Shower plugged up... again

As it was when I moved in, the shower drain is backed up. Well, it's the bacteria drain-cleaner again... and if that doesn't work, I'll try to call in the big guns from the U.

Until that happens, it'll be quick showers and/or taking advantage of the CCRB. The rain isn't yet quite warm enough to take showers out of doors. :D

On this date: 1904 news about upcoming plantings

On April 22, 1904, the Pentwater News printed a story, under it's "State of Michigan" section, "State Items of Interest", about the then-upcoming planting at Saginaw Forest:

Thirty-one thousand plants have been purchased for use on the Saginaw Forest farm of the University of Michigan. Planting operations will begin as soon as weather permits.

Package delivery & electricity reading

I left the gate open today, because I knew that UPS would be trying to deliver a package. At about 3pm, I got a visit from a DTE meterman; an additional bonus. At 3:45, the UPS delivery truck came bumbling and jangling and bouncing down the driveway.

I guess they do come out here after all. (It's a nice thing to know, since I don't like having to try to get out to the UPS station way out in Ypsi, especially if I have to ride a bike or if the package is too big to carry easily on a bike, even with panniers.)

People staying long in the forest: it must be spring

The hours during which Saginaw Forest is open to the public is 6am to 6pm, every day of the year. This means that once it reaches 6pm, the facility is closed to the public. It's strange how many people don't seem to understand this principle, and I continue to be amazed that visitors don't think about searching for information about a property before walking into it. After all, you might be walking into a private property, you might be walking in to a public park, you might be walking into a research facility, you might be walking into a nature preserve, and each of these types of properties have different expectations about public use of the property.

I understand why people might want to come out to the facility during an evening like this one: the weather's finally become nice again, it's on the way home (or relatively close to home), you're itching to go out, etc. However, you wouldn't expect that the public library stay open for you when you have a hankering to read a book, that the bar will stay open for you to get your late-night drink at 2:30am, that the deli would serve you a sandwich at 10pm, that a metropark will permit you to enter after dusk, ... and I think you get the picture.

The other thing that I notice is that the "wildlife" becomes significantly more active when people aren't walking through the facility, and - hey - they've got to get a break in their day, too, right? Frogs gotta mate, swans gotta nest, squirrels gotta forage, and coyotes gotta yip and howl.

Burned honeysuckle, garlic mustard

All the honeysuckle that was cut last Sunday was burned, along with bunches and bunches of garlic mustard. There is still a lot of garlic mustard and honeysuckle out there, but it's a (small) dent.

Roadway fixed

The main drive and the berm on the western side of the property have been fixed. They were both washed out during the massive storm of a few weeks ago. Now they look new again. Hopefully, March's storm wasn't a harbinger.

Pulling garlic mustard

Spent about 1 hour pulling garlic mustard. It looks like they are coming in with a vengeance this year: I am pulling up about 1 paper grocery-bag-full of garlic mustard each morning, and I have barely gotten from the house to the frog pond! (And there are a lot under the Douglas Fir that I'm waiting until they start to stalk out for flowering before I go after them; the ones along the roadway are just about to pop, so they are a bigger concern.)

Spring peepers calling again

The temperature is back up to the 60s today, and it's almost like a second spring, with a few *pweep... pweeep* sounds coming once again from the frog pond.

Cut a bunch of honeysuckle

Yesterday, I had some help to cut a lot of honeysuckle from near the cabin. There are tons of other invasive shrubbery throughout the area near the cabin and frog pond, but it's just more work to do! Maybe for the next volunteer work day...