Pretty much sums it up...!

Ok...so...I know I haven't posted at all this semester.  I. Am. Sorry.

Christmas break is nearing and I hope to update you all at that time.

Until then, I want to give you a little explanation for some of my lack of existence in the blogger world this semester.

Go check out this blog post and you just might catch a little glimpse of my life this semester  ;)

ENJOY!


Love and miss you all,
~MW

Lep Course, Final Update

A very late final Arizona update…  My apologies!  The Tundra is just so busy!! 

OK, so I left off on Thursday of last week.  I’m so sorry I didn’t update y’all right after we got back from collecting in the desert!!  Why??  Because, it. was. awesome!!!  We all got some really great moths for our collections among other things (I found a bristle tail!  Baller!!  I’ve never seen one in real life and those things are triiiicky to catch – so jumpy!).  I must say, that the highlight of my night, and nearly of the week, happened back at the station, though.

Once we got back to the station we all started processing some of the goodies we picked up in the desert and I decided to “just go check” and see what the station sheets brought in, since we had decided to let those run while we were in the desert.  As I was walking up the hill to check one of my favorite sites I started to realize something: “I’m an idiot!  There are mountain lions out here and I’m going by myself to look at a stupid sheet hung between two trees with a light to try to find some moths…I’ve lost my marbles, officially…”  So, upon that realization you would have thought I would have turned around, right?  One would think, but no I had already committed and was a little over halfway to the sheet so I just flashed my head lamp around a whole lot as I walked and quickened my pace a little bit…as did my heart rate  ;)  I felt much better once I got to the sheet, for some reason the light of the mercury vapor lamp was comforting and made me feel safe (don’t ask why…I was crazy that night…blame it on the lack of sleep??).  I started on the front side of the sheet and got a few cuties then moseyed around to the back side of the sheet and grabbed a few more goodies.  While I was checking out the back of the sheet I saw something rather large land on the front side – all I could see was its silhouette, and I had no idea what it could have been.  The only things we had been seeing of that size were sphinx moths and knew without a doubt that it was not a sphinx.  So…naturally, I walked around to the other side of the sheet to see the beast.  Y’all…again, I nearly peed my pants.  It was a Dysschema howardi!!!  This beauty is the largest tiger moth member in North America!  And it is goooorgeous.  Typically moths of this size (same goes for most sphinx moths and a few others) aren’t killed using a kill jar…it takes them too long to settle down and they end up shredding their wings and just beating themselves to death instead of passing out first like the little guys.  So, for the sake of the moth and the preservation of the specimen we inject them to speed up the process.  I, however, of course, did not have a syringe on me…neeeeat.  So, what did I do??  Well, I couldn’t just leave it there!  It was the only one we had seen the entire week and the only one anyone had seen the entire summer – it, at the very least, needed to be documented.  So I plucked that pretty off the sheet with my fingers, gathered up my kill jars, and ran (yes, ran) down the hill back to the labs to find someone with more knowledge who could help me decide what to do with my gem.

When I got to the bottom of the hill I ran passed a number of my favorite mothers chillaxing at one of the picnic tables – I so wanted to stop but I was on a mission and I had to take care of the moth first  :)  When I got inside the lab room I saw that Hugh was in there – excellent!  Hugh was our course curator and he, like all of the instructors, has a wealth of knowledge about preserving specimens.  I ran over to him, held out my hand and said, “Hugh!  Help!”  He looked up from his scope and just about fell out of his chair, looked at me with the biggest grin and said, “You’ve got to be kidding me!”  All I could do was shake my head in response.  He stands up and says, “To the lab!”  We ran down to his curation lab where he had all of his supplies stored and he did the deed for me, preserving my beauty in perfect condition.  Hugh injects with ammonia, instead of ethanol, because it works immediately (seriously, the thing was out in about half a second) and keeps the specimen pliable for longer – allowing for a smoother mounting and spreading process (mounting: placing the specimen on a pin; spreading: spreading the wings into a position that reveals the color patterns and morphological characters…also makes them pretty to look at).  **sigh**  My moth was taken care of and after asking Hugh if he needed her for the station’s synoptic collection and him assuring me that the male-female pair in the collection would suffice and that the moth was all mine and if anyone tried to take her away from that he would set them straight we marked back to the course labs and we showed her off to everyone.  It was pretty humorous…people started coming out from the woodwork it seemed!  From that moment on one of three things happened pre-collecting each night: (1) people threatened to hog-tie me so that I couldn’t get the good ones before them (there were a few other beauties I had in my possession that people were jealous of…), (2) people wanted to rub some of my luck onto them, (3) people wanted to make sure that I was at their sheet while we were collecting.  It was pretty funny.

OK, enough ogling over my moth collection…  ;)

The rest of the trip was just as incredible as the first half was.  It was such a blessing to be able to be in the presence of and build relationships with the lep gurus of today.  I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t star-struck the entire week.  I now have some remarkable friends and connections to help me along as I continue in the field…at least for the next two years.  Again, I’d be lying if I said that this last week didn’t make me want to reconsider the idea of finishing my master’s and moving forward to get a PhD in the field…I really do enjoy research.  And the collaboration that goes along with the community is so fun and allows for a broadening of knowledge that is priceless.  I think I’d be much happier in a museum position than I would be in a professorship, though.  But, I still have at least 2 years to figure out all of that, for now I am enjoying my time in the community and enjoying my project.  I got a lot of pointers and clues about my group while I was I AZ, as well.  Like I said, priceless.

Our last official night of the course (there was a scheduling faux pas and all of the instructors headed out a day before the students were told to leave…woops!) was an absolute blast (surprised, much?).  After dinner we all piled into vans and trucks and made our way over to New Mexico for some non-collecting fun at the Rodeo Tavern.  The instructors had been talking this place up all week, so by the time Saturday night arrived we were all beyond excited to finally make our way to the little hole-in-the-wall.

This place was a hoot!  We upped the customer count by about 5 times…and so probably doubled their weekly earnings!  It was fun watching the locals watch us – a few of those cowboys tried to play it smooth on the dance floor, too, it was too funny.  But those locals sure knew how to play pool!  I don’t think our people (and we actually had some really good players) won but one match against those cowboys.  We all took a couple turns around the dance floor – I even got out there a couple times.  I tried to tell Jim that just because I’m from Texas does not mean that I know how to two-step…he laughed and pulled me out onto the floor anyways.  We decided to blame my lack of dancing skills on the fact that I was wearing chacos – that’s right, two-stepping in chacos.  How’s that for a mental image??  Gotta love entomologists, am I right?  We closed the tavern down (at about midnight…who closes that early??) and headed back to the station to continue our final hoorah before a good chunk of people left the next day.  I think we finally called it a night around 2 or 3am…so just about right on time for most of us!

