Birding around San Antonio

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Thursday March 25th

This was a very busy day. We started birding in the parking lots of the hotel and adjacent McDonalds.

It continued from there as we used the Great Texas Birding Trail maps to find lots of great places. We got a day use pass for a couple of private lakes.

Black vultures on the wing

Tree full of Great-tailed grackles

There were more fields of flowers to be seen too...

After lunch at Appleby's, we walked around the Mission Espada grounds.

And after much driving about found the Mitchell Lake Audubon Center. We saw a great number of birds this day. Many of them new to me. The flock of black vultures on the dumpster at one of the private lakes was awesome in every sense of the word. And the grackles displaying for mates were amusing.

Bird list:
1. House sparrow
2. Common grackle
3. Great tailed grackle
4. Rock doves
5. Starlings
6. Cliff swallows
7. Mocking birds
8. Black vultures
9. Mourning doves
10. Cattle egrets
11. Scissor tailed flycatcher
12. Crows
13. Kildeer
14. Crested caracara
15. Turkey vultures
16. Barn swallows
17. Coots
18. Savannah sparrows
19. Great egret
20. Pied billed grebe
21. Mallards
22. Double crested cormorants
23. Common moorhen
24. Blue winged teals
25. Neotropic cormorants
26. Osprey
27. Glossy ibis
28. Spotted sandpiper
29. Song sparrow
30. Red tailed hawk
31. Red winged blackbird
32. Gadwall
33. Great blue heron
34. Eastern meadowlark
35. White winged doves
36. House finches
37. Cardinals
38. Cliff swallows
39. Kestrels
40. Northern shovelers
41. Blue gray gnatcatcher
42. Swamp sparrow
43. Loggerhead shrike
44. Common yellowthroat - Jenny only cause she was searching the reeds with her binocs

And finally a fixed wing cargo bird that kept psyching us out.

I found the book 'Bird Brains: The Intelligence of Crows, Ravens, Magpies, and Jays' by Candace Savage at the Refuge and read it to Nick and Melinda while we drove home. The family went to the new Chinese place in Italy for dinner. Surprisingly it was really good. Later a very tired group of us played Scrabble.

For photos see:
Birding day 2 - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157624106750920/
Mission Espada - http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623982568747/

Birding our way South to San Antonio

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Wednesday March 24th

Melinda's Car & Nick's Coffee

Nick, Melinda and I took off for San Antonio. The plan was to meet up with Nanette for lunch somewhere along the way. The plan worked. We birded and met them just north of Austin for lunch at Wendy's.

Black-bellied whistling ducks

Then they took off to go to a cave and we continued our birding adventure. By now, Nick had figured out that Melinda and I don't sit for hours looking at a bird. Instead we drive around looking at cool stuff. We get out and hike down interesting trails in the middle of nowhere and generally go and see what's out and about.

From the bridge we could see kinglets. Frisky kinglets flicking wings and darting about. Unfortunately they didn't stay still long enough to identify the top of their heads. So we have no idea if they are ruby or golden...

This was a lovely deserted stretch of park. Notice the big spiny prickly pear cactus on the left.

Nick had to investigate it...

That day we saw 43 bird species including:
1. Eastern phoebe
2. Northern cardinals
3. Great blue heron
4. American crows
5. Great tailed grackles
6. Common grackle
7. Black vultures
8. European starlings
9. Carolina chickadee
10. Mourning doves
11. Osprey
12. Kildeer
13. American coots
14. Double crested cormorants
15. Forsters tern
16. Red wing blackbird
17. Roadrunner
18. Mocking birds
19. Pied billed grebe -- We saw this on a pond beside the road, it was bobbing along and then Nick shouted "THAT DUCK JUST SANK!" it was awesome.
20. Orange crowned warblers
21. Barn swallows
22. Chipping sparrows
23. Black bellied whistling ducks
24. Ring necked ducks
25. Mallards
26. Lesser scaup
27. Turkey vulture
28. Cedar waxwings
29. Lapland longspurs
30. Lark sparrows
31. Eurasian collared doves
32. Eastern bluebird
33. Kinglets
34. Eastern meadowlarks
35. Vesper sparrows
36. Bank swallows
37. Cliff swallows
38. Rock doves
39. Kestrels
40. Red tailed hawk
41. White wing doves
42. House sparrows
43. Great egret

Additionally gray squirrels and cottontail bunnies

On the trip I got notes to look up Ogilvy's book "Ogilvy on Advertising"

I also needed to look up the history of 'cast aspersions'

From the OED:
6. A damaging report; a charge that tarnishes the reputation; a calumny, slander, false insinuation. Esp. in the phr. to cast aspersions upon.
1596 Spenser View State Ireland Pref. 2 Which may seeme to lay‥any particular aspersion upon some families.
a1661 T. Fuller Worthies (1662) Bristol 37 As false is the Aspersion of his being a great Usurer.
1692 King James II Let. 2 Apr. (BL Stowe 158 f. 61) , Even that precatuion [having witnesses at the prince's birth] was not enough to hinder Us from the malicious Aspersions of such as were resolved to deprive Us of Our Royal Right.
1749 H. Fielding Tom Jones IV. xi. vii. 155, I defy all the World to cast a just Aspersion on my Character.
1859 ‘G. Eliot’ Adam Bede I. i. v. 113 Vindicating myself from the aspersions.

It was a LOT of fun. We crisscrossed around birding in Waco and Austin and San Antonio environs. The spring wildflowers were out in force this weekend and they were gorgeous. Fields of blue and red and orange and yellow were all delightful. We ended in Southeast SA at a Best Western. The desk clerk gave us directions to one of my favorite Mexican restaurants EVER. It was filled with locals and for good reason.

