break

My life has gotten sneakily stressful lately because of the approaching deadline to determine what I will be doing next and the added distress of my inability to contact my African host family out of fear and cowardice.  I have done and redone my resume about 12 times and looked at plenty of options, but been very picky about applying.  I will not be forced to apply to a job that I don't want just because I can!  So with all that in my head I have decided to take a little break since this whole "job-hunting" thing has been really cutting into my leisure time.  I was invited to join a friend of mine on her trip out to Mammoth to meet her brothers.  Because her brothers will come visit her and I can't get my family out here for my life, I have decided to join her and borrow her family for the time being.  This means I'll be leaving tomorrow evening and probably not coming back until Monday, and I'm not sure if I'll have access to internet but I'm thinking either way I'm not going to bring the computer.  SO a photo will be taken every day, but it is fairly likely that none will be posted until Monday night.  Thanks for your patience, and since I'm back on the job hunt, please send me any ads you see for jobs that you think I might enjoy!  thanks all!

Todays photo:

Epilobium Brachycarpum

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Crazy week(end)!

I just might have missed a few days in the daily photo thing recently, but its so hard to tell because I have just been so busy that all my days are running together!  This week I started my macroinvertebrate monitoring (only the thing I have been planning for since I moved up to Tahoe in May) and we are working SO much faster than I had planned, getting 8 entire 250 meter reaches done in 3 days (not to mention closing up day three early to go pull invasive weeds in the Upper Truckee Marsh to support another AmeriCorps volunteer in his event)!  Sounds impressive right?  Well it kind of is, but it also involved 2 twelve hour days and one 11 hour day, but thats okay.  That was Monday through Wednesday, and then on Thursday our AmeriCorps training starting with trail building on the Tahoe Rim Trail which involved an early morning and some hard work (fortunately I was able to leave early for that work picnic I made the pie for and the pie was a pretty big hit!)  Then we headed off to the beach to meet up with the rest of our AmeriCorps group to have some dinner.

That brings us to Friday, a full day of training on like after AmeriCorps (job hunting, resume building, interviewing, etc).  The most important lesson I took away from that was to keep in touch with everyone you meet ever because you never know who might prove to be a great contact later on (plus you know, having friends is pretty cool...).  That was a rewarding but very long day that ended with a reception for the Sierra Nevada Alliance Conference attendees and AmeriCorps volunteers which was very cool.  I met and spoke to a science teacher who is also a GLOBE trainer and was utterly fascinated by his stories!  It brought back wonderful memories of some of my science teachers that really inspired me back in the day (shout out to Mr. Grotto and Mr. Mitchell!)

Anyway that was yesterday and that brings us to today, when all of us AmeriCorps folks got to be conference attendees for the day which was a very cool experience!  I learned a lot, met some VERY interesting and amazing people, and learned that my Mom isn't the only one who reads this blog!  (which gave me all sorts of guilt about having not updated for a few days...) I handed out all sorts of business cards that I knew I had printed for a reason, and felt very inspired at the end of the day, after hearing about all the wonderful things all these organizations are doing!  The conference officially ended for me at 4:30 pm and now I'm home, and it really feels like weekend, which I needed after this week because its back to monitoring on Monday and while it is amazing and fun work (can't complain about playing in rivers all day), it is thoroughly exhausting and we are getting reports that it will be cold enough to snow here tonight as low as 7000 feet (that is unconfirmed rumors of course, my favorite information source!) and that could make Monday extra frigid!

Anyway today I have taken several photos to make up for my few days of silence, and I figured it has been a long time since I gave my Mom a garden update so here are my little kiddos:

Basil Flowers

Yellow Tomato Babies, even though I bring him in out of the cold every night he's still having a very hard time figuring out how to redden up his tomaters!

My Snap Dragons, now so tall that they are bent over and flowering upside down!

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the most beautiful day at work

A few of the sites i saw at work today....

This flower i can't ID...hard to find because its so average looking...

These ones are a little more interesting....these are called Pine Drop - Pterospora andromedea

And these are called Columbian Monkshood - Aconitum columbianum

This is the view from the rock we climbed to eat lunch.

And this is the view from the road/trail we walked back to the car.  What a beautiful day!

