak tree and other monarchs of the forest. Because of its firmness and strength it was selected as the timber for the cross, but to be put to such a cruel use greatly distressed the tree. Sensing this, the crucified Jesus in his gentle pity for the sorrow and suffering of all said to it: "Because of your sorrow and pity for My sufferings, never again will the dogwood tree grow large enough to be used as a gibbet. Henceforth it will be slender, bent and twisted and its blossoms will be in the form of a cross -- two long and two short petals. In the center of the outer edge of each petal there will be nail prints -- brown with rust and stained with red -- and in the center of the flower will be a crown of thorns, and all who see this will remember."
Saturday, March 21, 2009
If A Million People Say a Stupid Thing.....
January 25th, 2008 by hannahsmommy
I was watching "Nova" the other night. I don’t think any TV program has caused me to do so much thinking and pondering. It was called "The Family that Walks on All Fours". It was about a rural family in Turkey that has four adult children that cannot walk upright. They walk on their feet and hands, bent over.
The show started off with some evolutionary biologists trying to make the claim that these unfortunate people were missing a gene that was causing them to display "primitive characteristics"- walking like our pre-human ancestors walked. In other words, like an ape.
I was flabbergasted! I couldn’t believe it. Such utterly ridiculous nonsense, when the real cause was so relatively easy to see. Even I figured it out once the other facts came to life.
First of all, the parents were close cousins. Ah HAH. Inbreeding to be sure. Both parents carried a recessive gene hampering the ability to walk, and 5 of the children recieved it.
Secondly, and vital to the story, the family was extremely poor and relatively uneducated. In fact the whole village was poor and uneducated.
The "scientists" who viewed these 5 people as "fascinating cases of evolution in reverse" so offended the family that the military had to come make sure they weren’t being insulted. In turkey, insulting a Turk is a capital offense. The female scientist had to work hard to convince the guards that all was OK.
Brain scans were done on the 5 afflicted children, and low and behold, each of them had severe brain damage- their cerebellum was greatly reduced. This area is responsible for voluntary motor movement, balance, and equilibrium. In a word, it makes walking possible. Apparently this recessive gene interfered with the development of the cerebellum, and thus interfering with their ability to stand upright to walk. So they did what they knew how to do- basically crawl. What you don’t learn until the very end is that when the children were babies and toddlers, they crawled fine- but they stopped at crawling. They never made it beyond this developmental stage.
The family has drawn ridicule and condemnation from the village, who believe they are being cursed. The family was forced to move. The son gets rocks thrown at him by the village children, and gets taunted more than the others.
Finally someone realizes that maybe they can LEARN to walk. No one has ever bothered to even try that. The scientists invest in a walker, and many of them stand upright and take a few steps. A set of parallel bars are set up in the yard for "practicing". The youngest girl especially liked this. A physical therapist is also called in to help loosen up the necessary muscles. The son is proclaimed too severe to walk.
When the scientists came back several weeks later, all 4 of the girls were walking with either the walker or the bars. Only the son was not seen for a while. Then, you see him walking - awkwardly but unaided, toward the house. He stumbles, takes a few steadying steps on his hands, then rights himself again to walk normally.
I got to thinking about this whole situation. I have come to several conclusions.
#1. It was a genetic mutation that caused them to not be able to walk as well.
#2. The "evolution in reverse" theory is just about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
#3. Blinding themselves to their dogma, they were willing to throw aside compassion and mercy in order to "prove" their pet theory- no matter how ridiculous it is.
#4. Had this family been in a "developed" nation, a doctor would have recognized the delay in development, and physical therapy would have been given each of those children when they were still small. The family believed it was the "Will of allah" that they children be that way- to test the faith of the father. They had no idea that all they needed was a little help.
#5. Again, if this family had been in the United States, no scientist would dare compare children to an unknown human ancestor. What an insult. The parents would be educated enough to know total bunk when they hear it. The turkish family was poor and uneducated. Easy targets in my opnion. The father expressed concern, however, that his children were in fact being compared to apes, and was afraid of even further abuse from the villagers.