Sunday consisted of clean-up, packing, and farewells…talk about depressing.  It was like being at summer camp and leaving all those awesome new friends and counselors who had been your life for that last week.  Isn’t it amazing how quickly people can get to know each other and build relationships when you’re surrounded by each other 24-7?  I just love that about people.  Oh!  I almost forgot!  I got up extra early Sunday morning to hit the road with Hugh.  He had set up a few extra light traps out and about the desert and other areas Saturday night and I told him I would help him take them down.  So we headed out around 6am and started collecting traps.  We had a great time driving around on empty, gathering the traps, and chatting the early morning away.  We got back just in time to catch the tail-end of breakfast and then set to sorting the traps with everyone for one final moth search before we got the clean-up and farewells.  In those traps is where I found my second Euchaetes zella!!  It was my last once-over on a whim at one of the traps I hadn’t picked through yet and caught the corner of a wing out of the corner of my eye and thought, “No way that’s a zella…”  I picked it out from under a couple other moths, flipped it over and, sure enough, it was indeed a zella!  It was rather thrilling, to say the least.

Sigh…I still can’t believe that week is over and I’m back in the Tundra getting back to the old grind…  I so wanted to stay in that hidden-away oasis.  It was so refreshing to be unplugged for that week with some internet access here and there…when it decided to behave.  I never carried my phone on me…that never happens.  It’s practically glued to my pocket here.  I’m going to work on making it less of an appendage of my body.  I’ll still have it on and around, but I’m going to work on not having it a finger’s length away so much.  Aside from being unplugged that week in AZ was just what the doctor ordered for my mental and physical health.  It’s been a rather stressful summer on my front and I’m convinced that is why I’ve been feeling so poorly the last few months (headaches, body aches, migraines, etc…).  By the second day-in in those gorgeous mountains I was feeling so good, even though I wasn’t sleeping, that it was a no-brainer…stress = bad news bears!  Everyone needs to really stop and leave the stressors for some amount of time – even if it’s only a day or two.  I also need to be better about eating full meals…it didn’t matter how tired and run-down I was going into a meal at the station, by the time I left the mess hall I was feeling completely re-energized and ready to tackle some more moths!  Lesson learned…I need to rest and I need to eat (better). 

Well, now that I’m back home I’ve been processing my specimens from AZ (once they are all spread I'll show y'all the goods!) and trying to get back into the swing of life in the city.  The moving process has also begun.  We got most of Megan and Justin’s things moved yesterday and today we are taking the bulk of my stuff.  We can’t move into the house until Thursday, but we have access to the garage for now, so we’ve been piling as much into that as we can while we have access to Justin’s parents’ truck and trailer.

And, with that, dear ones, I’m off to get back to the packing!  Can’t wait to give y’all a “tour” of the new place once we are all settled in,

Praying your Sunday is a blessed one.

Lots of love,

~MW

Lep Course, Day 5

18 Aug 2011

Why helloooo, there!

Ummm…wow…I canNOT believe that it is already Thursday!!!  How did this happen?!?!  Time is so fleeting, per usual.

Mercy it’s been a long week, though.

So, remember that time we were supposed to have lectures and such until 2am?  Well, that plan changed a little bit, but not in my favor.  The lectures got moved around and so we were left to collecting circa midnight.  At this point, I decided that I was going to grab a couple hours of sleep and get up at 2am to go hunt down some moths for a couple hours and then head back to bed.  And, that my dear ones is exactly what I did…well, sort of…

I got up at 2am, sans alam clock even!  How that happened, I have no idea.  Anyways, I went off hunting and actually happened across a fair bit of stuff that I hadn’t seen/collected yet, so that was super exciting.  But…haha….here’s where my plan changed…I ended up staying out until 6am.  Yep…6am, folks.  Dedication?  Maybe…probably more insanity  ;)  I was looking super intensely for some of my moths, but, alas, I did not find a single one.  I found a member of one of my outgroups…but no Euchaetes.  Booo….   I was not happy.  Especially when I realized it was 6am and was just going to bed – yeah, breakfast is at 7:30, ha! 

Needless to say, that made yesterday an incredibly long day.  I had to duck out during one of our wetlabs (it was dissecting…I’m solid there, but seeing other techniques would have been nice, nonetheless) to catch a couple hours of sleep.  Even after that I was a total zombie. 

Overall yesterday was a good day – lots of talk about morphology (my favorite!) and all that jazz, so it was fun for me.  It was also nice to have a little bit of a leg up to help out some of the other people here who haven’t done dissections or gone through the morphology all that much yet.  Yay, teaching!

Collecting last night was slow, but OUTSTANDING!!

Y’all, I caught a Euchaetes!!!!!!!!!!!!  Just one, and it’s the only one I’ve seen the entire time I’ve been here (5 days already!), but it’s a Euchaetes!!  Euchaetes zella, to be exact.  It’s one of my favorite species in the genus.  It’s a little more petite than most and has the super distinctive whit darts on the forewings which are a dusty deep chocolatey-almost-black-brown (I know, I need to come up with a more solid color description…it’ll get there), and pale white-cream hindwings.  The abdomen on these critters is gorgeous – it’s a strikingly vivid orange-ish red with the tell-tale-Euchaetes black spots running down the midline and the sides of the abdomen.  Ahhh…I saw that beauty fly up to the sheet and I just about peed my pants!  It is now safely pinned and stored away in my insect box.  The only sad thing about this story is that zella is a species that I have a fair number of representatives of already, but, fresh material is always exciting and it proves, in real time, that my guys are here…it’s just a matter of finding them  :)  I stumbled across a number of other pretty little things last night as well.  So overall, the diversity was up, though the numbers were low.

We all called it a fairly early night and was thrilled to jump in bed at midnight clean and satisfied with a good night of collecting.

Today has been a pretty easy day.  We had a few lectures this morning and then went on a butterfly walk and I was lucky enough to come home with a couple beauties to add to my collection and family representation count (we’re supposed to have a minimum of 25 families in our collections by the end of the course, I’m up to about 18-20, almost there!).  More lectures took up the rest of the day and now it’s just about dinner time (yay, food!!!)  After dinner we are heading out to the desert for collecting and then might close the night at the Rodeo Bar that is near the site we are collecting at.

Here’s to another night of good collecting and finding more Euchaetes!!

Hope all is well in your realms!

‘Til next time,

~MW

Lep Course, Day 3

16 Aug 2011

Whew!  What a couple of days this has been!  The half day we had at the station on Sunday was pretty chill (and by pretty I mean extremely…) in comparison to Monday and today.  Heavens, all I want is sleep, but there simply isn’t time for that here.

We start our days bright and early.  Breakfast is at 7:30, so I’ve been getting up around 6 to look over some notes and things and mentally prepare for the bombardment of information that will accost my brain come 8am.  ***I’m going to have to start getting up earlier, though…I’ll need to start going around to the sheets and traps in the eeeearly, daaark mornings to hunt down the moths that don’t come out until later in the night.***  We have been doing a lecture or two in the mornings and then heading out for some good hours of field collecting (3-4hrs has been the norm thus far) outside of the research station grounds.  It’s been a lot of fun to drive even 20min and see an incredible difference in fauna and flora, not to mention terrain.  We eat lunch somewhere in there and then hit the lectures or field again.  Then there’s dinner and then maybe another lecture and, of course, the highlight of our day: major collecting!! 

