The Beatrice Chronicles

So it's been a while since I've posted. I've been pretty busy at work and in real life, but work has been exhausting. I had six transects for breeding bird surveys at work, which means there were six times when I had to get up at 4am in order to get to one of the park reserves (40 minute drive) in time to start my survey half an hour before sunrise. And in late spring, the sun sure does come up early.

In addition to bird surveys, I was put in charge of heading up the Blanding's Turtle patrol at the previously mentioned park reserve. For those of you who don't know, Blanding's Turtles are threatened in the state of Minnesota (threatened in several of the states in which they are found actually). They are also super cute.

So it's Blanding's turtle nesting season, and as it turns out Blanding's turtles typically start nesting activities in the evening. And Blanding's turtle nesting season overlaps with breeding bird survey season. So yes, it's been busy at work.

Well, one of the perks about Blanding's Turtle duties is that if you find a new unmarked turtle, you get to name it. And since it's my third season at the park AND I'm in charge of M-H turtles, then by golly it's about time I get to name a turtle!

Anyhoo, a big group of us decided we should have a big group effort to find some turtles one evening. There was me, Angela co-worker, Bob co-worker, Stephanie volunteer, and Stephanie's friend all out to find turtles. Stephanie drives up a few minutes late and lo and behold she has a turtle in her lap! An unmarked turtle! Finding unmarked an unmarked turtle is always a nice find since it doesn't happen too often these days.

So the turtle is found and everyone is excited. Several hours pass and lots of things happen, which will only lead to side stories and off-topic tangents.

So the turtle goes back to the office and Madeline, who is the resident turtle expert, has two turtles and one radio transmitter. The decision was between putting the radio on the turtle Stephanie found (which was out of the park along a fairly busy road) and the turtle who had nested within park boundaries (presumably so we could concentrate efforts in the following years to protect her nests). All signs pointed to putting the radio on the turtle who nested in the park.

So I get to work the next day and at the morning meeting BossMan says, "Well, Jenn. It's your responsibility to track this turtle once or twice a day for the next couple of weeks to find out where she goes."

OK. That sounds like a fun and interesting task.

Oh. And Madeline had also decided that even though Stephanie found the turtle, that I could name her. After all, Stephanie had already named a turtle some years before. I agreed, because if I'm supposed to spend all this time tracking this turtle, then this turtle is mine, and I get to name her. And she was dubbed "Beatrice."

So Friday morning I dropped the turtle off at Southwest marsh in the park reserve. Friday evening she was found at the other end of the marsh.

Saturday night co-worker Nate helped out and found her in the Credit River, and he actually saw her as she swam out of the park boundary.

Sunday evening I found her on land by the Credit river, but only about 8 feet from the side of the busy road where she was first found. I got worried about her and brought her back to the park where she would be safe. But then I talked to Madeline; she reminisced about Orchard Lake Turtle who was moved within park boundaries two or three times in a previous year only to be found in the same yard of a neighborhood near Orchard Lake. Then she told me to put the turtle where I had found her.... near the road.

Monday evening when it was time to locate this turtle once again, I searched her last known location, then assuming she would continue following the Credit River I tried to find her signal around various cul de sacs in the area that all pointed toward the Credit River. After about two hours and many miles of driving around pretty much in circles, there was still no signal.

Tuesday I was pissed off and needed a break from Beatrice.

Wednesday I had convinced BossMan to let me search for the turtle during daylight hours instead of having to pull over on the side of the road during rush hour traffic time. I went even farther south to even more cul de sacs all pointed near the Credit River. Still no signal. I was very frustrated. I threatened to un-name Beatrice.

Thursday at the park reserve, one of my co-workers said he saw a picture of Beatrice at the grocery store on a carton of milk. I didn't try to find her, but did mention the fact that "Trixie" is a decent nick name for Beatrice.

Friday I had the day off work, but technically was still an hour and a half short for the week, so I decided to meet Caleb for lunch and have one more look for this darn turtle. I thought to myself, "Self, even though you've already checked there, I think you should go to Cleary Lake. Just to see. I've got a feeling."

So I did. And as I was walking to the picnic area close to the lake I was imagining how funny it would be if I actually cut out a picture of Beatrice and clued it to a milk carton.

But there she was.

Stupid turtle. All that searching I did, and somehow she just ends up at Cleary. What a jerk.

But I like her again.

Back on the subject of 'shrooms

And here's another thing about morel foraging....

I get that these folks want to pick as many as they can so they can make as much money off of them as possible. I mean, $35-50/lb? It's hard to resist! But I mostly think of it as, "Hey. Look at all this money I didn't spend!"

