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Tag: World War I

In Honor of a Doughboy’s Service

November 6, 2018

A few years before he died in 1988 at age 98, my grandfather shared some his World War I memories with his nursing home friends. While scarce on details, what he did share remained strong in his mind. Howard Emanuel Stickles, a Simsbury, Connecticut native, served in France with the U.S. Army’s 76th Infantry Division … More In Honor of a Doughboy’s Service

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This blog celebrates the good works of people and organizations that make our world a better place, especially the stonecatchers who catch the hurtful stones that are thrown at the marginalized, vulnerable, and victimized. Be a stonecatcher!
–Don Shaw, Jr.

ABOUT ME

Community volunteer, affordable housing advocate, hobbyist photographer, occasional writer, and believer in human rights, respect, and dignity for all.

Retired executive from public, private, and non-profit sector careers; Hartford Area Habitat for Humanity Director Emeritus; and, for outstanding professional achievement, community advocacy, and service to humanity, the recipient of Ohio Weslyan University’s Distinguished Achievement Citation, University of Hartford’s Anchor Award, and Junior Achievement of SW New England Business Hall of Fame’s Spirit of Hope Award.

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Early this morning at Dismal Brook Wildlife Preserve I encountered a Common Raccoon when we simultaneously spotted each other. It cautiously proceeded to a nearby tree to keep a curious eye on me, which allowed me to capture a couple of quick portraits.
In preparation for imminent fledging these House Wren nestlings are getting “beetle-juiced” with plenty of protein.
When checking for monarch butterfly eggs on milkweed leaves and you find a cluster of these eggs, you’re looking at Milkweed Tussock Moth eggs. The emerging larvae will feed ravenously in a herd, ultimately becoming caterpillars with colorful tufts of black, white, and orange hairs, which makes them look like “fuzzy bedroom slippers.” The adult moths are not as colorful, being mainly a soft gray. These larvae will leave the milkweeds and pupate in small, gray felted cocoons until next spring. While these moths are essential for ecological diversity, the larvae devour milkweed leaves at a rapid rate. If you want to remove them, do so with gloves. Touching their hairs may result in an uncomfortable rash. I hope to photograph the larvae as they emerge and grow.
A female Blue Dasher dragonfly perched on a tomato plant stake in our garden.
This morning I found this Azalea Sphinx moth larva feeding on an azalea leaf. It appears ready to pupate. The larvae of this species are found on Viburnum, Kalmia, and Azalea including many of the cultivated species. The Azalea sphinx is a large moth with a wingspan up to four inches. It is diurnal (active during the daytime). Adults take nectar from flowers with their long tongues, and prefer elongate, tube-like flowers. As such, these moths are pollinators, and provide an important service to the environment. Caterpillars will move to the base of their host plant and form a silken cocoon out of dead leaves. Caterpillars overwinter as pupae.
Finding my Sunday solace in a previously unpublished photo of this elegant Great Egret calmly wading in Salmon Brook.
Celebrate pollinator week! Honeybee sipping nectar and gathering pollen from a winterberry blossom. Common Winterberry is a North American native shrub. The bright red berries it produces are an extremely bird-friendly food source.
A Lance-leaf coreopsis blossom glowing in morning sunlight.

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