I am happy to be back on routine. It has been a whirlwind of a month for me, but things are finally settling down and normalizing. After taking a three week hiatus to work as a summer camp instructor, I spent a week in Carson City for Ecological Site Description training, followed by a long weekend of travel to West Virginia for a family reunion. Unfortunately seeds did not wait around to be collected and this month is going to require a solid push to reach our target number of collections. Being back on the routine that I have come to know is certainly going to help that effort, as it will allow me to focus on work rather than a slew of other unrelated chores. Something as simple a finally fixing my bike, and riding to work, not driving, has really helped get me back into the swing of things with the Bishop BLM office. After a painfully slow start to seed collecting back in the spring, things have surprisingly picked up, perhaps due to the decent amount of summer rain the eastern sierra has received this year. Summer camp was an awesome experience that took a ton of energy and I truly enjoyed, but there is something so energizing about wandering the sage brush steepe gathering and scouting for seeds. Just today, mid collection, I had the joy of being right in the middle of a heavy hail storm, which led to beautiful skies and nice cool temperatures. Good to back out in the field experiencing and conserving the wonders of nature.

Tyler