A message from Michael Odom michael.odom374@gmail.com.
I recently accepted the challenge of cycling in the American Diabetes Association's Tour de Cure fund-raising event. The Tour de Cure is a series of cycling events held in over 80 cities nationwide. The Tour is a ride, not a race; it features different route lengths from a family-friendly 10-mile course to a challenging 100-mile journey. I have joined thousands of others to pedal in support of the Association's mission: to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes.
I am asking you to help by supporting my fund-raising efforts with a donation. Your tax-deductible gift will make a difference in the lives of more than 23 million Americans who suffer from diabetes and over 57 million people in the United States with pre-diabetes.
It's fast and easy to support this great cause - you can make your donation online by selecting the "Click to Support Me" link below.
Any amount, great or small, helps in the fight against this deadly disease. I greatly appreciate your support and will keep you posted on my progress. If you want to do even more to help, please consider joining me in this great event. Our efforts will help set the pace in the fight against diabetes.
More information on the American Diabetes Association, its programs and diabetes in general can be found at the Association's Web site: www.diabetes.org
For more information on Tour de Cure, please visit www.diabetes.org/tour.
Click here to visit my personal page.
If the text above does not appear as a clickable link, you can visit the web address:
http://main.diabetes.org/site/TR/TourdeCure/TDC429418030?px=5235787&pg=personal&fr_id=5617&et=t1NUPx3jQAaAmLuyt6Elfw..&s_tafId=219348
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Saturday, September 5, 2009
Wolf spiders thin out beetles and bugs and such in gardens
Please click on image to ENLARGE view of Wolf spider eating beetle on September 5, 2009, in the Town Branch neighborhood. Good spider to have in your garden!
Housing Spiders in the Classroom
Wolf spiders are relatively easy to keep if you keep in mind some basic requirements. For classroom study, it works well to collect some spiders, hold them for several days and then release them where they were originally found.
Water
All spiders and especially small ones, require a constant source of moisture. The largest (and quickest) source of mortality for spiders in the lab is dessication. The best means of providing moisture is to have something that will hold moisture for at least a week so if you forget to check it everyday, the spiders will still be okay. You can do this by giving the spider a cotton ball (or a piece of sponge) that is damp; or a wick of cotton or cheese cloth that extends into a small pool of water.
If you are trying to keep spiderlings or baby spiders remember that the surface tension of water is stronger than they are! With baby spiders it is important to not have freestanding drops of water.
Feeding
Wolf spiders have a fairly flexible abdomen that helps them to be able to eat a lot of food when it is present. They also can do fairly well without much food for a week or longer as they are able to decrease their metabolism when food is absent.
Wolf spiders will eat a large number of different kinds of prey. They can take a prey item their own size or smaller and do best with flies, crickets and other spiders. The exoskeleton on many beetles is too tough. In addition to taking live prey, wolf spiders will scavenge and get nourishment from carcasses. You can sometimes see a spider pick up a leg or a wing from a cricket. Different species may show different prey preferences or abilities to subdue prey. Also, species may differ in how much they are willing to scavenge. Some insects may have some defenses against spiders.
Potential prey items for wolf spiders include house flies and mosquitos, crickets, beetle larvae (meal worms) and other spiders. Wolf spiders often will capture a prey item by grabbing the prey and then the spider will flip over onto its back while holding the prey item in its fangs. This may be particularly useful when grabbing a cricket as the strong jumping legs of the cricket could puncture the spiders abdomen.
Housing Spiders in the Classroom
Wolf spiders are relatively easy to keep if you keep in mind some basic requirements. For classroom study, it works well to collect some spiders, hold them for several days and then release them where they were originally found.
Water
All spiders and especially small ones, require a constant source of moisture. The largest (and quickest) source of mortality for spiders in the lab is dessication. The best means of providing moisture is to have something that will hold moisture for at least a week so if you forget to check it everyday, the spiders will still be okay. You can do this by giving the spider a cotton ball (or a piece of sponge) that is damp; or a wick of cotton or cheese cloth that extends into a small pool of water.
If you are trying to keep spiderlings or baby spiders remember that the surface tension of water is stronger than they are! With baby spiders it is important to not have freestanding drops of water.
Feeding
Wolf spiders have a fairly flexible abdomen that helps them to be able to eat a lot of food when it is present. They also can do fairly well without much food for a week or longer as they are able to decrease their metabolism when food is absent.
Wolf spiders will eat a large number of different kinds of prey. They can take a prey item their own size or smaller and do best with flies, crickets and other spiders. The exoskeleton on many beetles is too tough. In addition to taking live prey, wolf spiders will scavenge and get nourishment from carcasses. You can sometimes see a spider pick up a leg or a wing from a cricket. Different species may show different prey preferences or abilities to subdue prey. Also, species may differ in how much they are willing to scavenge. Some insects may have some defenses against spiders.
