Summer Field Work

Here are a few pictures from the field work I did in the Sierra Nevada mountains in California this summer. The project involved capturing newborn mule deer fawns and putting radio collars on them so we could monitor their survival rates. Most of the fawns pictured are less than 12 hours old and weighed less than 8 pounds. When they're that young, deer fawns aren't real steady on their feet, so their strategy for avoiding predators is to simply keep perfectly still no matter what. They're pretty easy to handle as a result...assuming you can find them. This was definitely an amazing experience. I got to see some incredible country at elevations up to 12,000 feet, and doing hands-on work with brand new baby deer is hard to beat. I love being a biologist! Oh, and I also found a really neat rubber boa while I was there.

Welcoming Committee

I found this little guy on our living room window Monday night. He must have heard we were moving in and came to lend a hand.


I'm not much of a bug person, but I think praying mantises are really interesting looking.

Also, in commemoration of the move, Wilbur got a new stick for his aquarium.


It's so cute to watch him curiously explore the things we put in there. He's such a sweet lil' snake. And, as you can see, it was a pretty hot day in our new apartment.

Moving Day

We moved to a new apartment 5 days ago. It took us 4 days to pack, move, unpack and organize all our stuff at our new home. If only Speed-moving were an Olympic sport, we could have brought home the gold.

Before we started packing, I decided to undertake the cringe-inducing task of going through all of my old college binders; all my notes, handouts, doodles, etc. I kept a few things, but look at the size of the pile I threw away.


It's such a cleansing feeling to chuck useless stuff in the garbage. You know that stuff that just sits there because you say to yourself, "Self, I might use that some day," but you never do. So, keeping that in mind, I looked at all those notes and said to myself, "Self, you'll never use or look at those notes again. Throw them away." So I did.

And it felt so good.

Bombs away! Hee hee.

That pile got twice as high after Ryan added his own stuff.

Seriously though, this move was such a relief for us. We had no bad neighbors living on our floor, or the floor under us, but on the bottom floor (3 floors down) were an interesting group who liked to get Rowdy Drunk and play their music so loud that it would vibrate our floor! We happily left them behind. :)

The neighborhood was safe enough--Dad accidentally left his expensive camera bag out overnight when we were moving in and no one stole it--but the apartment was really uncared for. Holes were punched in the doors when we moved in last August... and, in spite of numerous phone calls to maintenance, they were still there a year later when we moved out August 2008. Maintenance was either seriously underpaid or understaffed. I'm guessing both.


Here's a pic of Ryan sliding a full box into the living room. If you look close you can see one of the punch-holes in the door behind him. It adds a certain ambiance, I think. ;)


And here's the packed up living room/dining room. So we moved from this (above) to this (below).

Oooh!

Ahhh.

Now we're on the second floor of a 2-floor building of 4 apartments and no one lives under us! Yay! And some of our good friends live in this complex as well. Again: Yay! And I have space for an actual garden. Thrice: Yay!

Trip to Texas

Well, well, well. Something I thought I would never do is have a blog on the net. But here I am.

Mom and I went on a road trip adventure last week and I thought that would be great material for my first ever post.

Here's a pic of the hotel Ryan and I stayed in the night before I flew out from Salt Lake. We have been so busy over the last few months that we decided we needed a little vacation. This place was so colorful. The zebra striped stool in the bottom left actually has gold tassels around the base.


We flew down to TX--actually we met there because my mom lives in CO--to help my two aunts go through what was left of Mema's old stuff. It was a whirlwind packing trip and there were lots of things that we were taking with us back to our own homes but somehow we managed to get it all stuffed into Molly's car, which she sold to mom. Good thing the car was coming with us too. We'd have never been able to get all that stuff home otherwise.
Here's what the car looked like when we were ready for the return trip to CO. The rear view mirror was a little useless at this point. Driving was definitely a two person job.


And here's a lil' Texas gecko. I used to catch these things all the time. Isn't he cute with his little pink feet and stripy tail? I was really happy to see one on this trip, because I don't know when I'll be going down to TX again.


Before we said goodbye to the valley (McAllen/Mission area) we got to visit the Erchingers and see, one last time, the house my parents rented from them. George and Sally are a wonderful couple that we were able to live beside for three years. During that short time they were like grandparents to my sis and me. And you can't tell from the picture, but George is a great woodworker. The walls of the living room were covered with elaborate crosses and religious plaques that he made. He gave us three crosses before we left: one for Ryan and me, one for mom and dad and one for Erin and Daniel.


Here's our little rented home. George built this house for his mother before he was twenty years old! Impressive, huh?

We only lived here for three years (we moved out shortly after Erin's third birthday) but whenever I think of my "childhood home" I think of this place. There was tons of space to explore and Erin and I had so much fun running around the yard and just being kids.

We also got to see Roger and Darcy and Kim. Darcy makes great salsa! She also has a cacti garden that I was just drooling over. Of course, down there they can just plop those plants in the ground outside and they grow just fine.


Doesn't Roger look just like my dad? They are brothers. I guess that explains it. ;)

We also got to see mom's brother Michael and his wife Colleene on the way out of TX. And I got to see Michelle and my cousin Rebecca and her cute little Emma who is...2, I think? She is a little energizer bunny, that's for sure! She just ran around the house in circles singing, "Emma funny, Emma funny," in a high little voice.

And that's about it. We drove up to CO and then I flew home to ID, and now that I'm back Ryan and I are going on a date to see The Dark Knight a second time.

Life is good.