Joan K's Open Salon Blog

Holiday Gift for the Birds

Sun, 25 Dec 2011 17:12:39 -0500

Carolina Wren December 19, 2011

Last month, I helped with a Junior Naturalist Club at a local middle school. We made pine cones filled with suet and seeds for the birds. It was so much fun I decided to make some of my own.

Directions:

Start with some pine cones (I had old ones that didn't have any scent on them). Tie a pipe cleaner (no ribbon!) around the bottom. Mix about equal parts of vegetable shortening and peanut butter in a big bowl, the stickier the better. Use a small spatula (the kids used plastic knives) to put the mixed suet into the crevices, then roll in wild bird seed and shake off the excess. You might want to do this outside since it's very messy. You should have seen the school children! I attached the pine cones to a burning bush shrub.

Downy Woodpecker December 23, 2011

The tufted titmouse came right away but this downy woodpecker was what I caught with the camera. Other birds I observed on the pine cones were dark eyed juncos, hairy woodpeckers, Carolina chickadees, Northern Mockingbird, and American goldfinches.

The Northern Cardinal kept looking at the cones but didn't eat--just cautious I guess. But he makes a great Christmas decoration just by himself!

By today, the pine cone feeders are almost empty so I plan to refill them in the next day or two. That's a lot quicker than the suet cakes which last almost a week.

I had to post a photo of my Christmas tree this year which I picked out myself from the Spruce Run tree farm only a few miles away. I had my pick from thousands of trees but found this one right away. I think we have more presents for the pets under it than for the two of us but that's ok with me.

Happy Holidays everyone!

Obama 2008 and Thinking Ahead

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 12:01:18 -0500

I was inspired by Razzle Dazzle's post about her memories of the Obama 2009 Inauguration. It made me look up my old post about the day I was on stage with Obama. The link is below. When you click on it, it is set to open up a new window so you can click back here and comment if you like:

On Stage With Obama!

Turn off the Activia ad so you can see the video. I like the last part which is a close-up of the young people looking beamingly at Obama as he goes through a line of supporters. Then, Obama comes back to where we are standing and thanks us! Wow, I will never forget that day!

In the video, you see Senator Webb and our Representative Rick Boucher. Boucher was defeated in 2010--bombarded with attack ads by a secret organization (thanks to the Citizens United Supreme Court ruling). Also, when I worked at the polls, the tea partiers put up posters of Obama together with Boucher since our representative supported Obama early on. Obama is not popular here so that hurt him too.

Now, the tea partiers are targeting Senator Webb so I hope he fares better.

We Spent Christmas in Costa Rica

Sun, 2 Jan 2011 13:01:51 -0500

We spent Christmas week in Costa Rica. We had made a similar trip in 1994, renting a 4WD and driving from the capital, San Jose, to the beach and then to Arenal Volcano. I was struck by how much has changed since then. On the plus side, the roads were much better with a toll highway to the beach that cut the driving time by at least an hour. On the negative side, the population of Costa Rica has doubled since 1994 and with it, more crowding and crime has ensued. Nevertheless, we enjoyed the week away from the cold weather in Virginia.

Montery del Mar at Esterillos Este Beach

I booked an oceanfront view bungalow at the Montery del Mar boutique hotel pictured here behind the palm trees.

The beach is delightfully devoid of people.

The first night was a Saturday so there were many San Jose families such as this mother and father and two children along the beach . . .

. . . or a couple on a romantic horseback ride along the beach at sunset.

Caraca National Park

From the hotel, it was a 30 minute drive to Caraca National Park where we saw and heard two pairs of Scarlet Macaws as we hiked the short trails. Costa Rica has a successful captive breeding and release project which has increased their numbers.

We saw this iguana near the ranger station there.

Arenal Volcano

Arenal Observatory Lodge was our next destination where we could see the volcano from our room. The last 9 kilometers of the drive is still on a pot-holed dirt road but we did not have to forge two creeks this time because sturdy bridges were built over the creeks.

Arenal Volcano has not erupted since last spring. That's a big contrast from 1994 when it would erupt every 90 minutes. There were major eruptions in 1998, 2000, and 2008 so it's not unthinkable that the volcano could become active again.

This view from one of the observatories toward the dining room and Arenal Lake to the west reminded me that the Arenal Observatory Lodge has changed a great deal since our stay in 1994. At that time, it was still used by the Smithsonian where they had set up a seismograph and computer in the dining room. It was great to watch the needle spike when there was an eruption. Now, the computer and seismograph are in the museum on the resort property while the dining room has expanded. And, instead of a nice room with a volcano view we enjoy now, we slept in bunk beds back then.

The deck is much larger than in 1994. Back then, I would go to the dining room and get tea and toast (which was the free breakfast back then) and go out to the deck to listen to the howler monkeys in the rainforest. No one else was there. Today, the lodge features a delicious, elaborate breakfast buffet with loads of people so I didn't hear any howlers in the morning. But, the monkeys are still there, a little further from the landscaped grounds of the hotel.

The staff put out fruit at feeders which attracted many birds including the large Montezuma Orpendola . . .

. , . and the tanagers (Scarlet-Rumped or Passerine on left) with the Great Kiskadee (large yellow breasted bird) on the right.

Some of the fruit would fall to the ground where this long-nosed coatimundi would grab it. A close relative of the raccoon, this coatimundi had become a resident of the resort, sometimes sitting up and begging. Cute but we were warned not to get too close because he might bite if he doesn't get what he wants.

