The Case of the Calendar Kids

Jennifer and Gary came to visit few couple weeks ago, and as we chatted I mentioned that Walker Physics had appeared in the online version of the New York Times.  The article was about students trying to pay back their student loans, and the photo showed a student in his dorm room with a copy of Walker Physics sitting on the desk.

A few days later, Jennifer turned the page on the school calendar at Mariner High School, which is the school where she works.  What a surprise when she saw that one of the photos showed students she knows at the school looking at a copy of the fourth edition of Walker Physics, which is used at Mariner for their AP Physics course.  

Here's the calendar page:

The Adventure of the Holiday Newsletter

I thought I'd try out the idea of a holiday newsletter.  Maybe next year I can do it in hardcopy, but for now I'll try a digital form.

Here goes:

Snow Day!

Well, the predictions of snow came true.  We saw just a light amount of snow coming down last night before going to bed, and awoke this morning to 2-3 inches, with snow still coming down.  It is tapering off now, and is supposed to melt away later today.

Here are some pics from this morning:

Our snowy back yard.  Betsy is tending to one of the hummingbird feeders.

Snow on the beach at the marina, and at Washington Park in the distance.

The view from the front door.  Quite a wintry scene.

One of our resident crows hanging out in the snow.

Christmas Is Coming!

We've started receiving Christmas cards, so I thought it would be a good time to send out greetings of the season from the Happy-face Darner to the readers of "The Adventures of Jim and Betsy" blog.  Happy Holidays!

Sunset Boulevard

We get a lot of nice sunsets here in Anacortes.  Here's one from a few days ago that looked like there was a raging fire behind Burrows Island.  Very interesting effect.

The sun is setting behind Burrow's Island.

With the mist hanging over the summit of Burrow's Island, it makes it look like there's a fire behind the island.

The intense colors in this close-up shot are similar to the way it appeared to the eye.

Sun Mountain Lodge

Last week, Betsy and I went for a couple days to Sun Mountain Lodge in Winthrop, WA.  We usually go there in the summer for birding and dragonflying, but had never gone in the Fall.  We're glad we did – the weather was beautiful, and such a nice change from the persistent fog in Puget Sound the last couple of weeks.

Here's the lodge as viewed from out room:

Sun Mountain Lodge from our room.

The Fall colors were more than we had hoped for.  Here are some samples from around the grounds of the Lodge:

Betsy at Sun Mountain Lodge.

Admiring the Fall foliage.

Fall colors everywhere.

Colorful leaves were on the ground and in the trees.

Nice views from the mountains …

… to the Moon.

Here's a view from the Lodge down toward Lake Patterson:

Lake Patterson and the road home.

We also saw some nice birds.  Here are a couple:

A Golden-crowned Kinglet.

A female Hairy Woodpecker.

There were lots of dragonflies, too.  In fact, we saw two different species of darners and six species of meadowhawks.  Here's a photo of two species of meadowhawks sitting side-by-side:

Two male meadowhawks.  On the left a Saffron-winged Meadowhawk, and on the right a Band-winged Meadowhawk.

All in all, a wonderful couple days off to enjoy the Fall.

The Adventure of the Bronzed Cowbird

In Washington State we see Brown-headed Cowbirds, which are nest parasites on other birds.  They lay their eggs in the nests of songbirds and warblers, and their young are then raised by the unsuspecting host birds.  One summer we saw a small Yellow Warbler feeding a cowbird baby that was considerably larger than the warbler itself.

Here in Arizona we also see Bronzed Cowbirds, which don't occur up north.  They look similar at first glance, but the Bronzed Cowbird is a bit larger, has a thick neck, and sports bright red eyes.  Here's one that was outside our kitchen window a few days ago.

A male Bronzed Cowbird at our home in Arizona.

Quite a handsome bird.  I wonder what species of bird raised this guy.

Happy-face Gets A Mug Shot

No, not that kind of mug shot.  The Happy-face Darner can now be found on a coffee mug, as shown below:

The Happy-face coffee mug.

I'm using the mug now on my desk as a pencil holder.  It's fun to see the happy face looking up at me all day.

The Adventure Of The Great Blue Herons

On our way to Mom's house here in Leisure World we walk right past a tree where the herons have a rookery.  There's always a big ruckus going on there as adults fly back and forth to feed their young.  Parts of the tree are "whitewashed" with droppings.

Here are a couple recent photos of an adult feeding its young in the nest.

An adult Great Blue Heron on the nest.  One of the young is visible below the adult.

When the adult interacts with the young it tends to erect its crest, which is normally not so prominent.  In the next photo the young heron is begging to be fed.

A young heron (left) trying to induce the adult to regurgitate food.

Finally, the adult feeds the young, though it certainly looks like a rough way to get a meal.

