Green Librarian

As the weather turns

daviessm — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 06:26:39 +0000

As we continue on with our warmer than usual winter with the occasional mix of freezing rain while thoughts of gardening begin to bloom, I thought I would post a couple of articles on the subject of planting zones.

They’re both by Janice Lloyd at USA Today. They are “Planting Zones Shift to the North” and “New Plant Map Embraces Web”.

Let our gardens grow!

Green Librarian

All around us

daviessm — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:17:52 +0000

While these two articles don’t discuss rocks, sewers, etc… they do talk about a couple of chemicals that are/or were at one time, all around us. The first article, “Magi Would Have a Tough Time Finding Frankincense Today” by Elizabeth Weise at USA Today is on resin, made from the gum of the Boswellia Papyrifera Tree.

While nature’s chemicals sometimes go away, others like those made by man, seem to have a hard time going away such as the ones mentioned in this article entitled “Old Chemicals Are Back in Battle Against Weeds” by Georgina Gustin at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Sincerely-

Green Librarian

Rocks and stones and sewers oh my!

daviessm — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:11:38 +0000

After being harassed by a friend of mine yesterday for reading books on rocks (Stones: Their Collection, Identification and Uses by R.V. Dietrich) and sewers (Subterranean Twin Cities by Greg Brick), I felt compelled to start posting again so here we go with a couple of articles on these topics.

The first article is for the rocks that are passing all around us entitled “Meterorite Rescued Via Cyberspace” by Jonah Newman at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

The other article is for those found deep inside the earth, even below the sewers and it’s entitled “Deep in Earth’s Interior, Minerals Behave Unexpectedly” by Deanna Conners at Earth Sky.

Keep Reaching for the Stars withYour Feet on the Ground!

Green Librarian

P.S. Okay, that sounded a little corny.

Researching a book

daviessm — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 06:00:52 +0000

As the process of researching for my book begins, I’ve come across an interesting article (at least to me) entitled “Nickel Down, Oxygen Up” by Solmaz Barazesh over at Science Now. Unfortunately I’ve not been able to re-locate the original article online but I will continue to search. At least I have a paper copy of it and so maybe I can scan it and post it that way.

Nickel On!

Green Librarian

Summer in the Winter time

daviessm — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 05:39:00 +0000

While the coldest weather of the year is hitting us here in St. Louis, I’m reminded of summer time courtesy of the show “Journey of the Butterfly” over at PBS on NOVA tomorrow night.

Also, just food for thought, there was this article back in July in the Science section of the New York Times entitled “In Midwest, Flutters May Be Far Fewer” by Andrew Pollack.

As a midwesterner myself, I’ll have to do a little research on that to see what the results might have been and I’ll keep you posted.

Fluttering away-

Green Librarian

For my kids

daviessm — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 23:05:27 +0000

I know I don’t write nearly as much as I’d like to but with a new year approaching (okay, I’m getting a little ahead of myself) comes another try. So with that said, check out my blog for families that like to get outside with the Outdoor Librarian.

See you outside-

Green Librarian

Proud dad

daviessm — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 21:23:19 +0000

Okay, today is one of those days where you realize that as a parent you’ve done a good job. My eight year old daughter Gwen said to me that she wants to help save one of the local parks (The park is Lone Elk Park) that St. Louis County wants to close. She heard that they are having a meeting tonight and so she wants to raise money at her school to save the park.

Apparently she is not the only one according to this article over at the River Hills Traveler entitled “St. Louis County Parks Threat Mobilizes Public-Links Page“

Very proudly-

Green Librarian-

Moving on

daviessm — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 01:00:07 +0000

So after my kids lost the last of their beloved hermit crabs (Peanut Butter Cup) we’ve started the process of finding a new pet and while my oldest son and my daughter want fish, my youngest son Julian want’s a snail.

So as the diligent father and librarian that I am, I’ve been doing some research, such as talking to pet stores and reading books. Now while we haven’t made a choice yet, I have learned that one I don’t want is the giant African land snail according to the article “Giant Alien Snails Attack Miami, Though They’re Not in Much of a Rush“by Arian Campo-Flores of the Wall Street Journal .

So while I’m not in a rush either, the search continues.

Sincerely-

Green Librarian

My parks

daviessm — Wed, 02 Nov 2011 20:48:40 +0000

I’ve seen this happening in other states but it’s a little more depressing when it starts to happen in your own backyard. The few parks that the kids and I go to include Powder Valley, Laumiere Sculpture Park and Castlewood.

The first article is the story entitled “County Parks May Face Sale” by Paul Hampel of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and the second one is an excellent rebuttal as to why we need our parks. It’s entitled “Outdoor Classroom: Forest Park” by Jessica Bock, also at the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Sincerely-

Green Librarian

Tired Friday

daviessm — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 21:05:07 +0000

As I sit here tired from an afternoon fire drill in which we had to go down twenty-two flights of stairs, I’m reminded of my age. Like recovering from that exercise, I came across an article recently that remind me that there are lots of things that just take time.

I’ve been following the story of whether they were going to take down a dam on the Elwha river out west for quite some time now. I found the answer just recently in this article by Kim Todd over at the High Country News entitled “Rebuilding a river as Washington’s Elwha dams come down”.

Good reading for a tired body.

Green Librarian