Rain, Rain! . . . But Pretty Please Remember to Conserve Water

I am a Citizen Scientist reporter to the Community Collaborative Rain, Hail, and Snow Network (CoCoRaHS), which means that every day at 7 a.m. I check my official rain gauge and submit precipitation totals and any special events, like flash floods and hail, to CoCoRaHS via my Internet data entry page. Since June, the vast majority of my reports were for zero rain and no special weather events. Hot and dry, hot and dry. The hottest summer worldwide in recorded history, you know, and drought conditions here in eastern Virginia.

But this week, we've got rain, rain, glorious rain! Station number VA-JC-12 reported .65 inch on September 27, .80 inch on September 28, .28 inch on September 29, and a whopping 5.72 inches today! Since reporting this morning, about 2 hours ago, I've accumulated another .20 of an inch. The goldfish and frogs are partying in the pond. Boy, do they love that fresh water.

Yesterday afternoon I suited up in my foul weather gear and got to work on by serpentine channel in the easement rain garden . . . that I had to give up working on in June because of the hot weather. The earth out there had gotten to be as hard as a rock. But despite all of the rain this week, I quickly noted that the soil was still pretty doggone hard just a few inches down. I was amazed by the powdery dryness of the dirt.

So, when I got a message from Beth Davis reminding me that James City County water restrictions would be lifted on October 1 (see my May 4 post), but to still conserve water, I was not too surprised. Hear this, all ye James City County residents!

My shower water collection goes on, because we've still got to keep the newer plants happy. I've tucked most of them under some mulch (sorry about that native bees) so this week's rain should hold them for awhile.

It's been a rough summer and when I complained about favorite native plants that I thought may not have survived the drought, my friend Jordan reminded me of the very feature of natives that makes them preferable: "Don't be too hasty to pull up those dead natives. They may have gone into survival mode, especially the milkweeds and the trumpet vines. My turtlehead looks awful but I am going to leave it alone and see what happens." Ah, and so we gardeners enter the soon to be plantless fall and winter seasons, all the while looking forward to rebirth in spring!

P.S. On October 1, my rain report was 4 inches for the preceding 24 hours. So, the total amount of rain that's fallen in James City County (Williamsburg, Virginia area) at my station this week is 11.45 inches. That's just a little over a half inch shy of a foot of rain in Williamsburg this week, in five days! Wow. I'm pretty sure that some of the other stations in James City County and Williamsburg reached the 1 foot of rain total this week.

Solar Homes in the Williamsburg Area

On Sunday I took the Williamsburg portion of the Hampton Roads Solar Group's homes tour. Two of the homes were new construction and two were existing homes where the owners added solar panels. I came home with lots of literature to share with my husband. Although we want to do this at some point, it's too expensive for us at the moment. It looks like a system that would supply 50 percent, perhaps more, of our power needs would cost something like $38,000. I was happy, though, to have the process demystified. It's really not such a big deal to do and homeowners say the systems pay for themselves within a few years.

At the owner-built home in Lanexa (top left), products were selected by the homeowner and there was no literature to share. But at the other homes, two used Solar Services, Inc. of Virginia Beach and one used Urban Grid Solar of Richmond.

I loved the new "energy neutral" home that used Urban Grid for solar products.  The house was designed with a number of energy saving design features (geothermal heat, natural lighting) and products (Energy Star appliances, half-flush toilets, high performance doors and windows, and insulation), so the 36 photovoltaic panels supply more than enough energy to power the home. The gross cost for the solar panels and inverter box that changes the DC power to AC power (the "magic box" between the solar panels and the home's electrical panel box) was $58, 600. So if you do the math, that's $1,628 per panel (including a portion of the inverter).

The two retrofitted homes where Solar Services, Inc. was contracted were better examples for me, since I would want to add a system to my existing home. In both, the homeowners had retrofitted in two steps. First, they had added a solar water heater to their homes. The water heater is a separate unit of panels that have a type of antifreeze running through to heat the water. This sort of unit costs $4,000 to $5,000. The panels look a little thicker than the photovoltaic panels and have tubes running from one to the next to circulate the antifreeze.

