the semester begins

It looks like we're going to be barely able to keep our heads on this semester, so I'm going to be posting once a week, on Sunday.

I started my class this week, on teaching undergraduates using writing. It's an exhilarating class so far, because it's something I haven't thought a lot about, and there's an enormous field of research supporting the use of writing across the curriculum. There's a lot of good stuff to learn about. There's also a discussion section to the class - I haven't been in a truly discussion-based class since St. John's, so it's reminding me how much I love and hate seminar.

Eric and I went to work together on Friday. It's so nice to go in to work with somebody, and to have someone to eat lunch with, and someone to walk to the car with. Office romances have their problems to be sure, but the benefits are very pleasant!

Since Juniper is the only rabbit left, we moved her inside this weekend and took the loom out to the shed to await rehabilitation. Here she is in her new digs:

The object on the end of her cage is my Christmas present from Lloyd and Eric.

It's a skein winder, for all the yarn that I've been spinning. There's no metal in it - it's all held together with joins or wooden pins, and a little bit of glue. We just tested it out with some yarn from a project I didn't like, and it worked beautifully!

This is a shawl I'm making for my cousin. I'm afraid it might be enormous - afraid because it will take forever. I increase 2 stitches on the wrong side rows and 4 stitches on the right side! And it's supposed to be 144 rows long! At least it's wintery and my room is now in order, so I have nothing to do but knit when I'm home. 

Oscar has been enjoying climbing inside things.

And finally, here is Oscar trying to walk while wearing shoes. He hasn't quite figured it out yet.

I think this is really going to be a crazy week. I start teaching - Eric starts working - Oscar keeps growing... wish us luck!

Eric's other new job

I start another new job monday.  I can perform this one while I teach a section of bio at the community college.  My days are filling up!  This position is technically considered a laboratory assistant II position but Dr. Gaines affectionately calls me his lab manager.  I am in charge of setting up, cleaning and organizing a lab as well as initiating projects that can be handed off to grad students when we start recruiting.

This is Dr. Todd Gaines my new boss and adviser.  He's a righteous dude. 

This is Amaranthus or "pigweed"

This is Kochia.

Amaranthus and Kochia are some pretty hostile and serious weed and both threaten farmland.  These two species are controlled using the herbicide glyphosate (roundup) but in the last decade they have evolved a pretty hardy resistance and no one knows why.  That's where our lab steps in...we are investigating the mechanism for resistance acquisition. I can't wait to get started.  I have a huge start up budget to work with and a beautiful lab space with windows!  I can even decorate it however I want.  Todd thinks we need a sound system to play some sweet tunes while we work.  I also have some pretty serious computing power.  We have a few super computers (256 gigs of ram!) to help us out and over 12 terabytes of storage for our data sets.  I have a feeling the learning curve will be high but I can't imagine a funner assignment.  I get to be queen (king) bee and make all lab based decisions.  I also get to train the newbs and bend them to my will....YOU VILL DO VHAT I SAY!  

Anyway its sweet.  Stay tuned for more updates.

Phew!

Oscar devours a pear

Little fajah

U 

Unprecedented kitty swarm

This has been quite a week! Eric started teaching at ACC, and it seems to be going well. I am being bossed around by the biology department and the lab coordinator, which is making me quite grumpy. Oslo passed away on Wednesday night unexpectedly. Eric seems to have gotten a job as lab coordinator for a new professor on campus, although it won't be official until Monday or Tuesday. We'll be able to ride the bike to work together again! And now we're all sick with a dumb cold from daycare, so we've been wearing loungewear non-stop and self-medicating with Popsicles.

Misc Pics Post Christmas

Getting Ready

Struttin' in our new ride...

Happy Camper

Green Ice Pop Prize for being a Champ

We're getting the band back together!

Not really. But, Pat has finished perfecting the album and it is now available for purchase, at cdbaby for the low low price of $1.29: http://cdbaby.com/cd/thelaydownsister, but also at iTunes, Amazon, spotify, wherever. It has an E for Explicit Lyrics rating on iTunes, which I hope makes Pat happy. The album is called After the Red Giant. I haven't listed to the final version yet myself, so I make no promises. May it satisfy your curiosity.

