Experimental torture

It has been a crazy week plus of harvesting my big common garden experiment
As you can see, everything has grown quite a bit. You might also notice the sun is setting. Well, it was one of those kinds of weeks.
We had to take water samples from every pot.
Wear protective clothing

Deal with funky bugs (any idea what this is anyone?)

Be a little silly, just to keep sane.

Recruit random people (ah the theme of my PhD) to carry heavy pots. I think these things weigh around 40-50 lbs. yippie! There were 216 of the buggerdly things. Buff girls.

Look at those roots! That is the amazing Huanchaco. This silly plant just kicked but compared to all the others. Not so fun to clean though. Those roots are harder to clean than a child's hair with gum, I swear!

Lots of opportunities to get slimy.

And man, did those plants stink sometimes!

Ah, the joy of working sun up to sundown! My darlin Stephanie was sure a trouper though.

Spontaneous adventure

I went to Yosemite this weekend with a bunch of boys. It was a totally last minute decision and admittedly kind of crazy after the exhausting week I had with my experiment, but hey, it's Yosemite! It was a bit of a shock to the system to be around so many boys after my time in the girly wetland lab, but it was also tons of fun.
I know this picture is basically the same as the first one, but I couldn't decide, so you get both. It was spectacularly beautiful there (duh).

The group that I joined was a bunch of climber boys. Yosemite is a happy place for climbers. And, to be totally crude, a happy place for the girl who watched them. ;)

I even climbed a little bit myself. If you blow this picture up, and look really close, you can see me up on the rock.

I made it to the top, but I must admit, I was quite happy to reach the ground. That rock was hot. (hope this doesn't freak you out too much Mom, but see, I made it safe)

Interesting belay technique.

If you think the view is nice from down here, you should see it from the top. Not that I was going to carry my camera up there! This is Erik and Patrick standing with me.

Not a terrible way to spend a weekend, no?

Karen Party

We had a celebrate Karen party on the weekend of the 18th. We planted the rose at Napa Hospice and the tree at a local park with Karen's ashes.
After the hard stuff, we had a wonderful get together, lots of food and stories.
Karen had an amazing collection of pins, she wore them on everything. We asked her friends to take one or two in remembrance.
It was fun to hang out with all these people who loved her so very much.

Garden tragedy

I came home last Friday, after a very long day, and this is what greeted me.
Two years ago, my garden looked like this, it has grown wonderfully since then. My landlord came in without any notice or anything, and chopped it all down. Since my garden is one of the things that helps me keep my sanity living in town, I was obviously quite devastated. When I complained, the manager said she didn't know the work crew was coming till that morning, so how was she supposed to tell me? By not letting them come in till you've given me notice! Arrrrrrrgggggggg

On top of that, they are making me get rid of this stuff too. The garden that I put there with full permission, spent lots of money and time on, and even made sure that it doesn't hamper fire trucks and other drivers. I am so mad I can't stand it!

Crazy Dreams

I woke up this morning with this song stuck in my head, essentially, it was a soundtrack to all my morning dreams. Saw this movie when I was a kid. Not sure how it got into my brain, but needless to say, it's been persistent all day.

More trips to Grandma's

After a thwarted attempt to go backpacking on the coast this weekend, I convinced my friends Justin and Jay to head up to Grandma's house. Since it had the benefits of endless hiking and warm beds, they quickly agreed.

It seemed everything was out to thwart us again (more about that later). I waxed poetic about the beauty of Ebbetts pass, about the wonderful hiking and fall color, etc. And the pass was closed due to the recent snow. So, undaunted, we hiked around Union Lake instead. No aspens alas, but ...
Jay was one of the guys with me on the CESRI trip.

Justin is his amusing roommate.

We finally made it to our hiking spot, and realized it is hunting season. Rinley already looks frighteningly like a deer, so we found some old flagging tape and made him a bow. I think he feels its an insult to his masculinity, but oh well.

It snowed on us off and on all day, you can see it in this pic (Elephant Rock lake) if you blow it up. Odd to be snowed on while the sun is shining down...

Oh, and there was plague. Well now...

It was lovely though
Here's Elephant rock, or at least I think that is the one they call Elephant rock.
Justin desperately wanted to climb to the top. We didn't make it all the way up, but got pretty close. Even Rinley, what a champ.
It is lovely country up there.

Rock Lake, the unforeseen end to our journey. I was an idiot and tweaked my knee, forcing us to turn back. Made a fun hike out, I can tell you.
What follows is what I like to call my segment on 'Boys will be boys' feats of skill and strength, ahrrr!

Rock flinging
'whack a mole'
More rocks, this time to crack ice!
Tests of bravery and skill
Conquering new lands
Scaling mountains
Ahhh, isn't life grand?
Even if you sometimes pay for the adventures...
Though it's nice to have Grandma around to patch us all up after. Yea Grandma!

Sleepy boy

Rinley and I are adjusting to each other very well, having tons of fun and invading each other's space. He is practically the perfect dog. Except when he steals my pillow of course! ;) I love this dog and can't wait for all of you to meet him. He has finally learned that the linoleum isn't going to kill him so we can get to the office without any major crisis. Desmond is only slightly wary of him and is willing to walk right in front of him, when he's asleep. The major exception to that is when he is in front of her food bowl. Nothing stops her from eating, not even the scary dog. I'm madly in love!

(This gush is due to the fact that other than my little man, there is absolutely nothing of note going on in my life right now. Hopefully I will have something interesting -in the good sense- soon.)

Great Big Sea!

Last night I got to go to see my favorite band play in San Francisco. Great Big Sea is a pretty darn goofy collection of guys that play sea chanties from Newfoundland. I happen to love them. Yeah me!