NaBloPoMo - First Day!!

OK, so I've decided to give National Blog Posting Month (NaBloPoMo) a go for the month of February. I honestly didn't choose February because it has the fewest days, but because it was the first full month following my discovery of NaBloPoMo (but 28 instead of 30 or 31 does make a slightly more appealing goal, I suppose...).

I liked the idea of doing this, as I really want to be more consistent in my journaling efforts, and this was a great kick-start. We'll see how it goes; this month's topic is 'want'. They say topics are optional, but a focus helps... I want to succeed at blogging/journaling every day this month... here goes!!

Passionately Curious

While looking for a long-lost poem that I had heard on the Writer's Almanac in 1999, I stumbled across a second grade teacher's blog called Passionately Curious (where she had, much to my delight, reprinted the poem - see below). I was so charmed by this view into her classroom, it made me long to be a second-grade teacher. The title of her blog was what caused me to click over to it in the first place; passionately curious is an apt description for so many of the naturalists and educators I know. I also discovered (in her bio) the source of the blog's title:

I have no special talents. I am only passionately curious. - Albert Einstein

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Here's the poem I was searching for:


Something Told the Wild Geese

Something told the wild geese
It was time to go.
Though the fields lay golden
Something whispered - "Snow."
Leaves were green and stirring,
Berries, luster-glossed,
But beneath warm feathers
Something cautioned - "Frost."
All the sagging orchards
Steamed with amber spice,
But each wild breast stiffened
At remembered ice.
Something told the wild geese
It was time to fly -
Summer sun was on their wings,
Winter in their cry.

Rachel Field

Richard Louv's Blog on Children and Nature

One of my MEES colleagues sent around an article from Richard Louv's blog: "Field Notes from the Future" - something I probably should have been aware of before now, but wasn't. Richard Louv is the author of the powerful book Last Child in the Woods, which (among other things) deals with an issue he termed "nature deficency disorder"; an topic environmental educators all over the world have have since taken on. All the blog articles all well worth reading (and there aren't that many, so get started!), but there's an article on there that really struck me called Singing for Bears. Read it.

25 Random Things (About Me)

A few friends of mine sent me this note on Facebook recently: “25 random things about me” (or something like that). I loved the idea because it really got me thinking... what don't most of my friends know about me? And of that (mostly useless) information, what's worth telling them? I also loved getting this from them and learning some trivial, and not-so trivial things about them. Here's what I came up with:

1. If I could only use two words to describe myself I would use fiery and passionate

2. I performed in Carnegie Hall when I was sixteen (not by myself... with a regional youth symphony orchestra)

3. I spent most of my childhood wishing I were almost any animal other than human (preferably a furry one)

4. I have two tattoos and plan to get more; each one is, or will be, a piece of my soul inscribed on my skin.

5. Until I met my husband, I was dead certain that I would never have children

6. I was born on a Friday the 13th (April) and my son was born on Halloween (at 13:13).

7. I LOVE to sing!!!

8. I am amazed (and pleased) at how much being a mother now defines me; my son has helped me find parts of my soul I never knew existed

9. I don't make friends very easily, and so I cherish the ones I have; they mean more to me than they will ever know (even though I'm lousy at keeping in touch)

10. Halloween is my very favorite holiday (and was prior to the birth of my son).

11. I haven't done nearly enough world traveling

12. Making a difference in the world is the main force that drives me every day.

13… is my favorite number.

14. I keep thinking about what I’m going to do when I win the lottery, but I don’t play it.

15. I discovered I had claustrophobia when attempting to enter one of the pyramids of Egypt during Ramadan in 1997.

16. If I could live anywhere in the States, it would be in the Monadnock region of NH – I went to camp there as a child and worked and went to school there as an adult. Someday (someday) I plan to return.

17. My Sicilian grandfather has a rather...interesting...heritage

18. I love, love, love, to swim, but not in ponds with squishy bottoms (which is most of them)

19. If I could be doing anything at (almost) any moment, it would be riding a horse

20. After 12 days with no power in our house last month, I discovered that there are few more satisfying things than sitting down to a meal cooked in your own house with your family (with all the lights on...)

21. My favorite author is Stephen King; I'd love to sit down and talk with him

22. I could probably identify 90% of the plants and animals in your backyard (stole this one from Kate - thanks!!)

23. I collect coins (I'm such a geek)

24. I never told the person who inspired me to become an educator that he did so (I will though, I swear!)

25. I love my name.

New Beginnings

We have a new president... and I am so thrilled. I watched the inaguration today at work with the kids with an intensity I've never given to presidental politics (around interruptions for things like heating up lunch, and coaxing a 5-year old to eat her chicken). I truely hope that the change that will come, will find us at home as well.

