April Mid-day Reflections at Hays Nature Preserve along the Flint River!
Big Cove Creek and the Hays Preserve April 13, 2023 I visited Huntsville, Alabama’s Hays Nature Preserve, focusing my limited wanderings near where Big Cove Creek enters the Flint River. Big Cove Creek flows south (left) in a channel evidencing historic linearization, appearing more like a canal than a natural, winding stream. The creek […]
Brief-Form Post #13: Exquisite May 4, 2023 Sky and Clouds at the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge!
I am pleased to offer the 13th of my new GBH Brief Form Posts (Less than three-minutes to read!) to my website. I tend to get a bit long-winded with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So I will publish these brief Posts regularly. Brief-Form Post […]
April Visit to Lake Lurleen State Park: Focus on the Lake!
April 19, 2023 I arrived about noon at Alabama’s Lake Lurleen State Park, then departed April 20 after a morning meeting of the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board. I focus this Post on the splendor of the lake the first afternoon and snippets I captured at sunrise the next morning during a quick encounter lakeside […]
Blackwell Swamp and Other Treats on a Mid-March Wheeler National Wildlife Hike
March 11, 2023, I returned to the nearby Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge. It’s my place of observation, reflection, and discovery. I have no preconceived notion of what specifically awaits me, yet I do know generally what to expect seasonally. Almost 30 years ago to the day (March 13, 1993), the Blizzard of ’93 brought 65 […]
March Bluff Trails at Joe Wheeler State Park
March 16, 2023 I co-led (with Mike Ezell, AL State Parks Naturalist Emeritus) a Nature walk at Joe Wheeler State Park for members of the Huntsville LearningQuest class that had just completed a seven-week course on the State Parks of North Alabama. I sauntered the woods for an additional two hours after the formal field […]
An Unanticipated Setback to My Nature Wanderings: Triple Bypass!
This Post takes a different approach: not just Nature’s contribution to the quality of my life, but a medical intervention intended to keep me in the game of life! Scheduled for left knee replacement surgery, doctors suggested a ticker evaluation. Here’s the resultant life-awakening sequence: Warning: June 5 — stress test Danger: June […]
Special Brief-Form Post #12: The Marvels of Human Engineering Meet Nature’s Splendid Inspiration!!
I am pleased to post the 12th of my new GBH Brief Form Posts to my website (Less than three-minutes to read! Not including the brief videos). I tend to get a bit long-winded with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So I will publish the […]
Winter 2022-23 Wind-Demise of Multiple Big Oaks on the Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge!
March 11, 2023, I bushwhacked with a friend, Bernie Kerecki, MD, through a Wheeler National Wildlife Refuge riparian hardwood forest south of HGH Road mid-afternoon. We enjoyed a splendid spring day…discovering evidence of powerful winter winds. A Shattered Red Oak Giant This three-foot diameter red oak succumbed to one such blast, this one […]
Wetlands Restoration at the Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary
Because I had been teaching a seven-week Huntsville LearningQuest course at the Residences at WellPoint in Hampton Cove, Alabama, I visited the nearby Goldsmith-Schiffman Wildlife Sanctuary four times from late-January through March (1/31; 2/14; 2/21; 3/24), focusing the latter three visits on the ongoing wetlands restoration project underway by the City of Huntsville, the proprietor […]
Brief Form Post #11: Along the Bottom of Cane Creek Canyon Nature Preserve
I am pleased to post the 11th of my new GBH Brief Form Posts to my website (Less than three-minutes to read! Not including the brief video). I tend to get a bit long-winded with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So I will publish the […]
April Visit to Lake Lurleen State Park: Focus on Treasures in the Forest!
April 19, 2023 I arrived about noon at Alabama’s Lake Lurleen State Park (LLSP; near Tuscaloosa), then departed mid-afternoon April 20 after a morning meeting of the Alabama State Parks Foundation Board. I focus this Post on forest treasures and delights I discovered and examined the first afternoon as I transited four-plus miles of the […]
Brief-Form Post #10: Look Back to Short Hikes at Maggie’s Glenn, Oak Mountain SP!
I am pleased to offer the tenth of my new GBH Brief Form Post format to my website (Less than three-minutes to read! Not including the brief video). I tend to get a bit long-winded with my routine Posts. I don’t want my enthusiasm for thoroughness and detail to discourage readers. So I will publish […]