Farmers Market

Oo0oooh, I LOVE market season! The sun came out strong and early this morning. I got up at seven and had a mug of coffee before venturing on downtown to get fingerprinted at the sheriffs office. That was for work ;) I hit the market right when they were opening and wandered around looking at all the beautiful colors. Everyone was in such a good mood, and the weather is going to spoil all the food this weekend, so they were basically giving away produce. My favorite part of the market every week is Gumbo, the guitar/banjo/fiddle trio who play across from Wineopolis. I sat in the shade listening to them before picking up the rest of my groceries.

Above: Gumbo; Below: Walla walla sweet onions ($2/each), kitten included for scale. I bit into one of these like an apple when I got home - YUM!

Whoa, it's HOT

Many of you may be aware of the fact that summer came a little late in the Pacific Northwest this year. Approximately on the first day of summer actually..... We had a few days in February I think it was, where the thermometers read 33C or higher, but since then it has been near risk of frost every night. Well today there are several reasons to celebrate, 1. the thermometer did read 32 today in the shade! 2. I think I sprayed enough pesticides in the yard, and surrounding barkdust areas to actually rid this place of fleas. It was not a super dangerous pesticide - permethrin is synthetically formulated from a plant oil, but extremely effective at knocking out fleas. Before I started spraying the yard down with water and plant oils, I sprinkled boric acid all around my doors and windows to prevent the buggers from seeking refuge inside my house. Don't worry, Yoshimi has no fleas - she got a round of Frontline last week. I just wish they made something I could put between my shoulders to keep the fleas off. Ick. So I think the battle is won.... Yoshimi battles the pink robots, Molly battles the rat bastard fleas.

Another reason to celebrate, I have officially been offered a post-graduate internship with the DHS - Public Health Division, Office of Community Health and Health Planning (whew that's a mouthful). Woot! I will be assisting the office in researching ethics in human trials and HIPPA guidelines, in order to create a web based training program for the department. It is an internship, which means it will be for 12 weeks, but the great news is, I will have internal employee status, and get more than just my foot in the door! A reminder, my degree is titled, "Health Promotion and Education, Community Health". I think it's a good sign when your diploma has the exact phrase as the office you'll be interning in. I hope.

So this all sums up to one point: It's time to crack open a bottle of pink wine. Celebrate with an ice cold glass of rose... 'Cause it's freaking hot!!!!!

Last day at work

I have enjoyed working at the Plant Clinic so much, I can hardly describe what an experience it has been. I learned a ton about molecular science, plants, and conducting research, but I also learned a lot about myself, what I'm capable of and what I need to work on more. Coming into the final term of my undergraduate experience at Oregon State, I feel very prepared for whatever is out there for me.

Above: Preparing some samples for PCR.

Above: Lunch at Oasis with the M's on my last day.

itty bitty pillow hog

Somebody new to my home became very accustomed very fast. Yoshimi is almost exactly one tenth the size Alex was and she can hog ten times more the space he did. It's okay though, sharing my pillow with her isn't that bad...

This morning I went out to help bottle wine at Nuthatch. John and Jane always have a fun bunch of people helping out and today was no exception. I met some interesting folks and had a really awesome time learning more about wine. Today we bottled a syrah, and a temparnillo - both of which I helped with in the fall. It's super pleasing to taste it and see it get labeled and packed into boxes. Jane made an incredible spread for lunch, including three fritattas with chard and peppers in them. Yummmmy!

Yoshimi!

The kitten formally known as Annapurna changes her name to Yoshimi.

I'm changing the kitten's name.... I've been calling her kitten even though I said her name was Annapurna. Cecily and I were just listening to Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots and we all the sudden both went, "AH! Yoshimi!!! YeahhhH!!" So that's her name. I knew I would know when I knew. And now I know. So there. And in case you're wondering, Yoshimi is listened in babynames.com as follows: The Japanese name Yoshimi may be written with the characters for "rejoice; take pleasure in" (yoshi) and "beauty; beautiful" (mi). Other possibilities include "righteousness; justice; morality" (yoshi) and "truth; reality" (mi). Yoshimi is occasionally bestowed on boys but mostly used on girls.

Father's Day Weekend

Josh and I both got to dad's house within fifteen minutes of each other on Friday. We got to spend the whole weekend making dad's puppy forget everything she's been trained to learn the past six months and teasing my kitten with salmon chunks. On Friday night we rode the boat up to Oregon City to have dinner (see Dorkus Maximus posing below), and on Saturday we managed to pump up a bunch of tires and head out for a cruise in the sunshine.