For photovoltaic panels, the panels that soak up the sun (watch this U.S. Dept of Energy video for a quick explanation of how photovoltaic panels work) , the home above used 24 panels and the home to the right used 16 panels. In both cases, Panels ran about $1,500 each and the inverter box was an additional $3,000. Even though they had different numbers of panels, both said they got about 40 to 50 percent of their power from solar. Both home owners said the juice usage was variable depending upon how much you use the two major culprits: the air conditioner and the dryer. (Like us, these homes are lived in by two people. They both mentioned that they used their dryer and air conditioners a lot. I hang about 50 percent of my laundry outside to dry and we love the fresh air best, so I think we'd save a little more than these folks.)

Doing the math for my own home, I estimated $5,000 for water heating, 20 photovoltaic panels at $1,500 each, and $3,000 for an inverter box for a grand total of $38,000. Virginia is currently offering a 30 percent tax write-off, so that would bring us down to $26,600. Virginia also lets you sell your energy savings credits through a carbon credit exchange (your savings can be bought by companies that can't reduce their energy use by the required amount). According to the two retrofit homeowners, they get about $200 a quarter by selling their energy credits. So, let's do the math again. If we didn't spend any money for electricity and received the energy credits, we would save and earn about $2,000 a year. Our system would pay for itself in about 13 years.

Very cool, don't you think? They say the prices are coming down with increased demand, so we'll look at this again next year!

Honey Bees versus Native Bees

Every Third Bite from meerkatmedia.org on Vimeo.

During a presentation for the seminar “What’s Happening to our Native Plants and Animals” held at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science on September 22, 2010, Virginia’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services apiarist said that current bees and beekeepers in Virginia have encountered significant problems that could affect agriculture in the state. Keith Tignor said that this isn’t a problem in Virginia alone. Beekeepers around the world are having trouble keeping their populations of pollinators happy.

At first I was really worried about colony collapse because bees are responsible for the pollination act behind every third bite of food, he said. I was wondering if I should think about adding a beehive to my backyard menagerie. But suddenly, it occurred to me: this was a seminar about natives! Honey bees aren't native. How did this invasive fit into the program? 

Honey bees were brought from Europe to Jamestown in 1620. Historians tell us that beehives were sent to Jamestown with seeds and fruit trees that investors hoped to develop as an industry. The bees spread out and multiplied quickly, as is the case with many non-native species that are moved to another part of the world where no predators have co-evolved with them to keep their numbers in check.

I've noticed that there are lots of different looking bees in my garden and some Googling lead me to sites that discussed the various types of bees and groups working to cultivate the population of native bees. I'm comfortable now that I've been doing the right thing in my yard all along, for the most part. I've been doing away with my monoculture of grass. I have lots of native plants. Something is blooming year round. One thing I discovered I shouldn't have done: the five yards of mulch I've spread in the last two weeks was a no-no. Our native bees are ground colonizers who can't get to the ground if I hide it under 3 inches of mulch. Oh dear.

Anyway, I know there is a colony of ground bees in my back yard as they sting someone who is the unlucky lawn mower each year, usually in August. With the drought, though, no one has cut the back yard in a while. Perhaps they are thriving. I'll check it out soon.

Managing for Sustainable Biodiversity at New Quarter Park

During the five years that I have worked for York County at New Quarter Park I've watched the Japanese Stilt Grass problem grow. If I knew what I know today, I would have been more vigilant to guard against its near establishment in the park. Hindsight is always 20-20, as they say. Our work will be more difficult, but there is still time to manage it now, I believe. Especially since the hot summer has had an impact on its late and less abundant seeding this fall.

The Asian annual grass came to the United States in 1919. It had been used as packing material around imported porcelain and some of its seeds escaped in Tennessee. Since then, the grass has thrived in a variety of habits in the east. It seems to love our moist soils and shady forests. Because it has no predators here, not even the herds of White-tailed Deer. It keeps growing and going.