All this to say that too many evolutionists try to prove their theory by assuming the truth of the premise they are trying to prove. For example- in order to explain the handicap, they had to prove evolution. They claimed it was a kick-back to a more primitive pre-human ancestor. In order to prove this, however, they had to assume the truth of this common ancestor. You can’t do that in science. It’s a circular argument. And extremely bad science!
And, even if it was true, no scientific "fact" is more important than the dignity of a family that is already being ostracized by their own community. The scientists were making a bad situation even worse. These people are not "freaks"- just victims of poverty, lack of education and medical facilities.
And victims of myopic scientists.
I was watching "Nova" the other night. I don’t think any TV program has caused me to do so much thinking and pondering. It was called "The Family that Walks on All Fours". It was about a rural family in Turkey that has four adult children that cannot walk upright. They walk on their feet and hands, bent over.
The show started off with some evolutionary biologists trying to make the claim that these unfortunate people were missing a gene that was causing them to display "primitive characteristics"- walking like our pre-human ancestors walked. In other words, like an ape.
I was flabbergasted! I couldn’t believe it. Such utterly ridiculous nonsense, when the real cause was so relatively easy to see. Even I figured it out once the other facts came to life.
First of all, the parents were close cousins. Ah HAH. Inbreeding to be sure. Both parents carried a recessive gene hampering the ability to walk, and 5 of the children recieved it.
Secondly, and vital to the story, the family was extremely poor and relatively uneducated. In fact the whole village was poor and uneducated.
The "scientists" who viewed these 5 people as "fascinating cases of evolution in reverse" so offended the family that the military had to come make sure they weren’t being insulted. In turkey, insulting a Turk is a capital offense. The female scientist had to work hard to convince the guards that all was OK.
Brain scans were done on the 5 afflicted children, and low and behold, each of them had severe brain damage- their cerebellum was greatly reduced. This area is responsible for voluntary motor movement, balance, and equilibrium. In a word, it makes walking possible. Apparently this recessive gene interfered with the development of the cerebellum, and thus interfering with their ability to stand upright to walk. So they did what they knew how to do- basically crawl. What you don’t learn until the very end is that when the children were babies and toddlers, they crawled fine- but they stopped at crawling. They never made it beyond this developmental stage.
The family has drawn ridicule and condemnation from the village, who believe they are being cursed. The family was forced to move. The son gets rocks thrown at him by the village children, and gets taunted more than the others.
Finally someone realizes that maybe they can LEARN to walk. No one has ever bothered to even try that. The scientists invest in a walker, and many of them stand upright and take a few steps. A set of parallel bars are set up in the yard for "practicing". The youngest girl especially liked this. A physical therapist is also called in to help loosen up the necessary muscles. The son is proclaimed too severe to walk.
When the scientists came back several weeks later, all 4 of the girls were walking with either the walker or the bars. Only the son was not seen for a while. Then, you see him walking - awkwardly but unaided, toward the house. He stumbles, takes a few steadying steps on his hands, then rights himself again to walk normally.
I got to thinking about this whole situation. I have come to several conclusions.
#1. It was a genetic mutation that caused them to not be able to walk as well.
#2. The "evolution in reverse" theory is just about the stupidest thing I have ever heard.
#3. Blinding themselves to their dogma, they were willing to throw aside compassion and mercy in order to "prove" their pet theory- no matter how ridiculous it is.
#4. Had this family been in a "developed" nation, a doctor would have recognized the delay in development, and physical therapy would have been given each of those children when they were still small. The family believed it was the "Will of allah" that they children be that way- to test the faith of the father. They had no idea that all they needed was a little help.
#5. Again, if this family had been in the United States, no scientist would dare compare children to an unknown human ancestor. What an insult. The parents would be educated enough to know total bunk when they hear it. The turkish family was poor and uneducated. Easy targets in my opnion. The father expressed concern, however, that his children were in fact being compared to apes, and was afraid of even further abuse from the villagers.
All this to say that too many evolutionists try to prove their theory by assuming the truth of the premise they are trying to prove. For example- in order to explain the handicap, they had to prove evolution. They claimed it was a kick-back to a more primitive pre-human ancestor. In order to prove this, however, they had to assume the truth of this common ancestor. You can’t do that in science. It’s a circular argument. And extremely bad science!