Ramming the food down the throat is the heron way of feeding its young.

The Whisperer Spoke!

I gave a dragonfly presentation for Maricopa Audubon last night.  Here's an ad for the talk:

We had fun and met a lot of nice people.  The talk was well received.  They treated us to dinner before the talk, and we got back home around 10:30 pm.

Blood Oranges!

Every now and then we pick up a bag of grapefruit that someone has left for others who would like to have them.  Many people here can't have grapefruit because it interferes with some of the medicine they take, so they're happy to give them to someone who can enjoy them.

The other day we picked up a bag of grapefruit, and noticed another bag carefully labeled Blood Oranges.  We were curious, so we decided to give them a try.  We quickly found that they are well named.  Here's a picture of one of the blood oranges sliced open:

A sliced blood orange.

The juice they make is equally sanguine.  Take a look at our morning orange juice, as produced with the blood oranges:

Blood orange juice.  Quite a contrast between the blood orange and the white grapefruit.

Looks like a drink fit for a vampire!  Actually, the taste is almost identical to that of a normal orange, and you might not even notice the difference if you were drinking your orange juice blindfolded.

Apparently, blood oranges are popular in Italy, and are the ones in common usage there.  You might want to keep that in mind if you travel to Italy and order some orange juice.

The Whisperer Speaks

I'll be giving a dragonfly talk for the Maricopa Audubon Society next Tuesday, April 2, at 7:30 pm.  It will be held at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix, Arizona.  Here's a little blurb about the talk:

It will be fun, as usual, to share the enjoyment of dragonflies with others.

Comet PanSTARRS

Last week Betsy and I had some great views of Comet PanSTARRS (C/2011 L4).  It was just barely visible with the naked eye, and was an easy object with binoculars.  We also had nice views of it with our spotting scope.  I found the following picture on the web that shows pretty much what it looked like in our binoculars on March 12, just to the left of the crescent Moon.  Notice the nice tail pointing away from the Sun.

Comet PanSTARRS, as it appeared in the western sky on March 12, 2013.

As we viewed the comet one evening a couple drove up and asked what we were looking at.  We told them the comet, and they asked if we could show it to them.  They had gone out that evening specifically to look for the comet, but hadn't seen it yet.  We were happy to point it out in the sky and show it to them in the spotting scope as well.

The next comet to be coming our way is Comet Ison, sometime around Thanksgiving, 2013.  It may put one a good show, too.

New Physics Textbook!

Here's the cover of my latest Physics textbook.  I just got it a few days ago.  This book will go on the market in the Spring, and students will be using it this Fall.

I have high hopes for it, especially since it's much better than any of its competitors.

I'm busy now on the 5th edition of my university-level book now.  Looking forward to completing it as well.

I was at the University of Washington a couple days ago, and saw a student doing homework problems from the 4th edition of my university-level book.  It was fun to see my problems, along with the art work, on the student's computer screen.

The Sunset Of 1/17/13

I was working at my desk yesterday, when I noticed a nice sunset in progress.  I went out on the deck and snapped a few pictures.  A couple of them are presented below:

Burrows Island.  The sun sets almost directly behind the island this time of year.

The Olympic Mountains silhouetted by the sunset.

The trees at the top of Burrows Island against the reddening sky.

The Adventure Of The Solitary Solitaire

Yesterday, Betsy and I went to Washington Park, right next to where we live in Anacortes, WA.  It was a beautiful day, and we went to one of the main lookout points in the park.

View to the east from Washington Park.  Mount Erie is to the right, and our home is in the Skyline area to the left.

One of the reasons we went to this spot was to look for Townsend's Solitaire.  This is perhaps the only place in Skagit County where you have a good chance of seeing this bird.  It comes down from the mountains in the winter to feed on the juniper berries that are so abundant in the park.  Here's the tree where we first saw the Solitaire, and a view of the bird with plenty of berries nearby for the taking:

The juniper tree where we first saw the Townsend's Solitaire.

A Townsend's Solitaire at Washington Park.  Notice its all gray body, light wing bar and eye ring, and buffy patches in the wing.

As we expected, the Solitaire was feeding on the juniper berries.  Here a shot of it just after it grabbed one.  In the next shot you can see the bulge in the throat where the berry is on its way down:

Townsend's Solitaire getting ready to swallow a berry.

The berry is on its way down the throat.

We got lots of nice views of the Solitaire, as shown in the next photos:

There were other thrushes feeding on the berries as well.  The American Robin shown below was having a great time eating one berry after another:

All in all, it was a wonderful way to spend a morning before going home for lunch.

Looking to the west from Washington Park.  Burrows Island, Rosario Strait, Lopez Island, and the Olympic Mountains are in the distance, and the "family tree" is in the foreground.