Click on the picture for information about the Karner Blue Butterfly.
Tag Archive: Link
>
>Em and I are going to the city Saturday. Yes, I will go even with a cold. Just take a box of tissues and I will be fine (I hope).
So today she is sending me e-mails about her horrible no good week, I cannot go into details here but she asked about getting a massage, I started thinking, where did I just read about someone getting a massage? It was Daryl on her blog, so I went to Google, opened my reader and started reading through her post until I found it. Then I sent an e-mail to Em with the name. Exhale Spa.
Of course she wanted me to call to find out how much $ and make the appointment. So then I googled the name and found the website with the phone number. Called to make an appointment for two massages on Saturday, well, the only times that were available were times we couldn’t make. So I made an appointment for her, said I would go another day, HA the girl who doesn’t like to be touched is going to get a massage? Don’t think so.
It’s ok, since she offered to pay for the massage and I’m not getting one, I asked her to pay for my hair appointment. She did, and now I have no more gray.
Then this cold hit, you know how you can be just sneezing and no other symptoms, then all of a sudden, in a second it feels like your have this sinus pressure headache and you are all stuffed up and have no idea how you are going to be able to sleep. I have no cold medicine to take, I used my netti pot but that isn’t lasting. I might sneak upstairs to see if Em has anything I can take. It is too late to take a Tylenol® PM, but that wouldn’t help with the cold symptoms anyway.
On a brighter note, I ordered the tickets for Phantom! Gwen and I are going in April. She needs to for school, Em is having her Administrative Professionals Day so I get to go with Gwen and we are going to see Phantom!
>Rare Red-headed Woodpecker Visits Stony Kill Farm
There’s nothing like a rare bird sighting to attract people to a new bird feeding and viewing area. So, fortune smiled on Stony Kill Farm when its new feeding and viewing area was christened on January 8 by a visit from a red-headed woodpecker. The exciting news of the rare bird’s presence, unmistakable with its totally red head and black and white nearly robin-sized body, soon drew a big crowd.
Rare Bird Alert
In a classic example of nature center and wildlife conservation group cooperation, Stony Kill staff alerted Dutchess County’s Ralph T. Waterman Bird Club, which posted a Rare Bird Alert (RBA) on its website. The next day, club members, visitors of all ages, and DEC staff began flocking to Stony Kill for a look. Within a few days, club photographers had added many photos of the bird, both feeding and in flight, on its website.
As of January 30, the lone male was still visiting Stony Kill’s suet feeder at the Manor House, and the corn crib at the farmstead. If you want to come and see for yourself, please look from indoors at the Manor House to prevent disturbing the bird.
The rare red-headed woodpecker swoops in for some food at Stony Kill—photo courtesy of Steve Golladay
Species of Special Concern
Not to be confused with its near relative, the red-bellied woodpecker whose populations are increasing across New York, the red-headed is in sharp decline and listed as “A Species of Special Concern.” The bird is in trouble despite being at home in old woodland burned areas and recent clearings, as well as wooded parkland and farms where it exploits a diverse variety of food resources. Likely causes are loss of habitat from land development and nest hole competition with European starlings.
Red-headed woodpeckers feed on insects on bark and foliage, and sometimes even snag flying insects, flycatcher-like, in mid-air. Plant foods include acorns, beechnuts, corn, berries and seeds, which are cached in natural cavities. Starlings and jays often raid cache sites. Compare nest site maps from 1980-85 to those from 2000-05 in the newly published Second Atlas of Breeding Birds in New York State by viewing the atlas’s database comparison map on DEC’s website.
>In the last several years, there has been a push from those that provide electrical power and those concerned with the environment to use fluorescent and compact fluorescent lamps (CFLs) for lighting to conserve energy. The theory is that the less energy consumed, the less energy power plants need to produce. This in turn creates less stress on the environment due to fewer greenhouse gas and mercury emissions, which lead to global warming and mercury poisoning of our natural resources.
Compact fluorescent bulbs use 75% less energy than incandescent (standard) bulbs and last up to 10 times longer. In comparison, a coal-fired power plant emits 13.6g of mercury to produce the electricity required to use an incandescent bulb but 3.3mg to produce enough energy for a compact fluorescent bulb.
When fluorescent bulbs burn out, what do you do with them? Should they be thrown away in the trash or do they need to be recycled? Fluorescent bulbs contain trace amounts of mercury. The bulbs contain anywhere from 5mg, about the size of a ballpoint pen tip, down to 1.4mg. Mercury is essential to these bulbs’ efficiency.
If bulbs are broken or disposed of in landfills and break, the mercury can leach into the soil, groundwater and eventually into rivers, lakes, streams and our food supply. According to the U.S. EPA’s Energy Star program (www.energystar.gov), if your state or local environmental regulatory agency permits you to put used or broken CFLs in the garbage, seal the bulb in two plastic bags and put it into the outside trash or other protected outside location for the next normal trash collection. Never send a fluorescent bulb or any other mercury-containing product to an incinerator. Other options may be available, such as local recycling programs or retail recycling locations like most Home Depot, IKEA and Ace Hardware stores. Other recycling options can be found at these Web sites: www.epa.gov/bulbrecycling or www.earth911.org.
In the end, compact fluorescent bulbs are a good way to help save Mother Earth and save consumers money when disposed of properly.
For a selection of recycling products from LSS, please click here.
>
>
I found this at the park, on one of the picnic tables, written on, front cover missing, first page torn.
As I was leaving, I found this on the grass between the picnic table and the parking lot. I don’t know if you can see from the cover, but the book is Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I know some people might be thinking, “Oh its just a cheap paperback.” To me it is important, I feel cheap paperbacks are printed to encourage people to read, they should not be scribbled on and torn and left in parks! Unless you’re releasing them. But I can think of lots of better places to ‘release‘ a book.
>this morning, funny though, there was a long line at Starbucks. A lot of schools were off today for President’s weekend.
Last night Em and I were talking about Vincent movies to watch while D is in Toronto. I said there is one but I didn’t want to say the name, wasn’t sure how she would react, but when she looked at me and said ‘Go ahead.’ I was pretty sure she was thinking the same, so I said, ‘Full Metal Jacket‘ and of course that was the same one she wanted to see. He has done a lot of movies, it is going to be hard to pick just a few. But that is one we both want to see.
Tonight I went up to Macy’s to get some make-up. Lancôme was having a give-away, I got some eye cream and it was enough for two gifts.
I was trying to find something that would show how many comments and names of commentors for my blog but couldn’t and I really should be getting to bed. I have a busy day planned for tomorrow.










