Surfing the interweb?

Go to the NRDC site and take a minute out of your day to take action to protect America's last wild places!
The itinerant warblers of the world will thank you for it!

Squash Blossoms

At the farmer's market this morning Native Hill Farm had squash blossoms for sale! I've never eaten or cooked with them, but I'm looking forward to giving it a try. I'm going to try stuffing the closed blossoms with a feta filling, then battering and lightly frying them as part of a celebratory dinner for Craig, who's home after 2 weeks in the field!

Update: They were delicious- tasted a lot like okra!

East to West to East Again

Claret Cup Hedgehog Cactus

I've been pretty much from one end of the state to the other in the last 10 days. Surveys are going well, getting to see a few different birds on almost every survey, which is nice.

I've gotten to see some parts of the state I've definitely never been to before and have to say how amazingly beautiful the drive is heading south on Hwy 141 from Grand Junction toward Dove Creek. Anyone interested in roadtripping should check out this drive! The highway follows an old channel of the Colorado River and it's like driving through a mini Grand Canyon, sheer cliff walls on both sides. Amazing! For you Chaco fans, one of the canyons it passes through is Unaweep Canyon (used as the name of one of their beloved models of sandal, a pair of which I've been doing my best to destroy for 8+ years). I'm hoping to convince Craig to do a river trip on the relatively flat water of the Dolores River, which very disorientingly flows north as you drive alongside.

Ruins of Drigg's Mansion - it had 6 rooms, took 2 stonemasons 4 years to build and was lived in by the Driggs for only a couple weeks before being abandoned.

I've been reading a book of short stories of women solo travelers. One of the authors wrote about her actual enjoyment of eating alone, making it easier to appreciate each moment, each bite of food. I typically hate eating alone, b/c I think of eating out as a social occasion, but I was passing through a town and really wanted to eat some real, granola-free food. So using that author as an inspiration, I took myself to an Italian restaurant for dinner without anything to read or work on, something I haven't done since my days as a study abroad student. It seemed like a good test to leave my comfort zone a little. Although not exactly a blast, it was totally fine. The wait staff and I got to talk a little and maybe I really did pay more attention to each bite of food. Perhaps eating alone is an acquired taste...one I could cultivate over this summer.

On a less appetizing note, yesterday was day 5 without a shower. That coupled with intense sweating due to lack of car AC was creating dangerous atmospheric conditions in the general area of my person. I won't even mention my hair. I am happy to announce that upon re-entry into civilization, many scented bath products were liberally applied, and my stench has been beaten into submission. You may now approach safely.

Enjoy the photos and video!

Pinyon-juniper and Grassland Interface

Grrr....videos are refusing to be uploaded, so I will try again in a couple of days!

Into the Mountains

I've made my way out of the grasslands and into higher elevation! I had a beautiful transect this morning just outside of Golden (home of Coors) on Lookout Mountain. The name made me feel like there should be some "See Ruby Falls" signs around, but I didn't see any. What I did see was some beautiful views and a whole new community of birds. And a lot of woody plants I couldn't identify, although poring over my field guide helped. Also, the steep winding road heading up the mountain seems to be a mecca for cyclists and there was even a paraglider taking off and circling his way over the city. Pretty sweet for a morning at the office!

Grasslands II

Craig came to visit me in the grasslands since he got the long weekend off work. It was so nice to have some company! We got to explore a little of Carrizo Canyon, close to the Colorado/New Mexico border and spent a little time in the town of Trinidad.

a reminder why white legs in shorts with hiking boots is never a good idea...

Comanche National Grassland

I'm doing bird surveys in Comanche National Grassland in southeastern Colorado and it's a different world down here! I've seen a lot of amazing birds, including my first rufous-crowned sparrow and Chihuahuan raven. Unfortunately those guys are always moving and I don't have camera skills like Craig, so enjoy these photos of other things that don't move as fast.




This area was converted from native grasses and plants to farmland in the early 1900's and became part of the Dust Bowl in the 1930's. The wind has been blowing almost non-stop since I've been here, so it's not hard to imagine how exposed topsoil could just get blown away. They had some dust-storms so large that it turned day into night and people feared the end of the world had come.
In addition to this interesting recent history, the grasslands also has sites with petroglyphs 300-800 years old and the longest dinosaur tracks in the US. I'm hoping to see these before I leave!

