Serengeti Cornfield

 

 

Me? Not so much...

 

Lauren stays dry by hovering 3 ft above creeks

Mud!

70 degrees + rain after an ice storm = mud, tons and tons of mud. Babbling brooks hollered. Cornfields drowned. It was a fun week of playing in the rain.

February is Back on Track

It took us through Saturday, February 7, to get fully caught up. We had to leave some cameras out for more than two weeks until roads were cleared enough to reach them. But all cameras from January’s session have been retrieved and all 60 cameras for February’s session have been set up. Everything is back on track, and oh … it’s 60 degrees.

Getting Unstuck

 

A good Samaritan

On one lonely forest road, we slid into a ditch while weaving around downed trees and got our truck stuck. After a couple of hours, a good Samaritan happened by to lend a hand. Afterwards, he reminded us that Jesus loves us and sent him our way, plus we had some cojones driving down that road to begin with.

 

I have a strange feeling that we are being watched…

 

This little fella stayed with us for a couple of hours as we slowly made our way to three cameras

Downed trees made some roads were virtually impassable, so we drove as far as we could and walked the rest of the way, occasionally picking up some extra company.

Glass encased berries

 

Iced tree limbs

 

Picking our way through a crystal factory

 

A changed landscape

 

Working Post Storm

The last week of every month is take down week, i.e. we remove all cameras, bait, and snares. It’s supposed to be the shortest week of the month, but losing two days set us back. Rolling up our sleeves and hiking up our boots, we set to work to make up for the lost time by attempting to take down more than four sites each day, working through the weekend, and battling icy roads, downed trees and power lines, and yet more weather-related setbacks.

The storm transformed our sites into a glass-encased natural wonderland – it was stunning! It also presented new challenges and lessons. Landmarks used to lead us to our cameras, i.e. “camera situated just beyond large fallen oak” or “hang a right after the pile of debris at left of trail,” etc., were not terribly useful after a major storm. The entire landscape changed.

What do you do on a snow day?

 

Why, paint sardines cans in the snow, of course.

My first snow day

 

We had just started to chip away at the inch of ice on our truck when we were called off work.

The Ice Storm Cometh

For two days, southern Illinois came to a standstill, and I had my first snow days. The roads were too dangerous to drive, so we spent it catching up on data and prepping for the next session in February.