http://picasaweb.google.com/emily.koppel/NewZealandTrips2010#
Emily
Here: Hooker's Sea Lions on the beach at Cannibal Bay in the Catlins.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Photolink update 2 - Catlins trip
Here is a link to a more extensive photo album than the one I have on facebook. Feel free to peruse!
http://picasaweb.google.com/emily.koppel/NewZealandTrips2010#
Emily
Here: Hooker's Sea Lions on the beach at Cannibal Bay in the Catlins.
http://picasaweb.google.com/emily.koppel/NewZealandTrips2010#
Emily
Here: Hooker's Sea Lions on the beach at Cannibal Bay in the Catlins.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Getting Situated and Going Tramping
Hello again! I'm obviously really bad at blogging, or else I'd have written about 5 entries between this one and the previous one...SIGH. I've been keeping very busy indeed. To break this long entry up a bit, I'll make 2 parts.
CHAPTER 1.
The first couple of weeks here were fairly uneventful. I met many people and got oriented with the lab/building layouts, went through orientation programs, filled out paper work...etc. Not too interesting! I also began to "break myself in" to the daily 1.6 mile walk from our house to the university (and then back again). Doesn't sound like too big a deal, until you stare at the ginormous hill you have to climb. I've never lived somewhere so hilly (being a flatlander living in the Midwest!). I suppose a happy side-effect will be firm calves? haha. I don't know. But anyways, the only bummer about it is that I haven't been running at all. I just don't have energy after shifting my bulk up that giant hill in the evening :P I should toughen up!
I've begun working in the lab, mostly dissecting fish called "common bullies" for Kristin's postgrad research. I've learned a lot of new parasites and am finally starting to get better at my dissections! In addition, I went out on the peninsula to collect small limpets (related to snails) to look inside them for parasites as well. I've found some neat parasites that have been sent out for genotyping. The first one I found wound up matching a species already in the database, which meant that my limpets were possibly the next host in the life cycle. I'd like to do a project while here, but it's a lot of work coming up with one and executing it in a timely manner! Hopefully something pulls together for me. Sometimes I feel like maybe I should have been an accountant or a coffee shop owner. Science can be so rewarding but more often it's just frustrating.
CHAPTER 2.
So last weekend, Kristin and I went on our first trip since my first weekend here. We drove out to Wanaka, in Central Otago. Basically, Wanaka is in the middle of the South Island. It was a cool little town. We stayed at a Backpacker's Lodge called The Purple Cow which was only $28.00/person/night. For that fee, we had access to a room with two bunk beds (and we had 2 [drunk German] roomates filling the other empty beds), a bathroom, and a huge kitchen with stoves, fridges, etc so we could cook our breakfast the next morning. It was a cool experience, since I've never stayed in a hostel-type place before. You just use the bowls, silverware, etc. in the kitchen to make your food and then when you're done you just wash them and put them on the shelf for the next person to use. Pretty cool. Like a Co-op with a constantly changing suite of tenants.
The Purple Cow Backpacker's Lodge in Wanaka.
Our quad-room at the Purple Cow. Too bad we both got stuck with top bunks and sick/drunk ppl below us.
Also while we were in Wanaka, we meandered all over town going to little tourist shoppes and generally putzing. We went to a Mexican restaurant called "Amigos". Apparently decent Mexican food is difficult to come by in NZ, usually being really bland and generally weird. For example...on what planet does your enchilada platter come with a side of fries? Planet New Zealand. That's where. Anyways, we ordered a chimichanga and steak fajitas. They were both delicious! I was thrilled :) Oh, but here's a new spin: You know the baskets of chips and salsa you get at Mexican places in the States? Well, here...you get none. Usually. But at Amigos they brought out this little pudding cup with about 7 chips shoved in there and some tomato-ish salsa dribbled around them. Delicious...but that was all we got. However, we felt lucky, because a table of 6 girls next to us were seated and they got the exact same pudding cup except they had to share it among the 6 of them. Oh frugal Kiwis.
Well, from Wanaka we headed south to the trailhead for Roaring Meg Pack Track. We went there on a recommendation from our flatmate Rachel. Rachel is a very tall, very fit Kiwi. Kristin and I were about to embark on our very first "real" tramp (hike) complete with overnight stay in remote hut. The hut was a mere 6km (3.7 miles) away from the trailhead we parked at. The trail was a good way to test the tramping waters, because it was an easy one (according to tall,fit,kiwi-Rachel). Experienced, fit trampers could reach the hut easily in 2 hours, while newbies might take more like 3...we were told.