This tarantula was almost the size of my fist! Did you know there are more than 50 species of tarantula in the US?

I only wish I'd gotten my A.C. repaired before this trip...(it was actually only 95 degrees outside, but hey, I was sitting in the car and it was H-O-T!)

Well, I've got another early start tomorrow and it's way past my bedtime!

Haiku for a Wyoming Summer

My fingers are ice.
Stoic wind-ravaged plains,
snow rests in shade.


Only one week away from assisting Craig photograph a wedding in Mexico, so I thought I'd better get prepared. Item 1 on my list: buying a new bathing suit (forget learning the minutiae of lighting and radio-triggered flash, I have priorities). This will be my first new bathing suit since going to visit Josh at his sister's place in Destin, FL. That's been....4 years ago?

The sagging elastic on my suit last year let me know it was screaming to be retired (aren't we all?), but I didn't do very much swimming so it wasn't a priority. This year I'm hoping to get a little more time in environments with water, with the trip to Mexico hopefully just being the first such example.

Turns out I'll be working until the day before the flight, so I need to buy the suit here in northern Wyoming. Luckily for me, we are working based out of Sheridan (population 16,000) a good-sized town by Wyoming standards with a thriving old downtown area that still has an old-fashioned JC Penney's in a two-story building on Main Street. I browsed the shelves, but no sign of bathing suits. Finally I asked - they don't carry bathing suits, you have to special order them! Went to 2 other stores in town and no suits were had. Can you believe that I am living in a place that has such a short/cold summer that bathing suits aren't carried in major department stores?!

Sigh...hope the elastic on ol' faithful holds up for one last trip. Now please excuse me while I go put my summer parka on....

Advertising Fail

In honor of one of my favorite sites, FAILblog, I'd like to share with you a marketing failure I spotted in the checkout line yesterday:

I hope you can see the fine texture of the mask. You really want to make sure you smear that on before you apply the grape leaves and fried eggs to your eyes, of course.

The Wrath of Facebook

The mighty fist of Facebook is coming down hard.
In my paranoia of giving personal info to giant companies, I usually lie about addresses, phone numbers and dates of birth on things like Safeway grocery store card applications. That's right, my secret is out. In order to save $.15 on apples, I will falsify information. Why do they want it anyway? And those new promotions where they send you coupons or give you points toward gas are a fairly new occurrence, whitewashing whatever nefarious gains they are receiving from selling our information to...who?? Not to mention that our information is available from way too many sources (anybody ever googled someone and seen 123people.com - creepy!), we've all heard the horror stories of identity theft.
So when I first signed up for a Facebook account and they asked for my date of birth, naturally, I made one up. Then I traveled to Wyoming and tried to sign in to my account. This triggered a security measure I'd never encountered before, I had to enter my name and password, then type in the words I saw in those crazy swirly words, and THEN they asked for my date of birth...
and you see, dear reader, the problem with a fake birthday is that it's even harder to remember than a real one, and apparently lying about your date of birth to Facebook is a violation of their terms of agreement.
And so my Facebook page has been suspended.
Oh the humanity.... what is happening to Deanne in lab? Has Amy posted any photos of Ron dressed as the Easter bunny, distributing candy eggs to the kids? Who has reached 1 trillion points in FarmVille or Aquariumworld or Ninja Wars? Arghhhhh!!!!! It's killing me!
And worst of all, Craig has finally joined Facebook, forming both a personal page and a Craig Okraska Photography page. His friend request is languishing somewhere in the netherworld of the interweb and I am powerless to accept it.
You will all only be hearing from me by...sniff, sniff... phone or email from now on, unless Facebook shines it's forgiveness upon me.

Great Backyard Bird Count

It's almost time for the Great Backyard Bird Count again! On any day during February 12-15th you can make a difference and have fun by spending as little as 15 minutes in your own backyard counting birds!

In the depth of winter I finally learned there was in me an invincible summer.

-Albert Camus

Adventures in Steamboat

We had another heavy snowfall last week, so Craig and I took advantage by heading up to Steamboat Springs (thanks to our new fancy snowtires we had no troubles, even over roads completely covered in ice) to go snowshoeing. Well, it was snowshoeing for me. For Craig it was the ancient pitting of man versus animal, the primordial stalk, ie. elk hunting. Sadly for our tummies it's Craig 0, Elk 1. None of Darrell's green chile elk stew for us this Thanksgiving... but don't despair gentle readers, we will feast on antelope and grouse instead!

