Semester highlights include:
- Having my first meeting of my dissertation research committee,
- Defending my dissertation prospectus,
- Forming the Biology Graduate Student Association,
- Winning President of the BGSA,
- Making an A in Plant Ecophysiology, and
- Best of all, getting plants to grow.
I have had 3 plant species ready to experiment on: black willow (Salix nigra), maidencane (Panicum hemitomon), and smartweed (Polygonum hydropiperoides). They were doing really well until some watering miscommunication dessimated my willow. I think they might have bit the dust this time. If that is true (I haven't given up on those hardy buggers, yet, though), I will still have 2 species to do a comparative study. And, this fall, I can collect some more willow wildlings and work with them over the winter as I had planned this past winter, but now I have the experience to hopefully pull that off. At any rate, 2 species look great. I had planned on taking baseline data this week, but I am laid up with a sprained ankle and have to stay off of it for a few days.
During the semester, I did have lots of fun times:
- Visited Monteagle with Andrew and Madison and went to the Tennessee Aquarium,
- Saw the CAKE show at Minglewood with Andrew,
- Visited Reelfoot Lake with Andrew to see bald cypress and bald eagles,
- Went to Louisville to celebrate Madison's 14th birthday and got to see her, Carter, Rachel, Noah, Elizabeth, and Grandma (good visit!),
- Got miracles to the Bassnectar (by myself) and Railroad Earth (me and Andrew) shows at Minglewood,
- Surprised Emily by making it to her baby shower at the last minute,
- Drove to Colorado for a week during my spring break to see the Rockies and a String Cheese Incident show (thanks Carter and Rachel!) with Carter, Rachel, and Noah,
- Found out that Kate and Jose are having a baby boy (!!!),
- Madison visited Memphis during her spring break,
- Andrew (mostly) and I have been working on gardening and it's coming along great, and
- Madison got to come to Memphis for a long weekend for MusicFest.
But, not all news from the semester was good. A terrible earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Japan have been events that cause us worry for our friends who live in Japan, as well as for the global implications of the nuclear situation. Closer to home, while I was in Colorado, JoJo was attacked and killed by a roaming pack of stray dogs. He was my best friend, and I miss him terribly. It's not the same around here without him. I try to comfort myself with the knowledge that, although his life was cut short, he lived every day to its fullest and was a very happy creature while on this Earth.
The future looks promising though: an experiment to run, some festivals to attend, Madison's summer visit, a week relaxing in the Keys, and maybe a kitten adoption.
Also, I am proud to say that I have 5 months of my daily photo project under my belt, and it's been a source of a lot of fun and creativity for me.