Professor Patterson

Eric has been hired at AIMS community college as a professor! He will be teaching one section of Introductory Biology starting on Tuesday!! He may also be working full-time as a lab manager... It's going to be a busy semester.

We made it!

Oscar is such a good traveling baby! We made it safely back to Fort Collins today without much fuss. It was fun to get home and unpack the presents and see where they'll all go in the house! Oscar took a giant nap on the plane - Eric's butt fell asleep but at least so did O.

What a nice visit that was. We got to meet Casper, and Josh, and say hello again to Henry. We weren't responsible for anything, which is such a relaxing feeling! Two weeks is definitely the best for a vacay. But now we're back, and Pocky is purring on my lap, and Garage is purring nearby (and Mo is just prowling), and we put Oscar to sleep without having to ask anyone to stop shouting. So there are advantages there too.

Oscar is delighted to toddle around this tiny house. He is fearless and only needs to learn to stand up on his own before he's fully functional.

Texas Ranger for the new year!

Happy new year!

Today we had an expedition to Turkey Hill to find an Osage orange tree that dad remembered seeing there. We found the tree, notable for its thorns, and harvested some dead branches, and walked back. I had Oscar on my back, in Henry's carrier. I also had a Fun Meter button that I had found in the back of the minivan, set to Max of course. 

When we got home the men went out back with all the hand tools they could find and set about turning all that wood into something resembling sawdust. No one went to the emergency room! The chips were collected and set to soak in a pot full of isopropanol, to make a more efficient extraction of the dyestuff. When sufficiently extracted, the dyepot was then boiled to remove the isopropanol, which we subsequently learned was heavier than air. A little vinegar was added, and some fresh underpants, and the New Year's tradition was continued. They actually turned out quite yellow! I would totally try this again, except I don't think Osage orange trees grow in Colorado. Goldenrod would also work.

The remaining underpants were colored with Rit dye, and they are much more obviously yellow. I do not think, however, the amount of luck the underpants bring you is corellated with the amount of yellow dye they contain. I also do not think it is allowed to buy fresh yellow underpants - dying them yourself is what adds the luck to them.

Famous

The river is famous to the fish...

This was on the front page of the Coloradoan on Friday. There are two irritating things about it - one, that we like parking in that neighborhood, and two, that Eric isn't even a CSU student any more! But once he's approved for his sweet new job as lab manager, we'll be able to ride the tandem bike to school again and never have to worry about parking. 

One year old!

Someone just got a lot closer to being a real human!

Oscar got to open some nice presents just after he woke up. Then he ate breakfast and went to daycare, and cried immediately when I put him down. Eric's parents and gramma came up with Beau, and they and Eric and Oscar had a grand old time. We all went out to dinner at a real restaurant, where Oscar drank lemonade from a straw and chowed down on some lamb. Then we came home for more presents and an incredible bunny cake that Sue made. In short, he had a pretty awesome first birthday!

We didn't take any more pictures after breakfast, but I'm sure I'll be posting some from Eric's family soon. And that is what it is like to turn one!

I never understood why people had birthday parties for their very young children, since the children really don't know what's happening. But now I've realized it's really to celebrate the parents - we've been parents for a whole year now! We're not noobs anymore. And we've taken good care of Oscar too.

Go team!

Working for the weekend

Poor Oscar had a very hard day today.

Fortunately, I guess, this means he goes to bed very very early. But then there is no time for playing!

These days one of the favorite games is Where's Oscar? (Good thing we didn't name him Waldo, which was on the list.) This weekend we played a lot of that.

He also wore his hilarious polar fleece onesie, since it is still uncomfortably cold.

And he tried his hand at spinning! (More on that pastime later.)

It was a good weekend but a pretty rough Monday.

Nelson Mandela

This song has been in my head all day:

Banjo men

They play very nicely together, these two!

the real deal

Oscar is still very close to walking. Which means he won't be crawling for much longer! Here he is in full crawl. Note that his feet are kept delicately off the ground - he may be a born gentleman. That is not a euphemism.