Lots of light and long days

The summer solstice has left us with lots of day light, rain showers, and warmth this year which is a great change from last year's droughty summer. I've been in PA for over a month now working relentlessly on my research with a few breaks here and there. I had the joy of hosting my mom, dad, aunt and uncle for a few days. Our time together was full of belly-laughs, Amish buggies, and car shows. My mom stayed at my house, a tiny studio apartment, for five nights leaving us plenty of time to discuss financial investments, potential birthday gifts, and upcoming adventures. I am truly blessed to have such an awesome mom. When my dad got to town, he was quick to volunteer as my field assistant. Dad, I promise you will be acknowledged appropriately for your hard work.

Other highlights from the summer thus far include an unexpected weekend adventure to a 2,500 share CSA farm called Spiral Path farm and a short trip back to NH to see Ryan and Clyde. Most of my time has...unfortunately, or is it fortunate?...been spent either at the research farm or in the laboratory processing samples. I certainly look forward to finishing up all the processing!

As the summer heat sets in Ito and I will likely cool off in the irrigation pond pictured below. Not a bad spot, eh?

The growing season is here

First off...three cheers for the end of the school semester. Hip-hip-hooray! It is strange to say, but as of this morning I officially completed my last graduate course, EVER. If I did my math correctly I have been in college (undergrad + grad) for nine years and just now, today, I finished all of my coursework. Whoo hoo! Thanks to my advisor for taking me and our new postdoc out for seafood to celebrate his arrival and my accomplishments this semester.

Now I can spend the next 2-3 years finishing up my collecting , analyzing, and writing up my data. So much to look forward to; seriously, I'm quite excited about it.

As the spring semester ends summer is upon us, which means I have to pack my bags yet again and move back to my field site for a summer of fieldwork. This summer is slated to be particularly fruitful now that I have my research ideas organized, my field experiments designed and a few publications to work on...wow, academia has truly taken over my life! The downside of the summer is that Ito and I will be away from Ry and Clyde for 3 whole months. I'll be the first to admit, distance makes the heart grow fonder, but it can be difficult going from a home with three boys that love me to having just one snuggle bunny. I guess Ito will feel like a king this summer.

I'll pack the car tomorrow and hit the road on Thursday. Once I get resettled I'll give a more thorough update + pictures of sights and sounds from our trip. 

Circle of Life

This past Tuesday Ryan and I came home and noticed that our only male Cayuga duck was missing from the flock. We were upset to lose him because he was one of our first birds and the mate of our favorite female Cayuga. The saddest part of the whole saga is that his mate has continued to call out for him the entire week. She runs around a little crazily looking and calling for him every time we let the birds out of the coop, which just breaks my heart.

Two nights ago Ryan noticed that a group of mammals were grouped at the back of our yard. From a distance we couldn't tell if they were baby raccoons, opossums or cats. As we walked closer we could tell they were baby red foxes!

Red foxes are ubiquitous in New Hampshire, but this is the first time we've had the luxury of watching a wild family of dogs. So every night since then we've been keeping an eye on the new pack watching them play, hunt, and be wild. Here's the youtube video I uploaded today capturing some of their cuteness: http://youtu.be/Op-L0yDygZI I counted six pups. And the mom and dad come around every evening. The adults are much more secretive so its hard to snap a picture of them. Once they see us they tend to drop what ever they're doing which is usually eating (usually a rodent or bird...not ours luckily) and hide in the woods till we walk away. Of course, we keep our distance from all of these animals because they are wild. And other than the first bird they snagged, we have not left any food outside for them to enjoy. They are truly wild, but their den is in a perfect location for us to keep an eye on them.

Because we like our new neighbors, but recognize there can be a bit of tension between hungry foxes and well-fed outdoor ducks and birds, we are building a rather extensive coop enclosure so that our birds can go outside without becoming our neighbors' dinner. We're still trying to figure out the optimum design...thanks in part to Ryan's meticulous calculations of not only the dimensions of the materials we need, but also whether or not the materials will fit in our cars :) ...so it might be a few weeks until we finish constructing the new coop addition and the birds can roam freely again. For now they only come out with supervision, by either myself, Ryan or our dogs.

It is sad for both Ryan and I as well as the female duck that our male Cayuga is gone, but we are quite excited to have new four legged neighbors that are cute and fun to watch. Plus, it's kind of cool that we provided them with their "welcome to the neighborhood" dinner.

Attitude Check

My patience for people has diminished this semester; particularly when it comes to flawed logic or lack of effort. The later, in particular, has a way of burrowing under my skin to the point that I can't seem to keep my mouth shut when I observe it. It was recently brought to my attention that this new found characteristic has made some people shy away from me and others perceive me as mean. Both outcomes, in my opinion, are less than ideal, but when you've had it up to your eyeballs with something what is one to do?

