Green Expressions from an East Coast Transplant

Mission Possible: Sauk River Road

2011-12-17T10:45:00.000-08:00

Hello blog, nice to see you. It's been a long time. Sorry couldn't help the Conway Twitty intro, I've been listening to the new radio station in Everett 1520 AM - all classic country lately. I love that I can listen to the Oak Ridge Boys or Alabama without the Hermit complaining about the iTunes library.

Since April, I've graduated, of course, and planned on blogging all summer about our adventures. Unfortunately, I owed the Hermit a lot of free time, and so we spent most weekends looking for the latest flea market, yard sale or swap meet, and spent one weekend in Gold Bar buying a sluice box and another gold pan. I am a victim of too many episodes of "American Pickers" and "Gold Rush." Anyone who knows me, knows this was complete torture, but I did manage to slip in some Beach Boys and Chicago records (and one Waylon and Willie) into the yard sale/swap meet piles. "As I was walking down the street one day..." hit the brass. :)

I've also been spending a lot of time applying for jobs, two of which I had interviews, made it to the final selection only to have them cut from the budget. Anyone who has ever applied for a government or engineering job knows how long and complicated just the application process is. It's very disheartening, so I have decided to put my skills to use while I still have 4 months left of my contract job to something worthwhile. I will be volunteering for the Friends of Darrington Public Lands to fight the lawsuit threatening the permanent closure of the Sauk River Road.

In order to shift the economic focus of Darrington from a logging center of business to a tourism center of business, a lot of work needs to be done. I am going to be putting my mapping skills to work making them destination maps of trails with pop-up photos. Hopefully soon, I will be able to take a mapping in the cloud course to be able to make it a mobile app. The trail maps will feature either historical or ecotourism destinations on trails in the Darrington area, including those on currently closed forest roads. Hopefully this will put enough public pressure on the Forest Service to know that public users are extremely responsible and want to bring their own solution to the table for the future of these roads. Their future use should not be determined by an ecomaniac hiker from Lake Stevens or a litigation focused "non-profit" "wilderness" group from Montana.

Stay posted for how you can help. I know some of you who, like me, used to hike along the Sauk River road, and were looking forward to its opening next year. I'll be posting potluck opportunities soon where we will be drafting a plan of action.

Bring it on

2011-04-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

I used to roll my eyes at the "old" people who would comment about where time has gone, but seriously, where did it go? I need some back, please. In fact, the only reason I am able to post just now is the fact that I (along with lots of tree pollen) have run myself ragged and have been knocked flat on me arse.

I am proud to announce that I have been able to conquer (for the most part) one of my biggest fears over the last few weeks, all while adjusting to a new quarter, a new job and a new sleep schedule. It's like I always say - go big or go home, right? Clichés aside, I have always been somewhat afraid of the rivers out here in PNW. On Delmarva, our rivers ran wide, flat and muddy. I have no trouble facing rough surf at any beach on either coast, or going out on a boat in a river delta out here in Washington. But I have been scared for years to go into PNW rivers unless it was a hot August day and the river was running low.

To be fair, many rivers drop thousands of feet in elevation within 20 miles, and even the most basic understanding of physics tells you that water runs fast under those conditions. The currents are strong and include cascades and rapids, which are even scarier when you've seen them under flood conditions. Don't get me wrong, the creeks and rivers are beautiful, but so far I have admired them respectively from the shoreline. I've been invited to go floating or kayaking and have always declined. The most time I spent in a river out here was in high school rowing in crew, but like I mentioned before, I was in a boat, and we were on the flat, wide mouth of a river or on a lake.

In order to complete my minor in Environmental Science, I have to take Stream Ecology, and I thought surely we would be studying the river from the classroom and shorelines. Unfortunately, the first announcement on BlackBoard instructed us to invest in waders. Two hundred dollars later, I forced myself into the creek that second week of class. The next week, I added an extra pair of wool socks and toe warmers and went in past my waist. Last Saturday I sank up to my knees in stinky mud, but I admit, I've done that at Padilla Bay before.

I also went on the public record at a Planning Commission meeting, and it feels great to face all of these fears and be successful. The new job is going great, and I'm actually making a lot of connections through our Stream Ecology tributary comparison of Portage and Squire Creeks. Next up - time to conquer deadlines.

Shot in the Dark

2011-03-02T00:23:00.000-08:00

It is late at night and I am delerious from salmon on the brain, but I just wanted to update everyone that I got the job! Even after I thought I blew the interview, my title is now Associate Planner for Snohomish County Planning and Development Services. This was all the result of a class assignment for our Senior capstone class where we were required to turn in a final resume, ready to send to a potential employer. I was going to put it off like everyone else, since I had one that just needed some updating, but the county posted the position the same week the assigment was given. I took a shot in the dark and sent in my newly updated resume.

Today, I met a whole office full of planners, engineers, permitters, IT, and inspectors, and was shown my cubicle and "a good GIS computer". I had to chuckle at that one, as sometimes the park planners (including myself) would freeze the Willis Tucker server by using too many GIS applications, to the point of almost crash it on time card day.

After my intro meeting with one of the department heads, I'm trying to figure out whether it was really my GIS and data skills that got me hired, or if it was my retail pharmacy people skills. I told them in my interview that I had been called every name in the book, had things thrown at me, and yet I still didn't mind confronting Trouble customers (notice the capital T - Elvis shout-out). I think all three interviewers wrote down that response, and today I got to hear about "new approaches" and "customer service" when dealing with stakeholders (such as large developers?). It's all good, I can handle it.

It will be strange not working in a pharmacy full time. Even when I was 9 my dad had me sweeping floors, filing prescription numbers and filling vials. I should have known that it wasn't a long-term career choice at that age though, as my favorite part of hanging with my dad at work was pulling the gate down at the end of the day. It meant it was finally time for the pharmacist to go home, and mind you sometimes this was long after everyone else had left. So be nice to your local pharmacy staff even when you called in your prescription 4 hours before and it's not ready. You never whose hand they had to hold that day, or what kind of crazy person they had to deal with.

The Amazing Salmon

2011-02-24T05:52:00.000-08:00

Whoa two in a row! Honestly, I'm just killing time waiting for Darrington schools to report so I can know whether or not to set the alarm when I go back to bed. I think the school should be closed, but they were open yesterday despite the 18 inches of snow and all of the crashes and jack-knifes out here on the highway. Not exactly safe bussing conditions to me, but who cares about safety when you're trying to boast about staying on budget, right?

After going through two large snowstorms that have turned to ice within 2 years time, I can definitely say that when the Hermit eventually goes to Scandinavia to trace his roots when we are older, I will be hanging out in South Germany or France while he visits Ice world. Not a fan of perma-snow. At least this one hit us in February and not December so it will only be a week or two of white instead of months. I just hope our fruit trees are okay, since the pear blossoms indicated it was time to prune them to stumpiness on the 13th. Maybe it snowed enough to insulate them before the temp dropped into the teens?

I did run across some very interesting fish facts last night while researching one of my term papers, and I would love to share them with you. First amazing fish fact - juvenile salmon are territorial, including a dominant individual, and that fish is much larger than the rest because it is an aggressive glutton. Second amazing fish fact - salmonids can exhibit hyperactivity. Of course this usually gets them noticed and eaten by larger fish, but ADHD in fish seems kind of funny to me. And the third and most amazing fish fact (to me at least) - fish can cough. I'm not sure how it sounds or what it looks like, but according to fish scientists, they cough. Now I hope you all feel a little smarter knowing these trivial salmonid facts. Time to recheck the school report.

Update: School is closed. Enough parents must have complained yesterday - good job Logger moms. Trying to stay positive about Ice world - I caught air in a tobogon yesterday, and today it gave me a chance to sleep in for once. Good night world.

Forecast for Fun

2011-02-23T11:30:00.000-08:00

Before I begin, I need to get something off of my chest that has been bugging me for several weeks - a janitor is not an environmental technician, a garbage collector is not a sanitation engineer, and a librarian is not a scientist. This is why - unless you took classes and tested for a license, you are not a technician of any kind. If you do not use AutoCAD or CATIA every day, you are not an engineer of any kind, and if you do not work in a lab, in a clinic or in the field, or study results from a lab, clinic or the field, you are not a scientist. NOW QUIT CLOGGING UP THE SCIENCE JOB BOARDS WITH YOUR BOGUS TERMINOLOGY!!!!

Ok, with that said, it's time to brag about the awesome snow going on here. We have 16 inches so far, and plan to hit our 40 foot sledding hill on and off throughout the day. Perhaps construction of a snow man will happen as well. The plan is to research one paper, then play. I think that's a good way to break up the monotony and prevent cabin fever. If you have a four wheel drive vehicle, you may want to check out Oso today as the eagles are hanging out waiting for salmon above the river. It's a beautiful sight. However, if you don't have 4 wheel drive, don't go past Skaglund's Hill. I'm not sure if you can get past it anyway, as there was a jack-knifed 16 wheeler blocking both lanes last I heard.

The weather forecast calls for snow all day and night, with temps diving tonight into the teens. Something tells me we won't be planning rain gardens in Gleneagle tomorrow. Unfortunately by Monday, a pineapple express storm is supposed to move in and shoot snow levels way up with a ton of rain to go with it. Can you say flooding?

Graduation Contemplation

2011-02-21T17:42:00.000-08:00

So I'd like to say that I have so many exciting things going on that I haven't been able to update my page lately, but that would kind of be a lie. Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of exciting projects in the works, but I'm just in the boring research phase of my city projects and school papers. My head throbs daily from reading so much and the arthritis in my fingers refuses to deflame from all the typing, but it will be worth it in the end. Heck, I found out the head librarian in town has an Oceanography degree, so even if those Baby Boomer planners continue to refuse retirement there's always research work in the library, right? NOT - I'd find myself beating my ADD head against the wall everyday. It's too quiet in there. Who gives up the ocean for a library anyway? Crazy lady.

Speaking of my future career plans, I did make it through the first round of cuts for the Associate Planner position at Snohomish County Planning and Development. I don't feel very confident about the interview though. I did all of the right things, held up my posture, smiled, firm handshakes all around, gave off a self-confident aura until... the curveball question. It all went downhill after that. I said so many uhs and ums after that, I wouldn't hire me. I HATE uhs and ums. I'm sure it's not as bad as I make it sound, but compared to all of my pharmacy interviews where I came out feeling like a stud it was cow material.

So, I'm applying for more positions at private firms and other municipalities as they come along, and hopefully I'll network into something. Until then, I'm still a giant Pez dispenser at the pharmacy, and a freebie at the city. I hope you all can make it to our Humanimal series at the City of Arlington every Thursday in May, it's going to be fun.

Closer to Home

2011-01-22T09:30:00.000-08:00

This week has been a great one, I must say. But first, I have to brag that my daughter took one in the face for her basketball team and still scored 8 points in the game. Way to wear a shiner to the dance, and make your team proud!

Our visit to the Elwha River last weekend was a great opportunity to become more familiar with the Olympic National Forest and to hang out with the other Seniors from the peninsula campuses of Huxley. The rivers in Western Washington were all running at or just above flood stage, so the Elwha was raging, and it made the discharge falls from the lower dam loud and powerful.

We all chose our top three category picks to work on for the Environmental Impact Statement of the dam removals, and I'm hoping to get Natural Resources so I can have a chance to research the historic fish run numbers. It will be interesting to keep an eye on recovering run numbers and see if, and how long it takes to see those numbers again. So far, I haven't seen anyone else choose the category.

I'm interning much closer to home these days, and have a lot of great projects lined up at the City of Arlington. Last year the city was able to obtain enough grant money to combine with their funds to purchase the old Country Charm Dairy. Plans for the lower flood plain portion of the acreage include a large open play field (which I intend to write a low-mow plan for), a community farm and garden on existing farmland, a fishing pond, trails, a 26 site campground, and a safe swim area with an interpretive salmon education sign system. To connect this property with the future downtown riverfront park plan an interpretive ecological and historical water trail for human powered watercraft with four pull-out areas is being designed. Then Arlington will be a walkable and rowable city. How cool is that?

I'm also helping a fellow Senior intern with a four night ecology class curriculum sponsored by the city. I'm not a great teacher, but I'm getting more patient. At least this will be in front of a crowd and not as frustrating as tutoring. I'm thinking about what portions I would be able to teach well and I'm leaning towards toxicology, flooding and perhaps some forest ecology if my friendly ex-forester neighbor will let me borrow some books. The final night will be a green networking night, and I'm hoping to get the SnoCo PUD, the SnoCo Green Team and SnoCo Public Works there. The Public Works biodiesel booth was an absolute hit at the Darrington Community Science night two years ago when I asked them to make some on site. I love watching the public get excited about science, especially loggers.

Prescription for Reduction

2011-01-19T10:21:00.000-08:00

A recent assignment in my pollution class was to weigh in on how every citizen can reduce toxic pollution in our nation's waters. As a class we had all agreed that the indulgent consumption of the average American's lifestyle made everyone responsible for toxic pollution. Whether you drive too much, dispose of large piles of plastic every week, fly excessively, leave pet waste, wash your car on pavement, use excessive fertilizer on your garden, or use birth control you are contributing to water and air pollution.

While it is ridiculous to force a choice between peeing estrogen or having babies (or hot flashes if you're on the mega-estrogens), there are many other things we can all do to reduce our contribution. Many people have become astute to picking up their pet waste, using car washes and using phosphorous free soap products, but there are many other things that can cut down on contaminants even further.

One solution is to learn xeroscaping and growing low or now mow lawns. Seed mixes are available for every state to ensure growth and nativity, and most include nitrogen fixing clover to eliminate fertilizer application. If you have the money, some no mow meadow mixes include native wildflowers to entice butterflies. No mow lawns also reduce green house gases by eliminating the need to mow and weed eat. Xeroscaping refers to growing native plants that are drought resistant, and can include beautiful succulents in California and Arizona. Another solution is to plant a rain garden or bioswale ditch. All surface run off is infiltrated by the native plants before it becomes groundwater or runs to the nearest stream.

A problem that most people don't think about is the disposal of their pharmaceutical medications. Some pharmaceuticals are hormones or endocrine disrupters, others can bioaccumulate like anti-depressants, and antibiotics that linger in the water lead to resistant bacteria. Unfortunately we also face a time of record prescription abuse, and many teenagers and adults have died from overdoses, so to keep it out of the wrong hands, dispose of any unused narcotics immediately.

For a long time the proper disposal method was to flush meds down the toilet. However, after the 1999-2000 USGS survey, the EPA and FDA recommend placing the medication in used cat litter or coffee grounds and throwing it away, or placing it in a sealed container, filling it with water, and throwing it away. While these disposal methods keep it out of the immediate water supply, it can seep into the groundwater in the future during the breakdown process in a land fill.

As a pharmacy technician, I recommend taking your medication to your local sheriff's office or Group Health Pharmacy. Washington state only has a pilot pharmaceutical take-back program in effect, so you are limited to those drop off locations. This program is funded by the tax payers, so I do not see it expanding. In some other states, the pharmaceutical manufacturers are mandated to fund take-back programs and you can dispose of them at any licensed pharmacy or through the mail.

Another thing you can do to reduce pharmaceutical waste is to ask your doctor for a trial supply of a new medication to ensure you will not be disposing of 3 weeks worth if it does not work for you. Finish ALL of your antibiotics, and DO NOT flush them what ever you do. Last, call your state legislators and ask them to demand the pharmaceutical companies pay for a pharmaceutical take-back program in Washington.

Winter Work

2011-01-12T10:46:00.000-08:00

Rain, rain, rain! I haven't been so excited to see rain in a long time. Over the last 3 weeks, we've only had 2 days of green lawn between the ice and snow. I know everyone in the lowlands was excited for snow, but I'm happy to see the rain. Sorry guys.

This Saturday I will be headed over to the Olympic National Forest, near the Olympic Hot Springs to the site of the Elwha dam removal. It's part of our project for our comprehensive Environmental Impact Assessment class, but is a historic project for the state of Washington, and a victory for the Elwha Salmon runs. Billy Frank, chairman of the Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission provides a great commentary on the dam removals in last Spring's NWIFC News. This website contains pictures of some recent, very large catches by the US Fish and Wildlife service on the Elwha. Increased breeding habitat should increase runs within 5-8 years, and with fish that size, it should provide some great fishing (and eating).

I'm not a big fan of winter field work, but it comes with the territory, and this will be a great project for my resume. I'm not worried about being cold at all this year. The Hermit finished my winter field wardrobe with a fully insulated Carhart work jacket and another wool hat under the Christmas tree. I'll be dry and warm with the jacket, hat, Atlas gloves, Columbia pants, wool socks and Columbia boots. Last year I was the nice guy and parted a lot of my gear to unprepared people, then ended up being cold later. This year, they are on their own. I don't think you have any business being in the ecology field if you don't know what kind of clothes to wear anyway.

However, I don't know what kind of field gear repels sparkly vampires. I'm tired of that joke guys. And no, I'm not going to Forks, and no, I will not pick you up some of the vampire wine that goes with the gay vampire books.

Big Gulp

2010-12-16T09:11:00.000-08:00

I hate using cliches but I don't know what to say other than I bit off more than I can chew this last quarter. The good news is that it's over, and if I ever decide to take my minor in Environmental Science to second Bachelor's Degree, I finished the one required class that may deter me from going back in the future. Now the only hard class I would have for that second Bachelors would be Organic Chem, but I have a team of pharmacists to back me up with that one. No one understands BioStats except ubernerds.

I can now say that I could teach a beginning GIS class, and that I've discovered that I get really irritated when I find out people are memorizing information for A's rather than learning skills. But what does it say about a teacher when people get A's in the class, but can't demonstrate basic skills on the software required for the field? I should have enjoyed that class, but it made me lose respect for the off campus program instead. I've also learned that since I work full time, intern part time and have a full load at school, that I need to stop helping classmates so much and get back on my personal learning wagon. Especially when they have twice the amount of study time I do - it seems like it would be the other way around.

My break has started out stressful with record flooding in the area over the weekend. We spoke with several senior residents of Darrington and Oso who told us they had never seen the creeks rise that fast or the river spill over the dikes in such a short time. We were cut off into both Darrington and Arlington, and an aerial picture of Sunday would have shown swollen creeks and rivers surrounding small patches and strips of land, it was amazing from an ecological perspective.

I got to see firsthand forested wetlands absorbing flooding and salmon bracing themselves against the trees, which would have made for a moving picture but by that time my camera had died from all the filming I did at the Boulder River bridge. The popular little beach at Fortson Hole also washed out when we were headed out to look at the river from the old mill site, and we watched the swinging tree wash into the wetland. I'm not sure how the log jam held up, but plan to investigate later today with a fully charged camera battery.

Not only did Arlington, Darrington and Granite Falls experience record flooding on both forks of the Stillaguamish, the effects of the extraordinary swift waters were devastating. There are numerous sink holes and washouts along highway 530 where the river and its tributaries filled their banks, topped the levies and spilled into the stormwater ditches. In some areas the DOT ditches directed flood water into landowners low lying land and into their homes. Some people's land has been changed forever. I can't imagine that any engineer considering a flood six feet above record levels, or the creeks rising so fast. Nothing like a loaded warm Hawaiian storm in the middle of ski season to devastate the Northwest.

The Whitehorse Trail Bridge over the Boulder River as the river overtakes its levees

Under the Dogpile

2010-09-24T07:07:00.000-07:00

Bleh. That is how this week has felt. The engineer at the parks department said yesterday, that she was "just staying ahead of the nipping dog," when it came to her projects, and I told her I felt like I was under the dogpile. I wasn't really ready for school to start, I passed a kidney stone, and my kids were gone for most of the week. I think the really great weekend made the week seem worse than it was, though.

In fact, Friday and Saturday couldn't have been any better. The Hermit turned 40 on Friday, and I was able to throw together a great dinner and a cake in the matter of two days. Wednesday, I was completely incapacitated by the kidney stone, so I decided to completely change the menu. We went from bbq ribs and chicken to brats, hamburgers and turkey burgers. I spiced up the Americana bbq with some easy antipasto salad with all fresh herbs, cheeses and garlic, a variety of cheeses, crackers and bread, and a mean bruschetta that was a hit with the adults and the kids. All of the herbs and most of the veggies were from the garden, which should have about 40 ears of sweet corn ready for harvest really soon.

After the bbq, we hit the casino with his family, and managed to stay up until 3:30 am somehow. His brother and wife, and cousins had driven up from the Seattle area to meet the rest of us, and we managed not to lose too much money. We had reserved a room at the resort, which was really nice, and it was great that we didn't have to drive anywhere, but hotels really need to warn people when they have all feather down bedding. That way those of us who are allergic to it can bring our allergy medicine and sleep better, hint, hint.

On Saturday, I manned the parks table at the Centennial Trail expansion opening in Arlington, while the family hit the Bite of Arlington downtown. Both events had a pretty good turn out, though I hope the Bite is bigger next year. The weather was supposed to be rainy, but we had 70 degrees of sunshine instead. Of course, the county executive canceled at the last minute, big surprise, and the parks director was on vacation, but the head planner did well handling all the PR, and the mayor and our county councilman stepped in, too.

Unfortunately on Sunday, I had to work, and that's how the rest of the week has gone. I will top off this week with an 8 hour Biostats lab in Poulsbo on Saturday. Exciting, right? Like I said, I wasn't ready for school this week, so, bleh.

Metabolize This

2010-09-10T10:17:00.000-07:00

So I am home sick and bored out of my mind, everyone. Last week I started feeling really tired, and had a sudden onset of severe pain on Tuesday afternoon. If it had been on my right side, I would have immediately gone to the ER, because it was bad enough to think appendix, but it was on the left side, under the rib cage. The pain would lull then come on strongly, and persisted for a couple of days, long enough for me to actually go to the doctor. In case you didn't know, healthcare workers hate being patients.

The nurse practitioner I saw immediately ordered a CT, but I talked her into an abdominal ultrasound, to save myself from over-radiation, and money. On Wednesday, they called me into see the actual doctor to discuss my results and options. I knew that didn't sound good, and from my previous history of colon polyps, ovarian cysts and kidney stones, I knew it had to be one of the three. Turns out, my left kidney is very enlarged and almost completely blocked, however, they could not see what was causing the blockage. I immediately sent my thanks to God that I didn't have to see the gastroenterologist, or the OBGYN, and asked what the next steps were.

Here is where the difference between a good doctor and just any practitioner comes in. He let me know that the easiest way to diagnose me would be a CT scan, but wanted to know what my concerns were. I passed a large stone last summer with no hospitilization, and told him, it was probably a stone, and that I'd rather just pass it than be radiated and pay a fortune. After all, it's not like the CT machine is going to blast the stone or anything. Still concerned about the pain and possibility of infection, he decided to run some more UA and blood tests after questions about what the stone looked like and discussing my family history of heart disease, stroke and diabetes.

After the two of us made "2 and 2 make 4" as the doc put it, the diagnosis is hyperuricemia, or too much uric acid in the blood. This is actually a rare cause of kidney stones, but aside from giving old people "the gout," it has been linked to high triglycerides (which they discovered in my blood two years ago), stroke, insulin resistance, and metabolic disorder, even in people like me who are not overweight. So without knowing what is causing it, I have been forced to change to a vegetarian diet until more tests come in.

Somehow I think all the past maladies in the last decade are linked to a metabolic or digestive disorder. When I was really young, my diet was restricted to goat dairy, whole grains and non-dyed foods (yummy, right?), then somehow I "outgrew" the problem as an older child. However, I still would get bad allergies, and feel "gooky" after eating, (I don't know how to explain gooky without grossing everyone out). Then came the colon polyp and out went cow dairy again, with the exception of processed cheeses. Then the ovarian cysts came, and I cut back on the soy, and settled on gaining ten pounds with Depo-Provera to keep them from forming.

