Preparing For Winter

I'm spending a lot of time on the subway these days. So I think you can expect more regular blog updates. They will probably be a little eclectic - based on whatever I've been taking pictures of recently. Here is today's offering. 

I was walking with a friend a few weeks back and he pointed out a bunch of trees that were newly wearing hay skirts. He asked if I knew why they were decorated in this way. I said I thought it was to protect them from contact frostbite once the snow starts piling up. Turns our I'm wrong. I should have guessed that since not all the trees had skirts. 

Apparently there are certain insects that attack these trees. In winter they burrow into the ground to keep warm. But if the caretakers of the trees wrap hay around the lower trunks then these insects will huddle up in the hay instead. Then when spring comes the skirts are removed with their load of hibanating insects and burned. The trees are safe for one more year. How clever is that?