I often try to put myself in the other person's shoes and/or reflect on a comparable personal experience so that I can understand his/her perspective. This, however, results in me trying to fix whatever problem the person is facing, which is useful to people open to advice and obnoxious, apparently, to folks who are super sensitive. Although I'm approaching my 30th revolution around the sun I have yet to figure out how to keep my comments to myself....especially when its easy pickings :)

This week in response to my formal acknowledgement of this less than becoming quality, I will actively work at keeping my comments to myself and allowing people to learn in their own time. Personal growth is important to me so what better way to get to the zen status that us mortal folks strive for than to implement a structure for personal growth.

So wish me luck as I try to develop my own mind and refrain from assisting others.

Happy Earth Day!

Crafty times

In honor of passing my proposal defense on Friday, I decided to devote my Sunday to sewing new curtains for our bedroom and den. With seven windows to cover I've got quite a bit of work ahead of me, but the process is the fun part. So let the fun begin!

Here's Clyde in front of the curtains in our den. These were re-purposed from our old bedroom.

Clyde is quite photogenic. Here he is again in our living room in front of a pair of curtains I made and the polka-dot chair my mom recovered.

If you live with an Atwood you will always be surrounded by silly humor :)

Ry's fish tank and our new bedroom curtains. He was supposed to move the fish out of our room, but he "never got around to it".

More B&W curtains for our dining room. They certainly make the space look cozy.

Craft time is so much fun! And this project also makes our home feel a lot more put together.

A day in the life

The past three weeks have been fruitful, but relatively dull. As of this past Saturday I submitted my dissertation proposal to my committee. In two weeks, I'll present my ideas publicly and then the summer work starts pouring in . Life as a graduate student is sometimes really stressful, but it's the slow fun moments that keep me going. The following photos are from the past three weeks. Each event put a smile on my face.

Ryan is reliving his elementary school days by playing floor hockey with his physics buddies. He's in the red shirt with the white helmet about to swing his stick. Go Ryan! 

I wrote and giggled at the physics-nerds playing hockey from the balcony at the gym. Not a bad spot to work at 11 pm on a Tuesday night.

This is the first calf born on our watch here at our new home! Little "Stupify" (we didn't name her) popped out right before we went on our nightwalk to check on and feed all the girls. She was up and walking in no time and even found her momma's teat! Welcome to the world Stupify!

The duck eggs are still rolling in. They are keeping us full and plump :) Duck eggs are pretty fatty, but we can't resist eating them all. They are delicious!

Realignment and work habits

It's that time of the year for me where I have a ton of lab and computer work. Since I'm in graduate school that typically means I am either typing or sorting specimen for 10+ hours a day. So what has this done to my heart, mind and body???

1) Exhausted me to the core
2) Made me a professional procrastinator (hence this post)
3) Caused neck spasms!!!

The third point is why I'm writing today. Three weeks ago my neck cramped up so badly that I had to lift my head off the bed with my hand. After a lot of at home massaging I decided to get a professional massage to try to loosen up all my muscles. The fifty minute massage was well worth the money because I was feeling 80% the next day. Being an active (overly spastic) person I pushed my luck the next day by playing racquetball against myself. After three swings, yes only three, my neck cramped back up and I could barely turn my head. I slept in a bed by myself that night to try to minimize the number of obstacles I have to curl around in the bed (two dogs and a big immovable boyfriend), but I woke up the next morning unable to lift my head with my neck once again.

I went to school for our lab meeting and was convinced by my advisor (it's nice to have an advisor that cares) to go to the doctor ASAP to get some relief. Seven minutes later health services took me in. The doctor poked around for a little while and then stuck her finger in the small muscle nodes right at the base of my skull. These muscles, little did I know, are what enable you to tilt your head front to back and side to side. As soon as she touched the muscles my eyes teared up. I had no idea I had reflexes like that!

She prescribed me some muscle relaxants to alleviate some of the pain, but also suggested going to physical therapy for weekly massages and electrical stimulation (both of which have helped tremendously). She also taught me a great trick for all you long straight necked people out there...sleep without a pillow. Growing up I remember chucking the pillow mid-way through the night, but I always thought that was just one of the weird-o things I did not really a useful one. Low and behold sleeping flat has alleviated more pain than anything else. I'm a no-pillow convert!

Honestly, it was a bit hard to get comfortable the first night because I'm typically a side sleeper, but once I settled onto my back I was off in dreamland with a perfectly aligned, low stress sleeping position. Of course I still have to navigate around the two dogs and immovable boyfriend to get comfortable, but I guess I choose to have so many bed obstacles :)

Now when I wake up I feel rested and with a more flexible neck! Just like in the old days (see below).

I also wanted to give a big shout out to both my parents. You two have been inspirational and so loving in the choices you made in the past few years. I truly hope I can be as loving and kind as you are to Louis and I when I have children. I sure love you both!!