How Nature Prepares for Winter

Winter is nearly upon us, and there is lots of work to be done. Today my family spent the day cutting, splitting, and storing firewood to keep the house warm through the coming cold. Plants and animals in the northern hemisphere are getting ready for winter too. None match the wood splitting ability of my husband, but each excels in winter preparation in its own way.

Deciduous trees, like oak and maple, prepare differently than do their evergreen brethren. Winter to a tree is not so much a time of cold as it is a time of drought. Water frozen in the soil becomes unavailable to the plant for use in photosynthesis. Using the diminishing sunlight as a clue, these trees grow a corky barrier where the leaf meets the twig, severing the leaf from the plant. If leaves stayed attached, water could escape through the leaves, into the dry winter air, desiccating and killing the plant.

Have you noticed that some deciduous trees cut off the leaves' water supply, but allow the leaves to hang on for the winter? Leaves of young beech and oak trees do this. We are not sure why, but it could be that old, dead, dried leaves, which are not so palatable to deer and moose, stay on to cover and protect the delicious bud underneath from these big browsers. Others theorize that these trees just haven't gotten the hang of true deciduousness yet.

Throughout winter our snowy landscape will be dotted with the greens of hemlock, pine, and rhododendron. Evergreens hang onto their leaves to save energy in the spring. Without having to re-grow lost leaves when the soil water thaws, they are ready to get going right away. They may also photosynthesize in the winter if conditions permit. This strategy makes sense too.

To protect themselves, evergreen trees and bushes have modified their leaves. Hemlocks, pines and others have needles with waxy coatings and small surface areas to reduce water loss. Rhododendrons also cover their leaves with wax. Notice a rhododendron on a particularly cold winter day. The leaf will curl under to protect the pores (called stomata) on their bottom surface from the drying effects of cold air. Stomata are the doors, if you will, to the moist leaf interior.

Plants are not the only organisms to adapt to the coming cold. White-tailed deer shed their red-brown summer coat for a dull grey winter coat. The thin summer hair protects well from bugs, but the hollow winter hair traps air and provides extra insulation. It insulates so well that a bedded deer could be covered by snow and not cause the snow to melt at all.

Hares and weasels loose their brown summer coloration and change to a white coat to better blend into the winter background. Some species of weasels maintain a small black tuft at the tip of their tails to confuse would-be predators. If the predator chooses poorly, it ends up with a mouthful of hair and not the weasel.

Some animals stay active all winter searching for food, while others stockpile supplies. Grey squirrels stash large piles of acorns and red squirrels stockpile evergreen cones. Throughout the winter they will brave a trip from the protection of their nests out to visit these stores to keep their fat levels up. Chipmunks have spent the fall storing nuts and seeds in underground coffers. They will wake up periodically, make an underground trip through its maze of tunnels, and have a bite to eat.

Forecasting Winter Severity Using Signs from Nature

The other day I spotted a hornet's nest hanging from the branch of a small witch hazel tree. It had been cold recently and knowing the Bald-faced hornets that built and used the nest during the summer abandon it after the first big frost, I decided it was worth collecting. As I approached, I remembered an old wives' tale that claimed you could predict the severity of the coming winter with a hornet's nest. The saying goes: if the nest is close to the ground, the winter will be dry, but if the nest is high in the trees, then snow will pile deep.

Folklore has passed down many methods of prognostication. You are probably familiar with the midwinter ritual of dragging a poor rodent from its den to see if it notices its shadow. But did you know that Alaskan Indians check the position of bears in their dens to predict the severity of their winters? Not a job I would be willing to do. According to the Kutchin Indians, bears will lie close to the den opening when the winter is to be mild, but dig deeper in if the winter is to be severe.

Now you might want to check out bear dens, but another tribe has a less risky technique. The Koyukon Indians search out hare tracks in the season's first snowfall. If the tracks are wide, that means the hares have extra hairy feet, telling of a cold and wet winter. And perhaps this is true, but has anyone ever bothered to check such wives' tales?

