makielb

Inching towards Spring

The progress is slow, but speeds up with warmth and rain, day by day there is less snow and more to see. The same view of the restoration area, each photo is 24 hours after the previous. So, Monday on the left, Tuesday in the center and Wednesday on the right. As I said we’reContinue reading “Inching towards Spring”

The ruling madman

The Mad-King (with apologies to Game of Thrones) and taken a deep dive into his insanity, or is it perhaps dementia, who knows. His latest insane rant has the Internet sparking memes at an insane rate. The madman’s post on the left, an Internet response. Even better was this meme of the original cast ofContinue reading “The ruling madman”

Winter into Spring at Whitefish Point

The snow is slowly melting at Whitefish Point. There is some promise in the air, you can smell it. As the snow recedes the first bearberry and trailing arbutus become visible. As ground is exposed the false dune heather and lichens become visible. The dune restoration site that Susan has worked on for three years.Continue reading “Winter into Spring at Whitefish Point”

A Milestone Post

This is blog post number 1100 for me. I started this blog in 2021 not quite sure where it would go. Over the years I’ve varied the number of posts that I wrote. 2022 was a big year coming off the second year of the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic (COVID). WHo knows what this year will bringContinue reading “A Milestone Post”

Whitefish Point – April, 2026

The wind shifted to the south yesterday, but barely there. It was quite sunny all day and felt warm even with the temperature getting higher than 39F. Looking south from the hawk watch where we went in the morning to talk with Sean the hawk-counter. The sun is slowly meting the snow at the edges.Continue reading “Whitefish Point – April, 2026”

Back in the land of ice and snow

Yesterday we arrived at Whitefish Point, Michigan and it’s clearly still “winter” here. It’s cooler and there’s still a lot of snow. It’s hard to believe that two weeks ago we were enjoying nighttime temperatures in the lower 60s F and daytime temperatures in the low 70s F. Crossing the Mackinac Bridge there’s still aContinue reading “Back in the land of ice and snow”

Book Reviews

For the past few weeks I’ve been reading a lot. Right now I’m a bit slow as I recently had a tetanus shot and the most recent COVID vaccine. So here’s what I’ve read. This was an interesting fantasy read. It’s the story of a young woman who inherits an interesting bookstore. It’s also aboutContinue reading “Book Reviews”

Looking for signs of spring

Now that we’re back in Ann Arbor we are looking for signs of spring. Here that would be plants and insects as birds are still lagging compared to what we saw in the south. A couple of days ago we decided to go to Dexter Huron Metropark where spring ephemerals (plants) typically appear quite earlyContinue reading “Looking for signs of spring”

Back in Ann Arbor

I’m sitting back at home writing as the temperature is 65F and there are thunderstorms on the horizon, On our trip to the southern states we traveled 3553 miles. So now it’s time to sit back and relax for a few days. Time to get caught up with appointments – doctor appointments and a carContinue reading “Back in Ann Arbor”

Splinter Hill Bog, Alabama

This is the third time that we have visited the Splinter Hill Bog in Alabama. It is noted for its great variety of carnivorous plants – 12 species. Yesterday we had perhaps the best day for seeing a nice variety. We had 4 species of pitcher plants, a sundew and a bladderwort. Not bad forContinue reading “Splinter Hill Bog, Alabama”