Author Archives: makielb

There is currently an outbreak of Marburg Virus Disease (a hemorrhagic viral disease caused by Marburg Virus) in Equatorial Guinea, Africa. There is no vaccine for this virus, and it has a close to 90% death rate. Currently there have been nine deaths and eight suspected deaths. There are also 16 cases and 21 peopleContinue reading “Another day, another epidemic”

Darn pollution is everywhere. Sounds like he’s taking some White Rabbit. Oops. He should have checked the genitals first. My favorite piece by Bach. Staying with music – how about some sax and violins! I’d rather be in the test group. Oh-oh. I guess that they were caught in the act. I want my ownContinue reading “Some late February humor”

Since it was sunny and warm this afternoon we decided to head over to the Botanical Gardens. Walking the tails along Flemming Creek allowed us to find a lot of interesting plants. Fungi growing on a tree was quite attractive. Finding Vibernum lentago, Nannyberry was exciting. I hadn’t seen one of these in years. FindingContinue reading “Back to nature at the Matthaei Botanical Gardens”

Today was a day to get caught up, starting with doing battle with Comcast. So, we started the day going to the local Comcast office and complaining about the price of their service. Well, talking to real people, rather that trying to talk to somebody on line, was all the difference. By the time weContinue reading “Busy day away from nature”

A beautiful Moon before sunrise. Then in the late morning it was time to head off and look for plants and insects Hepatica, still a month away from budding and blooming. So there’s still a lot of time to get out and see these. Blue ash, now a fairly rare tree in Michigan. Skunk cabbageContinue reading “Nan Weston in February”

I hope that everybody got to spend the day with somebody special. I know that I did. Snoopy and Woodstock have such a special relationship. Our day started with breakfast at Village Kitchen. And went on from there. For a late lunch we went to Los Tres Amigos in Chelsea. Which was perfect since weContinue reading “Valentine’s Day”

Helga borrowed Hägar’s shield for a good reason. Cartoonists are getting a lot of milage out of the Chinese balloon. He’s one of the Neanderthals that voted for 45. Maybe I should have saved this for the duck season. And now, on to Marjory Taylor-Meme! I was wondering how long it would take for thisContinue reading “Monday is meme-day”

Charles Darwin was born on February 12 1809. He collected finch specimens in the 1830s on the Galapagos Islands. They were one of the critical species involved with his describing the process of evolution. The finches were first called Darwin’s finches in 1936 by Percy Lowe. One of the highlights of my teaching career atContinue reading “Charles Darwin”

A beautiful Moon this morning. Then it was time for birds. The idea that I can photograph birds that are only six feet away always makes me smile. Male Pine Grosbeak on the deck. Juvenile male Pine Grosbeak. I often ignore the fact that we have 10-15 Black-capped Chickadees coming to our feeders. Pine GrosbeaksContinue reading “Winter birds at Whitefish Point”

We drove to Rudyard yesterday hoping to see a few owls and who knows what else. We stopped for gas first and saw a raven diving at something on the Rudyard water tower. Yep – it was our first (of five) Snowy Owls for the day. We also managed to see a few Northern Shrikes,Continue reading “Cruising roads looking for raptors”