Good morning or good evening, wherever you may be, across the nation and across the world. It is just past 5:30 a.m. in "The City."

The big news for today seems to be the weather. We have both a Winter Weather Advisory and a Small Craft Advisory in effect. The former from 7:00 a.m. until 4:00 a.m. tomorrow. The latter in effect from 11:00 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. Monday.

In the case of the Winter Weather Advisory, the NWS has issued a forecast that calls for three to five inches of heavy, wet snow, with a high temperature of 38° that should preclude the snow from sticking for long. However, I have already put away our snow shovels, so....

In the case of the Small Craft Advisory, that's in effect for the shores of the "Big Lake" from Holland to GH. Winds of 20 - 25 knots will push waves of four to seven feet, making it unsafe for small craft and inexperienced sailors. The sun will rise today @ 7:05 a.m. and set later @ 8:25 p.m.

On to a better subject. We made it to Hemlock Crossing County Park and the Nature Education Center yesterday for that presentation on the Secret Lives of Salamanders, given by one of the naturalists for the Ottawa County Parks, George. The presentation was followed by a walk through the woods of Hemlock Crossing.

And you thought you knew it all.

George was knowledgeable and accommodating, especially with the many young people on our walk.

We learned that there are approximately 15 types of salamanders, but that MI is home to only seven, that range in size from one and one-half inches to about 12 inches. We actually know very little about the habits of these creatures due to their reclusive nature that keeps them under logs in our area and out of the way of predators. Yes, Virginia, they can indeed shed and later regrow their tails to evade predators such as wild turkeys, skunks, fish, or nearly any animal that is looking for food.

Ottawa County Park has many fallen trees and wet areas that provide a perfect habitat for salamanders. During our walk, with the eager assistance of the young folks, George overturned several fallen logs and uncovered some salamander eggs and some younger salamanders of the "Red Back" variety, as seen here in the palm of George's hand.

This young salamander was ready to be returned to his hidden home ASAP.

Since we were on a hike through the woods, I took a lot of pix of both the young folks and the scenery.

Perhaps future herpetologists?

This tree was home to a lot of buds, some of which had become home to insects who use the buds as a place for their larvae.

The Grand River watershed, is also home to beavers who are active in the early morning hours from about 1:00 to 4:00 a.m.

I tried, but failed, to get the perspective of this very tall tree that the beavers were attempting to fell.

This tree had been felled, but it had become stuck in the crook of a nearby tree. On the right, is another tree stump for a tree that the beavers had successfully felled earlier. George believes that these trees were chewed by one adult beaver and her young. The beavers remove the bark to get to the layer beneath that feeds the upper branches of the trees. Contrary to popular belief, beavers do not eat the wood, they are after the nutrition to be found in that layer and in the upper branches, that cannot be reached by beavers, who cannot climb, hence the necessity of felling the trees.  A tree of this diameter probably took about one-week to fell.

We learned a lot and enjoyed the many sights to be seen.

Part of the watershed of the Grand River.

I used my telephoto lens to take a macro-like picture of this fallen leaf.

Nature provided her own captions, so....

These are the wood chips left behind when the beavers "work."

Indeed!

I took a lot of pix, but I hope that you got the flavor of what we viewed on our "walk through the woods."

In sports news yesterday, there was no good news in baseball. All of my teams lost by varying margins. The Cubs, my beloved Red Sox, the Tigers and the Caps all went down to defeat, mostly due to the lack of effective pitching. Today will be better, I hope.

We plan to go to the grocery store,weather permitting, and then stay in to avoid the snow and ice. As of now, there is no precipitation seen outside of the WW. While we don't have any specific plans, we do have the weekend edition of Grand Haven Tribune to read and I have many things to be drawn, written, or played. Mary too has some kitchen and reading plans, some of those also dependent on the weather and the grocery store visit. Ciao.