I started working at the Columbia branch of the Daniel Boone Regional library earlier this year. During the whirlwind of training I’ve learned about a variety of helpful, charming, surprising and useful resources of which I was previously unaware. Continue reading “A Few of My Favorite Things”

August is not usually considered a great time to be outside in Missouri. The weather is hot and humid. Except for a few wildflowers blooming many plants seem to give up this time of year and wait for cooler weather — not a bad strategy if you ask me. But this August, I’ve noticed a couple bright spots in my outside observations that are worth sharing

Just this morning I saw several species of large, vibrant butterflies on my morning dog walk. The Monarch butterflies are suddenly plentiful, floating around on their orange and black stained-glass wings. There were also Tiger Swallowtail (Papilio glaucus), Parsnip Swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) and Giant Swallowtail (Papilio cresphontes) and many smaller species that I don’t know at a glance. Other insect life is plentiful as well. I frequently see a variety of wasps collecting spiders and other quarry as food for their larvae. An iridescent Rainbow Beetle (Phanaenus vindex), a type of dung beetle, lumbered across the road. The next generation of carpenter bees are emerging and buzzing around, as are many other species of bees (I need to learn more of these). A hawk moth, which imitates hummingbirds and forages during the day, darted between and hovered over flowers. My short walk up the road with my dogs was full of bright surprises. Continue reading “Bright Spots in August”

I was one of the thousands who adopted a dog during the pandemic. Our new dog, Freya, is an intelligent, sweet and motivated young German Shepherd mix. We had a bit of a bumpy ride integrating her into the family back in March 2020, so I had already been working with a local trainer on obedience when I saw “The Art of Training Your Dog, How to Gently Teach Good Behavior Using an E-Collar” by the Monks of New Skete and Marc Goldberg in our new books collection and knew that I wanted to check it out. Continue reading “Pandemic Dogs”

June is a time to remember the Stonewall Riots (or Stonewall Uprising/Stonewall Rebellion). In 1969, what started as an act of protest has become a way to continue to celebrate the LGBT+ Community and promote activism within the community.

As we are distant this year, with hope in the future for less distance Pride events, here are a few websites to hear and share LGBT Voices. Through these online resources, there are avenues for expression, stories, and creation of spaces to keep and protect voices that might otherwise be lost. Continue reading “LGBT+ Voices: Online Archives on Coming Out”

In the United States, chess has seemingly been held at arm’s length, generally thought of as a game for rainy days and old men in parks. A few times in the past 170 years, interest has swelled to a more appropriate representation of the populace. Understandably, these surges usually coincide with the ascension of a prominent player to the world stage. Most notably, this happened when Bobby Fischer won the World Chess Championship in 1972.  Continue reading “The New U.S. Chess Boom”

The Environmental Protection Agency explains what compost is and why it’s important: “Compost is organic material that can be added to soil to help plants grow. Food scraps and yard waste together currently make up more than 30 percent of what we throw away, and could be composted instead. Making compost keeps these materials out of landfills where they take up space and release methane, a potent greenhouse gas.” Continue reading “International Compost Awareness Week”