Seeds found there way into New Quarter when it was opened to the public in 2005. Typically, the seeds are carried by animals (including us) and fall into disturbed soil along roads. Japaneses Stilt Grass got a foothold alongside the path to New Quarter's floating dock first, I believe. I watched it jump over to the road to the point. All along the edges of the hiking trails you can find patches of the stuff, but it's become particularly dense and matted along the floating dock road that passes Loops 1 through 4, where it first took hold.

The Historic Rivers Chapter, Virginia Master Naturalists, have taken on the task of eradicating invasive species and developing the first hiking loop as a teaching trail. We plan to nurture a variety of natives plant that are found throughout the park on the first trail. The Teaching Trail will be a showcase for biodiversity and a place where we can model to others how to use native plants to enliven their property. The development of the loop has had a couple of false starts as people who were in charge came and went, but each year we've made a small attempt to eradicate the Japanese Stilt Grass, which can overwhelm and crowd out the natives.

This fall, we're trying even harder to eradicate the grass on our Teaching Trail. I am please to report that today I worked with 5 volunteers to pull the grass invading on the floating dock road side of our trail. We made great progress and I am more determined than ever to work with volunteers to eradicate as much as we can from the park.

I attended a seminar at VIMS last week about the growing problem of non-native species, especially those that are invasive. Though the presenters didn't talk about Japanese Stilt Grass in particular, I did buttonhole them afterward about it. The couple of presenters that I talked with encouraged me. They feel that it is important to sustain biodiversity in places such as New Quarter, which is a recently biodiverse area that is just now being invaded. Well, it's been five years since the relatively unused land was opened to the public as a park and invaders began to chew away at biodiversity. But Japanese Stilt Grass hasn't become fully established and there's time.

Read my blog post on world.edu where I talked more about the problem of invasive species as presented at VIMS last week.

Find me online at World.edu

I've been "discovered" by the developers of a new website, World.edu. The owners live in Queensland, Australia, and are trying out bloggers like me from around the world.

The site is promoted as "an international source of information and opportunities; providing and promoting skills, jobs, technologies, products and ideas that have a positive impact on the environment, economy and quality of life." They found this blog, as well as other things I've written such as articles for the online magazine Suite.101 (like this), and have invited me to try out for a position as a blogger in their Lifestyle/Sustainable Living section.

So, please visit my first post on World.edu and leave a comment!

"Williamsburg Native" spies New Quarter Park Again

My friend Laurie Brown, author of the blog Williamsburg Native, enjoyed BYOK (Bring Your Own Kayak) at New Quarter Park on Saturday and took the video, below. It was a beautiful day and a record 35 people showed up to paddle with us. Temps were in the 70s and our return to the park was an easy paddle on the falling tide.

Yellow Crownbeard, Turtlehead, and Virginia Spiderwort

I have been spreading mulch this week, so have enjoyed inspecting my native plants closely. Just as advertised, most survived the summer heat and drought with little artificial watering. They survived, but didn't truly thrive.

But in any case, like every gardener of native plants, I can't wait until next year to see where they will spread. The Wild Columbine, Wild Comfry, and Golden Ragwort, which bloomed in the early spring, spread nicely and as I mulched I was careful not to bury their offspring. Another surprise in the garden were the many American Beautyberry plants that were coming up where I tossed seeds last year. Success! These plants are all offspring of parent plants that live in New Quarter Park.

The fall bloomers are beginning to show off their color. The Yellow Crownbeard that I've been watching for a few weeks now has finally begun to bloom! Along with plants come bugs, and I noticed that aphids were enjoying the phloem along a couple of the six-foot tall Yellow Crownbeard stalks.

I have several Turtleheads. The plants closest to my goldfish pond are the prettiest: green spires with soft pillows of purplish pink. I planted three Turtlheads in my front yard in a prime spot: the center of the bed in front of the sidewalk. Unfortunately, the deer made a path across my open front yard to the bed where the buds and leaves of the plant were moist and tasty. Although the plants were reduced to stalks, I suppose I have to be happy that the deer found something to eat during those horrid, hot weeks of July and August.

