This past week has been an awesome week for Allie dog.  Thursday she went to school with me for De-stress with Dogs day at the college.  We did not actually enter the de-stress area, as I was being an overly protective or proactive dog-mom, depending on your point of view.  I did not like the insecurity of the fencing material (some sort of blue ( Read more... )

I was invited by some of my students to go black-lighting and herp hunting last night.  I thought it sounded fun and productive; I could look for millipedes, gather more data for out biotic index of the field station, and maybe learn a few moth ID's from my one student who really excels at that.  Plus, our bug-loving students are just all-around ( Read more... )

Claire recovered from her scare/injury enough that she slept with me in the bed on Thursday night but reclaimed her dog bed on the floor Friday and last night.  She did well on yesterday's hike, though she did not stray much from the trail and mostly just trotted along with us humans, leaving the running and exploration to the younger two dogs.  ( Read more... )

Last night, Claire did not quite make it when she jumped into bed.  Her front end was there but her back end missed and as she hung there, one rear leg apparently awkwardly caught on the edge of the mattress, she screamed.  I gently picked her up, knowing that she has always hated to be picked up but that I could not let her simply fall to the hard ( Read more... )

I have wanted a bearded dragon for over 6 years now, but was waiting for the time to be right to get one.  This fall I finally got the word I needed and set about getting ready to acquire a beardie.  I set up a cage in my office, bought a UV bulb and lamp, scrounged some habitat items from unused piles of stuff in the back rooms, and let the person ( Read more... )

Today, for the first time ever, I attempted a recipe from the booklet that came with my George Foreman grill.  It sounded good (obviously, or I would not have tried it) but it was an epic failure.  The only good to come out of this cooking attempt is that I remembered that pineapple and BBQ sauce are good together, something I already knew but have ( Read more... )

One thing I am really enjoying about life lately is that most of my classes are not new classes, so I have the opportunity to refine and hone my teaching materials but do not have to start from scratch.  This is a new experience for me and reminds me of Sean's estimations of preparation time, back when I was a brand new grad student.  Sean told me ( Read more... )

Between Thanksgiving and Christmas, I bought myself a new TV, since the TV was the last of the many things that died in 2013.  Between finals and Christmas shopping and travels, I really had not had the opportunity to enjoy the new TV much until this week.  It's a "smart" television, which means it connects to my WiFi.  Last night, I watched anime ( Read more... )

I had originally planned to leave for NY today but a sick Yu-kun kept me up last night.  Since driving 11 hours while sleep-deprived on a very familiar road sounds like an invitation for disaster, I opted to stay home today and enjoy a lazy day.  I fixed the dogs' soft crates, a project that has been waiting in the basement for over a year now.  I ( Read more... )

One of my high school teachers passed away this week.  I had looked for him on-line just a few years ago, because I wanted to let him know how much he inspired me and how often I appreciate what he taught me to this day.  Unfortunately, his name is somewhat common and I had not been able to find him, until today when a classmate posted his obituary ( Read more... )