I have a LOT of plans for the summer. Sometimes, it’s hard to decide which thing to tackle first. I recently came across a volunteer opportunity near my home and decided, yes, I will be doing that. (I would really love to volunteer at an animal shelter but I’m not ready for that yet. It also requires more of a commitment.)
Yesterday, I met up with other volunteers at a local nature preserve. It’s a fen, so it’s partly covered with water. (Which means I had to go out and buy new muck boots.) We got to go to the less traveled part of the preserve and pull-out garlic mustard and dame’s rocket, both of which are invasive species in Michigan. They choke out our natural flora, so it was time for battle. Turns out your girl is a weed whacking warrior. I thought I was slacking but when we all returned to our vehicles, I noticed I had the second fullest bag of the bunch. The only person that beat me was a guy who worked for the conservancy. People kept offering to carry my bag for me since it was so large, but I needed the workout, so I held onto it. Here is the beast:
One of my big missions this summer is to get out in nature more and with this volunteering effort, I will be out there every Saturday until the end of the month. (Aside from next Saturday because I work.) Then, in the fall, we return to harvest honeysuckle.
So, expect lots of nature pictures over the summer friends.
Currently Reading:
Have you began attacking your summer plans yet??
cupcakesandmachetes 
Awesome! You did well and welcome to my works of weeding hehe. Kudos for volunteering that’s really cool. If you ever get to Australia you can volunteer for my business any time hehe
I mean, it would be cool to get paid to do it lol. Actually, I would really love to work for a nonprofit especially in conservation. Do you think Australia would hire me?
Yes ma’am
*world not works
Summer? Already? I’m still trying to wrap my head around the fact that it’s not winter anymore…
It’s still a little cool here until tomorrow anyway. But things are officially green so I’m calling it summer. 🙂
I was thinking about removing all my winter gear (hats, gloves, neck gator, etc) from my work bag so I guess summer really is here 😉
I’ll start tackling summer when it stops snowing here. Looking forward to lots of nature pictures through the summer though!
Ooooof. I am over the snow. I hope it stops for you ASAP!
It is definitely rainy and windy and chilly in Indiana still. However, all that rain is doing wonders for the plants. I have lilacs coming, which is pretty exciting!
This turn of events makes me wonder if you should do school to become DNR. It’s funny, in Indiana people are like, “DNR? What’s that?” and in Michigan, folks say in a conspiratorial voice, “Watch out for the DNR” and then float away from you backward in a haunting manner.
Haha, that is 100% accurate. 😛
I don’t know that I want to continue school past getting my associates. (Looks like you need a bachelors to become a Game Warden.) I honestly just don’t know WHAT I want to do besides the bookstore thing that can’t happen yet.
There is a used bookstore in my town that is located in a house, and I think the dude lives upstairs. One time I went in and he had a dog that he was sitting for the weekend, and I was 90% convinced all bookstores need a dog to follow you around (the 10% hesitation is I know people who are TERRIFIED of all dogs due to past experiences/dog attacks).
That would be the life! When book club was in action, we sat around a bookstore petting and loving on the dog while waiting on a table at the restaurant next door. The bookstore and the restaurant were owned by the same people. So, while we were eating later, the owner heard about our loving on the dog and brought over his puppy pictures for us to see. 😀
I didn’t know you were part of a book club in the past! What kinds of books did you read?
Oh yes! The pandemic brought it to an end, and no one has brought up starting again. D:
It was a varied selection. A different person would set up several choices to vote on each month and then pick where we would meet up and when. It was a lot of fun. I’ve tried a lot of restaurants in Ann Arbor thanks to them and read some books that I would never have selected for myself.
Why the heck aren’t they doing a Zoom book club?
I really don’t know. It was brought up a few times but if I didn’t make it happen myself, no one else was going to. That’s when work became absolute chaos, so I had no intention of putting it together. Everyone else was sitting at home during lockdown but the working one had to do it?? No thanks!
This week I joined a horror movie watching club on Discord, and I have to say, they’re fricken cool. You get the movie title on Saturday and can watch it at your leisure. Then, the club meets on Thursday at 8PM our time and just talks. They are such cool people! If you or Dani are interested in joining, anyone is welcome. I can send you the meetup.com link.
That sounds really cool. Are you allowed to skip if you can’t make a meeting for any reason?
Yeah, everyone shows up whenever, from what I can tell. There are usernames chatting on the Discord that I knew weren’t at the meeting.
I’m really tempted but I’ve put a lot on my own plate for the summer and my reading pace is currently set at super slow.
That’s cool 🙂 I’m glad you’ve found some new opportunities to get out there in the community. I’m trying to do that myself, and I’ve lined a few things up. If you’re into it, totally get yourself an audiobook for those long hours gardening/volunteering!
That’s awesome! Good for you kicking invasive weed butt… er, root? I dunno 😆
Haha, I think either way works. Thanks! It felt good!
Woo! Look at that haul. Great work! 😀
Can’t wait for more nature pictures! ❤
The blog will probably be fully loaded with them this year! 😀
I love ‘weed whacking warrior’! Applause to you for volunteering and getting more time outdoors which we both know is good mentally and physically. I bet they’ll be looking forward to your next visit.
Thank you. 🙂 I can’t wait to get back out there. I’m disgruntled that I have to work this weekend so I can’t go. Just means I will have to attack them with even more ferocity next week!