Since the majority of Lepidoptera are nocturnal moths (though there are a number of diurnal or day-flying moths) the best collecting (unless you are hunting butterflies specifically) is at night at a light.  We use various different bulbs with white sheets set up behind them to help attract our moths…and of course anything else that sees our wondrous orbs and simply can’t stay away  ;)   There actually has been a fair bit of insect diversity which has been a lot of fun for those of us who don’t consider every order outside of Lepidoptera as “trash.”  I’ve seen a fair number of scarab beetles and tons of other beetle, ichneumonid wasps, caddisflies, mantid flies (!!), true flies, stink bugs and other hemiptera, leafhoppers and other homoptera/heteroptera, antlion adults (!!), and much, much more.  And, yes, I have most definitely snagged a few of those lovely specimens  :)  I even got a solifuge (I’ve never seen one alive – I totally let the cutie feed on a couple moths before I tossed it in some EtOH) and held a wicked awesome whip scorpion (this thing was as big as my hand – so sweet!)!!!  It’s been quite the exciting trip even outside of all of the lep awesomeness.  I’ve been able to collect a few members of my subfamily of moth, but none of my actual critters yet…it’s OK, I still have 4 more days after today to snatch some up!

We have been focusing more on caterpillars today which has been great fun – they’re such cuties.  It’s always remarkable to me how these creatures can often times go from a super showy caterpillar to a severely drab moth and vice-versa.  Not to mention the changes various caterpillars go through!  It’s like looking at a completely different animal at each instar (molt) for so many of these guys!  If any of y’all are interested in looking at some way pretty pictures of caterpillars check out Dave Wagner’s Caterpillars of Eastern North America.  It’s an incredible field guide…worth every penny.  And!  I now get to say that I have collected caterpillars with Dave Wagner (living the dream!!!)!!!  I feel super privileged to be able to say that.  He knows so much!  I’ve been blown away.

It’s been an intense day of lectures and collecting…and when I think about what else we have lined up for today I’m realizing that today (even though it’s 5:30pm here) is really just beginning.  After dinner, at 7:30, we go back to the drawing boards and embark on an all-nighter of lectures and collecting.  Meaning, we don’t even have the option of going to bed until 2am.  Yeeeeowzas!  Tomorrow is definitely going to be a loooong day, haha.  It’ll be worth it, but I’m definitely going to need to take a day or two to recover once I get back to the Tundra.  I’ve been crawling into bed between midnight and 1am the last two nights, but that extra hour of brain use pre-shower, pre-bed is going to be rough, y’all.  For knowledge!!  Haha.

Alrighty, kids, I’m off to snag a quick nap so I can study and begin processing the onslaught of info that has been the last 2.5 days before it’s rock’n’roll time again  :)

I’ll keep the updates coming as long as time and the internet allows.

Praying all is well!

Shalom,
~MW

Helloooooooo, AZ!!!

Hello, my happy readers  :)

Praying this Sunday finds you well and enjoying your weekend.

As you might remember from a previous post (I’m typing in the airport and internet access is lame…so links and such probably won’t be happening for this post.) I had a trip planned for this month - a trip to Arizona for field work and a course on Lepidoptera.  Well, I’m off!  Got the critters carted off to their respective caretakers (Thanks so much Amy & Tony; Matt and Judy & Dex!) for the week and I was carted off to the airport bright and early (Thanks Christine!). 

The first leg of the trip went without a hitch.  Flight was smooth and on time and now I’m sitting in DFW waiting for my 12:45p flight to Tucson.  Once I arrive in Tucson there’s supposed to be an airport pick-up waiting to take me, and anyone else arriving today, to the Southwestern Research Station in Portal.  Who I am supposed to be looking for, however, I have no clue.  It’ll be an adventure!

It’s pretty depressing being in DFW and not being able to walk out that exit door or catch a flight to somewhere else in TX…cruel…just plain cruel.  I’m hoping that the return trip on the 22^nd will afford me the opportunity to see some Texas loves who might make the trek to the airport to see me since I have a 3hr layover   =)   **hint, hint**

I’m not too certain as to what this trip will entail as we haven’t really received any info regarding what we will be doing…just a, “Don’t forget sunscreen” message.  So…we shall see!

I am excited to meet other people working on leps and make connections with them that might help me with my project or undertakings in the future – plus, it’s just fun to meet people you share some sort of interest with.

Things have been busy, busy, busy on the Tundra front, but all is definitely well.  It’s very bitter-sweet to start thinking about moving in a few weeks.  While I’m super excited about the new place and adventuring the year with my new roommates, I’m quite sad to leave my current abode.  I just love that it’s my space.  It’s all decorated the way I like things and it just feels like home.  I’ll miss routine there as well.  But!  All good things do come to an end, and generally something else steps up and fills their place just fine.  I am quite excited to build a new routine at the new house and to collaborate with Meg about decorating, etc…we highly doubt Justin will have anything to say about anything we do.  As long as he has his projector room he’ll be happy as a lark  :)   It will also be especially nice for Jake to have more space and not have to worry about running into other doggies in the play pen.  Plus, the place is simply beautiful…I mean really, really beautiful.  Yay newness!

OK, all, laptop is about to die and I don’t feel like packing everything up to go find an outlet…

Until Arizona!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have arrived!  Found the airport pick-up meeting place after using my resourcefulness and looking up the number for the research station to find out (Apparently an email went out with loooads of info…I never got it.  But!  At least my name was on the airport pickup list!) who/where we were supposed to meet.  Got the info and made it to the meeting place just fine.  From there we all piled into a 15-passeneger van and made the 2-2.5ish hour (Maybe more?  I was too busy oogling over the mountains and beautiful nature through my window) trek to the research station from Tucson.  We actually ended up passing through New Mexico for about 30min (ish?) since the shortcut road was all washed out from the rains.  4 states in one day (MN, TX, AZ, NM)!! 

The research station is beautiful.  I mean, beeeeautiful.  It doesn’t look or feel like anything I would ever imagine for Arizona, other than all of the rocky mountains.  Gah!  I so wish I had a camera!!!  Im hoping I can get some of the people here to share some of their snapshots with me so I can show all y’all eventually.

Once at the station I had a little time to unpack my gear and toss it all neatly into some under-the-bed drawers (it’s like being at summer camp!) and chatted with my bunkmates for a little bit.  I actually know two of the girls and they happen to be collaborators on the overarching project that my project is a part of.  They’re grad students of one of my committee members, JZ, over in Wisconsin.  It was nice to see some familiar faces.  I also got to visit with JZ for a good spell and then we went to set up a trap before dinner.  Dinner was pretty tasty – complete with brownie sundaes!  Deeelish.

We have a little bit of downtime now and then we’ll head off for a big info meeting type deal and from the sounds of it, collecting!!

Internet is pretty spotty here, so blog posts, answers to emails, etc. will be posted when possible.  There is absolutely NO cell reception however…so, if any of you beautiful people need me at all this week, your best bet will be to email/facebook/etc. me.

Happy Sunday, loves!

Shalom!
~MW

HOME, SWEET HOME!!!!!!!!!!

We found it!!!!

OK, OK, I know I need to back up.

So...my latest housing update was a little less than cheery, though hopeful.

