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Article - Where We Live by Steve Carr; by Steve Carr - 1/6/11

20 Questions about the Bay’s New Cleanup Plan

With these plain English answers, you’ll know as much as the experts (Of course nobody knows if it will work)

There have been a lot of headlines lately about how we’re finally going to start cleaning up Chesapeake Bay. Most feature the non-word TMDL.

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Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 1/6/11

Your Christmas Tree’s Days of Giving Are Not Over

It still holds gifts for flowers and birds

If you planted pansies in your garden last fall, use branches of your discarded Christmas tree to provide the plants with some winter protection. Cutting the branches near the stem and spreading a single layer over the pansies will provide light shade, thus reducing chances of winter injury if we don’t get sufficient snow. Next spring, remove the branches just as the plants resume growing....

Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 1/6/11

A Matter of Degrees

Even at their best, we can never see the full face of Mercury or Venus

While winter has just begun, we’re already in the process of reclaiming daylight, and Saturday marks a milestone when the sun sets at 5:00. Over the next month, the sun sets roughly one minute later each day. That same Saturday, daybreak arrives at 7:25, but alas, through January, it will come just a few minutes earlier each week.

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Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 1/6/11

Predictions for the Coming Year’s Sporting Life

Good — and sometimes great — fishing in a cleaner Bay

One of America’s wryest philosophers, Yogi Berra, once noted that predictions were difficult to make, especially about the future. Despite his sage warning, I feel compelled to make some Tidewater prophecies for the New Year.

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Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 12/30/10

Basking in the Sun’s Rays

While Old Sol is seven percent stronger this week, it’s unlikely you’ll need to break out the sunscreen

While we commonly mark the first week of January as the commencement of the new year, it also marks two significant milestones in the passage of the earth’s journey around the sun.

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Article - Sporting Life by Dennis Doyle; by Dennis Doyle - 12/23/10

Clean-Up Time

Over winter, the most innocuous fouling turns into hardened deposits

This year Old Man Winter arrived with an especially frigid blast. Closing the rockfish season almost two weeks early for most of us, the 20-degree nighttime temperatures have since turned our tributaries to ice, denying even pickerel anglers their bitter weather pleasures.

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Article - Sky Watch by J. Alex Knoll; by J. Alex Knoll - 12/23/10

On the Inside Looking Out

The Great Winter Circle beckons you to come outdoors

With solstice behind us, we’re in the full throes of winter. Long nights with little or no humidity make for great star-watching, even as the cold saps the desire to stay outside. As if to further lure us into the conundrum, winter skies are alight with some of the brightest stars in the heavens, contained within the Great Winter Circle and all neatly gathered in a ring surrounding the familiar figure of Orion.

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Article - The Bay Gardener by Dr. Francis Gouin; by Dr. Francis Gouin - 12/23/10

Down by the Old Oak Tree

Why some oaks hold their leaves

Some oak trees retain their brown leaves all winter long, while others drop their leaves like all other trees. The reason is juvenility. It takes 25 to 30 years for an oak seedling to mature. Until it starts to produce acorns, the tree is in a juvenile state of growth and retains brown leaves all winter. As the oak approaches maturity, the ends of the branches near the top of the tree drop their leaves in the fall....

Article - Earth Journal by Gary Pendleton; by Gary Pendleton - 12/23/10

My Christmas Bird Count

Plus official counts you can join

It is hard to remember a transformation such as we just had, when the season seemed to change suddenly, with the decisiveness of a no-nonsense business executive. November was pleasant and mild, warm but not unseasonable, with enough rain and cold to bring out the sweaters and not fool us into thinking we had all been transplanted to Georgia.

Then December came along and it was winter. The calendar might haves said not quite yet, but the thermometer said Now!

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Article - Our Capital by Ellen Moyer; by Ellen Moyer - 12/23/10

Take to the Woods

Oh the things you can see!

In the cathedral of the forests, the mysteries and magic of Mother Nature come alive.

Through the soaring pillars of trees, rising in arching canopies, streams of sunlight reflect on the forest floor. In cathedrals of nature and of faith, we are awed in the presence of harmony.

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