Spring on the Palouse

I've been lacking in my updates, due both to being busy at work and not having internet access at my apartment. Today I'm updating from the Daily Grind in downtown Pullman, where students have taken over with laptops to prepare for finals. The internet connection is running slower than molasses in January. On top of that, I forgot to upload recent pictures before coming here, so you'll have to wait awhile longer for true, exciting, photo-filled updates.

I do have this one photo for you though, taken a couple of weeks ago when we were soil sampling at the Wilke research station, just outside of Davenport, WA. This particular research project has 48 plots, all of which had to be sampled for our bulk density and fertility analyses. We take 2 cores per plot, which are combined into one representative sample. The tractor you see has a Giddings probe attached to the back--it's a hydraulically-driven corer that allows us to sample as deep as 5 feet without the human strain required when using a king tube or push probe. Even with this mechanical advantage, sampling takes a lot of time and I've spent many days in the field. The sun has been shining--I've got the sunburns to prove it--and there are definitely worse ways to spend a day at work.

New Job, New Address, New Phase of Life!

I don't think this will come as a surprise to any of you, but last weekend I loaded my belongings into a Uhaul and returned to Pullman to take a job working on a multi-state, agriculturally-focused climate change project. It's been in the works for quite awhile, and finally being in Pullman feels great.

My car began the journey to Pullman on Friday night, with my friend Kara taking on the task of driving it over. Alice and I followed the next morning in the Uhaul. I was incredibly nervous about driving the moving truck the roughly 300 miles between my new and old addresses, but things went great! Between my experience driving tour buses at the Zoo last summer and YMCA mini buses for the last few months, the truck was very easy to adjust to. The weather was even halfway decent for the trip over Snoqualmie Pass and the rest of our highway journey to Pullman.

Alice got to ride shotgun in her kennel and was a very patient passenger. I was a little worried because she had done quite a bit of complaining during the hour and a half long drive to Aunt Louise's house a couple of weeks before, and we were looking at 5+ hours for the move! Luckily, she spent most of her time curled up sleeping, waking just long enough to shoot me an unimpressed look if we hit a bump in the road too hard.

After arriving in town Kara and Keith and a couple of recruited friends helped unload the truck--it went so much faster than when my mom and I had been loading it on Friday afternoon! We spent much of Sunday relaxing and walking around campus, so it wasn't until this weekend (a week after moving in) that I got my boxes unpacked and put the place into a bit of order--it still needs work. I started my new job on Monday, and I find there are a lot of things I have to figure out and locate, but that shouldn't take too long and I'll soon be totally ready to kick some research butt.

Just Another Family Outing!

Yesterday my sister and I spent the day with our aunt, uncle, and cousins in Oakville. The purpose of the trip: to go shooting. Yep, that's how this crew has fun!



The drive south took a little longer than normal because of snow and pouring rain, and Alice started to complain about being in her kennel for so long. We made a quick stop at Millersylvania State Park to stretch our legs and cross another park off the list!

We went to an old rock quarry to shoot and set up clay pigeons to aim for. 

Yep, that's me, takin' aim with the .22!

And here with the M-1 garand. 



Gun totin' sisters!



For a short while we were blocked in by this train when it stopped on the tracks to make a switch somewhere up ahead. Just as we were getting worried about how we'd get out to our cars and go home it started on its way again.

Whidbey Island Day Trip

You may or may not know this already, but back in the fall I set a goal to visit every one of Washington's State Parks. There are 142 of them. This is a goal that will not be met easily, and will take quite a bit of time, but I've been chipping away at it! So far my favorite park has been Dash Point. There is a pretty long stretch of beach there that Alice loved running on.

Two weeks ago I found myself thinking about an adventure, and missing the smell of salt water.
So I composed a plan of driving up to the north end of Whidbey Island, then driving down the island and visiting its 5 state parks before boarding the ferry in Clinton and returning home. While Alice makes a grand companion for such trips, I needed a person. Luckily, my friend Krista is the short-notice-adventure type and was more than willing to come along! We set out on Sunday, just after noon, and got to driving!

The first park we visited was Deception Pass. This is a very good-sized park, and easily the most popular of Whidbey's 5 state parks. We hopped out of the car, walked on the beach a little, then packed up and moved on to our next destination!

Our next stop was Joseph Whidbey State Park. It has some nice looking picnic areas and a good stretch of walking path along the beach.

And, well, we can't do without a picture of Alice!



As we were leaving Joseph Whidbey I slammed on the brakes and exclaimed "cool!" Krista then hopped out so I could take her picture with this otter crossing sign. The road we were driving has Puget Sound on one side, and some sort of marsh or inlet on the other, and I guess our otter friends like to walk across instead of swimming!



Fort Ebey came next. This park covers 645 acres and was home to a WWII gun battery that was home to two 6-inch guns during the war. The guns have long since been removed, and all you will see are earthworks and concrete. We didn't actually visit the battlement site, but instead continued on to the beach. Like I said, I was looking for saltwater here!

Then came Fort Casey! This was my favorite park of the day. The first use of this park site was in 1858, when the U.S. government purchased 10 acres to build a lighthouse on. In 1890, the Army took over the site and built an artillery site. Fort Casey is one point on the "Triangle of Fire" or "Iron Triangle" of forts that were built to guard the entrance to Puget Sound. The other two parks are Fort Worden and Fort Flagler.

Fort Casey is home to two 10-inch guns and two 3-inch guns. The part of the battlement that houses the guns has definitely been restored, while if you walk farther along things fall into more disrepair. You can walk in and around the battlements, though I might suggest a flashlight! There was a time or two when I intended to see where a hallway went and turned around after finding nothing but complete darkness ahead of me. Volunteers lead tours of the battlement late May through September, and I might just have to go back another time to get the inside scoop!



Our final park stop was South Whidbey. You can't tell by the photo, but it was close to dusk so we had a quick look around before the park closed, took our picture, and headed for the ferry.