Month: August 2008

Up to three centuries ago, at the time of Galileo, there was no clock worthy of the name. The most technically sophisticated instruments used to measure time were sundials.

Sundials date back to about 1500 BC. And today, most are out of sight and out of mind.

But they made a comeback of sorts here earlier this month when the North American Sundial Society (NASS), a group devoted to the study and creation of sundials, met in St. Louis for its 2008 Annual Conference. About 45 sundial aficionados from the far reaches of the continent met to appreciate the relationship between time, the Earth and the sun. By the end of their conference, they left permanent additions to the culture and aesthetics of St. Louis.

 

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This article was originally published in the St. Louis Beacon.

You’re driving down I-44 about an hour south of St. Louis.  You glance at another dead opossum by the side of the road.

Look again.  These days that possum is very likely to be an armadillo.

The armadillo population in Missouri has exploded in the last twenty or so years, to the point where the Conservation Department published an article in The Conservationist last November about living with these pesky creatures.  ‘Pesky’ not because they are dangerous, but because in their constant quest for insects and grubs, they dig up whole lawns and golf courses.  Consuming more than half a pound of insects per day, a single armadillo can do a whole lot of digging.  In southern Missouri, sometimes a newly sodded lawn seems like an invitation for the armadillos to ‘come and get it—the digging is easy.’

Armadillos have been steadily dispersing northward since they first crossed the Rio Grande into Texas in the 1850’s.  Relatives of anteaters and sloths, they are native to South America, which is still the home of most species.  But the armadillo we know, the nine-banded armadillo, has been able to expand its habitat as far north as the Missouri River (and perhaps even beyond.)

 

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This article was originally published in the St. Louis Beacon.