Hazards of Field Studies

Field studies aren't always as neat and tidy as studies in the lab. There are a lot of things you just can't control; weather, animals, UFO landings, etc. For example, another master's student in my major had a plot out in the west desert for over a year. His degree rested upon the data that plot would generate. It was happily generating data for him until it was burnt up in a wild fire one afternoon this summer.

Needless to say, I have had passing panic attacks that something tragic would happen to my study plots. It came last week in the form of a badger. The rascal dug up a few of my plots in Washington. Note the faint pink string to the right of the holes. If he had been just slightly to the other side of that string, no damage would have been done. This is going to throw a wrench in my statistics.

We Are Nerds

Keith and I are taking a class together this semester called Plant Pathology. One of the main assignments in this class is to make a collection of 15 plant diseases we collect and identify. I thought I might share a little of the excitement with the rest of ya'll. (Feel free to stop reading now.)

While hiking, walking around campus, admiring friends house plants, etc., we are always on the look out for possible diseases. Leaf spots, lovely.
This white fir in the Uintas was growing this huge mass. Fungi galore!
Oh yes, the kitchen! The fruit bowl and potato sacks are fantastic places to look. This guy had three fungal diseases on him. Nice.
I thought this corn smut fungus was impressive. (Please refer to the post title).
And here is the cute nerdy couple. Lab coats and all.

This was one of the fungi from the peach.
This is a bacteria. Just remember: fungi are fuzzy, bacteria are slimy. That is your take home lesson for the day.
Another fungi from the same peach.
Little bacteria. But you knew that.
Fungi spores under a microscope. Now that makes me feel very sciency.
Umm, this is a little frog. He has nothing to do with plant diseases, except that we found him while looking for them.

For those of you that didn't stop with the petri-dish pictures, save your funky looking plants for us!

Grandma Merrill

While we were engaged, Keith took me to visit his Grandma and Grandpa Merrill here in town. I was nervous. For some reason meeting the grandparents was more nerve-racking than meeting the parents. That feeling only lasted until we entered their home. Family pictures, roses, and lovely figurines decorated the house. Doilies laid on end tables and chairs. I don't know what it is about doilies that make me feel at ease. They remind me of my Grandma Earl and the feeling of quiet happiness and comfort in her home. Another thing caught my eye as the four of us sat down to in the front room; an afghan. I commented on its beauty to Grandma Merrill and mentioned my long time desire to learn to crotchet. That sweet lady immediately offered to teach me.

Thankfully I took her up on her offer. She taught me how to make dish rags, then we moved on to a baby afghan and I even tried a baby bootie. She told me that once I finished the main portion of the afghan, she would help me with the edge. Several times throughout the summer Keith and I would visit Grandma and Grandpa Merrill. I would show her may latest efforts and she would give me pointers. After that she would beat Keith at a few rounds of Wii bowling and Grandpa Merrill would come in and chat. A few hours later we would leave smiling, giggling, and sorry to go. I had adopted another set of grandparents, and I couldn't have been happier.

Grandma Merrill passed away this morning. I, along with many, am grateful for the time I had to get to know her. I have a baby afghan with it's edge missing in the corner of the living room. I am not sure where to go with it from here. The summer was too short. I want to go over for another visit.

Each Grandma is precious. They see in us the beautiful things that we didn't know were there. They love us, spoil us, teach us, and uplift us. I am thankful that Grandma Merrill took me in and was a grandma to me. Even if just for a summer.

Where We've Been

Is it really autumn already! Yikes. As usual, my absence from this here blog is a sign that life has been movin' forward like crazy lately. Here are highlights from the last couple of months...

We went to Colorado! Thank you to Grandma and Grandpa Merrill that gave us a week of their timeshare. We spent the week in Pagosa Springs in a condo bigger than our apartment. We hiked...

...saw lots of wildflowers (it wouldn't be a real Katie post if there wasn't a picture of wildflowers)......summited Pagosa Peak to get a view of the southern Rockies...

...brushed up on our fly-fishing skills...
...checked out a bunch of antique stores...
...went to a quilt museum (this was super neat and Keith is a super good sport)...

...went to the local farmers market and county fair......where I ate a foot-long corndog (oh my)...
...spent two days touring Mesa Verde Nat. Park (I love that place)...
...and saw a wildfire. It was a quick, but still relaxing, wonderful trip.
Over Labor Day we took Keith's younger brother and parents backpacking up to Betsy Lake in the Uintas. It was his parent's first backpacking trip and after much preparation and worry it turned out wonderful. Gorgeous, peaceful, fun.
It was the last backpacking trip of the season and I enjoyed every moment.

Along with the summer my hummingbirds have left as well. I already miss them.
My garden is slowly shrinking as well. But my tomato plants are now HUGE!

