I just won an award... let me toot my own horn!
http://news.wwu.edu/go/doc/1538/1090987/WWU-Graduate-Students-Honored-With-United-States-Forest-Service-Award
Sweet!
2011-05-16
ramblings
I haven’t written on this blog in a long time. I went to California to see my family. Ran into Wayne and Drew too. Awesome five days in SoCal included some beach time, hiking in the blooming chaparral of the coastal desert.
Since then I have continued to be busy. Graduate school is ridiculous. Work your ass off. Make no money but actually PAY to do all the work and to be stressed out. But have the opportunity to do amazing things… of course this is a problem when there are way too many awesome things to do…
So, I have been doing a lot of doing. Thinking steps ahead, planning and plotting and working out logistics… and then I forgot about the present moment. It came to me one day when I was three steps ahead of myself walking and I realized I wasn’t even enjoying the walk. I was outside in nice weather (not common here, for reals!) but inside my house in my head and even at work the next day in my thoughts. It was then that I stopped and had to stop everything to catch back up with myself… or rather to reel myself in from the non-existent future that kept me oppressed from staying focused… and from actually learning from and enjoying the work that I was slated to do (and had been doing.)
I will never accomplish the gamut of tasks and ideas I have. But I should focus on doing my best at each one that is presented to me. And in zeroing in on quantity, I haven’t felt fully invested in the quality. And that is unacceptable. So it has changed.
There are still articles that I long to write (and will), but I am in the finishing process of the coyote I am trying to tan. My needle broke, so I can’t sew up two major holes in the hide, but they aren’t that big a deal. I am an amateur taxidermist, not a pro. The whole point is to show kids the pelts, not to sell high quality animal-fur merchandise.
Ski2Sea is in exactly two weeks. I have to train for the downhill skier leg. This means that I have to boot pack uphill for a long time and then strap on the snowboard for a run downhill. It isn't the snowboarding that is hard or time-consuming… but the hike up carrying my ride. So, I am training by hiking straight up Sourdough Mountain trail (5000 feet over 5 miles) for 30~40 minutes and then hiking down, all the while carrying my board. I may be in decent shape by the time the race comes around, but the elevation will be much different. I am at 1000 feet now and will be hiking at closer to 9000. I just plan to try hard and be consistent, even if I am a bit slow.
Two weekends ago, I helped with an institute course, studying reptiles and amphibians on the east side. It was drier and gorgeous, albeit cold. I got to hold some snakes including a northern pacific rattlesnake… it was awesome to go to a real rattlesnake den! It was amazing to hang out among a bunch of snakes and realize that they are docile creatures… that is after the initial rattling and striking of course!
Last weekend I met and heard Richard Louv speak in Bellingham. He is author of Last Child in the Woods and the recent one: The Nature Principle (which he of course signed for me after I bought it…) He may be one of the reasons why folks are actually supporting the work my colleagues and I are doing. Kids of all ages (elementary, teens, high schoolers, ADULTS!) need more nature in their lives… I can go on and on about this. Get outside. Period.
Lakers lost to the Mavericks a couple weeks ago. That put me in a downer mood. It was an ungraceful loss…oh well, time to rebuild. Thank you, Phil.
Writing this out is great. Oh, lastly… I have been following a pair of peregrine falcons over the past month. From the flirting, preparing to mate, copulating, and nesting. Every day or every couple of days, I get the spotting scope focused onto a precarious ledge over a hundred foot drop into the chasm of Diablo gorge… at the base of the dam. And there, nestles, sits one of the peregrines on three (maybe four?) eggs, keeping them warm until they hatch- I have calculated that this will be between May 31~June 4. And then there may be some more falcons on which I can spy! I have seen them fly, sit, copulate, live… I hope to see them feed sometime; perhaps even perform the mid-air transfer of prey I have heard about. Nature is amazing. And I am really transforming into a Birder (nerder!) by focusing on the sounds from and visuals of all of the spring visitors and residents of the Diablo Lake watershed and western North Cascades Mountains.
I want to write more, but I also want to read more… there are three current books, but the one I like the most is E.O. Wilson’s, The Naturalist. I have a bunch of pictures that will hopefully add to your understanding of my writings… there are three more blog postings (5 pix each)... ciao!
Since then I have continued to be busy. Graduate school is ridiculous. Work your ass off. Make no money but actually PAY to do all the work and to be stressed out. But have the opportunity to do amazing things… of course this is a problem when there are way too many awesome things to do…
So, I have been doing a lot of doing. Thinking steps ahead, planning and plotting and working out logistics… and then I forgot about the present moment. It came to me one day when I was three steps ahead of myself walking and I realized I wasn’t even enjoying the walk. I was outside in nice weather (not common here, for reals!) but inside my house in my head and even at work the next day in my thoughts. It was then that I stopped and had to stop everything to catch back up with myself… or rather to reel myself in from the non-existent future that kept me oppressed from staying focused… and from actually learning from and enjoying the work that I was slated to do (and had been doing.)
