SNOW!!

It's snowing! The trees look so pretty now! I always take it as a good sign when there is snow on the ground before my birthday!

I have Chickadees!!

After almost a week of an epic battle between me and Rupert (the gray squirrel) I finally have Chickadees and some finches coming to my feeders!

Rupert is a wily sort of squirrel! He can climb up our wrought iron shepherds pole hanger and nibble away on my suet. Memphis and I use our ninja skills to sneak out the door and unleash all that is Memphis upon him. I swear that when Memphis comes running back to me he has a big smile on his face. Rupert just sits in the crook of the tree staring at us. Silly squirrel, you think he'd learn.

I put Crisco on the feeder yesterday, but then had to leave before Rupert came back. I wanted to see him slide down the pole. Shucks. I'll try to get pictures of Rupert and my chickadees soon!

Monarchs!

I've been working on taking pictures of all things nature so when I do PowerPoints or have other needs for pictures, I don't have to care about copyright infringement.

ON THAT NOTE... All photos copyrighted by me. IF you want to use them... ASK FIRST!

Back to the topic at hand. This was the first summer I raised monarchs from egg to butterfly. I tried to get pictures of each stage. Enjoy!


Egg


1 Day old


Major stages - the largest was 2 days away from pupating


Chrysalis


Ready to emerge


This happened in August when I was still at Sibley, but I am just getting around to posting it now. One of my goals on my Bucket List was to see a Monarch come out of it's chrysalis. I did one better!! I got it on film!!

Meet our Plants and Pets

This is Carl our Lemon Tree



This is Tom... our palm type tree?



This is Calvin our Christmas Cactus. We moved him to the new house and he decided to bloom. Is that a sign he likes his new digs?? :)




Meet Raj and Howard - our Tiger Salamanders. This pic was taken during feeding time so they have worms hanging out of their mouths. They were collected in their larval stage from one of the fisheries rearing ponds that had been drained earlier that day. I watched as they took their first steps from water onto land. I felt like I was witnessing evolution first hand! Since they have pretty much only known captivity, I decided it was better to keep them and take them with me than to turn them loose.

New Bird feeders at the new house!

I finally got new bird feeders for the house. It's only been a day - but no birds yet. :(


Memphis is waiting for the birds to visit.



Once again it has been a very long time since I have written! I do have good reasons though! Since I have last posted, I have gotten engaged, kept it a secret from my family for 2 weeks, moved into our house, and since have been setting up our new home.

So here's the news.
In the first month of officially owning our first home we have
1) moved in! I think that is a pretty big undertaking!
2) re-shingled our roof thanks to the help of our friends and family we got it done in 2 weekends - not bad for moving in at the same time. It really needed it.


Before



After


3) painted the spare room to a more pleasant shade of green


Here you can see our new green and the horrid bright green that it used to be.

4) got the first few coats of paint on in the room we are turning into our office.


This is a slow process. Red takes awhile.

5) And our next major undertaking is the garage. The walls were already finished and we (meaning Drew) are working on the roof. Drywall is frickin heavy and my small hands had a tough time holding on.


Drew has most of the vapor barrier up and soon will be adding the drywall. It will be so nice to have a warm garage for my poor car!

Every weekend since we moved in has been hard on the checkbook. Luckily we have been saving up for all these big expenses.

Some things I have learned over the last month: Not spending money on gas is a wonderful thing; shopping for a new comforter for a bed SUCKS!; Home Depot is far superior to Menards; We should hug all professional roofers!; Having your own house is MAGICAL.


Oh yeah did I mention we got engaged? Drew and I went geocaching in Redwood Falls on Sept 26th. Little did I know that the day before, while I was at work, he had gone there and hid a "fake" geocache down by the falls. Boy was I surprised when I opened the paper to sign the log - and written on it was "Emily Lorenzen, Will you marry me?" I turned in confusion and there he was holding out a ring!! PERFECT!


The Ring!

