Nature

Turtles to Toads – LIVE ANIMAL PROGRAM at the Brooks Memorial Library 
Explore the worlds of repitles and amphibians through an interactive slideshow, touchable artifacts and live animals.

Saturday, August 3, 10:30 AM
Main Room

Presented by the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum as part of the Dig into Reading Summer Reading Program. 

Space is limited. Register by calling 254-5290 ext 110.

Through most of late June and early July, it was impossible to live anywhere near the town woods and not hear the eerie call of the wood thrush.  They seemed to be everywhere.  For a while, believing they were rarer than they are, I thought it might be just one or two who got around a lot.  But I heard them so regularly and in such scattered places — Cedar Street, Forest Street, the Retreat trails — that I decided there must be more than a few.  

It seems that honeybees do not love all flowers equally.

We’ve discovered one they love above the others: globe thistle.

Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance’s (SeVWA’s) water quality monitoring program was begun about 10 years ago. At that time, the organization was known as West River Watershed Alliance (WRWA). This past Wednesday, July 17th, was our third 2013 river sampling day.

Thankfully the weather had calmed down a bit in comparison to our last sampling day two weeks before – though the temperatures have been extremely high. The hot, dry spell has the rivers back to more normal levels and it has also influenced most of our sampling locations’ E. coli numbers to be at acceptable levels for swimming and/or boating. There were a few sites on the Williams and Saxtons Rivers that were just above the 235 E. coli per 100 ml. standard.

Turtles to Toads – LIVE ANIMAL PROGRAM at the Brooks Memorial Library

Explore the worlds of repitles and amphibians through an interactive slideshow, touchable artifacts and live animals.

Saturday, August 3, 10:30 AM
Main Room

Presented by the Southern Vermont Natural History Museum as part of the Dig into Reading Summer Reading Program. Register by calling 254-5290 ext 110.

Southeastern Vermont Watershed Alliance’s (SeVWA’s) water quality monitoring program was begun about 10 years ago. At that time, in 2003, the organization was known as West River Watershed Alliance (WRWA). Our 2013 stream monitoring program began on Wednesday, June 19th and this past Wednesday was SeVWA’s second 2013 river sampling day.

Things went well for most volunteer monitors on Wednesday morning – though rivers and streams were running murky, high and fast. Volunteers typically sample between 6 – 7:30 AM on scheduled monitoring days. Because of the amount of rain that had fallen in the region the previous 24-48 hours, the water level and flow was too deep and fast for three sites to be sampled along the Williams River, but generally the sampling, drop-off/pick-up/delivery schedule for getting samples to the lab for testing went smoothly.

Yesterday I was driving North on 142 in a wooded section of Vernon, when a very large brown bird flew across the highway. A split second later, 2 such birds recrossed the highway

They were NOT turkeys, vultures, hawks or ospreys.

I’m thinking golden eagles, but it appears they are extremely rare in Vermont.

There’s a flood watch in effect for Windham County for most of the day, and a showing every day now through Independence Day next Thursday. A very wet week.

The Windham County Sheriff’s Department posted this photo of the Whetstone this morning:

Summer officially began today at 1:04 AM EDT. 

This photo of the sun was taken in Italy by someone else. 

 according to the Weather Service and the cat hiding under me.

There was a tornado watch in the Albany area, and warnings say there could be big hail and deadly lightning.

Stay safe. Should be over by midnight or so.

With the future of “life as we know it” increasingly entering a gray-zone of uncertainty this might be a good time to stand above the controversies of can we, or can we not, save ourselves.

Confined to our small planet, we humans evolved an anthropocentric view of life, believing that “human beings are the central or most significant species on the planet, or the assessment of reality through an exclusively human perspective.” ~Merriam-Webster

“And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.” ~Genesis

And so, creepeth we did.

This unexpected “visitor” appeared at Bellows Falls Country Club.

Is it here to play golf or just to watch? 

This past weekend, I went up to the White River Indie Film Festival, to see the screening of Chasing Ice. Missed it when it was here.

For those who don’t know, this film is a record of the retreat and melting of the glaciers. Twenty something cameras were set up to automatically take a picture an hour, for three years. A composite video was made to show the change to ice forms and landscapes.

The film is breathtaking, sobering, depressing…actually beyond description. The vanishing glaciers, and unprecedented melt astounded the expectations of all participants.

Last fall we planted 1,000 daffodils at Exit 1. They are starting to bloom! We invite you come out to Exit 1 on Greenup Day to help plant more flowers, help greenup the Exit 1 end of Canal Street (if you wish), and admire the daffodils.

Come at 10:00 a.m. to Exit 1, where we will have Greenup bags and coffee and doughnuts on offer. Wear sturdy clothes and shoes. Bring a trowel for planting if you have one. Park at the Outlet Center. Plan to buy more food and drinks, if you need them, at the nearby Irving gas station, Burger King, or Price Chopper. 

All day the clouds passed over town. I have seen these type of clouds only in photos of HAARP clouds. So I ask myself why would we have Chemtrail HAARP clouds over our little town?

They looked man-made. I have pictures, but I hope you all did look up today and noticed them yourselves.