Milkweed pods, PNP

I'm hosting a public walk tomorrow at the Preston Nature Preserve, one of the jewels in the Avalonia Land Conservancy crown, and, since I haven't been there since mid-summer, I thought I'd better make the journey to the refuge, a series of fields and forested areas, before the actual trek, to re-familiarize myself with the area and figure out what I should be emphasizing.... I guess prudence and responsibility really have come home to roost in my dotage. I also needed the walk. Not long after I started down the freshly mowed trail I got my flash of inspiration: newly opened milkweed pods getting ready to send their seeds to whatever fate and the prevailing winds dictated. So, if the weather cooperated—there was a strong possibility of heavy rain in the afternoon—the theme for the walk would be the role of chance in the natural world: chance, and how plants and animals attempt to even the odds.