Now here I have rare kidney stones, and something in the back of my mind is telling me that I really never "outgrew" anything, but who, except millionaires, can afford all of these medical tests? Just in the last week, I've spent 100 dollars on copays alone, just to see someone. Now I have to go back today, as it seems an infection has set into the blocked kidney, which is accompanied by a horrible headache/low fever that narcotics won't even kick. There goes another $35.

So today, I'm fighting the malaise in order to search the vast web-world to find some vegetarian recipes that will actually fill me up, just to avoid another day in bed and stupid daytime t.v. My family has refused to jump on board with no-meat meals, so I need to find some recipes I can cook, then add meat for them. It's turning out to be a bit like looking for ocean front property in Arizona, as George Strait once put it. At least I'm finally on a path to finally discovering a healthy me.

Keeping my Head Above the Water

2010-09-08T10:42:00.000-07:00

Wow! Welcome back to the e-world. It's been an insanely busy summer, that didn't really feel like summer, unless you're a northwestern native, which clearly with all my complaining, I am not. Hopefully next year there will be better weather and more time off.

Lately, my life feels like it's flying by faster than I can keep up. I ended up working at my internship for most of my staycation, but I can't complain when I'm working on trails and at the fair. There have been lots of changes at work, my babies are both in middle school where I have been volunteering with the band, and the hubby turns 40 in nine days! We are going to have an awesome night of family, friends, bbq, gambling and a his-and-hers pampering at the Tulalip Resort.

My parks internship has been extended into November, and I am about to go back to the city in three weeks. Not sure how working 6 days a week with school is going to work out, but at least I only have two classes this quarter, one of which is intro to GIS, which I already took at EvCC. Of course, I have to take it again, just to get that 300-level class on my transcript, but it should be cake.

Speaking of cake, I need to get busy on the over-the-hill version. See you peeps later!

What Day is it Again?

2010-07-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

Well here I am at a midpoint in a long 13 day stretch of working. I get to work seven days in a row beginning tomorrow, and am strongly considering taking another day off at the internship, just so I can keep some mental clarity. I've noticed on six day stretches that my days begin running together, and by the time I'm closing the pharmacy on Fridays, delerium has made everything funny to me. Delerium is not a good thing when you are dispensing medications.

I really don't want to take another day off from the Parks Department, though, because my map is finally finished to the point where I can begin implementing our no-mow project. We'll be expanding and enhancing existing vegetation plots, wetland and streamside buffers, and allowing more meadows to grow in the county parks, using Willis Tucker Park as a test site. Once I get our measurements and crunch the numbers showing how much money we can save on mowing labor, gas and fertilizer I may be able to justify the purchase of some wildflower seeds for the meadows. I'm thinking of donating some lupine and digitalis seed from my personal seedbank, and even holding a work party in late August to dig and pot other native plants on our land such as elderberry, vine maple and various ferns for the enhanced sites.

Today we're leaving the sun up here in the mountains and going "down below" to the foggy beach at Kayak Point for my step-dad's family picnic. I really have a hard time relaxing there, because I see all the litter and feel like I need to start picking it up. Not just out of habit because I worked there for 3 years, but because we're expected to do that at all park sites when we visit despite your position. Actually, I'm sure I'll end up picking up litter, I can't help it.

Speaking of Parks Department Administration, I've been catching up on all the Thursday night shows I missed because of class. I'm not a big tv buff, but there are a few shows I like to catch when I can, and one of them is "Parks and Rec" on NBC. My favorite quote so far? "I think all government should be privatized. Chucky Cheese could run the parks department. Drop in a token, go down the slide. Drop in a token, take a walk. Drop in a token, look at the beach." Seriously - LMAO!!!

And on the Seventh Day - They Still Couldn't Rest

2010-07-24T08:13:00.000-07:00

Ever feel like you work your butt off, but can't catch a break? The hubby and I have been trying to spend a little quality time together between our insane work schedules, but lately we've been thinking that we've somehow pissed off Aphrodite. The kids were all gone for a week, but that was my 60 hour week between my two jobs. Then, when we think we've scheduled some time together, his kiddo comes home unexpectedly.

I'm not sure if it was random, or if he just didn't listen to the schedule, but if the kid had come home 10 minutes later, we would have been down the trail. I was mad because, miscommunication has changed our plans before, but not too mad, because I went to happy hour at the Irishman with my schoolmates and our program director earlier that day, and was in a pretty good mood. That and there were some awesome falls on "Wipeout" that night, and you can't help but laugh at people tumbling into the water.

The crazy work schedules have prevented us from camping this summer, too. The tents and tarps are still bundled from my Mt. Rainier trip, placed efficiently together for a summer camping trip. Summer is half way over, and I still can't see any opportunities in the near future. It's been a strange one anyway, with the cruddy June weather, working insane hours, and traveling across the mountains to check up on grandparents. The latter is tough on the hubby emotionally, but I've been through it with all of my grandparents, and will have plenty of support for him.

We have been able to landscape the front of the house and grow an amazing garden with what little free time we've had. I have snow peas and snap peas coming out of my ears, and the green beans and blueberries are about a week away. I'm really looking forward to all of the corn in September, though. There is nothing better than a fresh ear of corn from the garden with dinner.

Luckilly we've had a couple of days to catch some good hikes with the kids, and found a "private beach" off of an old path on the Sauk. The river no longer traverses it unless it's flooding, but it's a great place for a picnic. The kids skipped rocks in a old flood pool and climbed boulders, while we rockhounded and found some gnarly gneiss. I found two ten pounders both with mixed with black, but one was layered with greys and white calcite, and the other with blues. I can't wait to cut and polish them.

Here are some pictures from last week.

What the F*** America?

2010-07-10T09:35:00.000-07:00

It's been hard to do anything with my free time lately, because I really just want to rest. I know that sounds insane, but I'm ready to admit that working six days a week is really hard. I have a new appreciation for Americans who have to work two jobs, seven days a week in order to make ends meet. I'm working at the parks department office for school credits and job experience only, I can't imaging having to work like this every week of your life just to pay the bills with no end in sight.

Okay, now that I've depressed everyone, you can all join in my sorrow in my recent discovery that all Americans are pretty much global jerks, each in their own individual way. I'm no exception, as I keep eating seafood, knowing that the oceans and fisheries are on a critical tipping point from overconsumption and acidification from pollution. But there are a-holes of every aspect across our country who use the Constitution to justify their right to be one.

There are those who think it's their right to overharvest the land, whether it be trees, minerals, oil or fish, as it's all for the taking to them. There are others who think it's their right to throw their trash wherever they want, or others who think it's their right to be unemployed and sit around getting high all day from prescription medications at the expense of the tax payers, and yet others who think they should water their lawns in the dead heat of summer, despite water shortages.

What has happened to the country who saved the world twice in the Twentieth Century? Why is the first country to go to the moon now trying to ban science in their school curiculums? Why are we encouraging people to have tons of children by giving them tax breaks? Why do we think it's okay to to become bankrupt because you got a severe injury or illness? Why do we think it's okay to throw our grandparents into "rehabilitation centers" where most of them are overmedicated and succumb to deadly illnesses or abuse? Why do we think it's okay to sue anyone over just about anything?

I really don't understand this new evolution of America, and I really am not liking it. It's time people pulled themselves up by the bootstraps and snap out of it. This division needs to stop, and we need to stop the "I'm proud to be ignorant" attitude, because this is not the time to allow a "Great Slack-off." We are at a critical point in the world where we may have to prepare for mass migrations within forty years, and we're still arguing over whether we should do anything about Climate Change. Our excuse?

Well there are many, but the biggest partisan one is that we don't have enough information on whether it is anthropogenic (human caused) or natural? WHO CARES?!! If we all agree it's happening, then who the hell cares what it's caused by? Let's do something about it!

And this crap about science being offensive and not worthy of teaching?! Well, without science you would have no electricity, doctors, pharmacists, engineers, roads, sewers, space program or defense system, cars, or oil for your cars. What kind of America would that be? I wouldn't want to live there. So shut up about science being scary and encourage your kids to excel in science and math. And stop arguing about our environment and religion, and just make America a nice place to live.

Time to Be Back

2010-06-19T08:50:00.000-07:00

Here I am, back to reclaim my Saturdays. No more trips to Sequim or long road trips to Mt. Rainier or Spokane, but it's been weeks of great experiences. I've learned how to measure trees, tons of native plants, hydrology, soil science, and even got in some snowshoeing on Mt. Rainier which was a major feat. Not because I played in the snow, or camped in the mud, but because I made it up a trail from Paradise, that I couldn't even go a quarter mile on when my dad took me 20 years ago. Don't judge - I was raised a flatlander and had just moved out here. The other feat was getting one of our housewife classmates through the mud camping and packing her excessive baggage and shoes into my car. Oh, and I need to mention that I got a 3.83 out of this crazy 16 credit quarter.

My poor little car put so many miles on these last 3 months, and now I'm depending on it to get me to and from work in Arlington and Snohomish 6 days a week. I wasn't sure how working 6 days a week was going to go, but the first week wasn't so bad. Work seems to be flowing better at the pharmacy, although there are always going to be those busy days with strange situations. I'm just not as tired as I thought I would be, but I guess I'll have to wait a few weeks to really judge that.

The internship down at SnoCo Parks planning department has been great so far. I've met most of the planners now, and cannot believe how many concurrent projects they have going. I definitely need to inquire about getting some files and a clean drawer. I've run into so many familiar faces just in my first two days, it's been great.

I sat in on the depressing Sr. Ranger budget meeting and talked to Jack, my boss the last year I was at Kayak Point, as well as other rangers we had done various things with. Jack and I didn't really hit it off when he came to the park, as he changed everyone's shifts and work partners, and I couldn't really tell how he felt about seeing me in the administration office. It was nice to see him though, and catch up on life.

Then on Thursday, Ranger Tom came over to my cubicle to say hi. He's probably the most involved ranger in the community as he does raptor shows and bat box demonstrations all around the county parks and at schools. When I was in high school, I did most of my Honor Society community service with him in his Ranger Explorers program, and he got me the seasonal job out at Kayak Point after I graduated. We caught up for a while and he threw me some ideas for one of the camping projects I am working on. I wonder who I will run into next week.

I'm not really sure what I'm going to do today with my only day off. It's pretty gray and damp outside, so I'm sure some housework will be involved, but I want to try and finish my pumpkin patch before all the pumpkins I planted become too rootbound in their pots. I want to get some hiking in too, so I hope summer shows its face around here soon. Come on sun, you can do it.

Headed Down the Homestretch

2010-06-11T08:31:00.000-07:00

I just want to let everyone know that I am still alive. This quarter has been amazingly busy, but I've pulled it off. I have one portion of a final assignment due tomorrow and then...School's out for Summer! Not to worry, with the busy schedule and lack of sleep, I've learned an awful lot, between field work and my internship. Next week I begin my 6 day work week - 4 days at the pharmacy and 2 days at the SnoCo Parks Planning Department. Even with that schedule, free time is coming soon. More to come later...

Whiners Not Welcome Here

2010-05-20T09:41:00.000-07:00

I can definitely say that I have not been this busy since high school. Even today, I don't have time to post much, but thought I would throw out an update despite my insane schedule.

Work: Our volume is up, and the new DSHS Provider One rollouts seem to be going rather smoothly. This was a surprise to me, as over time I have become very cynical of Medicaid "improvements," but this one will actually improve efficiency and streamline prior authorizations. And for once, a software rollover has occurred without big glitches, and it was the government, not private agencies, that was responsible. Take note Premera and Regence. If the state can do it, so can you.

Internship: I've been spending Thursday mornings at City Hall interning under the Natural Resource Manager. So far, I've gotten a lot of insight into the Puget Sound Partnership and county politics. We have also been planning for a community garden at the old Country Charm Dairy, and an addition to the connectivity trails in the city. Just like when I went to pharmacy tech school, there's so much that you can only learn on the job, and I'm soaking up as much as possible.

Oceanography: I've been spending most Saturdays near Sequim at the DOE's Battelle Marine Lab. Last Saturday, we waded through the seaweed beds doing a biological survey, and taking samples for a photosynthesis and primary production lab. I'm not really a seaweed person, but it was fun, and I found a sheet of Nori that was over 4 square feet! Wrap that around your sushi (yuck!). When it came time to crunch numbers after the lab, I found out that people in my group "didn't like math." Well, who does really like math? Annoyed, but wanting to get home as soon as possible after all day on the beach and pier, I busted out the Calculus as fast as I could.

Forest Ecology: The Saturdays we haven't had Oceanography labs, we've gone to the peninsula for this class. We've picked up an old DNR study from the 1960's to track Douglas Fir production versus the effects of thinning in low precipitation conditions. As I'm sure you can imagine, this is done in a stand in the Olympic rain shadow near Sequim.

This weekend, we are joining the Natural History of the NW class on Mt. Ranier. The Everett students have been excited for weeks, and we've been planning our homework around the trip. However, the students from the peninsula have done nothing but complain about the trip, and many didn't show up for class last night as they are leaving today for the trip instead of tomorrow.

They are also complaining about the cost of the camping trip, but they're staying an extra night. The only reason I can gather that they are leaving early is to have an excuse to not turn work in on time, and to complain about the cost. This is offensive to me, as my classmate and I loose 6 hours of work time to travel every weekend, and have been paying for ferry trips all quarter. Despite the time we spend traveling every week, and both having families and full time jobs, we've been able to turn everything in on time all quarter. It's been so hard not to just spout off in class lately.

Environmental Politics: This class has been taking up much more time than I thought, but is the most interesting to me. In fact today, I plan on collecting more research for my term paper about the Gulf oil spill. I picked off shore drilling as my topic at the beginning of the quarter after Obama approved a plan for exploratory drilling off the Atlantic Coast from New Jersey to Florida. Three weeks later, BP proved my point, and because of their disaster, it's been cake finding data to support my position. Hopefully all of you have joined me in a boycott of BP. Oh and don't feel sorry for them when they whine about how much they have spent in clean up so far - it's 4 days worth of profits for them.

Officially an Intern

2010-04-09T07:48:00.000-07:00

I officially have an internship. I no longer feel like a lost puppy in a scary world of big dogs, now I have to help my classmates find some. We're kind of on our own out of the WWU Huxley Everett campus, since our program director, and most of the faculty is located out of Port Angeles. There were plenty of internships posted for the Olympic Peninsula, but those of us in Everett, were forced to look on the Bellingham campus postings.

This not only means that we have to compete with students out of the large main campus Huxley College, but we also have to compete against students from UW, Central, Evergreen and other large universities here on the west side. Needless to say, the paid internships have pretty fierce competition, and I wasn't willing to wait around another 3 weeks to see if I got any of those positions. I figured I might as well get a head start on everyone else for unpaid positions, and cold called 8 agencies last Wednesday.

Snohomish County Parks Planning Department was the first to get back to me, with an internship plan included. A day later, the City of Arlington called me back, and wanted to make an internship plan with the Natural Resource department. I took the SnoCo position, because parks are kind of my passion, and they were always so good to me, even as a student volunteer in high school. A lot of projects we started in the mid 90's are full-blown parks, trails and campgrounds now, and it's fascinating to me seeing what they've become after only being involved in the early grunt-work. I still want to talk with the City of Arlington to see if there's an opportunity to work for them one day a week during the next school year so I don't have to wait for internship hours next summer to graduate - we need a minimum of 300 hours.

I'm really excited for the SnoCo position, though. I went into the interview room, expecting a one-on-one with the Planning director, but ended up in an actual meeting with other planners. He brought in Chris, who was the planner I interviewed for a class project last quarter, and two other planners. I was expecting the regular questions, you know, "why do you want to work here, what are your strengths/weaknesses?" etc, but it was actually a brainstorming session to throw projects at me. Towards the end of the meeting, the Parks director walked in, and I got to meet him, too. Then last night, the hubby turned on "Parks and Rec" and I felt like a dork. Whatever, I like my future projects.

Some of my work may end up on the SnoCo website, or at public meetings. I'll get to use ArcGIS, GPS, and AutoCAD, and of course Power Point for presentations. I don't care how dumb Amy Poehler makes Parks staff look, I'm excited. And speaking of excitement, I've got to jet for a day of preparations for Tay's 13 th birthday party tonight. Minute-to-win-it games, possibly the box-in-a-box game, and tons of 12 and 13 year olds at the Darrington Community Center. Jealous much?

Drill Baby Drill? Now I've Officially Lost My Hope

2010-04-02T08:32:00.000-07:00

Environmental politics. Those two words sum up my two favorite topics, and I think it will be my favorite class - ever! In a quarter of forest ecology with Dr. Busywork, and Oceanography which I've yet to determine if I like, there is a shining beacon every Thursday night. My biggest problem in the class will be narrowing down the topic of my term paper.

When I read the syllabus, I thought I would write about the recent presidential approval of offshore oil and gas exploration off of the Atlantic coastline from Delaware to Florida. However, there is some interesting county politics going on regarding two "sustainable" communities that have been placed on hold. I put sustainable in quotes, because I am always suspicious when the Democrat councilmen oppose the developers, and the Republican ones support them.

The oil exploration topic is interesting, though. Especially since Senate Republicans, led by John McCain, vowed not to cooperate with Democrats for the rest of the year. Then, as soon as Obama approves the oil bill, they suddenly want to cooperate on jobs and oil bills.

The approved zones in the Atlantic are off the coasts of "red states" with the exception of Delaware and Maryland which swing sometimes. The EPA recently announced a Save the Chesapeake campaign, naming it not only the largest, but most polluted estuary in America, but now it's okay to drill off the shelf 50 miles from the coast. The other zone is off the north coast of Alaska, directly off the shelf from the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, infamously known as ANWR in Congressional debates. This is what the Republicans want for ANWR. This is the natural beauty that ANWR really is.

It's sad that Obama has folded like this. He promised to preserve the coasts from oil exploration in his campaign. Just like he promised Universal Healthcare instead of this Insurance Goldmine healthcare system they created. The Green Jobs are also no where to find, I'm currently visciously fighting for unpaid internships in an industry with no openings. The "Hope" has faded away. I'm happy Oilman Dubya is gone, and there will be no drilling in ANWR, but what happens when an extreme ice pack destroys a drilling rig or two, or some other accident occurs? What would happen to my Bay if an extreme hurricane caused an accident?

On a Sustainable note, I'd like to give a huge thumbs up to the City of Arlington for improving such a walkable community downtown. Yesterday, as I was still sans textbooks and waiting for Amazon, I went downtown to run a ton of errands, and got sucked into a few extra local businesses. Since the parking situation has improved, it's much easier to park, and walk everywhere, and the storefront improvements are really working. I'd like to see some more greenery, but not everything is practical in my perfect world. I found myself meandering, and picked up some good used references at the new bookstore on Division. I still have to place another order with Amazon, but, saving any bit of money is great.

Argh! Them Pirates got me Tranced

2010-03-25T07:54:00.000-07:00

Haven't blogged for a while, but it's been an incredible two weeks. Last week was final exams, which included the worst one I've ever taken in Dispute Resolution class. To my surprise I got a perfect score, the first perfect score I've ever gotten on a final, but I had to work REALLY hard and give up a concert and a wedding shower in Wenatchee to do it. Why anyone would want to be a lawyer, I don't know. I get a headache just thinking about mediation.

I ran the Mercer Island 5K for Colon Cancer awareness on Sunday, and finished in 37 minutes despite forgetting my inhaler. I even ran halway up both big hills! Strangely, I felt kind of dizzy halfway through the run, which I thought was asthma, but it ended up being a horrible virus that kept me up all Sunday night, and sent me home from work on Monday with a 102 fever. So I'm thinking my time will be way better next year with health on my side.

I also have to admit, that I've been completely captivated by Michael Crichton's new book, Pirate Latitudes. I've always been a Crichton fan, so I knew I would like the book, but there's no biology, chemistry or physics in the book like his others. It does, however, have a lot of history of the Carribean and Port Royal, and a great plot full of pirates. And I love pirates!

I recommend that everyone watch Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution tomorrow night at 9pm on ABC. I've blogged a little about the environmental and health effects of the American Diet, but I think Jamie's done a great job putting this problem into laymen's terms, and everyone should watch it. Hey, and for those against the new health care bill - if we all ate better, health care costs would go down! Amazing.

Yet Another Reason to Think About Who You Do Business With

2010-03-11T10:07:00.001-08:00

In Natural Resource Economics class, we were asked to go to the EPA's case files and report on one. I could not believe some of the cases my classmates and I found. They ranged from illegal leopard hunting and smuggling to wetland filling and sewage leakage in low-income housing in Mississippi. In 1989, the governor of Maryland launched a "Chesapeake Born" campaign to increase public salience about the health of the dirty Bay after water quality surveys turned up more than dirty syringes from Jersey.

Part of that campaign was for school children of every grade to write an essay about the plight of the state fish, the striped bass. I won the county contest, and my essay went on to the governor for his compilation. This contest, and earlier trips with my dad to places like Blackwater Refuge and Assateague Island, made me interested in Ecology. Here's the case I found that hit close to home:

Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Co.

In 2006, the Atlantic States Cast Iron Pipe Company of Phillipsburg, NJ, was convicted of 32 of 34 counts of violating the Clean Air (1 count) and Water (22 counts) Acts, exposing employees to dangerous conditions (4 counts), and impeding and obstructing Federal regulatory and criminal investigations (9 counts). The facility is owned by McWane Industries which is one of the world's largest makers of cast-iron water and sewer pipes, and was the 4th sentencing of a McWane facility since 2005. The trial was 7 months long, and was the longest in environmental crimes history.

Four managers of the facility were also convicted of environmental and work safety crimes. According to federal prosecutors, the company violated the Clean Water Act by discharging petroleum contaminated water and paint into storm drains which lead to the Delaware River, a tributary of the Chesapeake. They violated the Clean Air Act by burning tires and excessive amounts of hazardous waste paint in their furnace. They maintained a dangerous workplace by altering accident scenes and concealing serious worker injuries from health and safety inspectors which resulted in the death of one employee and multiple severe injuries. The company impeded and obstructed federal and state investigations by routinely lying to OSHA and environmental investigators.

In April of 2009, the company was sentenced to pay an 8 million dollar penalty and 48 months of probation that requires biannual reports to the court, for what the EPA called an eight year conspiracy to pollute the air and the Delaware River. John Prisque, the plant manager, was sentenced to 70 months of federal prison. Jeffrey Maury, the maintenance Superintendent was sentenced to 30 months, Scott Faubert, the Human Resources manager, 41 months, and Craig Davidston, the finishing department manager, 6 months.

Even though the Chesapeake is polluted by many point and non-point sources along its tributaries in 6 states, this facility was in obvious violation of many crimes spanning beyond environmental crimes. Many people suffer from the pollution ranging from those whose immediate groundwater is effected, to the people who fish, crab and harvest shellfish from the Bay. Shellfish harvesting has been closed for decades, placing more pressure on beds in smaller bays off the barrier islands of Delmarva. Scientists have been telling locals to stop eating trout, flounder and halibut caught in the bay and its rivers since 1989, and in a recent study released in January, the blue crab population has crashed, leaving regulators rushing to implement restrictions before the crabbing season begins this summer.

The EPA did not say how long the facility had been polluting, but the investigations occured over an eight year span. Being the fourth conviction of its parent company, the marginal costs of the corporation obviously omitted the external costs of its pollution for years. Excluding the human factor of their OSHA and L&I violations, the company profitted off of not paying for the proper environmental disposal of its waste, and these actions should make its investors and customers question the ethics of these profits.

While I feel the criminal sentences of the managers is fair, because human lives were in danger, the company's penalties seem light, especially since it was McWane's fourth conviction. The probation period does not seem long enough when the EPA is stressing the priority of cleaning up the Chesapeake's tributaries. Sometimes, as in the recent corruption in the banking system, companies deserve to go out of business. Leaving the market is just as much of free enterprise as entering and supplying the market, and this does not seem like a corporation that deserves to serve our market. Perhaps with a larger financial penalty for McWane, a smaller company could grow and serve the market more responsibly.