We started out all smiles and ambition. Loaded packs full of delicious foods and drinks for dinner. Sleeping bags and mats stuffed down tight. Water bottles filled. Hopeless naivete. We found the track easily enough. It was more like a 2-track from a truck. Packed down quite well and wide. Unfortunately for us, we were about to begin a rather grueling ascent to the top of Tuohy's Saddle. We didn't even know for sure what a "saddle" was. But we were game. Besides, it was less than 4 miles! How hard could it be? Well, to make a long story short: HARD. It took us nearly 4 hours and we were exhausted. We got passed by two ladies in their 50's who not only started after us, but arrived at the hut easily an hour before we did. So much for youthful vigor.
It was pretty much a bitch-fest on the way up for us (my feet hurt, kristin's legs were tired, this isn't worth it, I hate boring mountains with no animals, I can see nature from my car just fine, etc. etc.) But in the end, we made the sharp descent down to the hut totally alive. Go figure.
Me at the top of Tuohy's Saddle. Success!
We shared our hut with 3 guys and the 2 ladies we met on the track. We cooked dinner over a miniature stove, boiled water from the river to make into tea or coffee, and ate a LOT of chocolate. The hut had no electricity, but a nice fireplace that kept us toasty warm (warmer than our house, but that's another story altogether...). There was a pit-toilet nearby that was remarkably serviceable, considering it was miles from civilization. Just BYO-TP and you're good to go. It was a good night. The sunset over the hills was AMAZING and the stars were great.
Meg Hut.
Sunset over the tussock hills in Pisa Conservation Area.
Unfortunately for us (and our bunkmates who were trying to sleep), Kristin and I had to get up and make the hike back to the car the next morning early in order to make it back to Dunedin for a 5pm seminar in the zoology department. That meant getting up and making breakfast and then rolling out before 8am. So we did just that. We went faster on the way out since it was almost all downhill. We saw many sheep and cows, but not much else. Even so, the views we got that morning were gorgeous. I was beginning to think it had all been worth it. That was before Kristin's knees started hurting and I started getting blisters. I'd had no problem with the climb up the hills, but downhill was another story. The constant pushing of toes in boots and my naturally screwy feet meant that I was destined to form not one, but 3 blisters. Eh...they happen. Next time though, I'll definitely know what parts to preemptively cover with blister strips :o By the time we got back to the car I could not have been happier to rip those boots off my aching feet!
Merino sheep in the high country of Pisa Conservation Area against the stunning backdrop of the Southern Alps in Central Otago.
At the time, I thought "This tramping crap is maybe not for me. It hurts. It's sweaty. It's rough." But for some reason, looking back now, all I can think is how fun it was and how much of a badass I felt like after surviving the climb (even though we took lots of resting breaks! Shhh!) It really was beautiful up there. It was a cool experience. Blisters or no. Maybe I'll do it again. Anyone want to join me? I promise I'll only complain a little ;)
We made it back to Dunedin just barely in time for the seminar. Mostly, this is because we stopped here and there on the way to enjoy the finer points of the trip. Oh, did I mention I was driving? I am slowing acquainting myself with driving on the opposite side of the road. It felt wrong and weird at first, but I settled in. Kristin looked nervous for the safety of her car though!
Anyways, we stopped at some fruit stands. It's autumn here, so loads of fresh produce...MMM. We stopped at a place that mixes real fruit into vanilla ice cream. That was so great that we got it 2 times on our trip :) We also stopped at a Cheesery and a Winery. At the Cheesery I bought a block of delicious cheddar. Cheese is insanely expensive here, but I love good cheese. I had a block of Tillamook that Aaron bought me before I left Oregon and I had been hording it for weeks, only eating the littlest bits at a time. Buying new (equally good) cheddar here gave me license to devour my remaining Tillamook! At the Vineyard we stopped at I bought a bottle of "Otago Gold" which reminded me of a sweeter Reisling. Kristin bought 2 bottles of 2001 Reisling that she apparently loves to death. I guess it's time for a wine and cheese party. The cheese house and vineyards were worthy stop-overs. Hell. It was a worthy WEEKEND.
