Rowan was found! :-)

So my Dad found Rowan under a shedd in the yard of a neighbor two lots down (it's the next house down but there's a wooded lot between them). I guess she was hiding underneath and it took about an hour to coax her out even with treats. But when I talked to them last, Rowan was fast asleep on my Dad's lap while they were watching SNL. phew. They've been taking down/apart a downed tree in the wooded lot so I'm guessing that it was just too far and too scary for her to get back to the house. Now, to convince them to put a bell on her....

:-)

Rowan

So, Rowan, my old cat, who now lives with my folks got out on Wednesday night. She's still missing but we hope she gets hungry and returns. I'll let everyone know when I hear anything else and if you have any ideas/suggestions for my folks to lure a kitty back home please share.

She's way bigger now.

And just as cute, but the photos were all overexposed.

They keep thinking of new ways to confound me

I keep trying to make it impossible to misunderstand directions and students keep showing me new ways it is possible. Another prof. who teaches cell bio and covers one section of my 101 lab was frustrated because he had two well-done labs for a student he could not find on his cell bio roster. Turns out she's in my 101 class. We have no idea how long she's been going to the cell bio lab, why she bought a lab book for a class she's not in, and how crazy she thinks I am when I talk about what we are doing in lab every week during lecture.

Volunteering for Change and life

I just got back from volunteering at the local Obama Campaign office. It is the first time I have ever done any political volunteering, and it feels really good. I did some data entry and - gasp - calling from the phone bank. Oh man - I don't really like calling people on the phone, but it was not too bad. Most of the people I called were not home, several people did not want to respond, but most of the other people we for Obama. We are not talking big numbers here - I think I actually talked to 11 people and most did not want to tell me who they were going to vote for. I am planning to go back on Thursday night.

Otherwise - things are doing fine here in Independence. School started last week, so far so good. Oh and the best news - I found out today that they are turning my position into a tenure track position without doing another search. Yeah - I don't have to reapply for my job.

Hope all is well with all of you.

Peaches and what I love about now

The end of summer is a weird time. Those of us caught up in the school calendar associate it with the dreaded "going back to work" (I've had students for two weeks already, but I still dread going back tomorrow) and sometimes early September feels like summer is over, but the bad parts (heat, humidity, mosquitos) haven' t gone away.
In order to combat my mournful mood, I offer this week's gratitude box. Drop in and write something about what you are grateful for this time of year.
Some of mine: peaches. We are at the height of the West Viriginia peach crop at the moment and I love, love, love really good peaches (I also won't buy grocery store peaches so it's only a short time I get to indulge my love.
Asters, goldenrod, wingstem, iron weed, joe-pye weed, sunflowers, sweet autumn clematis. . . not all are in full force right now, but they soon will be.
Basil and tomatoes (pesto, salad caprese, gazpacho, fresh spaghetti sauce)
Foggy mornings and glistening spider webs-- this time of year I walk to work in the fog almost every day.
The monarch caterpillars have destroyed our swamp milkweed. I hope the milkweed can take it, but I'm hopeful about more monarchs.
Butterflies love our butterfly bush. The morning glories look great, my hibiscus has the foofiest pink flowers I've seen, the fennel is starting a forest . . .
New pens and new lipstick. I always buy both for back to school. Of course the lipstick is not a great shade, but alas.
How about you?