After the challenges of the ice storm, losing the baby and our wonderful Pandora - not to mention the health issues Obo and I have faced lately - we could use some change. The good news is that things feel like they're moving back to normal for our household (despite my back injury after slipping on ice Sunday, grrr.). Smiles and laughter were far more present than they have been for quite some time.

I have hope.

Predators and an Overabundance of Whitetail Deer in MA

I'm giving a talk on predators tonight at the Y; in preparation I was thumbing through an old issue of Massachusetts Wildlife (Nov. 2006), as I had seen mentioned on the cover an article about whitetail deer over-population. After reading the article, I have to say I'm even more fired up for my talk. It did a good job discussing the history of whitetails in New England, their human-caused decline and re-growth, and talked about the challenges we face living with a large, abundant mammal so close to our civilization. Hunting, however was the only method mentioned as a means of restricting the deer population (discounting natural causes which would result in ecosystem destruction and disease and starvation for thousands of animals). The article discussed the pros and cons people feel about hunting (while mentioning that the author - Tovar Cerulli - is a hunter himself) and proposed it as the best viable solution to the deer problem.

I happen to think that hunting is an excellent form of population control for our out-of-control deer population (and agree with the author that it's our best solution right now). And I also happen to think that a healthy predator population (i.e. - wolves) is also a potential solution. Reintroduction of wolves is a very controversial topic - no doubt about it. But much to my frustration, the author didn't even MENTION the role predators naturally play in keeping ungulate populations healthy and stable, and that fact that our top level predators are missing here in New England - and that's a big problem. Regardless of how you feel about an issue like predator re-introduction, to not even mention it as an ecological issue drives me crazy. People can continue on their way with their misconceptions about predators big and small, ignorant of how imbalanced our forests are without the biggest ones present. I'm SO glad I'm running my program this evening. **Stepping off my soapbox**

As an aside, I will be leading a tracking program in the central MA region this Saturday, January 16th from 10 - 12:30. If you're interested in attending, send me an email and I'll get you the details.

The Daily Coyote

I was in Borders with Obo the other day, and saw the most beautiful (well, they're all beautiful, but then I'm biased) coyote staring out at me from the cover of a book. Turns out it's a book called "The Daily Coyote", and of course I picked it up immediately and started reading... it's the story of an author and photographer (Shreve Stockton) in Wyoming who adopted a coyote pup to keep it from dying without it's parents (who were shot, incidentally, by her friend - who then gave her the pup; I find that slightly disturbing, but I haven't read the whole book yet and will try to withhold judgement for now). The book documents the author's life from pre-coyote (his name is Charlie) through their first year (I believe) together. It started out as a blog - http://www.dailycoyote.net/ - which is still up and running where she posts the most amazing photos of Charlie, and gives information and updates on their lives.

I am dead jealous. I can't imagine the challenges faced by trying to live with a wild animal - even one that you've raised yourself. I have enough knowledge and respect for wildlife that I can't say I would ever deliberately undertake such an effort (raising my four-year-old is enough of a challenge!). But I'm jealous nonetheless. I adore coyotes, and am moved by the photos and experiences Shreve Stockton shares in her book and on her blog.

Day 11 With No Power...

We're on day 11 following the ice storm, and still have no power. We spent our first two nights at a co-workers house in Framingham, and the third night up in Nashua with my in-laws. I found a friend of mine who had an available generator on Monday, and Obo trekked to Lowell to fetch it and hook it up to the house to get the furnace running.

So that's the way we've been living... heat and hot water thanks to the generator, and a few lights, but that's about it. Cooking needs to take place outside on our camp stove (a real pain in a snow storm, as Obo will tell you following Friday night), and our fridge still has the odor of spoiled food (despite a thorough cleaning - we're going to take bleach and baking soda to it this week) so we're not willing to use it yet, even if the power does come on.

With the twin snow storms this past weekend, we gave up and went back to Nashua on Saturday. We waited last night for the majority of the snow to abate, but that meant that we didn't get home until 8:30 PM. and had a 40 degree house to try and heat. Man, was it cold going to bed last night!! I've slept outside in 40 and even 30 degree weather, but don't exactly relish the feeling of camping in my own bedroom.

