Hey flog-heads! Welcome back to one more week of the Echinacea project; off to an exciting start with milkweed, measuring, birds-of-prey, total demo, wet shoes, visitors, visors, liatris, and as always … phenology.

This morning the team divided, some to continue remnant phenology on few remaining flowering echinacea while others went to start total demo on on behemoth of a site, Loeffler’s corner. I am grateful that Jo and I had the task of scoring milkweed at Bang and Hegg lake. We trekked through the dewy grass, Jo’s rubber boots repelling the water that my shoes invited in, leaving me to walk in puddles for the majority of the morning. Jared warns that soon enough that I’ll be dreaming of the abundant purple heads of Liatris aspera as I will see so many, but for now I revel in the excitement of the few flowering plants I was able to find today at Hegg. Along with Green Milkweed, we encountered three osprey, all upset by our presence, as well as a stickbug, pictured below.

Geena found a calf in the street, which when she asked politely to moooove over, they obliged (sorry Jared, I stole your joke, but its for the fans. You get it.).

At lunch, we welcomed Scott back to the Echinacea Project. An alum from 2016, Scott returned on his way back to Boulder, CO to make sure everything was still in working order. We were excited to hear his stories and gain some wisdom about the adventure into science, post-team Echinacea. Thank you Scott!

The afternoon brought with it measuring in P2 and P1 for the majority of the team, while Sophia and I ventured to Yellow Orchid Hill to begin mapping Liatris for my project. We found many more than previously expected, inspiring burgeoning hypotheses as to why. Soon, Yellow Orchid Hill West will be ablaze with purple. Maybe they’ll have to change the name.

“The time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time.” – Bertrand Russell

“So long as you have food in your mouth, you have solved all questions for the time being.” – Franz Kafka

“Time’s fun when you’re having flies!” – Kermit the Frog

Heyyo! Not much to report here on the flog this sunday. As often as we choose to work, today we did not. Here at Andes, we have been taking advantage of our time off. Sleeping in, breakfast begins around 10:30 (for me). We’ve become fond of the pesto-egg, which is exactly what it sounds like. Frequenting our dining room table are other Andes staples, like hash brown patties, raisin-bran in oat milk, and strawberry toaster tarts. If you’re like me, you’ll have too much coffee just to sit around, while Jo prefers an iced chai latte. Sadly, we missed Sophia for most of the day, as she took a day trip to sunny St. Cloud, Minnesota to run a few errands that even the metropolis of Alexandria could not fulfill. Geena and I took a trip to O’Reilly’s auto parts to buy motor oil (for my car) and to the liquor store, to buy Everclear (for the yellow pan-trap project, not consumption). Jo stayed home, found a bird (dead) and napped. The rest of the day consisted of youtube videos about ants, walmart donuts, and laying on the couch. We took some time to start the process of bleaching a deer skull, found and donated by Brittany, pictured below. Jo made some Penne alla Vodka, a recipe by GiGi Hadid, in which we used farfalle rather than penne. It was delicious. At night, we watched Mad Psycho and discussed chronic wasting disease, which I started to feel like I could be developing by lying about all day. Sophia, as I write this, is making mac and cheese for our 4th of July potluck feast tomorrow, and I’m beginning to get hungry again. I am excited to canoe tomorrow, equally excited for phenology. This day of rest has been much needed, however one day is enough.