For my next installment (maybe if I write it like a goal, I'll actually follow through!): Life in NZ and this coming weekend's roadtrip to the southern tip of the South Island.
~Emily
CHAPTER 1.
The first couple of weeks here were fairly uneventful. I met many people and got oriented with the lab/building layouts, went through orientation programs, filled out paper work...etc. Not too interesting! I also began to "break myself in" to the daily 1.6 mile walk from our house to the university (and then back again). Doesn't sound like too big a deal, until you stare at the ginormous hill you have to climb. I've never lived somewhere so hilly (being a flatlander living in the Midwest!). I suppose a happy side-effect will be firm calves? haha. I don't know. But anyways, the only bummer about it is that I haven't been running at all. I just don't have energy after shifting my bulk up that giant hill in the evening :P I should toughen up!
I've begun working in the lab, mostly dissecting fish called "common bullies" for Kristin's postgrad research. I've learned a lot of new parasites and am finally starting to get better at my dissections! In addition, I went out on the peninsula to collect small limpets (related to snails) to look inside them for parasites as well. I've found some neat parasites that have been sent out for genotyping. The first one I found wound up matching a species already in the database, which meant that my limpets were possibly the next host in the life cycle. I'd like to do a project while here, but it's a lot of work coming up with one and executing it in a timely manner! Hopefully something pulls together for me. Sometimes I feel like maybe I should have been an accountant or a coffee shop owner. Science can be so rewarding but more often it's just frustrating.
CHAPTER 2.
So last weekend, Kristin and I went on our first trip since my first weekend here. We drove out to Wanaka, in Central Otago. Basically, Wanaka is in the middle of the South Island. It was a cool little town. We stayed at a Backpacker's Lodge called The Purple Cow which was only $28.00/person/night. For that fee, we had access to a room with two bunk beds (and we had 2 [drunk German] roomates filling the other empty beds), a bathroom, and a huge kitchen with stoves, fridges, etc so we could cook our breakfast the next morning. It was a cool experience, since I've never stayed in a hostel-type place before. You just use the bowls, silverware, etc. in the kitchen to make your food and then when you're done you just wash them and put them on the shelf for the next person to use. Pretty cool. Like a Co-op with a constantly changing suite of tenants.
The Purple Cow Backpacker's Lodge in Wanaka.
Our quad-room at the Purple Cow. Too bad we both got stuck with top bunks and sick/drunk ppl below us.
Also while we were in Wanaka, we meandered all over town going to little tourist shoppes and generally putzing. We went to a Mexican restaurant called "Amigos". Apparently decent Mexican food is difficult to come by in NZ, usually being really bland and generally weird. For example...on what planet does your enchilada platter come with a side of fries? Planet New Zealand. That's where. Anyways, we ordered a chimichanga and steak fajitas. They were both delicious! I was thrilled :) Oh, but here's a new spin: You know the baskets of chips and salsa you get at Mexican places in the States? Well, here...you get none. Usually. But at Amigos they brought out this little pudding cup with about 7 chips shoved in there and some tomato-ish salsa dribbled around them. Delicious...but that was all we got. However, we felt lucky, because a table of 6 girls next to us were seated and they got the exact same pudding cup except they had to share it among the 6 of them. Oh frugal Kiwis.
Well, from Wanaka we headed south to the trailhead for Roaring Meg Pack Track. We went there on a recommendation from our flatmate Rachel. Rachel is a very tall, very fit Kiwi. Kristin and I were about to embark on our very first "real" tramp (hike) complete with overnight stay in remote hut. The hut was a mere 6km (3.7 miles) away from the trailhead we parked at. The trail was a good way to test the tramping waters, because it was an easy one (according to tall,fit,kiwi-Rachel). Experienced, fit trampers could reach the hut easily in 2 hours, while newbies might take more like 3...we were told.
We started out all smiles and ambition. Loaded packs full of delicious foods and drinks for dinner. Sleeping bags and mats stuffed down tight. Water bottles filled. Hopeless naivete. We found the track easily enough. It was more like a 2-track from a truck. Packed down quite well and wide. Unfortunately for us, we were about to begin a rather grueling ascent to the top of Tuohy's Saddle. We didn't even know for sure what a "saddle" was. But we were game. Besides, it was less than 4 miles! How hard could it be? Well, to make a long story short: HARD. It took us nearly 4 hours and we were exhausted. We got passed by two ladies in their 50's who not only started after us, but arrived at the hut easily an hour before we did. So much for youthful vigor.