For more photos see:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157624106750920/

Day in Dallas

Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
Tuesday March 23rd


We arranged to meet Jeff & Randi at the Aquarium. They were late, not just a little late, but really late. We sat in the parking lot, then we sat in the building, finally we started wandering a bit. Thank heavens for cell phones.

The Aquarium is outstanding with lots and lots of birds and plants and of course fish. After the Aquarium we went to the Spaghetti Warehouse for lunch and then over to the Dallas Museum of Art. The exhibits had changed since I had last visited and it was fun to wander around and look. We had a great time with Jeff & Randi. I miss them.

When we got back did a little birding around town with Melinda and Mom. We saw, not this Jaguar which was at the aquarium, but:
Northern shovelers
Ring necked duck
Blue winged teal
Red tailed hawk
Starlings
House sparrows
Eastern phoebe
Barn swallows
Kildeer
Wilsons snipes
Eastern meadowlark
Mourning doves
Kestrel
Great tailed grackles
Common grackles
Savannah sparrows
Great blue heron
Harris sparrows

For more Day in Dallas photos see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623916716030/


Nor did we see this penguin in Italy TX, it is another denizen of the aquarium.

Domes

Nick & Jenny drive to and visit Italy Texas
Journal Entry March 2010
Written December 2010
March 22nd (Monday)

In Texas, time to show Nick a few more domes. :) Dad took us around to the nearby Gymnasiums, apartments and around the business complex. He then took off with Nick to show him more plans and stuff. Me? I took a nap.

Mom and I did some shopping then we made Mexican food for those who wanted to come visit. This was pretty much the only day we spent with Dad. He was always out and about working for some big shot in Dallas.

For more dome photos I've taken see: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623903629464/
For more on monolithic domes, including plans, photos and other information see: http://www.monolithic.com/

Drive to Price UT then to Santa Rosa NM then to Italy TX

Nick & Jenny drive to and visit Italy Texas
Journal Entry March 2010 (Written December 2010)
March 19th - 21st (Friday - Sunday)

The plan was to drive the freeway for as much of the trip as possible, stopping in the great plains flyway to do some birding, but weather intervened making the road through Wyoming, Colorado, and Kansas a crazy mess of snow. The plan changed, we'd drive through Utah and take the southern route to Italy TX.

We left in the late afternoon on Friday and drove to Price. We had originally planned on getting to Green River but a miscommunication landed us with reservations in Price. This miscommunication was a real blessing. Passing Malad ID we found deer. Deer, hundreds of deer, were scattered in clumps along the fields, streams, and canyons on both side of the road through any area devoid of civilization. It would not have been safe to continue once night had fallen. Additionally, the snow caught us in the canyon leading to Price. AND we were both exhausted. Nick had been reading Grave Peril by Jim Butcher and was close to the end. I read it aloud and finished it.

The next morning we left bright and early and headed out across the red desert and canyon of Utah. It was a stunning though confusing drive. Nick and I were listening to the book Summer Knight by Jim Butcher and forgot to pay attention to the driving directions on occasion. This led to many a scenic detour. Eventually we arrived at our next stop, Santa Rosa NM. Dinner at a local Route 66 diner where the song 'Get your kicks on route 66' started haunting me again.

The rest of the drive passed uneventfully, we finished Summer Knight and moved on to Death Masks by Jim Butcher. Regretfully we were unable to finish listening to this. Before we left I signed us up for Audible. An audio book club that allows you to download a book a month for ~$15.00 and more books really cheaply compared to cd prices. This book club has been extremely useful. We called as we neared Italy and the extended family met us at the local buffet restaurant that Dad likes. It was great to see everyone.

I've uploaded pictures of these days to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jsemenza/sets/72157623847229968/

Final day in Anchorage

Our last day in Anchorage, Melinda and I slept in. The hotel graciously allowed me a later checkout (3:00 p.m.) so we hung out, talked, ate lunch in the hotel and napped. About 3:00 Arlene came by to pick us up and we headed out. The snow had fallen and was continuing to fall. They may have had to truck in snow to cover the street for the Iditarod, but now ... There was also quite a bit of wind blowing drifts hither and thither. There was no parking at the museum so we went to the Alaska Native Medical Center, which Arlene has discovered has a nice collection of native art.

We drove around hoping for Ravens and finding public art, lovely snow covered trees and silly signs. Full circle, we had dinner at the same diner we stopped at on the first day in Anchorage. They have post offices that stay open really, really late. Who'd a thunk that 9:30 pm would be a busy time at the post office? I sent my box home via priority mail, much cheaper than taking it
on the plane. Arlene dropped us off at the airport at 10:00 p.m.

After checking our bags Melinda and I got together and played boggle at the Chili's inside of the airport. At 11:30 we had to stop and head for our respective gates. I hate the parting part. My flight left at midnight, completely packed and headed for Seattle. I had dumped my water bottle before going through the TSA checkpoint at the Anchorage airport. Once in I decided to buy a new bottle, but was thwarted by the $3 price tag. I'm just not going to pay that much for a bottle of water. In line to get on the plane another TSA approached me and asked me if I had any liquids, other than the little stuff in the plastic baggie. BWHAHAHAHAHAHA (in my head) No I said, I wouldn't pay 3 bucks for a bottle... She suggested that what she does is bring her own bottle and fills it at the water fountain. :) She had to move on and test someone elses water. Why yes, I did the happy bum dance for that.

Once on the plane I hoped for sleep. I was sooooo tired. Sleep eluded me. At Seattle I recharged my phone, hunted down a less than $2 bottle of water and waited for my next flight. On this flight I closed my eyes and hoped for sleep but once again... There's a chance I got the 1-10 minute out, but overall I don't remember sleeping at all. In Boise we stayed on the plane for a quick turn around. I texted Nick asking him to pick up breakfast for me. He met the very tired me at the Idaho Falls airport and the food was waiting in the car. Funny, I wasn't able to sleep in the car on the way home either. Once home though... Poof out like a light.