La Vida Loco

2010-03-04T08:58:00.000-08:00

So I've been cleaning nasty messes all morning thanks to my mom's dog Wally, who we took in about five years ago. Last year, the vet told us he had Cushing's Disease, which will eventually shut down his whole body control. I knew it was getting bad the last two weeks, as he fell while walking three times, of course I wasn't sure, because he was still trying to knock down the garbage can for a nasty treat.

But this morning, he's drank 4 bowls of water, puked 6 times, bloody pooed all over the living room, and is now hiding under the bed. I think it's time to go to the vet again, but I'm going to give it a day in case he did get into some bad garbage in the neighborhood. He and the neighbor's beagle, Mocha, eat the grossest stuff out of the neighborhood cans! In fact, Mocha even likes to drag one neighbor's poopy diaper trash into the uptight, almost retired neighbor's yard. Now that's kind of funny.

For the last six months, I've been adding more multi-grain products to our diet to reduce the amount of wheat we eat, for the sake of my colon and food intolerances. We've also been trying to buy local as much as we can, including food and hardware store supplies. Not only because it is a green improvement, but I'm tired of the community still looking at us funny, even after 6 years of living here and volunteering at the school. I've been buying my morning coffees, when I don't make them at home, from Brandi's Coffee Stand up at the Whitehorse Store, and this morning, we had a long conversation about how what we eat affects arthritis.

I thought I was the only 32 year old with arthritis, but it's good to know someone else who knows what I'm going through. It's also nice to know there's one more mom to sit by at sporting events. We talked about carpooling to Trader Joe's in the future so we can buy gluten-free products, without feeling too guilty about driving over 30 miles to get them. I'm sure some of the locals (including the Hermit) will think we're loco, but it sucks when your finger joints swell up, and you know it's because of something you ate. I have enough problems with tendonitis from typing to have to worry about an arthritis flare on top of it.

There's tons to do on the school front. I have one term paper down, but one more with a presentation to go, and finals week is approaching fast. However, that also means that Spring Break is coming soon, and I can start my new Michael Crichton book. I have "A Civil Action" in the wings to read after Crichton's book, and I can't wait to read for pleasure once again (and watch Survivor instead of hearing about what happened). I remember when excitement for Spring Break meant I was traveling somewhere. What happened? Darn kids

When it's Cold Enough, You Can Taste the Air

2010-02-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

So, with a raging case of typing tendonitis, and 2 major papers due soon, this must be brief. For my Dispute Resolution class, we have to write a 10 page paper on 3 major environmental or planning controversies. Since my thesis paper in Planning class is on the Paine Field commercial service controversy, I'm of course including that one.

An easy transition into the next subject, and perhaps a preview of what's to come in Mukilteo, I'm including the Sea-Tac 3rd runway dispute. Sadly, what I've noticed is that all of the good, peer reviewed articles on airport noise and air pollution are European. I'm really becoming interested in the effects of air pollution and asthma, as allergies, specifically seasonal ones are on the rise.

In one way, the crazy conservatives are correct that increased carbon dioxide in the air increases plant biomass production, but that is not necessarily a good thing when you suffer from asthma or allergies. The El Nino effect has amplified allergy reactions in the Northwest this year, and could be a future trend. Even with 5 different asthma and allergy medications, I'm still goopy enough from tree allergies for a sinus infection to set in.

With all of my pre-med classes that don't count for anything but extra credits just hanging out, I thought I'd use my knowledge to at least focus on the health effects of pollution. I'm really thinking about doing my Senior project on growth rates, allergies, asthma and some other health effects from polluted air - specifically wood smoke pollution. Many of you probably didn't know this, but Darrington had the dirtiest air in Washington 4 years ago, according to EPA and WADOE studies.

Hopefully, what I find out will help the town council convince more people to buy pellet stoves. I think the key will be comparing health care costs in the town to the cost of buying fuel for propane or pellet stoves. Some sunny mornings you can taste the smoke in the foggy air. As soon as I drive 1 mile out of town, the air is cleaner even on the foggiest mornings. The conversion program he's been working with only gives vouchers to replace wood stoves with pellet stoves or propane, but I think I will search for another alternative as well. The great thing about the town council is that Rankin has been working with the 4H salmon program at the school the last two years and is really open to cleaning up the environment. Wish me luck.

It's a Wonderful Weekend

2010-02-18T07:54:00.000-08:00

Forgive me if this doesn't start green, but last weekend was so awesome, I have to share. I know my posts have been sporadic lately, but understandably so, as my life has been non-stop lately. We also have a situation brewing that seems to be getting much more complicated than I thought it ever would, and all because of a very selfish person, that I can't say anything to. Grrrrrr...I'll explain more in a few months after it all comes together/falls apart(?).

I did take a 5 day break from work that allowed me to catch up on life a little, and enjoy my birthday which is something I rarely take time to do. In fact, I can count my awesome adult birthdays on one hand. My 21st was absolutely crazy and weird, my 29th was a drunken karaoke blast, and last Friday, the Hermit gave me another birthday I'll never forget.

He definitely went out of his way to sweep me off my feet. Last year, we had to cancel a dinner reservation, because he didn't solidify a drop-off time for the step-kid, so I told him I was going out with my girlfriends for my 32nd. It was not the first time we had to drop plans due to a lack of communication, so I was really mad. However, I decided to give him another chance after he surprised me with reservations to the Bistro San Martin, which is the nicest restaurant north of Everett to Bellingham.

I started the day by going into town, to my favorite Philipino Great Clips hair dresser so I could donate my 11 inch braid to Locks for Love. I didn't know that they cut your braid off with an electric razor, and my eyes must have been the size of saucers, because he stopped and asked if I was sure I wanted it cut, twice.

I have to admit, I was kind of nervous about short hair, after all the short hair disasters my mom made me wear in my childhood. You know, first the Dorothy Hamil bowl-cut, then just horrid, short cuts that severely needed layers to ease the mushroom effect. He did a great job with my thick, curly hair, though. I'm not used to people stopping me to rave about my hair, so I've felt rather bashful lately.

That afternoon, we caught the step-kid's JV game with my mom and step-dad and the kids. Afterwards, I got a griddle from my mom, and they took the kids to their place. We had a few hours to kill before dinner, so we hit the Tulalip Casino to blow forty dollars each. Having ADD, I hate slots, but I sat there and kept winning as I waited for the Hermit to lose his money so we could move on. Next, we hit the roullette table, and I placed my first chip on 12 for my birthday. Sure enough the ball landed on 12! I kept winning, and had to lend the Hermit chips to keep playing. When we left, we were still up $70 despite his bad luck.

We wrapped up the night at the Bistro, where we had Merlot and Ceasar salad to start. For my entree, I of course chose the Dungeness crab cakes, then felt kind of guilty the next day, as I read about fishery regulations for my Resource Economics assignment. They were absolutely delicious, but I promise no more crab cakes until the crab population stabilizes. When we got home, he gave me Ken Burn's latest documentary, "The National Parks, America's Best Idea," but I had to promise I wouldn't make him watch it again. Last fall, I hijacked the t.v. for a week to watch the PBS special.

The next day, we went shooting with the Bro-in-law on our lower property. I successfully emptied a .45 magnum nailing the target almost every time! Hell yeah! Who could be a bad-ass Ranger if she wanted to? Actually, it seems that the larger gun is easier for me to handle than the smaller calliber firearms.

Afterward, my step-sister came up for dinner with her two kids, and my 3 year old niece entertained us with a Jayden show on my piano. She cracks me up. After they left, Tay started getting ready for her first formal dance. She definitely has more fashion sense, and more of a social scene than I did in 7th grade. At that point in my life, I was only focused on good grades, softball and conquering Super Mario Brothers. Her dress was stunning, and all of the girls looked gorgeous.

For Valentine's Day, I got my weekly Starbucks date in the morning, but instead of rushing to work, I came home and made brunch with Tay. She made omlettes, and I shuffled between the stove-top and the new griddle making hashbrowns and blueberry pancakes. Of course, we wrapped up Valentine's Day with the annual bacon-wrapped steak meal. All-in-all, it was a great weekend that was much needed.

Donations Needed All Around

2010-02-11T08:11:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to vent. I am so upset that Survivor is having a Heroes vs. Villians game during Winter quarter. Don't they know I'm in class until 9pm on Thursdays? I can't wait for March when we switch to DishNet and get a DVR!

I am doing a few things for cancer this year. Tomorrow, I am chopping of 10 inches of my curly locks for Locks for Love, which is a birthday present to myself. What better way to spend your birthday than helping others, right?

Okay, here's my plea for a donation - On March 21, I am running in the Mercer Island Rotary's 5K for colon cancer. I have a history of colon cancer on my dad's side of the family, and I had a cancerous polyp removed in 2003. I'd like to raise $300, but it would be great to get even more. If you are interested in helping visit my site: http://www.active.com/donate/preventcc/ALindemanLucas

I've also got a couple of other community projects swirling around in my head. I wish I had the time to dive into them right now, but they'll have to wait for Summer break. Darrington needs a new floor and roof on the Community Center, and Arlington officially transferred the Graafstra's Country Charm Dairy into municipal property last week. Bill Blake, the Natural Resource manager has already drawn up plans to turn it into a multi-purpose recreational area with a hiking trail, off-leash dog park, monitored swimming beach and campground. Of course, not all of the plans may come through, but what a great process for me to learn.

Tomorrow, I plan on making my resume rounds to draw on some of those internship opportunities. I'll be swinging by Arlington's City Hall to make an appointment with Mr. Blake, as well as a trip to the Darrington Ranger Station to follow up on my SCEP program application, and a stop by Darrington Town Hall to offer my EIS, NEPA and planning services. If you want to donate to the Darrington Community Center fund, let me know. I'm getting really antsy to work in the field, and right now, I'll take my hours wherever I can get them.

And for all of those people saying that Snow-maggedon is proof that Climate Change is not real - first of all, Climate Change doesn't mean there will be no ice or snow. It means that there will be more extremes in storms, snow, rain and drought as well as unpredictable shifts in the atmosphere. Second, it is an El Nino year. That's why we've had sunny and dry winter weather here in PNW. California has gotten our rain, which follows the shifted jet stream on to Texas, Tennessee, and up to the Mid-Atlantic. When I was a kid in Maryland, we had awesome snow in El Nino years - nothing new, just more extreme now. Third, just look to the poles or our alpine glaciers to watch Climate Change happen every day. And there you have it.

Spotted Owls Don't Live in Mukilteo, Silly

2010-01-30T08:32:00.000-08:00

So it's T-13 days until I donate all this hair. It took about 2 years to grow out all of the sun, color, and swimming damage, and I decided my birthday would be the best day to give it away. Some lucky little girl is going to get a wig full of thick, curls, and I'll quit accidentally pulling my hair in random ways.

In sad community news, the Everett Symphony played its last concert at the Everett Civic Auditorium last night, and said goodbye to Dr. Cobbs after over 30 years. I thought I was a good trumpet player until Dr. Cobbs placed me at 2nd trumpet in the Youth Symphony, but he turned us all into musicians. Unfortunately, I had to work last night and missed the concert.

The Symphony said they are going to restructure, and come back in the next 2 years at a different venue, and with new musician contracts. That just means it will be in a smaller venue, and a lot of the good musicians who expect to be paid well will leave. And, of course, no Dr. Cobbs to lead. They didn't mention the fate of the Youth Symphony either.

Speaking of the Youth Symphony, my visit to Kamiak HS (where we used to practice) last week was very entertaining. Aside from the many times I was hushed in the visitor's balcony during a US Senate session, I had only gone to one public meeting in my life. The Paine Field Public Hearing was an absolute hoot, and not boring at all, like I expected.

Over 500 people showed up, and the mediator actually threatened to kick all of us out 6 times while I was there. Of course, I was absolutely silent after the old fellow sitting next to me told me not to mention to anyone else that I was from Arlington. Apparently, the Mukilteo residents think that commercial service should be added to the rinky-dink Arlington airport instead of Paine Field where they already have a full 747 capable runway. I was polite though, and didn't laugh everytime I heard someone say the service should be added to Arlington, but NIMBY's don't think with common sense.

I do have to say that the way the FAA and the airport ran the process was very arcaeic. First of all, they hired a firm from Oklahoma to do the EIS, which even the thought of an Okie pisses off PNW yuppies. They sat on the stage and looked down at the public commenters, and at times, I swear some of them were texting instead of listening. The firm's presentation was very one-sided, and even though I understand they are trying to move the process along quickly, I'm afraid that having every conclusion as, "no significant impact," when there are obvious schools, parks and stores in the airport vacintity, is just asking for a fight.

One guy did crack me up, though. He tried to claim that he recorded the hoot of a spotted owl in the half-acre wooded plot behind his home. In Mukilteo? On a half-acre without old growth? Hahahahahahahahahaha. Sorry, that's what I felt like doing in the middle of his 3 minute comment. Some people don't realize how much they can hurt their cause when they try to use science they don't understand.

After his endangered species claim, the crowd erupted in applause and shouts, and was one of the many times the moderator threatened to clear the room. What I don't understand is why they are fighting the wrong battle. Everyone knows that the county can't stop the service because it's against Federal Law to ban commercial flights from an airport deemed essential by the FAA. Why aren't these residents demanding pollution fees from Horizon and Allegient? Why are they not fighting for quieter jet technology, and cleaner fuels? Don't stall growth - demand smart growth, and we just may get somewhere.

Flying High on NIMBY Drama

2010-01-21T08:15:00.000-08:00

Tonight I am headed to Kamiak High School in Mukilteo for research on my term project in Planning. The FAA and SnoCo are holding their 3rd and final public comments hearing regarding commercial service at Paine Field. The last two meetings have been heated with dozens of NIMBY's booing those who support adding commercial flights to the airport.

In the Environmental Planning world, a NIMBY is someone who opposes a public project on the Not In My Back Yard argument. During some of my research today, I scrolled down the HeraldNet airport story to read some of the comments and found a gem:

N(aive)
I(nsular)
M(ukilteo)
B(ombastic)
Y(uppies)

Tonight's going to be a dramatic showdown. I can't wait.

Planning on Networking

2010-01-13T13:56:00.001-08:00

I have officially hit this quarter full speed ahead. I've decided to use the Paine Field dispute in Mukilteo as my term project in both my Environmental Dispute Resolution class and my Intro to Planning class. That means, I have to attend the public hearing on the 21st, which fits into another Planning assignment which is to attend a Planning meeting or public hearing.

Basically, the FAA wants to extend limited commercial flights into and out of Paine Field which is currently charter and Boeing test flights only. Of course, the county officials and Mukilteo citizens are steaming mad. I'm most interested in how they think they are going to control both commercial air and ferry service off of SR527 and Mukilteo Blvd. more than the environmental impact of extended service.

Tomorrow morning, I'm driving to Willis Tucker Park in Snohomish to interview Chris Mueller, one of the Senior Park Planners for SnoCo Parks. I've got 16 questions ready to go, and 4 more follow-up questions for yet another Planning assignment. And on the 26th, I have an interview with the US Forest Service for an internship to job program. If it requires regional transfer, though, I won't be able to take a job with them. I'm excited to make all the new contacts though!

Feeling Better and Planning Plans

2010-01-07T08:52:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I've posted, but I had to kick an amazingly awful sinus infection, while somehow making it through all my shifts at work. This also resulted in the worst headache and lamest New Years Eve ever, but I feel much better now that I've finished my second antibiotic. I took the youngest to the clinic yesterday, and requested a z-pack for him, too. He seems to be kicking it now as well. The one good thing about being sick is that I was able to get through 300+ pages of my new Steven King novel, "Under the Dome," and it is turning out to be a classic King page-turner. I'm sad I have to put it aside for school now.

I've been to two of my three classes this quarter, and am going to the third tonight. On Mondays I have Environmental Dispute Resolution, which looks interesting, if he can keep us on topic. Monday night's class continued the complaints from certain Poulsbo students (who are in their 50's and going for their second Bachelor's mind you) about the Discussion Board on Blackboard from last quarter. Our class is in a much smaller teleconference room this quarter, so we had some complaints of our own about those students with our mute button on. Hopefully the park ranger can reign things in next week.

Last night I attended my Environmental Economics class with the great surprise of an on-campus professor! Dr. Burke lives in Bellingham, so she'll be at our campus most of the quarter. And while we silently deal with the technology snafus with the professors on the other campuses, those campuses had nothing but complaints last night about our technology issues. Other than that, we had a great review of Microeconomics, which I remembered all of thanks to the most awesome Professor Hu.

I'm really interested in learning how to place dollar value on non-market items such as clean air and water, so I can help the Darrington town council clean up our dirty air reputation. It's too beautiful around here to have the status of the dirtiest air in the state! I think Dr. Burke will do a great job getting us to that point. She reminds me of Dr. Pape, my Biology professor and advisor at EvCC.

A lot of younger people didn't like her, and didn't do well in her class, but if you already had a good work ethic, you could learn a lot from her and the class. She inspired me to continue my original Environmental Science degree and scrap pharmacy. I am so happy that I did, because that led me to Environmental Planning and Policy. Tonight is Intro to Planning with another one of my first quarter professors, Gail, and once again she has blessed us with not requiring a text book and posting all of her lecture power points. We love you Gail!

The Great Cat Wars seem to be easing up at our house, and both new cats are easing into their new homes, while our three other cats seem to be comfortable around them, at times. The youngest's cat, which he has named Meg, seems to be growing her fur back. She had shed a lot at the shelter. And the old grandma cat we adopted (which already had the boy name of Teddie), no longer primarily dwells under our bed. She can use her front legs to climb up to many places, and seems to be able to get away from the little devil-dog just fine.

Juggling our schedules should be interesting for this month as all three kids are playing basketball, and I'm back at school. So forgive me beforehand if I forget something, the calendar looks like a clusterbomb hit it.

Feeling Old and Boring

2009-12-29T08:21:00.000-08:00

Life feels as if it is at a standstill around here. Even though there is always laundry or some other chore to do, it has just been us and the pets since the 26th. One benefit of no kids at home for days is the concept of leftovers for dinner. I made a huge Christmas dinner, and even though the chicken was gone that night, we've been pairing the sides with my mom's leftover ham, and have been eating quite well.

To our surprise though, the youngest wanted to come home from his dad's last night, and the step-son called last night wanting to come home today. It's kind of weird, but we've always told them, we're just a phone call away and will always pick you up. I think they are more vocal now that we both recently began defending their right not to go to BioParents houses. It's one thing when they are young kids, but they all have their own lives and friends now that they are older. Both the hubby and I were forced into visitations as teens, so we've begun letting them make their own decisions about them. We still feel they should visit, but if their schedule only allows a day rather than a weekend, well we've decided to be firm and have their backs if needed.

I continued my pattern of watching old movies throughout my Winter Break, with my new Monty Python Holy Trilogy dvd's over the weekend. Since the break I've watched the original "The Day the Earth Stood Still," the original "Taking of Pelham 1,2,3," "Elmer Gentry," and many other oldies including countless Christmas classics like George C. Scott's "A Christmas Carol," "A Christmas Story," and of course "It's a Wonderful Life." I know it sounds boring, but sometimes I'm overwhelmed by all of the special effects, and want a classic story. The hubby also got me the new books from Steven King and Michael Crichton (yes, I know he's dead, tired of hearing about it) for Christmas. I've finally got some decent fiction to read.

I know what you're thinking - nothing about the World Climate Talks in Copenhagen? No, not really. I lost hope in them when we were following the pre-political preparation in class. Our politicians, for some reason think that they can dictate policies to us and the world. But here's a clue - people react best to peer pressure, and if you want to make a real change, you need to start small and work from the bottom up.

World talks will get no where until we can figure things out at home, and that includes your city and county. I have more hope for the Puget Sound Partnership than the Kyoto Protocol. I have some nasty words regarding the new developing country fund, since we need a major infrastucture overhaul at home, but I don't want to sound too cynical. And that's all I'm going to say about that.

I'm not ready for next quarter yet, as the Amazon textbook order will be placed tonight. I feel like I need one more week off, but alas class starts on Monday. I do have a lead on a SnoCo parks internship, though. They are planning on making major changes and restorations at my old stomping ground out at Kayak Point County Park, and the Parks Department is requesting a couple of interns. I would love to work out there again, but I hope they don't get a new entrance sign. That's some great maitenance aid craftsmanship from 1996, I mean the routing and paint job is amazing! Sunshine and I worked for hours on it. :) I'll keep you posted on the new opportunity.

Watch What You Say About Old People

2009-12-17T08:28:00.000-08:00

I got my final grades today from WWU, and did much better than I thought - 3.56 baby! The most surprising grade was my US Environmental Policy grade. I got a B+ or A- on all of my policy briefs, including a B+ on my final Drug Take-back paper and presentation. Class participation must have bumped up my grade to an A-, so maybe I should talk some more in her class next quarter for an A. It's still very strange to communicate through classroom internet and video technology.

Next quarter should be interesting, as I don't have a science class for an easy B. No, my science class is Environmental Economics, considered a mathematical science. Oh boy - hopefully Uncle D will be helping me again. I never thought in my life that I would end up taking 3 Economics classes.

On the pharmacy front, I correctly identified a tablet my cousin found in his couch in Mississippi over the phone. My sister called me on Saturday as I was leaving work. She was spending a few days at his house, and they had found the tablet earlier that day. My cousin has young kids and teenagers, so he was concerned on both fronts. She described it as a small and yellow tablet with a 7 on one side and nothing on the other.

Before I go any further, I have to explain my family history a little. I was the only product of my parent's second marriages, who had teenagers that were the same age from previous marriages. My aunt had 3 kids that were spaced years apart, so on her side, I have a cousin that is the same age as my oldest siblings, and a cousin that is only 6 years older than me. Okay enough of dysfunctional brady bunch.

Anyway, I told my sister that it sounded like an 81 mg aspirin, "the kind that we give old people." So my sister repeats to my cousin, "she said it's an aspirin, an old person aspirin." To which my cousin replies, "I have aspirin, but I'm not an old person." Then he kept interjecting old comments into the background while I told my sister I would look it up at work the next day.

About an hour later, I got a text message from my sister, that it was our aunt's aspirin that she had lost and couldn't find. And my aunt, bless her heart, is kind of old. Then on the next line, "but Wayne still doesn't appreciate you calling him old." Never gonna live that one down.

Welcome to the Hotel Reptilia

2009-11-27T09:18:00.000-08:00

So I was going to start this blog off sweet, and serious, but I just have to let everyone know I have a squatter wintering under my house. Three nights ago, I thought I heard a frog while I was reading, but the Hermit didn't hear a thing. He did take the opportunity to equate me to a cat-lady with all of my reptile yard statues, art and nick-nacks - ha ha so funny, now I hear them.

However, our Siamese, Fokker, would not leave the bathroom this morning. When I went in to investigate what el gato loco was up to, I caught him trying to remove the floor vent for the central heating system. I know that sounds weird, but the cat thinks he is our child and has hands. As I stood there, I heard the croaking again, only this time much louder. It was very much the call of a Western Toad, and if he wants to winter there, and can somehow get in and out, then go for it buddy.

We had a great Thanksgiving with the Hermit's family in Wenatchee yesterday. On the way there on Wednesday, I kept thinking of my friend Jen, and the long drives we would put in to hang out after her parents moved her to Mount Index (yes the mountain, not the town) in our Junior year of high school. We had fallen out of touch the last year and a half, since she went to the dark side and took a job in Boise with Supervalu/Albertsons. I'm sure most of you won't understand that, but the Hermit and I both left that company with a sour taste.

