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Nature’s Noel

As I sit looking out my window this Christmas Eve, my thoughts travel many miles to a valley in Montana where a family of wolves settle in against the harsh Montana Winter. My thoughts also travel to Alaska where a wolf pack follows the faint scent of a meal that had long past.

So often at this time of year we reflect on the love of family and friends and all that is good. Yet we pause not for even a moment to reflect on the incredible beauty of nature and how little we’ve done to protect it.

In Alaska more than 1000 wolves have been killed by aerial hunting. Ran to exhaustion before they are shot from the air, the wolves have little chance to escape the bullet. Protection has been lifted on the wolves of Yellowstone as well. Hundreds have already been shot for no reason other than being a wolf.

Idaho has extended their wolf hunt into the Spring denning period when wolves are particularly vulnerable. Killing just a single pregnant female can have a huge impact on the population.

Polar bears are drowning due to lack of sea ice yet no one really seams to care about the changing climate. Why can we spend untold billions of dollars to fight a war that in the end changes nothing, yet we refuse to spend anything on our planet that is dieing.

We’re poisoning our water, we’re polluting our air. We’re overfishing our oceans, we’re destroying our rain forests. Is it even possible for us to stop?

As I watch the snow fall silently upon the frozen ground outside my window, I worry about our planets future. I hope that you and your family have a joyous holiday. I hope one day our planet and all it’s inhabitants, human, plant and animal can do the same.

Below is my Christmas gift to you. It’s the most precious gift I can give.
I hope you enjoy it.

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One for the Record Books

sadie2

Last night was the coldest night ever recorded in Cedar Rapids. We bottomed out at -29F. It’s looking like tonight is shaping up to be about as cold.

Sadie the nature dog who usually doesn’t mind going outside in the snow wasn’t having any part of that last night.

All this cold and the amount of snow we’ve had so far this year has everyone talking if we’ll have another flood once things start to melt.

We’re already ahead of last years snowfall by quite a bit in some parts of the state:

Snow fall totals from this year versus last year:

Cedar Rapids
This year: 25.2”
Last year: 23.3”

Dubuque
This year: 44.0”
Last year: 24.5”

Iowa City
This year: 21.5”
Last year: 22.9”

Waterloo
This year: 34.9”
Last year: 17.9”

I was just thinking this afternoon that in a few days we’ll be in temps that are over 100 degrees warmer than what we are right now.

But for now, we’ll stay close to the fireplace and dream of warmer days.

The Magic of Winter

In past years it wasn’t often that we had a white Christmas here in Eastern Iowa. We might get a dusting here and there but soon temperatures would rise above freezing and it would melt away.

But now it seems that we wonder if we’ll have a white Thanksgiving or not.

While the winter storms that roll in every other day are hazardous to those on the road, it makes for breathtaking scenery begging to be captured. There’s something about a silent snowfall in the woods that makes me feel more alive with nature than most any other time.

I don’t think you’ve ever experienced silence until you’ve stood in the middle of a forest during a silent snowfall. It’s so quiet, you can hear the snowflakes hitting the branches of trees.

I hope this winter I can capture a small sliver of the feeling winter has for me.

Stay tuned!

The Sounds of Silence

The morning was mute, quiet and still

as I awoke from a peaceful rest;

The sounds of silence were a soft calm

and peace was mine – I was blessed.

A hushed world was solemn in thought

at the silence all around;

Snowflakes fell like pure-white feathers

and never made a sound.

A lull like this, in a busy world,

was Nature’s gift of wonder;

I stifled thoughts of anything

that might put it asunder.

For just awhile on a winter’s morn,

I turned within, in awe;

Listening to the sounds of silence

and the beauty that I saw.

~ Joan Adams Burchell