Almost May? Yikes!!!!

Hi there!  Well, this past weekend it was time for our annual...

Yeah!  We missed the rain which was great and in addition to our neighbors we had three other friends bring by loads of things.  It was a lot of fun to just hang out and get rid of some of our junk.  We actually didn't have a whole lot to sell this year as we did our big purging event last year, but we still managed to get rid of a few items and make 60 bucks, which means we made a profit after buying hot dogs and beer for the day, so...yeah!!!  This was our third yard sale so far, and now that the neighbors are moving away we hope to still continue the tradition but we'll have to see if the new neighbors that move in are keen on it!  We have a year to warm them up to the idea, whomever they maybe...

Have you checked out the Hengill blog lately?  The boys (Jon, Alex, and Philip the Engineer) made it to Iceland with all of the heat exchanger bits and managed to put it all together at the lab.  I'm unsure how field construction went, but stay tuned for updates!!!  I'm anxious to hear about it working or not since I spent so much time the last few months readying all the parts for it.  Exciting to see it together at least!!  Let's hope I know how to glue PVC together well...

Anyhow, here I am at Coweeta again for monthly sampling...all is well so far.  Mick and I checked out Black Rock Mountain State Park on the way up this trip.  We got there later in the evening, but still got to do a quick hike around the summit area.  Ahh the Appalachians are beautiful and I should stop making fun of them for their shortness....good times!

Here are some pics!
xo

sunday tidbit

Dan shared this with me the other day.  It's an old video of a Bon Iver song, Holocene, but the real treat with the music video is that it's actually a VISIT ICELAND promo.  Well, not officially, but try to watch the video and NOT want to travel to the island...apparently shot on the southern side of the island in Vik (though that article says it's on the eastern side of the island, but look at this map and decide for yourself) which we've yet to visit...but I think it's on the list after seeing that video...

Here are a few pictures from our Sunday...we put the drill to work and used it to screw together another level on one of our beds...I believe his name is Edgar...it's been too long since I've chalked up their names...so now we need to fill it with more soil and get it going...I bought another round of eggplants and hot banana peppers to replace the ones that failed after the frost - I really should just let the greenhouse do its thing until May and then buy my starts...sigh...Anyhow, I also bought some watermelon starts because I just could not resist...I hope to get them in the ground sometime this week!

Also, we finished transforming our coffee table...the oilcloth came in, I believe it was "Hawaiian Hibiscus - Orange"...I think it looks quite nice...a little spray paint and a staple gun goes a long way!  I bought another bit of oil cloth, unsure what to do with that just yet, I'll have to wait until I'm inspired!  

Oh! Saturday is our annual yard sale with the neighbors and a few friends...yippee!!  We don't have much to sell this year, but others do so that will be fun just to hang out outside, grill hotdogs and chat...

xo

Jello...

Hi there...I started this post earlier in the week, and then lost track of time.  Yikes to all the news going down around the world lately...I feel like it's been a second job just to keep track of all the late breaking news.  In any case, here it is, and xo to all...

Howdy y'all!

I still haven't perfected the blog-phone-laptop interface so it's been hindering my blog postings lately.  Anyhow, here are a few photos from the last few weeks.  We have been busy since Dan came home one scant week ago..well, busy relaxing really!  The weather has really been kicking us in the proverbial nuts lately - today was in the 90s with the humidity of a damp sponge... Y-U-C-K in other words!!!  

We've been slowly getting back into our routines of work, cooking, cleaning, dealing with the garden, and whathaveyou.  I have my manuscript looming over my head, but I need a good kick in the pants to get going on that.  Good news is it seems to be getting pretty darn close after some major edits from the coauthors!!  Yippee!!  Dan is busy pcking through his samples and entering his data for his talk in Jacksonville in mid-May for the Society for Freshwater Studies (SFS, which used to be NABS...dumb story)...

