Author Archives: makielb

It’s a hot steamy day in Ann Arbor (OK, not compared to what’s going on in Texas right now), so we went to the Farmers Market. We got lots of fresh veggies. Checked out Kerrytown, and stopped by the People’s Food Co-op. We were treated to some live music as a band was playing atContinue reading “What to do when it’s hot?”

The other day we went in search of Yellow-breasted Chats, which are rather uncommon in South-eastern Michigan in the summer. Walking to the chat habitat we saw a lot of butterflies. There were a lot of European skippers. And I managed to find two Baltimores (more on that later). We finally reached the chat habitat,Continue reading “Searching for Yellow-breasted Chats”

Liberty Plaza was full of people for the performance today. We spent the first half hour closer to the performer. Then Susan went to get us sandwiches from one of the food trucks. When she got back the main performers were playing and were way too loud. Here’s the Sonic Lunch schedule for 2023. ThisContinue reading “Our first Sonic Lunch of 2023”

We spent the morning yesterday at Sharon Mills looking for several birds – Blue Grosbeak, Grasshopper Sparrow and Bobolink. We managed to hear them all. We even saw a Red-headed Woodpecker. Essentially it was a day spent at Grasslands, and the scrub bordering them. Some other highlights included a Ringlet and a Baltimore. Both ratherContinue reading “A day with birds and bugs”

So I have been seeing what all the buzz about ChatGPT was about. It has proven to been somewhat interesting. I played around with asking it questions about things that I knew a lot about, or books. It was hit or miss with the responses, somewhere around 80% accurate. Then I asked it to writeContinue reading “Letting AI do some writing for me”

Fascism, the biggest threat to democracy. It took over Italy, Germany and Spain in the 1930s. It almost took over the USA in 2016. Don’t let it happen again. Won’t work here, they’d have to look over their left shoulder. Darth has good taste in music. Frazz nailed it again. Wine for older adults. AI,Continue reading “Monday evening comics”

Why do people always assume that a historical reenactment involves a battle? Sometimes they are so much better. My father and me in 2000. It’s hard to believe that it was 23 years ago. Downtown Ann Arbor, Main Street closed on weekends to car traffic so that the restaurants can expand seating into the street.Continue reading “Father’s Day 2023”

Last night we set up two sites at Barton Nature Area for attracting moths. This was a Natural Areas Preservation event and it seems like over 20 people showed up. This was the site that was across the river and most distant from the parking area. This was the sheet closer to the parking areaContinue reading “Moth night in Ann Arbor”

Before heading back to Ann Arbor, and between rain days we spent the day at the eastern end of Pictured Rocks looking for interesting plants. Needless to say, it’s hard to beat rams-head orchids. We managed to find hundreds of them. We even found a plant with several white ones. Scattered among the rams-heads wereContinue reading “Orchids, more orchids!”

For the past 2-3 days we have had cool weather, not topping 55F with a mostly steady rain. Even before that mosquitoes were at astronomical numbers, with few getting into the house. Tomorrow should be better, except for the mosquitoes, so we should be heading off in search of orchids and other plants (with glovesContinue reading “Reading on a rainy day”