Officially, on average today is the coldest day of the year. Which means it’ll start getting warmer come the weekend, great incentive for getting out.
Coast
Think this weather is for the birds? Well … you’re right. It may seem cold to you, but for hundreds of thousands of birds from more northerly climes, North Carolina’s coast is to them what Florida is to humans. That makes this time of year ideal for getting out in the wild for some birdwatching. Here are three programs this weekend where you can go out with trained naturalists and learn just who likes to spend their winter at the coast:read more
Senior citizens in the Triad have helped in a key discovery about how they and their peers can retain their mobility: walk and lose weight.
A five-year study of 288 seniors (ages 60-79) in Davidson, Forsyth and Guilford counties found that those who walked regularly and lose weight improved their mobility by as much as 20 percent. The Wake Forest University study divided the seniors into three groups: a control group that was lectured about healthy living but not directed to do so proactively, a group whose physical activity levels were upped and a group that walked and was put on a weight-loss program. The walkers/dieters should significant improvement in their mobility, increasing from 5 percent to 20 percent based on how long it took them to walk 400 meters. (The 400-meter walk is considered a gold standard in senior mobility: Those who can’t walk that far are significantly more likely to lose their independence.)read more
When he came onto the national scene in the 1950s, Jack LaLanne was a lone voice in a nation where bowling and horseshoes were considered ways to stay fit. When he left the world Sunday at age 96, LaLanne was a fitness icon who redefined our notion of living healthy with the simple message that eating well and staying active simply made you feel better.read more
Back in the old days – meaning before I got a GPS – I knew I’d been on a good hike when I couldn’t wait to get home and perform a topopsy. That would be a postmortem in which I would get out a topo map and try to figure out why, instead of going from Point A to Point B, I’d wound up at Q. Nothing quite like that post-hike thrill of figuring out that you should have gone left at the junction just past the beech cove rather than right, which, it turns out, dumps you in the backyard of a rustic type with a fondness for easily-angered dogs and cinderblocked pickups bearing bumper stickers of a laissez-faire theme.read more
Celebrate the winter with a nature-based outing this weekend.
Coast
Did you know there’s a new 73-foot-tall wind turbine at Jockey’s Ridge State Park? I didn’t, either. But there is, and you can learn all about it at Saturday’s Power of Wind presentation. A little talk indoors, then it’s out to the dunes to check out the turbine. And, to get a true feel for the power of wind, bring a kite to fly afterwards (or swing by Kitty Hawk Kites across the street and pick one up). Program starts at 2 p.m.read more