Down Under, Here I come!

September 29, 2007 has arrived. It seemed surreal as I changed my little block calendar this morning. My big adventure begins and I am ready to set my sails to the wind and and watch as new horizons come into view. My bags are all packed (with an extra set of clothes in my carry on in case they lose my luggage), my camera batteries are charged, and my hair is cut really short so I won't have to worry about "wind hair". I also have a blanket to take on the plane and on the beach that has a big OSU block O on it. (GO BUCKS!)
Whales and ocean beaches, a new continent and new friends await!
See you October 15!

Getting Ready

Once I had been invited to Australia, there was an immediate need to obtain a passport, something I have never done before. It was a fairly painless process, in spite of the 13 week wait, which really didn't matter that much since I had time. When applying, I presented myself at the post office with all necessary documents. I opened the envelope containing my original, yellowed 48 year old birth certificate, handed it to the postal employee, and to my chagrin, he informed me that they were going to keep it!! He said that if I wanted, I could go to some place across town and have a certified copy made and give that one to them for keeps, but I decided that, sad as I was to part with a piece of my past, I needed to get the application done.
After the passport arrived, I applied for a visa to enter Australia. In the interim, I worked a lot of overtime, bought my airline tickets (on the wrong date the first time!!) , purchased a few items of clothing, a hat with a big bill and neck protector, and my first digital camera. It has been great fun learning to use the camera. I usually have it with me everywhere I go and have enjoyed taking pictures of the changing scenery from spring through summer.
We received a packet of information about what to expect, as well as some abbreviations to learn that we will use to document whale behaviors and I have studied that as the weeks passed.
And now, with just a few days to go, my suitcase is mostly packed and I'm finishing up the last instructions at the office for events that will take place in my absence. I bought enough dog, cat and rabbit food to last 3 weeks so that Jim, who will have his hands full, at least won't have to worry about supplies. All of the "to do's" that are within my control are just about done. There's just one thing left "to do", really the only thing I can't control, and that is to feel excited about going.

Big Adventure on the Horizon

Sometime last March, an email came from The Pacific Whale Foundation, an organization

of which Jim and I are members. The PWF is based out of Hawaii, and is dedicated to whale research and preservation along with educating the public. This email was an announcement that PWF offered research internships in the study of humpback whales in Australia and Ecuador and that any interested persons should send a letter requesting to sign up.

This was one of those moments in life where I thought to myself: Self, you say that you want to live life to the fullest, and if you don't sign up for this, your words are all bluster and hot air. And after having that little self chat, I called Jim and sprung this on him. "I really want to go!" I said. And he said, "Well OK! Write them back".

Without any hesitation, I sent a response telling about my passion for protecting all animals, my reasonable level of fitness for someone my age, and my career in research. Within a week, I received an invitation to take part, and this coming Saturday at 5:15PM my flight leaves Columbus on the first leg of my journey to Australia. (The photo of the flukes is not one of my own; I found it on line.)

Late Summer Harvest

My garden this summer has been a busy place and I'm happy about that.

We've had lots of bees, some humming birds, and many monarch butterflies visit the flowers and the activity shows no sign of stopping yet. Although we are now into middle September, we are still having very warm, sunny weather. The time of year is approaching when I look forward to a bit less yard work- at least weeding and watering. Next will be the major job of raking all of the oak leaves from the giant old tree in the backyard. I actually enjoy that, especially because the leaves have that wonderful autumn fragrance. The collies are already starting to bring fallen leaves in that have stuck to the fur on their legs. While I continue to enjoy the bees and flowers, I am longing for cool autumn weather and all the gifts that time of year brings.