I had a lovely time in Anchorage. The people were great, the conference was interesting and my presentations were fine. Melinda and I had great fun with Arlene and I got to see Anchorage in it's snowy glory. Marvelous.

Monday, Out and About

Today, it was very cold, and then not so cold, and then kinda cold. The morning wind blew snow off the ground and at us. Min and I walked over to the Snow City Cafe to meet Arlene for breakfast.

Spent a chunk of the day driving around to parks and other areas where we could watch ravens or scenery or get out and hike around a bit. What we found were lots and lots of ravens playing on the wind. A few magpies tried to play on the wind like the ravens, but they just didn't have the stamina for the prolonged soaring and swooping bouts. A single bald eagle flew across our path as we watched the ravens. The hiking only occured after the wind had stopped and the temp had gone up a bit.

We got a great tour of the public library's special collections area.

People watching and talking at a local coffee shop

Went in to Title Wave Books which carries both used and new books and was overwhelmed by the number of titles I wanted to leave with. :) good thing it was a short visit.

Another short stop was at the Iditerod's official hotel and it's gift shop.

Dinner at Beartooth with it's fantastic fish & chips (fresh halibut & garlic/cilantro fries). Page met us there so we had a lovely time talking and laughing. By the time we left the wait to get in was over an hour.

Back to the hotel early to begin packing and readying for tomorrow. Tomorrow is Tuesday, we check out of the hotel at 3:00 p.m. and catch our planes at midnight. It's going to be a surreal day.

As for today, it was lovely. Arlene is a fabulous guide, she's funny, she's knowledgeable about the area's history and people, and she's endlessly willing to go and try things out.

Final Conference Day - Out and About

Woke up 20 minutes before the session I wanted to attend started, so I slapped on some clothes and pulled my hair back and headed out.

The first session 'Sabbaticals Near and Far: What You Need to Know by Daria Carle, Judy Green, Kate Gordon, and Diane Ruess' was about sabbaticals that have been taken by three of the UAA librarians. I now know a lot more about Fulbright monies. The sabbaticals they did were all fascinating. They provided a list of books and links that would be interesting to have for my own library.

Program Abstract: Sabbaticals are fairly common in academia, but more recently, job exchanges and work abroad opportunities have opened up for librarians of all types. Public and private entities benefit when employees take a break from their regular jobs. Join us in a panel discussion with several members of the University of Alaska faculty who have recently been awarded sabbaticals or Fulbrights. The panelists will discuss how they came up with their ideas, and how they went about translating their ideas into sabbatical projects. Hear about their experiences, including where they went and why, and what they accomplished. Find out about the process of applying for leave, and learn some tips to help you think outside of the box to create a sabbatical project.

The next (and final for me) session was 'Adding Google Gadgets to Your OPAC by John Wohlers.' The title really should have been about creating Google gadgets that bring your OPAC, Federated Search and other resources to iGoogle. It was a tech and jargon heavy session that could be very useful.

Program Abstract: John Wohlers will demonstrate how libraries can create Google Gadgets that make it possible to integrate the library catalog into patrons’ iGoogle pages. He will demonstrate other gadget possibilities, including the real time display of a patron’s account via SIP2.

Headed out to the great outdoors on this gorgeous sunny day. It was cold and clear and stunning. Arlene drove us out on the Seward Highway to the Alaska Wildlife Conservation Center (http://www.alaskawildlife.org/). On the way we saw bald eagles and ravens. At the park I discovered a new kind of bison... Wood Bison. I didn't realize there were more than one kinds. I now need to go through all those sabbatical wildlife photos to find out if I have some of them on film. Weird.

There was a fence between me and this Elk


"Wood or Plains Bison?

The Plains bison is only slightly smaller than the more northern Wood bison, which are the largest terrestrial animal in North America They are dark brown with "humped" shoulders, shaggy manes and beards. Both the male (bull) and female (cow) have short, sharply-pointed horns. Commonly called "buffalo" by most people, although it is not a true buffalo.

There are several characteristics that distinguish Wood bison and Plains bison. Wood bison are slightly heavier, taller, have a higher and squarer hump, and have little or no chap hair on their forelegs. Wood bison also have long, straighter hair on their head and a smaller chin beard." -- http://www.alaskawildlife.org/bison.html

Then we headed out for Whittier. In order to get there you have to pass through a 2.5 mile tunnel. This tunnel is only wide enough for one way traffic. So, every 1/2 hour the tunnel switches directions, unless there is a train. The trains use the same tunnel and have the right of way. We got to the other side and found Northwestern Crows, Pacific Loons, Red Breasted Mergansers, Fork Tailed Storm Petrels, Greater Scaups, Goldeneys, Magpies and a pair of sea otters in the water. It was fabulous.

We then drove back to Anchorage and went to the Native Arts Craft show in the local mall. They had tons of things in fur, fur hats, fur gloves, fur mittens, fur coats, fur slippers, fur earings, art ringed with fur, and the list goes on. It was all fascinating and gorgeous and I wanted lots of it. I was good up until the turquoise bead necklace with the carved abalone bear. It had to be mine.

I'm very tired, but I sure saw a lot today.

Conference Day 2 - Iditerod Day

We got up early and met Arlene downstairs at 7:30 a.m. And then we wandered and took pictures of the doggies, sleds, and humans that would be participating in the race. So many adorable dogs, dogs sniffing, dogs barking, dogs singing, dogs doing doggy things, dogs in their race truck kennels, noses out to smell what's going on. It was a doggy festival and they were happy and bouncy and ready to go.

After wandering for an hour we went back to the hotel and I changed clothes and went off to teach my last session of the conference. I had a nice handful of attendees and the session went fine. Afterwards I met up with Page and took care of the paperwork.

