Lucy the Bruiser

The other night Susan took Lucy home to the Puckett's next door. However, it didn't take Lucy long to break free and head back over to our house. She cried at the door. Of course Basil went nuts and barked along with her. A few minutes later, Lucy came waltzing through the doggy door and into the living room. She had knocked open the back gate. She is a tiny little fullback. The next night Lucy tried the same manuever but Susan had propped a big 4 x 4 post against the gate. Lucy knocked out one of the slats on the gate trying to get in. I am very flattered that she wants so badly to stay with us.

Susan drove down to Milton this morning with the B so I have the house to myself. I chickened out on Saints Day and didn't do my standup. All the jokes I liked were too risque. I was impressed that my 1:15 students showed up on time while all the BBQ and games were going on. I have three lectures left and then finals week. I always get a little sad to see them go. I've had a good semester. Of course I have made mistakes but overall we survived.

I have picked out a destination for my May trip; Pittsburgh. You may ask why. Well, Andrew Carniege funded some of the earlier dinosaur digs in the western states. So the natural history museum in Pittsburgh has a magnificent fossil collection. After Pittsburgh, I thought I would drive east across Pennsylvania and see Gettysburg. My mom and dad took us there when Brent and I were kids. Of course, it didn't make any sense to me at the time. I was so moved by other battlefields I have visited: Vicksburg, Corinth, Bull Run and most of all Shiloh that I thought Gettysburg needed another visit. I would like to visit Antietam one day since that was the bloodiest battle of the war...insanity.

After Gettysburg, I want to visit Bethlehem to see the giant steel mill that built much of America. I heard the other day on NPR an interview with a former steel worker who now gives tours of the site. I know the Sloss Furnaces are just up the road in B'ham but Bethlehem steel sounds like the epicenter of the industrial might of last century. Just down the road from Bethlehem and Allentown is Philadelphia, home of the nation's oldest natural history museums: the National Academy of Sciences at Drexel University. The NYT had a wonderful slideshow of their collection including an early photograph of Edgar Alan Poe in the museum (he studied mollusks). And then there is the fact that Edward Drinker Cope worked out of Philly...one of my paleo heroes.

Last of all I am thinking of returning home down the coast through Delaware, the southernmost state I have yet to visit. I will probably be ready for home after that so I may just speed home as fast as I can. Time for lunch. May all your bases be paired.

Lucy and Basil

Our neighbors the Pucketts have a chabrador (half chow half labrador retriever) named Lucy. She comes over several days a week to play with Basil. We feed her and she often stays the night with us. I would love for her to live with us permanently but Susan thinks Basil would feel neglected. They are so active with each other. They chase each other, romp and play. I love watching them run around the golf course or Lake Armstrong.

My microscopic hematuria seems to be idiopathic. My IVP (intravenous pyelogram) showed my kidneys and ureters to be normal. However, I did see a gallstone. Dr. Benet did a cystoscopy on me on Wednesday afternoon to check for bladder stones or cancer. My bladder looked fine. He gave me photos of my ureteric orifices and my prostate. Luckily I was on valium before during and after the procedure. The only pain I felt was when he squirted some numbing gel up my urethra and then when he moved the cystoscope the last few centimeters into the bladder. Once he got into the bladder the pain was gone. After the procedure I went and home and slept for a couple of hours. The only side effect was getting up to pee and it stinging. I am back to normal now thank goodness.

I am down to five lectures left in the semester. My numbers have shrunk with some of my student groups down to one sole survivor. This week is Saints Day and I promised to tell some jokes. I am not looking forward to it though. Spring is here. The weather is warm but not hot. The privet is blooming and all the trees have leafed out. I have missed the green.

Frozen Birdbaths

The temperature dropped below freezing last night and the birdbaths are frozen over. I gave the feathered ones extra rations this morning to help them ward off the cold.

I gave my first exams this past week for BIO 103. Lots of D's and F's as I expected. It has been hard to find a happy medium between scaring and encouraging them to study. I have been pushing the 5-10 hours a week outside of class mantra. I don't think I will see much of a change over the next month. This morning I did play with the idea of modifying my syllabus to give F students extra homework assignments. It is a stick incentive that would probably backfire. What bothers me the most are the sweet students who attend faithfully but never catch on.