Potential prey items for wolf spiders include house flies and mosquitos, crickets, beetle larvae (meal worms) and other spiders. Wolf spiders often will capture a prey item by grabbing the prey and then the spider will flip over onto its back while holding the prey item in its fangs. This may be particularly useful when grabbing a cricket as the strong jumping legs of the cricket could puncture the spiders abdomen.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Liatris aspera a showy Arkansas native prairie plant
Please click on images of blazing star to go to Flickr and use magnifying tool above pictures to enlarge one or two sizes!
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Video from the Fayetteville National Cemetery with Washington County Livestock Auction barn in the background
Please go to
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7295307@N02
to see some of today's photos online. My picasa gigabite is full!
http://www.flickr.com/photos/7295307@N02
to see some of today's photos online. My picasa gigabite is full!
Thursday, August 20, 2009
Karst map of NW Arkansas significant tool for identifying green infrastructure deserving of protection
Please click on images to ENLARGE to read and see detail.
http://watershedwarrior.blogspot.com
The Town Branch Neighborhood is the smallest rectangle on that map. Enlarge the chart to read it.
Our neighborhood is a small hotspot for groundwater recharge and you can see how the wetland with springs and depressed land coincides with the karst coloring when you click and blow up the map.
Although the Nature Conservancy guys who created it admit that more ontheground investigation (and underground) to confirm a stricter scientific map is needed, it matches what I have believed about our neighborhood for some time. You can see the national cemetery circle with the karst just to the north along the old alley between Gov ave and Hill ave and pinnacle and wpwp are bright as is my own yard!
Please note one particular error. Cato Springs Branch, a northeast-flowing tributary of the Town Branch, is mistakenly called the Town Branch on the map. The oldest available government maps mark the portion of the Town Branch that flows from the UA and through our neighborhood as the Town Branch.
This is a significant tool for working on green-infrastructure plans and the FNHA already has it but in PDFs, which I can't post on the blogs.
Aubrey James Shepherd
http://watershedwarrior.blogspot.com
The Town Branch Neighborhood is the smallest rectangle on that map. Enlarge the chart to read it.
Our neighborhood is a small hotspot for groundwater recharge and you can see how the wetland with springs and depressed land coincides with the karst coloring when you click and blow up the map.
Although the Nature Conservancy guys who created it admit that more ontheground investigation (and underground) to confirm a stricter scientific map is needed, it matches what I have believed about our neighborhood for some time. You can see the national cemetery circle with the karst just to the north along the old alley between Gov ave and Hill ave and pinnacle and wpwp are bright as is my own yard!
Please note one particular error. Cato Springs Branch, a northeast-flowing tributary of the Town Branch, is mistakenly called the Town Branch on the map. The oldest available government maps mark the portion of the Town Branch that flows from the UA and through our neighborhood as the Town Branch.
This is a significant tool for working on green-infrastructure plans and the FNHA already has it but in PDFs, which I can't post on the blogs.
Aubrey James Shepherd
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Skip Descant of The Morning News reports on delay of vote on sale-barn issue
The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Sale Barn Zoning Delayed A Month
By Skip Descant
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE — Even though veterans and community groups wanted to see the Fayetteville City Council move forward on a zoning request, the city stalled.
The council Tuesday evening ceded to a delay request by developers wanting to build apartments on the 9-acre Washington County Livestock and Sale Barn site.
The council is now to decide the sale barn rezoning Sept. 15.
What irked groups was the continued delay at making a decision.
"This whole issue is beginning to sound like a good-news, bad-news joke," said Sam Sansom, president of the Northwest Arkansas Military Officers Group. "And bad news doesn't get any better."
The tabling request came from Campus Crest, the North Carolina student housing developer set to purchase the site if the zoning request goes through. Developers are still working through the "bills of assurance." Those are guarantees by the developer the project will have certain limitations regarding issues such as density or height.
"There's a lot of moving parts. It's a timing thing, and we'd like some more time to reach out and make some plans," Alex Eyssen, an attorney representing Campus Crest, told the City Council last night.
Veterans groups oppose the zoning change because they would like to buy some of the land as an area to expand the Fayetteville National Cemetery. But they also oppose the idea of college students living next door to the cemetery.
The City Council voted 7-1 to table the request. Robert Rhoads voted against. But other council members also expressed discomfort with the delay.
"I really don't want to table it, myself," said Shirley Lucas, a council member from Ward 4. "It bothers me that the people asking for the extension are not the ones who own the property."
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Sale Barn Zoning Delayed A Month
By Skip Descant
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE — Even though veterans and community groups wanted to see the Fayetteville City Council move forward on a zoning request, the city stalled.
