Photos from here and there

My high school physics teacher and his wife came to visit from San Francisco. How cool is that?



Sillybugs!


Blueberries are ready!


Giant cabbages!


Lots of flowers in bloom now...








Hm... where do you suppose I learned my work ethic from? ;)

So

Apparently Alaskan Huskies are a unique breed.
I told all (four) of my loyal readers this a few years ago. :)

Yesterday evening, we had a quick downpour.


Because my life is So Exciting, I took a video clip. I love rain!


When it rains in California, people nod sagely and say, "We need the rain." No-one here says that, because we don't quite have a water shortage. But we do love rain because it tamps down the smoke from the wild fires.

Here is another use for small quantities of miscellaneous veggies--stir-fry:

Good Eats

From Rosie Creek Farm:


From my yard:

Walking on air!

Let's see, in the last month:

-Submitted 1 solo paper, and 2 joint.
-Advanced to candidacy.
-Survived annual program review meeting in Mississippi without getting skewered or making a fool of myself. :)
-Survived week in Mississippi without exploding from being unable to stop eating their delicious, deep-fried, ambrosial goodness.
-Finished splitting and stacking all wood for 2010-2011 winter.
-Joined the polar bear club.
-A bit of mind-boggling and absolutely wonderful news that I only tell people in person!

Not much to report

So here are photos and a video of a behbeh rhino.


Photo by Tierkinder.

I love him, don't you? He's just so adorably clunky!

Here is my friend Carl dip netting on the Copper River:

Photo by my other friend Peter.

Things change quickly

It's getting kinda, sorta dark at night. Almost. Barely. Just perceptibly. Crazy!

Here is an interesting article on the challenges of living in utter isolation on Little Diomede.

The article doesn't address the question of why they remain there in such a harsh existence. After my weekend in Barrow, the Interior looked crazy lush, and positively exploding with greenery and fecundity. I could not imagine living in such a barren place. On the other hand, I saw this documentary once about Inuit life on Greenland, and despite not just the general harshness of arctic life, they had the horrific problem of great quantities of the world's pollutants washing up on their shores and poisoning their historical food sources. A solution that was suggested to them--switching from the historical diet of whale, seal, and fish meat to imported farmed meat--was understandably appalling to them, not to mention unsustainable and ridiculous in a world where we ought to be encouraging traditional diets and local food consumption. Even my soul cries out against this, and I'm not even involved. But the thought of leaving didn't even cross these folks' minds. As the camera panned over what I considered to be very harsh and uninviting landscapes, a Native villager's voice breathed in awe, "isn't this the most beautiful place in the world?"

Double Post today in celebration of Mississippi

So, why am I rolling around my hotel room like a beached whale? This is across the street from my hotel:


Petty's BBQ!


I got the catfish plate, with hush puppies, potato salad, and fried okra. They added buttered toast, because, you know, what I ordered just didn't have enough fat and calories.


I also got a watermelon from Piggly Wiggly. Yay!

Oogie. My belly hurts.
Ouch.
Ugh.
Thank goodness I'm going home tomorrow. I'll eat nothing but Rosie Creek vegetables and my own peas for a week!