Snow fleas?

Winter time offers a lot of opportunities for getting outdoors. Last weekend I went on a winter ecology walk sponsored by the Land Trust. It was led by a local forester so I got a great lesson in identifying Maine trees in the winter. It can be done with no leaves! The highlight of the walk was when I looked up to find a barred owl sitting about 25 feet away just watching us. It was not the least bit bothered by our chatter. On our way back to the cars we broke out of the forest into the clearing and the leader stops and bends down to look into the foot prints in the snow. She announced that she could finally show us a sign of impending spring - snow fleas! Microscopic insects that jump around - they are a species of springtail. It looks like fine ground pepper. Who knew? You can see pictures of us on the walk on the Georges River Land Trust Facebook page.

Here are a couple pictures of my new office with the beautiful desk that Rob built me. He's

been a great handyman for the office too, fixing doors and hanging up a towel rack. It's a really nice place to go to work and overlooks Rockland harbor.

This winter I've been doing indoor projects (duh). I painted the living room (Perennial Gold) and the dining room (Desert Sand). I bought a nice blue for the kitchen but wisely only tried it on a small section. Too much. That'll probably be perfect in the guest room. Back to the drawing Board for the kitchen. Rob, the king of khaki, even likes the color. Victory!