Gossamer Tapestry

Reflections on conservation, butterflies, and ecology in the nation's heartland

Friday, October 26, 2007

Random Bits


Regal Fritillaries. Photo by Ron Panzer.

On Tuesday, I drove down to McLean, IL. Never heard of it? Neither had I. It's this tiny speck on the map in the west central part of the state. I was making a pitch to the Illinois Nature Preserves Commission (INPC) for getting a permit for our Regal Fritillary re-introduction work. Sounds really bureaucratic and unpleasant, right? So not. I got to have a really pleasant drive downstate on a gorgeous fall day. The INPC are a super bunch of folks. They were a great audience for my 20 minute presentation, and are wonderfully supportive of the project. I got to have some good conversations during breaks, and they even fed me. Do I really need to add that they voted in favor of the project?

Speaking of regals, I got an interesting email this week. Some folks in Pennsylvania are doing a restoration project with their remaining population and got wind of our project. They want to compare notes and share expereinces. Yay. What makes the echange especially fun is that they got wind of our work through the blog. That's the first time that I have made a professional contact via my blog.

These guys are keeping me up past my bedtime lately. But it's so much fun.


The weather forecast for the weekend is bad, at least on Saturday. As a sign of winter, I may try my hand at cheesemaking again for the first time since last spring.

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11 Comments:

At 12:44, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeah for PA!!

What kind of cheese?!

How hard is it to make feta anyhow? I love feta!

 
At 13:43, Blogger Doug said...

Beautiful photo. Their wings look feather-like. (if they are, then that shows how little I know about butterflies and their ilk).

I'm glad your presentation was successful. Always reassuring.

Re: baseball: Tivo.

 
At 22:00, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Now, Doug, butterflies I can get into! :)

(beautiful!)

[and hoo-ray for PA!) :)

 
At 06:10, Anonymous Anonymous said...

That's pretty cool regarding the PA people connecting with you through your blog. And great picture of the fritillary

 
At 17:58, Blogger Ur-spo said...

who are the boston red sox?

 
At 01:29, Blogger Tony said...

You are just the travelin' man Doug, whether it is inter or intra-state travel. I hear you aren't coming out to Palm Springs in November. Sigh...I understand you are the motivator in getting Spo out that way typically. And here I was hoping to make a weekend trip out there to catch up with you guys. Hopefully sometime though!!

OOOOO. What kinda cheese do you make. Sounds yummy! And Doug...I still say go Rockies, if if Boston didi sweep 'em.

 
At 09:58, Blogger Doug Taron said...

Heather - I made a gouda this time. It went ver well.

Doug - Have you not heard of the 11th Commandment? Thou shalt not Tivo the World Series.

Lem- But snakes are really nice, too. I hope that the PA project is successful. The species is even more in need there than it is here in Illinois.

rcw - Yeah, Ron's a great photographer. He was able to get this sort of image long before digital made it easy to cut and crop.


Spo- The Red Sox are a group of guys that I someetimes watch wehn I feel a need to get in touch with my deeply hidden inner butch self.

Tony- we're talking about possibly heading out to PS sometime in March. If we do, I hope we'll be able to drag Spo and Someone out there with us. It would be great to see you again.

 
At 19:05, Blogger rodger said...

Is that a reflection or just butterfly porn?

Nice photo! I won't comment on that other image.

 
At 16:00, Blogger Doug Taron said...

Rodger- Oh, it's definitely butterfly porn. They're really quie shameless that way.

 
At 08:04, Blogger FAH-Q said...

Hey Doug- It's just Mark Swartz from Ft. Indiantown Gap. I just wanted to thank you again for talking to me about our lone regal population. We are currently looking to write up a rearing contract for our project. In other words, we are looking to contract people to rear regals. Would you like a copy of our proposal/contract when it is ready for public consumption? Let me know when you get the chance. One more thing, this whole blog thing really is great. I would've never found you if it didn't exist.

Finally, you're not really a BoSox fan are you? If so, GO PHILLIES!!! Who am I kidding, they ain't going anywhere.

 
At 13:27, Blogger Doug Taron said...

Mark - Hi and thanks for stopping by again. I'd love to see your proposal. Oh, and about the Phillies...*snicker*.

 

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