I will never accomplish the gamut of tasks and ideas I have. But I should focus on doing my best at each one that is presented to me. And in zeroing in on quantity, I haven’t felt fully invested in the quality. And that is unacceptable. So it has changed.
There are still articles that I long to write (and will), but I am in the finishing process of the coyote I am trying to tan. My needle broke, so I can’t sew up two major holes in the hide, but they aren’t that big a deal. I am an amateur taxidermist, not a pro. The whole point is to show kids the pelts, not to sell high quality animal-fur merchandise.
Ski2Sea is in exactly two weeks. I have to train for the downhill skier leg. This means that I have to boot pack uphill for a long time and then strap on the snowboard for a run downhill. It isn't the snowboarding that is hard or time-consuming… but the hike up carrying my ride. So, I am training by hiking straight up Sourdough Mountain trail (5000 feet over 5 miles) for 30~40 minutes and then hiking down, all the while carrying my board. I may be in decent shape by the time the race comes around, but the elevation will be much different. I am at 1000 feet now and will be hiking at closer to 9000. I just plan to try hard and be consistent, even if I am a bit slow.
Two weekends ago, I helped with an institute course, studying reptiles and amphibians on the east side. It was drier and gorgeous, albeit cold. I got to hold some snakes including a northern pacific rattlesnake… it was awesome to go to a real rattlesnake den! It was amazing to hang out among a bunch of snakes and realize that they are docile creatures… that is after the initial rattling and striking of course!
Last weekend I met and heard Richard Louv speak in Bellingham. He is author of Last Child in the Woods and the recent one: The Nature Principle (which he of course signed for me after I bought it…) He may be one of the reasons why folks are actually supporting the work my colleagues and I are doing. Kids of all ages (elementary, teens, high schoolers, ADULTS!) need more nature in their lives… I can go on and on about this. Get outside. Period.
Lakers lost to the Mavericks a couple weeks ago. That put me in a downer mood. It was an ungraceful loss…oh well, time to rebuild. Thank you, Phil.
Writing this out is great. Oh, lastly… I have been following a pair of peregrine falcons over the past month. From the flirting, preparing to mate, copulating, and nesting. Every day or every couple of days, I get the spotting scope focused onto a precarious ledge over a hundred foot drop into the chasm of Diablo gorge… at the base of the dam. And there, nestles, sits one of the peregrines on three (maybe four?) eggs, keeping them warm until they hatch- I have calculated that this will be between May 31~June 4. And then there may be some more falcons on which I can spy! I have seen them fly, sit, copulate, live… I hope to see them feed sometime; perhaps even perform the mid-air transfer of prey I have heard about. Nature is amazing. And I am really transforming into a Birder (nerder!) by focusing on the sounds from and visuals of all of the spring visitors and residents of the Diablo Lake watershed and western North Cascades Mountains.
I want to write more, but I also want to read more… there are three current books, but the one I like the most is E.O. Wilson’s, The Naturalist. I have a bunch of pictures that will hopefully add to your understanding of my writings… there are three more blog postings (5 pix each)... ciao!
Snakes in the Methow!
Holding a gopher snake that an instructor grabbed from a hole
Close-up on the gopher snake an hour later... it was catching some rays.... check out the tongue!
Holding a Racer... they sometimes den with garter snakes and rattlers in dens (on the sides of STEEP hillsides) to maintain heat during cold winter months. This one was sunning itself next to the den we visited and it smelled funny after it peed in defense.
Northern Pacific Rattlesnake tail reverberating in my hand! What an awesome experience and a unique feeling and sound. This rattler was 4 feet long and rather timid/ friendly once we got it into the tube. The instructors coerced it into a plastic tube that would ensure we wouldn't get bit.
Said rattlesnake in the tube! I have other pictures, but this one says it pretty good...Signs of spring in the Pacific Northwest
Sakura (cherry blossoms) blooming near SeaTac airport!
Western Trillium in Carnation, WA
Eggs from a ground-nesting Killdeer (bird)! I was walking along and these were chilling on the ground near a pond we meant to explore for amphibians... I immediately turned my attention to birding, however, and these eggs were a great find... perhaps a good meal for a gopher snake that we had held 10 minutes earlier!
Picture of the Cascades from the east side (Methow valley)... gorgeous Ponderosa pine forest mirroring the spring of the eastern Sierra I'm sure.Spring pictures... April in California
Colonial Peak (7771 feet) on the first sunny day of (almost) spring... in April. I think it was the 7th.
Wayne was surprised by my taking a picture of him in the AM before we went to soccer. It is not the most flattering picture of such a good-looking friend, but I have to get at him somehow :P
My parents' garden in bloom on April 16th. California Golden Poppies, persimmon, lavender, and manzanita.
Other succulents and cacti in the process of being beautiful!
Dad and me in front of the Bommer Canyon water tower that I organized to be repainted 14 years ago! It is still in great shape- a testament to quality hard work. Also the new landmark sign of the brand-spankin' newly opened Bommer Canyon trailhead! It was nice to walk among the grasses and Redwing Blackbirds... and California Quails and various rabbits!
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