Making a list of New Year's objectives

It seems that everyone sets forth a series of New Year's objectives. I am certainly within this class. You will notice, however, that I didn't use the word "resolutions" in my title. The main reason is that the word has, amongst many, two decidedly opposing definitions. The first is a determined proposal. Most likely, this is a challenging list of things to improve upon and/or achieve. In this sense, it fits fine with the sense of the upcoming new year. The other definition deals with outcomes. You have often heard of situations, such as relationships, reaching resolution. In this sense, the word pays no attention to success. Under this definition, if all parties agree that enough is enough, or worse, that it really wasn't going to happen anyway, then resolution has been attained. I don't find this second definition within the spirit of what I believe a New Year's resolution is, or should be. Also, somewhere within the meaning of the word "objective" is the sense of things being quantified. I do love quality, but I also like to see some hard numbers, or at least evidence, that I actually accomplished something. So, with all of this clarified with mud and muck, I give you my New Year's objectives. I am going to hike more! Sure, that means walking, but I want to do it on trails. I want to visit old spaces and see new places. I want the adventure that comes with leaving the pavement and getting my boots dirty. I want my sense of cold and uncomfortable to be warmed by the sense of discovery. And in saying all of this, I want to look at my smart watch and have it tell me that I "done good." Tied into all of this hiking are several other objectives. I want to see a salamander migration. The window for this is narrow, and the conditions can be iffy … if you call an early spring thunderstorm iffy. This annual phenomenon takes place literally under our feet each year and I have never seen it. I want to hike around wetlands and better learn dragonflies and damselflies. I initiated the restoration of a wetland at the park that I manage, and this past summer dragonflies were everywhere. I swear on a stack of field guides that each one laughed at me because I didn't know their name. As a part of this, I also want to learn wetland plants. "Sedges have edges" and "rushes are round" is just the beginning of this challenge. Speaking of hiking and water habitats, I want to find some fairy shrimp. They only are seen for a day or two in the spring, and only in vernal pools. They are unworldly and, in a weird way, beautiful, and I have only seen them twice. That's not enough. One of the most quantifying examples on my list is that I want to see 300 different bird species in Ohio within the year. Bigtime birders go past this number, but for me it would be a lofty milestone. And with today's connectivity, it is well achievable, but not from one's sofa. As a part of this, I want to see some of my nemesis birds. These are birds, whether common or otherwise, tend to avoid me. Included are purple sandpipers, northern pintails, northern shrikes, golden eagles and there are a lot of them. Most owls are on this list, and they shouldn't be. I need to go owling more! I also want to regain my "birding by ear" capacity. I am still good, but not as good as I was. As I age, the higher frequencies are going to fade away, so I want to get to this one quick. I would also like to do a Big Day, or a Big Sit or something crazy and worthwhile. I would like it to be associated with some sort of awareness or fundraising for conservation. At the lakeshore park I manage, there are lots of stones and pebbles, and each of them is maddingly difficult to identify ... difficult, but not impossible. I want to become versed in identifying these rocks. I have not done a lot of astronomy lately, and I would like to do more. In order to make this quantifiable, I want to finally view Mercury and Uranus. I also want to see more meteors, whether a part of a shower or not. Last year, I returned to the world of photography, but I didn't take many pictures. This coming year I want to better capture my adventures and also to celebrate common moments. In order to do this best, I not only have to keep my camera handy, but I also have to convince it to communicate with my phone and computer so that I can share my images. For the most part, the communication between my electronics is, "You know this ain't gonna happen, right?" Lastly, and not lastly, I want to improve my writing abilities. I want to better cover current events, and to remind everyone that even the most common events in nature are still miracles. Most importantly, I want to put down on paper something more than words. I want to produce inspiration that takes simple awareness and cultivates it into appreciation, and then I want this to lead readers to wander out and find their own miracles within the nature of our world.