Well, yes indeed they have. You've perhaps seen the caterpillar known as the woolly bear. It is the larva of the Isabella tiger moth, a somewhat non-descript beige moth. Legend has it that woolly bears foretell the severity of the coming winter. If the orange/brown band around its midsection is wide, the winter will be mild; if the band is narrow, get out and split extra firewood or buy a new snow shovel, because, a harsh winter is in store.

In 1948, Charles Curran of the American Museum of Natural History began an 8-year study of the caterpillars. He dutifully collected and measured dozens of these little buggers each year. For years he found that the reddish segment accounted for about one third the body length of the caterpillar. The corresponding winters were mild, seeming to confirm the folklore.

During the eighth year's collection however, Curran found two populations of caterpillars just about 100 feet apart; one predicted a harsh winter and the other a mild one. Now either this was going to be a terribly unusual weather pattern or the myth of winter prognostication by means of caterpillar was busted. With this conflicting data Dr. Curran ended his study. Did he give up too soon?

Another more recent study by entomologists have determined that older woolly bear caterpillars tend to have wider bands than young ones. Therefore, if the previous winter ended early, caterpillars would emerge early, and would be older in the fall than if the winter had lingered. Trouble is, this tells about the previous winter, not the upcoming one.

Cagliari, Sardinia: A Mediterranean Gem

Cagliari is the capital city of Sardinia, which is a region of Italy. There are about 160,000 people that live directly in the city, but over half a million live in the entire metropolitan area suburbs. This city is rich in history and culture, and is one of the premier tourist destinations in Sardinia.

The oldest part of Cagliari sits on a hill and has a beautiful view of Angels Gulf. Most of the city's walls are still standing and you can find two beautiful limestone towers. These two towers, St. Pancra and The Elephant Tower, are intact and add a simple elegance to the city. This white limestone was used to build many of the buildings found in Cagliari, as well as the city walls.

In 1930, the Cathedral was restored to more of its original appearance. The Baroque exterior was transformed back to a Medieval Pisan facade. The bell tower is completely original. This Cathedral has been referred to repeatedly in literature and artistic song for the alabaster beauty from the limestone walls.

Architectural Wonders of Cagliari, Sardinia

To the people of Sardinia, the Basilica di San Saurnino is the most important monument in the entire island. The Basilica is dedicated to the memory of Santurninus of Cagliari, a martyr that was killed during Diocletian's reign. It was build during the fifth century and only the center part remains. There are crypts and a necropolis located nearby as well.

Another popular tourist attraction in Sardinia is the Roman Amphitheater. It was actually carved into the face of a hill made of limestone. Built between the first and eleventh century, the amphitheater could seat ten thousand people. Many tourists mistakenly think that this piece of Roman architecture is located in Rome.

The Sardinian Archaeological Museum is in Cagliari and is the biggest and most important representation of the Nuragic civilization. This museum has several bronze sculptures that are worth the trip to see.

Other Wonders of Cagliari, Sardinia

Cagliari has many winding, narrow streets, so transportation is somewhat tedious. However, you will find several craftsmen workshops down these scenic lanes. Tourists often flock to these workshops in search of carpentry, weaving, ceramics, and jewelry items. The skills needed to create such items have been passed down through the generations.

Nature gets makeover in forest lab

On this recent snowy day, his forest lab looked utterly natural - a few wind-strewn trees lying under a canopy of beech, birch, and maple. But looks were deceiving; Keeton and others had logged and carefully shaped the wooded slope, using chainsaws and other machinery to emulate what happens in woodlands over centuries.

Using Mother Nature as a blueprint, Keeton, a University of Vermont forestry specialist, has developed a technique that allows for logging while maximizing the carbon kept in the forest and out of the atmosphere, where it can trap the sun's heat and drive global warming.

The work by Keeton and others offers landowners a way both to profit from selling timber - though less than under conventional forestry practices - and contribute to the fight against global warming, at a time when keeping carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases out of the atmosphere is becoming a political, environmental, and economic priority.

"When the climate problem became more public and people began to worry about the amount of carbon we're putting into the air, their eyes began to turn to our forests," said Bob Perschel, northeast region director of the Forest Guild, an association of professional foresters. The best way to keep carbon in a forest is to leave it alone, but given the reality of logging, "the question is, what can we do in our forests to sequester more carbon?"