One of the loveliest flowers blooming now is the Virginia Spiderwort. It bloomed earlier this year, gave up during the heat, and is blooming again now. The flowers last just one day, so I'm pleased when one blooms in a perfect spot for a photograph. I bought a Virginia Spiderwort at a Virginia Native Plant Society sale a couple of years ago and have divided in several times. Wherever I plant it, I am rewarded with its lush green stems and leaves followed by simply elegant flowers that remind me to live well for the day is short.

A friend dropped by late yesterday, when I was relaxing on the deck with a glass of wine to relax my tired legs. She called my yard a park. How nice! Usually a yard given over to native plants looks chaotic, but a fresh top-cover of mulch brings order. The dark color provides a strong contrast for greenery and flowers.

Art, History, & Nature: A Convergence of Interests at the National Gallery

This morning's Washington Post Style section included a review of an exhibition opening this Sunday at the National Gallery of Art, Arcimboldo 1526-1593: Nature & Fantasy. Hmmm. Shall I try to fit in a visit?

As a student at William and Mary I majored in history, but soon became fascinated with art history, and made it my second major. The eighteenth-century was of particular interest at first, but what student of Miles Chappell's wouldn't also enjoy the Renaissance and Baroque? At that time, I put all of the history and art periods and styles into neat boxes. But as time rolled on, the edges of the boxes softened and the contents of one links and enfolds with the contents of another. This cross-pollination began with a course in Art, History, and Music of the Eighteenth Century as a graduate student in art history and continues to this day as my husband, a music lover, continually challenges me to think about art that might illustrate music. At concerts, I often think about the historic climate that may have influenced the composer. (My husband is surprised at how I can do this. All he can consider is the pure music, he says.)

Atlantic World history is the new way of looking at the period of history and cultural development that is of greatest interest to me: the transition from Renaissance to Modern World. The work of Arcimboldo, a Hapsburg court artist, illustrates the flow from Renaissance European power as it embraced the New World. The worlds came together and moved forward. The wealthy and dominant Habsburgs intermarried with Spanish and Dutch monarchies and participated in the extraction of great wealth from their New World lands. They also extracted corn and eggplant, which made their way into court art by Arcimboldo.

Beginning in the 16th century, the arts and science bloomed. Fortunately, they could grow and prosper under rulers like Maximilian and his son Rudolf, as the work of Arcimboldo illustrates. Arcimboldo was a student of Leonardo's work. He was a scholar who certainly had access to developments, such as new scientific discoveries by the young Galileo. Knowledge and wit combined in this relatively peaceful and prosperous time in his allegorical and funny works of art. In an age where worthwhile art was figurative, he made the figure into a still life, an artistic style that was yet to be explored.

As an adult, I have learned more about the natural world by way of my concern for the environment. I have somehow managed to bring my love of history, art, and nature together in my work as a park interpreter and resident of the Historic Triangle, rich in museums and cultural offerings. Finally, as a Virginia Master Naturalist, I have gotten my hands dirty studying the particulars of flora and fauna that were first formalized in the disciplines of botany and zoology, which grew out of the Renaissance.

I think that it would be great fun to suggest a field trip to the National Gallery to my Historic Rivers Chapter VMN friends. I'm sure there are other Smithsonian exhibits available to complete the day. Anyone up for a trip?

San Bruno Conflagration: Could it Happen Here?

I was listening to NPR's On Point in the car today. The topic was "Pipelines to Potholes: America's Ailing Infrastructure."  The pipelines are everywhere and they're old. As if we don't already have enough to worry about, the answer is yes, San Bruno could happen here and in lots of places.

Now, the On Point show rang really true for me, because I do indeed live on top of a pipeline. Priscilla from Williamsburg called in and told Tom Ashbrook and his guests all about it. She explained that the Williamsburg area grew quickly after World War I as the rural area's land was gobbled up by the military. (Everyone around here likes to say that "My God, they sold the town" in reference to John D Rockefeller buying up the little village of Williamsburg, but really, the area had already been sold my the time the Standard Oil Robber Baron came to town.) Just look at the map: Camp Peary, Cheatham Annex, and the Naval Weapons Station, established in the 1940s, encompass a fair amount of the York County and York River side of our peninsula.

