After attending the bird banding event at the arboretum a couple weeks ago, I wanted to learn more about this activity, so I called up WVU professor Christopher Rota. “What are the effects of these urban forests on birds?” Christopher said this question started the project. He ...
Recently my daughter visited her aunt. I called to check in, and asked what she’d been up to. “We’re making pink tofu!” she exclaimed. I had to ask her to repeat herself a couple of times, because it did not compute in my head. When my sister, Lina, hollered, “we’re making it ...
Last week my daughter and I got up at dawn and drove to Morgantown. Neither of us are morning people, but this was a special occasion — a bird banding event. Hosted by professor Christopher Rota, the event was open to the public. If you missed it, don’t worry, it’s a monthly ...
While digging holes to plant tomato seedlings, I found lots of ants in my garden. I expect to disturb an ant nest sometime in the course of the gardening season, but this year I seem to be bothering more ants than usual. Planting along about 15 feet of trellis, I found four nests with at ...
Well, this is embarrassing. I have to admit to having misidentified our state flowers for most of my life. Recently, I noticed some small rhododendrons blooming along my road side, and my self-confidence shattered a little when I realized my long-time mistake. There are many huge ...
Timing is everything. I felt this acutely as I sat down to write this column, and then couldn’t remember the topic I’d settled on earlier in the week. Luckily, I had waited until the end of the day to do my writing or I may have never recalled the erstwhile planned topic. But as I ...