Standing in a small clearing, deep in the northwoods of Minnesota, I was telling the participants in my black bear photo workshop some of the more interesting natural history facts about the American black bear.
There’s no better way to experience autumn colors in the southwest Twin Cities than a hike.
Next weekend is the fourth anniversary of the Pleasant Street Art Walk. This year’s event, on Saturday, Sept. 25, will feature local and regional artists including potters and sculptors, painters, woodworkers, jewelry makers, metal workers and more; some from the Pleasant Street neighborhood.
By the time you read this column, our students will have been back in school for only a few days. Words cannot fully capture how excited we are to have them back!
As we complete the first week of the school year, I think back to when my kids started kindergarten ten years ago.
Every now and then I get an opportunity to work with a species that I don’t have much hands-on experience with. These are often rare or endangered species or a species that is difficult to access and lives in areas that makes it hard to get close to.
The spectacle in Kabul, Afghanistan is painful to watch from either side of the political aisle. In spite of President Biden’s effort to shift some responsibility to former President Trump, and Trump’s pronouncement that it wouldn’t have happened if he were still president, the simple fact i…
I am no stranger to traveling hundreds or even thousands of miles to see, study and document some of nature's most wonderful events. For over 35 years I have traveled to see the epic migration of sandhill cranes in Nebraska, stunning flocks of snow geese in North Dakota and remarkable monarc…
My husband and I just returned from a trip to Las Vegas. It capped off an unusually busy summer of travel for our family. Over the past three months we’ve had three very different getaways: a bucket-list vacation in Hawaii, our annual week at a cabin in my hometown and the Vegas trip to cele…
Every now and then I meet a true wildlife superhero. You know, the kind of person who has dedicated their life to understand and protecting wildlife.
Most of us have heard, or read, the phrase, “One thing leads to another.” There’s even a song with that theme. It’s about history and connections and how seemingly disconnected inventions and events, years apart, come together with unintended and unforeseen, consequences.
Now more than ever our community needs us — our neighbors need us, our family and friends need us. We are in the middle of exhausting times. However, we can’t let this situation bog us down. We have to face reality with intellect.
If you were to ask for a description of Renee Winick, you’d likely receive the standard bits of information: wife, mother of 15-year-old twins, former corporate trainer, current manager of the Winick household, family shutterbug and lover of words.
As a reader of the New York Times, its Sunday edition and Maureen Dowd’s column — I seldom recommend columns, or columnists, but Sunday, July 25 is an exception. It’s a wakeup call. It’s why I’m writing this.
Blackbirds always seem to get a bad rap. As the late Rodney Dangerfield was fond of saying, they “get no respect” in the bird world.
The wide diversity of birds on earth should be a reminder to us all that the natural world is a place where life takes all shapes, colors and forms.
“The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.”
Today’s paper includes an insert about the city’s proposed use of franchise fees to fund street maintenance and replacement. As your city, we are responsible for clean water, sanitary sewer and safe streets. The initial cost for this infrastructure was born largely by development. Developers…
Here’s something to think about: You could spend two, or even three, decades in retirement. To meet your income needs for all those years, you’ll generally need a sizable amount of retirement assets. How will Social Security fit into the picture?
The complexity of nature is sometimes hard to understand and even harder to justify or feel good about, especially when seen through the human lens. I was reminded of this the other day while filming a family of American redstarts (Setophaga ruticilla) that is nesting on my property.
Promise yourself to think well of yourself and to proclaim this fact to the world, not in loud word, but in great deeds.
The summer of 1990 found my wife and I staying in Rockland, Maine at a hotel overlooking Penobscot Bay. We’d been at a conference in Boston and decided to take a few extra days to explore the Maine coast and Acadia and Mount Desert Island National Parks.
During COVID-19, sentences like “Everything is OK!” “Look on the bright side!” and the infamous “Everything happens for a reason,” have been more prominent. Especially since we have been unable to see people in person, these messages have swarmed social media and have increased how much we h…
We hear a lot these days about racial injustice, white supremacy and systemic racism. There are many misconceptions and sometimes intentional misinterpretations that perhaps I can help clear up.
Greetings Prior Lake! For the past five years I’ve been reporting from the Land of Enchantment — New Mexico — but I’m originally from El Paso, Texas — a culturally rich border city that stands on the Rio Grande across from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
Words have meaning, but they’re imprecise. It’s why there are poets. Google the phrase, “small town feel” and you’ll find over one billion entries. Prior Lake is said to have a “small town feel.” But does a collection of buildings and humans in a political subdivision have feeling — except m…
Spring is a wonderful time of year. Especially right after the thick ice of winter melts off the ponds and small lakes.