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native or non-native

Ever since my work sent me to an invasive weeds training a few months back I have been constantly checking out the plants I find in the field and on the lookout for invasives.  Sometimes they are easy, like thistles (there are 2 that are native here, both of which are very distinct), sometimes they are harder (like the native daisy, shasta daisy, and the invasive daisy, oxeye daisy, which differ mostly in proportions of petals to flower center), and sometimes they leave me downright lost (like the one described below).  I just might have finally figured it out.

Sulfer Cinquefoil is a non-native invasive plant to the Tahoe Basin.  It has leaves that resemble pot leaves and light  yellow butter-cup like flowers.  Slender Cinquefoil is a native plant to the Tahoe Basin.  It has the same leaves and the same flowers, except the flowers are a much brighter yellow.  But wait...theres more!  There is another similar flower, whose name I'm not familiar with, native to these parts, pale yellow flowers, leaves like strawberry leaves.  This is not bad either.  IDing any of these plants before they flower is damn near impossible for me, but today, invaisve weed book in tow, while out at some property doing monitoring for work, I found this guy:

A beautiful example of Slender Cinquefoil.  I think I might have it down now...but we'll see....

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watercolors

A friend and fellow SNAP volunteer recently asked me would I be interested in possibly doing some watercolor illustrations for some interpretive signage their organization is creating.  They want 10 in total, of invasive and native species of the foothills where the signs will be placed.  They want some samples of my work so that they can decide if they like it enough to put it on their signs and so I decided to try to practice with a few of the species this weekend to see if I think I can really handle it.  Well I can certainly draw/paint what they are looking for, but I'm not all that impressed with my final products.  I made these in only a few hours, so if I put a great deal more time into it maybe I could, but I'm not sure I have that kinda time right now.  Anyway, these are what I created, the first is English Ivy (Hedera helix) and the second is Himalayan Blackberry (Rubus armeniacus), both of which are invasive to those parts.  I'm not overly impressed with my blackberry painting skills, but I guess i can do leaves okay...

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snowballs?

These are called Ranger Buttons....but I call them snowball flowers!  Aren't they fun?

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botany!

Today I helped my coworker finish up some vegetation monitoring and learned some more plants.  I'm making myself a sheet with common names, descriptions, Latin names, and photos of all the plants that I have been IDing, here are a few of the new ones from todays plots:

Common Horsetail

Mule's Ear

Brewers Daisy (Surrounded by Green Stipule Lupine) 

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California...land of lupines!

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working hard..

I hug trees.  Especially 100 year old incense cedars.

I found this guy today...its a Misumena Vatia I think; they can change colors to light yellow and dark yellow depending on the surface they're on.  This guy was on a Tiger Lilly, so he was bright!

Wildflowers!  I can't identify these, but they're perrty!  

A beautiful doe stopped by to say hello too!

This is my job.  I walk around in the woods and make sure streams are healthy.  Then I try to ID flowers and bugs for fun!  

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problem...

I did take a photo for today, I swear!  The problem:  I took it on the work camera, made plans to email it to myself, and then promptly forgot after heading from the room where I have to upload the photos back to my own computer....SO I have a really cute photo of a wild lily for you folks, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow.  Sorry!

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yesterday and today...

this is a little bit confusing, but I hiked Tallac on Sunday, July 4th.  I posted the picture at 1:00am, when I got home from the fireworks, so it says monday, but it was sunday, and I forgot to post one on monday.  In fact I didn't even take one (for shame!) so now I am posting 2 from today to make up for yesterday...if that makes sense...anyway heres one I took first thing this morning, not my usual style, but pretty funny none the less:

This is my lovely coworker Lauren, modeling the old leaky waders that we cut the boots off of.  Pretty hobo-tastic, wouldn't you say?

This is a shot of the fresh lavender i picked up at the farmers market today to make my room smell nice, and boy does it ever! 

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long day

i'm too tired to even try to post anything better than this crappy black and white is snapped outside of the Tahoe Environmental Research Center today while I was waiting for someone to let me into the lab to pick up my veg samples.  here it is...

now its time to sleeeeeep.

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my garden!

its been a while since i gave you an update on my little plant babies!  so heres my photo of the day, a happy little pansy:

And here is a photo of all of them:

i now have enough lettuce to make the worlds tiniest salad!

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i'm baaaack!

I know that it has been simply AGES since I updated this thing, and seriously, apologies all around!  I have been working roughly 50 million hours a week and for my first month and a half here I had no internet at home.  I do now though, and as promised, I will continue my challenge!  it may be a little tough to get back in the swing of things but i'll do my best not to let you down again!  First things first, here is some of what you missed:

Early morning fog at our spring training down in Coloma, CA.  All of the pictures of flowers below are ones that I took at our campsite during our week of training:

Sunrise on our second or third to last day in Coloma.

