Upon the spectacular recommendation of...

The one saving grace of being in Vegas was the half day sojourn that I took to Red Rock Canyon with some fellow grad students. Andy had lamented his unsuccessful attempts at going (I did see the Red Rock Casino as we drove out) and recommended that I go. I must say that amid all the crap of Vegas there is this nice bit. These are some photos taken by another student, I left my camera behind (not feeling like I needed to capture the seediness of Vegas) for Joe to chronicle the changes at Oakshire.













Absolutely spectacular. And, while my mind is still reeling from the information overload of the conference, and class started on Monday, this is about all I can put together at the moment.

Briefly, I'm excited, enthusiastic and overwhelmed! : )

Hello tommorrow, goodbye to yesterday!

I love school, I truly do. But I have never been happier for a quarter to end, ever. I officially finished this quarter at 3:25 pm today when I submitted my students final grades. (They're still emailing me of course)

I feel as if, with this benchmark, I can shut the door on the emotional upheaval of this past season. Forget the bad things...and focus on the good. So it goes.

To celebrate I planted some seeds and put them in the cold frame that Joe built out of a window I bought at the rebuilding center (for 1 dollar) and some scrap wood, replanted my lavender plants on the side yard, plotted out the front yard planting and went grocery shopping. I'm going to hit up the garden center tomorrow for some shade loving plants, herbs and ideas.

I have two whole days to myself before I have to be back in school mode. The week of spring break proper will find me at the Association of American Geographers Conference in Las Vegas.

The best thing I can say about it being in Vegas is that it's in the 80's there, so if I ever make it out of the hotel (I've tentatively planned to get some hiking in) I'll be able to see that bright round thing in the sky and feel warm.

A giant band-aid

First off, I love that there is a weekly address by our President. For me, it is reminiscent what I've read about the heyday of radio, but instead, it's harnessing the internet as the medium.

I've got the White House blog on my RSS feed and while I don't always take the time to read each post, I did listen to the President's address on food safety issues.

It has been my argument, for some time now, that big agriculture and large food processing plants are inherently problematic in terms of environmental degradation and human health and safety. So, I am slightly disappointed that the President's solution to the increasingly common outbreaks of bad food items is to reinforce the existing system with more money and new faces.


From the White House Blog

I will admit, that his charisma is unmatched, he has me believing that this band-aid approach will at least remedy some of the existing problems with the system. It's too bad he can't call for the overhaul of the agro-food system as we know it.

...while not working on my paper for school

I saw this post by a friend in Portland that made me happy. Women are quite underrepresented in the beer industry...
Also, when we were in Bend last Spring we had opportunity to visit Bend Brewing, which not only has spectacular beers, but a great menu and a nice pub (something that I think a lot of breweries have had a hard time combining-er, to my taste that is).

In memoriam.

I keep thinking that as the days go by eventually, that last post will just drop off the page and I won't have to see it anymore or think about it.We went and picked out a tree for Quasi. It seemed kind of funny to get one that is dormant, but we decided on a cherry (self-pollinating - Stella).

We think that calling it the Quasi tree might give it a complex, making it think it's only a "kind-of" tree, so I've taken to calling it the 'bubala tree,' since we had nicknamed Quas, bub.

I can't wait to watch it grow.

Quasi 2002 - 2009

Quasi left us today. Our household will never be the same.
Quasi

Last Wednesday he was diagnosed with severe anemia, on Friday morning he woke us and we rushed him to the emergency vet hospital where they helped him recover (he was placed in an oxygen cage and was given a diuretic) from acute dyspnea, caused by a large amount of fluid in his lungs. They also expressed a concern with potential heart disease, and we spent the weekend on edge trying to encourage him to eat and drink. On Monday we took him to a specialist at OSU, where, due to concerns of dehydration and renal failure (no sign of major heart disease) he was admitted to the ICU for further care. Over the course of the week he responded well to the fluids and was showing signs of improvement. The doctors, having conducted an ultrasound of his heart and then stomach, taken samples from his kidney, liver and spleen and completing numerous blood tests were unable to determine the cause of his anemia (lymphoma-and cancer in general, poisoning, and hemolysis were all ruled out). They began to treat him for potential blood parasites (with doxycyline) and discussed a bone marrow aspiration and/or steroid treatment to stimulate red blood cell production.

I was able to visit him this past Wednesday and he showed definite signs of improvement, he was eating and drinking and was alert and happy and chatted with me when I came into the ICU. After an initial greeting I sat down cross legged beside his cage and he (on a 6 foot IV leash) stepped out and curled up in my lap, for some belly love and then a nap. He looked great and we made arrangements with the vet team to continue his treatment at home while troubleshooting the anemia. Last night, however, he began to take fluid into his lungs again and his red blood cell count was at the lowest it had been yet. He suffered to breathe. Instead of bringing our baby home, we will have to retrieve his empty carrier.
I can't begin to express the helplessness and despair I have felt over the last week. It has been the longest week with no reprieve.

