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I sit in a teleconference, 4 of us trying to craft a survey instrument that could track changing public attitudes about the economy and low-wage work.  Outside my window the woodpeckers are foraging in the bark-folds and lichen. There are 4 species of woodpeckers: downy, hairy, red-bellied - even a clumsy yellow-shafted flicker.    White breasted nuthatches and a brown creeper probe the crevasses with their small, sharp beaks.  The tree is slowly falling apart, especially in this vicious winter, but I wonder how any invertebrates can still survive there.

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