The weekend after spending an 80 degree week in sunny Coloma, we were back in South Lake where we got snowed on some more.  On the way back from a trip down to Carson City, NV to do some shopping   I grabbed this shot of snow clouds over Lake Tahoe from highway 50.  

 I spent the snowy Friday before memorial day painting at Fredericks Cabin on fallen leaf lake.  I couldn't resist snapping a shot of a rather white Mount Tallac sticking its head up into the clouds.

A short hike up to a sweet waterfall and my favorite picture of the day is this little guy, who must have had good luck begging from tourists before since he was not afraid to show off his round little belly to us.  No, i did not feed him, in case you're curious.

The sunset at Fred's after our memorial day BBQ...still quite a bit of snow out there...

Nevada Beach in Stateline, NV.  No place like Tahoe to lay in 80 degree sunshine and stare at snow covered mountains!

This is how I get to work in the morning, or at least its how I had to go when high spring flows flooded the bike trail I usually use.  This is probably one of my favorite commutes ever.

Amazing waders for amazing ladies...somedays i quite enjoy this job.

Upper Truckee Marsh...just another day at work...

Last weekend I got to hang with TBI and go with them on their small plane trip around Tahoe.  I rode shot-gun in a 4 person plane and snapped a few shots of the mountains and Emerald Bay while I was up there.  

This one is the Tahoe Keys, the most unnatural creation I have ever laid eyes one.  Its a neighborhood in which every house has their own boat slip.  Interesting, but unfortunately not great for the environment.  

And finally this one, the beautiful Bear River at my friend Lucy's house, where we camped last night and swam this morning, so yes, as this photo was taken today, it can be considered my first "photo of the day" since I quit sooo soooo long ago.  that means its time for one of these:

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wow...its been so long since i've done that!  how very exciting!  Thats all i've got in me for now, I really should have been in bed HOURS ago.  I have a very very busy week ahead of me, but i'll do my best to keep on top of my photos!

crazy weather!

Today has been a raining, thundering, sunny, cold, warm, wet, crazy, hail-y, ridiculous day.  So here's todays shot of the hailstones in my plants!  i ran out and got all sorts of ice all down my shirt and in my hair, just to bring these little babies into the house and they were already filled with ice.

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lovely flowa

taken today at work in gold bug park.

i have an addiction.

to something other than taking pictures....

i'm addicted to baking.  i just can't help it.  i fought it for hours today, and ended up making 2 batches of cookies.  i didn't even eat any, i was already full when i started making them.  oatmeal craisin almond chocolate chip cookies, chocolate peanut butter sauce pan cookies.  

someday i'll be a full time baker.  can't wait. :o)

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in the field...

I worked from 6:30 am to 6:30 pm today, helping out with the IMS program at work (an irrigation management program provided to Ag customers).  I spent the day cruising from vineyard to orchard to vineyard again, using a neutron probe to monitor soil moisture levels with my colleague.  I saw quail, turkeys, llamas, tons of deer, several very sweet and very friendly dogs, and even dozens of peacocks being kept as pets at 2 different vineyards.  We crossed the oldest suspension bridge in California (so i'm told) and this is the view of the river canyon that bridge spans.  The river you see is the South Fork American (a watershed very close to my heart, as I have done most of my learning out here thus far on and in this very watershed).  River levels are historically much higher than this (you can see where the water level used to be, the tops of the bare rock) but these days its running much lower because of upstream dams and a series of drought years.  At least now, for four hours a day, 6 days a week, all summer long, the dams are required to release a minimum of 1500 cfs (guestimate, since i don't have the actual value right here, but its close to this) for the rafting companies.  Rafters got these levels guaranteed years ago, and without it i'm sure they'd all be out of business by now.  Theres so much more I could share about this river, but I'm not all that sure you folks are that interested so I'll leave some for later.  

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rosey!

Roses are red...

...except this one...

because its pink!

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i love food.

we all know i love taking pictures of my food, so heres a colorful shot of my lunch, a delicious garden salad with dried fruit and maple vinaigrette dressing, and a little bowl of grapes.   Mom, these are the dishes you talked me into buying today.  I didn't get the mugs, but I might go back for them because I really like them!

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