And, even if it was true, no scientific "fact" is more important than the dignity of a family that is already being ostracized by their own community. The scientists were making a bad situation even worse. These people are not "freaks"- just victims of poverty, lack of education and medical facilities.
And victims of myopic scientists.
I Just Don't Get It!!!!
I wrote this over a year ago. But when I read it over again, it still brings tears to my eyes.
But then I find a picture of a man bottle-feeding an orphaned pangolin, or a group of zookeepers celebrating the birth of a baby aardvark, or a fireman giving a burnt koala a drink of water from his water bottle. Or a man running in front of a bulldozer, uprooting the rare ground-orchids they are about to pave over, so they can be transplanted. Then I sigh, and think… OK….there’s still hope.
It may be a lost cause. Humans have screwed up just about every thing they’ve touched. I might not even make the slightest little difference in the big scheme of things. But, when I die and get to heaven, I don’t think God is going to ask me if I saved the Philippine Eagle from extinction. He won’t ask me how many acres of rainforest I prevented from being destroyed. He won’t ask me if I was able to reverse the greenhouse effect. I think He’ll just ask me if I kept trying, if I did everything I could.
And I’ll say yes.
January 2008
I don’t get it.
I’ve been collecting photos of each kind of mammal (Each "order") for a class I’ll be doing this fall. While I was searching on-line, I have often come across some pictures that either broke my heart or just saddened me. Big strong "manly men" posing proudly in front of an animal they have just killed. Like a lovely Arabian Oryx. Or big strong manly men clubbing a helpless one-day old seal pup to death over the head with a pick axe. (Mustn’t mar the lovely white fur with a humane bullet, now, must we??!) I just don’t get it. How does killing an animal prove your manliness? Hand-to-claw/fang/tooth would be a better show, I’d think. Now if he could catch that Oryx on foot, wrestle it down, and then kill it- bare-handed- without being skewered by the horns first, that would be something. But a shot from a high-powered, laser-guided rifle from half a mile away????… that’s no contest. Nothing to be proud of.
I actually wept as I looked at the piles of bloodied seals in Canada, and the gorgeous "safari trophies", and couldn’t help but ask God for forgiveness. This scene must just break His heart. He declared it all "Very good", and here we are, behaving like..well, humans. (Animals don’t do that!)
It’s enough to make me ashamed to be a human being sometimes.
I don’t get it.
I’ve been collecting photos of each kind of mammal (Each "order") for a class I’ll be doing this fall. While I was searching on-line, I have often come across some pictures that either broke my heart or just saddened me. Big strong "manly men" posing proudly in front of an animal they have just killed. Like a lovely Arabian Oryx. Or big strong manly men clubbing a helpless one-day old seal pup to death over the head with a pick axe. (Mustn’t mar the lovely white fur with a humane bullet, now, must we??!) I just don’t get it. How does killing an animal prove your manliness? Hand-to-claw/fang/tooth would be a better show, I’d think. Now if he could catch that Oryx on foot, wrestle it down, and then kill it- bare-handed- without being skewered by the horns first, that would be something. But a shot from a high-powered, laser-guided rifle from half a mile away????… that’s no contest. Nothing to be proud of.
I actually wept as I looked at the piles of bloodied seals in Canada, and the gorgeous "safari trophies", and couldn’t help but ask God for forgiveness. This scene must just break His heart. He declared it all "Very good", and here we are, behaving like..well, humans. (Animals don’t do that!)
It’s enough to make me ashamed to be a human being sometimes.
But then I find a picture of a man bottle-feeding an orphaned pangolin, or a group of zookeepers celebrating the birth of a baby aardvark, or a fireman giving a burnt koala a drink of water from his water bottle. Or a man running in front of a bulldozer, uprooting the rare ground-orchids they are about to pave over, so they can be transplanted. Then I sigh, and think… OK….there’s still hope.
It may be a lost cause. Humans have screwed up just about every thing they’ve touched. I might not even make the slightest little difference in the big scheme of things. But, when I die and get to heaven, I don’t think God is going to ask me if I saved the Philippine Eagle from extinction. He won’t ask me how many acres of rainforest I prevented from being destroyed. He won’t ask me if I was able to reverse the greenhouse effect. I think He’ll just ask me if I kept trying, if I did everything I could.
