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How Much Wood Could a Wood Beetle Chew, If…
The tree is more than first a seed, then a stem, then a living trunk, and then dead timber. The tree is a slow, enduring force straining to win the sky. ~Antoine de Saint-Exupery Last week I cut and split some firewood from a hickory that fell across the road in the storms of October,… Read more
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Waiting for Warmth
Adopt the pace of nature: her secret is patience. ~Ralph waldo Emerson These are interesting times for sure and we are all going to need a large dose of patience to get us through to the other side. Melissa and I are lucky to live in a place where it is easy to be socially… Read more
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Oh Yeah, It Must Be Spring
The incredible but annually commonplace change that is life eternally renewed has begun to stir. ~Hal Borland My last post dealt with the rapid changes in weather from the first spring wildflowers in our yard to the switch to bitter cold and time for chopping more firewood. The vagaries of “spring” weather really hit home… Read more
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Wasn’t it Just Spring?
If we had no winter, the spring would not be so pleasant: if we did not sometimes taste of adversity, prosperity would not be so welcome. ~Anne Bradstreet The past couple of days have been warm and spring-like with highs around 60. Yesterday morning dawned with a gray coating of fog across our woods, coating… Read more
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Snow at Last
Oh winter! One never, never loses the surprise and wonder of new fallen snow… ~Emily Carr And surprise it was….they predicted it, and it actually snowed! That has been an unusual happening in these parts for over 450 days (I believe I heard the last measurable snow fall in central North Carolina was about 469… Read more
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Natural Art
All nature is but art unknown to thee. ~Alexander Pope Earlier this week, I accompanied some friends on a stroll through one of my favorite local natural areas – Johnston Mill Nature Preserve in Orange County. This area is managed by the Triangle Land Conservancy and is one of their more popular sites. I love… Read more
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Wherever I Go, I End Up At Pungo
Every place is given its character by certain patterns of events that keep on happening there… ~Christopher Alexander On Day 3, my last day of this coastal adventure, I drove down Hwy 12 to Pea Island NWR. But, as I had feared, the predicted winds were also there, blasting 15-25 mph with sand piling up… Read more
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Cruising the Coastal Plain
Never stop wandering into wonder. ~Suzy Kassem Day two of my wanderings started at sunrise at Marsh A in the Pungo Unit, watching the swans’ world awaken. There were two other cars enjoying the start of the day as hundreds of swans started to stir. When the orange backdrop faded to white light, I drove… Read more
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First in Flight
Feet, what do I need you for when I have wings to fly? ~Frida Kahlo I think I can answer that after spending an afternoon watching my favorite winter resident, the tundra swans, at the Pungo Unit this past weekend. It turns out, if you are one of North America’s largest waterfowl (weighing in at… Read more
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Wanderings
Retirement is not the end of the road. It is the beginning of the open highway. ~Author unknown I mentioned in my last post that this retirement thing is starting to feel real. To confirm it once and for all, I decided to make a trip to the coast this past week. The weather looked… Read more
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Roads End Naturalist 