Tuesday, December 26, 2023

Who and What Will Define the Community of Jericho, VT in 2024?


Jericho, VT 2024 New Year Outlook 



"Of Creating Community. Our community is not static. Community needs to be developed, sought after, and nourished." - Bernie Paquette


“One touch of nature makes the whole world kin.” –William Shakespeare

From Greenpeace USA

"Being outdoors gives me all kinds of ideas. 
It's like being in the shower with clothes on." 
 - Bernie Paquette

With the holidays gone by and a new year started, what is there to celebrate if not LIFE itself in all its forms. Happy New Year. - Bernie


 Read about Clara in The 80-Year Condensed Life of Clara Bee Huginton. A VT Bumblebee Story by Bernie Paquette.


Read Six-Word Insect Memoirs by Bernie


Read Discovering Life in Jericho - 2023 by the Numbers


View Jericho, VT Sled Dogs Meet & Greet Photos


See the Community Center in Jericho 2024 Calendar offering (Jericho and Underhill, Vermont 2024. 


Read the 2023 New Year post


Read Your Backyard: More than a Playground. Chapter I: Making New Friends of Old Friends


Listen to 

(Warning: *Lyrics may contain curse words or language or art that are generally deemed sexual, violent, or offensive in nature).



More quotes 
Watching a Flycatcher or Dragonfly catch an insect while hovering in mid-air reminds me of how not-so-good I was in catching a softball and how much fun it was. - Bernie Paquette

As our known environment shrinks so does our breath of experience. Will nature become a treasure unseen? - Bernie Paquette

Ah, the sweet sound of not mowing the grass. - Bernie Paquette


Remember to leave habitat for wildlife 
and room for wildlife in your life.






















This past year offered a bountiful bundle of new Jericho community constructs and traditions. 
  I look to 2024 to continue honored traditions if they pass the litmus test of our current values. Let us also be bold in releasing the traditions that no longer serve a valued purpose to the community or are causing harm to the community and planet.


Monday, December 18, 2023

Santa drops in on the little creatures in Jericho.


Nature Comic #56 Dec 24, 2022

   We had just settled our antennae for a long winter's hibernation, when out on the wild brushy habitat there arose such a clatter, I peeked out from my bed to see what was the matter.

A Visit from St. Insectolas

BY Bernie Paquette

A naturalized remake of Twas the Night Before Christmas by Clement Clarke Moore.

'Twas the night before hibernation, when all through the yard

Not a creature was stirring, except for a mouse or two, or three, or… more - a standard feature in Jericho Center.

The expired flower petals and stalks were standing in the garden thanks to a kind gardener who aspired to bring joy 

In hopes that St. Insectolas soon would be there; the underground lone bees nestled in separate underground burrows all snug in their cocoons;

While visions of metamorphosing into pupae danced in their heads;

And I all wrapped in my leaf litter, and papa long-gone and pushing up daisies,

Had just settled our antennae for a long winter's hibernation,

When out on the wild brushy habitat there arose such a clatter,

I peeked out from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the edge, I crawled like a centipede in cold thick molasses,

Tore opened the last leaf shutter and nearly froze my lady bee mustache.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

Gave a luster of warmth yet the temperature was still surely twenty below,

When what to my frosty eyes did appear,

But a miniature sleigh and eight very large crickets,

With a little ole driver who, since he had no backbone, was nearly windswept,

I knew in a moment he must be St. Insect.

More rapid than Dragonflies his coursers they came,

And he buzzed, and rubbed his body parts against another in stridulation, and called them by name:

"Now, Jiminy! now, Mole Cricket! now Pygmy Sand Cricket on Tree Cricket, on Robust Ground Crickets!”

To the top of the leaf pile! To the top of the brush pile!

Now use your large hind legs to jump (50x your body lengths) and all of your legs to run, away one and away all!”

As leaves that before the leaf blower - fly,

when they meet with a lawnmower, mount to the sky; So over to the flower stalks the coursers they flew

With the sleigh full of pollen, nectar, and St. Insectolas too—

And then, in a flashing of bright firefly light, I heard above the plant stalk

The prancing and pawing of an overhead accipiter hawk as big as a Christmas hen.