Weather.

Although we are now experiencing beautiful sunny weather, albeit freakishly cold, the Pacific Northwest has had a significant amount of precipitation in the past month or so. Joe's Dad sent these pics from the snow and flooding:
Sitting here now, you can barely see any evidence of the tremendous amount of water, except for the next-door neighbor's collapsed boat shelter.

Winter.

I'm going into hobbit...hermit...hibernation mode.

I wake up in the dark and I come home in the dark.

I get home, we make dinner and the next stop is bed.

Will someone please just feed me enough food so I can sleep through winter?

Next step.

In the first week, of the first month, of the new year...

2009 looks funny. Although, perhaps less so than its immediate predecessor, in my handwriting, that is; the number eight in my script is not a beautiful thing.

Tomorrow I return to campus for the beginning of winter quarter. I am anxious and excited. I spent a relatively lazy break reading on the couch that was punctuated by some travel and a great new year celebration.

Here's to a new quarter and to a new year...among other exciting new things that come to mind (but are not limited to...) a new administration, new books, new recipes, new thoughts and new hopes. The thrill of the passing of one year into the next is starting to fade as I age, but this year portends hope and dreams for me...just a bit...and I'm glad it's here.

Catching up.

So I survived the first quarter of school. I must say that due to scheduling conflicts I had a rather light introductory period. So next quarter promises to be cruel. However, looking back, the most difficult part had nothing to do with me being a student, but with my new experience of being an instructor, I was suddenly responsible for other people's grades and to a certain extent their performance. I spent the majority of the time working for my students instead of for myself. That will also have to change next quarter.

I spent most of finals week grading (I took my one and only final on Monday). Although, I must say it went spectacularly faster without my own schoolwork to do and also because I had company. The first two pages I graded in one go while watching "It's a Wonderful Life" with two of my fellow TA's. We sat there eating popcorn and pretzels and took turns calling out the best wrong answers on our respective tests. The multiple choice just flew by. (Unfortunately it was 2 pages of multiple choice, 2 pages of short answer and 2 pages of essay).

So, having needed less time to grade (I thought it would take me all week) I was able to use the weekend before grades were due to cast a fresher look on the bathroom (and entertain my Mom, who was visiting). We had replaced the flooring, molding and faucet in the summer during the 'great' improving period, but my imagination only goes so far. Everyday I stared at the walls trying to figure out how to make it look less awful. Apparently I had writers block.

After a visit from the Freeds (in which we got to play at the kids science museum!), and picking Michelle's imagination we decided that paint, specifically, cream colored, would help. My Mom offered her veteran painting skills. So, Joe and I found some zero VOC paint in a nice light cream color. I don't generally paint walls. I have only ever purchased one gallon of paint and it was for the outside of the house and barely matched due to light exposure. All my other painting experiences come from using paint already...er...'in stock' at the house we were at...or otherwise used in another potion of the house. (The pantry paint is leftover from previous owners). So this was really my first true interior painting experience. The cream is really buttery, as in yellow cream ...on the walls (as opposed to at the store and in the paint can...). So not exactly the color we were going for, but attractive nonetheless.

We also finally found a light fixture that we both liked to replace the ridiculous hollywood light. In previous visits we had been hanging out in the bathroom lighting section (disappointing, gaudy, expensive, ugly) go figure. This time we broke protocol and took an extra step left into the kitchen track lighting section. Actually this was Joe and my Mom, I was busy trying to swindle some carpet tape out of an employee (they only sell it in extremely long rolls and I really only needed 5 inches). In any event, we spent the weekend in the bathroom as a team, Catch even tried to help. The only thing left is to figure out what to to with that super sexy cabinet. Another day perhaps. But for now I'm spending my time on the couch, next to the heater, watching various forms of precipitation fall and switching off between getting ready for next quarter and being a complete sloth (it is break after all).

Frosting on our house

Snow! Almost 6 inches.

I took a really crappy panorama (see above) which I will have to redo if we get another dusting and/or I gain the strength of will to leave the indent of the couch where I've been cozily reading all day...


We took Catch out to play in his first snow and he bounced around and mewed loudly at being brought back inside...

Some things.

While traveling over the Thanksgiving holiday, we spied this at JFK. Imagine trying to scrounge change for one of those...

