I apologize for not posting lately (Mom), but I've been having big problems accessing and using this site. Hopefully that has changed and I'll be able to keep it better up to date.

Happy Holidays: My family has been putting luminaries in front of our house as long as I can remember. This year is the first time in probably eight to ten years that we had enough snow by Christmas to pile them up on a snowbank!
In the beginning of the month the Madison Ecology Group took a field trip out to visit Brandon's (yellow jacket) field sites. It was a snowy, wonderful afternoon!

Last weekend I spent a fun-filled, 16 hours in Milwaukee with 3 guy friends: Lars, Paul, and Brandon (left to right). We started with a brewery tour at Sprecher. Yes, they make root beer AND beer.
Then we went to the second to last Brewers' game of the season. The famous sausage race is pictured below. It was a fun game overall. The Brewers tied it up in the 9th inning and won in extra innings.

Paul decided to have his own sausage race. He ate all 5 of the sausages represented: Brat, Polish, Italian, Chorizo, and Hot Dog. His favorite was the Polish, but the Chorizo won the race, if you know what I mean.


We ate dinner downtown at a local brew pub and then headed to the Safe House, a spy-themed bar. The evening ended with a very educational experience for me. If you want to know more, drop me a line!

The last 2 weekends I have been lucky enough to go canoeing on the Wisconsin River with 2 different groups of friends. We had lovely weather both weekends, warm enough to swim. This is where we stopped for lunch.

I'm back in WI, but I haven't had time to upload any of my WI photos. Here are a few from outrigger canoe racing this summer in CA. I had a great time connecting up with my old club and getting to do a few races. The top picture is at the end of a 9-person, 18-mile race in Dana Point. My teammates did awesome hunting down and passing a boat easy 1/4 mile in front of us in the last 1.5 miles. The bottom one is from the novice initiation; Chris doesn't always dress that nice.

Valerie came to visit me last week and we spent a few days on Santa Rosa Island together. Her first day we saw a lot of slug like animals.

Val is holding what we think is a Pleurobranch-a type of sea slug. We had lots of wild guesses from a tongue to a... well... slug. Guess that one was right.

The bottom.

The top.

Elephant seals sunning near Johnson's Lee.
They move kind of like slugs.

My favorite, Banana Slugs, in Lobo Canyon.

I hope you all had a happy Independence Day. Unfortunately I had to work, but the view wasn't too bad where I was working. It was even calm so I could hear the waves, and it was warm!



Plus I squeezed in a little beach time at the end of the day. Definitely can't complain about the crowds! The few of us up in housing had a BBQ/potluck of sorts and had a pleasant evening. The fog came in, so we couldn't see the fireworks on the mainland. Bummer.

A few shots from my first week out on Santa Rosa Island, CA. This is the view I had as I hiked 2 hrs in the wrong direction to find one of my sites. Bad maps and memory to blame. It was lovely except for the 30 mph winds with gusts up to 55. It felt like I was walking upstream most of the day.

The round, white object in the bottom of the photo is a Chumash (the local Native American tribe) mortar, used to grind and mash. I may be the first person to touch it in 1000's of years!

A view of Santa Cruz Island in the distance across on of the few expansive stands of chaparral.

Two Mule Deer in a stand of chaparral to give you a sense of how short the shrubs are.

Thanks for the "Old Fashioned" send off! I arrived in CA safe and sound if a few days later than initially planned. Fortunately that meant I got to see my brother and sister-in-law.

Last weekend Dan convinced some friends of his to take us sailing. It was the first time in 6 years I'd been in a sailboat and it was great. Here Dan's at the helm and is excited about breaking his speed record--5.9. Soon after this picture he got up to 6.1!
Captain Chee and the lovely Kate, our sailing hosts. Thanks!

A few more pictures from my trip to Europe.

Corniglia, Italy as viewed from out lunch spot.

Riomaggiore, Italy. Our last stop in the Cinque Terre.

Best Wine Bar in Italy! The view was amazing.

A sunset over Lake Mendota, WI from the Big Dive.
Can California really beat this?

An unlucky night for Dan H. He flippd the canoe TWICE!

Here's a few pictures from the beginning of my spring break trip to Europe. I can't believe that was 2.5 weeks ago already.

We spent a day in Milan, where I stomped the bull's balls for luck in love.

We spent the night in Levanto, the first town north of the Cinque Terre in Italy. We ate at this crazy restaurant and were fed wonderful food and beverages by even crazier Chef Massimo.

We hiked from Levanto to Monterosso, the first of the 5 villages making up the Cinque Terre.

This is hiking into Vernazza, my favorite of the 5 villages.

I arrived in Zurich today to visit my friend Teresa. We wandered through the city and along the lake. I was in a haze most of the day from only 2 hrs of sleep on the plane. It gave me a real odd sense of deja vu-even though I know I have actually been some of these places before. Teresa had a bunch of her work friends over for dinner, so I could finally put names to faces and stories. They are a fun group of ex-Pats. We leave for Milan and the Cinque Terre tomorrow morning.

I finally partook in the Madison tradition of beers on the Terrace. We had a few days in the upper 70's this week so I gathered some friends along the shores of Lake Mendota.

My housemates and I hosted a Whiskey/Bourbon/Scotch Tasting party last night. What was initially conceived of as a small party of 10 people ended up being 42 people at last count. Wild and fun times. I missed the shot of the table with 15 bottles on it, but here is an AK47 full of Bulleit Whiskey.

The first real thunderstorm of Spring passed through last night. The thunder woke me up at 2 am and was just a constant rumble for the 30 minutes I stayed up. Tried to catch a streak but this is as close as I got. This is one of the reasons I came back to WI!

The first Crocuses, another sure sign of Spring.

The ice is melting off Wingra Lake right by my house and the Canada geese are arriving. Spring is here!