Tues, 21 Jul

I spent the day in the office... it's a nice office, although it tends to get warm on sunny afternoons. Beside my laptop, I also have access to a Metla computer which gives me better Internet (faster than my laptop Wi-Fi). Unfortunately, Metla has less access to on-line journals, so I've been searching with the Metla computer and then downloading with my laptop. Juha and I spent some time this afternoon trying to finalize the biochar pellet study, and I think we have reached agreement among science, economics, and time. It looks to be a good study. About 15:00 Risto stopped by and convinced me (didn't take that much effort) that we should walk to a nearby lake and look at a pair of Red-throated Loons with chicks. The lake was probably a 10-minute hike, but the scenary makes it prone for becoming completely lost. Rolling hills covered with Scots pine with a blueberry understory all starts to look alike. We found the lake and the birds. Along the way we tried the blueberries, but they seemed a bit tart, and Risto thought they were not quite ripe. I think I'll have to start making daily forays to the forest to see how they are progressing.

Bird of the day: Red-throated Loon