Yesterday when we went over to Lowe’s, I could swear I heard some spring peepers in the parking lot. So we made a Grand Plan to head out to the Geology Center early this morning and walk down to the floating bog. Surely there would be some peepers. Problem. It was 24 degrees when I got up this morning. We went *anyway*. Of course there weren’t any peepers but there was birdsong galore, including a couple of sandhill cranes hanging out on the ice over on Little Cedar Lake. And frost everywhere, particularly on the floating bog (below).

I’m not sure how many miles we got walking the “lower” trails at the Geology Center but not all that many. But that was okay because our plan for the afternoon was to walk downtown to the annual Festifools parade. And so we did. Me and the Swamp Monster.

I was skeptical about the GG wearing this costume around downtown but I was also kind of forgetting that a lot of folks dress up like nuts for Festifools. He got a lot of attention in that suit. As he was getting dressed up in it – on the street, I watched a guy video the entire process. He wasn’t using an iPhone and when he was finished, he asked the GG for his name and also how to spell it so we’re wondering where that video will get posted. Other encounters of note included several requests to take selfies with people, high fives with people wearing camouflage, and a drunk guy that babbled on about marijuana. Women seemed particularly drawn to the Swamp Monster, often reaching out to touch his, uh, fur. Babies were a mixed bag. Frightened or entranced.

Festifools lasts an hour and we bagged it about halfway through to get to the Oscar Tango before it filled up. It was empty when we got there, so we were able to grab one of the two window booths. We had a ‘hattan and then launched for The Landfill just as the OT was indeed filling up.

P. S. I will never forget Grampa Garth, my father-in-law, booming out “It’s daylight in the swamp!” mornings at Houghton Lake. I have audio of him saying that somewhere but the GG is bugging me to get going on cooking rice out in the Lyme Lounge, so I have to quit now. The Swamp Monster is hungry!

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