In this map, you can see that I live over that little bump in the Colonial Pipeline between Powhatan Creek and Route 199, just north of Jamestown Road. According to the Colonial Pipeline website, a variety of refined petroleum in batches of up to 350,000 barrels at a time travel under my street at 3 to 5 miles per hour. The batches are following one after another in a turbulent flow: an interface is the zone where one stops and the next starts and this degraded product might be sold as regular gasoline or have to be re-refined.

Today I noticed that there are several new signs in my neighborhood marking the petroleum pipeline. One is in the front yard of a house that's for sale. The San Bruno explosion probably isn't helping Jay Colley. On Monday, ABC news included a report where Carl Weimer of the Pipeline Safety Trust was quoted as saying, "There is a pipeline accident every other day and every five days someone is injured or killed, so there's still way too many incidents. It's something we need to get a clear handle on before it gets worse." O-kay.

If our pipelines were put into place for the military, as I've been told, they must be around 60 to 70 years old. The San Bruno pipeline, which carried natural gas, not liquid petroleum, was a mere 54 years old. Weimer, who was also on the On Point show, was concerned about the decay of pipes 40 or more years old because these pipes were constructed with a seam. Sections that go under roads or waterways are made up of seamed sections. The seams are susceptible to corrosion. Tom Ashbrook said there are still some pipelines in the U.S. made of cast iron and wood. 

The condition of our aging infrastructure is of great concern. In previous posts I've looked at our energy future, and the development of alternatives also is dependent upon infrastructure updates. It boggles the mind.

"Hopefully we'll see some good come out of this," said Weimer of the San Bruno explosion on On Point. While lots of ruptures happen, they usually happen in less populated areas. He and others called for more diligent regulation and thorough inspections.

How Much for a Head?

The Easter Island of Williamsburg,
aka President's Park at 55 mph

On several occasions during my marketing career, frequently while involved in marketing museums and tourism, I have found myself in the same room with someone marketing President's Park. When this happens, I can't concentrate. All I can do is gaze in wonder at that individual and wonder how she can do her (always a woman) job with a straight face or without going crazy. Does she really believe in the mission of the place . . . and how much is she paid? Am I the only one in the room who thinks President's Park is a joke? Why am I so cynical? How far is President's Park from Busch Gardens, even Colonial Williamsburg? Yes, I know they are 2 or 3 miles away, but I mean marketing-wise and philosophically. Edu-tainment? Am I marketing something more noble? How far am I from her? Is marketing ever noble? Self-doubt. Get me outta of here.

Well, we won't have President's Park to kick around for much longer. But we can still have fun with it for awhile, as they did with the headline in the Virginia Gazette: President's Park Goes Bust. Bawh ha ha ha. They tried to sell it once before in 2008, but I guess they're serious this time. From the Gazette: "That ends a six-year saga of the red-headed stepchild of tourism. All 43 busts of the presidents are for sale." Forty-three? What about Obama's head? “We weren’t able to raise the money for the Obama statue, which would have been a huge boon to our business,” said owner Haley Newman, according to the Gazette. Would have been huge. Bawh ha ha ha, again.

I was curious about where you go to buy a head and how much the head of a president is going for these days. I've Googled this way and that, but I haven't come up with anything. Guess I couldn't afford one anyway, even if I wanted one. Where would I put the large cement head? Could I convert it to use as a fountain with a waterfall to the goldfish pond perhaps? I'd want the most nondescript president. Who'd want Teddy Roosevelt grinning into her patio door. Do you think they can really sell them? Is the state of the economy helping people get real about their purchases yet? So many questions, but so many more things I should be doing with my time.

By the way, did you know there's a President's Park Appreciation Society on Facebook? Twenty-nine friends. They're having trouble getting people to care too, even in a funny way, about a bunch of 18 foot high presidential heads set in a wooded nook just off of Interstate 64 in Williamsburg.

September 18 to 21 is Bicyclist & Pedestrian Awareness Week

I'm a Bicyclist & Pedestrian Awareness Week Partner helping to spread the word about the rights and responsibilities of motorists, bicyclists, and pedestrians to share the road in Virginia.

