Earth Hour

Once again, our family took part in celebrating 'Earth Hour.' For the past few years we have made the commitment to "turn off our lights" for an hour joining hundreds of millions of people around the globe. Usually we go as far as just flipping the breaker in the basement. The kids are in bed well before 8:30 pm, and we sit by the fire in the wood stove, and read by candlelight. We already try to make a difference for the planet in our daily lives, and Earth Hour is so simple.

So I was actually curious...how much CO2 was prevented from entering the atmosphere? Ontario, Canada actually calculated it after Earth Hour 2011. Turning off the lights for an hour made the electric use fall by 2.1% or 360 megawatt hours. This saved the city of Ontario almost $25,000, not to mention 248 metric tons of CO2 being emitted!

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Signs of Spring

Took a beautiful walk in Winnick Woods today. It's a parcel of land set aside by the Cape Elizabeth Land Trust--how lucky we are to have it right down the street! On our walk we saw some of the first signs of spring-crocuses blooming on the side of the path, plus a winter wren singing!

CELT Mission Statement: The Cape Elizabeth Land Trust permanently conserves and provides stewardship for lands cherished by our community - from shore lands to marshes, from farmlands to woodlands - for the education, use and enjoyment of this and future generations. Check out more about CELT: http://capelandtrust.org/

We have supported this organization with a family membership.

It's Maine, it's March, it's 75 degrees

The abnormally warm weather prompted our family to take a day trip to the midcoast. Plans included lunch in Camden, hiking, visiting the Owls Head Transportation Museum and the Owls Head Lighthouse.

The hike was our 5 year old son's first "real" climb on his own. Mt. Battie seemed a perfect starting point. The vertical rise on this mountain is 600' which doesn't seem like much, but you get winded pretty quickly! Once you get out of the deciduous trees, there's a lot of red and white pine, and then you emerge from the forest onto the ledges, through low scrub and then up the "castle" for the best views of the islands, looking through the fog for our favorite, Swan's Island.

Legend has it that Edna St. Vincent Millay was inspired to write her poem Renascence from the top of Mt. Battie:

ALL I could see from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood;
I turned and looked the other way,
And saw three islands in a bay.
So with my eyes I traced the line	5
Of the horizon, thin and fine,
Straight around till I was come
Back to where I’d started from;
And all I saw from where I stood
Was three long mountains and a wood.	10
Over these things I could not see:
These were the things that bounded me;
And I could touch them with my hand,
Almost, I thought, from where I stand.
And all at once things seemed so small	15
My breath came short, and scarce at all.
But, sure, the sky is big, I said;
Miles and miles above my head;
So here upon my back I’ll lie
And look my fill into the sky.	20
And so I looked, and, after all,
The sky was not so very tall.
The sky, I said, must somewhere stop,
And—sure enough!—I see the top!
The sky, I thought, is not so grand;	25
I ’most could touch it with my hand!

Gray Tree Frog

This past fall, a colleague moved some plants from his deck inside his home. Imagine his surprise last weekend when he went to move the bench they were on and placed his hand on something soft and squishy! It turned out to be a gray tree frog which he brought into my classroom. My moss terrarium (thanks Cloe!) seemed to be waiting for an occupant other than bryophytes and a Buddha statue. One of my seniors dubbed the frog 'Sid' since his favorite spot seems to be on top of Siddhartha Buddha's head.

Fun fact about gray tree frogs: they actually freeze in the winter! The gray tree frog produces large amounts of glycerol. The glycerol is changed to glucose and then it is circulated through the frog's cells. The glucose acts like kind of antifreeze and prevents ice crystals from forming in the cells (if ice crystals formed in the cells, they would rip the cells apart and kill the frog). The rest of the water and blood in the frogs body then freezes and its heartbeat and breathing stop. When the temperature warms up, the tree frog "thaws out" and returns to the trees! How cool is that?! It is my goal to set Sid free in the woods behind our house, by a wetland area filled with frogs in the spring. So far, he has taken well to captivity, but that may be a function of his diet of vitamin dusted crickets, wax worms, beetles and the occasional fly and moth!

Planetary Conjunction!

Went outside tonight to witness the planetary conjunction of Venus and Jupiter underneath the crescent moon. I could barely make it them out through the trees, but I've been watching the two planets in the night sky for months now. Venus is 8 times brighter than Jupiter! Thursday is supposed to be the peak, but it looks like our weather won't be cooperating....


Picture from http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/03/120313-conjunction-venus-jupiter-sky-space-science/#

Sap

That time of year again...with the strange warm weather we've had, "Maine Maple Sunday" occurred for our family this weekend. The Brewers invited us to their "shack" to help empty buckets and filter off the flies attracted to the sweet sap to bring to their boiler. Our reward for such a wonderful afternoon? Delicious maple syrup from Cape Elizabeth's maple trees, of course!

Portsmouth Planetary Society

A friend and I day tripped to Portsmouth, NH, and the Portsmouth Planetary Society had telescopes at every corner. What a great way to get people interested in the night sky! The moon was almost full, and one scope was set up so we could see the craters on the moon's surface. What was really incredible was the view of Jupiter and 4 of its moons! I wish Portland had something like this.