Ahoy, Matie

So much to report tonight. I had a full weekend and it was wonderful. First off, the weather here this weekend was beautiful--60s and sunny and we Lansing-ites took full advantage. Adam and Kika got out to the park for a nice Kika-Daddy walk on Saturday, while I helped a girlfriend do some fieldwork for her PhD research. It was my first time doing aquatic sampling; I got to ride around in a boat and sample some lakes around southern Michigan. Super cool, I tell ya. Almost as cool as canoeing down the Willamette River with Art and the girls back in Oregon last summer. Tons of wildlife were out and about--Buffleheads, Sandhill cranes, loads of songbirds and frogs. I'm loving that spring has returned.

Today we spent taking advantage of yet another beautiful spring day. Adam worked on our cars and got our bicycles road-ready while I did yard work. I'm putting my greenhouse to good use, getting all my vegetable seeds going so they'll be ready to plant in the garden by May. Then I decided to tackle our backyard, which has become a bit shabhy in the last couple years. I've decided to "go native" by getting rid of a bunch of invasive non-native shrubs I have, and also getting rid of the grass in our backyard. In its place, I've decided to plant lowland plant species (we live in a wetland type area) with lots of fern, wildflowers and low ground cover species. I'm excited about it all and hope it comes out well. We don't have a large backyard, so I'm thinking it won't be too hard to get things going. I'll take pics as things come along.

Happy spring, everyone!


We luckily had a perfect day for fieldwork...I could hardly wait to get out on the water!


I dip, you dip, we dip...for water samples...


Gorgeous spring day in southern Michigan