Sunday, March 21, 2010
Baking Bread
We love to bake all of our own bread and Finn is really getting into helping. He likes to help pour ingredients into the bowl and he likes to pretend to help with the kneading process. On this day we were actually making homemade pita bread (which was awesome). Finn spent a lot of time shoveling flour into his mouth. I don't know if that is really good or not, but he had fun.
Dying Tree Farm
Sean was really excited when he discovered a bunch of chestnut trees growing in some of our neighbors' yards. This fall he collected a bunch of nuts to plant so we can have our own chestnut trees. We also have a couple of Elms in our yard, so Sean has joked that we will have a dying tree farm. Here, he and Finn are planting the nuts and as always, Finn is a big helper.
Dissertation Update
I have been meaning to do this post for a couple of weeks now and I just haven't had the opportunity. I fear, even now, it is going to lack a lot of the details I had originally planned on including, but I want to get the blog up to date. And really, in the end, mostly you just want cute pictures of Finn anyway, right?
So, the big news was that I went back to Akron to give a departmental seminar on my research. This was the last big requirement to complete prior to the actual defense of my research. I was really nervous having been away from academia for over a year and not doing any public speaking in that time. I was also nervous because it was the first time I would be away from Finn overnight.
It turned out to be a really great trip. It was wonderful to see everyone and I had some good meetings with Professors involved in my projects. I really enjoyed working in the lab a bit and looking at those cute little clam shrimp again. It was really nice to chat with my advisor face to face and come up with a game plan for the next few months. I feel very much renewed and motivated to push through this last bit of analysis and writing. I also gave a pretty good talk and got a lot of good questions and feedback. I was a nervous wreck, but apparently it didn't show and my advisor was exceptionally pleased with my performance. So, big yay for me all around.
And, really, Sean and Finn did exceptionally well in my absence. Frankly, I don't think it was that big of a deal that I was gone. They had a great time going on hikes and other outings during the day and Finn's sleeping habits remained the same. I missed them so much and I was so excited to see Finn when I arrived at the airport. He just looked at me and started pointing at the fun things he was seeing at the airport as if I hadn't been gone at all. It was a good feeling to know that he can do so well without me.
So, now I am running some DNA analysis and plugging away on the writing. It is going to be tight, but I am still trying to shoot for the summer deadlines. Wish me luck!
So, the big news was that I went back to Akron to give a departmental seminar on my research. This was the last big requirement to complete prior to the actual defense of my research. I was really nervous having been away from academia for over a year and not doing any public speaking in that time. I was also nervous because it was the first time I would be away from Finn overnight.
It turned out to be a really great trip. It was wonderful to see everyone and I had some good meetings with Professors involved in my projects. I really enjoyed working in the lab a bit and looking at those cute little clam shrimp again. It was really nice to chat with my advisor face to face and come up with a game plan for the next few months. I feel very much renewed and motivated to push through this last bit of analysis and writing. I also gave a pretty good talk and got a lot of good questions and feedback. I was a nervous wreck, but apparently it didn't show and my advisor was exceptionally pleased with my performance. So, big yay for me all around.
And, really, Sean and Finn did exceptionally well in my absence. Frankly, I don't think it was that big of a deal that I was gone. They had a great time going on hikes and other outings during the day and Finn's sleeping habits remained the same. I missed them so much and I was so excited to see Finn when I arrived at the airport. He just looked at me and started pointing at the fun things he was seeing at the airport as if I hadn't been gone at all. It was a good feeling to know that he can do so well without me.
So, now I am running some DNA analysis and plugging away on the writing. It is going to be tight, but I am still trying to shoot for the summer deadlines. Wish me luck!
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Evel Finnevel
Finnbar is quite the dare devil and I fear he is going to be really into extreme sports when he gets older. We are constantly catching him trying to trick ride his bike.
I keep meaning to do a big update blog post with everything that has been going on. I have been very busy these last couple of weeks, but I will get something up soon.
