Ah, how lovely summer is!

Mostly I have worked. It's nice to have no extra curricular projects in progress - no reports, no studying..spiffy! Today was my third day working at the extension center. Much of the work has been cutting young apples from trees for moth colonies, but we have also cruised around a lot (the lab vehicle is a '91 Jeep Wrangler!) checking moth and fruit fly traps. Today I was entrusted to check the traps in four orchards in the upper valley on my own which was quite cool. Then I met mom, Becky, grammy, and aunt Margaret at Twin Peaks for lunch. When I got back I was assigned to retrieve a large section of blackberry vine with leaves. I had no idea what it was for until I got back and was presented with a terrarium full of walking sticks. So apparently walking sticks eat blackberry leaves. It's kind of creepy handling them because they remind me of mantids, which consume grasshoppers..alive. Speaking of insects eating insects, last night on my walk I found a spider perched atop a pink clover with a honeybee clutched in its tiny fangs. It's pretty amazing how predators disguise themselves and wait for prey. Oo, also today Allison (person I'm assisting) and I went to some residences to check cherry fruit fly traps, and one of the cherry tree possessing persons had a basset! It was unbelievably adorable.

Monday I met people at taco night. Yay for made-on-the-spot rootbeer! It possesses a nice manageable level of carbonation. I've pretty much completely ceased consuming carbonated beverages, except for cider and some jones soda on occasion. This weekend I believe we're heading to downtown Portland for some used clothes shoppin' and hopefully thai food eatin.'

I think we're getting that flock of exotic chickens soon. I'm going to name one of the hens Strata!