Interest in trees' carbon-storage abilities comes on multiple fronts. In a bill now being refined, US Representative Edward Markey, the Malden Democrat leading House efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, has proposed setting aside a portion of income from auctioning off carbon credits - licenses to cover the amount of carbon dioxide polluters release - to support practices that increase the carbon stored in forests, crops, and soil.

Break-Up - Women Confuse Attraction With Love

A woman will often get involved with a man who isn't going where she's going. It's obvious for everyone that he's not the right man for her, but she can't see this. Why does that happen?

Well, nature doesn't take into account our long-term happiness when it comes to relationships. It also doesn't care how much we have in common with this person we feel attracted to or if we'll get along with them in the long run. Nature only cares about the fulfillment of our biological need to replicate and it will do whatever it takes to make us blind to everything that might interfere with the achievement of its objective.

So the depth of our attraction for someone is not a guarantee for a lasting and fulfilling long-term relationship. Nature doesn't have the words long-term and happiness in its vocabulary. That's why in the first months/years of a relationship, your analytical mind won't step up and tell you what it really thinks about what you're doing. Only after a while will you receive warning signs from your mind. So you finally wake up months/years later wondering how is it possible that you got involved with that man in the first place. Or, as people like to ask, "What were you thinking?". The honest answer would be..."I wasn't."

And here's an even bigger problem: men are even less aware than women when it comes to these things. So he may say things like "I love you", only to realize a few months/years later, that you're not The One for him.

Lotus Flower as a Symbol of Modesty

Everything we do and every part of our behavior reflects on nature. Human behavior can be very disastrous, but at the same time it can be the most amazing thing you have ever seen. When you watch someone that doesn't care about what they do and what others think of them, your impression of that person is not a good one. That person is someone that can bring a lot of harm to others.

However, when you see someone that doesn't enjoy being watched or doesn't like standing out from the crowd, that is one person that can reserve the greatest surprises for you. Someone that hides from other people looks, someone that doesn't enjoy boasting, yet they hide great potential inside, that is someone that can change the world. This is something that you should look for.

This kind of behavior is encountered often in people all around us. This is also a type of behavior that you can find in nature, in animals and in some plants as well. One of the plants that I am talking about is the Lotus flower, one of the most beautiful plants that you can lay your eyes upon.

The Lotus flower is in many ways one of the greatest mysteries in nature. A plant usually has roots in the ground and springs up in order to be seen by everyone that goes by. Basking their petals in the beautiful sunlight or moonlight is indeed the way these creations of nature repay people that stop to enjoy them.

However the Lotus flower does not follow the same process. This is one flower that grows in mud on the bottom of shallow lakes, allowing everyone that passes it during the day to enjoy one of the greatest sights that can ever be seen on earth. On the other hand, when the moon starts showing its rays, this beautiful flower goes back into the mud from where it will rise again the next day.

Can The Science of Getting Rich Be Manipulated?

Is it a fair statement to say that we are not able to get rich because someone has snatched the opportunity from us? Is it possible for anyone to fence the way to riches so that others may not have a share of their success by walking along the same path? In other words, can the Science of Getting Rich be manipulated or coveted? Have you thought about it?

Let me ask you a question, if so, why do we see a normal person who delivered newspapers at the tender age of 14 rose to become a billionaire? (I am talking about Warren Buffet of course!)

The way should have been properly cordoned off by the rich living in the area that a newspaper delivery boy should have never trampled upon the way, don't you think so?

This proves that there is abundant opportunity for the person who is discerned enough to learn and understand the way. What keeps some away from the way is pure ignorance!

The universe has in store such abundance that everyone on earth can have more than enough of what they want and still be leftovers of supply of riches. No one is ever kept in poverty by shortness of the supply of riches, but nature has more than enough for all who live on the face of the earth.

No one can claim they are poor because nature is poor or because there is not enough to go around. Nature is indeed an inexhaustible storehouse of riches and the supply will never run short. Nature responds to the needs of mankind and it will not deprive the world of any good.