Rebecca Homecca

I had an extremely busy day today. I got up at 6:40 (on a Saturday!) to make it to my Invasive Species class for my nature program. It’s the last class. Well the last required class. They have some pretty interesting supplemental topics scheduled for 2010.

After my class I went directly to work where we were having a fundraiser for Children’s Miracle Network. Hubs and I were on bean bag toss & ring toss duty.

After that, we came home and worked more on the kitchen. I am finally sitting down and taking a break.

In my class we learned about invasive species. We learned the top 10 most NOT wanted plants, why they are bad, and how to get rid of them. Then we went out in the field and worked on eradicating some Autumn Olive at the nature preserve. Which was good info to have considering our back yard is full of Autumn Olive.

Autumn Olive is bad because it makes the ground inhospitable to other plants. It also has berries on it that the birds love. The problem is there is no nutritional value to them. So they don’t have the energy they need to migrate.

Imagine running a marathon after having nothing but Twix & Cheetos for the week before. Probably not going to end well.

The other bad guys are :

Oriental Bittersweet-Also has candy bar berries. You know those wreaths you buy at Christmas that look like sticks with berries on it? Yep, Oriental Bittersweet.

Purple Loosestrife-They have actually found a beetle that will eat this and are making great strides in getting rid of it.

Japanese Barberry-Sold in garden centers. Sadly we planted some of this at the old house before I knew better.

Multiflora Rose-Very pretty, which makes it more dangerous. People are less like to get rid of it.

Bush Honeysuckle -Similar issues as the Autumn Olive

Spotted Napweed-That’s the purple stuff you see along side the highway

Common Buckthorn-Generally grows in wetland areas and can actually lower the water table.

Common Reed/Phragmities-Found in wetlands and I find the word Phragmities endlessly funny. It reminds me of Fraggle Rock.

And the #1 trouble maker of all? Garlic Mustard. Which is growing all over our woods and our neighbors woods. And takes years of hand pulling to get rid of it. It also changes to soil climate to keep native plants including trees from growing.  It takes out entire forest floors.

We learned about other ones too but these are the worst offenders.

Now I just have to take the test and do my volunteer hours and I will have my certificate.

It’s been really interesting learning about all the different habitats and plants. It was also interesting to learn about all the different organizations around that are working to conserve the natural areas we have. One of the things I love about living in Michigan is all the different natural areas we have and the beauty that our state has to offer. Now I will be taking a more active role in keeping it that way.

Tuesday one of our vendors took everybody from my office to the Tigers Game. I finally got a couple of pictures up over at flickr.

Since we didn’t get home until 1:15 in the morning after the game, I ‘ve been out of sorts ever since!

This morning I had prairie class for my naturalist class. One of the defining characteristics of a prairie is the lack of trees.

Lack of trees means no shade. And it was very hot today.

As with all my classes so far, I learned the importance of this particular eco-system. I suppose most people (including myself) would just look at it and think “oh a field. hmm.” or maybe wonder why someone isn’t growing corn there.

Turns out there are many species of animals that live there and it also important for erosion control & water issues.

Who knew?

Here are some folks in my class. They are all hot and wanting a drink of water right about now.

Here is the instructor standing in some of the taller grasses. This prairie is newer so the plants are not real tall. Over time they can grow to be 8-10 feet. Historical accounts tell of people getting lost in prairies because they are so tall.

Unfortunately most of those have been turned into farm land or housing developments. There are people working on reconstructing those or like this park, creating new areas.

We saw a ton of different flowers and grasses in this small area. My head was overflowing with info by the end of class!

We have been so busy with summer activities and kitchen remodeling that I only made it to the gym twice in as many weeks. Even though I certainly burned my share of calories on dumpster day, it’s still not good.

Especially since the summer activities all seem to revolve around food I really shouldn’t be eating.

Exercising once a week does not work when you are trying to lower your blood pressure. So some genius (me) thought it would be a grand idea to get up early and go walking before work.

That way if there are evening activities, I would still get my physical activity quota in. If there is not an activity (like tonight) I get a bonus work out in.

And I’m not like a fitness guru or anything, but I think twice in one day will give better results than twice in two weeks. They might want to do a study about it, it’s just a theory.

Even though I am not really awake yet, the morning walking is quite pleasant. The only ones up are the frogs and birds, both welcoming the day with their songs. A few early rising deer crossed my path this morning.

I only see one car the entire time. Which is really nice because our roads are dirt, narrow, and people drive to fast.

Strangely, there are fewer bugs as well. It seems all the late night buzzing around makes them sleep in.

Yesterday it had rained a little before I headed out.  Something about the rain makes everything look greener and the bark of the trees is almost black. I love the woods in the rain.

It’s also much cooler in the morning than in the evening when we used to walk (before I started going to the air conditioned gym), making for a easier go of it.

This morning I had company as hubs decided to get up with me and rumor has it, he is planning on going again tomorrow.

Since it wasn’t raining for once Hubs and I decided to load up our new kayaks and go down the near by river. We are lucky that there a couple of input/output spots close to our house. We drove about 30 minutes to a neighboring town to put in and 2 1/2 hours later, we were at the park near our house.

It was so relaxing. The river isn’t heavily traveled, so it was pretty much just us. It is also surprisingly undeveloped. So it was beautiful travel.

The river is very wide, which is awesome because you don’t run into any trees or debris. However, it is also incredibly slow moving. So that means lots of paddeling.

Part way through I told Hubs I was going to have Michelle Obama arms if we keep this up.