Boxes and Totes

So here I am... a mere two days before we close on the house. I need to pack yet again and I am so sick of boxes and totes. I only unpacked a few things after I moved from the Audubon Center, yet some how over the summer my collection of books has puked out of the boxes and spread throughout the basement. The 6 shirts and 3 pairs of pants that I had unpacked turned into a closet full of clothes... and here I am 2 days away. I feel like I have so much crap and need to purge some of the excess out of my life, but I know when we finally get all unpacked, the both of us will not have enough stuff to fill half the house haha.

Also, I think my body is sensing the end of a long and VERY stressful few months; the past few days I have been fighting off allergies and all I want to do is sleep. I also found out a few of my co-workers have colds. That's all I need is to get sick during our move-in weekend.

Maybe I'll finish the packing tomorrow and go to bed soon...

It's been awhile...

That's because everything that I've had to talk about - I didn't want to jinx by telling everyone.

We are buying a house in Hutch. We close on the 8th of October!! For the most part - everything has gone okay. We have been watching ads and spending A LOT of time walking around Home Depot! We did luck out and got 30% off a brand new washer and dryer - plus when I signed up for the Sears card - we got an additional 5% off and no interest for 12 months! Can't complain! I realize how much I am growing up when I realized how excited I got that we bought a fridge! Since we don't know how long we are staying at this house, we decided to go with a simple very energy efficient fridge. Drew will have to live without his in door water and ice dispenser. We even got the fridge for less than the advertised sale price - plus 12 months no interest! Energy Star appliances amaze me. With average use and cost of electricity - the fridge we bought is estimated to cost $35 a year!! Granted I never really checked into things like that but to me it seems like a fridge should cost a whole lot more to run for a year! I also decided that I really like the 12 months no interest thing. We have the funds to pay off all of the appliances, but since starting a new house has a lot of hidden costs, it's nice to save some of the liquid funds as a just in case. As soon as we're settled we're gonna pay those puppies off!

We are getting ready to say good-bye to cable. Oh DVR - how I will miss you. On the other hand, we will be attempting the Netflix/internet tv route. Most of the shows that we like to watch are available free online so we'll be hooking my computer up to the TV and we'll see how that goes. We've (me especially) been watching a lot of HGTV in the last month. If you have the ability to watch HGTV you need to check out Holmes on Homes. I have learned so much about houses and building codes from watching his show. I consider watching it research :) It doesn't hurt that I have gotten some great ideas for shower tile remodels and other fun projects.

Keep your fingers crossed that these last few days will continue to go well! I can't wait to get into my house! Pictures to come!

Time to tell

This has been one of the most stressful weeks of my life... And that is saying A LOT!

First off I'd like to finally tell you my big secret. Drew and I are looking at buying a house in Hutch!!! The plan was that I would go back and work at the restaurant during the winters and work on getting the necessary experience I needed to finally get a full-time job with the state during the summers (which would probably take another 3-4 years).

Then last Sunday on the way to breakfast at Perkins, he tells me that his Dad's farming partner may be retiring in the next few years and he'd like Drew to come back and farm. WOAH!! Talk about dropping a bomb! We did not have many details, so I spent a very long week thinking about it. I don't know how easy this will be to explain without talking to you, but I went from pretty much having the next few years roughly planned out to having my world turned up-side down. We had a really long talk (after my freak-out was over) and decided that while the location of the farm is not ideal for a lively social life, we both really want to end up in the country on a farm in the future. There is just one MAJOR problem with this decision.... there are no naturalist jobs available in that part of the state! I decided that if we want to do this, I need to stop focusing on being a naturalist and start working towards finding a career that will have a better probability of finding a job. I would much rather make a career change now rather than in 5-10 years after I spent so much time and energy working my way up to a full time position.

