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Fitness Column: Summer Shape Up

Winter is over. Spring break has come and gone. That means summer is just around the corner. In the next few weeks the days will get longer and warmer and that means we’ll be wearing more shorts, tank tops and swimsuits.

Many of you may have gained a few pounds over the winter, and if you’re going to look the way you want this summer, now is the time to get your body in shape. The first thing you’re going to need to do to change your body for the summer is to begin exercising more. As always, a combination of weight training and cardiovascular exercise works the best. Read More

How the Hen House Turns:

On the other side of the yard from the Hen House—on the west side—sits the covered front porch. It is enclosed by a wooden fence topped with a two-by-four railing. On that railing and on the various shaped blocks that decorate the fencing, go unsalted peanuts in the shell, for the jays.

A feeder tray sits atop the west side of the railing, next to a plastic bowl of water. That feeder is filled every morning with one-half cup of sunflower seeds and one-fourth cup or less of thistle seed and cracked corn. A pinecone Read More

How the Hen House Turns:

Animal behaviorists now agree that we humans are not very different from animals in many ways—like our susceptibility to imprinting. Some call it “phase-sensitive learning” or “filial imprinting.”

I doubt many animal behaviorists would argue with the psychologists who suggest that young humans (and young animals) learn behavior from their parents and  that environmental factors and experience can influence brain development.

A recent more ominous finding that humans abused Read More