But Jen's a great gal, and has 2 great boys with her hubby. With me in school, and her in a new busy corporate job, we just lost touch. Well lo and behold I get home last night, sign onto Facebook, and there's Jen with a friend request! How random and great is that?!

In Wenatchee, the hubby was able to kick back and hang out with his aunt and cousins, which is something I've been trying to convince him to do for a while. After dinner yesterday, we all pulled out our cell phones and exchanged numbers, email, facebooks, etc, so he has no excuse to not get out and do something once in a while. He was also able to spend some quality time with his grandpa, who's Alzheimer's is progressing more rapidly than the Hermit thought.

It's such an ugly disease, and most relatives don't realize how fast detioration can be. I've lost all my biological grandparents, but am lucky to have Granny on my step-dad's side and Ruth on my step-mom's side still around, and the hubby's grandparents. Harold, my step-mom's dad recently passed away from Alzheimer's and Ruth was diagnosed right around the same time as the hubby's grandpa. It's so hard to see such bright people get so confused, and the frustration that happens on all sides.

I've always loved hanging out with blue-hairs. My paternal grandparents were 70 when I was born, and my grandpa used to golf-cart me around Sun City Center Florida to hang out with the other old guys when we would visit. My favorite customers are mostly older adults, and I love talking to them, no matter what they want to talk about. You can always get a good laugh, or learn something. So it was good to visit with his grandparents this week, and keep his grandpa company.

And speaking of blue-hairs, it was good to talk to my dad yesterday, too, (ha ha just kidding?). We got some good ideas for a family project next summer, and my siblings on Dad's side are gonna love it! Uncle D and Dad will get it as a present, and they will have the option of ordering their own. I've got to get to the Seattle Public Library to get some historical documentation, so I can put together an album of our old family photos from the teens, twenties and thirties. My great-grandpa was a prominent lawyer, lumber tycoon and Seattle downtown developer after the historic fire. I have pictures, but no stories. I also want to get some info from UW regarding my grandparents' pictures from their college years in the twenties, before they graduated and grandpa whisked grandma off to live in Hawaii.

And speaking of UW, I'm taking sides in the Apple Cup for the first time since I moved here 20 years ago. I really didn't care when I moved here, as I will always root for the Maryland Terrapins, but I've been trying to respect the Cougs since I've worked for my employer the last 8 years. But my grandpa was UW ROTC, in football and crew, and my grandma was one of the first women to receive a Master's from the UW Information Science School (or whatever they call Librarian School), and my step-siblings have been rooting for them for a lifetime. So here it goes - GO HUSKIES!

Go Army!

2009-11-17T09:45:00.001-08:00

So I was doing my homework for my Senior Environmental Policy class (now that the power is back on) and ran across this article. The Army Corps of Engineers has officially adopted rising sea levels and climate change into all of their dike, levee and coastal projects across the country. It is refreshing to see that even though they may be keeping quiet on the public front, at least one branch of the government is being realistic when it comes to the next fifty years.

I really wonder how realistic they can be about New Orleans. I have an opportunity to visit New Orleans for a conference this spring, but I've always been against visiting and supporting a city below sea level. Maybe it's because I grew up at sea level on flat Delmarva, but hurricane devastation at sea level is amazingly powerful. On the other hand, if they do have some serious solutions for the city, that are ecologically friendly, then I would be interested in going to hear those. And there's always the reason that I love me some jazz - raggity, dirty, loud Bourbon Street jazz!

Of course the Army Corps of Engineers are instituting this policy to protect their own assets, but it's a good first step. And I'm glad it's the Army that is leading the change. My grandpa retired as a Major General in the Army, was a WWII veteran, and even testified before Congress as to why women should be allowed to become generals. Even though two of my brothers were Marines, I'm still Army biased, because Grandpa was just too cool. So here's to success and new solutions - Go Army!

GMO Crops - A Dangerous Solution

2009-11-16T07:43:00.000-08:00

Abstract: Ammonia based fertilizer application increased the food supply for many populations around the world, but its use over the last century has resulted in negative biological effects as serious as Global Warming. Some scientists suggest that Genetically Modified crops be planted and distributed world-wide to increase nitrogen fixation in the soil, nitrogen use by the plants, and reduce the need for ammonia-based fertilizers. GM crops are very controversial, however, and enough studies have not been done to establish their safety for humans and the environment. Many alternatives to GM crops are available, and farmers should be taught good farm management and organic farming practices.

Introduction

Since 1908, humans have been fixing nitrogen from the air into ammonia, which can be used to produce fertilizer for plants. In the US over eighty million tons of fertilizer is applied yearly, while only seventeen million tons of it is used by the plants to produce food. The rest is leached into stream systems and the ground water supply. The Green Revolution in the 1960’s which enhanced food crop growth around the world has caused its own disruption in the nitrogen cycle. The majority of these plants have lost fifty percent of their nitrogen use efficiency in the last fifty years. It also spread the agricultural practice of excessive fertilizer application throughout the world.

The seepage of unused ammonia-based nitrogen from the soil accumulates in rivers and ground water. Many rivers across the US are saturated with nitrogen, and can no longer perform the natural process of de-nitrification to restore it into safe atmospheric molecules. It also promotes algal blooms which can clog slow-moving streams and rivers, produce neurotoxins and toxic blooms, and have created over 400 oceanic dead zones worldwide. The dead zones have depleted oxygen levels, killing fish and marine life around the mouths of the world’s rivers.

Invasive species also seem to thrive and out-perform native species in riparian and estuarine habitats where nitrogen run-off is high. Scientists are predicting that the global use of nitrogen fertilizers on farmland to double by 2050 at 220 million tons per year. This is six times the safe threshold, and they recommend that nitrogen releases into the environment should be significantly slashed to 35 million tons. With the earth’s natural nitrogen process already saturated, the oceans are becoming acidified by nitrates and nitrites from fertilizer run-off. The same molecules in the air have created world- wide acid rain and combined with chlorine and fluorine in ozone depletion.

GMO Solution

Some scientists have suggested a second green revolution, where crops will be genetically modified to increase nitrogen fixation from the soil, and nitrogen usage within the plants. Genetically Modified Organisms are monitored by most countries around the world, and only some species have been approved for human consumption, but some are pushing for more studies to increase species modifications and increase their human market. On the molecular level, generally, one gene is cut and replaced by a synthetically designed gene selected to produce a wanted trait such as an insecticidal property, pesticide resistance or nitrogen fixation.

However, problems have already arisen in approved GMO crops, and in GMO practices in underdeveloped countries. In the US, pharmaceutical and chemical companies are involved in GM seed production, and lobby the Food and Drug Administration and Department of Agriculture heavily. There have been documentations of insecticidal resistance developed by targeted insect larvae across the US, and documentations of a transfer of herbicidal resistant transgenes from GM oilseed rape crop to the bacteria residing in the gut of honeybees.

In 2000, a livestock approved GM corn crop named Starlink, was accidentally shipped to a human corn processing plant where it went into the food supply as Taco Bell taco shells, Tostito corn chips, various corn flakes and corn syrups. The Bt toxin produced by the livestock corn resembles the molecules in baker’s yeast and some vegetables. Human allergic reactions were reported nation-wide, and large amounts of corn products were recalled.

Biologists, Conservationists, Organic gardeners, and Heritage Seed gardeners fear that GM crops threaten plant integrity and biodiversity. Since plants have polyploidy traits, organic gardeners and environmentalists are concerned that GM transgenes will be transferred to organic crops, producing food that may be lethal to beneficial insects, or that continues to produce toxins after harvesting. Heritage Gardeners feel transgene transfer can wipe out seed banks that are hundreds of years old, and biologists feel that pesticide resistant qualities can be transferred to weeds and invasive species.

In Africa, human rights groups and environmental groups claim that GM seed companies and African governments increase farmer poverty. While in areas such as the Valley of a Thousand Hills in South Africa where sustainable, organic farming is taught by environmental justice groups, and practiced by villages of farmers, other farmers are given free GM seeds from the South African Department of Agriculture. The organic farmers are able to generate and keep seeds from season to season, while GM farmers’ crops are usually sterile, or they are prohibited and prosecuted for reusing fertile seeds produced by GM crops. The GM farmers, however, must take loans from banks to pay for the insecticides and pesticides provided by the GM seed companies, and many lose their land to the banks because they spend too much on chemicals. Organic farmers, however have good soils and keep seed banks from year to year.

Ancestral Genes Model

AGM is another type of DNA Recombinant modification, however, botanists performing AGM studies claim it enhances conventional breeding methods. The link to conventional breeding is that only the crop’s ancestrally related plants are studied for wanted characteristics such as natural insect resistance, nitrogen usage, or nitrogen fixation. The crop is bred with its genetic relative and hybrid plants are bred to select for fertility qualities. Once fertile plants with the wanted trait are produced from the cross, DNA assays are run to find the genes responsible for the trait. Those genes are then cut, reproduced in bacterial hosts, and used in DNA Recombinant modifications to transfer those selected genes to the original crop.

GM modification is done with genes from bacteria, fungus, and non-related plant species, and usually focuses on one gene in the plant. Insects quickly evolve a resistance to the single gene modification, and single transgenes are more easily transferred to other plants. Since natural plant traits are usually multi-allele, insects do not overcome toxins in nature, and multi-alleles are less likely to be completely transferred to another plant species, especially if genes are used from only related plants.

Other Alternatives

Humans need to improve agricultural practices and farm management around the world, and especially in the agriculturally productive United States. The Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs of Ontario gives farmers a checklist of what they can do to improve nitrogen management practices:

1. Reduce total nitrogen loading – use available manure before purchasing off-farm sources

2. Prevent run-off from manure or other nutrient material – store manure properly until it is ready to be applied.

3. Manage fields to avoid excess nitrogen leaching.
-know soil types and where leaching will occur
-test nitrogen in soil and only match per crop needs
-split fertilizer applications
-practice crop rotation
-establish after-season cover crops to tie-up excess nitrogen in soil at the end of the growing season

4. Manage nutrient application –
-practice timely tilling and incorporate manure into soil
-avoid applying manure near surface water or on steep slopes
-keep application rates low
-establish buffers and erosion control to filter run-off before it enters surface water

Other ways to increase nitrogen fixation from the soil is to inoculate crop seeds or roots with nitrogen fixing rhizobacteria. These external bacteria increase surface area of roots, and fix nitrogen in soil into usable forms for the crop. During the off season, nitrogen-fixing soys and legumes can be planted as cover crop. The cover crop can be tilled just before flowering to maximize ammonia gain in the soil.

Where All the Grey Hairs Come From

2009-11-13T07:30:00.000-08:00

As I'm typing this, I'm watching the Ida/Nor'easter pound the life out of all my favorite Maryland and Deleware Beaches. Some of them are already flooded. I've seen live shots from Virginia Beach, O.C., Rehobeth Beach and Cape May. Fifty years ago there were dunes and tidal marses to absorb these kinds of storm surges. Yesterday, at Nags Head, they were pumping sand during the storm to save an entire barrier island beach and its real estate from washing away. These resort towns need to seriously rethink development.

Life has been running tight lately, but I finally have two big projects under my belt and only 3 more to finish. One of my classmates is in two of my groups, in two different classes, and has been MIA for the last few team meetings and both classes. I'm starting to get nervous, but at least we can cut his content out of our wetland project and still have plenty of data, and I took some of my extra time off of work this week to research his part of our PSP Whidbey Acion Area project. Hopefully, one of my team-mates will be willing to use my notes to write his portion if needed.

Life at home has been busy, too. Tay has become active in her student government and yearbook, and baked goodies for her class fundraiser this week. I had my head buried in my laptop on Wednesday, so she took care of it all by herself. It's cool to watch your kids do responsible things out of choice, and come into their own.

The stepkid, on the other hand, has gone back to lying about homework and blood sugar checks, and had words with his mom last weekend. We're trying to back her up with things, but we have also been dealing with the ridiculous tantrums of, "why won't you drive me to town EVERY DAY so I can see my girlfriend?" The kid thinks he's justified in seeing the girl everyday, because his cousin has spent almost every day of the last 3 years with his girlfriend. However, the Hermit's nephew has also become ineligible for sports his Senior year, and may not graduate on time because of the girl he's been with since fifteen.

After watching that fiasco we decided the responsible, healthy thing to do for our kids, is not to let them spend every minute of every day together with their boyfriend or girlfriend. I'm not sure what's worse, though, the tantrums or the first break-up. Between what my siblings went through with nieces and nephews, to horror stories about my classmates' teenagers, I'm kind of scared.

And speaking of the Hermit, he let Tay cook a vegetarian meal on Monday, and was respectful in an argument I thought he would lose his head in. I was so happy with him. Last night, he even took the step of filling in on an ex-coworkers bowling team while I was at school. I was SO happy he got out of the house to do something fun. Not that Lowe's isn't fun, but it just leads to more work at home.

Tonight we're supposed to get the first snow of the season, along with a big windstorm. The mountains are thick, and white already, so ski season should be good this year. My awesome mom-in-law gave us four pairs of skis, and I've got decent snow gear now, so I really can't wait for winter break to try it all out!

Now that you've heard all my excuses for the last couple of weeks, I will get back to the Green Expressions, I swear. I did finish my report on Geoengineering, but it's so strange and new, I'd like to know more about it before I post anything publicly. Tomorrow I will post information about the danger of global Nitrogen saturation and why using Genetically Modified crops to help solve the situation is a bad solution.

A Little Bit of This With a Little Bit of That

2009-11-05T07:41:00.000-08:00

I was planning on posting an opinion on geoengineering today, but it's just not ready. In fact, I think it may have to be the sacrificial lamb this week in class. There are so many major projects due soon in all 3 of my classes, that one of my weekly projects will have to be late. I still have kids and work, and life goes on. I was really proud of my 4.0's, but I will be happy to get B's this year.

Speaking of kids, Darrington 7th grade girl's volleyball completed the season undefeated. Tay was an ace server, thanks to my buddy Coach Eric and the UMES Lady Hawk serve. And kudos to Coach Eric as the Lady Hawks are rated the number one serving team in the nation!

That finally gives me a good thought about UMES, though, as the last one I have was a pretty bad one. My 6th grade GT teacher was a hippie that took us on a Science trip to see research animals and learn how they are tagged for experiments. I know, right? How is that was a good idea? My friend Karen tagged her chick right through its wing artery, so I grabbed it and held pressure to it's wing while it peeped and peeped. The research professor then took it from me and broke it's neck. Great memories.

Since I'm being random, I had a dream last night that I was rowing. Not in the big 8 man boat, but in a 4 man scull. We were gliding so fast downriver, and the water was completely calm and empty. I've been avoiding oceanography and hydrology, because I'm guilty of loving water sports, and I don't want to hear my impact. I can avoid it again this spring by taking Forestry, which none of my classmates want to take, but I keep having water dreams. I should just buckel down and take the class. It will probably be easier to get through it with the same group of people anyway.

And speaking of school, I have to mention that the Hermit has become a domestic god! The best part is that he is enjoying learning how to cook. I've been adding roasts, and whole grain pasta dishes on nights here and there, but he's been getting better at using fresh ingredients, too.

I went back out to the wetlands on Sunday, but won't share any pictures as they are for our Power Point data, and kind of boring. I will post info on geoengineering soon, and please understand if it seems as if I have checked out, but I have a ten page paper due on Monday.

Think Salmon Before You Flush

2009-10-26T08:35:00.001-07:00

I've recently come to the conclusion that my mind works in strange ways. I have two big papers to write this quarter, that are both worth a large part of my grade in each class. Keep in mind, I have 3 group projects going as well, and each are coming together very well, except for one. I am having the hardest time with a policy focused Ecology paper.

I've loved amphibians since I was a very small kiddo, and had a great outline prepared for a science based paper. Unfortunately, with the extension deadline came a stipulation. The paper must be written based on your major. I picked Environmental Planning and Policy, so my paper must be from a policy perspective. I immediately thought of wetland buffering, and protecting the metapopulations of Western Toads, a threatened species in Washington.

We must have as many primary sources as possible, and in this field, that means peer-reviewed journals. I've searched the EBSCO library as many boolean ways I could figure out, and can't find a primary source on any amphibian in our state. I did find excellent sources for my points, but nothing on the topic. I'm so frustrated, but it's back to the grindstone today to find one.

My other major paper is for my Senior US Environmental Policy class. I will be making the argument that a drug take-back program is much needed in Washington State, and that the current pilot program that exclusively contracts Group Health as take-back sites discriminates against poor and rural communities. According to the Puget Sound Partnership, a lot of pollution that ends up in the sound starts at the base of the mountains. When rural citizens have to commute over fifty miles to dispose of unwanted prescriptions, they are likely to flush them or throw them away. (Odd note - Carly Simon's "Let the River Run" just came on t.v. as I'm about to talk about salmon and orcas - keep that in your head for salience people).

Even our best sewage systems cannot clean out pharmaceuticals from the water, and it is flushed out as "clean water" because the "best available technology" is just coming on the market. I have family in Huntsville, Alabama, where the drinking water has tested positive for estrogens, mood stablizers and cholesterol medications. Yet, there has been no government incentive to install UV filtering in the water treatment plants, and communities are only "looking into them." In Maryland, where I used to live, male fish have been developing female parts and eggs for multiple generations now, because of high estrogen levels in the water.

The WA Department of Ecology released a report in 2007 that made every citizen responsible for the ultimate pollution of the Puget Sound. The report mainly focused on storm-water run-off from communities all along the watershed, but took a wholistic ecosystem approach on how all of the contaminants flow into the Sound. If you think about every community along the watershed of all of our major rivers in the Puget Sound Region, you can see how the pollution problem multiplies as you move downstream. Remember, Puget Sound Chinook Salmon and the three Puget Sound Orca pods are listed on both the federal and state Endangered Species List.

Currently, state and federal policy is to seal unwanted drugs in a plastic container, and throw them away. If it is a narcotic, they require that you flush it. There are three major problems with this policy, and I've already discussed the problem with flushing. Landfills do not have any policies in place to prevent seepage of unwanted pharmaceuticals into the groundwater, and they end up in the rivers and ultimately, the Sound. Not to mention, you and the garbage collector are breaking the law when you transfer those prescription drugs into their hands, because if you read any Rx label in Washington State, you've agreed to those terms.

As a private pharmacy, we walk a fine legal line accepting drugs from other pharmacies, unless the customer has asked us to repackage them for Assisted Living use. The Federal DEA has restricted us from accepting unwanted narcotics for destruction, and only a Regional District DEA hearing can grant a pharmacy the special permit. The formation of the Puget Sound Action Team, which became the Puget Sound Partnership in 2007, spawned a committee called WA PH:ARM which constructed a pilot project to take back unwanted prescriptions at Group Health pharmacies, and reimbuse them for their participation.

Group Health allows us to bill them for prescriptions, because they acknowledge that their pharmacy is up to 65 miles away from some municipalities in Snohomish County. Yet, the state and the Regional DEA will not allow us to accept unwanted prescriptions from our rural patients, even if we were willing to do it on behalf of Group Health, as we do with filling prescriptions. Do you see where I'm going here?

I know I sound like a lawyer, but I was appalled at how slow the pharmaceutical community is responding to the charges given to them by the Puget Sound Partnership. I want the community where I live and the community where I work to be able to hold Partner Status in the future, so they can continue to receive grants and funding from state agencies such as the Department of Ecology. Don't worry, I promised my uncle (who is a lawyer) that I would never go down that road, and I intend to keep that promise. This is a small action the Department of Health can take that would make a large difference in the health of our streams, rivers and groundwater. After that, we can move on to installing UV filtration into our water treatment centers to take care of those chemicals we excrete from our bodies.

Working With Wetlands

2009-10-22T09:53:00.000-07:00

Last Friday and Saturday we experienced torrential rains as two Pineapple Express Storms blew through the area. I went into town Saturday morning to meet my Ecology team, and was driving down a river of highway flooding. As I went over the bridges, I noticed all the creeks and rivers were spating as well, and knew sample collection would be difficult that day.

We all pulled into the flooded Safeway parking lot and got soaked trying to come up with a rescheduling strategy. With fall wind and rains, we knew plant integrity would continue to decline the longer we waited, so we decided to go out the next day, rain or shine. It turned up to be decent on Sunday, but the marshland had filled up with the 4 inches of rain from the previous two day, and we weren't able to get samples in the marshy area.

It was still a good study, and the good news is that from the samples of juvenile plants in the underbrush, the wetland on my property is recovering. A healthy wetland equals healthy frogs and salamanders in my woods. I've decided to focus on wetlands and frogs for my Ecology final paper, and selective logging and wetlands and streams in my US Environmental Policy class. I can't believe how much I've learned just in the first quarter. I actually feel confident enough in what I know that I could volunteer for a municipality now.

Anyway, here are some pictures from Saturday's study.

Wetland at Fortson Wildlife Area

Salamander Eggs at FWA Wetland

Fungus at FWA Wetland

Cattail at FWA Wetland

Snail on Lichens on my Wetland

Good News and Bad News

2009-10-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

This last week has been full of bad news and sickness. Our whole family came down with some kind of a virus that hit my kids with asthma pretty hard. And now it looks as if the hubby may have some kind of secondary throat infection. Just as everything seemed to be coming together with our Ecology field project, bad news kept coming and coming.

First, I found out that today's class was cancelled because my professor's husband had passed away from cancer. Then, my sister called to let me know my great-nephew had been diagnosed with Cerebral Palsey, and that he had suffered a stroke in-uetero. I can't imagine what my niece and her husband are going through, but I have been to the ER multiple times with all 3 of our kids that each suffer from a chronic illness, and I know all the tests and results can be exhausting.

Then I went to a urologist today to find out why I have recurring bilateral kidney stones, and found out that it is probably some kind of metabolic disease. So they gave me a list of foods that I'm supposed to avoid which really conflicts with my low-cholesterol diet. I am proof that small people who exercise can inheirit high cholesterol, so it really is important to get that yearly physical. I had to make another appointment with my regular doctor just to figure out what to eat. For now, I'm drinking lots of water, but I have to avoid all black tea, chocolate, nuts, berries and ground pepper. Those are in my top 10 favorite foods!

There was some great news this week, as I mentioned above, my Ecology group is getting a big help from the DNR! One of my neighbors is a Forester for the agency, and has set me up with GIS maps of our study areas, and official DNR guides. She is also planning on coming with us on Saturday, and bringing her GPS for detailed mapping. One of the sites she helped me select has a beaver dam in a lake, that has created a dry path dividing the lake, and the water level on each side is higher than the trail. I can't wait to get pictures of that!

America's Big Problem with Food

2009-10-08T15:35:00.000-07:00

America’s Big Diet Problem
Abstract:

It is obvious that with the growing waistlines of Americans, their diet must be changed, if not for health reasons, then to reduce their carbon footprint. According to Christopher Weber and H. Scott Matthews of Carnegie-Mellon University, cutting red meat and dairy out of the diet one day a week can reduce a family’s household greenhouse gas footprint by about 4%. This is almost equivalent to obtaining 100 percent of their foods from local sources. Even food writer Michael Pollan has declared that if Americans combined a white-meat and vegetable diet with local food purchasing it would be equal to taking 30-40 million cars off of road for a year.

Cattle Facts:

According to the study, transportation emissions from the distribution of meat and dairy only account for less than 5 percent of their total emissions. To quantify it, John’s Hopkins research has shown that it takes 40 calories of fossil fuels to produce 1 calorie of beef, which also includes fertilizer application for growing cattle feed. However, Methane and Nitrous Oxide emissions that occur with beef and dairy production are far more potent greenhouse gasses than the Carbon Dioxide that is emitted during shipping and feed production.

Many environmentalists argue that grass fed cattle are better for the Earth than grain fed cattle, due to the reduced acreage needed to produce grasses versus grains, but studies have found that ruminant gasses emitted from grass fed cattle are higher in methane. Manure management also increases the greenhouse footprint of cattle production, as many farmers may pile it or reuse it on the feed field where it is free to emit the biogases. The discarded manure is also bleached into the soil where it can pollute ground water or streams.