When I got back to the hotel I changed clothes again and called Arlene. Melinda and I were both really hungry so we took off for lunch. Arlene took us to the Beartooth (relative of the Moose's tooth restaurant). They were out of halibut so instead of fish and chips Min and I shared a huge thing of nachos. We then got in the car and headed out of town. Completely forgetting about the Iditerod.

No birds to be seen, and the road was getting snowy so we turned around. On our way back in we remembered the race. But it was too late. *sniff* This was quite disappointing and I'm trying to just get over it. But I really did want to see the dogs running. :(



We drove over to the park where we had seen so many birds, but again, other than Ravens they weren't to be seen, though they were heard. It was gorgeous and still and quiet and lovely with snow falling.

Then back to the hotel. I really needed a nap and Arlene needed to prep for her presentation tomorrow morning.

Melinda and I caught the early evening news (including some footage of the race start) and then a fabulous 30 minute weather in Alaska broadcast. I did nap and skipped the last session on ethics of web 2.0. The sleep was necessary.

Upon awakening we made arrangements for dinner and went to the China Lights buffet. Large buffet with mediocre food but filling and the conversation was good.

It'll be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

Tomorrow brought new birds, scenery and marvelous things and I became just fine with skipping the dogs taking off. After all, I would have only stood around for a few moments before being too cold anyway. I did get to watch lots of it on the news here. :)

Conference Day 1

Today I got out of the room early and headed for the first session on the Jesse Lee Home in Seward. A local historian (Jackie Pels) was telling stories from her book (Family After All: Alaska's Jesse Lee Home). She collected oral narratives, slides, pictures, documents, and stories from descendants to tell the tales of the children and adults who populated the orphanage. It was fascinating, touching, and a great session. Now I need to go buy her books...

Program abstract: Children’s Voices, 1925-1965: Portraits from the Jesse Lee Home, Seward "The story of Alaska’s boarding schools and orphanages is only beginning to be told,” Alaska bibliographer Bruce Merrell wrote in 2008. In this presentation from Family After All: Alaska’s Jesse Lee Home, the stories are firsthand, accompanied by photographs that First Alaskans called amazing, a rich visual context. The Qutekcak Native Tribe of Seward called the collection a
testament to the survival and persistence of today’s Alaska Native elders. Pels will talk about the project and the book."

After being misled about where the breakfast was, I finally rendez-voused with Melinda and the rest of the librarians to attend the session by Daniel Russell from Google. First this guy was fascinating and there was so much info in the talk that I was unable to capture everything. Here are some of my highlights:

TED: Ideas Worth Spreading a website of riveting talks by remarkable people, free to the world. http://www.ted.com/

Baby Name Wizard/Voyager - http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager

Google SketchUp - http://sketchup.google.com/

Google "What's That" feature for phones and searching google

Google.org - Technology-Driven Philanthropy

Google Trends - http://www.google.com/trends

Maybe subscribe to the blogs: google, searchengineland, searchresearch

You cannot pay attention to evevrything

Look up the study of rats devfeloping religious postures

Good Searchers ...
1. Choose good search terms
2. Understand info sources
3. Domain (subject) knowledge
4. Search strategy (when to change, to narrow, to widen and how)
5. Assessment of the results and the information
6. Know how system works (search site, database)

Basic skills lots of people don't know about
control F
Using tabs to organize results
Keyword choice /synonimization
Tactics for searching

And
How to detect authority / crap
Hemingway's crap detector quote
Staying on task
Discovery
Notetaking
Data integration
Representing of info


Librarians need to:
Show the info landscape
Teach how to paddle the canoe and dodge the bears
Research is more than 'search'
Learn


Google Scholar is 4 guys and one is only part time. They do not have a "catalog" because it changes all the time with publisher putting things in and pulling things out.

Program Abstract: Breakfast Keynote: The Mind of the Researcher
Research is complicated and has changed significantly over the past century. Search engines have significantly changed our conception of what constitutes research, and yet how common is research literacy? Russell will argue that research is a fundamental skill that we need to understand, and he’ll talk about some of the findings gathered through his research at Google. The range of research skills is broad, and yet not widely distributed. Russell will discuss what we can do to help disseminate these basic and increasingly important skills.

Next we visited the exhibits. My session was next and it was a packed program with approx 65 people there. I think it went very well. At least I got a few laughs, some interaction, and a few questions. We had lunch in the hotel (Arlene was working). Grilled tuna with a side of conversation from the the WorldBook vendor who attended BYU in the 60s/70s. He knew the gorgeous Suzy South.

I attended the session on Games and Instruction by Jenny Levine. Her presentation is fully online (complete with links) at http://theshiftedlibrarian.com/presentations/2010/20100305AkLA-Gaming4Instruction.pdf

I had thought it would be about incorporating game ideas into library workshop sessions. NOPE. It was about games and how they teach and what games to bring into the library, and how students think now and... It was still useful and interesting.

I also now have a list of games I might want to buy to play with friends and family.

Program Abstract: Using Gaming for Instructional Purposes
Modern games teach kids important 21st century skills such as managing resources, problem solving, analyzing data, and synthesizing information. Is it possible to harness gaming principles to make instruction more interactive and engaging for today’s students? Hear how some libraries are incorporating gaming to teach a variety of social, literary, and curricular skills.

Games that inclcude reflection and strategy

Cool looking games: Flux, Bananagrams, 10 days in Asia, Qwerty warriors.