So we missed Yule last night due to the storm, but plan on doing a small celebration at home tonight. This is the most un-holiday-ish holiday season I can remember. We haven't done any x-mas shopping (cards are out of the question), and missed holiday events we had planned on attending with the Society of Elder Faiths last weekend. Blah. I'm looking forward to traveling to see my family over New Year's. Hopefully that will help us feel more like celebrating...

In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out what I haven't learned from our experiences so far (there has to be a silver lining there somewhere). Certainly one lesson I have learned is not to take anything for granted. As Obo said to me last week, these things always happen to 'somebody else'. Well, not this time. And a line from an article that I read in Pan Gaia magazine recently has stuck with me... something to the effect of whatever can happen, can happen to you (relative to planning for lean times). I certainly feel like we're there right now.

Surprising Damage from Ice Storm

Central MA (along with many other parts of New England) was hit with a massive ice storm yesterday afternoon, which lasted into this morning. Weather and local officials said it was the worst storm in at least 10, and some said even 30 years. As a transplanted New Yorker, it's definitely the worst storm I've ever seen. And the damage surrounding our house is phenomenal.

I was up all night last night listening to the gun-shot and thunder-rumbling sounds of tree limbs crashing to earth all around us. It was the most terrifying night I can remember. I was half-convinced that the pine next to our driveway was going to crash into the house. It didn't, thankfully (actually the house and both cars have escaped unscathed so far - there's still more limbs and power lines coming down, and hopefully that will continue). Poor Pandora was a nervous wreck, panting and pacing all around our bedroom. We finally gave up (she was keeping us awake, along with all the racket outside) and gated her downstairs, and she spent the remainder of the night sitting in front of the gate, knocking into it with her paws, and panting loudly. Needless to say, I didn't sleep at all last night.

We're without power, as is most (if not all) of our town, and driving down to work today was a hazard, with no traffic lights at major intersections, and trees limbs and power lines all over the place. We're trying to decide if we're going to try and stay at home tonight, or head elsewhere for a warmer night....

Wolves and the Ranching Way of Life

I just heard an interesting story on NPR regarding wolves and ranching. I’m a wolf advocate, so these stories particularly garner my interest. It started out by reminding us that the Rocky Mountain population of gray wolves are being de-listed (from the endangered species list) at the end of this year; a relief to ranchers who will be allowed to hunt them on (and off) their property. While I’m not in favor of de-listing these wolves yet (and although the science for doing so with this population is sound [this time], I vote with the argument for not de-listing until the species is appropriately recovered throughout it’s entire former range*) they didn’t focus on this statement. Rather they used it to segue way into the struggles that ranchers now have in order to make a living every year; a perspective I found refreshing.

The main point of the story being that wolf predation of cattle is the least of a rancher’s worries, even though the loss of just a few head of cattle can be thousands of dollars to an individual rancher. It was mentioned that wolves don’t even account for the majority of cattle takes in a given year – coyote and grizzly bear do. Unfortunately for wolves however, (and anyone familiar with reintroduction efforts of the species can tell you this) they become the scapegoat because so many people have a visceral reaction to them. They are seen by many who work the land as the ultimate predator that men (often the grandfathers and great-grandfathers of today’s ranchers) worked to eliminate from their lands completely. Sadly though, an ecological perspective – the importance of top-level predators in an ecosystem – is lost in the daily struggle to make a living. Not a perspective that I can’t understand, but I find it sad nonetheless. Isn’t the struggle to make a living and expand our way of life the argument which justified the deaths of so many Native Americans during the colonization and western expansion of our country?

The story went on to talk about the diminishing returns ranchers are seeing every year - making it harder for them to stay in business. And some ranchers are taking big money from developers to sell off their land, creating what could become a drastic change in the western landscape. The question was raised whether traditional ranching, or multi-million dollar tourist "ranches" and increasing development would become the future of the west. They wrapped up the story succinctly by stating that among all the woes facing ranchers, wolves are the one issue that they can “put in their crosshairs and pull the trigger on.”

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*More on the argument for delaying wolf de-listing... Waiting until wolves are recovered throughout their former range (see this link from the US Fish and Wildlife service for a map) before de-listing has a sound scientific argument: a population potentially under threat (and yes, despite their strong numbers now, humans still can prove a threat to wolf populations - we've already shown this to be true by eradicating this once wide-spread species in the first place) wouldn't be an isolated one, and could [potentially] renew itself if necessary with individuals - and genes - from a more stable one. Additionally, some argue that recovering wolves in their entire former range, instead of saying that they're stable just "here", is truer to the spirit of the endangered species act.