If you have children or grandchildren, you may already be somewhat familiar with the 529 plan, a popular education savings vehicle. But you may not have kept up with some recent changes in the plan’s capabilities and in the educational environment in which the plan might be used.
Each spring in nature there is a lot of tragedy and triumph. Heartbreak and happiness. Success and failure.
Call it “The Big Lie,” or “Alternate Facts.” Tell a nation and a people who gave the world Bach, Beethoven, Brahms, Mozart, Martin Luther and Goethe that “You didn’t lose the War. You were stabbed in the back.” Make them yearn for a “savior” to avenge all the “wrongs.” Then sit by and watch …
At Prior Lake-Savage Area Schools, feedback from staff, parents, students and our community is a critical part of our continuous improvement efforts. Our annual stakeholder survey responses help to identify strengths and set goals for areas in need of improvement at both the district and ind…
I am always interested in the unsung hero or the rulebreakers of nature. The kind of critter that is common, yet no one seems to pay any attention to them. Or the bird who is so common throughout the U.S., yet no one seems to notice them.
They were special places for special occasions: Harry’s Café, Charlies, the Criterion, Blue Horse, Gannon’s, Birch’s Café and more. It was the late 1940s and early 1950s, and I remember all of them because, at one time or another, I was there.
The rites of spring are particularly interesting, especially in the bird world.
I am incensed with what is happening at our southern border. If we have to be locked down, wear masks, social distance and keep business closed, why are we allowing illegal immigrants to be introduced to our general public with no COVID testing?
At Prior Lake-Savage Area schools we transitioned our secondary students back to in-person learning on April 15 so now all students, E-12, have the opportunity to be back learning in our schools. We also continue to provide distance learning for families who choose that model.
2020 was arduous in many ways for everyone. People were in lockdown with limited interactions and getting daily necessities was laborious. For those children and families who were already facing financial and food insecurities, this scenario was even more difficult.
The COVID-19 pandemic may end up changing our lives in some significant ways. To cite one example, it’s likely we’ll see a lot more people continue to work remotely, now that they’ve seen the effectiveness of tools such as video conferencing. Education, too, may be forever changed in some wa…
At one time developers paid local fees, built their subdivisions, pocketed their profits and walked away — but that wasn’t enough. They got greedy and wanted more. One of them sued the city of Woodbury over its road fees, and, in 2018, the Minnesota State Supreme Court ruled that local commu…
Spring is filled with so many cool and interesting natural things. The earth is awaking after a long and frozen sleep.
This year we seemed to zip right past Groundhog Day without even noticing. Perhaps this is because during COVID time, every day seems the same, just like the movie "Groundhog Day." Nothing new or different. Just one day like the other. But for the groundhog, also known as the woodchuck, spri…
This past week marked an important milestone. One year ago we were just beginning to understand the severity of what was in front of us as the governor announced the closing of public schools due to the COVID-19 virus.
In 1950, at a time when long distance telephone calls were reserved for special news and family emergencies, the U.S. mail was the most reliable way for most people and families to communicate over long distances — and that communication, everything from the handwriting to its grammar and se…
As winter loosens its grip on the northern states and it finally feels like spring, my mind turns to all the changes in nature. In particular, the animals in the northern climates that change the color of their coats (pelage) or the birds that change their feathers (plumage) from brown to wh…
In just a couple weeks, we will experience the vernal equinox — one of the two times in the year when the sun is exactly above the equator. Apart from this astronomical anomaly, though, the equinox is mostly known as the beginning of spring — a fresh beginning and the time to spruce things up.
A framed timetable from St. Paul Union Depot hangs on my office wall. I discovered it at an antique show many years ago; saved it, and look on it every day as a reminder of the passage of time and how it changes our lives.
The bison turned quickly, ready to charge. The two feet of snow didn’t slow its powerful hooves, but rather kicked up a rooster-tail of shiny ice crystals into the cold winter air, highlighting the bison’s efforts.
The bison turned quickly, ready to charge. The two feet of snow didn’t slow its powerful hooves, but rather kicked up a rooster-tail of shiny ice crystals into the cold winter air, highlighting the bison’s efforts.