Once we past the part where another river flows into it the current seemed to pick up some. So we are thinking we might put in there next time and go to the boat launch 15 minutes from our house in the other direction.

We saw quite a few Herons along the way. So that was pretty cool.

Now we are both exhausted and sun burned. I think we will sleep well tonight!

I had another class for my nature program today. It was all about identifying trees. I took a Naked Tree class this winter (the trees were naked, not the people) and it was the same instructor.  He looks (and sounds) like he is  Jeff Daniel’s close cousin.

I forgot my camera, so there are no pictures. It was at the same nature preserve as the Wildflower Class, so it was interesting to see how the park has changed in a months time.

It’s a pretty cool place, there are some HUGE trees. Some of the Oak trees are estimated to be a couple of hundred years old!

I took a ton of notes because there was so much information, there is no way to retain it all. Thankfully, somethings from the winter class came back to me when identifying the trees. We just have so many kinds of trees here in Michigan and then it gets all mixed up with trees that were brought over from Europe.

The main thing we are learning though is what kinds of things to look for, and the method for identification. We learned the first thing you look for is if the leaves are opposite (grow directly across from each other) or alternate. If they are opposite, that narrows the list right down.

If they are alternate, then you look at things like leaf shape, leaf edges, bark, habitat, etc. There are some trees that have obvious characteristics but some look similar to each other and that’s when you need all information to narrow it down.

Habitat is a good one for determining the difference between two similar species. If they generally grown in wet or damp conditions, they say the trees have “wet feet”. I find that endlessly funny.

You know, tree humor.

We had bad rain storms yesterday.  I was worried they would still be hanging around this morning, but the weather was perfect. It is such dense shade that it didn’t really get warm until the very end.

After class I had to run home and get cleaned up for my Nephew’s open house. After that I took a nap!  It has been a busy day!

So yesterday we decided to go look at Kayaks. We had been thinking about it for, well forever really, but more seriously as of late. It just so happened that the sporting goods store was having a sale (which ended that day of course) on the Kayak I liked and the one hubs liked (technically a canoe) was marked wrong, but they would have to sell it to us for that price IF we bought it right then.
They were also having a sale on all the stuff you need to strap it to your car.
So we decided it was a good time to buy.
The paddles were not on sale, so we were just going to go with the cheapest ones. Except they are orange. And my boat is blue. I asked the kid if they had any cheap ones in white. The blue ones were even more expensive. I found out the different colors designate different paddle features. As the boy is explaining to me the benefits on upgrading to white, I stopped him short and said “It’s just that the orange ones don’t match my boat”
“Oh” he says, the look on his face showing that he is catching on to what is important to me, as an outdoor enthusiast. Coordnation.
So I asked hubs if it was rediculous to pay more for matching paddles, even if they were apparently superior to the orange in more ways than one.
Because he is a good smart man he just told me to get which ever one I wanted.
So I got the white ones.
And because our Kayak Sales man is also very nice (and we were spending a kayak load of money), he gave us a discount the paddles as well. So it didn’t cost as much to coordinate with my boat.

The other day I went shopping for some new school clothes so that I could have some new stuff at my new job. I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, so I did not have much success.

Since my old job has officially ended, I decided to give it another try today.

Besides, I had a couple of gift cards burning a hole in my purse.

I had much  better success today (actually had to put things back because I exceeded my gift card budget). I got a 3/4 sleeve cardigan in navy blue and paired it with a cute printed shirt to go under. You know how I love a good cardigan. I wanted one in every color!

I also got a cute lightweight cotton shirt for when the weather warms up. I had a couple of those before and I wore them out! It’s red, but not like red-red, more like a brown-red.

I  also got a light blue square neck t-shirt for casual time this summer.

I didn’t get any skirts or pants, which I am in need of. I just couldn’t find any I liked. I have another store I like to get those things from, so I might have to make another shopping trip. Twist my arm.

It was so busy at the store today. The weather wasn’t that great, so that wasn’t it. I heard someone say (while waiting in line for a dressing room) that the recession must be over!

I got my Master Naturalist paperwork today!

I’ve been on the waiting list for probably two years now. They are doing 2 sessions this year to give more people the chance to go through the program. There are 60 spots and over 70 people on the waiting list. So I filled my paperwork all out tonight so that I can drop it in the mail first thing. I don’t want to miss my spot!

Here are the classes:

Introduction to Conservation Theory & Practice

Woodland Wildflowers

Native Trees and Shrubs

Michigan Wetlands Habitats

Prairie Environments

Invasive Plant Species

I am also taking a supplemental class on Michigan Snakes.

I am pretty excited to learn all about nature stuff that is local.Especially since we practically live in a nature preserve.

We will be visiting different parks and nature preserves in the area.  I am hoping to find some hidden gems that we’ve not been to before.

As part of the program you also have to volunteer a certain number of hours in a conservation type setting. We will learn about what opportunities are available in the first class. I think it will be fun to get out in the community to help with conservation efforts.

I know I’m a huge nerd. But I like learning about things, what can I say?

Last night hubs and I went to a fundraiser for the Art Council. My Studio went together and bought a table.

There was a silent auction and a live auction (we did not bid on anything). There were also games like Spin to Win and the Money Machine. I won 2 coupons to the ice cream shop. Someone from our table won $90 in the 50/50 though!

Here is hubs in the Money Machine.

He did not win either. Some guy cheated by catching all the money in his sweater.

And because I am a nerd I took a picture of our table. It had our name on it like we are official!

The attendance was way down and it seemed as though the bidding was pretty weak too. I can’t imagine trying to raise money for the arts during this economy.