The heat and increased daylight has just upped our overall antsy-ness...if that is even a word (which my email is saying "NO, IT IS NOT").  Since Dan's return he has yet to sleep in past 6:30am, and the birds outside are singing an hour before that!!!!  In any case, it's exciting we are out of the southern "winter", but gosh darn it I wish we actually had a Spring...

So, in other news..we've been cooking some pretty tasty recipes that Dan has come across as you'll see later in our pictures...Our fearless leader returns for a week tomorrow and we're hosting a BBQ in his honor Friday evening...Dan will be putting together some beef/pork chipotle sliders and a slow cooker pulled pork that involves root beer and BBQ sauce- yum!!!  It's been awhile since the lab got together for something outside of the lab or a lab lunch, so we're looking forward to it!  

Oh yes, we have been instilling lab lunches to boost morale and feed our tummies.  This week we went to Maggie's Cafe which was a hole-in-the-wall meat-and-three deal.  You walk in to the epitome of an "unassuming" building (right down the road from the county jail I might add), grab a tray and point to things you want...I got chicken and dumplings which is one of my BIGGEST weaknesses.  There's just something about chicken chunks floating in a sea of buttered, boiled dough that sets me straight in life...I actually only got a "two" instead of a "three," which was mac n cheese and collard greens.  Then I got a "flat bread" on top of that which isn't middle eastern in ANY shape or form, but basically a cornbread griddle cake (aka, flapjack, pancake, etc)...Anyhow, it really is an experience to behold...Kate, our newest Master's student from Maryland exclaimed after retrieving her food and sitting at a table "That was the most interesting experience I've had to date in Alabama"...Well put...well put...

Anyhow, here are some pictures from the last week...I've been lax on the blog postings and will try to be better...

xo!

P.s.!!

My parents are visiting the south in May!!! They head to a helicopter reunion for Vietnam vets in New Orleans at the end of May then I'll pick them up and we'll road trip to Fort Tucker at some point then to T Town! Yeahhhhhhh!!!!

Hoppy Easter!!

Hi!!

Here are the end of our Spring Break photos!  We had a great trip but boy did it blow by fast!  We had a load of fun visiting PA and were sad to leave.  We left Thursday morning, stopped in Chattanooga for dinner, then rolled up into Tuscaloosa around midnight.  We had a brief day of rest on Friday then I went out into the field with Kate and others to catch fish in Lake Lurleen on Saturday.. Here are a few pictures of our janut!  Right now I'm in Coweeta for a few days of field work and Dan is waiting for his flight out of Boston to Reykjavik...

All for now, can't wait for this round of travel is over so we can just rest at home for a bit!  Dan doesn't come back until the 10th and hopefully we don't have a whole lot else to do until May...

Whoop whoop!!!

ct

Yahoo! Updates from Spring Break 2013

Hi there folks!  Greetings from Snowy Bethlehem, PA!

Here are some photos of our house and garden last week..

Also, here are photos of our awesome Spring Break thus far - Hanging out, Tricky Tray Mardi Gras style, A Dairy Queen photo session, A trip down to New Hope, PA with Dan's Sister Caroline and friend Walter, our NYC trip, and a bit of snow fun from this morning!!  That's right, we get a fun snow days today - it should snow 2-4 inches all day today, Hannah's already pretty tuckered out, but she better rest up for some more snow play!!!
Here's a quick on of her running around like the nut she is:

It's been a lot of fun hanging out, eating, relaxing, and eating some more!!  We still have a few more days of our fantastic Spring Break left until we leave Thursday morning!  Yeah!!
xo

ct

Sppprrriiiinnnggg bbbrrreeeaaakkk!!"

This clip is necessary I think...

We are on the road to Bethlehem, PA! So far we are in Harrisonburg, VA.. this means we have a little over 250 miles left in the trip! We left at 3:30 am today and have been switching off shifts every 300 miles! Hannah seems to be tolerating the drive thus far.  We've made the back seat cushy for her with a nice plush sleeping bag. We've got a couple of pounds of sliced pork and ribs from Archibald's and will be grubbing on that tonight! Yeah!

More to come soon!