But the point I'm trying to make in the middle of all this rambling, is that people make me crabby (clearly that's what I was getting at). It's always said that one should leave a few mushrooms out there so they can spread their spores and you'll have a reliable spot for next year. But I'm pretty suspicious that there are an awful lot of people out there who don't... particularly on public land. If it's public land then anyone can go there and collect (various rules and regulations may prohibit this, but you know what I mean). But generally speaking, if it's public land it's pretty much first come first serve.

So suppose that you've found this sweet spot, but when you find it all the morels are small. You take note of the location and leave them there so they can get bigger. And the next time you go there, they're all gone! All of them! You can't really stake a claim on morels on public land, but you know the general "rules" of morel "hunting." Anyone who goes morel hunting knows the rules. And leaving some for sporing is at the top of the morel hunters' moral code.

But what if by the time you find the spot, 3 other people found it before you? If there are only two mushrooms there do you leave one? But if you only take one, that's hardly enough to saute and throw on a burger. How do you know?
I don't know.

But I have a nagging suspicion that I'm not making any sense. So I'll stop typing now and go to bed. But first....
I always feel like my blog is naked if there isn't a picture. This is dinner a few nights ago.

It was delicious.

Madness

Morel madness, that is.

I don't have too much to say about the subject other than, "I've got it bad."

The craziest thing about morels (at least in my experience) is that you only find them when you're not trying to. I do realize that there are commercial morel "hunters." (I once told my boyfriend he was actually foraging, and he wasn't too pleased with my terminology. They usually do go by morel hunters, though. It's not really hunting at all.)... side tracked again. So there are these commercial morel hunters who go around and collect as many morel mushrooms as they can, and then they sell them for ridiculous amounts of money. I saw some at the farmers' market for $35/lb! My friend's brother-in-law is a chef somewhere and once told her he'd pay $50/lb for some.
What was my point?
Hmmm... oh! My point was that even though there actually are lots of morels out there, and there are some people who find enough to sell, that I only find them on accident.

Today was a burn day at work, so we were burning a few prairies and small woodlots. Well, when we're done making fire we have to put it out so we can go home. And in the middle of mop up (which is what we call putting out the rest of the fire) I screamed a little. Just a little scream, a scream of excitement. And then I screamed again.. and again.

And this is what I screamed at...
Then this:
Then this:
Then this:
There were morels all over the place and most of them had been, at least a little bit, charred in the fire.

I took a good portion, everybody got some actually, and when my boyfriend looked in the bag when I got to his place, all he said was, "These smell like smoke."
Well, they did just survive a fire. Kind of survive a fire. Well, there was definitely fire on them.

I washed them.... and they still smell a bit smoky.

I lost my point again. Partly because I'm really tired and partly because I'm generally a little bit of a scatter-brain.

But I think I'm stealing Angela's idea and these will end up in a wild rice/morel dish. Mmmm... I'm hungry.

What makes the ticks tick

People have a lot of bad things to say about ticks. Actually, people probably only have one bad thing to say about ticks. They just say it a lot.

Supposedly it's only the females that suck blood. They hang out in the grass until some warm blooded animal happens by. Then they go for a ride, find a spot to nestle down (usually behind some animal's ear or something), and gorge themselves on blood. The get so full they can't hold on anymore, and they fall off and lay eggs somewhere.
It sounds like a pretty boring existence.

And as much as I dislike ticks in general, if you ever just look at one tick, it's kind of fascinating.
It's hard to notice a tick unless it's crawling on you. And despite their name, wood ticks like to hang out in the grass. Also, if you follow all rules and stay on the trail where you're supposed to be, then they'll pretty much be avoided all together.
I have a job that gets me off the main trail. And sometimes, if I slow down and look around instead of trudge through to get from one spot to the next, I get a chance to see something really interesting.
I noticed somehow out of the corner of my eye a tick in the grass. As I got closer this tick, only a few millimeters in size (well, the size of a tick), I saw that it started to reach out with its arms... or a couple of its legs... you know what I mean.

And after the initial reaction of, "Those jerks! Hanging around trying to catch a ride and a meal. I hate ticks!" ... after that initial reaction, I realized hmmmm... that's actually pretty interesting.

Of course I didn't have a camera with me that first time, so these photos are staged. But you have to admit, it's kind of cool... in a weird and creepy way.

A Refuge In The City

I just wanted to take a moment to write about a pretty great place in Minneapolis, only a short ways from my home.

