Not much occurred today, but I'm bored and I figured blogging would kill five minutes. Yep, I worked. I picked leaves in the morning. I picked 1,000 freakin' pear and apple leaves. In the afternoon I scanned and brushed the leaves for pear psylla and mites, respectively. Luckily none of the bags of leaves I've examined thus far are completely bombarded with psylla. Otherwise the whole process would be even more annoying because it takes a while to identify the stages of nymphs and record them. Surprisingly, four hours of microscope work went by quickly - it seemed the most pain-free afternoon of work in a while. I'm soo sick of HR's radio station though! And the stereo in the greenhouse has non-functioning tape decks! K 105.5 plays the same songs over and over, and they have a ridiculously limited repertoire of artists. Someone calls in to complain about hearing the same song five times in one workday, and they play the call repeatedly, as if it's an accomplishment. AND they play the song after it! "It's about the music, and you...pissing you off, that is!"

After some chips and salsa, mum and I headed over to "tuck in" the alpacas. The babies are so adorable. They were all running around. That was uneventful. I only killed the car once..my skills are improving. I can't imagine driving a stick shift in Corvallis though. Too many stops, too much traffic.

In random news, I'm studying the "responsible trapping" manual and plan to take the test in early September. I could totally trap a bobcat this winter if I so chose. Actually, one can trap on one's own land without a trapping license anyway. I figure I'll be the only 20 year old female trapper in the valley. Yes, I want that title. When it actually comes down to it though, who knows if I'll want to..I'm predicting I'll feel too horrible about it to actually trap! If I do though, I'll be like religious about checking my traps every morning, and I'd probably opt for the painless cage traps. But it would be a challenge to see if I could catch a coyote in a leghold. Who knows. I'll have the option, and at least I'll feel authorized to help Tim out with the business if I ever want or need to.