And I’ll say yes.
And wipe a tear.
Going Buggy!
I wrote this one in January, 2008.
As usual, wierd things have come and gone in my house. Another school year is half-done, and the fun stuff is about to begin. The 200-odd photos of mammals are gone, since I finally finished that lesson-plan. No feathers strewn hither and yon, since Buster isn’t currently molting. Binocs, spotting scope and field guides are still visible. No skulls presently. (Although I did find a beaver skull in my backseat last month that I forgot to put back on the shelf…)
I have fishbowl of liverworts- a "primitive" non-vascular plant. Another frequently overlooked fascinating life-form. I have a 5 gallon aquarium "phylum garden"- a terrarium with as many different phyla of plants as possible in it. I can’t manage to keep that moss going, darn it!
I am currently in a "buggy" frame of mind. Last fall I did a fascinating program on stinging insects, so I had a few wasp or bee bodies on my desk for study. Nieghbors "donated" them- after spraying the hives. Nuts. I’d rather look at the live ones in the hive- from a safe distance!
And my newest acquisitions are in two more 5-gallon tanks. In one tank are my daughters "pets" - giant cockroaches. One largish male Madagascan Hissing Cockroach, about 2 inches long. He’s a beaut.
As usual, wierd things have come and gone in my house. Another school year is half-done, and the fun stuff is about to begin. The 200-odd photos of mammals are gone, since I finally finished that lesson-plan. No feathers strewn hither and yon, since Buster isn’t currently molting. Binocs, spotting scope and field guides are still visible. No skulls presently. (Although I did find a beaver skull in my backseat last month that I forgot to put back on the shelf…)
I have fishbowl of liverworts- a "primitive" non-vascular plant. Another frequently overlooked fascinating life-form. I have a 5 gallon aquarium "phylum garden"- a terrarium with as many different phyla of plants as possible in it. I can’t manage to keep that moss going, darn it!
I am currently in a "buggy" frame of mind. Last fall I did a fascinating program on stinging insects, so I had a few wasp or bee bodies on my desk for study. Nieghbors "donated" them- after spraying the hives. Nuts. I’d rather look at the live ones in the hive- from a safe distance!
And my newest acquisitions are in two more 5-gallon tanks. In one tank are my daughters "pets" - giant cockroaches. One largish male Madagascan Hissing Cockroach, about 2 inches long. He’s a beaut. The other is "Tuck", a lovely female Giant Cave Cockroach, a wee bit over 3 inches long, with a gorgeous golden shimmer about her shell and antennae that are always waving. She
just had 39 babies. (cocroaches, anyone?). These are the perfect pets. They eat anything, don’t stink (really!), and don’t fly, don’t bite, and make no noise. Hiss cost me the grand total of 99 cents! Tuck was given to me.
just had 39 babies. (cocroaches, anyone?). These are the perfect pets. They eat anything, don’t stink (really!), and don’t fly, don’t bite, and make no noise. Hiss cost me the grand total of 99 cents! Tuck was given to me. 
And in the other tank, is Rosie. Ahhh, Rosie. She’s my new pet tarantula. Hah! She’s very pretty, for a tarantula. She’s a Chilean Rose-haired- her cephalothorax (her "body") is a coppery metallic pink, and her belly is copper. The rest is a beigy-copper. Her toes are velvety black. I do pick her up daily, with respect, since she technically could bite. (Her venom is about equal to that of a
bee, so I’m not too concerned about that, but her 1/2" fangs would really hurt!) She’s very mild-mannered. Another cool first pet for anyone with the nerve! (Remember, not all tarantulas are this docile- many will bite first and not bother to ask questions later…. do your homework first!!!)I have taken my new critters to "bug" programs. (None are actually "bugs", mind you.) I once did a "misunderstood critters" program at a local library. A streak of fiendishness came over me, and I "wore" Hiss on my shirt like a brooch. He’s slow, so I didn’t worry about him scurrying away. The librarian, bless her heart, didn’t notice him until she shook my hand. Hiss took a couple of steps and waggled his antennae. I have never seen a mild-mannered grey-haired librarian move so fast or shriek so loudly! [heeheehee!!] And when I went back to the desk to announce my departure, I was wearing Rosie. Needless to say, the poor woman nearly had a coronary. I’m so bad. A couple of months later, for the next program I did there, I was immediately recognized, and she looked me over carefully-from a distance- before shaking my hand! We all had a good laugh over that. It’s sorta fun earning this "wierd" reputation.