After finding out that Panda wasn't going to be able to make the great trek north, I was rather disheartened, but knew that there was something else in store for my next year here...sadly, it just wouldn't involve my little brother adventuring with me.

A couple days later I was presented with an opportunity to get a place with two of my friends: Megan and Justin.  After considering that option and weighing the pros and cons of having roommates again, I decided that the pros far outweighed the cons.

Some of the big pluses:
1) CHEAPER RENT!!
2) Option to have a nicer/more spacious place...with still cheaper rent
3) More outside space for Jakers (a huge deciding factor for me)!

Some of the bummers:
1) Sharing my living space (I have loved this year of just having to worry about me and my critters)
2) Sharing my living space
3) Sharing my living space...

Yeah...I really couldn't say no.

So!  We embarked on the adventure of finding "the perfect place" that satisfied the desires/needs of all 3 of us.  Well...after less than a week of searching, we pretty much found it!  Justin really gets the raw end of the deal - he's farther away from his campus and core group of friends he's been within walking distance of for the last 4yrs...that will be an adjustment, for him, but Meg and I are willing to cart him over to the East Bank from time to time.

We are all super stoked about making this place "home" for at least the next year.  Meg will most likely be finishing her degree in the next year and a half or so, so we aren't quite sure how long this living arrangement will last.  Either way, this next year will be a fun one.

Meg and I already have visions of dinner parties galore...  It's going to be awesome.

It's a 3 story house that has been converted into a duplex, and we get the top two floors - baller.  There are so many nooks and crannies in this place...not to mention a few Narnia closets (as I like to call them - Meg and Justin are now referring to them as such as well...it's a beautiful thing)!

Our official move-in date is September 1, but our lovely landlady said it will be no problem to start moving things in a little early.  Yay!

I can't wait to take lots of pictures of the pre-move-in unit and then show y'all what we do with it to make it "ours."  Meg and I have lots of ideas...lots  :)

SO!  The Lord is so good!  He provided above and beyond, as usual.  How fleeting faith can be in the midst of uncertainty.  This is something He's been trying to teach me about for a long time now: He is in control and He will never leave me hanging, even when a solution seems impossible...even when it seems impossible.

Praying this post finds you all well and immensely blessed.

Much love!

Shalom,
~MW

P.S. - No, it is not snowing here, but it certainly feels like summer is fleeting (high of 72F today, what is this?!)  :(  The picture of the house is the one posted in the ad...happened to have been taken during the winter.

She's here!

OK...so she's been here since Saturday...but, obviously, I've been too busy enjoying my sweet, precious Elaine to take time out to update...sowy!

But, here you have an update!  No pictures of us yet...she has a couple on her real camera, but I don't have any on my phone, boo...need to adjust that problem  :)  And, since she's still fast asleep (this never happens!  she's always up before I am), I'm not going to wake her to figure out how to steal some pictures from her phoney-phone.  So...y'all will simply have to wait  ;)

Anywho, we've been having a lovely time.  And, the time is flying too quickly - Lord, please don't make me send her back to sweet Texas!  Please!

She made her debut in the 'Sota Saturday afternoon and I was SO excited to see her.  I just whipped into the first curbside spot I could find and jumped out of my car as soon as I saw her and nearly accosted her with a monstrous hug.  I SO MISS HER!!  We threw her little bag in the car and, of course, made our way to the Mall of America. We strolled around for a couple hours and Elaine just took in the "ooooo" and "aaaaaah" of a mall that has a theme park, mini-golf, and an aquarium inside of it...not to mention an American Girl store, a Lego store, and a few other wonders.  Haha, but at the end of the day when some friends of mine asked her what she thought of the mall her response was, "I mean, really, it's just a really big mall...with some crazy stuff added to it" (<--paraphrase, but you get the idea.).

Saturday evening we met up with a few of my good friends here and had some burgers and fries at Snuffy's Malt Shop and then made our way out to Lake Elmo (the town, not the lake...we'll hit up some lakes today) for a drive-in movie.  We saw Cowboys & Aliens....have to admit that we weren't super impressed, but that might have had to do with the insanely stormy weather...like major thunder/lightning (super awesome storm...just wasn't conducive to watching a movie...).

Sunday morning we did our usual farmers market and breakfast run with my gang up here, and it was a lovely morning...thought it started to get way crazy humid by the time we were about ready to leave the market...good thing we were leaving!!

We pretty much just hung out the rest of the day and had lovely convos about life, love, God, everything (it was wonderful) until it was churchy time.  I loved getting to show her off to my church family here.  It was especially great because a ton of people asked, immediately, if she was my sister.  Nope...just my bestest friend...and we just happen to resemble each other fairly significantly.

And now my sleeping beauty is awake so I'm off to soak up more time with here.

Much love!
~MW

Housing Update #3

jforjamie.com

OK, kids...this update isn't as cheery as the others have been, sadly.

The J-Man found out today that he did not receive any financial aid from the U, so, unfortunately, that means he will be staying home.

My Dad called me to break the news and initially I was OK, saddened that I wasn't going to get to tackle next year's adventures with my kid brother, but OK.  And, then...the attention got turned to me.  My dad asked, "So, what does this mean for you?"  Cue uncontrollable tear flowage.  I could hardly get words out to answer him.  I was thrown back to this near exact situation last year and simply felt over-whelmingly lost.  

What does this mean for me?

Well...I have a few options, I reckon. 

1) I can bite the bullet and move on the duplex in the hopes of finding another roommate (yeah, craigslist...!)

2) I can start over looking for 1 bedrooms again.

I had to "chuckle" almost immediately when Dad called and told me, because just this morning I put in my notice to vacate...haha, awesome.  Fortunately, I do still have my current apartment until the end of September.

So...here we are again: square one.

Continued prayers in this area would be much appreciated.  I will keep you posted as things develop.

Please also continue to keep Joshua in your prayers...it wasn't an easy decision for him to stay.  Now he has the task of finding a place of his own back home and re-adjusting his mindset to make the most of his current situation.  He will also need the Lord's provision regarding a job for this coming year.

Thanks so much for praying along with us with all of this.

Hope this post finds you well  =)

Shalom,

~MW

P.S. - on a brighter note: 1.5ish days 'til my BFF gets here!!

Housing update - post duplex viewing

http://jforjamie.com/

Went to look at the duplex yesterday, and guess what!!

It's looking it will be a good fit!

- The landlord seems to be a very nice older gent' and we got along quite nicely.
- He dropped the monthly rent $30! (prayer answered!)
- He also allowed for a Sept 15 move-in! (another prayer answered!)
- Decent living space...bedrooms are a touch on the small side, but really...I just sleep in my room right now, so that's no biggie.
- Location is awesome...did I mention that??
- No fee at all for my critters...unheard of!
- OUR "OWN" WASHER AND DRYER!!!
- A yard....
- A garage space...
- Storage in the basement...

So, the unit is a go...but...one thing has moving forward on-hold: J-Man.  He's still wrestling with some things. I'll be OK if he doesn't make it up here, but it would be helpful for me to know if he isn't coming so that I can switch back to only looking for 1bdrm places or else looking for a roommate to help with this duplex.

