What are you Reading?

I am currently reading Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. I haven't read too far into it (school has been a bit of a distraction for me). This book has been on my must-read list for a while. And what finally inspired me to buckle down and read this book was due to the fact that it was in the running to make a list of the Ten Most Harmful Books of the 19th and 20th Centuries (2005) according to a "panel of 15 conservative scholars and public policy leaders." So, I admit it, I felt an extra bit encouragement to read it just knowing that there are some staunch conservatives out there who deem the book "harmful". It's the inner rebellious teenage U.S. citizen that made me do it (I can blame a lot of my actions on her, actually). As I understand, this book was quite controversial for its time (1962), as it opened up ideas that DDT and other synthetic pesticides might actually be harmful to our ecology and threatening to human life itself. Now days, I don't know anyone that would disagree with the points made in this book. One confirming situation involving the effects of DDT was with the diminishing population of predatory birds, and most famously, the California Condor. So I found it ironic to see it was a potential runner-up for the "harmful" books list. Clearly, Carson wrote this book with the intention of alerting society to deadly agricultural practices that were wide-spread and highly damaging to our ecosystem. So how could the information within this book have been considered harmful? Harmful, maybe, to the multi-million dollar industrial chemical industry. That's the only answer I could find to justify its candidacy. Rachel Carson was fighting a very personal battle with breast cancer while she wrote Silent Spring. She died in 1964, two years after the book was published. And so I read this book not only for mild rebellious satisfaction, but also for the simple fact that I can admire a woman like Rachel Carson for her love of nature and for the active and inspirational role she played in the environmental movement. And, as I am pursuing a career in environmental science, it would be erroneous for me to not read it.

"It is a wholesome and necessary thing for us to turn again to the earth and in the contemplation of her beauties to know the sense of wonder and humility." -Rachel Carson (1907-1964)

Spring Term

It's been a while since I gave a detailed update of the going-ons in my life, so I'm going to buckle down here and journal a few things.

We are three weeks into the spring term (already)! Wow! Time really flies when you're having fun. And this term really has been lots of fun. Keith decided to take the same classes that I am taking this term. It was sort of a last-minute decision for him. Since he started college, he's been thinking a lot about his goals after he gets a degree. Initially, he was going for a degree in theatre, just because that's always been his thing. But his passion for theatre really seems to have fizzled since we moved here. To avoid turning this paragraph into an analysis into the wild mind of Keith, I will just say that he's recently had more of an interest in pursuing a career that would get him outdoors. So he decided to take the Environmental Studies classes with me because it allows him to get a taste of what he might be getting himself into if he does decide to change his major.

Classes are during the day on Monday and Wednesday, so I've had to shift my work schedule around to accommodate my new school schedule. It was like pulling teeth to get management here to agree to my new schedule, but luckily it all worked out. I'm working 11 ½ hour days to make up for lost time, but it's been worth it. In fact, I much prefer this schedule over taking night classes.

Homework for our birding class consists of... well, to go birding. That's all. How simple and fun is that? For our first lab, we met out at the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge and spent half the day there. It was incredible! And last week, instead of meeting in the classroom for a lecture, we all met out at Oaks Bottom Reserve and observed all the birds out there. I was surprised to see a bald eagle. Oaks Bottom is located adjacent to one of Portland's hippest downtown neighborhoods. We watched a pair of Osprey mating in their nest and I saw my first Screech Owl. That was pretty amazing.

Our Environmental Class has been equally exciting. We all went out last Wednesday (the warmest day of the year) and mapped a stream. We were in mud up to our knees.

More blog to come… I am having a hard time sitting still long enough to fully update. But I owe Kristin a current book-list and, as always, have more to yammer about.

No time now, though! It's sunny outside! It's Friday night! MUST GET OUTDOORS!
Have a great weekend everyone! Keith and I will be out at Tillamook Bay tomorrow… birding, birding, birding…

Tata for now!

I’ve just shaved Lily.
At first, I considered purchasing a pair of hawk-handlers gloves. Instead, I downed a generous glass of wine, and with my liquid confidence, I went at her with the clippers.

BEFORE:


FIVE MINUTES AFTER:



Doesn't she look mortified? Haha!
She's actually in a very good mood right now, all snuggled up in my lap, so I know she appreciates it. But I do have some more work to do. She's only partially shaved. It was the best I could do given her limited tolerance. She made it quite clear that she wouldn't be having an extended stay locked in the bathroom with me and my clippers.