Wildlife update: yesterday's sightings include a big snapping turtle near a friend's house, an unidentified falcon/kestrel/small hawk in my neighborhood, a giant Argiope spider in the same friend's yard, and a woodpecker dining in a tree near my bus stop. Not bad for spending most of the day cooped up in the lab.

Also yesterday, as my bus passed the same lovely stretch of forest that it always passes, and I stared out the window as I often do when I've left my book at home, I couldn't help but think, "Man, I'm gonna be sad when they turn this into condos." Though that particular area is presently state-owned, there are several forested areas in town with big wooden signs that say "AVAILABLE: shopping center site" (acutal sign just barely a mile from my house) or "AVAILABLE: zoned multifamily" or some such. Every time I pass one, I really wish I could buy those tracts of land, to keep them from cutting down the trees and draining the swamps. (What's better than a swamp? Seriously.) I don't have the hundreds of thousands it would take to save those areas, and most likely there will be condos or a mall on those forests before too long, but all hope is not lost: organizations like the Nature Conservancy exist for those of us who can't afford such things to pool our resources for this very purpose, and that makes me feel a bit better.