Please continue to pray with me as J-Man continues to weigh out things and make his decision.

Thanks so much for your prayers thus far - keep 'em comin', please!

Shalom,
~MW

Housing Update!

maybe...!

Happy Monday, all!

I haven't officially blogged about the housing situation...like, why I'm moving, what I'm looking for and all that jazz, but I have talked to a number of you about it and I am so thankful for all of your prayers up 'til now - please keep 'em comin'!

Some quick updates on the situ:
- It is pretty much certain that my little bro J-Man will be moving up here in August!
- That said, it's pretty much certain that he and I will be living together this year!
- I'm locked-in at my current apartment until the end of September

OK, so I've been contacting some places here-and-there and I heard back from a seemingly awesome duplex (downstairs of a house that has been converted into a duplex - these types of places are all over up here, and they're pretty sweet).
- fairly affordable rent (I'm going to see if there's any chance they could drop the price $30-40 a month)
- landlord and wife are pet-lovers...so my critters are more than welcome!
- NO PET DEPOSIT/RENT!!
- super close to both the East Bank Campus (where Josh will most likely spend the majority of his time) and St. Paul Campus (where I "live")...we're talking biking distance for me, even walking distance for J-Man!
- would allow us to use the Minneapolis internet provider which is more than $30 cheaper than the internet providers in St. Paul!!

The list continues a bit.

Anywho, I'm taking a gander at the place tomorrow evening.  The only potential hitch in the plan is that the unit is available September 1...that's a month before I can move out of my current place...

Will you pray with me about this?

So, how can you pray?  A few ways:
1. That the landlord would be willing to allow a Sept. 30 (or Oct. 1) move-in date, or at the very least a Sept. 15 move-in.
2.  That he would also be willing to drop the monthly rent a little bit.
3.  That the Lord would move in this circumstance and make decisions clear.

Please also pray for Josh as he continues to work through the logistics of moving up to the Tundra from good ol' Tejas.

Alrighty, have to get back to work.  Y'all are awesome.  I'll keep you updated, fo sho!

Shalom!
~MW

ONE MORE WEEK.....

....UNTIL I GET TO SEE THIS GORGEOUS GIRL!!!

I absolutely cannot wait to see my sweet, sweet Elaine.  She emailed me a few weeks ago and pitched the idea of coming to see me the end of July/beginning of August...with a possibility like that I could hardly contain my excitement!  A few days later she sent me her flight itinerary!!!  I nearly peed my pants...like for serious.  Ok, so not really, but I think the imagery helps to get the extent of my excitement across  ;)

Elaine and I have been besties since college and I don't get to see her enough.  The above picture was made possible by Mak and Wes getting hitched (you can see some pictures from that trip to Texas here and you can read allllll about it here.) - thanks, kids!!

This lady and I began our friendship at the very tail-end of my sophomore year at A&M.

Yeah, Phi Lamb Frush!  I'm pretty sure this was the first time 

we actually met each other

We were blessed to have a little time together before she went off and graduated and moved off to Baylor for her grad program.  Fortunately for us, Baylor is about the half-way point on the trip to/from the Dallas area (home!) to Aggieland (second home!), so I got to see her just about every time I took a weekend trip home from Aggieland - blessings!!!!  Our friendship grew tremendously during that time apart and I loved my pit-stops on that 3.5hr drive.  During our friendship we have encouraged and prayed each other through numerous trials, "suffered" a spring break road trip to Colorado (from which I returned with a fractured arm...baller.)

 survived (quite literally) some awesome New Year's Eve parties,

"endured" her engagement party (so fun!),

"survived" her wedding day (gooorgeous bride! I so loved being your moh, lovely, such a privilege.),

made it through not seeing each other and having super conflicting schedules that disallowed frequent communication, and so, so much more.

This girl is truly a for-life-friend.  I am so blessed by her.  She is an incredible daughter of the King, and her encouragement is something I cannot even begin to describe.

I can't wait to show her around the not-so-Frozen Tundra and introduce her to my life here.  Hopefully someday we'll be able to do life together from not so far away  :)

See you soon, lovely!
~MW

Sweet Summer Time

I can't wait to have kids so that I can make one of these with them:

Courtesy of whatever...

I came across this beauty a few weeks ago in my perusings and fell in love with it.  While I haven't drawn up my own summer list, I have had quite the summer thus far:

- Trip to Tejas for a wedding, complete with lots of visits with my Texas loves, and LOTS of Tex-Mex!
- Cirque du Soliel - Ovo
- Went to a high school graduation and helped with the graduation party (all for SW's oldest kiddo who now works in the insect museum with me!)
- Helped run a successful, though chilly, BioBlitz
- Hosted an eggroll making party (AWESOME fun!)
- Played a departmental game of kickball, complete with bbq!!
- Big bday bbq bash for all of our June bday peoples, complete with fire!!!
- Went to a comedy club - haven't laughed that hard in a long time
- Canoed around the lake with my McQueen's and Meg...Jakers had a blast doggy-paddling around...it took him some getting used to, though  ;)
- 4th of July parade and picnic!!!  It was very Pollyana  :)
- Rockin' 4th of July bbq over in Uptown and got to watch all of the fireworks shows all around town, sooo amazing
- Went on a canoe trip over in Wisconsin.  Saw so many bald eagles!!  It was incredible.
- Lab bbq at RH's awesome home...I could sit in that backyard forever, I'm pretty sure
- Strolled around one evening with one of my sweet friends and her sweet baby
- Made my way a little ways west to hang over at Kreutter's grandma's place on the lake.  Had an absolute blast hanging out with her fam and Jakers looooved swimming and playing outside all day
- Have so loved hitting up the farmers market each week with Callie and anyone else who can make it

And, the summer isn't quite over yet!!  Woohoo!

~-~-~-~-~-~-~

Sunday was way fun, because Kreutter spent the day with me and I got to introduce her to a few of my FT bugdorks.  Everyone met up over at my place bright and early and we made our way downtown for some breakfast at a sweet little place just down from the market.  Check out what was hanging from the ceiling!!!

 

That's right...that's totally a griffon skeleton!!!  Baller.

 The gang - they so make me happy :)

I love the market...it makes me incredibly happy and the produce is outstanding.  Here's a little (un-edited) taste of what one visit will give you in the way of fresh, local, organic produce+ for just $10:

Left to Right, Top to Bottom: Lettuce ($2)! Half of a $5 bouquet! Decorative cabbage 

(from the $5 bouquet) in a globe bowl! The other half of the $5 bouquet! 

$1 worth of basil plants! A dozen golden potatoes ($2) that I baked up 

with olive oil, pepper, cumin, and Parmesan cheese - yum!

Ahhh, the farmers market...I just love it  :)

Ahem...for an example of just how much joy it gives me....I am going to allow you feast your eyes on this....as I cover my eyes in shame...I just get so excited!!

OK, so, in my defense...there was another picture being taken from above at this 

point in time...  See?  Look at Mark, sitting next to me, he's making a goofy 

face, too!  ;)  We were all sitting on the horse-drawn wagon riding back to 

the parking lot.  How much more fun could a trip to the market get?!

I have another treat for y'all!