Shortly after breakfast, the staff used gasoline-powered weedeaters and leaf blowers. This noise would go on for hours. Back in 1994, a few men would use machetes to cut the grass and weeds. I think they could go back to using machetes if they cut down on the amount of grass around the buildings and using landscape fabric and mulch to keep down the weeds. This would be in keeping with the lodge's efforts to be eco-friendly. I do applaud their efforts to recycle and protect the rainforests close to the volcano but the hotel guests might be just as happy with less landscaping and more wild rain forests as they had back 1994.

Several ceramics depicting the surrounding wildlife adorned the building exteriors. I loved the detail on this one. This is a big improvement over 1994 where I remember a shelf right outside the dining room with jars of snakes in formaldehyde, letting you know that there were plenty of poisonous snakes about.

We did not see any snakes on our hikes around the 800-acre property which has functioned as a dairy and cattle ranch and pine/Eucalyptus tree plantation since the 1950s.

We did see these toucans on the hike . .

. . . and this waterfall where I posed for a photo. Due to the recent heavy rains, the waterfall was bigger than in 1994 when we did see lots of snakes.   I remembered to look before I grabbed a tree limb in case the camouflaged and deadly eyelash viper was lurking there.

Arenal Volcano National Park

We hiked in a drizzling rain in Arenal Volcano National Park where this huge buttressed tree was the high point. I joked that the only reason why I photograph my husband is to use him for scale in a photo!

Butterfly Conservatory

Close to Arenal Lake is the Butterfly Conservatory where you can see great butterflies and reptiles in six greenhouses, each providing a different Costa Rican habitat.

I loved these transparent butterflies--no butterflies like this in Virginia.

This large frog was somewhat camouflaged against the leaf.

Poas Lodge and Volcano

We looked forward to seeing Poas Volcano, close to San Jose, on our last days of our trip because it is still active. But again, we could not see anything in the rain, only smell the suphuric fumes from the mudpots and other eruptions from the craters.

We did get a good view of the central highlands west of San Jose from Poas Lodge where we stayed. This quaint bed and breakfast was a good deal with reasonably-priced rooms and food.

We flew back on Christmas night and drove back from Charlotte, North Carolina through a snow and ice storm to get back to southwest Virginia. It's great to get back home but I already miss the warm weather of Costa Rica.

Foggy Bottoms and Sunny Pastures

Thu, 26 Aug 2010 20:08:16 -0400

This morning I walked down our 1/3 mile driveway to get the newspaper. I was in such a funk I didn't even notice that it was foggy until I got down to the bottom. A light fog fills our valley often in August.

After the fog burned off, I drove our UTV up on the back part of our land to plant peach and plum pits. I hadn't been up there for over a month and who know what could be up there.

I was delighted to find mist flowers growing on the very back---up on the side of the mountain. These flowers are often found at the local nurseries but are native to this area.

This soldier beetle seemed to be the only insect on the flowers.

Lots of knapweed (maybe Brown?) bloomed in the back grown up pasture attracting honey bees like this one. As a beekeeper, I had been wondering where my bees have been foraging lately. They go out early coming back to the hive with loads of yellow and white pollen and of course nectar. The knapweed was full of them so that's where they're going.

I also saw several Buckeye butterflies on the knapweeds and grasses here. Everytime I see a buckeye, I am reminded of the time when I did a lot of embroidery when I lived in Logan, Utah in the 1970s. I had such a good reputation for doing jean embroidery that a friend asked me to embroider his wedding shirt (cowboy shirt of course). I ended up embroidering a giant buckeye butterfly on the back which he loved. I thought I had a picture of it but alas no.

This Buckeye was rather worn for wear.

I planted the peach and plum pits in this pasture so I'm hoping someday to pick fruit along with allowing the pasture to grow up with native flowers attracting butterflies and bees.

There's nothing like getting outside and enjoying nature to lift your mood!

The Other West Virginia Coal Mining Disaster

Tue, 6 Apr 2010 10:04:37 -0400

UPDATE: I since learned that Massey Energy has pledged $1 million for the construction of a new school because of the danger. I understand that part of the reason they did this was that they wanted to build another coal processing facility there close to the one that is right by the school. So, this is a victory of sorts for anti-coal activists and parents of the school children.

I couldn't help but notice that the CNN anchor John Roberts is situated in front of Marsh Fork Elementary School in West Virginia as he reports about the coal mine disaster that has already taken 25 lives. This is the same school where a coal slurry dam sits right above it. I went to my files and found these photos (courtesy Vivian Stockman of Ohio Valley Environmental Coalition).

Coal Slurry Dam above Marsh Fork Elementary School

An earthen dam is all that keep the coal slurry pond from sliding down the mountain and burying the elemenatary school. This is the same type of pond that spilled in Tennessee in December 2008.

Coal Slurry Pond above Marsh Fork

The pond has a capacity of 8 billion gallons of coal slurry and is one of 400 in West Virginia.

Activists have tried to get the mainstream media to cover the story so that the school might be moved to a safer location. So, it's ironic that while the media covers the tragic coal mining accident, they ignore the potential disaster that is right above them.

Media Coverage

As one who has worked as an activist against mountaintop removal coal mining, it's frustrating to see the coverage. The media does cover the inherent dangers of coal mining and the fact that the miners have little other job opportunities. But, the coverage always stops there without asking the important questions:

Why are coal mining areas some of the poorest in the country?

Why do people who live in coal mining areas have the poorest health in the country with high cancer and heart disease rates?