It amazes me that the windmills over in Princeton have never stopped turning. Every time I gaze across the Wachusett Reservoir to the ridge in Princeton, the big white blades are lazily spinning. Maybe they do stop once in a while, but I’ve never seen it. Many companies would love this type [...]
I’ve seen so many snowstorms this year that I have lost count. However, the one the other day was the most impressive, not for the drifts or the depth or the wind, but for how it covered every surface with white. The entire landscape was blanketed, much like the methods some companies use to market [...]
The other night, I bolted straight up in the darkness to the sound of people screaming for mercy. After a few seconds, I realized that it was not Charles Manson loose in the neighborhood. It was the wailing howls of a bunch of amorous coyotes.
They reminded me of the unrequited calls that some companies make [...]
I went timber cruising last weekend. No, this is not aimlessly driving the back roads of New England, but rather, walking around the woods selecting trees for next year’s firewood. I take little pink ribbons and tie them around the trees that will eventually keep us warm during the blizzards of January 2012.
Though the forest [...]
I was having a drink in the back yard last weekend when a large black and gold dragonfly landed on my knee. It was fantastic looking, with a 4 inch wingspan, its shiny black head moving around to take in its surroundings. It reminded me of a biplane. I was surprised to [...]
The other day I came across the most ornery looking creature I have ever seen. It was 4 inches long, green and covered in blue, yellow, and orange knobs with little black spikes sticking out of each one – absolutely bizarre like some sci-fi genetics experiment gone wrong. This cecropia caterpillar is, however, a [...]
There is a blight on my land, and it just killed my favorite chestnut tree. The so-called chestnut blight, introduced a century ago, wiped out 4 billion American chestnut trees and is still a potent exterminator of all the new trees sprouting from the old roots. I had great hope that our 30 [...]