A video of Jakers out at the lake!!

All-in-all, we had an absolute blast this weekend  :)

And, this upcoming weekend should be just as stellar - Saints game tailgate party!

And then, the weekend after that Elaine comes to visit!!!!  

This summer, while it's had its low points, for sure, just keeps getting better and better and I can't wait to see how the rest of it turns out.

Alrighty kids, I'm outty for now.

Lots of love!

Shalom,

~MW

Oh death...

I so needed this:

Watch the full version here.

I had a whole blog post I was going to write-up tonight for y'all...but in playing catch-up with some of the blogs I follow I came across the above video over at The Blair Affairs and all of my plans went out the window.  I've loved getting to know Jennifer through her blog the last month or so, after she stumbled upon my little bloggy and so, naturally...as we bloggers do...I ventured over to her lovely page and fell in love with her heart for the Lord and pure honesty in her postings.  Take a few minutes and check her out if you aren't familiar with her already.  {Plug: she's going to Ethiopia!  Help her out by purchasing one of her super adorable headbands.}  

Anywho, back to the high-jacked post.  I was talking about my plans for this post just totally readjusting.  

Last week was...well...hellacious, to put it lightly.  

It started out with general life stresses regarding moving.  Where will I call home come the end of September?  How am I going to cut rent and still have enough room for my critters.  How am I going to find a place that will be affordable enough to allow me to take on some other financial weights as the fall approaches (ahem...like buying a car...and a new computer...)?  OK, so stressful, but normal.  Everyone downsizes and cuts budgets at some point.  Everyone moves at some point.  It's always a little stressful, but God has never failed me and has always, always, always provided for me in an incredible way.  Sometimes I just forget His faithfulness...how fickle we humans are...

Then came the torrent of emotional heartache as I watched a friend go through a very difficult hurtle in his life.  He's coping well, but it was extremely difficult upon first hearing the news.  I'd share more, but what I've said already will suffice.

OK...so, life is stressful and friends go through hard times.  We've all been there.  We've all survived it.

Remember how they say "things come in 3's"?  Or, "everything happens all at once"?  Well...call it coincidence, or whatever you want to call it, but it held true for last week.

I got news Friday that a friend of mine high school was on a 50 day trip through the Middle East and he passed away last week while over seas.  I was speechless when I found out.  Thankfully my dear friend Skate (she takes such good care of me) called me so that I didn't have to see it on facebook first, but could hear it from a loving friend - I love her.  When I got the news I didn't know how to react, how to respond, what to think...or to even believe it, initially.  Justin was one of those people who you could have met only once, but would have been forever impacted by.  He was such a vibrant, outgoing, brilliant, fun, loving, person.  I didn't really start processing his death until about an hour after I found out.  I was talking with my lab mate, and she had suffered through my multiple break downs last week, and told her what had happened and she dropped everything and dragged me out of the lab to go get some frozen yogurt (Robin, you're the absolute best, just for the record!).  Robin is excellent.  She has a remarkable way of calming people.  As we were making the trek down the hill to her car we were chatting about death and loss in general and then she says to me, "So, tell me about Justin."  It was nice to be able to think back on some of the fun we'd had in high school...from football games to knitting, to random shenanigans.  It was good to remember him.  To remember the life and zeal he had - to remember his faith.  We didn't do a great job of keeping up with each other after high school, but he had still been a part of my life.  Robin made the comment, too, that it's sometimes the  most difficult to grieve for those we might not have known as well, or have fallen out of touch with.  I couldn't have agreed more.  I almost felt like I didn't have the right to mourn him, or to feel loss in his death.  But, at the same time I couldn't stop thinking about it and found myself falling into tears much of the weekend.

Needless to say, I spent much of the weekend thinking about loss and death.  Thinking about Justin.  Thinking that it isn't fair that he was taken so early.  Feeling angry.  Feeling confused...simply wondering, "why?"  

But then my thoughts began to shift. 

While I was (and am) still feeling the loss of Justin, and grieving that, I was comforted.  I was reminded of his zeal for the Lord.  I was reminded that I should be rejoicing that he is with the Father - I should be borderline jealous of that!  I should want that!  I shouldn't be thinking about how it's unfair that the collective "we" of earth were "robbed" of him.  I should be rejoicing that he is walking in glory - that he had fulfilled his time on earth to the Father's satisfaction and that He saw fit to call Justin home.  I should be rejoicing, in the midst of death.

And then, because God is so good and works in such wonderful and mysterious ways, He directed me to Jen's blog and where she had previously posted the video at the opening of this post.  What a mighty and awesome God He is.  He never ceases to amaze me in the way that He cares for His children.  That video was just the spiritual reminder that I needed to fully remember what death in Christ means - VICTORY!

Christ is risen from the dead

Trampling over death by death

Come awake, come awake!

Come and rise up from the grave!

Christ is risen from the dead!

We are one with Him again!

Come awake, come awake!

Come and rise up from the grave!

Oh death, where is your sting?

Oh hell, where is your victory?

Oh church, come stand in the light!

The glory of God has defeated the night!

Matt Maher

Oh death...where is your sting?  Oh grave...where is your victory?  These are the questions I should have been asking from the beginning.  We are the risen church...Our God is not dead...He's alive.  And we live in Him - forever.  Glory!

What a blessing it is to be able to find comfort and joy in death.

And with that I'm going to close.  The week is nearly up and I'm off to WI on Saturday for a canoeing trip with friends!  Can't wait to get out on the water and take in my Daddy's beautiful creation.

Shalom, loves.

~MW

A placed called Rainbow...

...for those of you who've been following since I made the trek to the Frozen Tundra, you know what that means...

I went grocery shopping!!

OK, y'all, I have to confess something: I way do not like grocery shopping.  Stores are never set-up in a way that is intuitive (or makes sense on any level in some cases), they are always crowded, and well...food (good food) is expensive.  That's 3 strikes...that usually means, "you're out!!!"  But, alas...we must eat.

So, I did it.  I sucked it up and finally went grocery shopping.  I hadn't been, but to get a loaf of bread and carton of milk, since my return from TX...shameful, I know...but, don't you worry, I ate...my cupboards were officially empty this morning, hence the need for a shopping trip.

But, my shopping trip did allow me to get some things for a little lemonade recipe I've been wanting to try.


Fresh lemonade.....

Fresh blueberry mint lemonade...!!!

 How pretty is that glass of drink??  B-e-a-utiful!  You know what else...?  It's deeeelish!
 And, guess what else!  It's easy peasy...lemon squeezey!  Bah-hahahaha!  I couldn't resist...and I apologize.

Here's what you'll need:
1c lemon juice (about 2 large lemons)
3/4c sugar (I used white this go round, but I'll be trying it with cane sugar next - I think it will make it pop even more!)
4c water
1c blueberries (a good sized handful or two should do the trick)
1/3c mint (I just used a sprig of mint with something like 8-9 leaves on it. I didn't use the stem, but I suppose you could chop it up and throw it in the mix?)