Someone has mapped HALO to information literacy standards

Look for "research quest" blog

Board gamesQuiddler, ticket to ride, numbers league, carcassone

"Libraries Got Game"

University of North Carolina Greensboro: Infolit game that is open source and customizable for your libray

"Quarantined" by ASU West Campus

"Head Hunt" by Ohio State


Here are a few notes I took... Just in case

Carnegie Melon: Arcade games i.e. shelve book and I'll get it

Game Maekr Academy and Scratch from MIT

"Librarians guide to gaming"

Trading cards nintendo wii characters of staff and students had to get them all to get a cookie, and they did

Geocaching in the library that freshmen can register to play when the register for classees

Fantasy football research lesson plans

Old Bridge Library serivces for seniors - nintendo wii's with teen mentors

The last session of the day that I attended was on making Book Enclosures with Mariecris and Arlene. It was a fun hands on session where we actually made archival quality book boxes. They'll be posting a video to youtube where we can see a full demonstration of the process.

Program Abstract: Do you have worn books that you need to keep? Can’t repair them? Need to protect some of your rare volumes? This hands-on training will show you how to make quick and simple book enclosures from sheets of folder-weight paper. We’ll provide the supplies and books. You bring your ability to use scissors and to draw lines along a ruler.

Dinner in the hotel room then lots of NCIS followed by a chaser of the movie "The Game Plan" with Dwayne Johnson.

The Preconference

Today was the big day... The Preconference. This is the view from the room I was teaching in, there were many distracting ravens doing acrobatics during my presentations...

Melinda and I got up early, dressed, loaded up and headed down the elevator to registration. There we found out (allegedly) where I would be speaking. Hijinks then ensued as we tried the two elevators we knew about and much walking around before finally asking the concierge dude where to go. there was a much hidden third elevator we needed to use. Thank heavens we left early. After arriving I got to set up and then present. EEP. I think it went very well, I found it interesting, they were talkative and we had a good time.

I skipped a few of the exercises on the biggest challenges for time and sanity's sake. The ones we focused on were the most important and the discussion was interesting. Lunch was a boxed wrap thing that we ate in the room, continuing the previous conversations.

As the session ended I realized how much pain I was in from standing. I sat down and stayed there for a long while. Melinda was a lot of help. She gathered up all my debris and put it together. Page came with us back to the hotel room so that I could keep the boxes/handouts/binders to take to other sessions. She had a hand truck which was great, I was much too tired to be lugging the box 'o stuff around anymore.

I tried to nap but it eluded me. So I rested and rested. We made arrangements to meet Arlene downstairs. While waiting for her a bus pulled up and unloaded all of these older folks wearing fur coats and toting lots of luggage. Eventually we started getting up and holding the door. The doors to the hotel are not automatic and they are big and heavy. It was our good deed(s) of the day. In particular I noticed a couple of ladies with stretched faces and poofy duck lips, tons of regular folks and one stylish lady with gray hair, fancy boots with heels and a really long fur coat. Melinda said 'that's the Rebecca of the future' and I totally agreed with her. Arlene arrived and off we went to Sorrento's for amazing Italian food. I had the four cheese pasta with vanilla ice cream for dessert.

By the time we got back to the room (just before 8) I was more than tired. I got ready for bed and by the time I got in it I was ready. It's been hard to sleep recently (aka the last few weeks). So I was a bit worried that I'd lay down and wake right up. I didn't. I slept. It was great.

Out and About Anchorage

Morning started really early, or late if we're still on Idaho time. I woke up at 5:00 a.m. Alaska time and stayed in bed for another 1.5 hours just because. We had arranged to meet Arlene at the Snow City diner for breakfast.

Getting dressed is always a challenge, do I go with super warm clothes cause we'll be outside or light weight ones cause we'll be inside. I was going to wear my red shirt, but Melinda beat me to it and wore hers. Good thing I changed my minds, cause when Arlene showed up she too was wearing a red shirt. I ended up with lightweight wool socks, blue silk crinkle shirt, black pleather vest, and black pants.

We walked over to the diner and got seated. I got yummy oatmeal with bacon on the side for breakfast. For the first time in a long time the bacon did not give me nausea. Then we went to Arlene's car and she started driving us around to look at stuff. We found a flock of redpolls and many common ravens. The zoo was next, (I should have worn the long underwear).

The zoo was filled with native animals that were feeling frisky. I've never seen a wolverine running, and running, and running. The polar bears were wrestling, the wolves were frisking and the ravens flew close enough for us to hear the buzzing sound their wings make. We heard boreal chickadees though we didn't see them.

Next we went to sams club for me to pick up the last supplies for the conference, then off to the grocery store. This means we don't have to buy breakfast every day. (Phew) Then we headed over to the library. Arlene needed to work at the desk and I needed more pictures of the library, particularly the exterior.

First Arlene showed us to a break room where we could eat lunch. I had picked up a piece of quiche from the grocery store and some chips. The quiche was icky so I tossed it, ate a few chips and carried on. Frankly, I wasn't that hungry cause breakfast was very large. While waiting Trina came in and we talked some and then Jodee from collection development then Page and... Well, Page came back and we went to her office to go over paperwork and other miscellaneous things. Eventually we went to Arlene's office. Melinda stayed there and I left my stuff and took off with the camera to get more photos.

It was surprisingly warm 40 degrees, semi-sunny and slightly humid. A lovely afternoon. I took pictures of the outside of the building and then more of the inside and then back to Special Collections. Arlene had girl scout cookies. She had LEMON girl scout cookies. I didn't know they came in lemon. Yummy. After much hanging around we left.

An early dinner at the Arctic Roadrunner (location 2) came next. I ordered the grilled 3 cheese sandwich with onion ring bits and tomato ravioli soup. It was truly delicious. Then back to the hotel.

We rested while Arlene took care of her kitties and gathered up her exhibit. We then met her downstairs and helped her assemble the multipieced Alaska, Dogs, Librarians display. When finished we toddled off to bed.

Heading for Alaska

I couldn't sleep last night, way too much stress about getting on the plane. I finally just gave up at 5:00 a.m. and got moving, slowly. By now I was already packed so I watched tv and did the morning stuff. One of the channels was playing mockumentary about what would happen if there was a huge pandemic and we lost a large percentage of the population. It was kinda fascinating.

