By Al Batt, Nature&8217;s World

My neighbor Crandall stops by.

&8220;How are you doing?&8221; I ask.

&8220;Fair to middlin&8217; I reckon. I&8217;m busier than a fly trying to float in a glass of Alka-Seltzer.&8221;

&8220;I suspect you are working hard at avoiding work,&8221; I say.

&8220;You should see about getting yourself a new head. They&8217;re making them with brains now. I would try to teach you some of what I know, but I don&8217;t want to tamper with your natural ignorance. I&8217;m still working on my latest invention &8212; edible plates, cups and silverware. Say, have you ever noticed that when you take off your left shoe the right one becomes the one that&8217;s left? I had a terrible drive to town yesterday. I saw a tree in the middle of the road. I swerved to miss it. Then I saw another. So I had to swerve to keep from hitting it. Then there was another tree and another tree. It was terrible!&8221;

&8220;What was going on?&8221; I ask.

&8220;That stupid air freshener is just way too realistic looking. Oh, the bank returned the check I wrote to the hardware.&8221;

&8220;That&8217;s not good.&8221;

&8220;No, that&8217;s a good thing &8212; a very good thing. Now I can use it to buy some food at the grocery store.&8221;

It&8217;s barometric, my dear Watson

I have often noted that my bird feeders get especially busy when a storm is approaching. I have read that lower barometric pressure can affect the way we feel in many ways. Some people feel sleepy when a storm is coming. One theory is that there is a very small decrease in the amount of oxygen in the air when the air pressure falls because the air is less dense. So if your brain is getting slightly less oxygen you feel drowsy. Other people feel irritable or restless when the pressure drops. An elementary school teacher told me that kids tend to act up a bit more when a storm is on the way. When falling pressure brings with it the higher humidity and winds of an approaching storm, it can aggravate allergies by putting more dust or mold or pollen in the air. If your sinuses are plugged up by a cold or allergies you will have air trapped in there that is at a higher pressure than the falling pressure. So you&8217;ll get a sinus headache. Some people who suffer from migraines find they can be intense when the weather is changing. We all know someone whose old football injury aches when rain is on the way or whose scar hurts. People with arthritis often feel the change.

This has to do with a body adjusting its internal pressure to match the outside conditions. When the humidity gets higher the skin takes in more moisture and expands just a little bit. That would stretch an old scar or some other injury.

My grandmother said she knew when the weather was going to change because she could feel it in her bones.

Why do the birds flock to the feeder before a storm? Why do they take advantage of the calm before the storm?

What do they know that our aching joints know?

The birds know, but they&8217;re not telling.

From out of the past

Kevin Savick sent this from the

Albert Lea Evening Tribune of Sept. 30, 1947.

&8220;A two-point buck, weighing between 160 and 175 pounds, was bagged on Highway 13 near Wedge&8217;s nursery by the Yellow Cab company&8217;s big limousine &8212; but for a while it looked as though the car was going to come out second best in the encounter.

&8220;It happened about midnight.

&8220;Driver of the limousine was Robert Budlong. With him, as a passenger, was Milford Mathison.

&8220;Out of the darkness darted the deer, right into the path of the car.

Crash!

&8220;The two men got out of the car to check the damage. The deer lay on the ground, stunned, and with a foreleg and a hindleg plainly broken &8212; one on each side. The front of the car was bashed in.

&8220;The two men stuffed the deer into the spacious trunk of the car, clamped the lid shut, and drove back to the Yellow Cab offices, where they notified Dee S. Osborn, proprietor of the cab company, and also summoned Al Rye, game warden.

&8220;The time came for the men to take the deer from the trunk.

The moment they raised the lid, the deer &8212; now very much alive &8212; bolted out and dashed away into the darkness.&8221;

Q and A

&8220;Do hummingbirds migrate on the backs of geese?&8221; No. The migration made by the tiny hummingbirds is just as amazing though. They fly across the Gulf of Mexico &8212; an 18 to 22 nonstop flight.

&8220;What is the origin of the phrase &8216;under the weather&8217;?&8221; I have always thought that it refers to the fact that low barometric pressure leaves some folks feeling poorly.

I have read that to be &8220;under the weather bow&8221; was to be on the side of ship that was hit hardest by rough, stormy seas.

Good news

Scott Mehus, formerly of Glenville, is now the naturalist at the National Eagle Center in Wabasha. It&8217;s a great job for a great guy.

Alaska cruise

On the keyboard of life, always keep one finger on the escape key.

Please join me on a cruise to Alaska in July. For more information, please call 373-3455 or 1-800-657-4449. There is no better time than right now to be happy. You will love yourself in Alaska.

Thanks for stopping by

&8220;The deepest craving of human nature is the need to be appreciated.&8221; &8212; William James

&8220;Never does the human soul appear so strong and noble as when it forgoes revenge and dares to forgive an injury.&8221; &8212; E. H. Chapin

Do Good.

Al Batt of Hartland is a member of the Albert Lea Audubon Society. E-mail him at SnoEowl@aol.com.