As I drew in my head just to be safe and was turning around,

Down the chimney stalk, St. Insectolas came, down to the ground.

She was dressed in a Chasing Fireflies dress, from her head to her foot,

And her clothes were all tarnished with flower seeds  underfoot;

A bundle of sweets and proteins she had flung on her hind tibula,

And she looked like a Southern Monarch Butterfly, (Danaus erippus), preparing to migrate to Bolivia.

Her eyes—how they twinkled! her dimples, how merry!

Her cheeks were like roses, her nose like a red raspberry blossom about to berry!

She was slim, not the least bit plump, a right jolly young elf,

And I, Proud Mary momma laughed when I saw her, despite myself;

A wink of her eye and a twist of her head

Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

She spoke not a word but went straight to her work,

And filled all the burrows, then turned with a jerk,

And laying her finger aside of her antennae,

And giving a nod, up the flower stalk she climbed aplenty;

She sprang to her sleigh, too her team gave a whiffle,

And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.

But I heard her exclaim, ere she drove out of sight—

“Happy Winter Hibernation to all, and to all a good night!”

Saturday, December 16, 2023

Jericho, VT Sled Dogs Meet & Greet Photos (Dec 2023)

Sled Dogs Meet & Greet 

Catherine Bass • Library Director, Jericho Town Library, Jericho 

When: Dec 16, 2023, 1 to 2 PM

Where: Jericho Town Library, Jericho Center Circle, Jericho, VT

Milagro Turner of Cambridge, VT, came to the Jericho Town Green with her dogs for folks to meet and learn all about sled dogs. Milagro's pups are very people-friendly and love to meet new human friends.


 by Bernie Paquette 

Jericho, Vermont



Catherine Bass • Library Director, Jericho Town Library, Jericho introduced Milagro Turner

   I took a few notes as Milagro spoke to us about the Siberian Sled dogs she and her husband have as part of their family. 
   

    Milagro is from Honduras. She came to live in Vermont about five years ago. She witnessed snow for the first time during her first year in Vermont. Now winter is her favorite season. Friends refer to her as the queen of the snow. She especially likes to be outside when it is cold, as do the dogs. That is when nature is most beautiful, and surprisingly few people are outside. 

   Sometimes Milagro will take a nap outside with the dogs. 

Drogo is the grandpa (reddish-colored). 'Axe' is a one-year-old boy and all white. Denali is a girl. Axe and Denali are siblings. Crixus is B&W colored with parti-colored eyes. The fourth dog was at home.
Axe

Denali

Drogo











     




Crixus

The dogs insist on being outside every day. They pull a bicycle with Milagro sitting for the ride during the warm season. In the wintertime, the dogs barely want to come in at the end of the day. 

   Drogos's fur turns from a brownish color to bright red when it is very cold outside. 'Axe' is a (rare) white husky and easily gets muddy.  

   Siberian dogs are very intelligent but can be destructive if not given enough jobs or tasks to do. They like to feel productive and they love attention. Siberian Huskies can travel one hundred miles in twenty-four hours. 

   Their dogs like fruit to play with (apples) and some to eat like blueberries. They love to play. They are curious about everything. They will open packages to see what is inside and look under the hood of the car if it is open. They also dig a lot, sometimes finding things that Milagro did not even know were lost. True treasure hunters!

   They also like to go along for rides in the kayak, content to watch the world go by and let someone else do the paddling. 

   This breed of dog sheds mountains of hair every day. They have a double coat; an inside coat of hair keeps them warm on cold days, and the outside coat of hair helps keep them cool off on summer days. 

   Milagro decided we might as well find something useful to make with all that excess shedding hair. She makes hats, dog toys, and even framed three-dimensional dogs in a frame. She uses food coloring to add some additional color to the art. She is now experimenting with a spinning wheel.

   Crixus likes books and listening to stories. 



All of their dogs are very social and an important 
part of Milagro and her husband's family. 
   
The following photos give testimony to the social, friendly, and sometimes energetic nature of Drogo, Crixus, Axe, and Denali. 











 
Group Hug



































Milagro Amaya Turner 
Siber Sled Dogs 
Sibersleddogs.com