 |
| Carrie at family dinner last Sunday |
 |
| How many forehead wrinkles can you count? |
 |
| This is for you Amy! |
 |
| getting ready for eyebrow waxing |
 |
| This picture terrifies me |
 |
| being silly |
 |
| as normal as our family gets |
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
"Special" Sisters
Friday, October 8, 2010
Lovely fall
I just got back from my TWS (The Wildlife Society) Conference in Salt Lake City, UT. It was an amazing trip. I had lots of opportunities to attend workshops, job fairs, mentoring sessions, symposiums, mixers, etc -it was go, go, go from 8:30am until 8 or 9 at night.
My mom and little brother Seth met me in Salt Lake on Saturday before the conference started. It was SO FUN hanging out with them that day, even for just a short time.
When I arrived back home (at midnight), Skott was already at work but I found these throughout the house:
Skott went out to the park and collected a bunch of fall foliage, then came home and arranged them all! I was so impressed! (At first I thought he had bought them). It was the sweetest thing.
Last week my Dad and Sherry got a new addition to their farm -a baby nubian goat. Skott has never seen a baby goat before so we went out to visit. I think it is about three days old in this picture. It is so cute and will follow you around, trying to buck and run.
Skott just completed this project refinishing a trunk for Carrie to use as a coffee table. Unfortunately, we didn't get "before" picutres, but this truck was very rusty and painted black, with some silverish/grey paint on parts of it.... it was pretty rough. I thought it turned out beautiful!
While I was in SLC, Skott attended Sherry's daughter's wedding up north near St Croix. These are some beautiful shots he captured up there. (There were many, many more but this post is already long).
These pictures were taken along Skott's bicycle route in Carson Park.
I hope everyone is having an enjoyable fall!
My mom and little brother Seth met me in Salt Lake on Saturday before the conference started. It was SO FUN hanging out with them that day, even for just a short time.
When I arrived back home (at midnight), Skott was already at work but I found these throughout the house:
 |
| upstairs in office |
 |
| in the bathroom |
 |
| in the living room |
 |
| on the dresser in the bedroom |
 |
| on kitchen table |
Last week my Dad and Sherry got a new addition to their farm -a baby nubian goat. Skott has never seen a baby goat before so we went out to visit. I think it is about three days old in this picture. It is so cute and will follow you around, trying to buck and run.
 |
| Feeding the new baby goat at SherDen Farm |
 |
| you can see that the goat is barely bigger than the cat |
 |
 |
| Brooke and Brandon |
Monday, September 27, 2010
Family dinner
I didn't take many pictures this family dinner. It was so nice outside that I just wanted to sit and enjoy. We had a "pasta" theme with delicious pasta salads, spaghetti, bowtie noodles and alfredo, breadsticks, and a super good apple crisp made with apples from Sherry's Turtle Lake Farm apple tree!
 |
| Fucie likes to sit on the step and rest his head on top of Dad's |
 |
| Erika, Dad and Sherry |
 |
Kelly, Justine, and Carrie |
 |
| I was the mean Aunt Jodi who made the boys eat their pasta before pigging out on all the breadsticks. |
 |
| Izzy and Fucie enjoying the nice day too |
Friday, September 17, 2010
Field Trip
With winter just around the corner, all of my classes have been cramming in the field trips. Ok for now, but ultimately means more work later when the "real" classwork begins.
My first field trip was for Vegetation Ecology. We went all over northern Wisconsin. Some of the places were really neat! We visited bogs, old growth pine forests, old growth hemlock stands, etc. People that have lived here all their lives don't realize how lucky they are to have all of this diversity! My favorite places were the bogs. It is interesting to see how all the plants adapt to low nutrient conditions.
Even though I was surrounded by nature, I must admit my second favorite thing was people-watching some of the idiots accompanying our 16 person group. Seriously. We were told well ahead of time we would be going into bogs, bring waders or sandals that can get wet. One girl brought these wierd plastic bags to put over her feet because she said she didn't want to haul around boots all weekend. Plastic bags vs. Bog = shredded bags and wet shoes and socks. That night she spent hours drying all her socks and shoes over the campfire, only to leave them outside her tent overnight. The next morning she literally poured water out of them, as it had downpoured all night long. Oh, and this is the same girl who scorched at least 20 marshmallows over the campfire because apparently someone on this planet actually has worse depth perception than I do, or else she thought she was being cute. Either way, it was very amusing to see her freaking out every time one caught on fire. It was like watching someone repeatedly touching a hot burner, and wondering why they were gettting burnt. Sometimes I feel evil for my thoughts, but I couldn't help but be amused.
I debated bringing the new camera. At the last minute I decided to go for it so it only had about 10 minutes on the battery charger. Needless to say, I drained the battery about halfway into the first day of the trip. I love nature.
My first field trip was for Vegetation Ecology. We went all over northern Wisconsin. Some of the places were really neat! We visited bogs, old growth pine forests, old growth hemlock stands, etc. People that have lived here all their lives don't realize how lucky they are to have all of this diversity! My favorite places were the bogs. It is interesting to see how all the plants adapt to low nutrient conditions.
Even though I was surrounded by nature, I must admit my second favorite thing was people-watching some of the idiots accompanying our 16 person group. Seriously. We were told well ahead of time we would be going into bogs, bring waders or sandals that can get wet. One girl brought these wierd plastic bags to put over her feet because she said she didn't want to haul around boots all weekend. Plastic bags vs. Bog = shredded bags and wet shoes and socks. That night she spent hours drying all her socks and shoes over the campfire, only to leave them outside her tent overnight. The next morning she literally poured water out of them, as it had downpoured all night long. Oh, and this is the same girl who scorched at least 20 marshmallows over the campfire because apparently someone on this planet actually has worse depth perception than I do, or else she thought she was being cute. Either way, it was very amusing to see her freaking out every time one caught on fire. It was like watching someone repeatedly touching a hot burner, and wondering why they were gettting burnt. Sometimes I feel evil for my thoughts, but I couldn't help but be amused.