Diet Change Facts:

The Carnegie-Mellon study broke down a diet change to its equivalent of greenhouse gas mileage reduction, and came up with the following results. If Americans would purchase 100% local, it would be equivalent to reducing their driving emissions by 1,000 miles per year. If they were to change their diet just one night a week from red meat to white meat it would reduce their miles by 760. A one night a week change from red meat to all vegetables would reduce their miles by 1,160. If red meat and dairy were given up completely, or switched to a completely vegan diet, miles would be reduced by 5,340 and 8,100 miles respectively.

A reduction in red meat and dairy in the diet can also be healthier for consumers. A John’s Hopkins study has shown that diets abundant in red meat significantly increase the risk of digestive cancers. It also found that about two-thirds of Americans are obese and that a low-meat diet or a vegetarian diet will decrease body weight and body mass index along with reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and Type II Diabetes.

Conscientious Eating:

For those Americans who love their red meat and cheese or for those who can’t afford to change their diet, there are technologies some farms are using to reduce their own greenhouse gas footprint. According to the EPA, about 110 anaerobic manure digesters are being used on dairy farms across the nation with about another 70 under construction. These digesters combine the cattle waste with bacteria to drive methane-powered generators. They produce enough energy to power about 350 homes, and since they make the farms completely energy independent, they usually pay for themselves within 5 years. Other smaller farms are sealing their manure in bins and collecting the methane gas to use for heat.

The Carnegie-Mellon study found that shipping accounts for 11% of the greenhouse gas emissions from fruits and vegetables. Vegetarians can almost eliminate this footprint with buying from local greenhouse farmers. According to the British Colombia Greenhouse Growers Association, greenhouses use only 0.01% of B.C.’s total farmland while growing 11% of B.C.’s total agriculture production. If this amount of produce was grown in a field it would require 5,436 acres. The greenhouses in British Columbia also use Integrated Pest Management practices, or good bugs eating bad bugs, zero herbicides, collect and recycle rain water, and computerized hydroponic bags to ensure no more chemicals are used than what is necessary for nutrients.

With all of the abundant land available for growing and a thriving international trade business, America has not incorporated much greenhouse technology into its agricultural economy. If it was used more widely, Americans could buy local, sustainable produce 10 months out of the year and reduce their carbon footprint even more. Until then, they should cut their consumption of red meat and dairy considerably. They should also pressure legislatures to provide more incentive for sustainable cattle and vegetable farming and promote public awareness campaigns such as “Meatless Mondays.”

Seattle Plastic Bag Ban Can Cause More Problems Than It Solves

2009-10-01T16:25:00.000-07:00

Incentives not Taxes

Abstract
Many cities and counties across America have introduced policies banning plastic bags, and have found just as much opposition as they have support. Environmentalists argue that plastic bag pollution has major affects around the globe, and that a tax, fee or ban would reduce these problems. Retailers and plastic manufacturers argue that the taxes are unfairly waged against them, and that there are other ways of reducing the pollution by plastic bags. A public tax or ban would result in a greater hardship on lower income families as the fees or costs of reusable bags are proportionately higher for their incomes. Retailers would respond better to tax incentives, and would be more likely to pass these to consumers as price breaks or rewards.

Fees versus Incentives

With the high levels of plastic chemicals in the nation’s rivers and the large accumulation of plastic waste circulating in oceans, plastic bag bans have become popular subjects in America’s cities. These bans and taxes have become a hot-button issue in city and county council meetings across the country. The American chemical and plastic lobbies have spent millions opposing these bans, and environmental groups have continuously lobbied to get them passed.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, Americans consume about 100 billion plastic bags a year. The main arguments for the ban are animal ingestion, and slowing the growth of the Great Garbage Patch circulating in the Pacific Ocean. Whether it is blowing down the street or floating in the water, many animals mistake plastic bags and bag scraps for food, and die resulting from the inability to pass the plastic through their digestive systems. As plastic breaks down in the ocean, it does not dissolve away, rather it becomes small particles that glob together resembling plankton patches. The Pacific Ocean current, specifically has collected the plastic garbage and particles into a patch larger than the state of Texas in a prime marine feeding area. High levels of plastic chemicals have been found in rivers on the East Coast, and as they are bio-identical to some fish hormones, fisheries experts have been finding inter-sex fish in these rivers, affecting their reproduction rates.

Other reasons cities such as Seattle are considering the bans are to curb urban flooding and to improve city aesthetics. Bags can clog gutters and storm drains preventing the drainage of storm water, increasing urban flooding. They can also get caught in trees and fences making an ugly garbage problem even more apparent as cities like Seattle and San Francisco reduce available dumpsters for disposal. The externality costs of plastic bag litter is passed on from the manufacturers and stores to the public through the cities’ disposal process, so the question becomes how to clean it up and who should pay for it.

In 2007, San Francisco banned the use of plastic bags, but still allowed the distribution of paper bags. This resulted in the consumption of 84 million paper bags the year after the ban was passed. Eighty-four million paper bags equates to 72,000 trees felled, 91,2000 pounds of sulphur dioxide emissions, 21.5 million pounds of greenhouse gas, and 40 million gallons of processed waste water from pulp mills. The American Plastics lobby also argues that plastic bags take up significantly less space in city landfills, and that paper bags can take much longer to decompose than thought due to the anaerobic conditions of the landfills. Seattle, in turn has proposed the ban of paper bags in addition to the plastic ban.

A 2002 ban on plastic bag ban in Ireland resulted in a 90% reduction in plastic bag consumption, but also revealed problems with a complete ban. According to Dublin retailers, theft increased with the use of reusable bags as did food-borne illnesses as people did not follow recommendations to wash them regularly. They also saw a large increase in sales of small plastic trash bags as most people reuse plastic shopping bags as liners for small cans.

So what are the alternatives? There are many. Of course, there are the fabric and burlap reusable bags many retailers sell as an alternative to their plastic bags. However, according to French retailer Carrefour, the most environmentally friendly bags are heavy-duty reusable plastic bags. Some advocate biodegradable plastics as an alternative raw material, but they require mass amounts of corn or potatoes for production. Food and livestock feed prices have already increased due to diversion of carbohydrate rich crops for biodiesel and ethanol production. Food price increases affect the poor and working poor much more than those with higher incomes.

Some legislators have suggested a national fee, or tax, on plastic bags which is also regressive towards those with lower incomes. Jim Moran (D-VA) has introduced national legislation that would impose a 5 cent tax on all plastic bags by 2010, increasing to 25 cents by 2015. He claims the tax would divert other costs borne by the public with 1 cent going to the Land and Water Conservation Fund, 1 cent going to state and local trash and watershed programs, and 2 cents applying to the national debt. The other cent would go towards a 1 cent tax credit to participating retailers.

The state of Massachusetts has taken a more centrist approach on the bag problem. Over 500 grocery retailers and the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection have teamed up to cut plastic and paper bag consumption by 1/3 in their state by 2013. Currently, 1.5 billion plastic and paper bags are distributed across the state in grocery stores yearly. Retailers are offering free reusable bags or coupons for them along with money back incentives for customers that use them. Other stores have built in-store plastic depots for recycling. Most importantly, the state has decided to give retailers the choice of how to participate in the program.

It makes more sense to provide a tax incentive for reusable bags and plastic bag recycling. Recycled bags are used to produce other plastic bags, but more importantly they are the main component of fire-retardant building material. These plastic lumber products, like Trex, last the lifetime of a home whereas lumber fencing and decking need to be replaced every 10-20 years, if not sooner. Recycling reduces the plastic going into the waterways and landfills, and is less harmful than paper bag or biodegradable bag production. Most importantly, consumers and retailers are more likely to respond positively to a tax incentive rather than a fee or a ban.

References
Kaste, Martin “Debate Over Plastic Bags Heats Up in Seattle” NPR (2009): http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=111662657. 27 Sep 2009
Eskenazi, Joe “Baggage.” San FranciscoWeekly (2009): www.sfweekly.com/content/printVersion/1297386. 27 Sep.2009
Truini, Joe "Plastic problem." Waste News 10.7 (2004): 1-23. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Oct. 2009.
Johnson, Jim "Paper or plastic?." Waste & Recycling News 14.24 (2009): 22. Business Source Complete. EBSCO. Web. 1 Oct. 2009.
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources “Frequently Asked Questions about Plastic Shopping Bags” (2009) USA.gov.Web. 1 Oct.2009.
Boyle, Katherine “New Bottle Deposit, Bag Tax Bills Touted for Combating Pollution” New York Times (2009) Moran.House.gov. Web. 1 Oct.2009

Back to Work, Slacker

2009-09-22T08:12:00.000-07:00

Back from a hiatus of full-time work weeks and kid time. Right now, it's band before school and sports after school for them, and with my school schedule, I know we won't see eachother much during the week. So I decided to spend the last 3 weeks of of my summer vacation free time to spend with the kids and the Hermit, because I knew my school schedule would make everything even more crazier. Is that a word?

I did successfully get the Hermit to go to Tapper's wedding (which was gorgeous), and then go to a high school football game afterward last weekend. He was kind of in the doghouse, though after making a big deal about traveling to his sister's wedding next spring. Hopefully, he's turned a new leaf over in the socializing world and will stay with us. Okay, so it's not that bad, but the neighbor and I like to give him crap.

I started my Junior year at Western yesterday, only to learn I won't get an A in Ecology. I know, right? Amy with a B in a BioScience? I was so proud of my 4.0's but the professor said he rarely gives A's and I'm not willing to sacrifice all my relationships in my life to maintain a high GPA.

I'm still not sure if night school is the right course of action. I'm going to finish this year at the WWU Everett Extension, but I think I'm going to transfer to main campus in Bellingham next year. The driving time is just 30 minutes more, but I won't be getting home between 9-10 at night after leaving my house at 8 am. I think morning classes and closing at the pharmacy would be better suited for this morning person. I've never really been a night owl. I like my sleep, and I love to get up early and seize the day.

Field work this quarter will be interesting. I'll be closing the store Friday nights, and then getting up SUPER early on Saturdays to catch the 7am ferry in Edmonds. Our site is all the way up near Sequim, and I have to return that night so I can work on Sunday. We have to decide what we're going to study, how we're going to collect data, and then present our conclusions to all 4 Huxley campuses. I'm so used to my science teachers giving us very detailed labs, so this will be really fun.

You can look forward to some controversial posts this quarter, too. I have to write over 20 papers between my two law classes about environmental issues. Next week we begin with Seattle's plastic bag controversy. That's right Greg Nickels prepare for a verbal Smack Down. You've gone about things the WRONG way, but that's what happens when you try to go Green without the help of experts.

Insurance Reform not Healthcare Reform

2009-08-29T18:49:00.000-07:00

How much do you pay for your total healthcare? I've been asking that question to many of our customers, curious if the average American cost I researched for my Economics 201 class was true. Instead of getting numbers, I have been getting sad stories, and scary questions, so I feel it's time to expose my opinion, I've been carefully keeping to myself lately.

I have opinions for and against the nationalized system, and I'm not naive enough to believe that the insurance corporations are not writing this bill via the leftwing in Congress. Growing up near D.C., and having an uncle who was an Economic Lawyer for the Congressional Ways and Means Committee, I learned at an early age that both sides are bought and paid for by corporations. This is why I am a registered Independent.

My dad, a retired pharmacist, has long believed we needed a nationalized healthcare system for decades. I know of many physicians who believe the same, but the problem to change over to this system breaks down to Economics. The biggest question of all should be how do you reimburse all the doctors, pharmacists, nurses, etc. for their HUGE student loans when the government knocks down their reimbursement for services?

First of all, let me get it into the open that I cannot stand the outright lies the rightwing has been scaring people with. If a national healthcare system is socialist and illegal, then we must do away with Medicare. Medicare is simply socialized medicine for retired Americans. Medicare does not pay for everything, like the rightwing likes to claim, and is not deducted from retired Americans' SSI checks. The myth that seniors have paid for Medicare is another falsehood created to make Americans believe that Medicare is not a socialized healthcare system, the deduction from your paycheck goes strictly to Social Security, and Medicare is not deducted from your Social Security.

See, what's going on is that the right wing politicians know that they cannot let the public know that Medicare is a socialist system, because their arguement against a total system would be void. They cannot get rid of Medicare, because they would have the AARP and all of their constituents that hastily had to move in their elderly parents rioting at their doors. But the spin that even Obama's watered down plan is Nazi-esc brings us to the next big question - What is more Nazi, taking care of all the sick and elderly people, or leaving them to die uninsured in their homes?

And if there is an outbreak of a serious disease, what will we do about the people with insurance that do not go to the hospital or doctor because they can't afford their copays? What about all the kids who don't even get well child check-ups, because their parents can't afford the after-insurance bill, but make too much to qualify for the Children's Healthcare Insurance Program?

Which leads me to my next big question - why healthcare reform? If we can't all agree on how it is done, then why not insurance reform? I'm not just refering to health insurance, but home, car and life insurance as well. Does your state require that you have car insurance? Ours does. Does your bank require you have homeowners insurance with your mortgage? Ours does. So if it is all required by law and policy, tell me why they should have unlimited profits.

Insurance was non-profit for decades until it was deregulated little by little through the 70's and 80's. So what are the figures? Let's go to my FAVORITE Economic resource, Executive Paywatch. The CEO of Medco (a pharmaceutical third party payor), David B. Snow made $14 million the last 2 years, while the CEO of Aetna (a health insurer) made $18 million. The CEO of State Farm made $13.66 million last year, and the CEO of MetLife made $22.4 million last year. Anyone else feeling had?

The next problem that needs to be nailed down is the aggressive marketing by Pharmaceutical companies. Whatever happened to doctors deciding you had a condition, and not you? The government banned cigarrette commercials in the 70's and should do the same for pharmaceutical companies. Many cholesterol drugs cause liver damage, but yet most of them are advertised on t.v. How is that not dangerous marketing? Doctors are not allowed to tell their patients they are fat and need to go on a low-fat diet, but are pressured by their patients to give them Lipitor. You can get a coupon for Ambien in Reader's Digest that has all the insurance processing information for a free 7 day supply. If someone forged a prescription and took it to an understaffed Rite Aid, they would get free drugs, and most likely not get caught. Scary?

Let's talk about their CEO's compensation - the CEO of Merck & Co. made $25 million last year, the CEO of Bristol-Meyers Squibb made $24 million, and the CEO of Mylan (a strictly generics producer) made $13 million. I know my doctor didn't even make close to that, and our pharmacists - pocket change compared to these market drug pushers. There are so many things that need fixed in our healthcare system, a hastily passed bill this fall will not even begin to fix. So I have written my Congressmen/women to tell them to stop the easyspeak, and get down to the real healthcare problem.

We paid over $11,000 in insurance premiums (which my employer pays 2/3), copays and your-share/non-covered services last year. How much did you pay?

Crystals, Thundereggs, Fossils and More North Cascade Adventures

2009-08-20T10:08:00.000-07:00

It seems that everytime I start feeling really good, my body throws a wrench in the wheel. I had just gotten back into my running routine when two weeks ago I passed a large kidney stone. A C.T. scan later showed six more in my kidneys which are causing me A LOT of back pain and nausea. The doctor thought I should stay home and wait it out, but that's just not me.

I've been working full time through the pain, and going on walks when I feel good. Last week, I took out some aggression on rocks and geodes as we went rockhounding at Walker Valley in Skagit County. We tried to hike up to a ridge, but between the Youngest's asthma and my back pain, we only made it a mile, then turned around. Next we went to the DNR gravel pit where we sledged, dug, and hammered rocks for hours looking for crystals.

Tay found the best thunderegg, the Hermit found some great smaller intact thundereggs, and I found some jadite, very small thundereggs, a large deposit of sulphur (yuck), and of course fossils. If you ever want to find fossils, just bring me with you. I think I have an internal radar for fossils as I have found them on every rockhounding trip, no matter what we're searching for.

Anyway, here are some great pictures of our trip and our finds...

Sitting in a hole breaking rocks

Still sitting in a hole breaking rocks

Small Geodes

Large Geodes

No kids?! No Fun.

2009-08-10T15:36:00.000-07:00

This was supposed to be a weekend of adventure, that turned into a weekend of sleep. The kids were all scheduled to be at their other BioParent's houses, and it is gold panning season in our local streams. We had planned an over-night trip onto FR 49 to pan the mountain streams. Instead, I had a painful day at work on Friday, that turned into true trauma Friday night.

I had all the symptoms of a kidney stone all day at work, but I really didn't know how much pain I was in for, or I would have driven straight to the ER after work instead of suffering it out med-free at home. But I got through it with yoga breathing mixed with blubbery crying, only to find out on Saturday with a CT scan that there are at least 5 more. In our "greatest healthcare system in the world" it is going to be 2 weeks before I can see a urologist.

In the meantime, I just have to deal with the unrelenting back pain and wait. I've decided to work anyway, because it can be up to 3 weeks before they all make their way through my system, and in the meantime will get some bloodwork done to see if there's an underlying cause. I really think it's because we don't take enough time to drink or take a break in the pharmacy, but we'll see.

So with this downtime, here are some pictures from the last 3 weeks...

Blueberries on the vine

More Blueberries from the backyard

My tomato/cucumber pot

My herb pot - sage, thyme, cilantro and grape tomatoes

It is supposed to be sunny on Sunday, so I'll take some updated pictures.

Weeks of Adventure

2009-08-01T08:35:00.000-07:00

It has been difficult to post lately due to both computer and time issues. I need to take a day to clean up my hard-drive, but who wants to do that when it's warm and sunny outside? I wanted to post a blog about our Sloan Creek picnic and adventure up FR 49, but the blog was blah without the pictures my computer just couldn't upload.

My sister came to visit us from Maryland a week ago, and I kicked her butt on the Boulder Creek hike, and spent a day on the Pilchuck River with our mom and step-dad. But once again, the computer wouldn't cooperate when it came time to upload the pictures. In fact, today is the first day this week I've had to sit down and start my day slowly. The kids were in the SnoCo Parks Totally Tech camp last week, but the north Everett shuttle was canceled, so we've been driving to McCollum Park in Mill Creek every day this week. They made some cool animated movies and wrote a couple of video games (along with swimming and kayaking).

On Wednesday, we drove up Segelsen Ridge behind us (behind Mt. Higgins), determined to find Higgins Creek. On our way up, I spotted a wild fire on the Southeast ridge of Mt. Higgins and called it in. We've had 4 lightning storms in the last week, and on Thursday had 11 fires in the Darrington area. The fires on Higgins and Jumbo are out, but Gold Mountain and Whitehorse Ridge are still burning, and I'm not sure where the other fires are located.

We found really large fossils at a shale slide on Segelsen Ridge that day, and stopped within a mile of the crystal site we were headed for. The Hermit didn't trust my map skills and didn't want to go down the Forest Road I told him to turn on, so we ended up picking through some dry creekbeds and finding some sparkly sandstone rocks. When we got home, I showed him my map and compared it to his gemstone map, and he was really bummed he didn't listen to me.

So today, I have to go back up the scary road and this time go all the way to Higgins Creek. Actually there are some spectacular views of the river valley and the surrounding peaks, including Whitehorse, and the road is only scary on Segelsen Pass, but scary it is! I have no problem with heights when I'm walking or biking, but on a horse or in a car, it really freaks me out. Lake Cavanaugh Road has nothing on these cliffs. I felt like I was on the Highway of Death in Peru, okay maybe not that bad, but let's just say I had some anxiety issues.

So I'm going to attempt to upload a few pictures for you, and we'll see how it goes:

Mt. Higgins fire 7/29/09

Top of Round Mountain taken from Segelsen Ridge

View of Whitehorse from Segelsen Ridge

What do you know? It worked! I will post pics of the rest of our adventures later.

Restless Life Goes On

2009-07-14T09:44:00.000-07:00

I cannot believe how tired I am today. Lately, it seems that work is wiping me out. Nothing too drastic has changed at work, but everyone else seems to have stuff going on, and I've been left by myself several times in the last weeks to run the show. Ten years ago, that was no problem, but now, my knee and my back are screaming for me to take it easy. It's to the point now where I can't keep up with my housework, because I'm recovering from work. I feel too young to feel like this, but I don't even feel like exercising anymore, because I'm absolutely wiped out. Hmmm...what's up with that?!

I did finally finish my urban garden on Sunday, which gives me encouragement for the future career. I will load pictures later, when everything grows a little larger. Due to a mapping error by our house builder, we have to move the old garden to another part of the yard, so it doesn't affect our drain field anymore (I know, gross). But before I can do that, the Hermit needs to remove about 10 stumps, and that won't happen until next February, as long as there's not feet of snow like this past winter. We were planning on moving it this year, but Mamma Nature had other plans, so I had to improvise.

I've got several large pots going, a couple of planters, and 3 beefsteak tomatoes in their own pots. Of course, there's not peas or corn this year, but all of the fruits that we planted 6 years ago, have finally grown large enough for big harvests, so to me, that makes up for a lack of a plot. I've been having a great time making jam and syrup from my strawberries, gorged on tons of cherries, just harvested some raspberries for ?? this week, and in a few weeks we'll have thousands of blueberries. The blueberries will be our largest harvest this year, but I think I will still miss my corn and sunflowers. Pictures soon, I promise.

Jesus Says Pollute? Really?!

2009-07-07T07:02:00.000-07:00

Once upon a time, a young Italian navigator was forced to go to the Inquisition Queen and King in Spain for funding to prove the Earth was round, because he was ostracized from Italy by the Catholic Church. Does this story sound familiar? Since I start my Junior Year in September, and I am down to zero reading material, I've decided to really concentrate on reading Climate Change and Green Engineering articles and studies. Boring, I know, but it must be done.

What do these two things have to do with eachother? Well, I am saddened by the comments on some of these online articles from "Christians" who have been convinced that Climate Change is nothing but a ploy to give liberals money. Despite 99.9% of all scientists and science studies showing that Climate Change is natural, but being exponentially increased by human activities, they call it "junk science." They proudly boast at how they purposely waste fuel, paper and other resources and they actually think it's funny.

The church seems to have cyclic activities in Science - healthily promoting it some centuries, and lying and killing to dispose of it in others. Some of the greatest Biologic findings were from monks like Mendel, and healthcare and sanitization were spurred into modernization from church organizations like the Red Cross. But, I'm afraid we are stuck in an era of church hindering Science once again.

The modern church preaches against condoms and birth control, and yet we have an AIDS epidemic and famines in over-populated third world nations where the churches control information through their missionaries. As things warm up and dry up, these famines will become worse, and increase in size. The Pacific front of WWII was basically fought over oil, and some say the Middle East wars were too. What will humans resort to when fighting over water?

Are these "Christians" really that selfish that they are willing to risk the quality of life of their children and grandchildren, so they don't have to change a thing? Perhaps they are just ignorant to the facts. I guarantee that if Jesus was on Earth today he would not be saying, "pump the oil at all costs and drive, drive, drive. Rape the Earth and pillage the rest of the resources while you're at it, and reclassify the toxic waste as toxic fill so you can pollute as much as you want." Really, is that what people think Jesus would do, or would he be appalled by the way humans have treated the only Earth they have?

I'm not sure what happens to us after we die, but I'm sure that I don't want to leave a toxic planet for future generations. I have found some churches that are preaching climate change, but they are few and far between, and they certainly are not standing up to their bully-pulpit brethren. Nor are they getting the publicity they deserve. One only has to look to the ice cores taken from the poles to see how the atmosphere changes the climate - what have you pumped into it today?

