Busy Bees

Apologies for the lack of posts of late, but in truth we have been really busy. I am so exhausted when I get home, I can hardly even bear to look at the computer, much less sit down to write something legible.

Two weeks ago, I went to the Ecological Society of America's annual conference, this year in Milwaukee, WI. I had a great time in a really fun city. However, I was dismayed to find that my body has an abnormally fast reaction to excessive beer comsumption. After just two days of imbibing, I found that my gut had turned into the proverbial beer belly. No joke; it was so large I couldn't even suck it in as I walked around town, and I could feel it jiggling (and the rest of me waddling a bit) on the walk to and from dinner. I have refrained from beer ingestion ever since. I'm sticking strictly to wine now.
Otherwise, ESA was great. I saw a lot of old friends, met some new people, and learned a lot. I am firmly hoping to get some manuscripts written and to find some permanent employment sooner rather than later. We'll see how that works out.

Last weekend, Adam, Kika and I travelled to Grayling, MI, to meet with the International Order for the Rocky Mountain Goats. Yes, it's a mouthful. They are a lodge group that funded some of my research when I was a grad student, and they were having a scholarship recipient reunion. Also a nice time to catch up with folks, and breathe in the cool, clean northern Michigan air. We stayed in the cabin where I lived during my two summers of field research. Kika came into her element and ran around with Adam. We had a great time.

This weekend, we are heading to the Upper Peninsula for the first time. Well, we've made it over the Mackinac Bridge once since we've been here, for about 4 hours before we came back over. This time, we're spending a good 5 days in the "U.P." with George and Emily, camping, sight-seeing, and (hopefully) birding at Whitefish Point. That's the highlight of the trip for me--I can't wait to go to the Shipwreck Museum there to learn more about the Edmund Fitzgerald. We're all going to see Gordon Lightfoot perform in September, so "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" will be all the more poignant after having visited the museum.

That's all for now; better head off to bed. I'll try to get some pix from the camera to include in the next post.
G'night