4/30/07

2 hrs. at Stinchfield, cleaning the classroom there.

4/29/07

1.5 hrs uncover soil pit.

4/28/07

2.5 hrs. pulling garlic mustard on trail just north of causeway and cutting back rose bushes on front lawn.

4/26/07

• 1 hour putting stickers on posted signs.
• 1 hour cutting 2 large downed trees across the lake.

4/25/07

Caretaker's mtg. 1 hr.

4/22/07

• Spent 2 hours cutting down leaning group of trees on trail north of causeway (actually did this earlier)
• Invasives are obvious in spring, as some of the more prevalent ones seem to leaf out first, esp:
• Japanese barberry
• honeysuckle

We came home yesterday to four men out in the UM rowboats fishing away! The oars stay in the barn, but they had found themselves long branches to use instead. They quickly came in and put the boats back.

4/15/07

Wood ducks have been around a bit, but we don't know if they've nested. I can hear a sandhill crane but cannot locate it. We saw a gaggle of them on the River Raisin near the Nature Conservancy land there.

We saw a coyote (north side of lake) last week while running, and H. swears he saw a turkey while running the other day. It didn't fly and was large breasted, so we can only [unreadable] that it was an escaped domestic turkey. It seem too urban around here for an actual wild turkey.

4/1/07

Two pairs of wood ducks on the lake this morning, calling to each other through the mist. Mallards quack softly on the east end of the lake. Redwing blackbirds perch precariously on the cattails and seem curious about my presence.