It was pretty much a bitch-fest on the way up for us (my feet hurt, kristin's legs were tired, this isn't worth it, I hate boring mountains with no animals, I can see nature from my car just fine, etc. etc.) But in the end, we made the sharp descent down to the hut totally alive. Go figure.
Me at the top of Tuohy's Saddle. Success!
We shared our hut with 3 guys and the 2 ladies we met on the track. We cooked dinner over a miniature stove, boiled water from the river to make into tea or coffee, and ate a LOT of chocolate. The hut had no electricity, but a nice fireplace that kept us toasty warm (warmer than our house, but that's another story altogether...). There was a pit-toilet nearby that was remarkably serviceable, considering it was miles from civilization. Just BYO-TP and you're good to go. It was a good night. The sunset over the hills was AMAZING and the stars were great.
Meg Hut.
Sunset over the tussock hills in Pisa Conservation Area.
Unfortunately for us (and our bunkmates who were trying to sleep), Kristin and I had to get up and make the hike back to the car the next morning early in order to make it back to Dunedin for a 5pm seminar in the zoology department. That meant getting up and making breakfast and then rolling out before 8am. So we did just that. We went faster on the way out since it was almost all downhill. We saw many sheep and cows, but not much else. Even so, the views we got that morning were gorgeous. I was beginning to think it had all been worth it. That was before Kristin's knees started hurting and I started getting blisters. I'd had no problem with the climb up the hills, but downhill was another story. The constant pushing of toes in boots and my naturally screwy feet meant that I was destined to form not one, but 3 blisters. Eh...they happen. Next time though, I'll definitely know what parts to preemptively cover with blister strips :o By the time we got back to the car I could not have been happier to rip those boots off my aching feet!
Merino sheep in the high country of Pisa Conservation Area against the stunning backdrop of the Southern Alps in Central Otago.
At the time, I thought "This tramping crap is maybe not for me. It hurts. It's sweaty. It's rough." But for some reason, looking back now, all I can think is how fun it was and how much of a badass I felt like after surviving the climb (even though we took lots of resting breaks! Shhh!) It really was beautiful up there. It was a cool experience. Blisters or no. Maybe I'll do it again. Anyone want to join me? I promise I'll only complain a little ;)
We made it back to Dunedin just barely in time for the seminar. Mostly, this is because we stopped here and there on the way to enjoy the finer points of the trip. Oh, did I mention I was driving? I am slowing acquainting myself with driving on the opposite side of the road. It felt wrong and weird at first, but I settled in. Kristin looked nervous for the safety of her car though!
Anyways, we stopped at some fruit stands. It's autumn here, so loads of fresh produce...MMM. We stopped at a place that mixes real fruit into vanilla ice cream. That was so great that we got it 2 times on our trip :) We also stopped at a Cheesery and a Winery. At the Cheesery I bought a block of delicious cheddar. Cheese is insanely expensive here, but I love good cheese. I had a block of Tillamook that Aaron bought me before I left Oregon and I had been hording it for weeks, only eating the littlest bits at a time. Buying new (equally good) cheddar here gave me license to devour my remaining Tillamook! At the Vineyard we stopped at I bought a bottle of "Otago Gold" which reminded me of a sweeter Reisling. Kristin bought 2 bottles of 2001 Reisling that she apparently loves to death. I guess it's time for a wine and cheese party. The cheese house and vineyards were worthy stop-overs. Hell. It was a worthy WEEKEND.
For my next installment (maybe if I write it like a goal, I'll actually follow through!): Life in NZ and this coming weekend's roadtrip to the southern tip of the South Island.
~Emily
Monday, March 1, 2010
Web albums
Check out pics of my home in NZ and places I'm seeing at http://picasaweb.google.com/home
I will update again soon.
I will update again soon.
Friday, February 19, 2010
Day one in New Zealand
Hello from NZ :)
My flights went pretty well. No major hold-ups or anything. Just a 6-hr layover in LA that made me wish I had somewhere to lay down. I got to Dunedin at 9:30 or so in the morning and Kristin picked me up. She kept me awake until about 9pm so that I could get a normal night's sleep, which I did. I feel great today.
For anyone who is curious, in the US your time is as follows:
Michigan (Eastern time): It's 6 hours later than here, but you are one day behind me. So if it's noon here on Saturday, then it's 6pm there on Friday.