Can’t wait to see the reaction of my highschool students in a few weeks when I bring my critters to class. Who knows… maybe I’ll wear Hiss again. It’s so fun being strange!
Making a Difference
I wrote this in May, 2007. I still like it, so I'm copying it.
----
I just read over my blogs. Most of them I still like. I still especially like the " I Don’t Get It" entry. I guess you could say that’s my "purpose" in life.
I got to thinking about one phrase I used. I said I might not even make the slightest little difference. Perhaps on a global scale that’s true. But at this moment, as I sit on my porch, there is non-stop action at my pond. A pair of cardinals, a pair of catbirds, a pair of mockingbirds, a grackle, my resident sparrows, 3 mourning doves, and several robins. Not to mention the rabbits and the squirrels. Soon the butterflies and other insects will arive.
They all have fresh water to drink. There is mud a-plenty for the robins to line their nests with-and the coconut husks from my planter! Dried grasses for the sparrows and finches. Trees and shrubs for shelter and nesting. Later in the season there will be berries and seeds, and nectar, and leaves for caterpillars to munch.
This might seem like a small thing. But, 6 years ago, all that was here was grass. And cement. It was a biological waste of space, offering nothing. Not even starlings bothered to visit the yard. Now, with a little care and a lot of work, my yard provides living things of all sorts with the basics of life- and a few little luxuries as well. Now it sustains and comforts dozens of creatures.
I remember a story I read somewhere. A boy was travelling down a rainy road with his grandfather. Every few feet he made his grandfather stop the car. The boy’d get out of the car, and remove a toad from the middle of the road, carefully placing it in the brush along the sides. After the umpteenth time, the grandfather was getting irritated. "Son, you can’t possibly make a difference! There are so many of them!" The boy stopped, and replied -as he picked up yet another toad- "Well, it makes a difference to this one!".
I guess that’s how we must look at things. Every living thing has a desire to live. And God made each and every one of them. It matters to each bird that they have fresh water to drink and bathe in. It matters to each dove that they have cool mulch to sun themselves in. It matters to each squirrel that they can find warm nesting material for their babies. And it matters to each creature that they have food.
So… I guess I did make a difference. I have provided food, water, shelter, nesting materials and places for creatures….in a place where only a few years ago there was none. I have made a difference for that robin who is pouncing on worms in my garden bed where before was just cement. I have made a difference for that silly dove who is trying to decide how to get in the water for a bath, where before was just grass.
So here I sit, glancing at "Frankie" - my St. Francis of Assisi statue in front of my pond- Yes. I have made a difference. A mighty difference, in the eyes of those who are affected.
----
I just read over my blogs. Most of them I still like. I still especially like the " I Don’t Get It" entry. I guess you could say that’s my "purpose" in life.
I got to thinking about one phrase I used. I said I might not even make the slightest little difference. Perhaps on a global scale that’s true. But at this moment, as I sit on my porch, there is non-stop action at my pond. A pair of cardinals, a pair of catbirds, a pair of mockingbirds, a grackle, my resident sparrows, 3 mourning doves, and several robins. Not to mention the rabbits and the squirrels. Soon the butterflies and other insects will arive.
They all have fresh water to drink. There is mud a-plenty for the robins to line their nests with-and the coconut husks from my planter! Dried grasses for the sparrows and finches. Trees and shrubs for shelter and nesting. Later in the season there will be berries and seeds, and nectar, and leaves for caterpillars to munch.
This might seem like a small thing. But, 6 years ago, all that was here was grass. And cement. It was a biological waste of space, offering nothing. Not even starlings bothered to visit the yard. Now, with a little care and a lot of work, my yard provides living things of all sorts with the basics of life- and a few little luxuries as well. Now it sustains and comforts dozens of creatures.
