New Link

My friend Ken and his wifey Jen are building a fermentary (brewery?) in Duluth! I am adding a link to his website on my sidebar!

It's Winter?

I hear it's winter in some parts of the world! Steve sent me some pics of an ice storm that went through Ann Arbor a little while back...

I know most people around here think I'm crazy for thinking these things, but I miss this stuff. I like going out and seeing the world around me frozen. I like warm fires when it's cold outside, I like the snow, I like the slowing down and the time to be inside.


I do not miss the transition though, the mud and slush. the brown, gray, rainy days where it feels so much colder than if it were snowing cause it's so wet.
I hear that in some parts of the country, tulips are already coming up. The plants are completely confused, and for the first time, the government is having to recognize that the fact that 2006 was the warmest year on record EVER is at least partly due to global warming.
It will be interesting to see how 2007 goes, with the El Nino and this so far extremely warm winter. It's looking like it will be hot, probably hotter than this year, and all those areas that hope for big bug die offs over the winter months will be paying for it this spring! hopefully the birds are ready for it - not too busy eating sunflower seeds out of feeders forgetting what their natural diet is supposed to be!

Crappy mornings sometimes..

Lead to better afternoons. I spent the afternoon at Foster's Botanical Gardens and it was way better than being anywhere else today. I brought my paints and chinese medical characters book and tried to remember how to paint. It could have been worse, but I got one little piece that I think looks pretty good. I might take a pic and post it later when I have it prepared (I have to trim off the ugly parts).

Then I perused the spice section looking for plants that I know from school (Skullcap to the left). I'm trying out a new project where I'm going to make a list of the plants and then go and try and find the real living thing and make a little picture book of them. Otherwise I'm just looking at the dried out pieces that we use - I don't get to connect them to anything I can truly identify.



During my escapades I found a chrysalis..
How sweet is that?? I was pretty excited. I saw a bunch of monarchs floating around after that and really wanted a picture to go with the cocoon, but no go.

Satanism, huh?

So quick update before the juicey stuff.. Dave and I did more cool stuff on Maui before I left, but I got busy and my computer really crashed hard, so I wasn't able to blog on it.. AND now that he did, you can just look at Dave's. AND.. since Dave gets wonderful points for it, I'll mention that he nyoinked a laptop from some lab for me to work/play on while mine may or may not be getting fixed. So here I am.

In other news, Dave got a suprise clean apartment for xmas. It took a really long time, and was at times gross (I vacuumed up a cockroach and then wasn't sure how to best get rid of it) but it made both of us happy.

And finally, I took a religion quiz and found out that I am a closet satanist...

You scored as Satanism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Satanism! Before you scream, do a bit of research on it. To be a Satanist, you don't actually have to believe in Satan. Satanism generally focuses upon the spiritual advancement of the self, rather than upon submission to a deity or a set of moral codes. Do some research if you immediately think of the satanic cult stereotype. Your beliefs may also resemble those of earth-based religions such as paganism. Satanism 100% atheism 79% Paganism 67% agnosticism 63% Buddhism 54% Judaism 42% Islam 38% Hinduism 29% Christianity 17% Which religion is the right one for you? (new version) created with QuizFarm.com