We didn't really have a destiny in mind, so I took Josh and Dad to Oak's Bottom Public House. A fun little hole in the wall as dad would call it in Sellwood. Desiree took me there last year and I've been craving tatchos ever since.

If you love nachos, and you love tater tots, why not make a nacho but use tater tots instead of chips? That's exactly what these guys thought, and the result is something amazing and worth trying out.

It was awesome to get to hang out with dad and Josh for so long, and we really wished Wes could have been there with us. All and all, we had a really gorgeous Father's Day weekend and completed it with an outdoor brunch made by me. I didn't take any pictures, but I made english muffins, eggs benedict, chocolate chip banana bread, mini quiches, kefir smoothies, and a big big mess. It was delicious.

Summer. For real.

FINALLY summer has brought itself to stay. I hesitated to celebrate towards the end of last week, since usually a whisper of joy will bring the clouds back out. This has been the longest, grayest winter/spring I can ever remember in Oregon and the greater northwest. We have had record breaking cold temperatures and horrible delays in crops this year. Speaking of, the only thing doing well in my garden are my cold crops - broccoli and peas. I will have to replant my basil since it was too cold after I put it in and it has all rotted from the ground up now.

What really marks the beginning of summer is the absence of noise. It is Monday after graduation and the bike ride to campus this morning was pleasantly solitary. Corvallis is being infiltrated by chain, shit-hole stores, so I used my "Free Smoothie" coupon for Jamba Juice that we all get in the mail to mark a new opening. They only time I have ever gone there has been to use a free coupon. It's alright tasting stuff, but I hate the blood glucose spike I get from the 100+ grams of carbohydrates in the 500 calorie drink. Ick.

I am in my last week of working at the lab. It has been a really really great experience the past two years. Next week I start my internship at the Benton County Health Department. New leaf. Always turning.

Alexander

As a lot of you may already know, late on Thursday night, Alexander was hit by a car on Harrison Blvd in front of my house. He passed very quickly, and that gives me hope that he didn't suffer. He was such a blast to have as a friend and companion. Even my Blogger profile mentions my life in this cottage with him as my buddy. I don't think I even felt too lonely in the two years I have lived here (June 13th is two years exactly). When I brought him home for the first time, he hunkered down under the bed for a while, but I remember Phil coaxing him out with leftover meat, and Alex was an easy win.
I have probably written more blog posts about Alex than anything else, and I think I'm lucky to have documented the little guy so well.
On Sunday, Josh, Mom and I happened across an adorable kitten outside a pet supply store in Portland. I picked her up and within ten minutes had decided she would be mine. Yesterday the vet confirmed that she is about six-seven weeks old and in good health. If she's not running up and down the furniture, doing flips in the air, or shamelessly chasing her tail, she is sound asleep and purring somewhere near me. Like Alex, she likes to be with me whatever it is I am doing, and like Alex she is super talkative. I know I cannot ever replace Alex, but I am glad that I quickly found another buddy to share my house with (when Phil isn't in town visiting!).
Thank you to everyone for all of your support. I have had some wonderful, yet tearful conversations with many of you, and my heart is still aching quite a bit. I know I have many shoulders to cry on though, and now a new little purr machine to cry with too. She needs a name! But right now, I'm stressing out with finals, so I will name her when it feels appropriate.

How would you like your meatloaf? Wrapped in bacon.

Ahhhh.... Food in Portltand. Amazingly satisfying when you never leave Corvallis. Not that I don't love some of my regular places in Corvallis - like La Conga - but it's the beauty of the food that Corvallis lacks. Here are a few of the delicacies from this weekend.

Cute Italian cafe off of Broadway in SE Portland. Mom had the lunch deal (above), $10 for fresh mozzarella and tomato on a bed of basil and a glass of wine. I ordered a formaggio panini with a cup of Italian Wedding soup (below). Ooooooh, yum.

For lunch yesterday, Josh ordered the stuffed meatloaf, wrapped in bacon, with mushroom gravy. Daaaaaaaaaamn. Who ever thought of wrapping meatloaf in bacon is clearly a genius.

For Josh. And Phil.....

White & Nerdy from waymoby on Vimeo.

Stir Fry

I've been making stir fry a lot. Maybe twice a week. These snow peas will not stop growing! Anybody have any other snow pea suggestions besides stir fry with tofu and noodles?