A Second Look--January 21, 2015

When Aunt Martha was in college, she was studying to be a naturalist. One day I overheard her talking to a classmate about identifying trees in the winter and using the feel and look of their bark to help with that. My ears perked up because that was a new concept for me. I thought that all bark looked basically the same--gray/brown and rough. At least it did until I took a Second Look. And by golly, there were a lot of differences. However over the years, I still haven't paid much any attention to trees and their bark.  So decades later during these gray days, I thought it was time to take a Second Look at some of the trees in my yard.

Here are some trees and their bark that 

I saw this week  during a Second Look.

Dogwood

Holly

Oak

Juniper

Silver Maple

Pine

Theodore did the bark investigation with me and took some of the pictures.

Thankful Sunday--January 18, 2015

I am thankful for time with my husband.

Food critics, celebrities, as well as we normal folk, enjoy the BBQ here.

Ward has been working a lot of long hours recently and most of the time we have been like two ships passing in the night. However yesterday, he took the day off and we spent it together. We resisted the urge to do our list of chores and enjoyed ourselves on a long drive. Since Ward, Mr. Carnivore, was driving we just happened to end up at an out-of-the-way, famous barbeque place. For this and the rest of the day we spent together, I am thankful.

A Second Look--January 14, 2015

Yesterday when I did a walk around the yard, the ground was frozen and my feet were crunching with every step. That was almost as fun as the crunching of dried leaves in the fall. Another reason to get outside on these cold days and do a Second Look. :)

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

The squirrels have been cleaning up under the bird feeder.

But they also have been enjoying walnuts.

Out of all of the woodpeckers that frequent our feeders, this is the first time I have noticed one with its beak open.

We saw four bluebirds go in and out of this box one afternoon. If I didn't know better, I would have thought they were building a nest.

And speaking of nests, look at the difference between these goldfinches. The brightly colored one is from last August during nesting season and the dull one is from this January during survival season.

It was also the end of another season. It was finally warm enough last Sunday that we took down our Christmas lights.

Aachoo!

Cold Virus

When you were a kid, did your grandmother or mother tell you not to go outside without your coat or you would catch a cold? (Or just not a cold, "a death of a cold.") That was the wisdom at the time. Then, scientists let us know that you couldn't catch a cold from being cold, you caught a cold from a virus. I heard a report on NPR's Science Friday last week that shed new light on this whole issue.

For a while now they have known that the cold virus replicates better at the lower temperature in your nose (33 C) compared to the higher temperature in your lungs (35 C). That's why a cold virus is more likely to settle in your head than your lungs, and may be one reason why we get more colds in the winter. However, now they have done a study that shows when your nose is colder, you don't have as many immune cells in your nose respond to the cold virus. Therefore, the virus is more likely to grow and develop into a cold. (By the way, did you know that one in five people is carrying around a cold virus in their nose that is just waiting to multiply?) So there are at least two factors that suggest when you are colder, you are more likely to get a cold.

While I found the study interesting, what I found the most interesting was the fact that maybe grandma had it right. Being cold may make you more likely to get a cold. She may have not had the carefully controlled lab studies to back her up, but she knew what she knew.

Everything old is new again.

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A couple more things:

--The latest findings about the suppressed immune response of the nose came from studies done in rats and human nose cells grown in the lab. More work is needed.

--I have given only a very condensed and most general idea of these studies. To learn better what they're all about, here are some links:

http://io9.com/does-being-cold-make-you-more-susceptible-to-catching-c-510314172 

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-01/yu-cvr010215.php 

http://www.nature.com/news/cold-viruses-thrive-in-frosty-conditions-1.13025 

Thankful Sunday--January 11, 2014

I am thankful for my suet feeders.

With frigid temperatures and snow, we have had a lot of birds visiting our suet feeders. Yesterday, we had three different kinds of woodpeckers! And for this, I am thankful.