I realized that I was dressed fine and had makeup on so Nick fluffed Barkley and we tried to get the picture of dog and librarian that Arlene wanted. Barkley thought we were trying to play so he was acting the fool. We used my camera so I could choose to email them, or not, that evening. Surprisingly Nick managed to snap 3 really good photos of us.

We left and I was thinking we were leaving a little late, I hadn't factored in the dog fluffing time. We went through the McDonalds drive through just in case I didn't get real food on the trip. On our way to the freeway Nick realized he'd left his phone. A potential problem for sure so we stopped and then headed out again. Now I really was nervous about the timing. I know I can make myself crazy with trying to be early everywhere so I breathed deeply and tried to focus on other things. Technically I only had to be there an hour before takeoff. The problem was that the boarding pass said the time of boarding not takeoff and I guess it freaked me that there was a difference. I would have preferred to be there by 9:30 (an hour before boarding) instead of 10:00 (an hour before takeoff). We go there by 9:40 which was way good enough. There is no curbside check in at the I.F. airport, so the stopping at McDonalds and getting change was completely unnecessary.

There was no screening of passengers being done early so Nick sat with me till that opened up much later. I had confessed to Melinda earlier that I was most nervous about the planes and my weight and she said she'd asked mom to pray about it for her. I asked Min to add me to mom's prayer list. I took Rebbecca's advice and really dressed up for the plane, skirt, blouse, jacket, jewelry makeup and all. I don't know for sure whether it was the dressing or the prayers but for the first time in a long time I wasn't pulled out of line for a more thorough going over. Neither were my bags. (phew) I was through the first hurdle.

Upstairs while waiting for my plane I looked at my phone only to find that it was down to the last power bar. EEP. I bought a bottle of water from the vending machine and plugged my phone into the nearest outlet. I was exceedingly nervous and unable to settle to a task, whether it was reading or whatnot. (there I've used the whatnot word in a sentence like a proper idahoan). I called Nick to let him know he could head out. I didn't have anything on any of my bags that was going to be tossed by the tsa. So boarding was occurring and while the seat looked small, I fit and was able to put both armrests down. The guy who was supposed to sit next to me was able to sit elsewhere cause the flight wasn't full. The seatbelt closed and all was well with the world. It was a short trip from I.F. to Boise and the steward said I'd have plenty of time to get off and buy some food in Boise before reboarding and heading to Seattle. I took his advice and much to the chagrin of the coffee girl bought a simple turkey and provolone sandwich without coffee, treat, or apple. I ate half of it and stored the rest.

Boarding in Boise was complicated by a tribe of children. On the plane I was seated next to a guy (who wasn't squeezed) who was one of the chaperons of this 4th grade class. The class had a teacher who was entered in the Iditerod. They got to build his sled for him. I'm not certain I'd be willing to race in a sled built by 4th graders. Apparently he has done this before and it's been fine. Weird. I also got to promote libraries to the guy sitting next to me. He thought librarians were a dying profession. NOT. But it still points out the problem we have with perceptions.

At Seattle I had to climb some stairs to the main airport, I was able to heft both my purse and my computer bag fine (another phew). Hooray for all the working out I've done for the past 4 months. I stopped at the nearest stand to find out what my next gate was and where it was. Down a hall, down some stairs and to the right then a train ride past two stops. EEEK! I turned around and there was the mob they were headed to the same plane I was so I just trailed along behind the speeding 4th graders. One last trepidation, would this new plane fit me. I got on board and SUCCESS! This one was even better. I ended up surrounded by 4th graders and couldn't have been happier.

On the plane I bought a deli pack. The purchasing of food on a plane isn't a bad idea after all. It certainly means you get more choices. I read, I tried to nap and I played with my Nintendo ds. As we approached the Anchorage airport we encountered a lot of turbulence, but the landing was smooth. I had arrived and no airport drama had occurred. I did do a lot of deep breathing, in part to make sure I was not holding my breath and to also be a bit more calm about the whole thing.




After deplaning I headed out to find my luggage. On the way I found Melinda and Arlene. And off we went. Luggage, car, visit to the gorgeous park by the airport, hotel check-in, unpacking (Arlene went home to feed the kitties) then out to dinner at a diner. The diner had a chili burger so I had to try it. Turns out it was a carne con chili burger, (mostly meat, very few beans) I ate some, but not all. The strawberry milkshake was what I wanted most.

After dinner Arlene dropped us off at the hotel and Melinda and I both crashed.

Journal Entry January/February 2010

(Written December 2010)

All I really did for these two months was prepare for the AKLA conference sessions. In February Nick and I attended a pair of gardening classes at the local green house

· Sat Feb 13th Vegetable Gardening for Beginners/ Seed Starting

· Sat Feb 27th Gardening Success- even with Poor Soil and Harsh Weather

Otherwise it was very quiet socially. All my energy went towards work. I ran the Learn Something Quick workshop series, was heavily involved in the Budget Council's work with the budget crisis (nonstop meetings), and of course writing, revising, editing, photo editing... for AKLA.

Miscellany for December 2009

Written December 2010... Ooops, I had the notes I just forgot to convert them to a blogpost.

December activities included:
Getting away from it all, I took off one day to think and found myself driving up Scout Mountain way. I spotted:
Magpies
Dark eyed juncos - Oregon race
Horned larks (flocks)
Crows
Ravens
And best of all, the above Ruffed grouse crossing the road.  He was moving ever so slowly. Stealthy. But unfortunately for him, he stood out clear as day on that tarmack.

This was the year of the pink birthday cakes. They were awesome.  Shanna's includes Swedish Fish in honor of her Swedish Fish Inn gingerbread house. 