I debated bringing the new camera. At the last minute I decided to go for it so it only had about 10 minutes on the battery charger. Needless to say, I drained the battery about halfway into the first day of the trip. I love nature.
 |
| Even trees need a hug now and then |
 |
I should know the name of this fern....        It's hard to believe I only have two full weeks of class before I am heading to SLC, UT for a wildlife conference for 5 days. Yikes. I better get busy |
Thursday, September 2, 2010
It's finally here
Starting my final semester today -WooHoo!
My class load isn't too bad (although I think that every semester and somehow it never turns out that way). I am taking: Vegetation Ecology, Entomology, GIS mapping, and Women in Life Sciences (a required class, not my idea). I was super excited because I thought I had Mondays AND Fridays off from class until I realized yesterday that I had looked at the wrong calendar week (it was Labor Day week, no class Mondays). At least I only have an 8am class 2x per week, unlike my last few semesters. I still have no classes on Friday, which is awesome!
I will be grading tests and labs again for a Chemistry professor. Gotta love any job that pays well that you can do in the comfort of your own home in your pajamas!
I was also selected for an apprenticeship position for The Prairie Enthusiasts. Fall activities include prairie restoration, seed collecting, and tree removal. I am looking forward to getting my hands dirty and learning more about prairies.
My class load isn't too bad (although I think that every semester and somehow it never turns out that way). I am taking: Vegetation Ecology, Entomology, GIS mapping, and Women in Life Sciences (a required class, not my idea). I was super excited because I thought I had Mondays AND Fridays off from class until I realized yesterday that I had looked at the wrong calendar week (it was Labor Day week, no class Mondays). At least I only have an 8am class 2x per week, unlike my last few semesters. I still have no classes on Friday, which is awesome!
I will be grading tests and labs again for a Chemistry professor. Gotta love any job that pays well that you can do in the comfort of your own home in your pajamas!
I was also selected for an apprenticeship position for The Prairie Enthusiasts. Fall activities include prairie restoration, seed collecting, and tree removal. I am looking forward to getting my hands dirty and learning more about prairies.
Saturday, August 28, 2010
Angry Minnow
A couple weekends ago we went for a drive to Hayward, WI (north of us). We had lunch at a place called The Angry Minnow. Despite getting THE WORST waitress service I have EVER had, the food was great! For an appetizer, we had pretzels made out of the spent hops they use to make their beer. They were amazing.
On our way back we stopped at a grocery store. I stumbled upon this scary sight:
Seriously?
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
More than "just a little butterfly"
I haven't been blogging much this summer. Mostly because I have been insanely busy. But also because I hate trying to load pictures. Maybe I am retarded but this blogger picture loader really irritates me.
Anyways, starting to wrap up my internship. Field work is done now. We saw an awesome increase in Karner populations which is great, since Wisconsin is one of the few places they are thriving. Some people say "What's the big deal? It's just a little butterfly" but in reality, it is much more than that.
It has been proven that diversity benefits all species. The more diverse, the greater the growth and survival rate of all species, and the better the overall health of our planet and ecosystem. Karner blue butterflies are referred to as a "flagship" species. They are cute and a great image to present to the public to bring about awareness of the loss of biodiversity on this planet.
Karners were listed as federally endangered species in 1992. In managing the habitats suited for Karners (pine barrens, open prairies, etc), there are also a lot of other species being "saved" as well such as trees, prairie flowers, and wildlife.
So when people say "It's just a little butterfly", it actually is much more than that!
Here are a few random shots from field days. I didn't take the camera too much because it was always so hot and sweaty and we were working pretty hard. Yes, counting butterflies IS hard work. Most of the terrain was very brushy and we were going through a lot of trees and blackberries.
Anyways, starting to wrap up my internship. Field work is done now. We saw an awesome increase in Karner populations which is great, since Wisconsin is one of the few places they are thriving. Some people say "What's the big deal? It's just a little butterfly" but in reality, it is much more than that.
It has been proven that diversity benefits all species. The more diverse, the greater the growth and survival rate of all species, and the better the overall health of our planet and ecosystem. Karner blue butterflies are referred to as a "flagship" species. They are cute and a great image to present to the public to bring about awareness of the loss of biodiversity on this planet.
Karners were listed as federally endangered species in 1992. In managing the habitats suited for Karners (pine barrens, open prairies, etc), there are also a lot of other species being "saved" as well such as trees, prairie flowers, and wildlife.
So when people say "It's just a little butterfly", it actually is much more than that!
Here are a few random shots from field days. I didn't take the camera too much because it was always so hot and sweaty and we were working pretty hard. Yes, counting butterflies IS hard work. Most of the terrain was very brushy and we were going through a lot of trees and blackberries.
 |
| Looking for butterflies. Haha -just kidding. We are actually finished for the day and trying to get some good profile pics for facebook! |
 |
| One of the prettier sites we surveyed. ( Most were not this open and clear of brush) |
 |
| Anna and Lindsay attempting to "look scientific" while they take weather and wind readings |
 |
| A Karner checking out Anna's lunch |
 |
| Does it count as harrassment when they land on you and you're trying to eat? |
 |
| Karner on my measuring tape while doing vegetation analyses |
 |
| Karner on my distance pole |
 |
| Relative Abundance Level 2+ Sampling |
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)