I made a huge mistake this week and accused my colleague Shannan of not returning the 104 specimens she borrowed. I apologized but I still feel bad. Abbie's uncle died on Wednesday. She left soon after she heard the news.

I pick up my new prescription glasses tomorrow. I finally broke down and got my eyes examined by an optometrist. A former student of mine, Dr. Barton, had taken my micro class way back when I used to teach it. Damn presbyopia...My new glasses make me look like Drew Carey.

January is a very long month

Three weeks of school are over already and I am just now getting organized. I volunteered for a weekly recitation for BIO 103 between classes. I feel like I probably made a huge error. Thursdays may kill me off by the end.

Today was Bev Smith's memorial. Bev was an outstanding english instructor at LBW in the 90's. He retired due to macular degeneration and eventually moved back to Oxford, Mississippi to live near his son. He died a few months ago from emphysema. Susan just couldn't get the strength to go so we got lunch at Pic-and-Sav and ate down at the farm with the B.

I took B out for a walk this morning at 6:30. Out of character for myself but I did enjoy the morning and B was very happy. One more boring post....

Parasitized by Virus

I have a head cold. It started in my throat on Saturday and now is centered in my nose and sinuses. Needless to say my big class prep plans for today are out the door. I am loaded up on nyquil, advil, and benadryl. I should be snoozing in no time.

Shocking

Blue skies today but cold. This morning while B and I had our morning romp I kept getting shocked by the static electricity built up in his coat. That is dry! One good thing about being fat and ample though is I don't really need a coat: two shirts and I am ready to go.

I decided this afternoon that I am not going to worry about prepping for classes until Thursday. I was going to go in today but changed my mind. I've been teaching fourteen years and I think I can handle the first week of classes without encroaching on my time off. So I spent the afternoon on the couch with a good book and a short siesta.

My therapist Fonda called this morning. I let it go to voice mail. Sweet Fonda was wondering if I had changed my meds and how was I doing. I still haven't seen Dr. Harwood and feel guilty. I will have to call her this week and fess up. What a mess I am. Ciao.

I Blame the Romans

The new year used to start in March around the equinox but since the Roman Senate started their terms a few months prior, we now start the year in January. I like the idea of the new year beginning in the Spring but I am biased toward the Northern Hemisphere. January 1st seems arbitrary.

Now that the holidays are over, we have the ordeal of January and February to survive. Leap year next month...thank you Julius Caesar for fixing the calendar. When I lived in much colder climes, Spring couldn't get here fast enough. I remember being so desperate in Idaho that I rolled on the first snow-free patch of grass that appeared in April.

Our neighbor dog Lucy is over today to play with the B. She is a Chabrador: half labrador retriever and have chow chow. She has cute chinese eyes and wrinkly skin on her face. Her tail is fluffy and her hind quarters bow-legged. Since B is taller, her wrestling manuever involves hitting him from below. It seems quite effective but she ends up with slobber all over her neck.

Recently I have been reading a book on the history of milk. I know that sounds odd but I had an idea of using milk as a problem-based learning topic to cover biology. There is little biology in the book but fascinating all the same about how humans regarded milk through history. Right now I am at the part on coming up with a milk replacement for orphan babies or infants whose mother can't nurse. It is surprising that any children survived the early attempts of formula-making. One idea that fascinated me was how important it was to people to employ a wet-nurse of character because of the mistaken notion that inherited traits were passed onto the child through breast milk.

Today is my final day of vacation. I have to start back officially on Thursday but I have a lot of prep to do before classes begin on Monday. Of course, I won't be putting in a full day that would be a shock to my delicate system. So far I have two BIO 103 classes, I also have a 104 and a 102 class. I only teach those every other year so I got to dust off some old syllabi and make sure we have the right specimens for lab. Plus I need to clean my office so I'm not swallowed up by the mess. Nap on comrades!