Columns

The last month has been one of the driest ever at Stratford Ecological Center on Liberty Road. The sunflowers planted in early August in the front of field 3 germinated well. As many as 20 deer have been spotted grazing the grass around the planting, but thanks to the double electric fence, they have not attempted to go inside. However, due to no rain, the green flower heads have developed on stalks only half the height of a normal year. We plan to create a maze between the plants, so the children can explore and see the flowers more closely when they are in full bloom during our Harvest Fair on Oct. 5.

“I like pigs. Dogs look up to us, cats look down on us. Pigs treat us as equals.”

Imagine this: You stand at the shore of a desolate ocean on a desolate world. As the dawn breaks, a strangely red star, 50 times larger than our familiar day star, shines blood-red on the waves, and the sky turns from jet black to pale blue. Vapors rise from the hot ocean, and the water begins to boil.

What’s your opinion on Halloween decorations? Are they to be put up once we pass Labor Day, or are they to be displayed only during the month of October? I generally want to fall into the former camp, but my overall lack of household organization typically puts me into the latter.

“Old houses, I thought, do not belong to people ever, not really, people belong to them.”

Most stars burn with a steady and relatively unvarying flame for billions of years. But many live out the ends of their lives by pulsating, changing their apparent brightness in periods that can vary from minutes to years.

Though we are 54 days away from the 2024 presidential election taking place on Tuesday, Nov. 5, another deadline is nearing — voter registration! In Ohio, eligible voters must make sure that their registration information is received either online, in-person at the Delaware County Board of Elections office, or postmarked by Oct. 7 to vote in the election this fall. That is just 25 days from today.

Well, the calendar page has flipped yet again. Is it me or do these months just go faster and faster? In my July column, I talked about all the fun we had this year going out to our local library partners and engaging with the kids for summer reading story times. You might remember from the last two years; another big part of our Schiffel’s Safety Scholars program are the contests we do. I’m delighted with the growth our program has seen. We began the contest portion of the program in 2022, and participation this year — in both the book writing contest and the billboard design contest — has been more than three times what it was in the first year. Not surprisingly, Delaware County’s youth really stepped it up and did not disappoint!

I had an unusual day today. My usual days are mostly staying at home, fixing meals, e-mailing friends, etc.

The oceans represented enormity and danger to the ancient Greek people. As they looked south into the great waters of the Mediterranean, they invented a pattern of stars that represented the awe and fear they felt.