Surveying the property

Today I talked with the surveyor on the property. I found him out on the SE corner of Third Sister Lake, surveying the PALL/Saginaw Forest property line. It was an interesting thing to learn about a little bit of the property, and surmise upon the history of certain artifacts in the area. For example, I thought that the location we were standing on was actually inside Saginaw Forest; it was, after all, covered by trees. However, looking around, he pointed out the old fence that was trampled. Using that as the reference point, it became more simple to see where the Saginaw Forest property stops: it's where the tree-type changes from tall pines to not-tall not-pines.

He had placed the prism pole in a steel pole sticking just out of the ground, possibly something that was used in an earlier survey of the lands. He told me there was a similar post in the pavement on Wagner Road, marking the center point of the larger section of land (Saginaw Forest is 80 acres, and is therefore two quarter-quarter sections or an eighth-section) that happens to include First and Second Sister lakes.

Similarly, we talked about the path of Liberty Road in this part of Washtenaw County: where it changes from a city road to a county road. Why does it - before becoming an east-west road - cut through the SE corner of Saginaw forest? He surmised that it was a compromise in planning to connect an east-west road to a non-cardinal road. Looking at a map of the region, it becomes easier to see how the original parcels in the region likely lay, with Liberty Road cutting through the four parcels between Saginaw Forest and I-94 (it takes a little bit of squinting to see where those four parcels used to be).

Cold day today

Today has been a cold day: 25F/-4C at 2pm. There's a little bit of snow falling, but not enough to actually cause any problems. The wind's been steady and carries with it a bite of chill that pierces through you. I kind of feel sorry for the surveyor, having to stand in the cold for hours on end, just next to the totally exposed quarter of Third Sister Lake.

Weather cooling... and land surveyors in the forest

The weather has turned back toward actual weather we might expect during the winter months of January/February. The water in the creek is still flowing, and it reached a crescendo at some point yesterday afternoon; the overflow sheeting over the iced lake surface.

Also, this week, surveyors will be in the forest, doing some siting for a future plan of a walkway over the wetlands to the east end of Third Sister Lake.

No new mice in the trap

Last week I forgot to check the live trap and after looking into it, I realized that there were two dead mice inside. Well... one dead mouse, and the heavily gnawed upon (and mostly eaten) remains of one dead mouse. However, after disposing of these two dead mice (and the dead mouse from the previous day) and washing out the trap, I have not caught any more mice. Perhaps the three mice that I threw out were the same mice that I had previously been catching over-and-over again. Hopefully, therefore, no other rodents are likely to find the way into the house that these mice used. I'm leaving the trap out, just in case. (Either that, or I used to have up to seven mice - the total number that had been caught.)

Drizzles overnight = a bit of snowmelt happening

I noticed this morning the characteristic *ping-pang* of rain hitting the chimney cap of the gas stove. I had seen the weather forecast say that the rain was supposed to come down today, and had started a little earlier than it was supposedly going to happen. The weather forecast for the rest of today calls for possible thunderstorms, too! (If I hear that happening, I'll try and take some photos.)



The rain cleared off the remnants of the snow covering the (I'm sure) ever-shrinking layer of ice. The coloring of the ice is now a nice light gray-blue.

The interesting thing is that - unlike what happened during the torrential downpours of Christmas day - there isn't enough rain and snowmelt to saturate the stream. Indeed, the water slowly flowing down the streambed slowly disappears into the sandy ground, and (at least at the time when I took the photo) none of the water was reaching the lake's icy surface.

Updating past log entries: 2006

I am now going through the entries from the caretakers who were here from 2006-2008. I am moving through those more slowly than the previous ones, mainly because they were more prolific writers (good job guys).

For some reason, there were several gaps between caretakers (1988, 1993-1995, 1995-1999, and 1999-2006). I just suppose that they weren't as interested in writing in a journal. (Truth be told, if it wasn't for the online nature of my writing, I would not be writing. Indeed, it even took me 3 months to start writing.)

Definitely the ability to use photos and video has given me more incentive to add my own touch to the history of Saginaw Forest.

Updating past log entries: 1990 & 1991

Finished updating past records from 1990 and from 1991.