So here I am. 5 years of college, 1 BS degree, 1 Environmental Ed. Teaching Certificate, and 1.5 years of naturalist positions and I am changing gears. This is incredibly scary and super exciting at the same time! Talk about closing a door and opening a window!! After meeting the parents for a dinner and long discussion, we are thinking that we might have another 2-3 years before things are ready for us to make the move. So the plan, keep looking for a house in Hutch, I'll work at the restaurant this winter, possibly take some classes at the local Tech college, and work towards finding a job that pays decent and has benefits.

Don't worry, I love being a naturalist too much to stop. I will hopefully be starting my own free-lance naturalist business. More about that later.

So in the last week or so, I have:
1) Been looking for a house - which we need to find fairly soon otherwise I will be driving an hour each way to work every day.
2) Working like crazy to finish the work for this position
3) Trying to find the next job that counts as "professional" experience
4) Found out we might be "going back to the farm" - who knows when
5) Looking for a house
6) Buying a brand new bed
7) Meet with the parent to find out it's 89% sure we're "going back to the farm in 2-3 years"
8) Looking for a house and researching costs of appliances
9) Trying to find out how to start my own business
10) Trying to figure out a brand new career!

Keep your fingers crossed that we'll close on a place soon! Once that gets off my plate I think I'll be able to breathe a little more and concentrate on some of these other things.

Thank you so much to my friends and family who are helping me get through these stressful times.

One last thing... what should I be when I grow up???!!!!! HELP!

Oops It's been awhile

Last post was on July 25th, oops. Well here are some things that have happened in the last 2 weeks.

My poor car was fixed! $375 and an hour spent by 3 great guys and it was drivable again. Not bad since my brother estimated the damage at around $3000. But I have some bad news. The "Silver Bullet" is no more. This repair brought on a name change. I'd like to introduce you to...(insert drum roll)... the "Calico Car."




Drew has been working 12-14 hour days battling aphids. We've tried to see each other when possible. Last Sunday we went and had a fantastic dinner at Antone's in St. Cloud. It was a great atmosphere and the food was amazing. I think it is our new place to go when we want a special meal.

http://www.antonsrestaurant.com/

On Thursday, we were able to spend a little time together (gotta love windy days). It was a good day, since we both left work early, and being in a good mood we decided to go try the local Mexican restaurant in Litchfield. Carlitos! What a great time. When you walk in, the place kinda looks like a dive, but man is the food amazing! I had a chimichanga and the crust was... wow... words cannot describe! Drew had a Texas Fajita and the meat had amazing flavor and was perfectly cooked! The other fun thing is that it is a self-serve bar. Want another beer? Walk behind the bar and grab it out of the cooler. Need a margarita? Grab a glass and pour it from a dispenser. Too cool. If you are ever in Litchfield - you really need to stop!!

This past week has been a stressful yet productive one. I've been spending A LOT of time working on my new secret project. I can't wait to tell you all what I'm doing, but I think it is better to wait just a bit longer. hehe

The Regional Naturalist came to watch me give both of my programs yesterday. He is the big wig and has given me some great advice over the past couple of months. Even though it was stressful having him watch, and at times join in on the fun, I got great feedback at the end of the day. Whew!

I cannot believe it is already August 7th! Unbelievable! I have one month exactly until my season is over. This summer has gone by so fast!

Pictures

Just wanna show off some recent photos I have taken.


Snapping turtle laying eggs near home


Autumn meadowhawk


Saffron-winged meadowhawk


Another angle of a Saffron-winged Meadowhawk


Monarch catepiller


I've recently noticed how beautiful milkweed flowers are


A very cool insect on a milkweed plant


Columnbine


Backswimmer

Yet another reason to hate deer...

Yep that's right I'm coming out. My name is Emily and I hate deer. Stupid big eyed, "oh look at me I'm so cute" deer. First as a little kid they ate my favorite flowers in the garden, now they destroy my car.





So my brother looked at all my pics and estimated the damage to be around $3000. Because I got my insurance policy when I was poor and in college, and it didn't dawn on me that I should have changed anything, I have no help coming from insurance. Crap.

This about sums it up:

Found on the internet... a minor adjustment made by me.