Minnehaha Falls

I used to go there when I was younger, just to hang out. The high school band picnic would be there and we'd play a game of softball. Pretty sure it was also the location of the senior skip day picnic. Basically, a nice place to hang out.

Even though it's close to home, I haven't been there in a while and now that I know a few things about nature and all that, I went back. To be honest, I had low expectations. I mean, it's right in the city, lots of people go there (I assume to trample any kind of vegetation), and most places where plants grow these days all you find are invasive/exotic species.

I was pleasantly surprised. No really... Check it out.


Tooth wort

Jack-in-the-pulpit

Skunk Cabbage

Marsh Marigold

Rue Anemone

Blood Root
Wild Ginger

Dutchman's Breeches

And a Pileated Woodpecker!
It's amazing how you take things for granted... and then one day actually look... and get blown away by it all.

Put those kitties away!

So I was sitting at the table searching the internet for a good way to cook brussel sprouts and I heard this noise. Well, I wasn't sure what would make a noise like that, but I knew it couldn't be good. So I went outside and found a cat in my yard. I hissed at it and it ran away, and then I saw something small and brownish-grayish go under the porch. I got crouched down to see what it was....

Turns out that cat had been trying to kill this poor, little, baby bunny! Right outside my door!
Don't get me wrong, I regularly curse city rabbits and their garden eating shenanigans, but what's worse than rabbits eating my lettuce? Outdoor kitties, that's what!
I don't dislike cats or cat lovers; I just don't get it. They're not my thing. But if someone is going to go ahead and have a cat, then they should go ahead and keep it inside. Sure, people have cats to eat the mice in the barn, but this is Minneapolis. I haven't seen any barns in my neighborhood. And there's the fact that outdoor cats kill millions of birds every year. But on top of that, I certainly don't want cats running around in my yard torturing baby animals!

I mean, look at this face...
Would you really want him to suffer?

I ended up giving him a look over. One of his legs was bleeding and there was a chunk of his flesh missing from his belly. I took him to the Wildlife Rehabilitation Center in Roseville.

... and I kicked.

So I had this dream last night.

I was in some sort of interactive museum... almost like a haunted old mansion from the movies... with a lot of red couches. So I'm looking at all the things on display and I see a creepy stick insect on a spider web. This little girl yells at me, "You're standing too close to the spider! Get away!" "You're standing too close to the... that thing!" I had been referring to the creepy stick insect, by the way. Just then a monkey, it was about 3 feet tall or so, came up and grabbed the stick bug and ate it. He looked at me, grabbed the spider (which was about tarantula sized), and ate it. I asked the woman who worked there if the monkey was supposed to do that, she picked it up and said it was fine, then passed the monkey to me.
I carried the monkey around the museum for a while... until it broke. The monkey just broke in half. I looked around to see if anyone saw, nope. So I put the two pieces together and the monkey just blinked and yawned. I asked the monkey if he was tired, and he nodded yes, so I set him down on a counter for his nap so I could continue looking around. The monkey grabbed my arm. I asked the monkey if he wanted me to lie down for a nap too, and he nodded yes. I asked the monkey if he wanted to sit on the couch with me, so we went over to a couch and sat down. But while I was sitting there my co-workers from my field job showed up and told me the museum was closing and it was time to go. So I put the monkey in a cage, which looked a bit like a lab cage from a science fiction movie, and told the museum curator where it was. She said they didn't use those anymore, and carried the monkey away.
So I was driving away with my co-workers, and the vehicles were... Transformers (more than meets the eye)... from the cartoon, not the movie. We all got tired along the way, so the transformers all laid out under some trees (in robot form, not vehicle form) and my co-workers and I slept in a trailer tent.
We woke up early to the sound of strange noises, and it turns out that we had been followed by a traveling carnival... who wanted to put us all on display (not sure why they wanted me and the co-workers and not just the transformers). So the guys who worked for the carnival (who were wearing black uniforms and black berets) were trying to break into the tent, while my co-workers and I were trying to pull the shades on the tent. I was trying to keep the tent snapped together and the carnival men were pulling it apart... and I was so frustrated and I kicked at the carnival man....

and then my leg kicked at the air... and it woke me up.
I was trying to kick so hard in my dream that I actually kicked my leg out... and I kicked so hard that it woke me up.
Luckily I only kicked the air and not my boyfriend. But I did start laughing at myself so hard that it woke him up too. And then he didn't remember it later, because apparently he wasn't quite awake, but I swear he laughed about it too.

Anyway, I thought it was funny.