Just another day at the "office" - Lower Hood Canal

Its days like today that make me love my job. When i get to work in the field, and its gorgeous and sunny and warm. And the water is teeming with life after the spring phytoplankton bloom. Today i wore a TEE SHIRT on the boat, on deck, while it was moving at top speed, and i was warm - hot, even! This is Seattle, after all - tee shirts on boats and such things are unheard of here (well, for us cold-blooded types anyway). But the best part was my species list for today:

3 Harbor seals
5 Bald Eagles
2 Kingfisher (Belted?)
1 Osprey
1 Guillemot
1 Lions Mane jellyfish
Oysters
Mussels
Sea stars
Dungeness Crab

...and those were just the ones i could see without binoculars. Hood Canal is dreamy.

laundry list: where i've been in the last 8 months

So its been about 6 months since i posted (er, well, 8 months). That is changing...NOW! And now i'm going to tell you about what i've done in that period of time. Then you'll be caught up, and i can start posting about random bits of life again.

Here are some of the missing pieces:
kayaked in Ski to Sea + went to Japan + went backpacking on Mt Baker + went on field work in Puget Sound + went backpacking in Olympic National Park + went to Nick and Jenna's wedding + friends in town for the wedding + got a new half-job at UW so i work on zooplankton full time + went to Colorado for 10 year celebration of Urgent Action Fund + Neil got back from around the world + visited Sandgraths and Portland for my birthday elected Barack Obama president of the United States of America + sesshin in BC with Norman Fischer (and visited the Vancouver Aquarium!) + Thanksgiving feast of salmon at Neil's + christmas in the Methow Valley, backcountry skiing + new year's party drinks and games at the Goodship + applied for PhD in Oceanography, UW + then its now.

Throw in a smattering of hiking, snowshoeing, birdwatching, reading, concerts, movies, and excellent conversations, and you've got the picture. I'd still love to post stories from Japan on this site at some point, but for now you're caught up. Voila!