Recent Adventures and Future Ponderings
After a while without posting there are so many little things I've done it becomes difficult at best to recount them with any accuracy...but the weekend was beautiful and relaxing. On Saturday Tony and I went to the farmers market (first day of it) in the morning. We got local honey, kale, spinach, carrots, garlic, and red potatoes. Good stuff. Then I accompanied Tony and five other graduate students to the coast for a lichen and plant collecting trip. We hiked up the St. Perpetua trail - which led up to an amazing view of the ocean and a rock shelter built in the '30s by a few hardworking men in one winter. Saw an alligator lizard at the top, which had at some point dropped the last inch of its tail and re-grown it. Also butterflies, ladybugs, and a really cool big ground beetle. Oh, and a freaking tick...it attached itself to the front of my left shoulder and I discovered it, with much disdain, upon changing later for bed. Supposedly, they have to be attached for at least 12 hours (and on web md I read 36) before they can potentially transmit Lyme Disease (before that they're not fully "hooked up" to one's blood supply - lovely!). So that eased my mind. Turns out there are two different species of tick that can carry it, and they both look the same to my untrained eye. Anyway, its damn little mouthparts are still embedded in my shoulder. Slightly disturbing, but I have faith it will eventually work its way out.
Anyway, before the discovering-a-tick incident, we went out to the Rogue brewery for dinner, where I had an amazing wild Coho salmon sandwich. The manager was renewing his wedding vows too, and he came in as we were finishing up dinner offering everyone leftover strawberry white chocolate cupcakes, which were beyond delectable. Tony took advantage of the sale and got a 3 liter keg (for his defense...) and four six packs of red ale.
Yesterday was beautiful too and we met our mutual friend Jessie (who's partly responsible for my first meeting Tony) at Avery Park for a late lunch cook-out. Relaxed by the river, avoided the poison oak, and gathered a few big leaf maple catkins, which are edible and supposedly good in stir fry.
Today was about 80 degrees - absolutely amazing. I put in four and a half hours of work, which was excruciating, and then walked downtown to visit the two local consignment shops. I ended up with two pairs of American Eagle trousers for $23, so felt pretty good. Nice alternatives to jeans.
I have started seriously considering graduate school - a "professional" degree in wildlife science is what I'm thinking - one that requires advanced classes and a project or internship rather than a thesis. I can't really see myself commiting two to three years or more on a mostly independent research endeavor. But anything beyond a bachelor degree would be a great way to make myself more employable. Tony is still up in the air for this summer - he could have an 18 month project management position in Lincoln City, but that's contingent on a grant, so who knows. He has a second interview for a similar (invasive plant management) position on Catalina Island, but he'd be isolated and in a bunkhouse type living situation. We shall see...I vote staying in Oregon of course!
After a while without posting there are so many little things I've done it becomes difficult at best to recount them with any accuracy...but the weekend was beautiful and relaxing. On Saturday Tony and I went to the farmers market (first day of it) in the morning. We got local honey, kale, spinach, carrots, garlic, and red potatoes. Good stuff. Then I accompanied Tony and five other graduate students to the coast for a lichen and plant collecting trip. We hiked up the St. Perpetua trail - which led up to an amazing view of the ocean and a rock shelter built in the '30s by a few hardworking men in one winter. Saw an alligator lizard at the top, which had at some point dropped the last inch of its tail and re-grown it. Also butterflies, ladybugs, and a really cool big ground beetle. Oh, and a freaking tick...it attached itself to the front of my left shoulder and I discovered it, with much disdain, upon changing later for bed. Supposedly, they have to be attached for at least 12 hours (and on web md I read 36) before they can potentially transmit Lyme Disease (before that they're not fully "hooked up" to one's blood supply - lovely!). So that eased my mind. Turns out there are two different species of tick that can carry it, and they both look the same to my untrained eye. Anyway, its damn little mouthparts are still embedded in my shoulder. Slightly disturbing, but I have faith it will eventually work its way out.
Anyway, before the discovering-a-tick incident, we went out to the Rogue brewery for dinner, where I had an amazing wild Coho salmon sandwich. The manager was renewing his wedding vows too, and he came in as we were finishing up dinner offering everyone leftover strawberry white chocolate cupcakes, which were beyond delectable. Tony took advantage of the sale and got a 3 liter keg (for his defense...) and four six packs of red ale.
Yesterday was beautiful too and we met our mutual friend Jessie (who's partly responsible for my first meeting Tony) at Avery Park for a late lunch cook-out. Relaxed by the river, avoided the poison oak, and gathered a few big leaf maple catkins, which are edible and supposedly good in stir fry.
Today was about 80 degrees - absolutely amazing. I put in four and a half hours of work, which was excruciating, and then walked downtown to visit the two local consignment shops. I ended up with two pairs of American Eagle trousers for $23, so felt pretty good. Nice alternatives to jeans.
I have started seriously considering graduate school - a "professional" degree in wildlife science is what I'm thinking - one that requires advanced classes and a project or internship rather than a thesis. I can't really see myself commiting two to three years or more on a mostly independent research endeavor. But anything beyond a bachelor degree would be a great way to make myself more employable. Tony is still up in the air for this summer - he could have an 18 month project management position in Lincoln City, but that's contingent on a grant, so who knows. He has a second interview for a similar (invasive plant management) position on Catalina Island, but he'd be isolated and in a bunkhouse type living situation. We shall see...I vote staying in Oregon of course!
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