Pacific time, it's 3 hours later there and still one day behind.
Right now, Kristin's getting prepared to head out for a field collection (I'm going too) that is about 4 hours west of Dunedin. It should be really warm and very pretty! Up higher, but much windier. I'm finding out how terribly unprepared I am. I don't own a filter for my water bottle, I don't have a daypack for hiking, no coffee travel mug, no hat, etc. I guess I just didn't really know what i was getting into fully. Maybe I can pick stuff up used or online for a bit cheaper.
When we get back, hopefully I'll meet all the lab people and get started with payroll and lab work. I'd like to develop a project that can be completed in the time I'm here.
I haven't been able to get a phone yet, nor have I been able to get my computer to access the wireless at Kristin's house yet. So right now I'm fairly disconnected. Haven't been able to call home yet at all. :( I did find out that international text fees are 50 cents/text, so for now I'm just going to keep texting to a minimum, but that will be my primary mode of communication until I can get a local phone/plan!
My flights went pretty well. No major hold-ups or anything. Just a 6-hr layover in LA that made me wish I had somewhere to lay down. I got to Dunedin at 9:30 or so in the morning and Kristin picked me up. She kept me awake until about 9pm so that I could get a normal night's sleep, which I did. I feel great today.
For anyone who is curious, in the US your time is as follows:
Michigan (Eastern time): It's 6 hours later than here, but you are one day behind me. So if it's noon here on Saturday, then it's 6pm there on Friday.
Pacific time, it's 3 hours later there and still one day behind.
Right now, Kristin's getting prepared to head out for a field collection (I'm going too) that is about 4 hours west of Dunedin. It should be really warm and very pretty! Up higher, but much windier. I'm finding out how terribly unprepared I am. I don't own a filter for my water bottle, I don't have a daypack for hiking, no coffee travel mug, no hat, etc. I guess I just didn't really know what i was getting into fully. Maybe I can pick stuff up used or online for a bit cheaper.
When we get back, hopefully I'll meet all the lab people and get started with payroll and lab work. I'd like to develop a project that can be completed in the time I'm here.
I haven't been able to get a phone yet, nor have I been able to get my computer to access the wireless at Kristin's house yet. So right now I'm fairly disconnected. Haven't been able to call home yet at all. :( I did find out that international text fees are 50 cents/text, so for now I'm just going to keep texting to a minimum, but that will be my primary mode of communication until I can get a local phone/plan!
Friday, July 11, 2008
A snake in the grass
So here are a few more pictures from the wetland project. This field of yellow flowers used to be a sod farm, believe it or not. Now it is managed by the DNR. It's supposed to be a restored peatland, but instead it's basically an upland community with peaty-soils. They have drained it to the point of no return. The water table is way below the surface. So not such a wet-wetland. But these yellow flowers are pretty! They were hard to walk through though, since they were about chest high. These pictures were all taken in Chisago County, MN.
There were a couple of ditches running around this land though, and they had some standing water. We found this awesome hognose snake stalking a toad (they are toad specialists) along the ditch edge. Look at it's cool eyes! Their main defense is to hiss really load and flatten out their neck so that they look like a cobra. If that doesn't work they roll over, open their mouth wide, shit all over, and pretend to be dead. Luckily, this guy wasn't so stressed out that he had to play dead. I'd have felt bad about that.
It was a pretty big snake. I'd say at least two feet long.
here is the LUCKY little toad that was spared by our interrupting of his afternoon foraging. By now, he'd definitely be snake food!
We left for this trip on Wednesday morning and we worked all day Wednesday and Thursday. We camped along the St. Croix river. Since I'm the only girl I get my own gigantic tent all to myself. I think I need to invest in a sleeping mat however, as the ground was not kind to my back!
One place we went was an old tamarack swamp that was chock full of nastiness. It was a meandering half mile hike through soggy, hummocky, boot-removing, mosquito-infested, Lyme-disease riddled, Black Bear inhabited HELL. I was constantly stuck with both legs sunk in knee deep mud, cursing and pissed off. I fell into nettles facefirst. I scraped my hands and knees on trees. My boot got a rip in it and filled with swamp water. Did I mention the ticks? It was exhausting. Have you ever seen one of those movies where there is a horse going down in quicksand and it struggles and struggles, but just sinks deeper? That was me. In the end I was so frustrated and sore and upset that I was actually crying. That is what the tamarack swamp did to me. Also, it was about 90 Fahrenheit. Poor Kevin was already carrying his 70lb pack of equipment and then on top of it he took some of my stuff to help me along. It was so awful. Especially since Brad and Kevin were not having NEARLY such a difficult time of it, and were carrying much more equipment. Oh well. Done now. I only had one tick on me after all that falling down. Kevin had SIX and Brad had FIVE!! That's a damned lot of ticks, man.