I remember a story I read somewhere. A boy was travelling down a rainy road with his grandfather. Every few feet he made his grandfather stop the car. The boy’d get out of the car, and remove a toad from the middle of the road, carefully placing it in the brush along the sides. After the umpteenth time, the grandfather was getting irritated. "Son, you can’t possibly make a difference! There are so many of them!" The boy stopped, and replied -as he picked up yet another toad- "Well, it makes a difference to this one!".
I guess that’s how we must look at things. Every living thing has a desire to live. And God made each and every one of them. It matters to each bird that they have fresh water to drink and bathe in. It matters to each dove that they have cool mulch to sun themselves in. It matters to each squirrel that they can find warm nesting material for their babies. And it matters to each creature that they have food.
So… I guess I did make a difference. I have provided food, water, shelter, nesting materials and places for creatures….in a place where only a few years ago there was none. I have made a difference for that robin who is pouncing on worms in my garden bed where before was just cement. I have made a difference for that silly dove who is trying to decide how to get in the water for a bath, where before was just grass.
So here I sit, glancing at "Frankie" - my St. Francis of Assisi statue in front of my pond- Yes. I have made a difference. A mighty difference, in the eyes of those who are affected.
Spring, 2007
Ahhhhh! SPRING!!!!May 11th, 2007 by hannahsmommy
Ahhhh! At last! Spring has sprung! Once again I can sit outside on my porch in the mornings and watch the "traffic". Nowadays the visitors consist of Goldfinches, House Finches, a few pairs of Cardinals (newcomers), Chickadees (also new!), several Robins, two Mourning Doves, one Mockingbird, and as of this morning, my favorite— at least one Catbird!
One of the Robins has been stealing the lining of my window-box, made of shredded coconut husks. I know it’s for her nest, so I ‘m only mildly annoyed. Now the soil washes out little by little every time I water it. And a squirrel stole about 1/3 of the stuffing of the pillow on my seat- a very pregnant squirrel, so I let her have as much as she wanted.
The house finches have set up housekeeping again in their box, and a pair of Cardinals had a nest in the backyard hedge. ("had" a nest…. Jef trimmed the hedge and the nest went with it. Sayang! 3 eggs and a newly-hatched baby! Hannah found it, and was very distressed! She grabbed Jef and said "Daddy! Bee nest fall! Babyegg fall, broke! Oh! Back? " She was gesturing very dramatically! (She says "bird" as "bee". Eggs to eat are "egg", but wild eggs are "babyegg". A baby bird is "babyegg out". So cute!) She wanted the nest fixed! So sweet!
Yesterday afternoon two male Robins were duking it out over something! What a ruckus! Hannah scolded them for fighting - "Stop bee!! No! Nice!" (Translation: Stop fighting, birds! No! Be nice!")
My garden is different every year- between my rearranging and the plants’ spreading and reseeding themselves, I am hard-pressed to remember what is what as it comes up. OK…. is this thing way over here a goldenrod…. or is it an aster…… didn’t I move those asters last fall?? And WHERE did I move those milkweeds to?
I have declared war on the Canada thistles this year! Those suckers hurt when you step on them! And both Hannah and I love to walk around barefoot (when Daddy’s not home to scold us!) I hate using sprays, since it kills whatever it touches. (I….ahem… accidentally killed my neighbors Peony’s last time I used it…I dropped the hose and it squirted on them…oooops!) Thistles are a product of the Fall- I know it! Everything God made was "good", and as far as I know, there are no redeeming qualities to Canada Thistles. Aside from herbicides, the only way to rid them from your garden is to yank… and yank, and yank. If you leave even 1/16 of an inch of root, it will grow back. BUT..they put most of their reproductive energy into spreading via their root system as opposed to seeds. So, if you keep yanking, eventually it will die of sheer exhaustion. It can take a few years in a bad infestation! But I am a very stubborn person!
Every morning, since I am not knitting anything presently, I make my coffee, put on my work gloves, and grab my weeding thingamajig. I swear.. there are thistles growing this morning where there were none yesterday! grrrrrrrr!
