Tag: Friend or Foe
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For Fun: Top 5
List five things you do for fun. Almost a year and a half into Redacting Rosslyn, I’ve taken a semi respite from the rhythm of old house journaling, not by interrupting my daily updates — those have continued albeit with a different flavor and focus from previous posts — but by handing over the steering…
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Friend or Foe: Dandelions
It’s that remarkable season of reawakening, spring, glorious springtime! And more than all of the other blooms that announce the season of unslumbering, Dandelions remind us that nature is nourishing and vibrant and brilliantly colorful. Routinely dismissed, even abhored, as an annoying weed, dandelions are for me a welcome harbinger of warming temperatures, greening environs,…
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Coyote or Coywolf?
There’s something stunning if slightly startling about spotting (or hearing the howl of) our ubiquitous Adirondack canid. Agile and attentive, swift and stealthy, this familiar predator is a familiar and important part of our ecosystem. And yet much mystery and misunderstanding collects around this handsome neighbor, not the least of which is disagreement over whether…
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Friend or Foe: Eastern Coyote
The Eastern Coyote (Canis latrans var) is an omnipresent wild neighbor at Rosslyn. The tracks, the songs, and the holistic balance that the Eastern Coyote brings to our +/-70 acres are an everyday reminder that the wildway is healthy and that wild flora and fauna are thriving in our small slice of the Adirondack Coast.…
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Walking Stick Haiku I
A couple of weeks ago I shared another walking stick photograph on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter with this accompanying haiku. A walking stick and miniature companion gossip in the shade. My walking stick haiku makes more sense if you actually look closely at the photograph. https://www.instagram.com/p/CDogBYJpIs8/ Can you discern the walking stick’s miniature companion? Is…
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Friend or Foe: Yellow Garden Spider
Meet our Yellow Garden Spider (Argiope aurantia). This morning this awesome arachnid greeted me from a flower bed planted with Shasta daisies, lupine, and irises. She’s dazzling and, I’ll admit it, a little daunting. Is she friend or foe? Yellow Garden Spider Although I’ve come across these visually impressive pest predators before I needed a…
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Friend or Foe: Colorado Potato Beetle
This morning I spied a Colorado Potato Beetle (Leptinotarsa decemlineata) or three in the vegetable garden. Here’s a fuzzy snapshot of one Colorado Potato Beetle contentedly munching away on young eggplant leaves. Do you see the yellow striped beetle? It’s approximately center frame. Here’s a closeup of another Colorado Potato Beetle once I flicked him/her…