Did you know that a bicycle is considered a vehicle in Virginia and has the same duties and rights as motor vehicles on the road? This includes obeying all traffic signs, signals, lights and markings. A bicycle should always travel in the same direction as motor vehicle traffic.

A couple of years ago, I was a consultant working on the Sharing the Road in Virginia website. It's a great site, if I do say so myself! Learn the Virginia bicycling and pedestrian laws, as well as those for drivers who encounter bicyclists and pedestrians, and get other safety tips there.

During the week of September 12-18, Virginia’s 2nd Annual Bicyclist and Pedestrian Awareness Week, remember that we’re all on the road together and join in the effort to spread the word. Visit the BikeWalk Virginia site and sign up to be a Bicyclist & Pedestrian Awareness Week Partner partner too!

Paddling on the York River from Williamsburg to Yorktown

Woo-hoo! It may not seem like a big deal to some, but I am excited: on Friday I paddled from New Quarter Park to the Watermen's Museum, Queen's Creek to Yorktown. It was so cool!

Over the years, I've stuck the nose of my kayak out into the York River on several occasions and I've always wanted to paddle on to Yorktown or cross the river to Gloucester. But the York River is deep and fast moving. And, okay, I'm 55. Also, although I love to hike, bike, and kayak, I'm timid, not usually the adventurous type. But boating is in my blood. I come from a long line of watermen and there is nothing that feels better to me than being out on the water.

Karen took this picture of me while we considered the conditions. The weather was gorgeous, but the problem was the wind. It was coming out of the NNW at 15 miles per hour, so there were white caps on the river. Honestly, in the 5 years that I've been paddling Queen's Creek, I've never seen it this rough when planning to go kayaking .

But once we got out there and underway, I felt okay. My old Carolina is especially seaworthy. The tide was going out and with the wind at our backs, the paddling wasn't difficult. You could roll with the tide. You can see in this photo of Karen and Laura that the swells were one to two feet. We rolled and surfed down to Yorktown in two hours. Laura had a GPS and said that when we weren't paddling the tide was taking us down the river at about 2 miles per hour. When we were paddling, she was getting readings like 6 mph.

I need a rudder and a spray skirt if I'm going to do this again, though. When I rolled over the front of a swell it would sweep my boat sideways. I had to work pretty hard at times to keep the nose pointed toward the York River Bridge.

The occasion for this paddle was to meet up with historic watercraft made by members of the Watermen's Museum. They were taking three days to paddle from the Pamunkey Indian Reservation to Yorktown before the Maritime History Festival. We waited for them at the appointed time and at our rendezvous spot, but when they didn't show and since we were rocking and rolling, we decided to proceed.

It's a good thing that we did, because they hadn't shown up when we arrived at the Museum. The folks at the museum were concerned too, because there was no way to reach them. I can't believe they didn't take a cell phone or a VHS radio. Not smart. We didn't see them on the river on our way back to Williamsburg.

I suppose there will be a story to be told tomorrow! The Maritime History Festival at the Watermen's was today, but I didn't go down to check. This day was just too nice and I met the Bird Club for the walk at NQP this morning. If it's anything truly exciting, I'll let you know. I'm guessing that they had some troubles with the seas. As I said, the wind was blowing at 15 when we left. But it was under 10 mph about an hour into our paddle. The midday winds could have easily swamped a skiff.

What Will It Take to Get You to Eat Eggplant?

I'm a vegetarian . . . most of the time . . . so eggplant is frequently used as a meat substitute. For example, there's Eggplant Parmesan and Eggplant Lasagna. I try to prepare eggplant recipes at home, but there must be a catch. There must be a way to make it taste better. If I tell my husband that I've included eggplant in a recipe, he keeps his distance. He's tried it, he doesn't like it, and he's not going to try it again. So there.

Restaurant listings are also limited if you're a vegetarian. However, there is often an eggplant dish available and it's usually quite tasty. I tried the Eggplant Parmesan at the new Jimmy's Oven and Grill location in the Target Shopping Center (I know it's Williamsburg or Monticello something or other, but who can keep them straight?). It was good! How do restaurants do it? Side note here: you should try Jimmy's. Go to their website and download a few coupons.

