Yahoo provided a link of the “Top Ten Best Places to Live in America.”  And Ann Arbor made the cut:

http://realestate.yahoo.com/neighborhoods/ten_best_places_to_live.html

Ann Arbor always makes these kinds of lists.  And I think that it is important that areas in Monroe, Lenawee, Wayne and Jackson Counties try to establish better infrastructure to move people and goods to and from Ann Arbor.

This is a complicated task, of course, A-squared is culturally very different from Adrian, Monroe and Jackson.  But why aren’t there regular commuter buses between Monroe and Ann Arbor or Adrian and Ann Arbor?  Don’t enough people at least go to Briarwood Mall to justify regular service?

Ann Arbor, of course, has the major advantage of being home to the recession-proof University of Michigan.  But it has also worked hard to integrate that campus into the every day life of the city.  If you want to look at a different model, just look to Lansing.

What would Lansing look like today if MSU were built into the actual city rather than across the freeways in East Lansing?  My guess is that it would be just like Madison, WI.  It would be double insulated from recession.  You’d have town, gown and crown (gov’t).  That’s an unbeatable combination.

The talented Toledo-area blogger Dazz De La Morte posted interesting photo and video slideshows recently about Maumee Bay State Park.  Perhaps most interesting to residents of Monroe are several shots of the Detroit Edison Monroe power plant from across the pond.  I also think that the images capture how the brown streak from that plant tends to dominate the view of Lake Erie even many miles away.

Here’s a link to Dazz’s blog.  Be sure to click through:

http://users.livejournal.com/_dazz_/

Fellow blogsmonroe.com blogger, Gerald Wykes [Naturespeak], gets some nice press in an article in the Downriver News-Herald.  The article describes the many winter and holiday related activites that take place within the Huron-Clinton Metroparks system.  Excerpt and link:

In addition to these, there are activities available for winter sports enthusiasts and those just looking to get out and enjoy nature. The first half of a three–mile paved trail will be cleared and open for biking, walking, jogging, hiking and inline skating.

Wykes said people can ice fish anywhere offshore, but it’s “iffy.” So, he stresses the need for cau-tion and care to those who go out on the ice, especially this early in the season.

Full story:

http://www.thenewsherald.com/articles/2008/11/28/news/doc49302bfb36147572050373.txt

The Oakland Press has an interesting story related to the increased number of cougar sightings in Michigan.  The story is followed by an extensive reader discussion about the topic.  Excerpt and link:

In 2003, there were three Oakland County sightings reported to the Michigan Department of Natural Resources Web site, said Michael Bailey, Species and Habitat Section supervisor for the MDNR. In 2007, there were 11. Statewide, there were 71 in 2002, and 338 for 2008.

Recently, there was a cougar sighting reported in Novi, and a large black cat reported in Milford.

Whether one cougar or hundreds exist, the animal needs to be managed, he said, further speculating that the DNR won’t acknowledge a cougar population because it would cost money and resources to bring the species back.

Zuidema, of Escanaba, was featured in the report after a cougar was shot by Chicago police. He also reported cougar tracks in the Upper Peninsula that were confirmed by the DNR.

Full story:

http://www.theoaklandpress.com/articles/2008/11/28/news/doc492fad9fbeadc504162727.txt

This time of year lends itself to what I call “Holiday Hikes.”  Here in Adrian, I hike through Heritage Park as dusk begins to settle.  That’s the same time that the City of Adrian turns on the Christmas lights for the annual Heritage Park holiday light driving tour.  It is quite surreal to view electrically-charged elves dancing through Adrian’s most credible wilderness.  But it is fun.

Hikes like this can be had almost anywhere this time of year.  Many take a nice light-display walk through the Toledo Zoo.  Downtown areas like Tecumseh are beautifully lit and perfect for an evening stroll.  Neighborhoods with creative residents make for fine Christmas walks.  And, of course, one cannot ignore the fact that holiday hikes are possible year-round in Frankenmuth.

This segue brings me to a youtube video that Mike Wendland posted at the freep.com website about Bronner’s.  View it below:

http://www.freep.com/article/20081128/NEWS06/81128020/1118/RSS

A blogger from South Texas, of all places, has a nice overview of one of the most famous quotes related to Lake Erie.  During the War of 1812, Oliver Hazard Perry commanded a small fleet of American ships against the British.  His battle flag contained the phrase “Don’t Give Up the Ship.” 

Perry, of course, won the battle by transferring his command from the badly-damaged Lawrence to the USS Niagara.  In a strangely ironic twist, Perry was successful precisely because he knew enough to abandon his most closely-held ideal when it was clearly counterproductive.