Juice your lemons.  I used my Magic Bullet Juicer adapter and was able to get over 1c of juice from two large lemons. 
Add sugar and water to lemon juice.  Shake/mix vigorously, ensuring that the sugar is dissolved.
Add in blueberries and mint.
Chill for however long and enjoy!
recipe adapted from La Petite Coquin


The original recipe recommends letting it sit for a few hours to allow the flavors to mix and infuse more, but after letting mine sit for even just 30min it was wonderfully delicious.  I'll let you know how it tastes after sitting over night, though!




It has been a good night in the kitchen, to say the least.

It's amazing what having food on hand to cook with will allow for, eh?

My dinner consisted of this:

My variation of J Ponder's (from Ponder This) fried rice...what I wouldn't give for some of that goodness...and some Ponder company on top of that - to die for!

I've mentioned it on the blog before, but I like my picture from tonight better than the other one I snapped before.  No carrots this time, though.

It was fabulous, and the spicy went excellently with the refreshing lemonade.  Yum!!

And now, I'm going to settle down for the night with a movie, some chocolate, and another glass of that there lemonade  ;)

Nighty-night.

Shalom!
~MW

Ho-Hum...it's Monday...

Greetings, all.

So...as I am certain most of you have figured out...today is Monday.  Monday, Monday, Monday...you always come too quickly and last far too long.  Just sayin'.

Anywho, I have a ton of things I've been needing to blog about: the close of my second semester of grad school, summer, some things I've learned in the last year or so...the list goes on.  But, tonight, as it will most definitely be after 9 by the time I finish this post and I would like to get to bed a reasonable hour tonight, I think I'm just going to make this a short and sweet update.

Last week was hectic, but good.

Wrapping up the loose ends from BioBlitz, curating all of the specimens we collected in those 24hrs (with some help from the Chanimal - thanks, yo!), and undertaking the task of rearing moths after finding myself with a large amount of moth eggs on my hands kept me buuuusy! 

Aside from all of that I wrestled with Biota2 as I attempted the supposedly simple task of transferring my PC files to our lab MAC.  This used to be a simple, painless task...back in 2002...but, of course, the converter hasn't been updated since then and is no longer supported on Leopard or Snow Leopard.  Neat.  Thanks 4D for not staying on top of that...sigh.  So, after an ordeal of uninstalling and re-installing the software on my laptop (just in case something got messed up during the initial installation...it didn't), RW came to the realization that he had lost his license number for the program...awesome.  So, I called up the distributor to see if maybe, just maybe they could look it up for us - they could!  And they did!!  Whoop! 

They sent us the codes late Friday so I was able to get everything rolling again this morning.  But, I still have the issue of needing to take my database files between a PC and MAC.  So, first thing (OK, maybe 2nd or 3rd thing) tomorrow I'm calling them up again to see if there is a new way around this issue, if not...SW said she'd buy "me" a new MAC for the lab!!!  Holla!  Can I just stumble upon a ridiculously large amount of discarded cash so I can buy my own MAC???  Maybe?  Not likely?  Dang...worth a shot.  So, I'll let you know what happens there, because if the company says there's no solution SW said she'll purchase the new comp before the week is up.  {I kind of really want this latter option to happen...I know...I'm a terrible person.}

The caterpillars are...well...not fairing so well  :(  I walked in this morning to find large amounts of them...shriveled up and dead, dead, dead...depressing first thing on a Monday morning.  I talked to SW about it and she exclaimed in apology for not mentioning that they should have been transferred to a tupperware container to ensure that they didn't suffer from dessication.  Even though there were moist maple leaves and a damp paper towel in the net-cage...the air inside the building was still to dry.  Blast!  Ah well, learning experience.  There are a few survivors who are now nestled safely in a tupperware container...so we'll see how they look in the morning.  Fingers crossed!


Backing up a few days now.

Friday was the day I the majority of the fighting with Biota, but I was (pleasantly and humorously) interrupted from that battle by a text from SW that read something along the lines of:

I may need some salad

and photo board help. Do

you have time today? 

Headed home with the fixings 

and will call when I get there.

Thanks life preserver!

Haha...OK, so here's some background on that text.  Her oldest graduated from high school a week or two ago (it was actually a pretty fun graduation ceremony!!).  The graduation party was scheduled for Saturday the 18th.  SW was out of town through Wednesday of that week...talk about a brave mom!  Anywho, the 3 "men" of the house neglected to get any of the to-do list she had left from them to do for the week that she was gone so that she could focus on the actual party details once she came back in town.  Panic ensued on Thursday (I got a text that day saying she would see me Friday if she weren't jailed for killing offspring first!  Ha!  Gotta love it.).  I offered to help her with anything between Thursday and Saturday...and so came the text on Friday.  

After I got home from the lab I ran Jakers around for a bit and then packed up my crafting supplies and headed out to her place.  I had hardly made it through the door when her husband exclaimed, "Oh thank goodness you're here!  You're co-advisor is about to go insane!!!!!"  Hahahahaha...yes, I laughed outloud and saw the agreement mixed with furry in SW's eyes...poor woman - she was spent and still had dinner to make...for her family and 3 guests (they had two ornithologists (her hubs is an ornithologist) staying with them that night and then there was me).  I ushered her out of the kitchen and into the dinning room where there were mounds of photographs and poster board strewn about.  I told her as long as she gave me an idea of what she was going for I would do my best to finish the photo boards and then move on to whatever other task she needed done.  I thought she was going to cry out of sheer gratitude!  She set to making dinner and I put the photo boards together.  And then...we all sat down to a lovely dinner of grilled venison steaks with grilled veggies and potatoes...complete with a glass of wine - perfection.  Once dinner was over the boys all headed to the den and SW and I hung out in the kitchen and had girl time.  It was positively delightful.

Saturday was another full day!  It started with an egg roll making party at my place (Ummm...so awesome...and no...I didn't take any pictures.  I know!  I'm sorry!!!) which took a good part of the day and then we stuffed our faces with a ton of egg rolls.  We made somewhere in the range of 70-80...there were 12 left...There were about 8 of us altogether...ha.  After that ordeal came to a close a number of us made the trek over to SW's for the graduation party, complete with much more food....and....CAKE POPS!!!!  We all slept well that night.

Sunday was another day, but a blessed one at that.  I got to visit with Skate and talk to my pops and see all of my loves at church.  Win, win, win!

There's the latest and greatest...how's that for short?  Ha...I just kept remembering more and more things that I felt were blog worthy!!  

OK, for reals, I'm closing this post with a farewell and good night.

Praying blessings upon you.

Shalm,

~MW

To my Daddy

Happy Father's Day, Daddy!

What a blessing it is to know the love of a father.  This is a blessing I hope I never, ever take for granted.  My Daddy Dearest is the absolute best father a girl could ask for.  No, really...I'm not kidding.

Things I love about my Faja:

1) He loves me unconditionally

2) He teaches me about God, life, loving others, having wisdom, and so much more all the time

3) He lets me make mistakes but is always there to help me pick up the pieces and learn from whatever has just caused me to fall on my face and break a limb...

4) He's pretty much always a phone call away...even when he's too busy, he always makes time.