Well, my hubby and daughter are waiting, perched in front of me, wistfully sighing; Hannah said "Go voom voom!" Jef said "I’ll go get my KEYS…." . I guess we are going somewhere. Besides… my daughter just presented me with my shoes (threw them at me, actually) with "Mama soos! One two Mama’s soos!" I get the message!
Ahhhh! At last! Spring has sprung! Once again I can sit outside on my porch in the mornings and watch the "traffic". Nowadays the visitors consist of Goldfinches, House Finches, a few pairs of Cardinals (newcomers), Chickadees (also new!), several Robins, two Mourning Doves, one Mockingbird, and as of this morning, my favorite— at least one Catbird!
One of the Robins has been stealing the lining of my window-box, made of shredded coconut husks. I know it’s for her nest, so I ‘m only mildly annoyed. Now the soil washes out little by little every time I water it. And a squirrel stole about 1/3 of the stuffing of the pillow on my seat- a very pregnant squirrel, so I let her have as much as she wanted.
The house finches have set up housekeeping again in their box, and a pair of Cardinals had a nest in the backyard hedge. ("had" a nest…. Jef trimmed the hedge and the nest went with it. Sayang! 3 eggs and a newly-hatched baby! Hannah found it, and was very distressed! She grabbed Jef and said "Daddy! Bee nest fall! Babyegg fall, broke! Oh! Back? " She was gesturing very dramatically! (She says "bird" as "bee". Eggs to eat are "egg", but wild eggs are "babyegg". A baby bird is "babyegg out". So cute!) She wanted the nest fixed! So sweet!
Yesterday afternoon two male Robins were duking it out over something! What a ruckus! Hannah scolded them for fighting - "Stop bee!! No! Nice!" (Translation: Stop fighting, birds! No! Be nice!")
My garden is different every year- between my rearranging and the plants’ spreading and reseeding themselves, I am hard-pressed to remember what is what as it comes up. OK…. is this thing way over here a goldenrod…. or is it an aster…… didn’t I move those asters last fall?? And WHERE did I move those milkweeds to?
I have declared war on the Canada thistles this year! Those suckers hurt when you step on them! And both Hannah and I love to walk around barefoot (when Daddy’s not home to scold us!) I hate using sprays, since it kills whatever it touches. (I….ahem… accidentally killed my neighbors Peony’s last time I used it…I dropped the hose and it squirted on them…oooops!) Thistles are a product of the Fall- I know it! Everything God made was "good", and as far as I know, there are no redeeming qualities to Canada Thistles. Aside from herbicides, the only way to rid them from your garden is to yank… and yank, and yank. If you leave even 1/16 of an inch of root, it will grow back. BUT..they put most of their reproductive energy into spreading via their root system as opposed to seeds. So, if you keep yanking, eventually it will die of sheer exhaustion. It can take a few years in a bad infestation! But I am a very stubborn person!
Every morning, since I am not knitting anything presently, I make my coffee, put on my work gloves, and grab my weeding thingamajig. I swear.. there are thistles growing this morning where there were none yesterday! grrrrrrrr!
Well, my hubby and daughter are waiting, perched in front of me, wistfully sighing; Hannah said "Go voom voom!" Jef said "I’ll go get my KEYS…." . I guess we are going somewhere. Besides… my daughter just presented me with my shoes (threw them at me, actually) with "Mama soos! One two Mama’s soos!" I get the message!
My Garden
Every morning, I get up at around 6- which has been a real challenge since I am not a morning person. I get up about 1 1/2 hours before my daughter, make a cup of Earl Grey or Constant Comment Tea (I’ve given my stomach a break from the coffee), take my current knitting or crochet project, and head for my front porch. I park myself on the porch swing, and watch the early morning traffic.
Traffic- not of cars (although I have a few neighbors that are up and about at this time), but of critters! My small (maybe 30 ft square)front yard is a Native Wildlife Habitat. All my plants are native to Pennsylvania, and provide some sort of benefit for songbirds, butterflies and other insects, or hummingbirds. There’s a pond, and a modest fountain. It’s been a "work in progress", but, oh the results!