"Bring me the horizon

.... and really bad eggs. Drink up me hearties. Yo-ho."
Sorry. Shameless Pirate plug.

Anyway. Just wanna drop a teaser post. I think there are some major changes coming my way. Nothing is official yet so I don't want to go into... well... any details. Just cross your fingers for me that everything will work out.



By the way... I laugh out loud every time I see this pic. hehe

Dodging Storms and Sprinklers

This was an interesting week.

First off, I did not have my computer so I felt pretty disconnected to the world - especially when it came to weather forecasts. On Wednesday I had to cancel a program; the atmosphere was so unstable that all the weatherman said was that people spending time outside needed to have a weather radio- storms could pop up any where, plus he said the heat index was going to be over 100. (Thanks to mom for calling me with a weather report that morning!!) Once I got to the program site, I would have no connection to the outside world. It was damned if you do, damned if you don't situations. I had a gut feeling that if I had the program we would get some severe weather (with no place to go) and if I cancelled the program the sun would shine most of the day. Well bad storms did pop up all over the place but missed where we would have had the program, although we were in a tornado watch the whole day. Oh well. Hopefully parents realized that I did not want to put their kids at risk. The bright side is that I finally got fed up with feeling helpless, so I got myself a NOAA weather radio I can carry with me. I have not been at work without it since.

Thursday I had a migraine. Of course I had a program that morning so I went into work. I had symptoms I've never had before, like motion sickness and light sensitivity. While driving and every time my head changed elevation, I felt like I wanted to hurl. Thankfully, I did not. Normally, my head just hurts... a lot... and I am sensitive to noise. If anyone rustles papers in the next county it sounds like an elephant stampede to me. After my 2 hour program, I went home and slept for over 2 hours. While I did feel a bit better, it still felt like a MAC truck had driven over my head a few times.

Saturday we were dodging more storms. When I got to the office and started setting up for the evening program, my weather radio went off. Severe Thunderstorm Warning and a cell was headed right for us. Needless to say we had over 80 people at the program, it might have been something to do with the interpretive center being a storm shelter... :) Of course not all the campers were polite enough to go down to see our Falconry program, so I spent my time wrangling kids, answering questions about where cities in Minnesota were, refreshing the radar, and scolding kids for running around. I was nice and opened up the entire center, but when the storm and the program were finally over, people would not get the hint and leave. What part of "the upstairs is officially closed" doesn't make sense??

Drew was sick this weekend, we're not sure if it's a cold or horrible allergies. I stopped at one of those veggie country stops and picked up fresh blueberries from Michigan. Fresh and full of healthy antioxidants. WOW were they fantastic! In an attempt to make him feel better, I made vanilla blueberry pancakes on Sunday morning. Nothing beats fresh blueberry pancakes!

Oh best part about this weekend?



I finally got to go back to Belgrade and get my picture taken with the giant crow statue!! It was a fun little stop. When we got there the sprinklers were running, so I got to dodge sprinklers in order to get my photo taken.



Amazingly refreshing summer salad recipe (recreated from a Panera salad)
Lettuce and spinach
Roasted chicken (rotisserie type)- shredded
Sliced Strawberries
Fresh blueberries
croutons
poppy-seed dressing (I like Newmans)


Picture from Panera Bread website

No computer

I had to take my computer in to the Geek Squad yesterday to get some bugs worked out. Either I have a strange virus that attacks my USB ports and my built in web cam or I have some strange hardware issues. The Agent I was working with said it would take 8-24 hours to run diagnostics and I should hear back from him on Thursday.

I wouldn't say I am addicted to my computer. I just never realized how much I rely on it for pretty important things. Out here in the Boonies getting my weather report from WCCO in the Twin Cities doesn't help me much. I already got some emails (both work and personal) which I would have really liked to receive before I got to work today. Also losing my computer for a few days made me realize how much work I do from home. Perhaps it's a good thing to take a break for awhile... maybe I'll read a bit more of The World Without Us...

