Sent: Thursday, April 03, 2003 11:38 PM
Subject: RE: book club meeting: Thu, 4/3

Present: Jim, Sue, Wendy, Peter.  We discussed
"A Year in the Maine Woods" by Bernd Heinrich.
Sue had read his book "One Nan's Owl", and Wendy
had read the notorious "Ravens in Winter" and
"Why We Run: A Natural History".  It seems the
Owl was the cause of the demise of his marriage,
but we agreed an eccentric woodsman who lives
in the remote woods on a few gallons of water
a week would be a difficult mate for most human
females.  Although at times this book reads a bit
too much like a tedious diary of his year in the
woods, there are plenty of gems of observation
and exposition.  Not only do we learn how to detect
long-horned beetle entrance holes on a log, we now
know how to tell if the grubs we find inside are full
of glycerol to survive the winter: by their sweet
taste. He also has recipes for cooking mice.  He has
an impressive ability to find eggs and cocoons of
insects, and also parasites that live off the larvae.

A great field trip opportunity: Gloria Dobry, famed
Arboretum instructor, has offered to lead a lichen
and moss walk at the Arb on Monday 4/7, 9:30 AM,
meet at Parking 19.  This is a great time to observe
and learn about these enigmatic life forms.

Our next meeting will be Thu 6/5, 7pm; the book will be
"Flowering Earth", by Donald Culross Peattie.

Peter
http://www.wideopenwest.com/~peterwchen/book.html