New car in my life and other late summer adventures:

Goodbye 1997 Toyota Tacoma:


Hello 2009 Honda Fit:


Beth and I worked at our CSA (community supported agriculture) farm in Floyd County, Seven Springs Farm. My nephew from Germany is on his summer break and visiting in Maryland, so most of the immediate family made it to Maryland for a visit. And one more quick trip up north for my good friend Susan's baby shower:

Engaged and Western Trip Part 2

The second part of our western trip was amazing. Here are the photos from Boise, Hells Canyon, Glacier, and our trip home:

200906_West_Trip_Part2

A journal entry to share:
6/30/09
Hells Canyon was quite eventful. On our second day out, Thursday, Brian presented a beautiful white gold and opal ring and asked me to marry him. It was just after a lunch of flat bread, crackers, cheese, and packaged salmon. We stopped at a beautiful view of the canyon. He came up to me looking very loving, holding a ring box, and popped the question. I knew this was coming soon, but was surprised at that moment. I said yes and we are now engaged.

Brian is an amazing person and I love him so much. We will be very happy together and continue to learn and grow from each other.

Later that day, Thursday, we had a test of the strength of our relationship and personalities. This was a long 9 or so mile day. When we were getting close to where we thought we would camp, we came upon some obstacles. We had to scurry around two snow fields. It was very scary for me because I don't have good balance on rocks (scree fields), especially with a 40 pound pack on my back. I think I was on a hikers/newly engaged high, so I followed Brian. On the second scree field, I slipped, fell, and slid a few feet before Brian stopped me.

A rock made a clean gash just below my right knee. It probably needed stitches at the time, but we kept it clean, butterfly closures, and bandaged well and it is healing nicely. I will have two permanent things to remember this day by, my lovely ring and a scar. Brian came to the rescue, patched me up, and got us up the hill. Around the bend we encountered snow fields too large to cross. At this point we needed to find a campsite and water. This involved going down approximately 800 feet on a steep slope to a relatively flat spot near water. We were both nervous that night about returning to the trail, and getting around the two snow fields.

The next morning, Friday, we got an early start and it took us 40 minutes to climb back to the trail. We negotiated the snow fields without much problem. That evening we were relieved to make it a mere 4 miles from the truck to a beautiful campsite next to a small waterfall.

We encountered a few groups of hikers on our way back to the truck. They inquired whether we had done the loop. One hiker said it had been a cold, wet spring so that was probably why the trail was not passable. We had beautiful weather, spotted a black bear and mountain goat up close, awesome views, an eventful engagement, and a reminder that outdoor adventures can be dangerous and to always be prepared. Next time we will call the rangers station for their take on the conditions.

Western Trip Part 1

We made it to Brian's conference in Boise. I explored some of the outskirts of Boise yesterday, did laundry, and some shopping at the many outdoor stores here. We had a great dinner last night at Bittercreek Ale House. Boise is a very cool town. I'm headed out shortly to explore downtown more and maybe rent a bike. Miss you all!

Our journey west through Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks was amazing. As they say, "a picture is worth a thousand words:"

200906_West_Trip_Part1

More to come. . .

CMI and Friends Go Canoeing

Last Sunday we went for a nice canoe trip on the New River with some coworkers and friends. I caught my first fish ever.
We're headed out bright and early tomorrow morning for western locales.

Congrats Dr. Perkins (click for more photos)

Middle of May

Time flies. Mom and Dad are here and we're getting ready to go out to brunch with Brian and family. Later we're having a cookout to celebrate Brian finishing his PhD. Hopefully the weather will hold out for us.

Brian's sister, Jenny, and her new husband, Tony, had a beautiful wedding at the end of April at their parent's rustic farm in WV. Just after that I left for Oklahoma to work on a species of concern, a small white flower, Oklahoma penstemon, at Tinker Air Force Base. While I was gone, Brian successfully defended his dissertation. Go Brian!

Before you know it we'll be heading west for our big trip.

14 years for me at VPI Cave-Club Picnic

Has it really been that long?

Well, we made it through the dark days of February and March, into April and fast approaching May. Brian got a nice job offer at Glenville State College in Glenville, WV. Things are going well at work. I finished the last of 4 final draft Natural Resource Assessments for the National Park Service (200+ pages each) with a lot of help from colleagues. Deliverables, data organization, and 4 more parks in Virginia to go.

Which brings us to VPI Cave-Club spring picnic. This is really a full weekend camp-out with some really unique and great people.

Katherine caught Brian and me in the middle of some mountain dancing, camping finery and all:


And let's not forget the cow pasture golf and tyrolean. Karen and I also survived the 51-mile bike-ride out there. Great time!


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Johns Hopkins and Whitehall Locker Plant

This is a round about story, but here goes. I was in Maryland last weekend visiting my family for Easter. Unfortunately just before leaving for Maryland, I found out my uncle had a heart attack. He's doing fine, but that put us at the main Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland, visiting for a bit on Saturday. While visiting, Mom decided we should check out the dome which is part of the original hospital. New buildings have sprouted up all around this historic building:


The most obvious and first thing to admire as you walk into the main entrance way is an immense statue of the resurrected Jesus (fitting for the Easter weekend):


There was also a plaque that gave a concise bio of Johns Hopkins, who unknown to me was a Quaker, entrepreneur, and great philanthropist. One thing I did know was that he was born not far from where I grew up in Anne Arundel County, Maryland. Coincidentally my uncle who was then being treated at Johns Hopkins Hospital recently moved just across the way from Johns Hopkins birthplace:


Talking about all of this brought back some memories for my Mom. Mom told me a story about stopping near Johns Hopkins birthplace as a child to pick up frozen foods they kept at the Whitehall Locker Plant. I found this interesting and didn't quite get the concept. Apparently back when she was a young child, home freezers to preserve food in did not exist or were very uncommon, so they rented space in a large walk-in freezer they called a locker plant. There were individual lockers they had a key to within a large freezer. Apparently they still exist, but not common. Probably due to folks not buying meat and other frozen things in large quantities as often and now you can easily have your own large freezer at home to keep food.

This was a very interesting story to me, which brings me to a talk we went to on Wednesday by Greg Mortenson. He is an inspirational and humble man who has done so much to build schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan. I recently read his book, Three Cups of Tea. One thing that really rang clear for me in his talk was how in this country we are missing out on stories from past generations. He asked how many in the audience had conversations with their parents and grandparents about how they lived and past world events. Usually 10% of hands within the U.S. go up. If he asks this same question of students in Pakistan and Afghanistan, 90% of hands go up. His point was, we're missing out on so much if we do not have respect for and learn from older generations. One thing my parents have always been good at is telling a story, or talking about relatives, and where we came from. I think this has been a great influence on my life.

This brings me full-circle, back to family and how important they are. Stay happy and healthy, exercise, eat well, and be good!

March around the Burg - click here for photos

Anita turns 60 - click here for photos