Mapping the swine flu

This map on the BBC website tracks the swine flu across the world.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8021547.stm

 

Oh the rainy days

April showers bring May flowers.  We’ve had a few days of off and on showers and I can’t get enough of this cool weather of spring.  It’s warm enough to wear a light jacket, or a sweatshirt with shorts.  Last weekend I reacquainted myself with my summer clothes and put my winter jackets away.  (I also organized the top shelf of the hall closet so our hats and mittens stop piling up around the house!) 

Chris and I are getting ready for a garage/yard sale over Memorial Day weekend.  The pile in the basement is slowly but surely dwindling!  I wish I would have taken pictures of the progress in the basement!

When you go for a run...

... and leave McClane behind, this is what happens:


I wish I could have captured the immediate effect! He was LOUD! Right now he's curled up at my feet, huffing and puffing and listening very intently for any sign of Chris's return.

Mama Great Horned Owl

The great horned owlets have caused quite the stir around the Visitor Center.  The 2-3 owlets have become stars, but Mama is still keeping a close eye on the foot traffic in the area.  Adam snapped a picture of the Mama owl yesterday.  (I admit, it may be a Papa, but saying Papa or adult isn’t as much fun!)

 

Division spotlight on me!

I’m going to be highlighted in the next Division newsletter at work!  See the article below:

 

Krista Prokosch is the education coordinator for the Parks department and is officed at the Lebanon Hills Visitor Center in Eagan.  She has been with the County nearly 4 years and also worked as a naturalist in the education program.  Prior to joining Dakota County Parks Krista gathered naturalist experience interning for the DNR and International Wolf Center and learned the tricks-of-the-trade at Residential Environmental Learning Centers in Minnesota and Illinois. 

Originally from the Twin Cities area Krista spends her as much of her free time outside as possible.  (So much so, that her feet have permanent tan lines from her Chaco sandals- even in the dead of winter!)  When she’s not working in, around and on her house and yard in South Minneapolis she’s exploring area parks with her boyfriend Chris and their dog McClane (Chris a huge Bruce Willis fan) camping, hiking and now that spring is here finding restaurants with great outdoor patios! 

 

baby owl picture

Hmm… it didn’t upload in the previous post.

 

Park visitors

This baby great horned owl was not happy about trail work happening near its territory.  Adam took this picture, check out his other work at his website.  

The dill is up!

This just in- the dill I started last week is up!

Chris and I started a bunch of veggies and herbs for our new garden. We started a couple trays of herbs, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers and cucumbers inside. They’ve been under grow lights in the kitchen and now that it’s starting to get warm out, we’ve been putting them out in the sunlight during the day. It won’t be until late May before we transfer them into the garden. (Our average last frost isn’t until mid-May.)

Last week we framed our garden (above) and I planted some cold weather veggies. We’re trying peas, beans, radishes, rutabaga and lettuces. Some of the lettuces and peas are starting to sprout! Before I transplant the warm season veggies I think the soil needs a bit more preparation. We shall see…

I need a new chair...

Check out this video about local teachers substituting stability balls for chairs.  The second graders they interviewed are classic!  I wonder if I can convince my supervisor to buy me one for my office… 

 

Living a sustainable life

This “game” will calculate how many Earths your current lifestyle would fill if everyone lived like you.  If everyone lived like me, we would need to 3.9 Earths.  Sad.

http://sustainability.publicradio.org/consumerconsequences/

 

Happy Earth Day!

One day a year is not enough
Protect the Earth
It’s not too tough!

I don’t know who said/wrote this, but I love it. It’s a quote I have on a sticky note over my desk.

Signs of spring

It’s that time of year again! It’s time to track all the changes that make winter a thing of the past and define this new season as SPRING.

I usually mark spring with notes about the first birds and flowers. Here’s what I’ve got so far:

3/17/2009- Paired mallards in Minnehaha Park (MP)
3/18/2009- Red winged blackbirds at Lebanon Hills Visitor Center (LHVC)
3/22/2009- Great Blue Heron and paired Canada geese at LHVC
3/25/2009- Phoebe at LHVC (for several years we’ve had a Phoebe nesting above the LHVC front doors!)
4/2/2009- Chorus frogs singing at LHVC
4/11/2009- Dutchman’s breeches (white flower) at Spring Lake Park Reserve (SLPR)4/12/2009- Skunk cabbage at MP (pictured above)
4/14/2009- Leopard frog singing at LHVC
4/17/2009- Brown headed cowbird at LHVC
4/18/2009- A flock of white pelicans migrating, Bloodroot and Hepatica at SLP. Bloodroot, Dutchman’s Breeches and Wild Ginger in MP

Skunk cabbage is cool because it is one of the first flowers to bloom in the spring. They start growing beneath the snow and will often melt a hole around their base as they push up and through. It is a very alien looking plant- and they get their smelly name from the odor that comes from crushing the stems.

PS. Sorry about going hyperlink happy. I love spring wildflowers so much! And I wanted to include links to pictures in case folks didn’t know what they looked like.

Google

Google is amazing and I can’t imagine life before it! Do you have a iGoogle page? I love mine! The header updates with a new National Park picture every couple of hours, each day there is a new National Geographic picture that greets me, as well as News Headlines, weather forecast, a preview of my Facebook page and my Gmail inbox. So cool! And then today…

I discovered I can sync my Outlook (work calendar) with my Google Calendar. I use my Outlook calendar for everything- it is my savior. Trouble is, the web-based outlook platform (how I check email and calendar from home) isn’t the best… so when I read that I could sync the two up I was really happy! AND I can put a preview of my Google calendar on my iGoogle page.

What was that song Kip sang at the end of Napoleon Dynamite? I love Technology? I truly do. =)

Posting via email

I just discovered I can post blog entries via email... and I'm kinda interested to see how this will change my posting! I'm on email all day long at work, and always have random thoughts that pop in my head- but I can't post at work.
More to come...

Test with picture

Test number two. This time with a picture?
-KP

Two wet runs

Yesterday was a cold and rainy Sunday. I was up by 7 am for a bit of yoga (this time the dog didn't try to lay on me during relaxation!) and out the door by 8 am to pick up Autumn. We drove down to River Bend Nature Center in Faribault, MN (FAIR-IH-BO) for a 9:30 am start time. The race started with an unorganized "BANG!" and a mass of chaos started moving down the trail. After the first 5 minutes or so everyone seemed to sort themselves out!

Post race we're all wearing our Simple Steps t-shirts (a walking program in Dakota County). Pictured left to right are Lynn, Angie, myself (no braces!) Autumn and Katie.

My second wet run of the day came after an afternoon of lounging around. Chris had just left for his afternoon run when McClain started complaining about not being invited along. The beagle in him was getting REALLY loud, so I went to let him in. He slipped from my grasp and took off down the sidewalk after Chris. I bellowed for him to come back, but on he sprinted. He stopped at the corner to investigate, and mark, the fire hydrant before slipping out of sight. I was following as fast as I could in my slippers and was relieved to find him sitting about half way up the block when I rounded the corner. As soon as I called his name he knew he was in trouble, but I was relieved when he immediately came galloping over to me. My heart was beating like a freight train as I dropped to the sidewalk to hug, scold, yell and pet him.

Test

Testing the email upload of blog entries.

-KP

Roomba

McClane has a new friend! It is a long clip- I won't be offended it you don't watch it all! :)

We got a good deal on a Roomba a couple of weeks ago (http://www.woot.com/) and I tried it out tonight. After he stopped barking at it he watched with a wary eye (from behind me).