Prelim Hell

So I feel like i only post to complain.
Right now I'm at the tail end of my preliminary/qualifying exams.
6 weeks of obsessing on four topics, night and day, day and night.
There is a light at the end of the tunnel.
Question is... is it a train???

Proposal Hell

As a researcher your life's blood depends on convincing people and agencies with money to share the wealth, and fund your research. For the last two weeks I have been in a proposal vortex, frantically writing and rewriting drafts. It all ends later today. Wish me luck.

Website fun

Loose ends

Now comes the bittersweet ending. We are both more than ready to see our loved ones and sleep in our own beds. But, there are a million tiny things to do before leaving. List after list is made, one by one items are checked off. After months of diligent science, now our focus is on cleaning out the fridge and packing up clothes that are almost walking themselves to the washer. In the midst of it all we did make it to the North Hills to check out the birds up there. Whoa daddy, is it wetter and cooler. We've made some lovely friends with the Black Hills botany crowd and they let us crash their place near Spearfish. Not bad huh?
So now the season draws to a close and we look forward to all of the hormone assays and data analysis that will fill our days for months to come.

wee beasties

So we're back at it trying to finish strong but events are not conspiring in our favor. It's been well over 100 degrees the past couple of days and even with our best efforts we're hardly catching any birds. It's frustrating to work on 5 hours of sleep in brutal heat and not have much to show for it. Then, to add insult to injury, some form of evil insect hatched recently and seems to love the taste of biologist, especially C. They are tiny little things that swarm all over you and bite, but don't leave marks. Long, thin and reddish or black wee devils. They are roughly the same size as a chigger, but more svelte.Perhaps a biting midge? Lovely no? I know you're jealous. It may be time to give up the ghost soon and head home. All work and no play (data) makes K a cranky biologist.

hittin it hard

Finally back at work. Feels good to be productive again.
Luckily our field sites are miles and miles away from the burn so our study birds were not affected by the fire. We're on a down hill slide now. How much work can we squeeze in to the next 13 days?

Back in the saddle again

So we were lucky, very, very lucky. The fire burned down to our driveway, very close to the house and stopped there.
I say stopped, but more truthfully it was halted by the firefighters. We happen to leave right on a spring fed creek and the fighters were using our driveway to refuel the tankers. Convenient for us, no?
So all we have to deal with is spoiled food in the fridge, and not quite reliable electricity. The fire is still far from out though. All night evening and through the night we hear tanker refueling, helicopters flying overhead and fire trucks driving past the house to the section that is still burning. Not the most restful night I've ever had, but I'm not complaining.
Time to get back to work.