For Christmas Hannah and Rebecca stayed with us. They were delightful to have around. Funniest thing was doing a little stocking stuffer shopping. We decided to get the girls their favorite candy. Hannah was easy, but Rebecca was hard. Nan did not know, Hannah did not know, Melinda remembered seeing her buy a Three Musketeers bar so that's what we got.  What's truly ironic, is that since I'm writing this a year late, I don't remember what the real answer was.  I do remember having a lot of fun with them.  This was the first year we tried the middle eastern feast for our Christmas feast.   Rebecca, having spent time in Turkey contributed the ideas for breakfast.   Nick managed to find a bunch of funny, yet useful, stocking stuffers for her at the grocery store. Things like fingernail clippers and a fly swatter...

Nevada Library Association Conference, Elko 2009

Wednesday October 7th Drive to Elko Nevada

I'm not normally a complainer, but this trip was definitely trying at times. Overall, it was fun and interesting, but only because I deviated from my set routines. :)

The morning was crisp and clear, the roads were good, & the music was fun. As I approached Aberdeen this huge cloud was sitting on the ground so I pulled over for pictures. Lovely, gorgeous ... and then continued to drive into the big cloud bank for miles and miles at a crawl. Okay, fine no problem just chillin along for the ride.

I don't like stopping all the time, so I try to, well, hold it till the last possible moment. I made it to the Eden stop, then zoomed through Twin Falls and Jackpot and past the outhouse reststop just south of Jackpot. It's a gorgeous stop in the desert with a lovely creek and trees. I would have stopped, but I was alone and a big truck was already there. It wasn't THAT far to Wells, so I kept on going. What I didn't know was that there was road construction, and I'd have to sit and wait in my car for 30 minutes before being allowed to move forward. I barely made it to the stop in Wells. Then and there I vowed NOT to let that happen again.

I made it to Elko in the early evening and checked into the tiny Days Inn. Tiny room, but free wireless, a microwave and fridge and it was all good.

I drove around scoping out the town and stopped at the Nevada Dinner House (Basque) for my evening meal. I got there too early but they let me in and I read & drank tea till dinner was served. They serve vast amounts of food and the chicken on top of the alfredo was AMAZING. The sauce was adequate, but the chicken yeowsa!

Thursday October 8th Conference
I went to the desk and they really didn't want to let me into the conference without paying, but seriously. If you drive from another state, what's the big deal. In the end I only attended the Keyone address and the session that was just before my own. If they didn't want me there, I was more than glad to oblige them.

The Keynote Speaker was Nick Arnette he is a comedian and a teacher and was a great speaker. He talked about bringing fun into the workplace.

For the afternoon I drove up Lamoille Canyon, it was a gorgeous fall day. The cirque was deep and classically cut into the mountain. The vegetation was not as lush as it is in the forests of Island Park/Yellowstone, but it was lovely and the lighting was excellent.

Friday October 9th Conference
I spent the morning shopping at odd little tea/book/craft stores. It was a lot of fun. I ended up at lunch at the Ruby Station diner. Food was solid and predictable. I like that. I then headed over to the conference where I attended an unremarkable session and then gave my own. See my Library Banter for more on that.

Saturday October 10th Drive home to Pocatello
This time I drove home with a little more sense about stopping when I needed. I also grabbed my novel so when I got stuck at that construction zone I was ready. Matt and Carrie got married in August, at their wedding they had a chocolate fountain. The caterers chopped up twinkies for the fountain, and I rediscovered the fact that I really do like twinkies. This is very good, because they have the fewest calories of all the hostess goodies. So my drive home included twinkies. :)

I didn't talk about it till after I had left NV... I couldn't really afford a different hotel since I was paying for this trip myself. But in the middle of the night that first night, I sprawled out under the covers and encountered a wet spot. EWWWWW. It was towards the foot of the bed so I curled up on my side and tried to forget about it. In the morning (thank heavens it's a desert) there was no more wet. I did not check the bed but decided that it was an accident involving cleaning fluid or water and I wasn't going to worry about it. The second night was when I realized the refrigerator made this horrible high pitched squealing sound. Of course, most people probably can't hear it, but it drove me crazy. I ended up leaving the heater up higher so the fan would drown out the squeal. And last but not least, in my search for power outlets I discovered a dessicated/moldy piece of bread crust behind the entertainment center. ICK. In the end I just toughed it out, the mystery wet spot was no more and I just ignored the rest as best I could. It was spotlessly clean otherwise and the bedding was replaced daily. *phew* I have no intention of ever stopping at this place again. But it served its purpose for that trip. Three nights for about $140 was dirt cheap.

Birding American Falls - again

On our way to Burley for ILA Cheryl and I did a little birding around American Falls.  We spotted:

Common loon
American white pelicans
Red tailed hawks
Flickers
Canada geese
Double crested cormorants
Rough legged hawk
House sparrows
Crows
Magpies

The conference was fun, we presented on Evaluating Databases and Decoding Salesspeak. We also got to watch an episode of Project Runway together.

Tooele - A Housewarming

My friends Bill & John recently moved to Tooele Utah (pronounced two-ill-uh) and invited us down for fun and food. So we crammed all of our usual weekend work into one packed morning and then headed for Utah. We had the best time eating pizza, talking, crafting and hanging out. Instead of us bringing gifts John made us gorgeous bracelets from chips of amethyst, citrine, garnet and other stones. This was my first drive on the new Legacy Parkway, which certainly is a great shortcut. The trip out on I80 made me crave the drive over the Bonneville Salt Flats. One of these days, Nick and I are going to go this way to Sacramento, instead of dropping down through Twin Falls ID and Jackpot NV. The next morning we had to leave early cause my allergies kicked in to high gear. I was sneezing and stuffy and miserable, I took a claratin, but it didn't help. I'm allergic to Utah much of the year. Still it was great to see their home and everyone else too! What's really strange is that I didn't take any pictures of the weekend. I have no idea why, I always have my camera it just didn't happen.