Nasty Boys

2009-06-29T08:11:00.000-07:00

I had the best dream last night. With all the celebrity deaths last week, being nostalgic is understandable, but even my iPod seems to be in nostalgia mode. I washed my car Saturday to the tunes of Bon Jovi, GNR, Bob Marley and Eric Clapton. Not one modern song played, it was wierd, but cool.

Anyway, I was a kid again, in my parents old house in Maryland. Since someone was watching something lame on the only t.v. I was up in my room rocking out to Janet Jackson's Nasty Boys. Then, somehow I knew my BFF Joi was there to pick me up, so I went downstairs and we went to the beach with an unknown driver. After swimming and boogie boarding, we went up to buy an ice cream bar from the Good Humor guy. When we got our ice cream the guy gave us piles of mini Hershey bars, too, and when we opened the wrappers, there was even more candy wrapped up with the ice cream. Then I woke up - is that an awesome dream or what?! If I were to analyze it, I'd say it's time to call Joi and say whaddup.

I mentioned that I washed my car on Saturday, but I also detailed it. The hubby was in the doghouse after canceling our date, because he didn't feel like going into town, and I didn't feel like laying around the house with him. So I had some long island ice teas with the neighbor gals, and after playing Desperate Housewives for a while, I got off my pity party and made the Hybrid shine inside and out. So we decided that from here on out, the hubby will now be known as the Hermit. In fact, all the guys in the neighborhood got a name that day, but I think the Hermit fits so well, I'm keeping it. Ha ha - shouldn't act that old before you're 40!

Sadness and Quiet

2009-06-26T07:58:00.000-07:00

Wow, I actually feel like I'm in mourning. My favorite Angel and Michael Jackson passed away on the same day! I know many of my friends in PNW aren't as sad about Michael Jackson, but where I grew up, he was just part of our lives.

I remember double dutching on the playground at Beaver Run to the Thriller album, and talking my mom into buying Bad for several of my black friends who couldn't afford it at North Salisbury. I even remember dancing to Off the Wall with my big sister at her first place when I was really little, and watching re-runs of the Jackson 5 cartoon. He became easy to laugh at when he was older, but I think his life story is so sad.

Farrah's story actually hits harder home to me, though. It didn't really bother me when my grandpa got a colonostomy, I thought it was something that happened to old people. Then I got really sick in 2003. I couldn't keep much food down, and I lost 17 pounds in 3 weeks. They ended up removing a good-sized polyp from my colon that was pre-cancerous, and I realized it could happen to anyone.

I was lucky my body reacted, Farrah had no symptoms, and her cancer was found at a routine screening. I had a hard time watching recent clips of her, because she was so beautiful and healthy, and was wasting away from colorectal cancer. You have no idea how painful your colon can become until it happens. I'm glad she's not in pain anymore.

Since I've been back in the "real world" of working full time, I've found my downtime quite boring. It was fine when it was sunny, I could go for a hike or run, but it's been typical PNW rainy lately here in the mountains. I have been able to get into a reality show on the History Channel that's based on Stanley's expedition to find Dr. Livingstone in Africa. It's called Expedition Africa: Out of the Wild, and it's on every Sunday evening.

I couldn't decide what to read in my free time this summer, but the show has inspired me to read some expedition journals. I realize that Stanley wasn't the nicest guy, beating his porters into carrying equipment with full-blown malaria, but after reading Howard Zinn, many great men have lost morality ground in my book. I've read Darwin a few times, but his journals lack excitement as he was more into taking detailed notes, after all, he was on to something.

So I'm going to read some expedition journals, and some adventure books recommended by one of my nieces. She's got great taste in music and literature, and I know she won't recommend a lame kids' book like Harry Snothead, I mean Potter. I do believe a trip to the library is in order tomorrow. We have an empty nest until Sunday, so I might as well enjoy the peace and quiet before the drums start up again. The youngest asked for money for his birthday, and bought a drumset. Here comes my trumpet karma.

Getting on Track

2009-06-19T06:19:00.000-07:00

After a reality check of working full time in the pharmacy again, I was able to catch up on just about everything on my day off yesterday. I've been frustrated the last few weeks, trying to find an internship with one of the federal/state/county ecology agencies only to find out all of these new green collar jobs that Obama said the stimulus would create are not out there.

I'm also pretty upset that they are trying to put together a half-ass public healthcare plan written by the insurance company lobbyists. What we really need in this country is insurance reform - what other line of business can take your money (and a lot of money it is) for a just-in-case scenario, make a profit, trade on the stock market, and then refuse to pay-out when you need a claim paid? It's legalized theft is what it is, and the government it creating another cash cow for them.

But back to the job hunt... I cracked down on myself last night, after catching up on the dishes, laundry, vacuuming, etc. I took my employment resume and tweaked it into a student resume, so I could flaunt my newly acquired skills. Then I had an epiphony... what if the private sector has reacted faster than the public sector in applying for stimulus money, and do they have jobs available? Bingo!

I'm making a stop at Office Max this weekend to buy some thick, professional resume paper, and then swinging by the post office to buy a sheet of stamps. My resume will be scattered across King, Snohomish and Whatcom counties, and hopefully something will come of it. I've usually had great luck at the job hunt, mostly because I think I am more sure of myself than I should be, and my resumes always come across, crisp, clean and to the point. But hey, isn't finding a job nothing more than selling yourself?

It would be great if I could find something full time with benefits, but I'm not getting my hopes up. I've got no problem working in the pharmacy for as long as I need to, even if they don't want to treat me with respect. When your scheduler tells you that you can't have your mother-in-law's 60th birthday off because (and I quote word-for-word), "it's a Friday and she just needs to understand that people have to work on Fridays," you really begin to wonder where your own personal loyalties lie.

And yet, the same people get that three day weekend off, and I'm left being the weekend serf once again, despite all the weekends I've worked, and nights I've closed. So much for a "family oriented" company - guess I made friends with the wrong people. I've always said that you can catch more flies with honey than vinegar, but sweet things turn sour over time if you don't take care of them.

Unwinding

2009-06-10T07:59:00.000-07:00

Last night and today feel very strange to me. I finished up my final in Physical Geography and turned in my final Engineering project (the windmill got a perfect score thank-you-very-much), and I think I'm very close to a 4.0. So now I have an Associates Degree in Environmental Science, and I feel like I'm tightly wedged half way between a crevice. It's weird, I have nothing to read, and didn't know what to do with myself last night after the laundry was folded.

Really, I know I should be more proud and excited, but with the economy in the toilet, there are few internships in the field this summer, and I feel held back by working so much in the pharmacy. Agencies don't want to hire me, because I can't commit to a regular schedule with the pharmacy schedule being different every week. I'm crossing my fingers for Universal Health Care soon, and will decide what path to take from there.

In other news, Snohomish County is planning a Sustainability Fair, and I'm hoping to get involved in that soon. I have a friend that works for the city of Everett, and I'm trying to get my foot back in the door. It was so tempting not to apply for a SnoCo Park Ranger Assistant job this summer, but we need benefits, and that job is seasonal. Hopefully something will pan out soon - it usually does.

Enjoy another day in the sun in PNW - day 22 without rain! I heard a rumor of El Nino, which would mean drought up here :( I feel guilty watering the strawberries, but they will be tiny if we don't get rain soon. I think we'll get a first harvest in about 10 days! Yummy!

Kids, Beach and Sun – Green Trip

2009-05-28T10:21:00.001-07:00

I had a lot of people asking me about the retreat I went on with the kids last week, so I decided to post my write-up that I submitted for extra-credit in Geosystems, and that I'll be sending to the Whitehorse News (our local paper). Enjoy!

Darrington 6^th Grade Ecology Retreat

The WSU stewards had the Darrington 6^th graders busy upon their arrival at Cama Beach on Thursday, May 21. The theme of the day was Cama Beach Survivor, and the kids began their journey by backpacking their bags and gear a half mile to the camp. Lunch was served quickly, and a get-to-know-you game was played so the kids could become familiar with the chaperones, park employees, and WSU/EdCC stewards.

We immediately set out to the beach to learn beach etiquette and to learn what kinds of flora and fauna were in the different tidal areas, and what the kids could survive on. They learned what different kinds of marine life there were and where they could find them, and were even taught about Pacific Shellfish Paralytic Syndrome. My group walked far up the beach, and ran across a creek feeding into the sound. With some coaching from Ms. Lester and me, the girls decided this was where they would build their virtual shelter.

After beach combing, we were directed into the Center for Wooden Boats where the kids learned the different kinds of wooden boats they could build without power tools. They explored hand-made dingies, kayaks and cedar canoes. We also watched the boat builders work for a while.

Next we hiked back up the hill into the forest area of the park with Franny from the Stilly Tribe, and Mike, a WSU forester. The kids learned about different kinds of forest disturbances, which the "Loggers" were quite familiar with, and the progression of reforestation. They cored a Douglas fir that was over 80 years old, and were taught the difference between shade intolerant and shade tolerant trees, and how they progressively grow as the forest grows. We continued hiking a forest trail as Franny went over the underbrush. She showed the kids what was edible, and what was poisonous, and later at camp made teas and jellies from local flora for us to sample.
While the kids were waiting for dinner, they assembled into their cabin teams to play Cama Beach Survivor with the new knowledge they had from the day's activities. They were allowed 5 questions for the "experts" and our girls eventually tied for 3^rd, defeated only by two groups of boys that were avid hunters. The day wound down with dinner and free time and smores around the campfire and beach. Many of the kids had never been to the beach before, and most had never seen a sunset over the beach. They were mesmerized, and broke out the cameras and cell phones to take pictures.

Examining a shell full of muscles

Searching the intertidal zone

Coring a Douglas Fir

Kayak building without power tools

Survivor Camas Island team presentations

Sunset at the beach

The next morning after an early breakfast, we were split into two large groups for alternating projects. I was glad our group got to go low-tide beach collecting first, because it was the actual time for the lowest tide of the day. The kids had ten minutes to explore the high and intertidal zones of the beach and carefully remove live specimens to the WSU Beach Watchers who had tanks waiting. After ten minutes, the whistle blew and the kids ran down to the low tidal zone and standing tidal pools.

The kids carefully removed moon snails, gooey ducks, ludibrae and their slimy eggs, herring eggs (which were not removed), scallops, welchs, polychites, sea stars, anemones and sea urchins along with a special ice cream cone worm find. After the collection, the WSU Beach Watchers gave a lesson on all the specimins the kids found, and how they specifically fit into the ecosystem at Cama Beach.

After a quick hand washing and snack break, the groups switched places and our group hiked up the hill into the forest with Head Ranger Teri. We were given a brief history of the State's development of the terraced parking lots along the hill. When they were made, the land was completely cleared, and a large amount of dirt was removed. The state contracted landscapers to "reforest" the areas between the lots. The landscapers used native trees, but tied them to cedar stakes using large, black plastic zip ties that were about an inch wide.

Many of the trees had begun growing bark around the plastic ties, and so we were given the mission to save those juvenile pines, cedars and maples. Each group was given a pair of clippers and set out up the hill which contained 6 terraced lots. I was happy I had a pair of work gloves in my pack, because many of the trees we found were behind nettles and black berries, and were in trouble despite the plastic ties. All-in-all our 6 person group saved 5 trees.

We had a long lunch when we arrived back at camp, and closed the retreat with a circle of trust that we had to link to the circle of the beach and hill's ecosystem. The kids each had a favorite part of the weekend, and they all said they had a great time. This retreat was the conclusion of a year-long program sponsored by WSU and its affiliates, that linked all of their previous lessons and activities.

Careful collection of a star fish

Observing one tank of low tidal creatures

A lesson from WSU Beach Watchers

Ranger Teri gives us our mission

I saved the 4^th tree

The end of the mission

Final Lap - Losing Steam

2009-05-18T07:28:00.000-07:00

Life has been full of work lately, as there is no rest for this weary soul until June. I actually have to try and get ahead in my homework, as I've committed myself to the Darrington 6th grade Ecology Retreat. We are leaving Thursday morning and returning Friday afternoon with 2 days full of forestry, beach cleaning and wetland studies on Camano Island. This time, as a volunteer, I get to sleep in a bed, and not on the floor.

The kids all have projects due at the same time in two weeks, right during dead week. This should be interesting. We have found some cool things while researching Tay's family tree project. My great-grandparents from Seattle were major developers during the turn of the 20th century. I had no idea how many neighborhoods, apartment buildings and hotels they built, that are still around. I'll post more about it when we get it all compiled.

I just saw a story on a 66 year old that it due to give birth in a month. You have to ask yourself, how many of these older women having babies are just looking for someone to take care of them when they start falling apart. What a life for a teenager - wiping your parent's nether-regions, constantly running them to doctor's and physical therapy appointments, and staying home everynight in case they fall. It was bad enough being a teenager while you mom's in full menopause. Seriously - grandmas - don't have babies.

What a Face to Wake Up To

2009-05-11T06:44:00.001-07:00

Shame on CBS for polluting my Mother's Day morning with Dick Cheney of all people. The Republicans can't understand why they are a dying party? Here's a hint: stop letting Darth Vader go on television to tell boogeyman stories of people with different religions from different parts of the world. He actually said he would rather have a hate-mongering, drug-addict speak for the party, a.k.a. Rush (OxyContin) Limbaugh than a war-proven general, Colin Powell. Lions for Lambs anyone?

I saw a newspiece on the Saudi Arabian plan for Guantanamo prisoners that return to their country on CBS none-the-less last week. They try to assimilate them into the Western society as quickly as possible by buying them a car, a house, and providing them with a job. So far, they have a 90% success rate. These men actually realize that they were duped by a fanatical side of their religion. Let's let the experts - the military - run this now, and leave the Lambs out of it.

The Republicans will not have their party grow until they become inclusionary and not exclusionary. Listen to kids like Megan McCain, and you might grow again. More on that later...

Had a great Mom's Day despite working. Tay won her game on Saturday, and we hiked the new trail with the dogs after the kids split for their friend's houses. The hubby made me a great dinner, right down to the Almond - Soy Asian salad. Now it's back to crunch time.

Hybrid Perks - Fords Rock

2009-05-08T06:35:00.000-07:00

I got the dirtiest look from a Prius owner yesterday when I pulled up next to her in the school parking lot. One of the awesome perks of having a Hybrid is that there are 10 parking spots reserved just for Hybrids now so I don't have to huff it up the hill anymore. As I got out of my car, she rolled down her window and said, "You know, these spots are only for Hybrids."

Since I'm such a smart-ass at heart, I replied, "You know, to graduate from college, you have to know how to read." Then I pointed down to my car door where it says Hybrid. In fact, it's on both doors and the tailgate. Then I looked around and realized the Escape looked huge - it was surrounded by Priuses and Hybric Civics.

I'm still totally loving this car, even though I once swore I would never drive a Ford. It's been a great commuter for the last 2 years, and the year we bought it, we got an awesome tax deduction, in fact it was equal to the child tax credit. That was under the Bush administration, and now, the Obama administration is giving an even bigger tax cut to Hybrid buyers.

If you're thinking about buying one in the future, I really recommend the Ford line of Hybrids. The Escape Hybrid is the most reliable car I've ever owned, and I really like the new Focus Hybrid. Not only are you helping the environment by reducing your carbon footprint, but you are supporting and American company and American workers when you buy a Ford Hybrid.

What's my favorite perk you ask? Well that would be coffee. Haha.

Missing: Small, Green and Cute

2009-05-01T07:37:00.001-07:00

I feel like I'm missing out on a lot lately, because of school and work. My employer has been more than kind scheduling around my school schedule and T's Saturday volleyball games, but there are so many things I can't attend. I haven't been able to do any Darrington Improvement Club projects this year, I'm missing a Green Day concert because of MIL's 60^th b-day, also missing ACDC because of a pre-planned family vacation, and what hurts the most? I'm missing Northwest Frog Fest this Saturday.

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I have always loved frogs, and always will. Northwest Frog Fest features frogs from around the world, and even has non-poisonous dart frogs to handle. Do you know how long I've always wanted to hold a little dart frog? They are so cute!

Many people are unaware of it, but we are witnessing a mass extinction of amphibians around the world. In the last decade, we've lost hundreds of species to extinction. What's killing them? Well, it is an amphibian fungus much like the bee fungus, but it is brought on by human development. Worldwide, streams are being tapped for human water consumption, and construction run-off is also clogging ponds and streams, encouraging the growth of the fungi spores.

I hate to say it, but I don't think this is reversible, and I really think I will see the extinction of my favorite animal in my lifetime. So love your frogs while you have them.

Speaking of extinction, I think the trees have it out for me. I'm on every allergy and asthma medicine possible, and still I'm sick. It's one of those days where if I didn't have kids that need stuff all the time, I'd take a few sick days off. But, unfortunately I can't. I really can't wait to see how many customers avoid me because of the swine flu. I swear it's allergies people – I've been feeling bad for weeks.

I really hope they get a handle on the swine flu, though. We've had so many midnight trips to the ER because of the youngest's asthma, it would be devastating to him if he got a flu like this one. But really, what can you do? It's a virus. My great-uncle died when he was just 15 from the Spanish flu in 1918, and he was completely healthy. It's crazy how the smallest living organisms on Earth are the most devastating to the most advanced living organisms on Earth.

All I have to say is wash your hands people. And for dog's sake – DON'T COUGH ON YOUR PRESCRIPTION BEFORE YOU HAND IT IN! GROSS!

A Bottle of Chateau St. Michelle, for the Earth of Course

2009-04-21T11:13:00.000-07:00

As you all celebrate Earth Day tomorrow, as I'm sure you all are, take a minute to think about what you are eating and drinking. May's National Geographic has an amazing chart regarding your carbon footprint as related to a purchase of a bottle of wine, and it really got me to take a moment to reflect about my diet.

Think about it. If truck emissions are much greater than container ship emissions, then when a Seattlite (is that how y'all spell it?) buys a bottle of French wine, the shipment of a single bottle of wine from France to Seattle puts out 3.0 pounds of carbon emissions. This accounts for the shipment into the Great Lakes and the drive from Chicago to Seattle. An even bigger footprint of 4.4 pounds is placed on a shipment of Napa Valley wine to New York, since there is no ship involved, just trucking.

You can take that knowledge and apply it to all of your food and beverage. The farther it is trucked to your table, the larger your footprint of your meal or cocktail. I heard another very unpopular theory today from a climatologist that says that the larger you are, the greater the carbon footprint you make. He directly linked Western obesity to global warming, not only from the shipping aspect, but from the impact of grazing and corporate farming. It's a very interesting theory if you think about it, and a great reason to go on a diet if you care about the Earth.

I hope everyone finds a way to celebrate Earth Day tomorrow! As promised, here are the photos from the Rosario Beach Marine Lab and of the new baby!

This is Rowan Z - my first great-nephew

This is every man and teenage boy in my class on children's playground equipment, and the professor yelling at the minors to get off.

Deception Pass

Duh! My most favorite sign ever.

Here is the beach at the marine laboratory - my favorite picture from the weekend.

Life at the Beach and Babies

2009-04-20T08:29:00.001-07:00

Today is the first day back to my "real job" in a week. Despite all the work and activities I did last week, it was a rewarding and relaxing vacation. On Wednesday, we dropped off a huge food donation to the Darrington Family Resource Center, and could not believe the reception we received. I can't stress enough how much local food banks and resource centers need donations right now. Please, if you have anything to give, they could really use it.

On Friday, I left my family to spend the weekend at the Rosario Beach Marine Laboratory on Whidbey Island with my Physical Geography class. We visited many West Whidbey beaches, tracking with GPS, and measuring the tides. The info was compiled into ArcGIS and layed over a UW Ocean Topography map, a 1970 USGS map, and a 1914 US Survey map. Later this week, we will compare our tidal information with the maps, and explain the differences in the energy of the individual beaches. In a few weeks we will use the same technology to compare the current glacier on Whitehorse with data from the 1970 USGS mapping.

Our class was given a good weekend to bond, and it was funny how during free time, the age groups split up. We five girls in the class also got to know each other really well, and it was nice to be able to discuss family, work and school issues with other women who know exactly how I feel. Our teams also got some good teamwork time in, since each team was responsible for at least one meal and cleaning in the huge industrial kitchen and common building. I got to make hash browns over a huge flat grill, a restaurant experienced I missed by working for the Parks Department after high school instead of McDonald's. I also got to say, "five minutes chef," and really mean it J! Being one of the drivers for the class, I got to teach 3 guys 19-22, the history of the rock and roll we were rockin' out to. It was so funny how many questions they asked about music, while we were riding around from beach to beach.

I finished off my weekend watching Marley and Me, and made the hubby watch it, too. I cried just as much as I did with the book. I realized that despite being a dog person, that my Marley is my Lynx Siamese, Fokker. I have never bonded that much with a cat before, but he is such a smart, loyal and trustful kitty, it will be so hard to let him go when it's time. The hubby agreed, the cat will be our tear jerker. I think it's because we decided not to have any kids together, and really treat him like our little baby.

Because of the field work this weekend, I didn't get much sleep. It really was so nice to sleep in my own bed last night, and not on the floor of a cabin in a sleeping bag. I'm still really tired, though, and have to start my workweek already exhausted. I really hope I can hold my temper with the OxyMorons and VicoHeads today.

And the best news of all from last week? I'm a Great Auntie! Welcome to the world Rowan Z! Congratulations Cate and Z – I wish I could be there to celebrate with you and meet him.

I'll post some pictures this week from the beaches and of the baby.

This is a Vacation?

2009-04-11T08:14:00.000-07:00

So a month ago, the hubby asked me to take a four day vacation from work this week for a trip to Spokane. A week ago, he changed his mind. Now I'm at home, "on vacation" and so far, it has been a trip of its own.

Thursday was a crazy day of not enough computer lab time for the class work given in both of my classes. So yesterday, I had to stay after my Geosystems class to finish my ArcGIS Map lab and finish Tuesday's CAD homework. In the middle of my last CAD model, I get a phone call from Tay saying the youngest had called the cops on her while they were home alone, because they were fighting over her new phone. This was the absolute last straw as they had been fighting constantly since she got the phone for her birthday last week.

Luckilly, we live in a small town, and the sheriff balled him out for calling over a sibling fight. He also proceeded to tell him a story about how his sister had broke his nose when they were kids. I will have to drop off some Kettle Chips at the Public Safety Center this week as an apology from us. As for the kids, knowing my daughter probably instigated whatever he did to her phone (as she finally admitted later), we grounded both of them for two weeks. She also lost her brand new phone for a month, and the youngest lost his GoPhone for a month. Bummer Dude, but that's how I play.

I also got some sad news from the local news yesterday that Joe's is going out of business. Does anyone else know how hard it is to find Lady Carharts for women under 5 foot 10?! Not every chic that works outside looks like Brunhilda. Joe's had so many sizes of women's outdoor clothing for work and play, and they offered them at decent prices. Now I'm stuck with trying to find a small size of ugly work clothes at the Co-op, or over-paying exhorbantly at R.E.I., Cabella's or Eddie Bauer.

My 50 Daffodils I planted last fall are all finally blooming today, but it's pouring down rain, and not a good photo opportunity. I'm hoping we get some sunbreaks soon, so I can get a good shot for my Sustainable Design portfolio. For those of you on the East Coast, sunbreaks are Pacific Northwest speak for, "look, the sun came out of the rain clouds for 5 minutes! Quick everyone outside!"

Here's to a better ending for my vacation.

I Hate Tugboats and Other Random Rants

2009-04-09T17:34:00.001-07:00

Vent #1 - I hate tugboats. I don't care how cute they make them on Thomas the Tank Engine, I've hated them since I was a kid. The drivers are pricks. I understand they have a large load of logs (or trash depending on which coast you're on), and little boats need to get out of the way. But there is no need for the excess waking - planing up and down as they pass by with a smile, but never looking directly at you. We only got water in our crew boats and sculls when tugboats went by, and currently, is it really necessary to bring a load of logs into Steamboat Slough of all places during rush hour?

