Site Discussions

A.  This is the sort of thing lawmakers do that make people respect them less. 

B.  We do eat waaaay too much sugar.  But I wonder if this will be like when fat was demonized.  Everything in excess is bad for you even sleep, sunshine, exercise, and water. Moderation is the key.  Like “healthy fats”, honey and maple sugar almost have to be the “healthy sugars”. 

C.  Let’s skip all the studies, health articles, and confusion for the next 30 years and just use common sense.

I’ve seen the most snapping turtles this year then ever before.

Had a chance to watch about 20 snapping turtles hatch when I lived on Westover Field on the farm in the late 1940’s. What s treat for a 10 year old!

Nice if you want them otherwise they are very destructive.I do not agree with feeding them they end up dependent of humans. No thanks.

Thanks Dave. I’ve commented.

Are they planning to put “Added Sugar” on bags of granulated sugar?  If not, they can’t do it to honey or maple syrup either.

The term “added sugar” means extra sugar has been added to a product—not that the natural content of the product has its own high sugar content. Will the FDA now require sugar packaging to contain the words “added sugar?” because it has more sugar than is nutritionally appropriate?  How much did the sugar lobby contribute to get this change. Please do not require the words “added sugar” on maple syrup and honey on the packaging as it is NOT true.

“Added” should mean what is added to an item of food. Not that it is “added” to my diet.

Sadly the emerald ash borer has recently been found in Maine. See article

https://www.pressherald.com/2018/05/29/experts-wondered-when-the-destructive-emerald-ash-borer-would-come-to-maine-its-here/

Can this frog be found on a gutter outside a porch?

Terrific article on fascinating research!  Thank you.  Just as in medical research, various organisms HAVE BEEN DOING what we seek to accomplish.  Very fascinating to use the “expert fungi” to break down wood.

My family is caring for one after the rehab center said they were full (much like Scott said) and they are the fastest and most adorable things ever. We also got a tin of walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts, and almonds and he hid them all in one night (some even ended up in my bag for school).

I had a similar experience this year, Michael, in that many of my proven grounds did not produce well. But I did find good flushes in places that were new to me, so all in all my volume picked this year was about the same as last year. Last year’s picking window by me ran from April 30th to May 11; this year’s ran from May 14 to May 23, so quite a bit later. I seemed to find more around elm this year than I did last year. I, too, have wondered about mushroom mast years, but have been unable to come up with anything definitive beyond wet years are good and dry years are not. Would love to hear others’ observations.

While living in New Hampshire years ago, the elegant old Queen Mary-style shared adult home where I worked had a couple of ‘chucks who came close, so we made friends with them, and the residents absolutely loved them, taking turns feeding them treats (they probably became diabetic from the white bread). The administrator brought his lab over to ‘take care’ of them but the old folks put up such a howl he reconsidered. Eventually only one came, his name was Chuckles, and he wanted to come inside, but we figured that was pushing it with administrtion.

I just saw what looks like a brown headed nuthatch at our feeder, except he had a white stripe all the way from back of his head to his bill.  Looked like a skunk head!  Do some of the brown nut hatches have this stripe?  The photos I have seen show a spot of white at the center back of his head.

Great article- here we have giant moles that love to dig around.  I’ve always let them take their share of the yard knowing they are aerating my yard for free!

I have MD in the gutters of the garage.  Have seen most of what your are describing in the preceding posts.  No cooing while nesting for these. Love them.  Hope they return or raise more babies.  This is the first time I have seen this happen.

I always loved the cooing if doves…For the last month we have been keeping watch over a pair that built a nest on our porch light. They were there so long I thought the eggs might not be good. I also worried that the sitting bird might starve until I saw the other one fly in and trade places. Yesterday we finally saw the hatch-lings though they must be at least a week old because they are very big and very hungry! I got a good video of the two hatch-lings feeding and have shared it with all of my friends and posted on fb. I am so happy for the success of the hatching and hope they will survive to start their own lives!

These are the most beautiful of trees. People don’t like the falling branches & cut a tree down just to make less mess. They say they are dangerous but having lived in forest for 30 years-we never had a tree fall on us. We built in among them & it was more work but worth it. We had a lean-to & we would make the hole in roof larger for it to go thru-it was there first. I can’t believe people are even cutting down pines as they are too messy. The trees were there first (as were the animals).

I can remember my father telling stories of rock layers who would come to his father’s farm (Delaware county, NY) in the summer to build stone walks. He said they were travelers who came north and built walks for room and board.

At night after chores the men would sit on the lawn and drink homemade hard cider and tell stories. They would use the horse team if available and a sled to haul the stones from the field to build the walls.

My dad had lots of stories about the stone masons. I miss him and his farm stories.