The council Tuesday evening ceded to a delay request by developers wanting to build apartments on the 9-acre Washington County Livestock and Sale Barn site.
The council is now to decide the sale barn rezoning Sept. 15.
What irked groups was the continued delay at making a decision.
"This whole issue is beginning to sound like a good-news, bad-news joke," said Sam Sansom, president of the Northwest Arkansas Military Officers Group. "And bad news doesn't get any better."
The tabling request came from Campus Crest, the North Carolina student housing developer set to purchase the site if the zoning request goes through. Developers are still working through the "bills of assurance." Those are guarantees by the developer the project will have certain limitations regarding issues such as density or height.
"There's a lot of moving parts. It's a timing thing, and we'd like some more time to reach out and make some plans," Alex Eyssen, an attorney representing Campus Crest, told the City Council last night.
Veterans groups oppose the zoning change because they would like to buy some of the land as an area to expand the Fayetteville National Cemetery. But they also oppose the idea of college students living next door to the cemetery.
The City Council voted 7-1 to table the request. Robert Rhoads voted against. But other council members also expressed discomfort with the delay.
"I really don't want to table it, myself," said Shirley Lucas, a council member from Ward 4. "It bothers me that the people asking for the extension are not the ones who own the property."
Monday, August 17, 2009
Do we need another Hill Place-type development in our neighborhood? Next to our National Shrine??
John Lennon video singing Imagine
Please click on images to ENLARGE view of Dunn Avenue along the east edge of the Fayetteville National Cemetery as it would appear if student apartments were allowed to be built on the site of the former Washington County Livestock Auction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxLnIRVVwIM
g
Please click on images to ENLARGE view of Dunn Avenue along the east edge of the Fayetteville National Cemetery as it would appear if student apartments were allowed to be built on the site of the former Washington County Livestock Auction.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IxLnIRVVwIM
g
Campus Crest's draft of a concept drawing/tentative plan for apartments the company wants permission to build
Please click on image to ENLARGE view of a draft of a concept plan for a proposed student-apartment complex along the east border of the Fayetteville National Cemetery as it was shared by a representative of the developer on August 11, 2009.
Should rezoning to Downtown General be approved by the Fayetteville City Council to allow apartments or other large-scale projects next to the National Cemetery, the plan would be modified in later meetings with the planning department and planning commission. But rezoning to Downtown General would basically eliminate future council input into what kind of project might go on the land.
Veterans, members of the Town Branch Neighborhood Association and hundreds of others have expressed opposition to the rezoning. And finding someone who believes apartments would be appropriate on that site is difficult.
Should rezoning to Downtown General be approved by the Fayetteville City Council to allow apartments or other large-scale projects next to the National Cemetery, the plan would be modified in later meetings with the planning department and planning commission. But rezoning to Downtown General would basically eliminate future council input into what kind of project might go on the land.
Veterans, members of the Town Branch Neighborhood Association and hundreds of others have expressed opposition to the rezoning. And finding someone who believes apartments would be appropriate on that site is difficult.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Senator Pryor pledges support to buy sale-barn property
Please click on images to read August 12, 2009, Northwest Arkansas Times stories on Senator Mark Pryor supporting acquisition of sale-barn property for addition to the Fayetteville National Cemetery and story about possible delay in vote on sale-barn property until first council meeting in September.
Thursday, August 6, 2009
Town Branch neighborhood shows up on the map of karst features in northwest Arkansas.
Please click on the images to ENLARGE view. Town Branch neighborhood is at the center of the third photo, near the left in the middle photo. One of the brightest areas marked as a high-priority karst ground-water recharge area on the map is the World Peace Wetland Prairie and adjacent Pinnacle Foods Inc. wet-prairie land. Another is along Indian Trail Street from Razorback Road east to the Railroad. A smaller but equally important karst wetland recharge area is north of the Fayetteville National Cemetery and the Washington County Livestock Auction property. The Hill Place (former Aspen Ridge) student-apartment project was built on fill dirt atop some of the neighborhood's karst wetland recharge area.
Please click on the images to ENLARGE view. Town Branch neighborhood is at the center of the third photo, near the left in the middle photo. One of the brightest areas marked as a high-priority karst ground-water recharge area on the map is the World Peace Wetland Prairie and adjacent Pinnacle Foods Inc. wet-prairie land. Another is along Indian Trail Street from Razorback Road east to the Railroad. A smaller but equally important karst wetland recharge area is north of the Fayetteville National Cemetery and the Washington County Livestock Auction property. The Hill Place (former Aspen Ridge) student-apartment project was built on fill dirt atop some of the neighborhood's karst wetland recharge area.
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