Vent #2 - Steamboat Slough (a.k.a. Meth Harbor) - clean it up Marysville! Gross!

Vent #3 - Intro to a computer class without getting computer lab time. It's called Intro to CAD, not intro to how to read coordinates and picture things in your head. I thought we were supposed to be past all that, so we could learn the computer program. So far, we've had about an hour of lab time from 12 hours of class time. My homework is now late, because I am teaching myself how to use CAD. Most of these guys already work at Boeing or are ex-Bayliner, and can use the program, but can't do the math. Argh!

Vent #4 - No I will not Twitter or Tweet. To the few of you who have asked me to, it sounds like something a very happy, gay man would do. I'm sure I will have to eventually do it for school purposes, but until then, I will not Facebook or Twitter until I have to. And I really don't care what everyone is doing at every moment in time, unless I am working with them. And if I do - hey, I'll call you. It really isn't that bad waiting to watch the news or read the paper, either. Call me old fashioned, but I don't have that kind of time, people.

And Vent #5 - Obama needs to stop being a media whore and lock some people in the Oval Office until they can fill their open positions, and get some plans in writing. You can only talk about these things for so long, until people get frustrated. I don't want to see a surprise tax pop up in a few years to pay for everything, just be honest and hit us with it now.

Aaahhh. Much better. Now I can go water some plants and do some yoga.

Refuge From the Mean Public

2009-04-02T11:28:00.000-07:00

It's really weird, but I feel like I have found a refuge from work at school this week. Not that pharmacy workers regularly need a refuge, but we had one of the worst Mondays in a very long time. Mondays are tough enough with the high volume of prescriptions, but we just seemed to have problem after problem on top of our regular Monday. Not only did it seem as if every customer that got a regular narcotic prescription was calling hourly to see if their doctor had returned our fax, but the military's insurance computers were down, and so we couldn't bill anything for them. Then Kusler's called several times for several transfers and asked us to fax them, only to find out that their fax machine wasn't working after they called and rudely complained about us not sending them. Note it was no fault of ours, but two of their technicians were beeahtches about the whole matter.

Then to top off my Monday, I got chewed out by one of our pharmacists because an acquaintance of mine transferred a prescription out of state to a pharmacy that didn't know sh** from shinola, as my grandpa would have said. That pharmacy didn't even understand what she wanted filled, but yet she called my boss and, as he put it, condescendingly bitched him out for the other pharmacy's incompetancy. And finally to conclude the problem festival, we ended the night with a 20 prescription list from a patient that called them in 30 minutes before closing, when we only have two pharmacy staff members working. This customer is on disability and doesn't work, so it's not like she didn't have all day to call them in when we can actually handle that volume of a request.

I was so happy to look at the schedule yesterday to find myself in the nursing home packaging pharmacy, because there's limited contact with the public. However, about 2 hours into my workday, the out-patient pharmacy's printer shredded a paper inside of it during a paper jam. They called the IT people, and scheduled an expensive maitenance call for today, but they were using my printer way too much, and so I helped them fix theirs. These engineering classes are coming in handy. I actually took that sucker apart, cleaned it out, and put it back together. Of course that took 45 minutes out of my day. Just 3 more years, just 3 more years.

This morning I got to play with GIS maps and started a zoning and planning project. I really like GIS and I'm so glad I found my niche. After 1 week of this GIS/Geosystems class, I'm no longer afraid of making bad planning decisions, because the technology is just so much better than 14 years ago when I first attempted this degree. It will be really cool to expand the knowlege into my WWU classes next year. I'm so glad it's a school day today, did I say that already?

Doggy Diabetes? No, It's Cushing's.

2009-03-28T08:40:00.000-07:00

I once swore I would never prepare special food for an animal, no matter what. Now here I am preparing hamburger and white rice twice a day for the little dog, because my husband doesn't understand what's wrong with the dog. We took him to the vet on Thursday, because he was lethargic, drinking excessively and had started breaking housetraining. I knew something was really wrong, because for a good year now, he didn't want to play much and he had been putting on so much weight. The vet called me yesterday with a diagnosis of Cushing's Disease which is an excess production of the stress regulating hormones ACTH and Cortisol.

I understood 95% of what he tested for and the results found, so when I got home, I pulled out the old faithful, gargantuan Biology book and found out it can be caused by one of two things. The most common cause is a pituitary tumor that doesn't respond to excess cortisol in the endocrine system, so production of ACTH in the pituitary doesn't stop. The excess ACTH causes even more cortisol to be produced by the adrenal glands. The other cause could be an adrenal gland or kidney tumor that is causing excess production of cortisol that doesn't respond to ACTH levels in the endocrine system. In layman's terms, the biological feedback loop that regulates stress hormones in the body is damaged by a tumor, and so the dog's body thinks it needs to respond with excess fat storage in the abdomen, and unsatiable hunger and thirst.

Then I went on to the WSU Veterinary School website to see the treatment and prognosis of canine Cushing's, and to be frank, treated or untreated lifespan is the same. Untreated, he will eventually get pancreatitis, diabetes, seizures, congestive heart failure and kidney and liver failure. The treatment improves quality of life, but does not prolong lifespan. By the time the disease has progressed to the point where most dog owners notice something is wrong, their immune systems are already shot, and most dogs that actually respond to treatment, end up eventually dying of a quickly progressive form of the disease once the medication stops working.

We guess he's had it for about 3 years, if not more. The early signs were desperate guarding of food, garbage raiding, gradual lethargy, a potbelly and lumpy, calcified fat deposits on the torso. He's had those symptoms for a few years now, and we just attributed them to his age and stress before he came to live with us. He's not really our dog, so we agreed no lifelong medicine or surgery, but the hubby thinks he'll be okay living in the garage and can eventually go back on dogfood and stay inside. Since the dog is in the later stages of Cushing's, this is not going to happen. I am going to have to keep preparing his food, his bowel control is only going to get worse, and I listed the eventual progress of the disease above.

The dog's feelings are already hurt now that he's been banished to the garage at night and when we're gone. I say get him a giant cheeseburger meal, take him to play what ball he wants to play, and let the morphine take him into doggie dreamland. My mom made my sister's dog live outside after it lost its control, and the poor little thing shiverred through the whole winter. It was blind, had no bowel control and was obviously in pain, and banished to the yard. I can't imagine what the dog must have been thinking after living inside for sixteen years. I don't think I'm being the cruel one here, but if we're not going to treat him, how is that not cruel? I'm in a real dilemna.

Amazing Pictures from Earth and My Front Yard

2009-03-24T08:30:00.001-07:00

If you haven't seen the video of the underwater volcano erupting near Tonga, you really need to check it out. I'm excited to start my Physical Geography class with two volcanic eruptions occuring. NatGeo also has pictures of Mt. Redoubt in Alaska which is also erupting, although it's not quite as spectacular as the underwater eruption. Some local fishermen in Tonga are now saying that they can see a small amount of land forming on the water. If that's true, then that makes it even cooler!

Here is some color for this so far dreary PNW spring...

Mini Irises

Pink Primroses ala amphibians

A perfect Welcome pot for Spring

Life in my Yard

2009-03-22T14:46:00.000-07:00

A quick green blurb for Northwest residents. Costco now stocks flash frozen Organic whole green beans that are grown and packaged in Washington. You can steam them, sautee them or throw them in your green bean dishes, and it's no different than fresh beans. Did I mention they're organic and locally grown? I'm not sure if they stock them nationwide, but the brand is ByeBee Foods Organic.

Since there is a lack of garden to plant my early peas, lettuce and carrots, I decided to buy a flat of primroses for the front pots and back yard flower bed. I think I will throw some fertilizer on the existing primroses in the yard, too. They are blooming, but their leaves aren't big and showy. I think they are hungry.

Today, we're also going down to our wetland and woods for the first time since the snow to see how much we have to clean up after all the storms. I need to make sure the frogs have a flowing waterway so they can eat some skeeters this summer.

Happy planting everyone!

Library Nonsense and a New Trail

2009-03-19T13:56:00.000-07:00

Today, I took a journey the M'ville branch of the SnoCo library to return some books and use their WiFi. I fixed the Robot Rodeo video on YouTube and added the Sumo Bot video, by the way. Did you know that library cards expire now?

That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard. Remember the crinkly piece of paper with your 6 year-old neanderthal signature? I used mine at the WiCo library until I was 13 and moved away. My first SnoCo paper card had a lame attempt at a cursive signature and it was good until it went electronic about 10 years ago. Apparently those electronic cards expire. Whatever.

To add to the nonsense at the library, the girl in front of me was asking one of the librarians if she had to log onto the WiFi or if it was public for any enabled computer. The librarian then asked her if she was talking about a computer chip, and looked really perplexed. Then the librarian told her she could use any of the library's computers if she had a library card.

I had read about the public WiFi in the Darrington paper, so I let the girl know she could just turn her laptop on to use the WiFi. Then the librarian looked relieved. Not much later, a really annoying cell phone ring echoed through the library followed by a shouted conversation. What's up with the library? I feel a little Idiocracy encroaching.

Speaking of SnoCo, the parks department is now 4 miles from our house on the Whitehorse trail. The parks department acquired the old rail road track as part of the Washington Rails to Trails program back when I worked at Kayak Point Park. I'm so excited that they decided to scrap the 3 phase option and blaze the whole trail this spring. I can't wait to go on a trail ride with co-worker MK. Our office manager lives down the trail and neither of us have a bike, so MK offered up some horses when the trail is finished. How cool will it be to go all the way into Arlington from my house on horse back?

Robots, Snow and You Can't Fool Me

2009-03-16T07:29:00.000-07:00

I can feel a break coming...so close...gonna make it. I have just one paper left to write, a 3 page, single spaced reflection paper on our projects and teamwork in Engineering. We ended up losing the robot sumo contest, but we found out that one group cheated between rounds, and a rule change half-way through would have given us more wins. They decided that just one wheel off the arena counts as a loss half-way through the contest and that you couldn't win if your robot drove off the arena after pushing off the opponent, so we should have had another two wins. Oh well, it was fun.

I will upload the killer movie I made for our presentation to YouTube on Thursday, since I promised all the boys in the class I would. I knew with nothing but guys in the class that Ozzy's Crazy Train was the perfect track for the movie. We ended up with a perfect score on the presentation, so I'll take the A+ over the bragging rights any day!

I recieved an email from the Environmental Science program at WWU's Huxley College, asking me to go ahead and send in my Huxley application. That must mean my Western application is close to approval. Sweet!

Prospects for my garden are looking bleak, however. I usually have a grand garden every summer, but we have to move it this year to an area that still needs stump removal. We've seen parts of our lawn for a few hours, but it never fails to snow again once it almost melts. I think 3 months of snow on the ground is quite enough. We have had a lot of family nights inside playing Rock Band, Mariokart, and even Texas Hold 'Em.

On the work front, we had 3 stolen blanks for Oxycodone brought in last week. It started on Sunday when Dr. London and I recieved some DUR's from the gal's insurance alerting us to her large amount of recent narcotic purchases, but the lady was really insistant that we didn't get ahold of her I.D. We found out from the doctor's office the next day that she had stolen a narcotic pad from one of their desks. So she was not arrested, but didn't get any drugs from us and she was flagged county-wide. It really set a grumpy mood for my week at work.

On Friday, Dr. Alix and I helped bust two members of a local OxyContin ring, and luckilly the owner of the pharmacy showed up while we were waiting for the cops, because it was all women working again. Those situations usually don't scare me, but Dr. Alix is a newbee and so were the clerks I was working with, and the suspects were both large men. I didn't want to give anything away to the forgers, but I did try to keep the girls behind the second counter until the police showed up. Just 3 more years of dealing with these Oxy morons and then I'm on to other places.

Thursday...YouTube...Robots

Spring Break in T minus 2 weeks

2009-02-27T07:53:00.000-08:00

I just wanted to give a quick post before everyone thinks I have dropped off the face of the Earth. These next two weeks it's crunch time for me, I have essays to write about Design and Engineering, a robot to program for competition on Thursday, and another Power Point to assemble. Thank goodness my group (NATA) rocks. I promise I will fix the YouTube video on Tuesday, so everyone can see the shenanigans of the Rasta bot.

I'll also be sending in my WWU Applications next week, and I need to finalize my essays and student resume. They suggested that I apply to both Huxley schools - main campus and Everett campus, in case the Everett campus falls short of the student quota. It is the first year of the program, but so far, my advisor Dr. P has said that she only knows of 4 students that are serious about applying. I'm crossing my fingers that they pull in 3 more, so I don't have to drive to Bellingham until Spring 2011.

Well gotta jet so I can legally supply the weekend Vicofix. Just 3 more years, and I quote Gano, "I'll never maaaake iiiiit." Just whining. I'm out.

Robots Robots Robots

2009-02-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

So I finally uploaded my Robot Rodeo video to my YouTube account. Laugh as you may, this was our worst trial, and our funniest. Who could hate this little guy?

Next project - A Sumo Bot Competition

Griffey's Back in Town

2009-02-19T07:51:00.000-08:00

They're bringin' Griffey back. Them other players don't know how to act.

My little throwback to JT there (thanks Dr. London). Anyway, I love it when icons go back to their original team to retire. Eddie Murray went back to Baltimore to play his last years with Cal Ripken Jr. which made all the O's fans happy. I think Griffey will do the same for Seattle.

Spring training started last week! Someday the O's will win the Series again. I was 5 the last time they won. Maybe this is the year...ha ha, yeah right. I'm still a die hard fan.

We had a perfect presentation in Engineering on Tuesday, including a stellar Power Point with a movie. Unfortunately, we had a preview of our presentation last week, so all the other teams added pictures and a movie, but only our movie and another team's actually played. Next project I will definitely have to get a little more creative.

Our next project starts today. The robots will have sumo matches in 2 weeks. I'm thinking tank design. My Biology professor and advisor Dr. P always says, "always borrow designs from nature." Sumo wrestlers have a wide base and so do tanks. Rear wheel drive or front wheel drive?

It's M' Birfday!

2009-02-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

31 years ago this evening, I came to this Earth, and 200 years ago two great men did as well - Darwin and Lincoln. I know there are people that would want to debate the great part of that sentence, but I say to them - go take some science classes and shut it.

There's actually good economic news today on retail sales, maybe my 401K will go up a little for a change. This week has also been a good change from last week, aside from another sick kid. We got snow early in the week, but the sunshine yesterday made it so beautiful out here in the mountains.

We got A LOT done at work yesterday and still stuffed ourselves with pizza and pre-birfday treats. We also teased the new boyfriend of co-worker Nun at lunch, writing her a prescription for "Diamond Therapy" from Dr. Secks Moore. Oddly enough co-worker H gave Dr. Moore an English accent, and it made for a hilarious day.

Today we have a draft presentation of our first robot project in Engineering and our Power Point is looking good, including media clips. I'm going to post the driving by Braille clip to YouTube when the class is over. We're supposed to do Yoga before our public presentations, but I'm contemplating whether I want to do Yoga in public. Xanax anyone? Just kidding.

I've got to give a big shout out to my fellow birthday peeps (and personal heroes) before my busy day begins. Happy Birthday Abe Lincoln and Charles Darwin! Thanks for your pioneering spirit! Two-twelvers rock!

Must See Movie

2009-02-09T08:27:00.000-08:00

I don't usually make movie recommendations unless I know your taste in humor, drama, etc. But Paul Blart Mall Cop is the funniest PG movie I've seen in a long time. Clean enough for someone like my stepmom to like, but funny and twisted enough for me to enjoy. We took the kids out on a family day, and for once, all of us loved the movie we saw. Also, the movie contains more funny parts than just what's in the trailer, and that is rare for a comedy nowadays. I definitely recommend this movie for a fun night.

Frustration

2009-02-05T17:03:00.000-08:00

I think I am having one of those weeks. It seems like time is going too fast for me to get everything done, and I know I've done it to myself with the 30 hour workweek and 2 classes at school. I am not a perfectionist, but I expect my brain to retain things when I need it to. It seems I've hit a roadblock in Spanish and that I'm falling behind, but I'm not. And earlier today when I went to put my project proposal together for a desk design in Engineering, I couldn't get my thoughts out the way I wanted to.

I had three awesome designs, a really sharp flow-chart, and my writing stunk, in my standards. I don't understand why I can write long, thought-out lab reports on molecules or things like Edge Effects on native species, economic reports on health care around the world, and get A's in both of my English classes, but when it comes to describing how I think, I can't get it out into words. And like I said before, I'm overwhelmed in Espanol - enough foods already! I'm still catching up on preterite verbs stems. Now I remember why I regretted taking Latin in high school.

And to cap off my week, my arthritis flared up in my knee, I found another gray hair (in the front this time!), my husband keeps teasing me about my upcoming birthday, and my Wii fit keeps telling me how my running stride can get shorter with age. Shut up, shut up, shut up! You're going to make me hate my birthday! Screw you guys, I'm going home.

Oh yeah, the robot only hit one target in trials today (it hit the wall many times), but we got full credit for having a functionable bot and program. Thank goodness for most of the groups, Academia finds success in failure. Too bad that won't hold true for the Spanish quiz I'm about to take. Quoteth Poo Bear, "Oh Bother."

February Sunshine

2009-02-03T17:15:00.000-08:00

Good news everyone! Our robot can now spin in an expanding spiral pattern, an expanding box pattern, and has a rudimentary Ultra Sonic sensor seeking program, too. Our contest is on Thursday, and I think we are going to do just fine. It knocked over the targets today at practice, but it also ran into a wall twice, picked up and carried off my Spanish Dictionary, and the arm fell off once. We are so close!

I should be pruning the fruit trees this time of year, but the bottom branches are stuck in a foot of solid snow/ice. I tried to pry a pear branch free, but it wouldn't budge, and I was afraid I might break it. But look at what the February sunshine uncovered yesterday:

Underdog

2009-02-01T13:14:00.000-08:00

I really like the song Underdog by Spoon. No one can talk smack about the 2008 NFC West division anymore. Go Cardinals - Steelers suck. That's right (sis) D, Steelers suck.

Early Morning Earthquake

2009-01-31T20:46:00.001-08:00

So yesterday morning I awoke to my bed going up and down and proceeded yell at my husband to stop shaking the bed. Realizing he was still sleeping, I yelled, "what was that?!" waking him up. He didn't feel anything, and I didn't hear anything, and since we had kicked the old dog out of our room at night, I thought I was dreaming. I had already had 4 dreams in the last 2 weeks about having an earthquake, so I thought it was another one. Yeah, it was real – a 4.5'er. At least this flatlander didn't cry this time (but in my defense, the Nisqually quake was a 6.9).

That's right, I've seen tornadoes, waterspouts, been through 4 hurricanes, and none of them really scared me. There's just something about the earth moving out from under me that really freaks me out. I used to have a dream all the time when I was a kid, and even still have it once in a while where I'm walking, wherever it may be, and I turn right. When I walk straight, I would go into a neighborhood I've never been to, and walk toward a big white house. Sometimes it would be a few steps, and other times I would almost get to the house, but every time, the sidewalk would fold out from under me and I would fall into the dark. That's the same feeling the earthquakes give me. I really hate those things.

Stellar solar ideas

2009-01-29T09:38:00.000-08:00

There have been some really cool developments in nanotechnology lately that I've started an idea journal complements of Engineering 104. Northwestern University and the University of Illinois have teamed up in the development of flexible circuitry. The latest edition of Popular Science also featured a breakthrough in a new anti-reflective technology by the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute that takes advantage of the structure of titanium-oxide and silicon layers to capture 96% of sunlight, no matter what the weather or region of the country.

I'm very excited about both of these stories because I've had an idea for a couple of years that I want to try and develop my Senior year at Western. I've seen too many movies to tell you what it is, but it is now in the journal along with notes about these breakthroughs.

The last couple of weeks have gone by fast and have been very weird. We've spent the last 2 weeks with cold and clear weather up here and it snowed again. In fact to get anywhere in the yard, you just walk on top of the frozen foot-plus of snow. In the low-lands they had continuous fog - day and night. It was like driving from Alaska to San Francisco within a half-an-hour. Today it seems like everything may be returning to normal. It is in the upper 30's and raining, so I'm hoping some more snow melts. I've been having dreams about seeing my lawn - do you think they mean something?

A New Dawn in American Science

2009-01-23T07:34:00.000-08:00

Today, the FDA approved stem cell transplants from pure human lines! I don't have much time to get technical, although Molecular Biology was my favorite class, but we will now be able to catch up with Europe's scientists. And I won't go into the political side, because face it, there are not enough wishful parents to adopt the frozen embryos from people playing God and having litters. Enough said.

Geron, who applied for FDA approval, will begin with embryonic stem cell transplants in paraplegic adults to see how well their spinal cord and nerves regenerate. As soon as they can prove it is safe in adults, which they already have in Europe, they can begin trials on children and on auto-immune diseases. Imagine if a Type 1 diabetic can get all new Beta cells in their pancreas, or if Multiple Sclerosis patients can get new nerve generation, or a lymphoma patient new marrow, and the list can go on and on. It's such an exciting day in Nerdworld!

A New Chapter in American History

2009-01-20T11:06:00.000-08:00

What a historic day, and what an inspiring speech. Did you see all of the Americans that congregated in D.C.? America has finally caught up with the rest of the industrialized nations of the world - we finally have a leader that's not an old, white, rich man. But Obama is more than that. He seems like he is ready to fight America's problems head-on, and encourage Americans to work together to solve them. I heard hope, faith and cooperation in his Inaugural Speech.

I also loved the John William's arrangement of Simple Gifts, especially because it was performed by Yo Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman - the best composer of our time and two of the best classical musicians performing his music. Awesome.

Robots and Mii's

2009-01-15T18:31:00.001-08:00

I love my Wii Fit! It's nice to see that I'm the most fit person in the family, too. Don't get me wrong, each of us have their own strengths, but all around as far as balance, endurance and strength go, I'm the most fit. Neener neener kids (and hubby). It's nice to see my BMI hasn't gone up too much since high school, too.

I'm what you would call a seasonal runner, but now I can run in my living room without having to bundle up and I can do Yoga without having to drive 45 minutes to the nearest Yoga class. Muy Perfecto!

I love our robot in Engineering, too. The guys in my group are pretty cool, and seem to be indifferent about having the only girl in class in their group. I think once I demonstrated some leadership skills and that I actually know a little about computer programming and mechanics, they were much more at ease. I still get weird looks from some guys in class, though.

I'm really digging the design process, but we only have ten days to get our first project proposal finished. Just with this class, I know I've picked the right career path. I can be creative and analytical all at the same time! It's cool to know that within three years, I'll be using this process to design green renovations! El futuro es claro!

Conservatives Finally Remember How to Conserve

2009-01-12T09:43:00.001-08:00

I admit, I have been very critical of the Democratic Congress as many readers of Phat Phuque already know, just because it seems that they are not accomplishing anything we elected them to do - i.e. get us out of Iraq, re-regulate Wall Street, hold investigations into the oil market manipulation, etc. However, I have to give them kudos for a rare Sunday session vote yesterday in the Senate that vastly expanded protection of America's wilderness areas and added more protection to already established National Parks and Forests. Although the Senate is controlled by Democrats, praise must be given to the 9 Republican Senators that signed onto the bill which will go to the House, soon.