Huckleberry Picking

Thursday I had a mad compulsion to go find our old berry patch and see if there were any huckleberries. It's early for berries to be sure, but I just needed to know where the patch was. I left work early and headed North. No I'm not going to tell you where my patch is. Go find one yourself, or come with us next time.

Sure enough the berries were out in abundance, lovely purple berries of deliciousness. I picked until the bugs drove me out. I managed to get about a cup and a half in my hour of picking. That evening Nick & I feasted on the berries for dessert.

I then let the clan know of my plan. Saturday morning we left Pocatello early (as in 7:00 a.m.) met up with friends in Idaho Falls and ventured out for berries. The patch was wet with newly fallen rain and dew and we were soaked to the knees before finishing.

Back in Idaho Falls we had lunch at the Brownstone Restaurant & Brewpub and talked and laughed till it was time to call it a day.

We netted a nice haul of 6.5 cups of berries now frozen in 1/4 cup measures for later use as toppings for ice cream, cheesecake and pancakes or fruit salad. We ate some too. Nothing like eating berries off the bush in the wilderness.

Book Review: Good Time Girls

Written by Lael Morgan, "Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush" is a book that we picked up in our travels in Alaska. I finally finished it last week.

It is an extremely well researched book. Ms. Morgan definitely did the work to make certain her sources were valid. The scope of source material is also outstanding, from newspapers to legal records. It is beautifully illustrated with photos of the girls/women involved in the text.

The book contents are fascinating enough that I read the whole thing. Okay, here's the thing. I hate scholarly writing styles. I know that academics are encouraged to write in a manner that adheres to a dispassionate, even handed, balanced accounting of the facts. But I find this to be boring and tedious. I bet Ms. Morgan has delightful anecdotes about her research process, what she learned that she could not include for lack of verification, and it would have been fascinating to see how she felt about what she learned. I am very, VERY tired of dry academic writing.

"Good Time Girls" is fabulous in that the topic is quite interesting and entertaining and the quotes and stories are delightful. I even laughed out loud at one point, which was quite a surprise. So my rant against academic writing is leavened in this case. I'd love to hear Ms. Morgan talk about this book, the women in it, and how her research process went. I bet that's even better than the book. Alternately, if Lael Morgan has literary interests, she could mine her material for novels and short stories.

I do recommend reading this if you have an interest in the history of Alaska or the Yukon, or in the roles of women settling/opening the west.

Home again, home again, jiggety jig...

Sunday Nick and I drove to SLC (or rather Nick drove, I was along for the ride, still recovering from the overheating at Crystal Park) to pick up Shanna from the airport. We are very happy that she's coming back and going back to school. We've missed her. So it was about driving, snagging her from the airport and driving home. I did make one stop at the Whole Foods to pick up blackberry izzes, a fizzy, all fruit drink that I love.

Yesterday we moved her in to various and sundry places in our house. Her bed and necessary stuff is in my yoga room and her boxes are in the craft closet. She's going to redo her room before really moving back in. We're going to take up the crappy tiles and do something about her floor. She's going to repaint the whole thing a bright white to increase the light in the basement room. It worked amazingly well for the bathroom. We're lucky in that the basement does get a lot of light from it's big windows. It's just that Shanna's room has a North facing window. The window that looks out under the porch is going to be retained, but we're going to insulate it, and cover it with pegboard so that Shanna can use it as a jewelry hanger. She doesn't like the window there. Personally, I would have redone the window so it looks like stained glass, but it's not my room so...

Hopefully her phone recharger will arrive in the mail today or tomorrow. She accidentally left it in Texas and this prevents her looking for work. We no longer have a general home phone. She needs/wants a job asap. I would love to have a general home phone again. Frankly it may be the first thing I do once Nick is employeed. I frequently don't hear my cell phone, it moves around my house too much and I am prone to leaving it in my purse as well.

Its great to have her back.

Crystal Park Montana

Check out my web page for the outting if you want the technical/directional details. http://www.isu.edu/~semejenn/adventures/crystalpark.html

Usually we go in the off season of September after Labor Day weekend. We've never gone in July before. Now I clearly understand the reason and won't do it again. Ever. First it is hotter in July. It may only be 75 degrees at the top of the mountain (approx 8,000 feet up) but that is too hot when digging and the sun is relentless. Second, mosquitoes. We've never had the serious, severe, and irritating swarms in September. Third, hot pools are just too hot after a hot day in the sun. They are so much more enjoyable when it is cold outside. I overheated, then got in a hot pool and really overheated. I should not have done that. It took me a couple days to recover. Fourth, people, there were more people though most seem to have realized that digging in the midday sun wasn't a good idea. My guess is that they are camping or staying in the cabins and only come out in the morning and or evening.

Still, we got some really nice crystals and had a fun time hanging out with friends. It was great to be outside and in the mountains.

The radios worked very well! I love being able to talk between the cars. Coordinating stops is much easier. Also Heather was able to tell us about the flowers on the side of the road and I was able to point out a few of the birds. Most were on the wing and I knew that wouldn't work, but a Golden Eagle posed for us just outside of Dell. And the Red-tailed hawks were very obliging. Antelope and elk were both spotted, though not everyone saw both.

Other birds I saw were: House sparrows, Rock doves, American crows, Swainson's hawks, Brewer's blackbirds, Kestrels, Magpies, Eastern kingbirds, Barn swallows, Double-crested cormorants, Western meadowlarks, Red-winged blackbirds, White-faced ibis flying in a flock, Lots of common ravens, Canada geese, American white pelicans, Black capped chickadees, Dark eyed juncos and a gorgeous Gray jay at our dig site. One of the most fun sightings for me was the Rough-legged hawk who misjudged his soar in our cars direction and made a sudden turn right over the windshield.