Adam Says Hello-OH

I'm on the phone with Adam right now, and I thought I'd let him say a few words to all the folks back home via the blog...

Hello everyone! Thank you for all the kind words and letters and thoughts and prayers! It's been a long year with long hours, but I've made some good friends and seen some interesting stuff. I'm looking forward to coming home and getting back to my life (and my baby girls!!!). Looking forward to reconnecting with you all when I get home; see you in 3-4 more months!Thanks for everything,
Adam

Crater Lake

This past weekend we four girls--Janice, Shabbi, Kika and I--took a jaunt out to Crater Lake, about a 2-hour drive from the house. It was by far one of the best days I've had since I've been here. The girls did really well, too; Shabbi managed to walk to the outlooks with us, and Kika barked at only most of the other visitors and dogs :-) When I told people I was moving to Oregon for the summer, the first thing they said was, "Make sure you go to Crater Lake!". Janice had the Crater Lake booklet and pamphlets out for me my first week here. I was expecting it to be beautiful and breathtaking, but actually being there far exceeded anything I imagined. I took loads of pics, but I really tried to just stop and take it all in, instead of trying to capture everything with the camera. Here are a few of the pictures that I thought came out particularly well. Hope you enjoy.

You can never quite capture all of the true colors, but this photo is pretty close...in the middle is Wizard Island; tourists can take the ferry boat there and fish, swim or go hiking. Look at the blue of the lake; believe it or not, it's even bluer in real life!

3 girls and a lake...

These are the Pinnacles, the structures left behind after the steam vents erupted through the pumice sand during the volcanic events at Crater Lake many many years ago. Despite the scientific and historical significance, you can imagine that Janice and I couldn't help but find some things to giggle about when visiting this sight...

Pirate ship...the almost unnoticeable little island that once was the peak of a big volcano...this was one of my favorite parts of the visit.

Girls gone wild at Crater Lake

James Sandy Glass, In Memoriam

We lost my uncle Sandy this past weekend. He fell ill shortly before his 56th birthday in June, and his health steadily declined in the last month. He had a sweet demeanor and youthful soul, and his family already misses him dearly. We were SO lucky to have had him in our lives for as long as we did.We love you, Sandy.

When Adam Comes Marching Home Again, Hurrah, Hurrah!

Good news! Although it is not official yet, Adam has received word that he is due to leave Iraq on 20 September, with an approximate arrival in California for 1 October. Thought people would enjoy hearing the news. Of course the down side to our good news is that many many other families are going to have to suffer through months separated from their sailors; there is a battalion set to replace Adam's once his leaves. *sigh*

Fog, Poo and the Bear

So birding in the early morning can be an interesting venture, when all you have is fog and a) you can't see jack, and b) the birds don't like to sing. So we had to sit and wait for about 3 1/2 hours for the fog to clear, but I got some good pics in the meantime. Oh yeah, and there was a black bear eating some blackberries in the stand I eventually surveyed, so I spent the entire 1-hour observation looking at the black bear forage for berries instead of observing the structure for bird activity. Dan gave me a "look" and said he'd have to throw out that observation since I obviously wasn't paying attention to the birds! I plead not guilty; one must keep one's eyes on potential predators at all times. No pics of the bear, though; didn't have the camera with me then!

Have you ever seen the original version of the Jamie Lee Curtis movie "The Fog"? Scary as hell (first scary movie I saw as a kid). That's what this stuff reminded me of, but it was kinda cool...

I couldn't resist...y'all know I've got the potty humor...here's some elk poo to complete your day!

Thought I'd throw in this pic of a white-crowned sparrow; they're always on hand singing when you want to take a nice wildlife shot...even in the middle of a thick fog!

The Good and Bad of Spoiled

So the refrigerator at the house has been on the fritz for the last few days, meaning that all of the frozen food is now, well, not frozen. I had to do something with all the frozen veggies last night that were on their way to spoiling, so the girls were spoiled with a nice BIG vegetarian dinner. Shabbi has certainly had some interesting potty events today. See below (don't worry, there are no poo pics posted!)...

Yummy yummy yummy Shabb's got veggs in her tummy!

Kiks was more content to play with her veggies than to actually eat them...

Where Do I Begin?

