Botony 101

Finished 5 week introduction to local plants offered by the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore.  I had the privilege of listening to the two individuals pictured above share their prodigious knowledge with a group of about twenty.  I was reminded of how much there is to know.  Maybe more importantly I was impressed with the ongoing work to maintain and expand the protection to the wonderful but fragile ecology of the area.

Bike to Work Week-Day #4 & Day #5

Thursday morning I got a few bonus miles in when my route was closed so they could replace a culvert. It seems we just can't quite let go of the cool weather this year and today was no exception. I was actually hoping to use a work vehicle to get to the detention center where I facilitate a group every Thursday afternoon but there was no vehicle available. I walked the 1-1/2 miles to the detention center and back. Lucky for me it was dry. I wore my new Cascadia 3 Trail Running Shoes for the first time (I didn't get the red version!). They were great! The evening ride was overcast but dry. My mind always wanders more during the ride home, maybe because when it's dark there's not as much scenery to look at. I've composed some wonderful blog entries riding home only to have them dissolve away as soon as I park the bike in the garage. I guess it's only for the moment-kinda like one of those sand paintings.

Friday! Bike to Work Day! It was my turn to bring donuts at work so I rigged a flat base to my rear rack so I could Velcro the donut box there. Sorry, no pictures. I also stopped for some coffee at the "coffee hut" in Valparaiso. I bought a thermos awhile back that keeps a big cup of coffee hot for several hours. It won't quite fit into a water bottle cage so I just stick it into my pannier. It was a nice sunny morning and a great morning for a ride. Too bad I had to work.

So I did it-I went all week without a moment in a car. The price of gas hit a peak of $4.05 for a gallon midweek and slid slightly lower by today ($3.89/gallon). I rode 139.8 miles to commute to work five days. Assuming I get about 27 miles/gallon (I think I can actually get a little more than this), I saved 5 gallons and about $20.00!

For Your Late Night Viewing Enjoyment

This is for my buddy Joe.

Form v. Substance

This is what I'm talking about! Thanks to the folks at EcoGeek.org for sending me to this.

Local Impact of our Unquenchable Thirst for Oil

It looks like our love of the car will trump common sense in "The Region." British Petroleum (BP) gets to dump more pollutants into the lake for the sake of increasing their refining capacity at their Whiting plant. The best they can do is to assure everyone that they've complied with existing laws. If that's true, maybe the laws need re-examination. Indiana officials seem content to inform us it could be worse and that it will create jobs (the article says 80). Here's the link.

Illiana Expressway

The Illiana Expressway debate has swirled around our area for awhile now. I find it interesting that the Save the Dunes Council is opposed to the road. The Borman Expressway (I80 & I94)passes close to the dunes and noise from the road can be heard in the state park. Personally I'd like to see more interest in public transportation and commuter rail lines instead of creating more roads. At a time when our dependence upon Middle Eastern oil is never far from the front page, it seems counterproductive to spend money on any project destined to increase that dependence. I'd be fine with the county income tax proposed to fund the South Shore extension. We need regional bus lines and the Marquette Plan (there's an Illinois state line to Michigan state line bike trail proposed in the Marquette Plan by the way). Illinois has a commission in place to improve rail transportation across their portion of the bottleneck that makes it cost-effective to off load freight on the west side of the City and then truck it to our side of the city because transporting by rail is too slow. What is Indiana doing about this-nothing that I can see!

An Inconvenient Truth

I took several pictures of the breathtaking sunset last night. The reality of living around here is no matter how awesome the natural beauty is, we're never too far remove from reminders of heavy industry. In the center of this shot is a coal fired generating plant. Tonight I watched An Inconvenient Truth and realized again that it's not enough to carve out a small oasis of natural beauty like the dunes because pollution from that plant looms over it all. We're killing ourselves by degrees (pun intended). It gives me a higher purpose to do as much bicycle commuting as I can. See this movie if you haven't done so already.

Deer cull at the state park

After a one year pause, hunters will return to the Dunes State Park to thin the deer herd this fall. I can tell that the herd has already been thinned. I rarely see more than two or three deer while running in the park. Several years ago I routinely saw 12 or more on the same trails. Of course as the areas around the parks become more developed, more deer are likely to migrate to the park as a source of food and cover. For the hunters it's kind of like shooting fish in a bucket!


NWI Times article

Invasion of the Insects

The Emerald Ash Borer has been found in Westchester Township.