I keep meaning to do a big update blog post with everything that has been going on. I have been very busy these last couple of weeks, but I will get something up soon.
Monday, March 1, 2010
A Snowy Walk
Sunday morning was gorgeous. It was snowy and foggy, but really quite warm. We went for a lovely walk on an old logging road just a bit up the road from our house. It goes back into the woods feels like no one else is around. Finn had a great time in the pack. There was a lot of running water from all the rain and it was wonderful to hear it trickling as we walked. We hiked up the hill to some beautiful views.
Wild Winds of 2010
It all started Thursday night with a bat. Sean and I were enjoying a bit of TV and a fire in the wood stove when a bat came swooping through the living room. Now, intellectually I know that the bat is most likely not going to land on me and it is not happy with its predicament either, but my immediate reaction is to hide under a blanket and yell for Sean to get it out. Apparently, Lily feels the same way as she first tried to go hide in Finn's room and then came out and cowered with me on the couch until Sean managed to get the bat outside. I fear this was an omen of things to come...
That night the wind picked up and it rained gallons. I spent much of the night with Finn as we listened to the howling and banging of the wind. Sometime around midnight the power went out. When we roused ourselves the next morning, the power was still out and we noticed that our 30 foot blue spruce was no longer standing. It was completely uprooted and laying in our neighbor's gardens. Of all the places it could have landed, this was the best given that it didn't hit any cars or homes:
That Friday was just a complete mess. Sean managed to get to work and Finn and I listened to the battery-operated radio to find that upwards of 300,000 people were without power and it could be days before returning. We got the wood stove cranking and tried to entertain ourselves by going outside. This is where the day got worse. I took Finn outside to play in the puddles and while we have been trying to keep Lily on leash, I just decided to let her out to romp around. The only problem with this is she likes to go explore the neighbors' yards and run amok. Well, I noticed our neighbor, Art, was out checking out the downed tree so Finn and I went to chat with him while Lily went running off down into their yard. Still, I didn't really worry about this. Finn was having a grand time in the puddles while Art and I were talking, when suddenly Art's wife, Joanna was yelling at him that Lily had something. We go to investigate only to find out that my sweet dog has killed a chicken. Rather unfortunately, not only did she kill a chicken, but she killed their favorite chicken, Beauty! It was awful, feathers everywhere, and then I had to chase her around for 20 minutes with Finn on my hip to get her away from the chicken and back up to the house. I called Sean bawling over the death of poor Beauty so he left work early. Then, I gathered myself and tromped back to their house with Finn in tow to apologize profusely for my murderous animal and offer to repay for the poor chicken. Our neighbors are way too kind and said that it was just nature and if Lily hadn't gotten her, something would have. It is the only chicken they let out of the coop. She was older and no longer laying and the other chickens picked on her, so they let her run free and had a special coop for her in the heated greenhouse. They offered me coffee, but then regaled me with a few lovely stories of poor Beauty...how she liked to follow Art around the yard and how he had a rooster crow as his cell phone ring tone and Beauty would get excited when it would go off. Oh, the guilt! And then, Joanna had to tell me the details of Lily grabbing the chicken and shaking it and how she was just said she had to watch it happen. Oh, the horrible guilt! I will be making up for the loss of their chicken for the rest of my days. They are the sweetest people and have been nothing but nice to us, giving us free eggs and veggies, etc and all we have managed to do is drop a 30ft tree in their yard and kill their favorite chicken!
Alas, back to the powerless weekend, we did really well with just the wood stove for heat in our house. It was actually kind of nice to light candles and sit around the fire. Finn did great and enjoyed carrying a flashlight around. On Saturday, we awoke to a good coating of snow, so we went outside and played and shoveled and collected snow for water for the toilet and washing dishes, etc. Finn was very busy and helpful:
Another amazing thing about our neighbor, Art, is he and his 8 sons all used to work in cutting down trees, so they were able to clean up the tree in no time at all. Art was actually excited to get the wood and plans on turning it into planks. A little silver lining:
Saturday afternoon, we took a drive to stock up on bottled drinking water and easy meals. We saw a ton of flooding a lot of down wires. We figured we were definitely in this for the long haul. We were very surprised when we woke up Sunday to the return of power. We were very lucky to get it back so quickly as there are still a lot of people without right now. I am very glad we got it back, but in some ways, I feel like we were just reaching our full potential in self sufficiency with no electricity. I am glad to know that we can do quite well without it, but I am glad to have heat and running water back. What a crazy storm.
