August-November '09

It's about time you heard from me, eh? Well, in case you didn't know, I've been running naked through the streets of Lansing at weird hours, and generally using too many swear words when talking to women and children.

Really though...OK OK, actually I've been living with these nice people, in this nice house.

The house is just south of the Board of Water & Light power station, and the Grand River. I live very close to Moore's Park, and the Lansing River Trail, which I use to get everywhere on my home-built bike. The guy, Dave Epstein, is a laid-back entomologist that works in the same building as me (carpool!). Jane Stevenson works at the Lansing City Market, and is fucking funny. One of their daughters, Molly, is attending CMU for theatre, and the older daughter, Evan, lives in WA with her husband.

The neighborhood is inhabited by a mix of university intellectuals, state workers and the impoverished. The houses are mostly old and drafty. Dave and Jane's yard contains a large garden with an amazing set of matrix trellises for their gourds and tomatoes, and 3 honeybee hives. Mind you, this is in the suburbs. But, there have been no complaints by any neighbors, and I have stood next to the hives without any protective gear or stings. The honey is great! They used to cooperate with their next-door neighbors to tap their sugar maples and make syrup, but those neighbors have since moved to Sweden.

I go fishing on the river often (ain't caught nuthin!), and help with yard work in exchange for dinner. I buy enough food to make my breakfasts and lunch, though left-overs are frequently available for my lunches.

Currently, Dave and Jane are in Prague, for an entomology conference/vacation, and I am watching their house and Maggie-the-dog. So, I went shopping for food today. I chose to go to the Lansing City Market for the first time, and constructed a sturdy bike basket with some fiberglass boxing tape to carry things in. I am proud to announce that I was successfully able to transport a heavy glass bottle of milk and a carton of eggs in the same bag! I also bought potatoes and butter to fry up with some extra arugula that Emily had left-over from a greenhouse experiment.


Finally, here are some guilty pleasure pictures of Maggie-the-dog. She's old, but will enthusiastically play fetch at any hour of the day or night. Lately she's been senile, and escapes a lot to complete her doggy bucket list, which consists of stealing other dogs' toys, walking in the road, and smelling the neighbors' flowers.

The middle one was taken today. I tied her toy to a long strand of 14 lb test fishing line and looped it up over a couple of branches in the black cherry tree to pull down a grocery bag that had been stuck up there for many years. This was absolute torture for her, locked behind a gate in the backyard. When I finally got the bag down I let her out. But, she came in and stole the toy in the middle of the camera shot of my set-up!