Wanderings

It's been a busy couple of days. Yesterday evening, I was up around Glacial Lakes doing an I Can Fish program. I had about 15 kids and 5 parents. Of course they were all about 15-20 minutes late, so I had to improvise my schedule. I guess the fish did not get our invitation to show up, since we only caught 3 fish and one painted turtle in an hour.



This morning I was assisting a Take A Kid Fishing program. Thanks to an early morning Severe Thunderstorm Warning, only one family showed up. We tried to work through the storm, but the lightning would not give up. After an hour of stalling, we called it quits. It's a good thing too, because I drove back to Drew's in hail.



After the storm, Drew and I went for a drive. We probably put on over 100 miles wandering our way across the county. Taking back roads, looking at houses, gardens, and beautiful sceneries. The best part was when he decided to go down a road he's never been on and we found an Osprey nest platform with 2 ospreys hanging out! Pictures are on his camera so they'll come later. You think with all the driving I do for work, the last thing I would want to do is go for a drive, but I love these afternoons.



Now I'm back home, hanging out with the dogs, while yet ANOTHER severe storm is getting ready to slam us. My car is in the shed; I'm in the basement with the radio on, candles on standby, and the curtains wide open. I love storms!! Too bad the dogs don't seem to be too keen on it, since Barney is currently hiding under my bed. It's days like this that make me wish I was storm chaser. There were some spectacular clouds showing an extremely unstable atmosphere. Too bad my camera died so I couldn't get pictures.

I went outside to move my car and 3 raccoon kits were crossing the lawn. Being the naturalist I am, I ran to get my camera and tried to get as close as I could. Too cute!! Unfortunately my battery was too low to get solid pictures so this pic is a little blurry.

Books

I'm sure most of you who know me well enough, know of my love of books and about my awesome collection of (and slight obsession with) field guides. One day I was bored so I made a list of my "professional library" (meaning nature/outdoor based). I am up to 73 books. :)

I just finished Sugartime by Susan Carol Hauser. After working at the Audubon Center and participating in Maple Syruping, I hope to one day bottle my own! This was a quick fun read.


image from www.ontariomaplesyrup.com

Now I am working my way through The World Without Us by Alan Weisman. This is a really interesting book! It talks about if humans disappeared tomorrow, what would happen to everything we created. I just finished the sections on plastics and oil. It was kinda fitting reading the oil chapter during the oil spill.


image from bookcoverarchive.com

Up next: Beekeeping: Self-sufficiency by Joanna Ryde. Okay I know some of you are thinking what is up with this one. Well Drew and I are hoping to some day own a small hobby farm. I want to have a small bee colony for a few reasons. One because who doesn't love fresh honey?! The other reason is because I think it would be a smart plan to have a colony of pollinators right there on our property. I figure I should learn as much about this project before we are even close to starting it.


image from www.cathtatedirect.com

Here we go!

Hello friends and family. A friend and former co-worker of mine introduced me to blogging. I really appreciate being able to read about the random things going on in her life. Besides, I feel like I should try to keep in better contact with all of you.

So here we go with some randomness!

My New Year's resolution was to learn a new life skill every year, and attempt to really learn 2 bird songs. Thanks to Amanda, I started my new life skill right away. I have learned how to knit! I have scarves mastered, and now I am playing with dishcloths. I am hoping to one day learn how to knit blankets! As far as bird songs... it's a long process.




I started the New Year out in Sandstone and moved near Willmar in May. If I move again before November, I will have moved more times than I am years old. Is it going to happen? If I had a magic eight ball this is where it would say "Signs point to yes." My current job ends beginning of September and I don't know where I am going to go next.

Keep your fingers crossed that I can find something else when this job is over.


Kid quote of the day: This is after my fishing class.
Little girls (very shyly) What's your last name?
Me Why?
Their dad They were hoping your last name was Elizabeth and that you had a big, red dog.... named Clifford.
Me I have a big brown dog named Memphis, does that count??
Little girls (looking disappointed) smiled and walked away