5) He's pretty darn funny...sometimes  ;)

6) I can geek-out with him about things like Star Wars, anything Tolkien/C.S. Lewis, and so much more

7) He does more than he has to/needs to if it means making something a little bit easier on my end...even when he's, you guess it, too busy...like driving across the country with me to move me into my little apartment in the Frozen Tundra.

8) He loves, loves, loves the Lord and isn't afraid to show it.

9) He's incredibly wise.

10) He loves our family in an incredible way.

11) He...is...patient.  Something I am trying to learn myself...he's an amazing model of this.

12) He enjoys the outdoors and nature like me...and I love that we can share in those things...even if at times I make him help me with trapping insects, resulting in him suffering severely from poison ivy...but, we don't talk about that...  ;)

13) He let's me cry in front of him and doesn't feel awkward or uncomfortable when I do, but, rather, extends the most wonderful comfort, care, and love in just the right way for whatever the moment calls for...whether it's simply sitting by my side and hugging me, speaking words of Truth/Wisdom, etc...

14) He never let's me do the dishes after cooking our Thanksgiving Feast...though I don't get to do this anymore, now that I've moved out of TX, he would never let me touch a dirty dish after cooking/baking all day...

15) He's my dad.

Not the best of pictures, but this is him and me after my 

graduation from A&M - it was a chilly December night, and, 

of course, I wasn't willing to sacrifice cuteness for warmth...but, 

Faja was there, wool coat and all, to keep me warm  :)

You're the best, Dad.

Love you dearly, talk to you soon!

All my love,

~Heather

I was going to blog tonight, but....

....I got lost playing on this neat little thing called...

...Pinterest...

'nuff said.

And, with that I bid you all goodnight.

Shalom!

~H.

What weekend...?

Happy Sunday, lovely readers.

Praying the Lord has blessed you on His day and that your weekend has been filled to the brim with R&R and maybe some productivity...maybe?  ;)

My weekend has been...looong...but good!

Friday
Friday got off to an early start as I finished my 3rd (and hopefully final) prelim exam for my program.  Once that bad boy was finished it was time to kick it into hyperdrive to finish getting everything ready for BioBlitz which kicked off at 5pm that night.

All of my gear, before heading up to campus to get the

nets, kill jars, etc...  {minus my magazine basket, of course...}

What on earth is BioBlitz?!  

BioBlitz is a 24hr survey of the biodiversity of a given area.  It's something I got involved with at A&M and I was very pleased to discover that SW is one of the big participants here in the Frozen Tundra - win!  Aside from trying to document all the different plants, fungi, birds, toads/lizzards/snakes, insects, mammals, etc...BioBlitz aims to involve the community in discovering and learning about the natural history of the area.  <-- This is one of my favorite parts of BioBlitz - the community outreach.  Love it!

A bunch of us packed up and headed on out to the Katharine Ordway Natural History Study Area (try saying that one 10 times fast!) to get light traps and overnight traps set-up before taking to the woods and fields to try to collect any insects we came across while it was still daylight/dusk.  Sadly, we had a cold front blow through this weekend, and Friday night proved to be pretty poor collecting conditions...the pickins were slim, to say the least.  We DID, however, find a gorgeous mating pair of Spilosoma virginica (a tiger moth - arctiid) and closed the night around 11pm with the capture (With my bare hand! I'd already packed up my gear for the night!) of a handsome male Ctenucha virginica (another type of tiger moth) - such a gorgeous guy.  It was very exciting and made getting drenched while collecting in the rain well worth it  :)

Saturday
Started the day with another early morning and headed back out to the Ordway Area.  We had much more success collecting insects on Saturday than we did on Friday.  This was great, except that we had to spend a good portion of our day collecting so we didn't have as much time to ID and curate...made for a bit of a time crunch as 5pm approached quickly.  STRESS!  And, since I still haven't recovered from the trip to TX (no time to sleep!) my body was fading fast...and I quickly lose nearly all patience when I'm tired...no bueno, friends, no bueno.  Fortunately, Corey the Dynamo was there to help keep me sane  :)

There were a few kiddos who came out and wanted to know lots of things about bugs and wanted to show us all of the insects they had collected.  So great!  There was one little boy who was probably about 4 and he kept bringing me all these little rocks and mosses along with insects...it was so fun.  Another little girl, maybe 8 or 9, brought a lady beetle (ladybug) and a mirid (plant bug) and wanted us to ID them for her.  The bug was one we hadn't collected yet so she let us keep it.  I showed her how we put the insects in our special jars (kill jars...glass jars with plaster paris in the base that is charged with ethyl acetate...basically euthanizes them) that put them to sleep and then they die so that we can put them on pins...if we put them on pins when they are still awake it doesn't feel very nice and their little legs will move all around.  So I walked her through that process and she was so excited to see the art of insect pinning and thought her little bug looked very nice on its new pin, all set to go into the collection.  Before she left she surprised me with the biggest hug...I nearly died.  It was just what I needed - I was starving at that point and wanted nothing more than to go home, eat, shower, and sleep...she granted me a pleasant distraction from ID'ing and pinning at record speeds to teach...and blessed me with a hug.  So precious!

The rest of the day was non-stop pinning and ID'ing and....databasing...my faaaaavorite thing eeeeeever....not.  But, we got it done, with about 105 morphospecies to report!  Which was good, considering the weather conditions!

After cleaning everything up and loading up the cars and trucks and things everyone cleared out and my crew and I embarked on our "roadtrip" back home (OK, so it was only a 30min drive...) so we could drop everything back off at campus and actually go home.  (We found out a little secret about our building, too!! BONUS!)

I ran by the Rainbow and grabbed some essentials...yes, cut flowers are essential from time to time  =)  Popped by RedBox, grabbed True Grit and headed home to settle in for the evening.

Dynamo and CashSmock came over and joined me for the rest of True Grit and Corey had fun riling Jakers up every time he had settled down...he thought it was fun  ;)  Then it was BED TIME.

Sunday
Woke up with quite the migraine that I've been fighting all day...I reckon that's a testament to my exhaustion and need to stop.  If you won't find the time to stop when you need to...your body will force you to stop.  OK, body, OK.  So I took today easy and didn't do much of anything - it was nice and much needed.

Finally decided I should make a real meal of sorts around dinner time...but since I only picked up the bare essentials from Rainbow I had to use my throbbing noggin to figure something out.  So, what did I come up with??

Chickpeas + diced tomatoes + onions + a bunch of spices 

+ a side of rice = quite a tasty dish 

(and pretty good for you, too!)

I tossed my onions in the pan first with some sesame oil, once they went translucent I added in my tomatoes, chickpeas, spices, and covered it in water and set it to boil.  Then I simmered it all until the liquid evaporated off some and thickened some.
For spices I used ground cumin, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, chili powder, ground red pepper, and salt and black pepper.
Spooned some of the chickpea mixture and sauce over a bowl of rice and voila! you have a cheap, easy, tasty (filling!) dinner.

I was hoping that eating something substantial would help kick the headache, but no such luck  :-/  It's starting to dull now, though.

So, my dears, with that, I am going to leave you and am calling it a night.

Blessings upon you as you tackle another Monday!!

Shalom,
~MW

P.S. - GO MAVS!!!