Personal Updates

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    2010, Volume 2

    There’s a new book in my bookstore. I finally got around to completing 2010: A Year of Change, Vol. 2. Volume 1 followed the first half of the year as I finished working in Virginia, got married and prepared to leave the eastern United States. Volume 2 continues the journey, starting with a visit to Idaho in February to visit the school and the area, then the road trip from Maryland to Moscow, and some exploration around my new home as we settled in and started school. Pick up your copy by clicking on the badge below.   2010 The…

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    Exploring

    The past week, my parents were in town visiting and we spent the week exploring and showing them our favorite places in the area. We’d usually leave fairly early in the morning and get back kinda late, always exhausted. As a result, I haven’t been able to post some detailed updates on the awesome places that we’ve been. I’ll try to summarize the week here. Saturday, July 23: Picked my parents up from the Lewiston airport. Turns out, there was some kind of airplane festival going on so we decided to have a look. There were planes out on the…

  • Bad Ass Sunset

    Last night was full of bad-assery. Yeah, that’s right, it was so bad-ass that I made up a word to describe it. After a cold spell, temperatures quickly rose into the 80’s yesterday making for a hot and somewhat muggy day. The conditions were ripe for evening thunderstorms. As I arrived home, I heard reports on the radio that there were some severe storms just west of Orofino. But looking around, all I saw was sunshine and blue skies. The storms were passing to the south of us. As I was washing my car, dark clouds crept in over the…

  • Personal Updates

    It’s been an eventful week, and I should have posted more often, but I’ve been busy and tired and uninspired to write. So I’ll give you the update on the past week, and then some. Last Monday was our actual anniversary, and even though we celebrated the week before with a getaway to Oregon, we still wanted to make the day special. We decided to drive up to Spokane, spend some time at REI, and have a nice dinner. For the longest time, I’ve been desiring a GPS unit for the trail, in part because trail maps for Idaho are…

  • Home Theater

    A few weeks ago, we received our federal tax return, and with the First Time Homebuyer tax credit, we got quite a hefty sum. The bulk of that money is going right back into the property with a few home improvement projects. But we took a small chunk and set it aside to complete the entertainment system. So I went ahead and bought a receiver and a set of speakers. What a difference it makes. I’m not new to the 5.1 surround scene. In college, I had a shelf stereo system that was actually an all-in-one theater system: a 3…

  • Spring has Sprung

    Spring is officially here on the Palouse, as temperatures soar to almost 80 degrees and graduation season is upon us. The University of Idaho had its commencement yesterday, though I did not attend. This marks the end of my first year in graduate school, and so far it has been a success. But this summer, I’ll be finishing up some projects in the lab and really hammering out ideas for my own disseration. Of course, the summer is not completely for work. I’ll be planning a few backpacking trips and other expeditions to explore the landscape around me. The real…

  • The Baby

    Mother and Child, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. We had a baby. And by We, I mean Erin. And by Erin, I mean her horse. Thursday night (Friday morning) around 12:30, we went out to check on Mae and turn in for the night, but we heard groaning and grunting coming from the barn. So, Erin rushed up to see if she had gone into labor, and indeed she had. I grabbed boots and the camera and headed up. At first, there was just a hoof sticking out from Mae’s behind. Then she laid down and gave a few pushes….

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    Daffodils in the Snow

    Daffodils in the Snow, originally uploaded by Matthew Singer. I’ve heard of April showers bringing May flowers, but what do April snows bring? On Friday, I awoke to a white world with about an inch of snow covering everything. It was kind of a shock considering only a week before, there were promising signs of Spring. Of course, after the snow, the temperatures are back up and the weekend’s forecast is quite pleasant.

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    The Birds at our Feeder

    We get lots of birds in our trees in the front yard. This could be contributed to the source of food we are supplying to them. The list of winter birds is less than the summer residents. For example, I haven’t seen a bluebird in months, and most of the woodpeckers have left the yard too. And of course, the hummingbirds have gone since they don’t have the proper gear to tolerate the cold. But even with the few remaining species, watching the feeders has been a delight. In Idaho, we have the possibility to see four different kinds of…

  • I wish I had my Camera with me

    One of the properties of Moscow is a wet winter and spring. We’re close enough to the coast to get the rainy weather patterns, yet far enough inland to incur the effects of the Cascades rain shadow. Though I suppose being at the foothills of the next major mountain divide, it’s only natural for the moisture to build up and then drop before passing into Montana. The rain here is more of a constant drizzle than the short, hard rains we’d get in the summer in the Appalachians. The drizzle will last all day. It’s the sort of grey rain…