Stories

  • 2013: A Retrospective

    For all intents and purposes, 2013 was a shitty year. Just when we thought things couldn’t get any worse, something else would go wrong. And, so the trend continued until the final months. The year started out pretty good. Though we’ve been struggling financially since Erin lost her nursing job in 2011, by the fall of 2012, she had a job and had enrolled at the University of Idaho to finally earn a bachelor’s degree to get her into a new career field.  With snowshoes and a new (to me) pair of skis I acquired from the WSU swap in…

  • 2013: A Year in Photographs

    This year, I have fallen behind in my photography pursuits. It’s in part due to the events in February, and part due to not having the funds or time to get out as much as I’d have liked. I’ve been looking through some stats tracking the number of photos I’ve taken over the past few years, though a better metric is to look at the number of “good” photos that have made it onto my flickr page. Here’s a short breakdown: Year Number of photos 2006 335 2007 310 2008 396 2009 629 2010 341 2011 421 2012 314 2013…

  • Snowshoeing Moose Creek

    Last week, winter returned to the Palouse. We got about six inches of snow in Deary, most of which was still around over the weekend. On Sunday, I joined a group of students and post-docs for a snowshoeing trip to Moose Creek. Although it was a foggy and overcast day, we had a great time. I’m always amazed at how much more snow Moose Creek gets, despite its close proximity to home. I estimate the snow was about a foot deep, which is plenty for snowshoeing. We ended up hiking just under 2 miles in before turning around and heading…

  • An update on the Hawk Owl

    It’s been over a week since a Northern Hawk Owl was spotted hanging out across a busy street from a shopping mall in Moscow, Idaho, but the bird is still here and reliably seen in the same locations. I’ve now seen the bird four times and may continue to watch and observe it until it is no longer a novelty. Of course, that might be all winter, and the owl might actually leave town before seeing it is no longer exciting. Today’s viewing was special. The sun came out and temperatures finally rose above freezing, making it bearable to actually…

  • |

    The latest hype in Moscow

    The latest rage in Moscow, Idaho is the sighting of an immigrant that shouldn’t be here. A Northern Hawk Owl (Surnia ulula) has been spotted in Moscow across Rt. 8 from the Safeway parking lot. The earliest sightings on eBird show that this individual has been hanging around since Tuesday, reliably in the same spot. This is an exciting discovery because the Northern Hawk Owl isn’t supposed to be seen this far south. It’s native range is exclusive to Canada, and visits to the United States are few and infrequent. It’s unclear at this time how long the owl will…

  • Look what I found

    Since we finished the interior of the house, it was time to clean up the garage and start moving everything back inside. This was also a good time to start tidying up the yard before winter hits. Last weekend, we took down an old dog house that we were using to raise chicks in since the chicks are now old enough to roost in the main hen house. When we picked up the structure, we found that the chickens weren’t the only ones using it for a home. And now for some other cuteness:

  • The New Kitchen

    Three months ago, we had some pipes leak in our kitchen that caused some damage to the flooring and the cabinets and resulted in us basically getting a brand new kitchen. We contacted State Farm to see about getting any coverage, and thankfully, they agreed to help cover some of the damage. So, we set about getting a contractor in to look at the damage and give us an estimate. We ended up using one that works directly with State Farm, a decision that may have caused us more strife that we were hoping to avoid, but after several delays,…

  • October Update

    Where has time gone? It’s already October, which means I missed out on September. Well, I didn’t really miss it. I was busy with a graduate school ritual known as the preliminary examination. Prelims are, without a doubt, the most stressful event for a graduate student. You might think it’s writing the dissertation or even giving your final defense. The truth is, by that time, you know your subject inside and out. Writing takes time, and the stress is making the deadlines, but overall, unless you slept through your graduate student experience, writing up the dissertation isn’t that difficult. The…

  • Garden Produce

    The tomato plants have fruit, but I’m awaiting them to ripen. The pepper plants are starting to produce. The strawberries are on their second round of harvest. In the mean time, the squash and zucchini are providing us with food of plenty. Yesterday I picked four zucchini, all from the same plant. This morning, I grabbed two more before leaving for work. This doesn’t include the half-dozen or so that we’ve already picked and are awaiting consumption in the kitchen. We’ve also got several variety of yellow summer squash as well as two green stripped squash/zucchini plants, both producing about…

  • The Joy of Home Ownership: Adventures in Plumbing

    When we moved to Moscow, we knew we’d be here for more than five years and that buying our own place would probably benefit us more in the long run than renting. There are many advantages to owning your own home. The most obvious is that your monthly payments go toward something tangible. When you pay rent on an appartment, all you get back is a place to live for the month. With a mortgage payment, you’re that much closer to actually owning the place you live in, which means when you move out, you can get that money back…