Monday, May 2, 2016

Greeting from the Upper Peninsula – again. My last trip up
here to monitor bats was cut short because of low temperatures. One day last
week they had snow and ice. Now it looks like I will have a week of 50 degree temperatures.

The Mighty Mac, looking back toward the Lower Peninsula.

My job is filming a hole in the ground, hoping to find bats.
Haven’t had much in the bat line but some other interesting fauna have been around.
Last night a porcupine ambled up to within about 10 feet of me. He would have
walked right into me if I hadn’t turned on my headlamp. Got my barred owl for
the year last night too.

Filming a hole in the ground.

So I’m now in the St. Ignace Quality Inn for possibly a
week. St. Ignace is on the north side of the Mackinac Straits, connecting Lake
Michigan and Lake Huron. It’s a strategic location and has always had a strong
Native American presence. A couple tribes are headquartered here and something
on the order of a third of the population are Native Americans. In 1671 Father
Marquette established a Mission here to convert the natives to Christianity. Not so sure things went very well for the natives from there.

Except for maybe the automobile and the Mackinac Bridge,
things don’t seem to have changed much here since Father Marquette’s time. As
with most northern climates it can be a hard place to live. Fishing is still a trade
here, and not an easy one. There’s a monument on the waterfront dedicated to
local fishermen who have died plying their trade. Two are obviously father-son
combinations, and two brothers. That has to be tough on a family.

Fishing memorial.

Being a waterfront place, St. Ignace depends heavily on
tourism. Summer tourism. Lots of motels and restaurants, most still closed for
the winter. I’m sure they have some snowmobile business, but we are past the big
snow season. Sooooo, things are pretty slow right now. Nightlife isn’t too bad,
as long as you don’t mind being in bed by about 10:00. There are rumors that a
coffee place called Java Joe’s has opened for the season so there is some
glimmer of hope.

Empty docks, likely full in the summer

Down in Okemos we’ve been keeping busy. I’m trying to finish
up some work things before I gracefully exit. Lise’s business is keeping her
busy. Molly will be moving back with us for the last two years of school, so we
are in the middle of re-arranging the house. Spring is happening, with lots of
new bird species being reported around the area. We haven’t been able to break
free too much but have gotten a couple new species.

In the wonderfully weird and funky department, Saturday we
made a run over to Horrock’s farm market. Horrock’s is a Lansing institution, started
in the1950s over on the west side of Lansing. They have just about anything you
could want, including free coffee bar and a not free wine and beer bar. You can
imbibe in your favorite beverage while perusing the 1,000 beer brands or shopping
for delicacies such as blood and tongue sausage or chicken gizzards. Where else
will you find 10 kinds of dried mushrooms, in bulk, with live piano music? No scrapple though. We
met people that come from Detroit to shop at Horrock’s. Molly and Mitchell go
there for a date.