Monarchs

Yesterday a sibling and I (exhausted from the frog and toad survey the night before) went to a Monarch class at the University of Minnesota-St. Paul campus. Lucky for everyone, most of the class was hands on experiences which made it easier to stay awake.  We learned how to identify monarch eggs, the five stages of larvae, and the pupae.  Every time someone said pupae I wanted to giggle.  Each stage of the larvae is called an instar.  Don't confuse it with the navigation device called Onstar, they're different.  The first caterpillar that comes out of the egg is called instar 1.  The last stage, the caterpillar that changes into a pupae, is called instar 5.  We learned how to identify each of the five instars.  The caterpillar in the photo I took is an instar 5.  I know this because the tentacles on the head are long and droopy.  In the afternoon we went out to the gardens off Cleveland and Larpenteur to find eggs and isntars on milkweed plants.  We also learned how to estimate the density of milkweed plants in a field.  Now we know enough about monarchs to participate in the Monarch Larvae Monitoring Project.  All we need is a location that we can access weekly through the summer and fall that has at least 10 milkweed plants.  So I went home and counted all the milkweed plants on my property.  Success!  I found 20 plants.  I even found a monarch egg on one of the plants.  I brought the monarch egg inside and I hope to be able to watch it grow up to be a butterfly.  What a great citizen science volunteer job for me - check the 20 milkweed plants on my property every week and look for eggs and instars and pupae and butterflies.  Sounds great to me.

Frog and Toad Survey

Somebody got a new frog net.

She is making some of the cows nervous.

Our route is so deserted we found a skull at one of our stops.  A deer skull?  We also found some vertebrae.

We brought a new recruit on our frog survey last night and she brought us to a new level of activity, fun and energy.  Was it that Mountain Dew she drank with dinner?  We laughed so hard our stomach's hurt.  By the end of the route, she could identify all the frogs we were hearing - mostly green tree frogs, some peepers, some chorus frogs and some peepers.  We saw a few lightening bugs.  We heard some veery's and one barred owl.

Frog and Toad Survey #2 Tonight

Lets hope we don't get stuck.

My Third Foe

I try to be a good steward of my property.  I aim to make the yard a nature friendly place.  Tonight, as I mowed, I surveyed my yard and found my third foe.  My first foe was poison ivy.  I don't like poison ivy because I am allergic to it and end up in urgent care almost every summer and coming out of there with a couple prescriptions.  I poison the poison ivy every year and although it's not gone completely, I have knocked it back quite a bit.  It's an ongoing battle.  My second foe was and is buckthorn - an invasive species that crowds out the native plants.  It's everywhere.  I've cut it and poisoned the stumps the last two falls and I have a whole lot more to do. Tonight I recognized my third foe.  And this one really bugs me because it wasn't a problem until I planted it myself - amur maple.   I wanted a hedge. I wanted something that grew thick to add to the privacy of the yard. And I wanted something natural in appearance-not one of the closely clipped formal hedges.   I didn't know what kind of hedge to get.  I thought I made a careful and informed decision.    I read books.  I studied nursery pamphlets.  I even went out to the University of Minnesota arboretum to look at their hedge collection firsthand.  (I remember this trip distinctly because I accidentally dropped my car keys among the hedges and I had to search long and hard to find them again).   I decided on amur maple because of their growth pattern and pretty color in the fall.  Plus they were cheap.  Arborvitae was my second choice.   I got 25 amur maple plants from the soil and water conservation district.  Now that I have quit mowing so much of the yard I see that amur maple is also an invasive species.  I have thousands of amur maple trees growing everywhere.  They're everywhere!  I am considering cutting them all down; removing that privacy hedge.  Some of these amur maples are now 20 feet high.  I think I will get some advice from some people who know more about this than I do.

That Awkward Moment

I had an awkward moment today.  I was in a meeting with a group, listening to a woman with dark hair and bangs covering her eyes.  She listened with her face turned down to the table.  She looked up at me with her big eyes and gave a snarky, dead pan, sarcastic comment.  In my mind, I'm thinking, "Oh, I can't believe it.  I'm sitting with April Ludgate and I didn't even know it before.  How could I have missed it?"  April Ludgate, in case you don't know, is the apathetic, snarky, capable but under performing employee on the "Parks and Rec" sitcom.  April Ludgate is very unusual and so is this woman I know.  I'm so into my own discovery that I don't listen to a thing she is saying.  I ask her to repeat.  She rolls her eyes at me (JUST LIKE APRIL LUDGATE WOULD HAVE DONE) and repeats herself again but I'm not listening because I'm so entertained by her eye rolling.  Awkward.  So I just smile and pretend I heard her.  I hope I don't accidentally call her April because that would be even more awkward.  Some people ask me how I can stand going to so many meetings.  They have no idea just how entertaining meetings can be sometimes.  People fascinate me.  I can't believe I didn't recognize April Ludgate before.

Preparing

For the last two summers, thanks to the support and companionship of friends and family, I've been able to participate in the Mississippi River Challenge - a two day canoe or kayak trip/fundraiser for "Friends of the Mississippi River."  This year, I thought I wasn't going to be able to do it.  I didn't have my former paddling friends this year.  Lucky for me, in talking with another master naturalist, I found a traveling companion.  The trip is back on!  I am excited!   This year, to avoid accidentally allowing Asian carp into the locks (while trying to support the natural beauty of the river) the trip is not starting in Coon Rapids.  Instead we are starting in Bloomington and spending the first day on the Minnesota River.  The second day will be the same - starting at Fort Snelling and paddling down to Cottage Grove.  A 22 mile per day trip is not really easy but not really hard either.  There is no hurry and we're going with the current.  A kayak is easier on my back than a canoe.  And I've got strong arms.  What I don't have is strong skin on my palms.  Both years, by the last break on Sunday afternoon, I had blisters on my palms that really bother me.  I wear gloves the entire two day trip and I still get blisters.  Last year I put "Nu Skin" liquid bandage on my palms to help protect them plus the gloves and I still got blisters.  My blisters show up at the base of my fingers.  It's not an easy spot to bandage and protect.  So this year, I'm going to prepare by toughening up my palms.  Usually I wear gloves when I mow, shovel, hoe and rake.  Not this summer. I'm going gloveless.  I am going to grow me some calluses.  No more baby-soft hands for me.

Finally

Finally I got most of the garden in - tomatoes (better boy), red onions, red potatoes, carrots, kohlrabi, green peppers, jalapeno, and sunflowers.  I still have room for pumpkins, squash or corn.  I've got  "behind the thigh gardener's ache" in both legs.  I started some plants inside.  The 3 dozen coleus plants were all starts from last years plants so I've been monkeying with them since September. I also started some morning glories.  I'm glad to get them out of the house and into the soil.  It feels good to work in the garden.  Pulling weeds and planting seeds puts me in a meditative and relaxed state of being.