In the spring of 2005, pre-Katrina, we went to the New Orleans Jazz Festival and I ate Eggplant Parmesan at least once a day. I didn't mind not eating the shrimp and oysters. Really! The eggplant dishes were that good.

But when it comes to preparing eggplant at home, I'm handicapped. Today I saw an "Ode to Eggplant" on NPR. A native of India wonders why Americans don't like eggplant. Well, that's easy. We don't know how to cook it at home. I'll give her recipe for Imam Bayildi a try, though. She says it's adapted from the cookbook Gorgeous Vegetables. We'll let you know if my husband can be convinced to try eggplant one more time.

Now, I just have to wait until the next Williamsburg Farmer's Market to get a choice eggplant. Amy's Garden is one of my favorite vendor's at the market. Her colorful booth is always photogenic. I've bought Italian Eggplants from her before. She should have the very thing. 

Gloucester Video

I've given quite a few presentations on the Arcadia books I've written about Gloucester, Mathews, and James City County. I created ten minute videos for Gloucester and Mathews, which seemed to go over well. I was reminded about them recently, so decided to post them to YouTube (well, I've only posted Gloucester so far, but Mathews is coming along!). Perhaps they will serve as a little advertisement for my availability to make presentations. I've posted the Gloucester video below.

Oh! By the way, a lot of people ask about the song at the end. It's "Virginia, The Home of My Heart" by Susan Greenbaum. It is available for download from her web site. She wrote it as an entry for a Virginia State Song, but the contest hasn't gone anywhere. Bogged down in politics, I suppose.

Woodpecker Attempts Home Improvement

I was sitting at my desk, hard at work, with the patio door opened. Finally, the knock-knock-knocking that I heard through the screen got my attention.

Why it's Mr. Downy Woodpecker! He was also hard at work improving the size of the Bluebird Box entrance hole to suit his frame. See the sequence of events fold here.

First, he drummed and drummed until he made the hole large enough for him to get in. Once in, he had to drum and drum from the inside until he could get out!

He did get out, after several tries, and then went next door to the feeder station to grab a bite.


He's been gone now for about an hour. I wonder if he'll be back?

According to Cornell's Lab of Ornithology, woodpeckers don't have a song, so their drumming may be the behavior they use to let others know the bounds of their territory.

He probably wasn't checking out the box in order to nest. Downies only have one brood and breeding season is usually from February to July.

A Bluebird expert says he's never seen a Downy nest in a nest box, but that they do roost there. I'll be watching just before dusk!



A Collection of Downy Woodpecker Facts
from Sialis

• The Downy is the smallest North American woodpecker, and the most common (based on BBS and CBC data.)
• Their tongue is coated with sticky mucus to help nab small insects.
• When drumming, Downies hit the substrate about 16-17 times per second. Drumming can last 0.25-1.8 seconds. (Ritchison). They primarily drum from Feb-July.
• Downies are rarely seen bathing in water, although they have been seen "snowbathing." (Merriam 1920)
• Downies may excavate for a few minutes up to an hour, usually working 15-20 minutes at a time.
• Both parents incubate and brood (only males incubate and brood at night.)
• In nonbreeding season, downies will hang in mixed flocks of chickadees, titmice, nuthatches, kinglets and Hairy Woodpeckers, and respond to alarm calls by chickadee or titmice sentinels.
• On cold winter nights, Chickadees and Downy Woodpeckers conserve energy by lowering their body temperature by 10 to 15 degrees F.  While this may seem counterproductive, “nocturnal hypothermia” probably reduces energy expenditure by as much as ten percent.
• Males forage more on smaller branches, females on larger branches and tree trunks.
• They occasionally drink sap and eat cambium, but the holes they make are smaller, less rectangular, and less deep than sapsuckers, so they do not injure the tree.
• They have been seen following White-breasted nuthatches and stealing from their food caches (Sutton 1986).

Thanks For the Video, Laurie!