Believe it or not, the Republican Party used to be the party of nature and resource conservation. Beginning with Teddy Roosevelt's (one of my favorite presidents) establishment of the National Park system and continuing into the 70's with the banning of DDT, designation of Earth Day, and the clean-up of America's waterways. Somewhere along the line in the 80's they were bought out by big oil and other energy company lobbyists and abandoned their care of America's resources. I like to think that Teddy Roosevelt turned over in his grave when Bush abandoned the Kyoto Protocol. So good for you 9 Republicans, I hope that you can forward the Republican support into the House for a bill to put on President Obama's desk. See Schoolhouse Rock for the process ; )>

And while I'm praising the Republicans (which won't happen again for a long while), I'm going to give a rare "atta boy" to Dubya for his designation of 195,275 square miles of reefs and atolls in the Mariana Islands and America Samoa as a national marine monument. Despite his recent lift on off-shore drilling, Bush has protected more unique areas in the ocean than any other president or leader in the world with this new designation and the one off the Hawaiian Islands in 2006. Also thanks for the happy jigs you've been performing Dubya, you make me smile when you try to dance. And today, for his last press conference, he delighted us with another new word – misunderepresented. Awesome.

Stillaguamish Flooding

2009-01-08T19:30:00.000-08:00

Wow, what a day. We were completely cut off from everywhere for quite a while so we went out and took videos and pictures of the flooding from our side. Then last night, I came within inches of hitting a deer, or a forest rat as Uncle D calls them, as I was taking my daughter to basketball practice. It jumped up from a ditch, over a snow burm, and onto the highway right in front of my car.

I can't believe how much it has rained over the last 3 days, and we still have over a foot of snow! I uploaded one of our videos of the flooding to YouTube (Anmlucas), but will upload the others later. It just takes too long from our house. Do NOT make fun of my spanish video if you choose to watch the river video. Soy una principiante. Don't judge.

Anyway, here are some flood pictures:

This is the traffic light that is usually a half a mile from where the river goes under the highway.

Here is a closer look at the river going over the highway - those are NOT our kids. Darrington may have been cut off from everywhere else, but the kids still went to school with a 2 hour delay.

This is a side road near Trafton - some people we knew arrived as we were leaving and had a boat meeting them to get back to their house.

The old railroad bridge between Trafton and Oso was taking a beating by the Stilly. The river was all the way up to the top of both bridges' pilons.

And finally, the favorite fishing spot - the river about 2 miles from our house was moving faster and fuller than I have ever seen it!

Some good news - I saw pink in the sky this morning and the peaks of Whitehorse Mountain and Mt. Higgins trying to part the clouds. That means sunshine today! YAY!

Ark Builder Wanted

2009-01-07T09:51:00.000-08:00

Well here's another unwanted day of no pay because of the weather. They've shut down our highway due to standing water, and will shut it down in Arlington city limits within the hour due to major flooding on the Stillaguamish. There is no guess as to when it will crest, because the snow level is all the way up to 7,000 feet, and we still have over a foot of snow to melt here. Also, the rain is coming down so hard, our cell and satellite signals are in and out. I guess it is just as well that I miss work, since I woke up around 3am with a fever and other lovely GI symptoms, but I was going to make it a Purell day at work anyway. The river god says it shall not be.

So, OMG, I am the ONLY girl in my engineering class! I walked in and could just feel all the eyes on me. I ended up on a team with 19 year olds, because the guys my age, behind me didn't want to work with me. Whatever - we had fun on our first project failure. We had the most crooked tower, but dammit I bent it to balance and at least it stood.

So, WTF ladies? We are more than English and History degrees - challenge yourselves with some math and science girls, or at least encourage your daughters to do so. Contrary to your mother's belief, math and science are useful and fun - you just have to look at everything as a giant puzzle, and realize you're going to be wrong sometimes. It's part of the cognitive learning process to be wrong in science, maybe that's why I like it so much.

Anyway, we'll be working in groups to design and program a robot along with a couple of other design projects during the semester. The best part about this engineering class is that half of our grade is based on creativity, working with others and writing first person accounts about each project. The other half of the grade is based on our 1 test, that's right - 1 test, and our projects themselves.

I really hope I am the robot and computer programmer in my group, but it would be a better learning experience if I'm challenged with the structure or electrical engineering, especially the latter. I really need to learn more than just the Chemistry behind electricity and start to use some electrical applications. I got seriously zapped in high school by my lab partner in AP Chemistry (cough cough Minton) and have been shy of electricity projects ever since. I've built chemical batteries and completed other electrochemical labs in college Chemistry, but I'm far from being comfortable with it, and I need to be for my future job. This should be an interesting learning process, I just hope my group partners find humor in mistakes, because I sure will be making some.

Rock Salt and Under the Influence of Kids

2009-01-04T14:55:00.001-08:00

Yeah, I know, that's a weird title, but listen Arlington and Seattle...The Washington State Department of Transportation is using rock salt on all of its highways in the mountains and foothills. If they didn't we would still not be able to get to town without a snowmobile, along with hundreds of other mountain towns throughout the state. When there is that much snow, the rock salt is diluted during the melting process, and you aren't left with so much sand and rocks to scratch your car and chip your windshield. This snow event is rare, and should be handled as an emergency situation, not a wait and see, what will the salmon think committee hearing, morning-after quarterbacking situation.

Okay, now that I got that off of my back, ever notice how your kids influence your life, and in the long-run give you a beneficial change? Okay, well it's not that deep, but my daughter's influence has really paid off lately. She has begged me to get involved in her nature and conservation field trips, along with the science fair committee and the Community Science Night committee last year. All of this involvement, has really paid off. I used to volunteer a lot in high school, and was really sweating the volunteer portions of my scholarship and entrance applications. Then a friend pointed out all that the science help at the school was a form of community service. Duh - enlightenment.

She also convinced me to see the Twilight movie, and out of that, I stopped teasing her about the books and Hot Topic. I admit, it was kind of a cool movie, but wasn't enough to move me to read a teeny-bopper book series. I guess after you read and understand Michael Crichton in the tenth grade, your interest in emotional angst fades away to worrying that a bacteria could really mutate and infect the population rather quickly. Yesterday, she convinced us to go to the mall (my trip to Joe's was voted down) and I hit the Bath and Body Works semi-annual sale. I got about $50 worth of products for less than $20! Thanks kiddo!

School starts tomorrow. Wish me luck!

O9 and Oh my Head Hurts

2009-01-03T09:11:00.000-08:00

Have you ever tried to explain to an 87 year old woman with dementia that her Medicare Part D plan has changed and you can't deliver her medicine unless she gives you her new information?

Yeah, that's been my start to 2009. I've worked 6 out of the last 8 days, mostly 9 hour days, and I'm beat. I've also spent my 2 days off working on essays for a scholarship and my entrance essay for the Huxley College of the Environment at WWU, and catching up on laundry.

Today is the beginning of a whole two days off in a row, and I'm going shopping. I have some Christmas money to burn and Joe's end of the year sale is calling my name. Let's see, Lady Carharts, hmmm, new hiking boots, snow shoes. Just kidding about the last one, but they would be practical right now.

Speaking of wild storms, it's supposed to warm up to almost 50 on Wednesday along with heavy rain in the foothills. This could be really serious, since we are at 500 feet in elevation, and the snow level is supposed to go all the way up to 3 or 4,000 feet. We still have over 2 feet of snow on the ground, here, so the creeks and rivers will be flooding. My only way home if the highway closes for flooding is also closed for avalanche and mudslide danger.

The good news about the snow is that it seemed to have insulated the fruit trees, and they have sprouted some gnarly growth knobs for spring. Mmmm...apples, and pears, and plums. Oh my.

New Plans, New Year

2008-12-31T07:43:00.000-08:00

I am so looking forward to 2009, since 2008 has ended with many trials. I'm still getting stuck in my driveway, every morning and every night, there's still about 2 feet of snow on the ground and 6 feet on the side of the driveway and cul de sac, and my Geology class was cancelled due to a record breaking winter in the Cascades. And so in 2009, I begin my journey into the design portion of my degree.

I've replaced the Geology class with a freshman level Engineering Technology class that meets twice a week, y continuo Espanol tambien. Geology, which is actually the only class I need for my Associates transfer degree, will have to wait until Spring. Instead, I will be playing with CAD and CATIA, and getting a pre-req for my minor at WWU out of the way. It's all good.

My kids are coming home from their dad's tonight, and we plan to bring in the New Year with some Rock Band, Mario Kart and some poker lessons. I remember playing for pennies with my Godparents when I was much younger than my youngest, so we've dug the poker set out of the closet (along with some bottle rockets :) and plan to play some rounds into the New Year.

Remember to put some money in your pocket, and good luck to all in 2009!

Christmas Fun

2008-12-25T16:42:00.000-08:00

Did Santa bring everyone what they wanted? I know I got a killer pair of Mossy Oak dual mitten/glove waterproof work gloves with 40 below Thinsulate lining - and yes, they're camouflage, so what? We had a great get-together with my stepfamily last night, since they, too live in Arlington, and we could actually barrell through the frozen, lumpy roads. We freally missed my step-sister and her kids, though. Girl, you need to find a 4WD, just kidding.

Today, aside from presents, we picked up my step-son, played Rock Band, and I rolled my sled 3 times, and caught air once, but not on purpose. The coolest thing happened when we were sledding, though.

You know you and your significant other are soulmates when you find you have the same weird obsessions, you know? Like, I'm obsessed with frogs and birds he's obsessed with eagles and lizards. Anyway, we've watched 4 bald eagles soar really low across our back yard today, and one experience I'll never forget. The hubby went down the sled hill and stoped dead at the bottom of the hill. Right then, a bald eagle went right over my head at the top of the hill and landed in the tree right above him. The eagle proceeded to check him out with both eyes, and sat majestically on top of the fir tree trying to figure out what we were doing. He eventually flew off, but it was soooo cool!

Anyway, here's some more snow pictures, but unfortunately none of the eagle. We ended up with 3&1/2 feet total!

The view from the front walkway of our roof.

The Twinkie is buried!

What once was my orchard - the front twig is actually a pear tree!

The icicles off the back roof!

And what was once a cute, little 3&1/2 foot fence is nothing more than a line of lumpy snow between us and the neighbors!

No Need to Dream of a White Christmas

2008-12-24T13:43:00.000-08:00

Another 5 inches and more on the way today and tomorrow. Our Christmas Eve plans got postponed due to the current round of snow, and the fact that we don't want to chain up just to get to dinner. We will have to wait a while for presents from the hubby's family (my family gives love - we know it's all good!), but at least we (and the Escape) will be safe. My mother-in-law was sweet enough to hold another dinner for us next weekend, so hopefully the warming trend that is supposed to start on Friday will hold out all next week.

Right now, we are trying to get the ATV started so we can do donuts and drag the innertube in the snow. The new neighbors have a snowmobile - I will totally have to check that out, too! I LOVE motor toys!! Sledding is also in the plans, since we have SOOOOOOO much snow, nothing but time, and a kick-ass 35 foot drop in our back yard. Half our Christmas might be cancelled, and we might be snowed in, but it's going to be A LOT of fun! Merry Christmas everyone!

Doin' Alright

2008-12-21T17:09:00.000-08:00

Jusst want everyone to know we are okay. We lost power around 11pm right when the blizzard hit. There was only about 5 inches in the storm, but there are drifts in our yard that go up to my waist now.

We went into town today, and saw farms on the prarie where the wind swept the field clear of snow - right up to the roofs of some smaller barns. After shoveling daily for the last 4 days, we decided to chance it and start up the Escape to see if we could just drive over the 5 inches and the drifts in the driveway. We didn't get stuck at all! So then, we were testing the limits of the "Smart 4WD" such as taking sharp corners in the parking lots, skid stopping, you know all the things your parents and insurance agents forbid you to do, but in your 30's you can afford to try. I have to give Ford a lot of credit - the 4WD is very smart!

I haven't been in a blizzard since I was a kid, and had forgotten how the wind constantly howled. Needless to say, between the wind, the 2 feet of snow sliding off the roof, and nothing to drown out the little dog's snoring, I didn't get much sleep last night.

Our pipes and the neighbors' pipes have been frozen since yesterday, and we all just got power. I'm going to have to go into town to shower for the next few days because the temp's not supposed to get above freezing until the day after Christmas. We're supposed to get another 4 inches of snow tonight, and another 3 tomorrow. That will make almost 3 feet in 5 days!

Well it's off to boil more snow so we can flush the toilets. Nothing like mountain living!

Am I in Michigan or Washington?

2008-12-20T08:48:00.000-08:00

I have to shout out - snow plow drivers absolutely rock!

So we ended up with 26 inches of snow which is now solid ice. We actually got down to 0 last night and right now it is 8 degrees. I have to brag that the Escape Hybrid got me to work in the worst conditions I've ever driven in - I only slid a few times, but I'm sure that's because I had absolutely no weight in the back of the car, and the snow/ice pack on the road is thick. I don't know how my dad lived in Michigan for so long - this weather is sooooo cold!

The hubby dug us out of the driveway, I kept up with snow removal from the cars and walkways, and then we took the time to construct a mini half-pipe down our sledding hill. I got so much snow in my face, boots, and sled the first few times before the snow was packed down, but then it was smooth (and fast) sailing down the drop. I'm sure you could go really fast today with all the ice, but knowing my luck I'd probably impail myself with a branch or something trying to be a daredevil.

Today we are in the Don't Know Zone for the severe winter storm rolling in. We are not included in the high wind foothill zone, or in the massive snow accumulation zone, but are in an area between both, which they will say nothing about. Now, I've finally realized that the "Convergence Zone" in our county is PNW weatherman speak for "the hell if we know," but come on! You can't tell us anything to expect?! I'll tell you what to do with you Doppler computer model. Jerks!

Oh well, the generator is prepared for whichever part of the disaster Mamma Nature wants to throw our way. Although, if it counts for anything, I'd rather not have 90mph winds come from the East. Uh oh - I see the breeze picking up and blowing the trees the wrong way (Easterly winds are very rare here). I have a feeling we're in for a mess.

The Most I've Seen in 20 Years...Literally

2008-12-18T08:29:00.000-08:00

When I was ten, we had a HUGE snow storm in Maryland. I think we ended up with almost 3 feet of snow that year, and despite hating the cold, I had A LOT of fun in it. We're now over 2 feet and it just started coming down in buckets again. The only creature that seems to be enjoying it is Bear Bear the husky. The other dogs are no where to be seen since we put them out, and we are hold up inside with the cats and the heat.

I think we have officially given up on the satellite dish, so movie day it is. Now would be a good time to ground some Pete's Coffee Italian Roast and catch up on movies and Christmas cards. We were going to try and make it into work today, but just watched a Suburban slide across the highway. It was going really slow, too. Then I saw the guy turn around and head back into Darrington. Snow Day! I can't wait until it clears up and I can take pictures of the mountains!

Here's some pictures of last night and some from this morning - remember, we shoveled all day yesterday, and I completely cleared both cars of snow last night. Enjoy:

Last night while cleaning off the vehicles and finally warm and exhausted on my sheep wools.

The two feet we woke up to, and my wasted efforts.

And the poor dog who lost his bottom step.

Snow Update

2008-12-17T15:27:00.001-08:00

Snow update - we now have eleven inches. We're supposed to get four more tonight and another two inches tomorrow. Then it's supposed to dip back down into the single digits (it was 8 on Monday night) until it snows again Saturday. Here's some more snow pics:

Inner Nerd

2008-12-17T13:12:00.001-08:00

So we've got 8 inches of cold, dry, fluffy snow, but it's the kind that puts 2 inches behind where you've already shoveled. In the words of Eeyore, "Oh bother." I know, I know, my dad will think I'm a baby complaining since he lived in Michigan, my BF would laugh after living in Minnesota, and I survived many blizzards in Maryland, but the fact remains that I HATE winter.

My Bear Bear (husky mix) is half white now (picture Balto rolling in snow), and the fir tree branches are now bending down like cedars from the weight of the snow. I will post pictures later, but right now, I'm toasty warm inside.

One thing the Christmas season has done this year is bring my inner geek out, which KT conveniently pointed out last night at work. Dr. Brian and I were talking about Ataris, NES and Star Wars video games, and about another RPh who claimed he had never played Tetris (this after I pointed out how part of Tchaikovsky's Nutcracker Suite reminded me of Tetris music). And then on the home front, I convinced the hubby to go to the hobby shop last week for more tracks for my Lionel train. After we got home, we had to rig our own ground after discovering the original one had been lost somewhere between Maryland, Florida and Washington. For the next trip, there are plans in the works for crosstracks, switches to trigger things, buildings and trees. Such a nerd. The important thing is I finally found a really cool hobby shop in the Everett area.

I guess I should go shovel some more snow, since we have to make it to work tomorrow come snow or avalanche. Thinking warm thoughts…

O bladee, O bladah…Life Goes On. Hey!

2008-12-08T08:42:00.001-08:00

Oh thank God – dead week is finally over. Unfortunately, my dead week included both of my final exams, but that frees up my time this week to devote to my final project in Spanish and mailing out vast amounts of presents to my dozens of nieces and nephews across the US and to our dads and step-moms. Anyone seen Four Christmases? At least our families don't live that close together.

The great news is I scored an A in ECON201 and I'm thinking an A- in Español, but I'm crossing my fingers for the 4.0. During my break, I'll be working 40 hours a week in the pharmacy and working on tons of essays. I've got a couple of entrance essays for the Huxley College of the Environment at WWU and a few for some scholarships I'm applying for. This year's Possible Woman scholarships are aimed at working moms changing careers into Environmental Science. I am so applying for that $5,000.

Turkey Day went very well and was oh so yummy. We had a giant bird ala my secret ingredients and method once again. I cooked for our moms, too, but my mom-in-law had to get up way too early the next morning and decided to rest at home. Really, I can't blame her, because her house is in remodel chaos, too. No one should have to get up that early for a retail job (hint, hint you Black Friday monsters).

The hubby and I are going out on Wednesday to finish up the Christmas shopping and to get each other's gifts. I need outdoor work clothes like Lady Carharts for field work, and he needs an extension ladder and a new shotgun. We'll be putting bows on them under the tree, but with a limited budget, we're getting exactly what we need. We're so practical and boring sometimes.

Bueno, necesito para mí a estudiar mi Español ahora. Debo a preparar para mi proyecto. ¡Deses a me suerte!

Tastes (smells?) Like Chicken

2008-11-26T08:44:00.001-08:00

You know how some songs or stories can inspire such detailed memories that you can actually remember how it smelled or tasted? I recently ran across an environmental story that triggered such a memory, but I would not call it pleasant. Scientists recently found in a toxin study that when riding behind a flatbed chicken truck (which I cannot find any pictures of), you are exposed to high levels of harmful bacteria, including some that are resistant to antibiotics. I wish I could find a picture of one, but try to imagine a large, full-sized, flatbed trailer full of cages that are stacked about 15-20 high, and inside of each cage is a full sized (and still alive) broiler hen with little room for movement.

First of all, if you've ever been to Delmarva, you already know how the chicken farms smell, and you know that the trucks smell just as bad. I always hated looking into their stupid eyes as you passed the truck on the way to the slaughter house, but oh God, the smell. Now I know we were being pelted with E. coli, Salmonella and who knows what else. So if traveling behind one of these trucks exposes you to such harmful toxins, my question is, what about if you swam in a pool and played in a yard right next to the chicken houses? What kind of pool water did we swallow on auntie's farm? Yuck!

Fighting the System

2008-11-24T13:15:00.000-08:00

First of all, I have to get it off my chest - Redskins won! Okay.

I make a living billing insurance claims and fighting the system to help people obtain their medications. That said, I have found it easier and easier every year to "grow a pair" as one pharmacist calls it and put up a fight. And every quarter in school, my understanding of the law grows. The combination of fast coding skills with greater understanding of the law has made my interpretations in Political Science and law classes easier as well.

My stepson was recently a victim of discrimination, intentional or not, by the one person on his school campus that should be his advocate - the school nurse. I met with her in September when she admitted to me she had no experience with diabetes and knew nothing about it. I told her to simply follow the same protocol as last year, and she assured me she would "brush up" on diabetes. Last week, she called my husband's ex and accused us of not feeding him or providing him with medication on a daily basis. This all came about because my step-son had a packed lunch that day and chose to play basketball at lunch time and eat his lunch later (on a day after an away-game when he checked his supplies out of the office). Then she asked her to take time off of work to come in without us and sign an illegal contract regarding his blood sugar testing.

The nurse then told us that his teachers were concerned he was missing too much class for testing, and that he was failing two classes because of it. I challenged that, because he shouldn't be eligible for sports with failing grades, and so she blamed the "misinformation" on my husband's ex. And later that night we found out that she was calling him out of class on both days of the week she's there to ask him questions about diabetes and lecture him about blood sugar, which is a big DON'T in the world of Juvenile Diabetes. Do you see where I'm going with this? To make a reeeeally long story short, my husband adressed our concerns with the batty nurse, the violation of trust by the school, and I adressed every violation of the law that occured. Tag team. Technical verbal bitch slaps. And finally after a long talk of excuses and intentions, got an apology from the Superintendent and a promise it won't happen again.

But the bigger picture is that, Gregg, Mo and others my age, Mark said Bullshit to Mr. Johnston (remember him - Marysville Junior High?), Mr. Johnston started in about respect, and I told him respectfully and in very legal terms that in this case the harsh words were appropriate. Or in other words, suck it. That's right, we did it for the kid, but I got vindication for Mo, myself and others who were disrespected by a certain menapausal teacher, and then given ISS from Johnston so many moons ago -all in one meeting.

We also got a promise we won't have to deal with harassment from the nurse any more, or with the youngest's hearing accomodations either. In fact, everything should run smoothly from now on. Now about the WASL, the "new math" and the new numbers grading system...

Superstar CEOs

2008-11-20T08:13:00.001-08:00

Some people like Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods are so talented they can be classified as superstar athletes. Some singers such as Whitney Houston (pre-crack of course), Celine Dion (hurl) and rock singers such as Steven Tyler and Chris Cornell can be classified as superstar performers. And then there are superstar CEO's such as Lee Iacocca who can take a near bankrupt company and turn it around into a profitable one.

Now here's a note to all the other CEO's out there. Just because you are a CEO doesn't mean you're a superstar. You are just one of thousands of CEO's in America, and you should not be paid superstar wages or superstar bonuses just because you are in charge of a company. Superstar wages and bonuses should come with superstar performance, like Bill Gates, Jack Welch (even though I don't like the guy) or Iacocca. Currently in ECON201 we are covering distribution of income and social programs used to reduce the GINI index (the rate between actual income distribution across the population vs. perfect income distribution across the population). I don't know how my uncle lasted so long in the public sector dealing with some of these programs in our country and others. I'm depressed just reading the chapter.

After watching the ABC News report of the Ford and GM CEO's flying in on private jets as they ask Congress for $25 billion, I come to wonder how these CEO's and others in different industries can be so out of touch with how their lifestyles compare with those of their workers and other average Americans. Is this Right of Luxury mentality instilled in them in business school, or does the job naturally attract self-centered people? I am so happy that Congress has decided to cancel the auto company bail-out vote. I hope this is the first message of many that restructuring the failing companies needs to start with a good look at the top and how much money they are wasting. Now here's another idea for Congress – NO MORE MONEY FOR AIG!

Kangaroo – The Other Red Meat

2008-11-17T14:43:00.001-08:00

Australian meat producers may soon be borrowing this ad campaign slogan from the American Pork industry. Today in ECON 201, the Environmental Economics group presented, and included in the presentation was a new campaign by the Australian government to reduce methane emissions. They feel that if Australians would switch from eating beef or sheep to kangaroo meat, Australia's emissions would be significantly reduced. Grazing cattle and sheep are one of the largest emissions of methane in the world, and in most countries, forest land is cleared for grazing land, reducing Oxygen production. I really didn't think this could be true, but sorry Kangaroo Jack, I was able to easily find the real campaign online.

Naturally, I HAD to find out how this would work, so here it is. Apparently, kangaroos produce acetate in the digestion process instead of methane, and naturally graze on the low brush abundant across the Australian plains. No new land would have to be cleared and irrigated for grazing cattle or sheep, and it would only take 175 million kangaroos to replace the current hooved hamburgers. Now, I'm all for reducing pollution, but what's wrong with free range chickens?