Sorry to those of you who have been a little concerned about my well-being in the last couple weeks. I haven't been to the internet cafe of late because of long days, exhausting days in the field. I just feel like going home at the end of the day, not to mention it's been too hot for the girls to stay in the car while I type away. But. I AM FINE, promise!Last week was pretty eventful. I managed to get myself lost in the forest for about 2 hours last Tuesday, before finally calling the central dispatch so they could contact my partner. I was really tired and dehydrated by the time I got "found" an hour later. For some reason, my GPS unit didn't mark the location where I parked my car, so I wasn't able to navigate my way back after surveying my structure. I started passing the same logs, dead trees and snags over and over again before finally admitting that I couldn't find the truck and was, therefore, lost. It was a crappy day, to say the least, but I'm just glad I walked away with only some cuts and bruises, and nothing worse.Friday morning I woke up to a bat flying around in my bedroom. My former labmate studies bats, and I've helped her a little with mistnetting (capturing) them, so I'm no longer fearful of them (Thanks, Trixi!), but they are a b-tch to try to catch! I couldn't even manage to shoo it close to a door to let it out. I didn't see it all weekend, so I was concerned that it had starved to death and I'd find Kika playing with its corpse soon enough. However, I think it found its way out of the house; this morning there was a bat in the garage that managed to slide sideways through a crack in the door and make its way back outside. I guess those bats take care of themselves!Was planning on going to the Oregon Country Fair this past weekend--I even bought my ticket--but I just didn't feel good about leaving Shabbi at the house for several hours. Her health is rapidly declining, and she's no longer "bouncing back" the way she used to. My goal is to keep her around so Adam can say his good-byes, but realistically, I don't think that she will be with us once we're back in Michigan. I don't *think* she's in any pain, but her energy levels and general ability to live her life are greatly diminished; Adam and I are staying realistic about how quickly our good-byes to her will come.Adam is doing okay, just really hot and bored and homesick. We just got off the phone, so he sent out a hello to all. He also thanks everyone for the pics they contributed to his scrapbook. He received it a couple weeks ago, and has it on his desk at work. Evidently, it is quite the conversation piece because he's been sharing it with many of the coworkers who drop by his office when they need a laugh. So thanks to all of you who so generously sent pics for "the cause".Below are some pics for you to enjoy; just some highlights from the last couple weeks.

This was Kika in our tent during the 4th of July. We camped out in Art's backyard and it was great fun!

Kika gave Shabbi an Independence Day kiss...

...taking a little time off from the field work to pose at the waterfalls...

Adam in the Middle East

Just a couple pics Adam sent from "over yonder"...I believe this is a pic of the flight from California to Kuwait...Adam looks SO happy....!

This was one taken in his travels to last stop, Iraq. Al-Asad is evidently an "oasis in the desert" that the bibilical Abraham stopped at during his travels. Adam says its really beautiful and (he thought of me here) has lots of pretty birds!

This is probably my favorite...a little humor in all the heat...

Sleazy Cafe Man

I guess I'm taking a chance writing this entry in the cafe that Sleazy Cafe Man (SCM) owns, but he doesn't seem to be here today, so...Anyway, there's an internet cafe (which shall remain nameless) that I've been coming to since I arrived here in Oregon. It's a nice little cafe that seems to be popular with the over-55 crowd during the lunch rush as well as with some local young hipsters. The wait staff is really nice (in a good way), but I have had an issue with the proprietor being really nice (in a bad way, if ya know what I mean). The first incident occurred about a month ago when I was online, and all of a sudden I felt fingers poke my sides and a man's voice say, "Boo!" from behind. Since I really don't know anyone here in Roseburg, I couldn't think who might be touching me. I turned around, and it was SCM; he smiled and said, "I just wanted to make sure you were still awake over here..." Yuck! Since that initial encounter, he has hovered over me while I stirred the coffee he brought, he has followed me outside the cafe (in daylight) because I "forgot to tell him good-bye", and he has touched my shoulder when asking me what I want to order. Now, of course, you're all wondering, why doesn't Lauren just sock him one? I wonder the same thing sometimes, but the atmosphere of the cafe is very friendly and familiar; I am caught between thinking he is a letch and then wondering if he's just awkward in his attempts to be friendly. He seems to own this cafe with his wife, who while nice, is also a little awkward. So I don't want to overreact to all this, and not have a nice place to come do my e-mailing...besides, it's only for another two months, right? Then I'll never have to see Sleazy Cafe Man again...