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.