Squirrels

I like squirrels. A friend of mine once said that squirrels are just rats with bushy tails and good PR, but I disagree. Have you ever seen a rat have fun? In all honesty, I have only seen rats in scientific experiments, but I can't imagine seeing a rat out in the wild and thinking to myself, Boy, I'll bet he's having a good time. Squirrels, on the other hand, seem to have a ball chasing each other up and down and all around on tree limbs and roof tops. They locomote by bounding along, which also looks like fun.
I haven't decided whether squirrels are smart or mentally challenged. On the one hand, they can get into just about any bird feeder created. I have one of those feeders where the ledge on which the bird sits to eat the food can move up and down by way of a spring. If an animal larger than a cardinal or sparrow lands there, the weight of the animal, a squirrel, for example, pulls the spring which lowers the ledge which pulls a bar down blocking the food. One winter afternoon several years ago, I was in the house and heard this banga-banga-banga noise over and over. I traced the sound to the tree where the feeder was located and there was a squirrel hanging onto a tree limb with one front paw and using the other to violently move the ledge up and down which spilled the seed so he could eat it. On the other hand, I have been driving along in our residential neighborhood many times and had a squirrel start to run out into the road. Seeing the car, the squirrel freezes, and you can see the decisions floating across his squirrel face in a fleeting second: What to do? What to do?Do I run back off the road or keep going? Can't decide! Can't decide! More often than not, the squirrel chooses plan B, causing me to break to keep from running him over. That choice definitely knocks him out of the squirrel MENSA society (and may qualify him for a Darwin Award).
We have many squirrels in a variety of colors- mostly grey, but a few brown and even the occasional albino. This time of year they are busy collecting the acorns that have fallen off the big oak in the backyard and burying them 2 feet away. I imagine that by now they have eaten their way through their cache of my spring bulbs that they dug up. I like them anyway.

Go away, summer.

It was sunny and hot (in the 90's) when I took this picture at the side of our house. Having said that, I am now going to whine, so read the following in a whiny voice: I'm tired of hot and sunny!! Tired of it! I want cool weather. I want to turn off the AC and sleep with the windows open and need a blanket!! WAAWAA!!
I usually listen to our FM radio station (97.1, Classically Columbus) while driving. Our morning host has come close on several occasions to me climbing into the radio and shaking him when he lauds another hot day. "It's going to be 95 and sunny, so enjoy it while you can." AGGHHH!! Most Columbus folk complain when it's less than 70 degrees. They like snow from December 24th at noon until December 26th at sunrise but then they want it gone. I, on the other hand, welcome cool weather and would be happy if it snowed 5 feet the first day of winter, stayed 28 degrees or less from December through March, and all the ponds and lakes froze and stayed frozen like they used to when I was a kid. We used to spend as much time in winter ice skating on a pond near our house as we did swimming in the summer. I love sweaters and fires in the fireplace and cold wind on my face.
Being the cold weather person I am, I usually tolerate summer OK until about August. But by then, I am tired of coming in from working in the yard or exercising absolutely soaked in sweat. And given that it is now September 7 and it has been in the 90's every day this week, I am getting pretty grouchy. There is hope, though. It's supposed to rain and cool off this weekend. Maybe we've seen the last of 90 degrees until next summer.
I'm done whining now.

One less plaque

Dear Leah Louise,
I didn't know Cindy Beckley, but she died young. Her plaque (handmade by whom? Friends? Her husband? Her children?) is one of many set into a memorial wall in The Women's Courtyard at Ohio State. Many beloved mothers, sisters, wives and friends have words of love about them written into ceramic for all who pass by to read. So many of them say, "We miss you" and too many of them belong to women who were in the prime of their lives, just like Cindy was. Without a doubt, breast cancer claimed many of them.
I know you have received support from friends and family for your walk to fight this destroyer of lives. Many of your supporters sent money in honor of or in memory of a loved one, and I know you will think of them as you walk each of the many miles this coming weekend.
Let this thought add strength to your steps: Because of you, and people like you, who have trained for months and will be a part of this effort, somewhere a family will celebrate the cure of a woman they love from breast cancer. One less plaque, Leah.

Shackleton

In spite of yesterday being Labor Day, Shackleton cat was working only at having a nap with the sheep on our bed.

This seems to be one of his favorite sleeping spots. I think he likes to blend in with his surroundings, which he does effectively. More than once I've been in the room for several minutes before I realized he was there. Of our 5 cats, Shack is the quietest. He came to us from a local shelter when he was about 6 months old. Except for a small patch of reddish brown fur on his head, he is completely white. We thought that his name should reflect his white coat, and puzzled for several hours after bringing him home over a good name. We looked in our books for synonyms for snow and at Eskimo names, and even thought of naming him for a snow capped mountain, but nothing seemed to fit. Then Jim suggested Shackleton, after Ernest Shackleton, the Antarctic explorer, and somehow that captured his personality perfectly. He also goes by the monikers Shackadoodle and Shack Man- as long as the "shack" sound is present, he knows we are talking to him.

Sweet dreams, little explorer!