This battle is an important part of our local history, as evidenced by the recent visit of the reconstructed USS Niagara to the Port of Monroe.  The story is also told at the River Raisin Battlefield Visitor Center and the Perry’s Victory Memorial on Put-in-Bay Island.  Here’s an excerpt and link to the South Texian’s blog post:

This entry is a follow-up to one I posted on November 5, 2008. Back on Election Day eve while participating in Moxie’s live-blog, I offered some encouragement to her as the election returns started to turn decisively against John McCain. I mentioned Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, who at the Battle of Lake Erie on September 10, 1813 inspired his men to fight the British (and ultimately defeat them) by flying the above-pictured naval standard from his flagship, the USS Lawrence. During the course of the battle, the Lawrence suffered severe damage and Perry was forced to transfer his command to the USS Niagara - carrying his naval standard with him. The American victory at Lake Erie prevented a planned British invasion of the Ohio River Valley.

http://www.southtexian.com/2008/11/oliver-perry-and-lake-erie-rest-of.html

One of the beautiful things about marrying Kathy is that I now have a great family in Wisconsin AND a great family in Michigan.  So, for us, holidays like Christmas and Thanksgiving often follow a certain pattern.  We’ll get done with school on Wednesday afternoon and immediately hit the road.

By about 11PM, we’ll pull into the family dairy farm at the base of the Door Peninsula.  Then, I hear a litany of jokes about how bad the Lions are from a legion of Packer Backers, eat some great food and just about die of exhaustion by 10PM from all the travel.

Then, by Saturday of Thanksgiving weekend, we’ll reverse the process.  We’ll spend seven hours on the tollways hoping that the gods of Chicago are friendly.  We’ll pull into Monroe by about 4PM, just in time for Turkey Day #2.  Then, we sleep until about 6PM on Sunday hoping that our Monday morning exhaustion won’t be too terrible.

This year, however, we are having a low-key Thanksgiving.  The day began right here on the internet surfing.  Pure joy, really.  And then we turned on the Lions game.  For lunch Kathy and I polished off some leftovers from the fridge.

By about 1:30, the Lions were down 28-3 and we decided to go for a walk.  We started at Burr Ponds Park in south Adrian and followed a paved trail to Riverside Park.  From there we headed north along sidewalks to the Kiwanis Trail.

The hike started in a rather strange manner.  Burr Ponds Park is famous in Adrian as the place to feed the ducks.  There are probably one thousand signs posted against feeding the ducks, but old habits die hard.  So, the local duck population now feels that it has a birthright to food from every passing human.

As soon as we shut the doors on our car, literally a hundred ducks started marching quickly towards us.  I might have been reading too much into the situation, but the ducks looked angry.  Maybe they realized that every surrounding home was filled with humans feasting on their formerly-feathered cousins.  Or maybe they just hadn’t seen a lot of people on this most placid of national holidays.

Whatever the case, we had to run along the trail to escape the ducks.  Soon, we observed a family throwing rocks onto the mostly ice-covered ponds.  I’m not sure what the intent was, but there seemed to be no end to the fun for the young couple and their son.

Soon, we reached one of the most beautiful unknown spots in Adrian.  It is located at the southern edge of Riverside Park near a very old and very scenic stone rail trestle.  Beneath the trestle, the South Branch River Raisin forms a series of rapids and a small waterfall.  It was beautiful.

Soon, we returned to our cars for a day of shopping.  Thanksgiving Day shopping is filled with a unique assortment of people.  Some are extremely happy following family gatherings.  One man looked as if he’d very much enjoyed more than just the turkey at his family fest.

One of the challenges of shopping on Thanksgiving is that there are very few places to eat.  So, we took over the Meijer cafe, ordered one of those fully-cooked five-dollar chickens and proceeded to say grace.  We thanked the Good Lord for all of our wonderful family and friends.  We thanked the Meijer deli department for doing the cooking.  And we breathed a satisfying sigh of relief for a perfectly mundane, normal and uneventfully special day.

The Adrian Daily Telegram published a reader-submitted photo of a gray fox sighted within the Adrian city limits.  The gray fox is relatively abundant in Michigan, but it is a bit unusual to see one in such a populated area during the day.  Click below to see the pic of the fox as it confronts a housecat named Cuddles:

http://www.lenconnect.com/homepage/x596320533/Gray-fox-startles-Adrian-residents

We are now in the dark ages of the hiking year in Monroe and Lenawee Counties.  The leaves have, for the most part, fallen from the trees.  And, unlike much of Michigan, our local microclimate has kept us free from snowcover and the natural brightening that results.  So, my hikes lately have been through woods with shades of black, brown and gray.

If you want a counterpoint to this drabness, you might want to head to Midland this Saturday and Sunday.  The Saginaw Valley Orchid Society is hosting their 43rd annual orchid show and sale.  It promises a colorful counterpoint to the prevailing outdoor tableau.

Here’s the show link:

http://www.sagvalleyorchids.org/events.html

Here’s a link to an orchid slideshow posted to mlive:

http://photos.mlive.com/gallery/4473/2008.11.27%20Today’s%20Takes

Several weeks ago, I posted a report on my hike at the new mountain bike loop in Washtenaw County’s Sharon Mills County Park.  Fellow adventurer, Steve Seeger, mentioned that the park and adjoining state and Nature Conservancy land could make for an excellent hike/paddle loop.  Personally, I thought it was a great idea.

http://www.blogsmonroe.com/expatriate/2008/10/sharon-mills-trail-hike-report/

Well, now Joan Young at http://getoffthecouchnews.blogspot.com has a neat post alerting readers to five hike/paddle loops possible in northern Lower Michigan.  Each route comes via a page maintained by Alan Fark.  Click below to see these great adventure routes:

http://www.up-northmichigan.com/hikepaddle.html