Jillian is flying in on Sunday! (YAY!!) and we're going to have a day of exploring downtown Minneapolis. Even though I've been here 2 years, I've never gone downtown. The twin cities are about 8o miles from Mankato. Then on the way back, we'll stop in Milwaukee, catch the ferry to Muskegon, and visit family on the way back to Michigan for Crystal's wedding! So exciting. I can't wait. I hope the wedding goes perfectly!
There were a couple of ditches running around this land though, and they had some standing water. We found this awesome hognose snake stalking a toad (they are toad specialists) along the ditch edge. Look at it's cool eyes! Their main defense is to hiss really load and flatten out their neck so that they look like a cobra. If that doesn't work they roll over, open their mouth wide, shit all over, and pretend to be dead. Luckily, this guy wasn't so stressed out that he had to play dead. I'd have felt bad about that.
It was a pretty big snake. I'd say at least two feet long.
here is the LUCKY little toad that was spared by our interrupting of his afternoon foraging. By now, he'd definitely be snake food!
We left for this trip on Wednesday morning and we worked all day Wednesday and Thursday. We camped along the St. Croix river. Since I'm the only girl I get my own gigantic tent all to myself. I think I need to invest in a sleeping mat however, as the ground was not kind to my back!
One place we went was an old tamarack swamp that was chock full of nastiness. It was a meandering half mile hike through soggy, hummocky, boot-removing, mosquito-infested, Lyme-disease riddled, Black Bear inhabited HELL. I was constantly stuck with both legs sunk in knee deep mud, cursing and pissed off. I fell into nettles facefirst. I scraped my hands and knees on trees. My boot got a rip in it and filled with swamp water. Did I mention the ticks? It was exhausting. Have you ever seen one of those movies where there is a horse going down in quicksand and it struggles and struggles, but just sinks deeper? That was me. In the end I was so frustrated and sore and upset that I was actually crying. That is what the tamarack swamp did to me. Also, it was about 90 Fahrenheit. Poor Kevin was already carrying his 70lb pack of equipment and then on top of it he took some of my stuff to help me along. It was so awful. Especially since Brad and Kevin were not having NEARLY such a difficult time of it, and were carrying much more equipment. Oh well. Done now. I only had one tick on me after all that falling down. Kevin had SIX and Brad had FIVE!! That's a damned lot of ticks, man.
Jillian is flying in on Sunday! (YAY!!) and we're going to have a day of exploring downtown Minneapolis. Even though I've been here 2 years, I've never gone downtown. The twin cities are about 8o miles from Mankato. Then on the way back, we'll stop in Milwaukee, catch the ferry to Muskegon, and visit family on the way back to Michigan for Crystal's wedding! So exciting. I can't wait. I hope the wedding goes perfectly!
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Fun Quizzes
Couple of fun quizzes to fill some time. You f'in slacker.
3-variable Funny test
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-3-variable-funny-test
2-variable intuition test
http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-2variable-intuition-test
3-variable Funny test
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/the-3-variable-funny-test
2-variable intuition test
http://www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-2variable-intuition-test
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Peat Bog pics
These are just a couple of pics I took out in the field today. I think it's pretty sweet! I got completely soaked, past my waist in this peat-bog/cattail-stand. It used to be a peat-mine, but now it's just full of cattails and reed canary grass and wildlife!
Here's a Marsh Wren! So cute :)
And this is where the Marsh Wren lives!
And this is a neighbor...This spider seriously looks like it could eat a fish all by itself!
Oh those rodents! This is a muskrat. It came up and started grooming itself and eating about 30 feet from us. No fear.
Here's a Marsh Wren! So cute :)
And this is where the Marsh Wren lives!
And this is a neighbor...This spider seriously looks like it could eat a fish all by itself!
Oh those rodents! This is a muskrat. It came up and started grooming itself and eating about 30 feet from us. No fear.
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