The Game of Topophilia

I just created a super fun game! It's called Topophilia. Here are the rules:

1. Go to this website: Globe Genie. You will be on the ground somewhere in gorgeous northern Scotland. The world will be spinning. Never fear. 
2. Set up the game: Look at the menu on the right. Put a check mark on every continent in the list. Make sure the Auto option is in the off position. Turn off the slow pan, or leave it on, your choice. Use the little plus sign on the mini map to zoom in all the way. 
3. Now, click on the Teleport button!
4. You are NOT ALLOWED to look in the upper left corner of the screen. There will sometimes be an address there and looking is cheating. You want this to be fun! 
5. You will explore using the clicking and dragging method of navigating Google Street View (because that's what this is!) 
6. Find clues and guess where you are! Clues can be found by looking at: road signs, fashion and architecture styles, vegetation/climate, etc. Be a detective! 
7. You can time yourself if you would like. Ultimately, once you think you know where you are, you zoom out on the map and find out if you're right. 
8. Keep a tally and brag to your friends. Your goal can be whatever you want it to be. I like to guess the country, or if I know it's the U.S. or Canada I like to guess the state or province. 

Use this game to explore and get to know this beautiful planet we all call home. 

A Garden Plan

It's been very cold here in the northern hemisphere. Each night for the past week I have been curling up on the couch with a warm snuggley blanket and a gardening book. I'm planning for spring and in my mind it's already happening.

This is a pre-planned Butterfly and Hummingbird garden from Michigan Bulb Co. I think it's a great deal because for $35 I get 29 plants that would cost $55 if I purchased them separately. Plus, a diagram is included and it shows me where the plants look nice together by height, texture, and color. I'm new to gardening and this sort of thing will help me feel confident about creating my own garden layouts in the future.

I really want this to work nicely and be appropriate in my yard, so before I chose a plan I considered these things: the sun's position in the sky throughout the summer (SunCalc), where in the yard I want to spend my time tending flowers, what, if any, ecological benefit the plants will have in my yard, the properties of each plant and their practical uses to me, and what colors please me.

This garden will be on the south side of the shed , where the sun shines brightly most of the day. We haven't built the shed yet, but that will happen very soon! I'm always full of plans.

Consider Adoption

I would like to take a moment to advocate for the adoption of homeless cats by introducing our Mingy:

Wingman (Mingy) is a good natured, affectionate, curious cat. Born in a homeless cat colony of about 20 cats living on someone's porch, Mingy was about a year old when we kidnapped him and made him ours. We think he loves us. He also loves our older female cat, Dawna. He is very sweet to her.

Frozen Mailbox

Farewell little postcard! I hope you have a pleasant journey to Australia! 

Mound Tours: February and March 2013

Going through my drafts I found this gem from last year! It was missing some site explanations so I added them and now I share it for your viewing pleasure. 

(Originally written in April 2013)

My favorite class this semester is: Prehistoric Indians of the Ohio River Valley (Anth 3350).  One of our assignments is to choose a mound site to write about. It can be any site within our class text book: Indian Mounds of the Middle Ohio Valley by Woodward and McDonald. So... I picked a handful of sites! 

"Alligator" Mound, Licking County

This is an effigy mound, but it's a bit disappointing to visit because it is not recognizable as an alligator or any other animal. It's surrounded by huge homes, and located on a hilltop. 

Newark Earthworks

We visited two sites in the town of Newark. They are shown on the map below. It's interesting that the town has grown around them. The are preserved as two separate parks with city between them. 

Great Circle Earthworks, Newark

Octagon Earthworks, Newark

This place is now a golf course! I guess that's a good way to ensure maintenance and protect it from development.

 Indian Mound Park, Columbus

Here is an unexpected mound in the middle of a typical Ohio city park. The mound is a barely noticeable bump. 

Cross Mound, Tarlton

This was one of my favorite mound sites to visit because it was so hard to find and it was a hike to get there. But it's really hard to tell from the pictures that there is a cross-shaped mound, or any mound at all. It was built on top of natural hills, and encircled in a wooden fence. 

Hopewell Culture National Historical Park (Mound City), Ross County

The weird thing about this site is that I've been here several times and just finally noticed that from the angle of the first photo the mounds look like they mimic the surrounding mountains. I'm hesitant to post this observation because I want full credit for this discovery if nobody else has noticed it before!