Spring Break Sunshine

Back from the Phoenix trip and missing Spring Break already, I can't believe my time off went by so fast! It was a great trip though and just what I needed to rest up for the last end-of-semester and finals period of my life (whoo hoo!). It was most definitely sunny and warm in AZ, so nice in fact that I even dared to bare my whiter-than-ever legs in shorts just about every day. I won't show you a picture of how much sun the back of my neck accidentally soaked up on the second day while hiking...forgot to sunscreen just one little part of me for a few hours, but BOY did that turn out to be silly. At least though it gave my dad the joke that he was hanging out with his redneck daughter the rest of the week. And oh well, it could have gone way worse considering I was jumping from northern winter into springtime desert with my complexion!

Most of the trip was spent just relaxing and hanging out with family, a pretty nice combination and change from the usual. I finally got to meet my new baby step-niece, Aubrey, and catch up with her older sisters Paige and Grace when they taught me how to play their favorite Wii dancing game. I gotta say, I was never interested in this Wii business before, but you try jumping around for a few music videos with two active, elementary-school-aged girls and you'll know it's not a bad workout!

Me (in shorts, woa!) with the girls (awwww)


Probably my favorite parts of the trip were just getting out into some perfect spring weather. We did one bigger hike up South Mountain on St. Pat's day, and with all the rain AZ's gotten this El Nino year it was appropriate for the holiday being the greenest I've ever seen the desert!


A beautiful day for a beautiful walk!

The poppies were out just in time


And we of course did some geocaching. Take a look at some of the ridiculous places people manage to hide these things?!

Can you see the hidden container?

Here it was. I know my dad loves this hobby, but I haven't decided for myself yet if I think it's fun, or just plain cruel...

The deadliest one of the week; you had to cross about a 1/8 mile cholla cactus mine-field to get to it. Those little yellowy bumps on the ground are all baby cacti...eek!

And finally, a cool spot one walk took us to. This is a brand new park in Chandler built on top of an old landfill!


The only big surprise of the trip was a day of real-live rain. I guess it wasn't quite the same as northern spring snow/slush, but as you can see from the surface of the pool, still pretty dramatic:


Since then it was back to Pullman, and of course back to school. Only a month now until summer break, so getting excited to be done with my last class ever and take one "job" off my daily list! Still a few class projects to finish up, but also some exciting news just came of one big meeting this week with my Thesis Advisory Committee: I'll be staying in Pullman until December! My work is going really well, so this change isn't at all a bad thing, it's more that they actually find my project worthwhile enough to pay a little bit more for. From my end I can now have a slightly calmer time writing up my thesis and a few good manuscripts, so a little bit of a paradigm shift, but all around a positive decision. I guess I get to enjoy a long happy summer on the Palouse, and keep my little apartment that I love for longer.

And then what, you ask? Time to start finding a job...

Febru-where?

PHEW, what a past month! Yes, I got a bit side-tracked from posting here, but not to worry as mostly all I was up to for February was slaving away in lab! Things are going ok there, and we've now set that I'll be walking at graduation on May 8th and turning in my thesis/defending in August, but boy is a Master's Degree a looottttt to do! In addition to my own data and plants to take care of, we've also been hosting a visiting scientist named Flo from one of the leading labs in my field (so in a totally dorky way, you might say an associate of a celebrity among C4 plant physiologists...). Between collaborating with him at work and the fact that he's staying in Bryan's place while here, I think a shocking amount of my time went into talking plants. Luckily though, he's a pretty cool dude, so working with good people like Flo makes being so absorbed in work actually more fun than it sounds.

Of course I didn't spend ALL my time working. Actually, one of the more fun things about the month was simply an exciting series of boxes delivered from home that really helped brighten up Valentine's Day and the end of winter! And, even for February, there's always something good outdoors for Bryan and I to get into. So of the more interesting events, I'll summarize in photos:

A big box of So. Cal. sunshine, courtesy of one farmer Papa


Nothing makes a snowy week seem a little nicer than something blooming on your windowsill in spite of it. The bulb this started as came along with several other Valentine's Day surprises from my mom


Can you believe my stepmom made this? It was actually my birthday present, but since it came this past month it's been so bright and happy to wake up to. Sure gives me a lot to live up to with my own sewing projects!


Trip of the month: Camping over Memorial Day/Valentine's weekend at the Wenaha River, northeastern OR. I think this pretty much instantly became my favorite spot within 2 hours of Pullman (it's just due South, but look how beautiful and different from the Palouse!)


Me looking pretty fancy for our ultra-classy Valentine's Day camping weekend


That's a little better =)


On the trail that lead us to this part of Oregon. A VERY cool walk, although we only were only able to make it along a few miles due to rain. Hope to get back again this spring or summer


Wildlife!


Well, at least traces of wildlife. We were hoping to see some mountain goats. That didn't pan out, but weird thing, by the tracks we found we were pretty sure THIS goat was following US!


And finally, looking good in some blue mud we found in all the bizarre rocks on the trail


Back in Pullman, I finally got a good shot of the giant cows on campus while out for a recent bike ride. For reference, the shed at left is designed to cover the heads of normal-sized cows


And final little adventure of late, Bryan and I got a pet crawdad! We took a randomly warm day toward the end of the month to do homework at the Snake River, and for whatever reason decided to try and catch something...


It only took 4 hours, but here's what I caught! I guess I would have liked to catch a few more for dinner, but when you only catch one thing all day...


You bring it home and have a pet! Bryan named him Sir Agustus, but I like just Gus. We've since added two fish to his tank, Zip and Ploppy(!)



So there you have it, February 2010. Next thing I'll have to report is my spring break, which I'm happily just beginning at my Dad's house in Phoenix, AZ. All we have planned is hanging out, a little hiking, and visiting with the family, and that is just fine for me! So I'll get back to soaking up some sun, hope you all have a fun start to your springs wherever you may be, and I'll be back to share soon!