Cherry Springs Nature Sign

Not long ago, I was contacted by naturalist Sheri Covert at the Cherry Springs Nature Area new Pocatello, Idaho.  She was putting together an interpretive sign to inform visitors about some of the interesting insect life to be found there, and asked if she could use some of my dragonfly pictures.  I was happy to help with a project like that, and I supplied her with pictures of the species she was looking for.  Here's the sign, which looks quite nice:

Here's an enlargement of the dragonfly section:

All of these pictures are ones I've taken over the last few years.  It's nice to see them being used in a good cause like this.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day from the Happy-face Dragonfly!

The Whisperer Speaks

On Saturday, February 1, I gave a couple talks at the Sound Waters environmental conference held in Oak Harbor.  The first talk was on identifying Puget Sound dragonflies, and the second one was on interesting aspects of dragonlfy behavior.

Here's a description of the talk:

Here's the description of my background:

I gave the participants the following two-page handout:

The talk went very well, with lots of great responses from the audience.  It made it a delightful experience for everyone.

The Adventure of Baby Albert

On Wednesday, January 15, Betsy and I went to Everett to visit Gary-James, Michelle, and their brand new baby boy, Albert Levi Michael Knudson.  Here's Gary-James with baby Albert.

Gary-James holds baby Albert just hours after his birth.  He weighed in at 9 lb 4 oz.

Betsy had a chance to hold Albert as well, and he even opened his eyes and tried to look around a bit.

Betsy cradling Albert.

Landon was having a good time as usual, though not really appreciating the significance of the day.  When he was first shown Albert he asked, "Doggy?"  Later, when we first got there, he promptly announced, "Betsy's here."

Here he is running in full stride to see if he can open some doors.  When he discovered that other doors were locked he came to us and asked, "Keys?"  We complimented him on his nice shirt, and its pretty green color.  He touched the green plaids and said "Verde."

Landon in a hurry to get somewhere.

When he left before us, with Jennifer and Gary, he repeated several times, "Bye bye Betsy."

Happy New Year!

New Year wishes for a great year in 2014, with lots of interesting birding and dragonflying for all.

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: