Snow at home

Dad sent me these pictures of the my home all covered in snow. Lovely.

The coolest grandma ever!

I went snowshoeing with my 80 year old grandmother yesterday! How cool is that?

I took the Jakonator up to her house this weekend, to get a much needed break. Jake wasn't so sure what he though of snow that went up to his chest, until I threw him in it. then he had a blast. So much so actually, that he was a pain in the patoosh.

I love this dog, he is wonderful, but he is absolutely terrible hiking. On leash, he pulls like a maniac (not at home, but here... there were so many new and interesting things!). Off leash, he listens, for a while... then, ha!

I like this picture because his devilish little eyes are glowing.

And this one? I think he looks like the big black wolf leaping through the forest, off to eat innocent little children or something.

I was thinking for a while about trying to keep this one, he is so cute and sweet, absolutely perfect at school and on the run there. But, I love this whole hiking, outdoorsy thing. I need a dog that will not be a total psycho out there. I was thinking about this a little. I really am sad that I didn't keep Mitch, I really loved that dog. But, he was really difficult to deal with here in Davis. My house was too small, my life too busy, my office mates too, well... sane. Basically, Mitch was the dog I want for the life I want, but he didn't work so well now. Now Jake, he's perfect for the life I've got, but terrible for the one I want. grrrrrrr

I kind of feel like I've been dating in the dog world. I keep bringing em home, giving em a trial run, moving on. Jake here is # 17 if you can believe it. I've had 17 dogs come through my house. That means I've had to give 17 of them up!! (though it does mean I'm getting more action in the dog world than the men one! ;)

One of these days..........

Katherine's book blog

Katherine has made a new blog about all of her favorite books and stuff. The great thing is, she makes a little money everytime people go to it, so... if you are bored, feeling generous, wanting a new book to read... check it out!
http://hubpages.com/hub/BookReview

update: you have to click on the advertisements for her to get paid. hmmm, if you are feeling a bit more than generous...

Lovely day

After taking Jake to the Farmer's market adoption event and doing my thing with the lab rescue people, Stephanie came and got me and we spent the rest of the day together. Since it was such a nice afternoon (I swear California has a pre-spring spring at the end of January, then it's going to get all nasty again till march), we decided to go for a hike. We went back to Cold canyon, a place I've posted about before. It was beautiful of course, but also very different than the place I went to last summer. (not surprising, but hey! let me run with it) There was mist and fog rolling all over everything, ferns growing, green hills (in California!), and birds everywhere.
Jake loved it. He had to smell everything. He is one goofy lovable teddy bear!

Of course, we made it back just before it got dark, I seem to have a pattern at this place.

All in all, it was grand. Oh, and amusingly, we ran into Eliska's son Honza there. He was out with some friends and their kids. Amusingly, we ran into them just after I had brought him up to tell Stephanie a funny story involving the man. ha!

Cockroaches!

I'm sitting at mys desk, eating my lunch, when suddenly I notice that there are a bazillion cockroach like baby things covering my keyboard, my desk, and even my tupperware container! Yuck yuck yuck! Oh lordy, I'm not the worlds biggest squeeler, but this may be a bit too much for me!

Political adventure

Heather? Politics? is that possible? Well, Mr Bill Clinton made a last minute stop at UC Davis last night and I couldn't resist the chance to come that close to a past president, and well... I had nothing better to do.

I went with Miss Stephanie and her 2 friends Nick and Nikki. Clinton wasn't supposed to start talking till 9ish, and they opened the doors supposedly around 8:15. Lets just say that they in no way were prepared for the masses of people that came along.

The line was incredible! It went on and on, 5 -10 people wide all the way around the rec center, no small feet. People had been there for hours. It was freezing and the wind incredible.

In fact, I took this picture when the cops were trying to get the line to move back to open a way for the official cars to come through. They kept telling us to get back to the 3rd tree, they would arrest us if we didn't comply etc. When people finally listened (it literally took the guy getting in his car and driving up on the lawn toward the crowd), a huge gust of wind hit and the tree started raining crap. Not just little things either, branches were coming down!

So, to give you a perspective of how huge this line was, here is a campus map. You can see off to the right the downtown section of Davis, a town of 70,000 people, so you can get an idea of the scale. The red marking traces the line. It was amazing.

We looked at the time and the line in front of us and decided there was no chance we were getting in. I had found a back entrance when I was wandering taking pictures, you could see through the doors and at least get a view of things, so we hung out there for a while, hoping for at least a glimpse. Then all hell broke loose on the field and everyone broke formation and started running towards the entrance. Nikki decided to join them but we thought she was crazy so we stayed put. Then, someone ran up and opened the doors and a group of us ran in before the guards could stop us! So we snuck in the back entrance. tee hee. The amazing thing was, we later found Nikki.

Just the adventure of getting in made it worth it.

There were so many people there that people were literally climbing up the walls to get a better view. I think the capacity of that place is supposed to be 7000, but we may have filled it even more. Clinton speaking was just another political talk, with my head screaming, yeah but! But hey, he is a pretty entertaining speaker. So, I saw Clinton talk, yippie!

Life's looking up

I got a new foster dog this weekend. This is Jake. He's about 4 or 5 and a total cuddle bug. His favorite thing to do is sit on your feet and breathe his nasty breath into your face. Cute huh? He is mixed with something, it doesn't show too much, he just looks like a very fluffy lab. Very fluffy. Then Brynn, our old labmate/student came to visit me. We got some lunch and went to the park to eat it and play with the dog. Only in California, no?

ONCE: Falling Slowly

I saw this movie last night, I highly recomend it. It was beautiful, and the music incredible. And, it's about a Czech girl and an Irish guy and I figured out that she was Czech before they said. We can pretend that means I'm picking up some Czech from all this exposure!

Cesar!!!!

I got pictures from Cesar! I do oh so miss that boy, sigh... but emailing him is helping me practice my spanish, and if this Easter Island thing actually does work out, I may get to see him! Wouldn't that be lovely? Anyways, here are some pics he sent me of his nephew Tomas. Cute, no?

Out of Curiosity

Just because I am curious... who is checking my blog from Huntington Beach? I can't figure out who it might be and you are pretty regular. So, satisfy my curiosity, pretty please!

Crazy dog!

I got an update on Monty a few days ago. crazy damn dog! It starts out all sweet, how well he is doing with the family, how much they love him. The thing is, he may love them just a bit too much. Michaela, the middle child, and Monty have a special bond and they love each other very much. Well, one day last week they were at the park and Michaela called him from across the way. So excited to see her, he ran full bore across the park... smack into her little 12 year old body. Nick said they hit so hard that he could hear Monty yelp from the other side of the park... and they managed to break Michaela's femur. Yes, broke her leg! It is a damn good thing that they love that ridiculous dog so much. crazy.

Last Oregon pictures for a while

Well, its back to the grind and I really can't complain because I got almost an extra week in my happy place. Here are some of the last pics from Oregon.

I'm going to miss this little one

Daddy torturing the child

I got to spend part of a day with my friend Rob, he's a lot of fun to talk to. And we got to experience the amazing friendliness of Oregonians on public transportation. weee

Oh, and by the way, I don't have a picture, but on my adventurous drive home (all the horror stories about the weather had me terrified, but it ended up being rather tame, if looooong) I saw one of the most unusually beautiful things. I had just come out of Ashland and over the worst part of the Siskiyou pass. I was stuck in Ashland for over an hour in a chain inspection line (read a good 3 chapters of my book though!) and so I lost most of my daylight time. As I crossed the Oregon California border, the sun was going down. But instead of turning colors, the sky went silver, like the old moves or something. Then the mountain/hill in front of me was covered in snow with little tree/shrubs poking out all black. The entire scene was devoid of any color. Normally, even at night you get an impression of brown or green or something. But this was truly black and white, like a photograph. The only color was the red taillights of the cars in front of me. It was amazing.

Carlos Vives. Déjame entrar...

so I will remember who he is...

Bacilos - Tabaco Y Chanel

another one!

Justification?

So, this blog has actually become useful, and not just for sharing pictures with all of you! Scientifically, I am now justified spending all this time on it! It turns out that another totora scientist was searching on the web for my plant, and found my site. She happens to live in Portland so we got together to have a little chat. This is Candace, she works on Easter Island.

We are now talking about collaborations and sharing data, and even me possibly joining her on a trip to the island. How cool would that be?

New Years, and its aftermath

Just some pictures of our cool and mellow new year's eve.

Before we left, I got the goofy family to pose, lots of red no?

We went back to Theresa's parents house for the evening. Guitar hero was the big hit.

Quig here was the undisputed champion (I think his real name is Andy)

Then there was the chocolate fountain. Holie was very excited.

It was a fun party, there were even dogs to cuddle with. And if my new year's eve kiss was from a big slobbery dog? I guess I cant really complain.

The next day we spent relaxing. The cats were wonderfully cuddly.

And here, here are my girls. Happiness.