That night the wind picked up and it rained gallons. I spent much of the night with Finn as we listened to the howling and banging of the wind. Sometime around midnight the power went out. When we roused ourselves the next morning, the power was still out and we noticed that our 30 foot blue spruce was no longer standing. It was completely uprooted and laying in our neighbor's gardens. Of all the places it could have landed, this was the best given that it didn't hit any cars or homes:
That Friday was just a complete mess. Sean managed to get to work and Finn and I listened to the battery-operated radio to find that upwards of 300,000 people were without power and it could be days before returning. We got the wood stove cranking and tried to entertain ourselves by going outside. This is where the day got worse. I took Finn outside to play in the puddles and while we have been trying to keep Lily on leash, I just decided to let her out to romp around. The only problem with this is she likes to go explore the neighbors' yards and run amok. Well, I noticed our neighbor, Art, was out checking out the downed tree so Finn and I went to chat with him while Lily went running off down into their yard. Still, I didn't really worry about this. Finn was having a grand time in the puddles while Art and I were talking, when suddenly Art's wife, Joanna was yelling at him that Lily had something. We go to investigate only to find out that my sweet dog has killed a chicken. Rather unfortunately, not only did she kill a chicken, but she killed their favorite chicken, Beauty! It was awful, feathers everywhere, and then I had to chase her around for 20 minutes with Finn on my hip to get her away from the chicken and back up to the house. I called Sean bawling over the death of poor Beauty so he left work early. Then, I gathered myself and tromped back to their house with Finn in tow to apologize profusely for my murderous animal and offer to repay for the poor chicken. Our neighbors are way too kind and said that it was just nature and if Lily hadn't gotten her, something would have. It is the only chicken they let out of the coop. She was older and no longer laying and the other chickens picked on her, so they let her run free and had a special coop for her in the heated greenhouse. They offered me coffee, but then regaled me with a few lovely stories of poor Beauty...how she liked to follow Art around the yard and how he had a rooster crow as his cell phone ring tone and Beauty would get excited when it would go off. Oh, the guilt! And then, Joanna had to tell me the details of Lily grabbing the chicken and shaking it and how she was just said she had to watch it happen. Oh, the horrible guilt! I will be making up for the loss of their chicken for the rest of my days. They are the sweetest people and have been nothing but nice to us, giving us free eggs and veggies, etc and all we have managed to do is drop a 30ft tree in their yard and kill their favorite chicken!Alas, back to the powerless weekend, we did really well with just the wood stove for heat in our house. It was actually kind of nice to light candles and sit around the fire. Finn did great and enjoyed carrying a flashlight around. On Saturday, we awoke to a good coating of snow, so we went outside and played and shoveled and collected snow for water for the toilet and washing dishes, etc. Finn was very busy and helpful:
Another amazing thing about our neighbor, Art, is he and his 8 sons all used to work in cutting down trees, so they were able to clean up the tree in no time at all. Art was actually excited to get the wood and plans on turning it into planks. A little silver lining:
Saturday afternoon, we took a drive to stock up on bottled drinking water and easy meals. We saw a ton of flooding a lot of down wires. We figured we were definitely in this for the long haul. We were very surprised when we woke up Sunday to the return of power. We were very lucky to get it back so quickly as there are still a lot of people without right now. I am very glad we got it back, but in some ways, I feel like we were just reaching our full potential in self sufficiency with no electricity. I am glad to know that we can do quite well without it, but I am glad to have heat and running water back. What a crazy storm.
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