With summer over the real work began. The major goal of this semester is to successfully put in my master's research study. I have two plots, one in the west desert and one in Washington near Spokane. We put in the west desert one Friday. The last 5 months have been spent getting ready for this so it is exciting to be getting it in the ground.By the way, I love being co-workers with my hubby.


This is Susan, our boss, helping to plant the seeds into the study plots. The seeds (about 10,000 total) were individually glued onto toothpicks over the course of the last few months. This took forever but it will allow us to track the fate of each individual seed, making the study stronger.


Toothpicks in the ground!Part of the study is a water/no-water comparison. Because we can't make it rain when we want we water with "water pillows." Just gallon zip-lock bags that we pock holes in and put on racks over the plots to make it "rain."

Still here

I'm here. Really. Between a conference at Snowbird and a week-long vacation in Colorado (lovely, fun, lovely) I have been very detached from this here blog. But now life has slowed down a bit. Work this week is mostly consisting of glueing approximately 10,000 seeds to approximately 10,000 flat-tipped bamboo toothpicks (yes research has it's dull moments too). That means my brain power can be used for something else. I have found that glueing seeds to toothpicks is one activity that doesn't actually require use of the brain.

Anyway, pictures of Colorado are coming. Just wanted to let whomever reads this that I am still here. Though I am considering returning to Colorado.

Dear Annie

I don't think I ever sent you the pictures of our snowshoeing trip to Red Pine Lake this last spring. I was so thrilled that you could come. It was a gorgeous day and we had such a blissful time. We promised to do more things like that together. I wish we had.

I knew when you were assigned as my Visiting Teacher it was the result of pure inspiration. In the ward directory you had put mountaineering down as one of your interests. Finally, there was another girl in the ward who climbed. I looked forward to your visits so much. You became a true friend. I loved you wisdom, smile, and open friendliness. I wanted to be more like you. I still do. You spent hours stuffing my wedding announcements, you helped me pack. You were always right there, smiling, whenever I needed someone. You came to the temple the first time I went. I don't think you realize how much that meant to me. How much I loved that you were there. How did you know how to be such an amazing friend to someone you had only known for a little while?

We were going to going to go climbing together this summer. Life got so busy after the wedding. I wish I had remembered sooner. I am sorry.

The accident happened late Saturday night. You were driving home on SR-6 from southern Utah. Were you returning from a hiking/climbing trip? There have been countless late Saturday nights when I have been found on SR-6 headed home from another adventure. I hope you had fun. I hope it was wonderful. I hope you took one last moment to revel in the beauty of this earth.

I can understand how tired you three must have been. I can see how easy it would be for him to fall asleep. You were all probably trying to make it back in time for church in the morning. Somethings are more important than church. He tried too hard to correct his swerve and the car rolled. He and the other passenger are going to be just fine. You already are.

I am going to drive safer, I am going to be a better Visiting Teacher, I am going to be more like you, and I am going to miss you.

Love,
Katie

No Worries

Keith and I are enjoying a Botany and Mycology (fungus) Conference at Snowbird, UT. We presented our research Monday and are now learning about all sorts of plant and fungus things from fungus and plant relationships in the arctic tundra, to a grape attacking fungus, and native uses of plants in China. In the mean time, here is a story from last week...

I am going to be one of those mothers who worry over everything. Case and point:

I was at work when Keith (who was working from home) sent me a text: "I'm kinda dizzy today. Maybe I won't go play laser tag..." (The Elders Quorum had a game that night).
Being the sweet person that I am (and I needed him to look up a number for me) I called to see how he was. No answer.
No worries. I went back to work, but I still needed that number so I called him again. No answer. He was probably on the toilet, on the phone, getting a snack, whatever.
Went back to work. Called again. No answer. He was probably playing music really loud, watering the garden, doing the dishes, on the phone with his grandma.
Went back to work. Called again. No answer. He was probably singing in the shower, doing laundry, clipping his toenails, on the phone with Obama.
Went back to work. Called again. No answer. He is probably passed out cold on the floor.

I tried to make myself think of anything else he could be doing except lying comatose on the floor, but nothing came to mind. I tried to talk myself out of driving the 5 minutes home, but it wasn't working.

I got in the car. An ER doctor had once told me that brain damage can occur after being unconscious for only 2 minutes. It had been 10 minutes. I should have left earlier.
I pull into our numbered parking stall, turned the key, and *ring!* That was his ring tone. He obviously wasn't comatose on the floor or severely brain damaged. And I felt rather ridiculous.

And he hadn't been on the phone with Obama either. After texting me he had gone to the kitchen to get a glass of water when he noticed a large hornet outside on the balcony starting to build a nest. Grabbing the kitchen towel he went to defend the castle. After killing the hornet he noticed that the door was shut, and locked. After failed attempts to break into the apartment he walked barefoot to the main apartment office to get a spare key. Upon returning he saw the missed calls on my phone, remembered his last text, had a light bulb go off in his head, and called to tell me not to worry.

Too late.