Ipod vending machine at JFK

We had opportunity to spend some quality time at JFK on the way home, and let me tell you, the baggage claim in terminal 3 is not the best place to catch a nap when waiting on a flight. It was an otherwise lovely trip and despite the weather and flight interruptions and although short, well worth it.

During our trip, people inquired about life, the universe and everything...of main interest, classes, jobs, the house and the car. We had been mostly winding down on the house and after 30 seconds of my chattering about classes it's really only interesting to me. The car is always a topic of interest to my family because it is getting on in years and mileage (274000 or so at last count) and because it was my Dad's for 11 years before it came to us. We're always happy to report that it is doing well, and so of course that means that something is bound to go wrong with it once we get home.

After almost 17 years things start to wear down on a car, in this case, the motor for the driver's side window. The window went down one day shortly after arriving home and just wouldn't go back up again. This was Joe's way of getting home over the Santiam pass without freezing.

It's about fucking time.

Two years is way too long to have to watch an election campaign. Tonight, two years of effort will be played out in just a few hours. I can't wait.

Something has to change.

Hug a tree

Joe and I, along with Laurel, who was in town visiting (brave and daring), struck out with a small group of geography students Saturday morning to attend a tree planting out on Green Island. It has been a very long time since I went tree planting...at least since high school. And oh my goodness, it is so satisfying.

Our group consisted of about 12 people, but the volunteer 'task force' was about 100 to 150 when we got there. A bunch of friendly and funny people gathering around eating organic pop tarts and bagels or enjoying coffee or apple cider. (I'm not going to lie. I ate a pop-tart. It was delicious.)

The McKenzie River Trust had 14,000 trees to be planted to restore the riparian habitat along the McKenzie River. That's right 14,000 trees. It was kick ass. We had about 15 people per group and a set of rows we were responsible for. So we spent the morning leap frogging each other as we planted (in pre-dug holes--thank goodness) a nice variety of trees, including: oak, cottonwood, red alder, valley ponderosa pine and big-leaf maple to name a few. I think I could even identify some of these trees now. In four hours the task was done. It was glorious and immensely rewarding. Although, I woke up this morning feeling like I had been in a permanent crouch all night. So stiff.

It was a beautiful sunny day, punctuated with funny story telling, some politics, some Micheal Pollan talk, fly-fishing tales, and some tree-lovin'...I actually saw a little girl run up and put her arms around a seedling as tall as her and give a big hug.

*Thanks to Leslie for the photos*

How time flies...

Tomorrow will be the fourth official week of school and my fifth week as a 'productive' student and instructor wandering about campus. FOURTH. I feel as though I have barely even started and now it's almost half over. I have stars in my eyes and a healthy sense of fear. I have an office that is shared with three masters students and I have office hours, sometimes students even come and see me and ask questions. I have classes, I have seminars, I have weekly meetings and reading groups....I love it. Some days I feel in my element and some days I cower at the responsibility of it all and wonder at all the things I don't know (how did I get here?!)

The past few weeks have been mostly devoted to being an instructor and trying to remember what it was like to be a freshman (I'm having difficulty there).

I'm both excited and overwhelmed. Some days favor one over the other.
Just some things:

- the library. I love the library. and it is dead sexy to hear that my books are due back in April. APRIL!

-the people. they are brilliant. they are totally immersed in their research and keen to hear what mine will be.

-the students. they are unbelievable. the don't read, they don't take notes, they don't talk and they turn in papers that have no clear direction or demonstration that they read the assignment.

- the campus. It's huge and beautiful. I'm getting a lot of exercise and have spent some quality time marveling at the trees.

- the academics. Oh the things you can think! I'm taking climatology, two graduate seminars, and two reading groups...it's incredible, I won't bore you with the details.

- our house. It is such a joy to come home to. Joe has been doing some finishing touches and has been taking care of me as I wend my way through all this new territory.

Moving and Improving - Part 25 - Smothering the grass.

I had this wild and crazy idea about how to kill the grass over the winter. In my mind, it was a lot simpler. In any event, I collected all the newspapers I could over the last month of our stay in Portland and we spent this past weekend papering the lawn to smother the grass.
We had some compost delivered. Er, some meaning, 17 yards. We got enough to cover the front and back lawn at about 3 inches deep.

It was amazing. Smelly, hot and a lot of work, but we managed it. Now it's time for some nitrogen fixing cover (I'm thinking alfalfa...but we'll see) and some winter veggies.

Front:
Back:

We saved a small plot in the back (near the porch, Joe is standing on it to take the picture) that was previously covered in bricks to plant some winter greens over...but everywhere else got newspaper treatment.

Moving and Improving - Part 24 - Odds and Ends

Well we made the mudroom a room, and really all that was left was the finishing touches.

Like adding shelving and molding.