3 Riders

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Driving down Highway 82 yesterday, on my way to visit Angela and Darcy Force and Athena Meraña, I passed three bicyclists. They had their sleeping pads and other gear strapped onto the back of their bikes, and were riding up a long, energy-sapping hill. For some reason, I thought it would be nifty to leave them a note of encouragement. So I stopped by the side of the road, and taped a message and two energy bars to the safety rail.



It makes me laugh to think of their reaction. I wasn't going to put my name on the note, but then I thought, Hey, why not? Maybe they'll look me up and send me a note telling me that I'm a little weird. Or maybe one day, I'll meet one of them, and they'll start telling me a story about how they were on a cross-country bike trip, and some odd person left them a couple of energy bars taped to a safety rail . . .

out in the woods

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Here's a few snapshots of things I've seen since coming to Washington.


Some mushrooms, growing on a log.














Mushrooms scattered amongst the foliage in the Olympic National Forest.














A praying mantis hiding in the grass.














A chipmunk that was stealing food from the bird feeders outside of our house.














Some cool grass plant thing that I can't identify.




















A kelp plant lying stranded on the beach.














A misty evening by the Pacific Ocean.

The Nutcracker Sweet

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So, I'm in Washington State. It's beautiful here. There are mountains here which I love, and the ocean is not all that far either. In fact, just this past weekend I went to the beach--I had forgotten how huge the ocean is. It stretched for as far as I could see in three directions. And the waves were huge. Wow. I was amazed. But . . . . I don't spend most of my time near the ocean. I spend most of it in the mountains and hills just east of Mount Ranier. In the Yakima Valley if you're more familiar with the area. I'm working with the United States Forest Service, on a project involving Clark's Nutcrackers. Much of what I do involves walking or driving around with a little black box--attached to a large piece of metal--that emits a noise very similar to the sound of static on a bad radio station, hoping to hear a beep (see below). If I hear a beep, that means a bird is near (earlier, radio tags were placed on the birds), and then it's a matter of trying to figure out exactly where the bird is. Ok, so that's simplified a little, but that's the basic gist of what I do.



The point is, we're trying to learn about the home range and habitat use of these birds, especially as it impacts on the conservation and restoration of white bark pine, a species in decline for a number of reasons. The birds and the pine have a mutualistic relationship: the birds eat the seeds, and cache some for later, and those that they don't retrieve germinate and grow into new trees. The tree actually has no other way to spread its seeds.

So, that's what I'll be doing until November at least. It's great: lots of hiking and mountains. And I do get to do other things too, like transects, and cone counts, and cone harvests, and maintaining feeding stations and other related activities. I'm learning a lot, that's for sure. It's a pretty sweet deal.

Love and Hate, part I

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I hate moving very quickly. I hate being rushed to get somewhere. I hate not having time to take my time. And I hate power-walking through the woods. I would much rather meander slowly and listen to the sound of running water. Or sit and watch the moss grow. Or just stand there and admire the trees all around me. Or get up on a hill and feel the wind blowing in my face.

I love eating fresh fruit. Some more than others of course. I love biting into a sweet juicy white peach and trying not to let the juice drip down my chin. I love gobbling handfuls of currants picked fresh from the bush. Or peeling away that nasty white stuff on a grapefruit and downing the pulp in a single swallow. Or slicing up a bright orange mango and getting stringies all stuck in my teeth. Ah, the list could go on--oranges, avocados, grapes, pears, apricots, cherries, kiwis, plums and on and on. My absolute favorites, though, are the berries. Blue, black, wine, rasp, straw, huckle, cran, mul, lingon, goose, and I could go on and on again. Mmmm, I think I'm going to go buy some fruit.

summer snapshots

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I spent this summer at Indian Creek Camp in TN. Here's a few highlights, although by no means all of them. In no particular order:


Me, Ryan, and Chris being cows at the Rodeo.















Andi and Gertle the Turtle





















Daniel and Keri enjoying some Lipton's at Fall Creek Falls State Park















James, Rodeo Clown, the least of his talents















Community Impact--appreciating daycares everywhere















Community Impact--a Free carwash, all tips refused















Caution: Gas Leak Below





















Mmmmm . . .















Wow















Playing with fire
















The culmination of five years of craving















Fall Creek Falls, round two















Freezer Burned















Fun times in Smithville

Old Dreams, New Dreams

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I recently bought a new laptop. Actually, it's not new, it's refurbished. That means used, but certified. It's an Apple MacBook Pro. His name is Tempus. At least for now.

So, I was transferring my files from my old mac to Tempus, and I came upon a bunch of dreams (I used to write down my dreams just for fun). They made me laugh so hard because of their randomness. In fact, I thought they were so funny, that I started writing down some of them again. Here's one old dream and one new dream.

August 27, 2006

I was swimming in some ice cold water. No, I was walking near some ice cold water, and then I fell in. And I mean, there were miniature icebergs floating in the water. Justin was there, and I told him not to worry, because for some reason the water didn't feel cold. Then there was some kind of search, like an easter egg hunt, except we were looking for cantaloupes. I found three of them and carried them somewhere. Then I was in an office, and someone called Mrs. Abbey "Mrs. Busy," because that was her name in the dream, and she said, "Please call me Mrs. B., not Mrs. Busy."

September 1, 2001

We were going on a winter camping trip. Camille was there. Mr. Horniachek was planning the trip. There was a flying red bicycle. Actually, I think it was a tricycle. It reminded me of the red tricycle that we used to have when we were little. It had some kind of weird propeller system and you had to pedal to keep it in the air. I was on it and weaving all around in front of our house. Two of the little kids tried to jump on once. There were these big eight wheeled, treaded snow vehicles that we were going to take. There was also a packing list and a hot air balloon. Vaughn and Katie were there. Apparently there was some kind of basketball game as well.