As soon as my husband put in a flimsily-made birdhouse, a pair of house sparrows moved in. T
hey’ve been there now for 3 years. I love to hear the cheeping of the babies! I was too lazy to prune my butterfly bush this year, and it grew huge! But, laziness has it’s virtues, since Mr and Mrs Robin have decided it’s perfect for their nest. Same goes for the backyard hedge. It’s a beast. (I hate it!) But cardinals, wrens and catbirds nest in it, so I can’t bear to remove it.
Traffic- not of cars (although I have a few neighbors that are up and about at this time), but of critters! My small (maybe 30 ft square)front yard is a Native Wildlife Habitat. All my plants are native to Pennsylvania, and provide some sort of benefit for songbirds, butterflies and other insects, or hummingbirds. There’s a pond, and a modest fountain. It’s been a "work in progress", but, oh the results!
As soon as my husband put in a flimsily-made birdhouse, a pair of house sparrows moved in. T
hey’ve been there now for 3 years. I love to hear the cheeping of the babies! I was too lazy to prune my butterfly bush this year, and it grew huge! But, laziness has it’s virtues, since Mr and Mrs Robin have decided it’s perfect for their nest. Same goes for the backyard hedge. It’s a beast. (I hate it!) But cardinals, wrens and catbirds nest in it, so I can’t bear to remove it. 
Much to my daughter’s delight, I’ve got butterflies galore- Monarchs, Swallowtails, Red Admirals, Painted Ladies, Clearwing moths, Skippers, Hairstreaks, Blues, Question Marks, and others I haven’t figured out yet. (I’m not too good at my butterfly ID ‘ing yet). And I’ve got at least 4 species of wasp that visit the flowers too, beside the fat bumblebees and the occassional honey-bee. For the first time I’ve even got Dragonflies breeding in my pond, which is way cool! I love dragonflies!
I just discovered my Swamp Hibiscus finally decided to bloom- after taunting me for 5 years. Early this spring, this plant and I had a discussion. I told it either it was going to bloom this year or it was heading for the compost pile. Guess it worked. It’s got 3 lovely rosy blossoms on it.As I sit and knit, I might hear a soft squeeky twitter by my ear. If I hold very still, our little female hummingbird might check out the flower patterns on my malong. (yes, I still wear my malong!) She steadfastly refuses to use either of the fancy hummingbird feeders I diligently keep filled just for her. (sigh). But she loves the honeysuckle and the Cardinal flowers. She might nab a spider or fly as well. Never had a male visiting. Wonder why.
We have a family of Mourning doves as well, and they are so tame. They like to drink from the basin at the end of the cascade. When I had to reconstruct the cascade/waterfall this spring, they flew down and waited for me- about 3 feet away- as if to make sure I was meeting their specifications!
I also believe there’s a family of rabbits living nearby- not sure where, but they do like to take shelter in my garden. My daughter loves to chase them. These rabbits have figured out that she’s not much of a threat, and just stay a few hops ahead of her- around and around and around my pond- then they zip into the foliage. Hannah keeps going around and around and around! I can imagine the rabbits chuckling as they watch her!
Now my Coneflowers are going to seed, and the Goldfinches are feasting on them. Such beauties are a delight to the eye. I have decided that it is impossible to be grumpy and watch a goldfinch.
A few years ago, we had a huge orange Orb-weaver spider(think "Charlotte’s Web") that would spin a gorgeous web every evening between the pillars of the porch. This web had to be 4 or 5 feet across, and it was a work of art. Jef and I actually went out, sat down, and watched her (?) spin it each night. It was amazing. That was 3 years ago, and there haven’t been any since. Hmm. Wonder why.
A few years ago, we had a huge orange Orb-weaver spider(think "Charlotte’s Web") that would spin a gorgeous web every evening between the pillars of the porch. This web had to be 4 or 5 feet across, and it was a work of art. Jef and I actually went out, sat down, and watched her (?) spin it each night. It was amazing. That was 3 years ago, and there haven’t been any since. Hmm. Wonder why.
I am always loathe to sacrifice my morning ritual of watching the hummers, the rabbits, robins, doves, bees, mockingbird, etc. Everymorning brings some new discovery. Maybe I’ll turn into a morning person after all.
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