the Oregon curse

Here in good 'ole Oxford, Mississippi, last weekend was absolutely beautiful! Sunny and warm! For those of you who have spent some time in the South, you know how wonderfully nice a southern winter day can be (especially if you've lived in the North for any period of time). Of course, I worked straight through the weekend trying to get an experiment done. Today is my day to take it easy and relax a bit and guess what it is doing outside?! Raining! Argh! In fact, it is a perfectly normal winter day for the Willamette Valley (in other words - western Oregon, for you non-northwesterners). The Oregon Curse has struck again!

So, in the spirit of the weather in my neck of the woods, I am going to post some pictures from my recent trip to the PNW. Last week I posted photos of Cameron's explorations while I was doing this:

















Though there was also some fun too, like playing in a sandbox...
















On our way back to Eugene, we stopped by to visit with Barbara





















She treated us to a meal and a grand walk along the Willamette. The dogs were happy doing what dogs do...
















In Eugene, I got some time to visit with my friends...both big...
















and small...
















And now I have returned once more to the magnolia state and this is how I view my family...
















The latest news from home? Our dimwitted hen, Miss Americana, has laid her first egg! Can you guess which one of this freshly cleaned bunch is hers? (note: click on the pic to enlarge and you'll see that the middle one is green!)

in the south i eat pecans

Today was a day of small pleasures. My 36 hour headache finally kicked the bucket sometime around 4am. That alone shows signs of a good day to come!

The weather outside is beautiful, once again. Sunny and clear, somewhere near 60. This is just about the most perfect weather - the air is fresh and clear! Even the flowers must know spring is around the corner. Daffodils are blooming with gusto!

Considering the great luck of a good day and the quiet atmosphere of a weekend at the lab...I decided to make some changes to my daily routine. First, I finally thought to swap the rough old lab chair with the considerably more comfortable (though no office beauty) chair from my office. Ahh!

Second, I take walks. Of course you can't go too far when you are being called back every 5 minutes, but I can at least enjoy the outdoors a bit this way. I wonder how long it would take to walk around the building....

I still have to download all the photos from my Oregon/Washington trip. I had been waiting to post a blog update until I did that, but since it was starting to take so long to get that done I figured I should go ahead and say hello. Once I download the pics, I'll post some and give a little summary of my travels.

As for now, all I have is a little thought to chew on - in the South I eat pecans, in the PNW I eat hazelnuts...what about in other regions of the US?

(p.s. It takes about 4 minutes to walk around the lab.)

traveling with dogs in washington

Another visit back to Oregon nearly over - it went by so quickly! I'll write more about the RRNW conference and post some pics soon. For now, I'm going to share Cameron's version of our time in Washington. I was indoors watching presentations and visiting with colleagues while Cam was out in some winter sunshine exploring the terrain just off the Columbia Gorge. The dogs were with him and provided endless entertainment. The video below shows Miso in top form, doing just what she does - paying only loose attention to directions....



He visited famous places....


Some other pics of the Gorge (with Hood River in the background), the lower and upper part of the mainstem Klickitat, and Mt. Adams from a distance.