Craig on the trail

Aspen

Lunch break in the shelter of a spruce

Our first clear elk track

Elk bed- "He went that-a-way!"


Craig's sweet post-hat hairstyle

16° Fahrenheit!

What a fun surprise to wake up to this morning! Several of the ski resorts have already opened and Craig is getting ready to put on our first set of snow tires....it's hard to imagine how the time went by so fast. If this continues it sounds like I'll be wrapping things up in Wyoming - the survey work that needs to be done requires that the vegetation not be covered by snow, so I might be heading into my winter hibernation! Made an appointment for Sunday to meet a trainer at a local barn. I'm excited to use some of my hard-earned funds to start taking horseback-riding lessons again (after ~ 15 years!). Bought my helmet and breeches yesterday, now am on the lookout for deals on boots over the internet.

Orionids

Just a reminder that Orionid meteor shower will be peaking early in the morning on October 21. Look to the constellation Orion, the meteors should appear to be coming from there (hence the name!). If you are viewing them the night before, look to the east after midnight.
Also around October 13, Venus and Saturn should be visible in the early morning sky very close together.

Recent travels....

Craig and I just took a week's vacation to canoe in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area in northern Minnesota. It's a land of berries, loons, and leeches. Thankfully the leeches were mostly found on the ends of our hooks, a tasty temptation for small-mouth bass and northern pike. The blueberries and raspberries were insane! We feasted on berries and fish (and the occasional mac & cheese burrito - coming soon to a store near you).

Gwen and Ross

Craig

Craig with his first small-mouth bass

I think we were all baptized by a leech between the toes during the week, only Ross was lucky enough to have a mom with babies attach!


Paddling through the lilypads

We also spent some time recently working nights, spotlighting and catching sage grouse to attach radio-transmitters, which happily coincided with the Perseids meteor shower.

Prior to that we spent some time mapping prairie dog habitat in the Pinedale area, which put us close to the Tetons, where we got to meet up with friends and go hiking in the ominous-sounding, but very beautiful Death Canyon.

Pinedale

Lost prairie dog

Yellow-bellied marmot

Death Canyon

Death Canyon

Fun things I've seen lately...

I love spring! It's so easy to be uplifted in the spirit of life! The birds are singing, newly fledged meadowlarks are all over the roads and baby pronghorns are hiding in the grass. Craig actually touched a deer fawn that he came across in a meadow. Here are some photos of north-eastern Wyoming where I've been working...

Coal seam running through cliffs

Elk Antler

Mourning Dove Nest

Unidentified flowers (anybody recognize them?!?)

Snow....in JUNE!!?!?!

Does anyone else find it ridiculous that I'm sitting in my hotel room, unable to work because its snowing on June 7th!?! And I'm not on a mountain top or anything, Buffalo Wyoming is only at ~4,600 feet.
On a happier note, yesterday I found my first lark bunting nest - it had 6 beautiful blue-green eggs (an unusual number, I think the average is 4-5), and I flushed a Great Horned Owl which had been sitting in the shade of a sagebrush, with a pellet nearby which included the tiny vertebrae of a rodent.

Appalachia Restoration Act

Exciting news! There is a new bill going through Congress right now that would prohibit coal companies from dumping waste into streams in Appalachia mountaintop removal mining. Please follow this link to the NRDC to read about the act and to send a message to your representatives asking them to support this bill. This would be a great stride toward protecting our water and the communities in the vicinity of these mining operations.
Consider it a belated Earthday action!

Beautiful memorial of the Battle of Little Bighorn

Frosty morning

3 degrees!

More time spent in Baker, Montana! Craig and I are continuing to conduct sage-grouse and sharp-tailed grouse lek surveys. I love seeing these birds on the lek. I'm attaching a video of the sharpies, to give you an idea of what fun it is to see them in action!
We were briefly in Sheridan, Wyoming last week to trap grouse and on the way there drove past the site of the Battle of Little Bighorn (aka Custer's Last Stand). Its been made into a park and is also a national cemetery. There's a neat museum with lots of things found on the battlefield. I learned each cavalry company had a specific horse color, I suppose for organization.
We hope to finish up around the beginning of May, then we'll take a couple days off at home in Fort Collins. After our lek surveys we have a lot of time to kill, and we've spent some of it watching interesting videos on the TED website. Thought you guys might want to check it out.