Fellow Williamsburg blogger Laurie Brown included a video from our Pawpaw Walk & Talk at New Quarter Park in her blog, Williamsburg Native. Thanks, Laurie

Local News: Solar Energy, Climate Change

At New Quarter, we have
noticed that high tides are very high

I was invited to attend the Hampton Roads Solar Homes Tour set for September 25 & 26. Sounds like an easy way to learn more. Hope you'll join me!

I also received news that Jamestown is going under. Well, duh. Anyway, the Rocky Mountain Institute has issued a special report about Virginia Places in Peril that draws attention to the local impact of sea level rise and global warming. I don't know that my tiny solar panel, if and when it's up and running, will stop this impending situation, but if I don't try ... and others don't too ... then the impending rise of water, heat, and bugs will very probably continue.

Sunday Morning

The smell of fresh air and coffee. Perhaps I was most excited about the outdoor smells that signaled a change of seasons at last. My Oregon family would chuckle at my enthusiasm for temperatures in the 70s and 80s, but in Virginia where we have spend a long, hot, and dry summer, the relief is more than welcome. Air conditioner off, windows open!

My husband always gets up earlier than me, so in addition to the Sunday morning smells, I especially love the tone he sets. As I come downstairs there's always something playing that suits the day, perhaps the Cambridge Singers or Hayden or Yo-yo Ma. Today, as last, I can do what I love to do the most: take my coffee and newspaper and camera outside on the deck to alternately read, sip, watch birds and wildlife, see what's blooming, and hear the Sunday morning music in the background while trying to capture the mood in pixels.

On my way outdoors, though, I often have to work my way past that little Sunday Morning something in my brain. Not guilt, a touch of sadness, wonder, peace. My husband took me to a Susan Werner concert once where she was promoting her new CD, The Gospel Truth. I completely agree.

Crape Myrtle

Today I relish in the cool temperatures and worship the tick of nature in my backyard. I look up to see the Crape Myrtle that's grown as tall as our two-story house. Blooms are past their prime, berries are forming, and leaves are turning orange. Behind it, a tulip poplar has already largely changed over to a golden hue.

Goldrenrod with Zinnias
and Black-eyed Susans in the
background

Crape Myrtles are blooming all over Williamsburg in August and September and I image how visitors down the street at Colonial Williamsburg are snapping photos. I remember that when I worked for Colonial Williamsburg, a question that went something like "what's that tree with no bark and pink flowers" was among the most frequently asked. Nurserymen of the Enlightenment exchanged exotic plant materials like Crape Myrtle, a native of China and Southeast Asia. The French plantsman Andre Michaux is credited with bringing Crape Myrtle to North America. His garden in South Carolina was established after 1786, so Crape Myrtles may not have been familiar to Virginia's Revolutionary patriots. Michaux got the credit, but their were well known nurserymen in Virginia too.

Yellow Crownbeard

As the weather changes, I'm anxious to see the Goldenrod bloom. I've got lots of it growing on stalks 10 to 12 feet tall. It should be spectacular soon. Another touch of yellow, my favorite color by the way, will arrive when the Yellow Crownbeard blooms. There are several tall sprays of it artfully arranged between the goldfish pond and the bird feeders so as to frame but not block my view. I imagine the blooms will emerge sometime this week.

Mistflower

Finally, fall is the season to enjoy another native and member of the aster family, the Blue Mistflower. It grew profusely in my garden last year. I remember asking my friend and native plant lover Cynthia Long what it was and she said, "Oh yes Mistflower, another gift." Indeed, another native wildflower that finds its way into the carefully unattended garden without our asking for it or attending to it in any way other than to admire and enjoy!

The Summer's heat and drought conditions did challenge my garden and me. Even a few of my drought tolerate natives gave up, unable to take another day of 100 degrees or more, or were less than vigorous bloomers. I know they are drought tolerant, but it was more than I could take on some days, so I watered at dawn or dusk. With fair temperatures contributing to less waste and evaporation today, I just might go out and guiltily give my blooming wildflowers a long, slow drink. The 10-day weather forecast proclaims day after day of sunshine. It will be gorgeous, but dry. I want the blooms to tarry.