From the eyes of the undergrad...and other musings from this week

I must preface this by saying that in my academic work it has been some years since I have sat a proper exam. In the latter years of my undergrad degree and throughout my masters I generally had term paper requirements or essay exams. So, I haven't seen a scantron in about 6 or 7 years. As a result, I've been sweating the thought of the 4 exams that I will have to take in my 200 level Physical Geography course this term.
My fears were completely unfounded. This morning I sat in my seat going over my notes as the undergraduates filed in around me, I heard various comments and questions to the tune of: "did you study for this?" and "I feel pretty ready for this, I got about an hour in last night." Someone in my immediate radius was giving off a familiar and illicit smell so strong I thought I might be subject to a contact high...and then, a student sat down next to me and asked if the test was today. I couldn't help but smile. I studied a bit on Tuesday (collecting my notes etc.) and then for about 6 hours on and off last night and as I was falling asleep subjected Joe to various facts and lists...mumbling into my pillow about 4 factors affecting variable insolation and so on. Anyone who called to wish Joe a happy birthday yesterday also got a healthy dose of information about the atmosphere...I was a bit much. So, sitting there this morning, I figured I was either grossly over prepared or right on target.

I finished the test in 10 minutes.
So, there must be indeed, something to be said for my extra years of education and study "practice" ...perhaps.

I also had opportunity to bounce around research ideas and thoughts with some of the department's graduate students today, which was exceptionally rewarding and quite daunting. I feel a bit torn in two. As though I'm smiling and crying at the same time. I definitely have my work cut out for me.

In other news, the temperature and precipitation here has finally allowed us to put some seeds and seedlings in the ground, so we've transformed the front yard into a couple of odd looking dirt plots that will hopefully look less like a pet cemetery once green shoots start showing themselves.

We planted a few varieties of squash, tomatoes, lettuces and spinach and then also some bell and jalapeno peppers. I'm not sure how the peppers will do, we had great success with them on the east coast, but I'm concerned with how they'll fare here. We also seeded various flowers around the yard, and put in some herb seedlings and strawberry starts (which, if my experience in the NW is properly recalled, will take over the rest of the backyard before the summer is out). The snap peas and poppies I planted back in February are going strong, which is encouraging; hopefully we'll have some luck with the rest. In the meantime, I'm resisting the urge to pluck up one of the heads of garlic to see what's going on under the soil...watching and waiting for the stalks to show signs that the growing period is done.

...and from the tulip festival, up in Mount Vernon a couple of weeks ago. Beautiful, but a bit cold. We were lucky enough to be passengers on this trip and as a result, had a very relaxed and fabulous time.

So it goes...

1922-2007

Pretending it's warm

At this point I'm just hoping it will eventually break 60 degrees here...someday. Otherwise we've been outside in long underwear, weeding, sanding dowels for our wine rack project and most recently, utilizing some of the chicken wire that has been precariously perched against the inside of our fence between our yard and our neighbors (since she hasn't moved it in 9 months, we figured it was up for grabs). We cut a length of about 10 feet and then set it back at it's neutral position. We used the wire to set up a very, very basic composting bin. It's not pretty but we're hoping that we might actually see some compost eventually. Also, after a trip up north we acquired a large cardboard box which fit perfectly inside the wire structure (gracias to the Mt. Vernon homestead), which we just put in this past week (but it not pictured). We're hoping that the cardboard will help the compost pile retain some heat. Our modest pile will never get to the temperatures that it needs to be to produce compost quickly; however, pretty much everything we've read says that you can't really, fuck up biological decomposition-- eventually it will be compost. So maybe for next years garden. In the meantime I'm looking for a local source of compost and sandy loam to spread over our vegetable growing area. On the upside of things, our changing work scheduling has made it so we've forgotten to put the garbage bin out now 3 weeks running and it still isn't even halfway full. :)The trees in the backyard are blooming and with all of this cold windy weather it looks a bit like snow from all the blossoms falling to the ground. The pear tree in the front yard has peaked and now looks a bit dirty in comparison. But here it is in full bloom, right before it rained last week.