Poopcorn

A day late, but, as promised, here is the tale of poopcorn.

We were camping in Yellowstone, as you may remember from a previous post. After dinner we started a campfire, as did our neighbors. We were enjoying the fire, Thing 2 had us dance around singing a silly song, we sang some real campfire songs, and we made s'mores. [On a side note, eating s'mores does not combine neatly with having a mustache].

Our neighbors had no marshmallows, but did make JiffyPop over their campfire. Thing1 thought this was really cool and asked if we could make popcorn the next night. So the next day we stopped by the store and picked up some JiffyPop. But this story isn't titled 'Popcorn', now is it?

One can only drive by so many bison before the story of the pioneers using buffalo chips as fuel for their fires is mentioned by one (or both) know-it-all parents. The Things were amused and intrigued by this idea of burning poop, so we hit upon the idea of 'poopcorn' - cooking our popcorn over a buffalo chip fire.

After returning to camp, I went on a chip hunt. With the number of bison around, and their prodigious pooping ability, it did not take long to find a well-aged patty. After supper, we built a campfire, and when we decided the time was ripe (ha ha), on went the chip.

How does a buffalo chip burn? Not as well as the bone-dry lodgepole pine branches we had been using in the fire, but a cheery yellow flame licked (ugh) around the edges of the chip. And while there was a slight odor, it wasn't any worse than regular wood smoke.

The unburned center of the chip blocked most of the heat, so we waited until it was mostly consumed (yeck) before starting our JiffyPop.

The experiment was a success. We enjoyed delicious poopcorn, just as the pioneers must have 125 years ago.


And we got a funny story out of it, too.

Fighting boredom

This is rather pathetic, and a real commentary on the modern life in which we (in particular - I don't wish to cast aspersions on others) have ensconced ourselves, but one thing we struggle with is boredom, particularly in the evenings after the kids have been put to bed. We are, of course, used to having a TV about. This has stunted our ability to self-entertain. We are used to living in bedroom community suburbia, so we are not used to inviting people over to our house for things like card games or conversation. Initially, we read books - we had brought some with us, and there is a stash at WMSC that various people have left behind (a common practice at field stations) - but eventually we ran low, and then out, of new reading material. Having not moved our household goods yet, we don't have our full library here, which doesn't help. We have also been watching DVDs on my laptop, but again, we've played out the library we brought with us pretty well by now. And Netflix turnaround from the island is about 6 days. The other day I broke down and ordered a flat panel TV.

Which brings up our space limitations. I thought people might like to see the digs, so here are some pictures that make the place seem bigger (and less dusty) than it is. I should also note that these were taken immediately after our first cleaning of the house, so please don't think the floors are always that clean, or that the beds are made on a regular basis.

Here is the front of the house. It is at the end of row of 5 or 6 units. They things really like to climb in the little tree that's in front.


The house overlooks this nice little courtyard in which the deer poop and the children play. Some graduate students are living in the house opposite. It's a quiet place, but on weekends the sounds of the DJ down at the restaurant/bar are clearly audible (even with the windows closed).


The main room is sunny and cheery, due to our exposure (just about due east) and the skylights. The striped hardwood floors take a little getting used to, but I'm sure it's better than carpet in this dusty environment.




The kitchen is, well, tiny. Yes, that's it there in the corner. Not sure where all our stuff is going to go once it gets here.


The things are enjoying their bunk beds. One other feature of the room is not visible in this photo. The doors to the closet are mirrors, making the room look bigger, and providing hours of entertainment for silly boys.


The master bedroom seems sizeable. It is also nice and sunny due to the current lack of window treatment in the eastern window. From that window we can clearly see the door to the little red schoolhouse. We have dreams of shouting downstairs "Get up! Get dressed! Get breakfast! Make your lunch! Go to school!" and then looking out the window to see Thing1 disappear through that door.


Finally, we have the backyard. Bit of dust bowl right now. Not a living thing in it except the eucalyptus tree. Expect some improvements here.


Tomorrow: Poopcorn

Life in Two Harbors

Our life in Two Harbors (TH) has now begun. So what is it like?

As far as my job goes, it's still very start-up-y (to coin a useless phrase). I had been working from home on a slightly different computer set-up (Debian there, RedHat Enterprise Linux here), and thus I am learning the differences in systems administration, and downloading and installing packages and perl modules I need, and, of course, lots and lots of trouble shooting. After two weeks, I finally got the web page I built in Maryland working correctly. I'm still spending a fair amount of time dealing with move issues - settling insurance issues, trying to schedule the move of our household goods, trying to make sure our bills are being sent to the proper address. (I am learning the insidious disadvantage of the 3 hour time difference.) Science-wise, I am playing catch-up to try to figure out project requirements and what questions we're trying to answer and come up with solutions that don't include a 40-person IT infrastructure and a 300 node grid. On top of this, a new conference center is going up (http://biology.usc.edu/BooneCenter/ - warning: lots of images, so don't click unless you have broadband), and just as I started working, they started shipping houses across the channel. Not too much of a disruption there, a house driving up the hill and past your office door.

One thing that has been difficult has been a lack of a vehicle on the island. It's about 2 miles to campus from TH. For the first week our friends were out of town, so we borrowed their 4Runner. The next week we had to do with occasionally borrowing a University vehicle. I adapted my commute by borrowing a kayak and paddling across the harbor (flat, straight, not dusty) instead of walking the road (hilly, curvy, very dusty). For the most part, this is exactly as cool as it sounds - a little exercise, a way to enjoy the water and weather, a pleasant commute - but I don't have a proper waterproof bag yet, so I don't risk taking anything electronic (except, of course, my phone).

The two biggest problems we've encountered so far are laundry and groceries. There is an overused laundromat in town, and an overused laundromat at WMSC. Both are far enough away from the house that it's unpleasant to get there without a vehicle, and, like I said, they're overused making it hard to find an available machine. We have solved that problem by purchasing a washer and dryer this weekend (our unit has hook-ups). We went to the mainland this weekend and bought a pair at StuffMart. The island idiosyncrasy here is that they will be delivered to a USC pier to be hauled across the channel. I need to call the facility and let them know to expect it and put in on the next available boat. So laundry should be solved when they arrive and we can get someone to hook them up.

One solution to the food problem is to drive over to Avalon, on the other side of the island, but since we don't have a vehicle yet... (Plus, there's a pronounced price mark-up.) The other choice is to stock up on the mainland. (Guess what else we did this weekend.) A third option is to attempt to shop for some groceries on-line (Amazon has dry goods!), but selection there is spotty, and you can't get milk and vegetables. A fourth option is to add to the order the WMSC dining hall puts in each week. We're starting to figure out how well each of these options will work for us. We haven't missed a meal yet, but we have run out of things like milk (two Things, remember?) and bread (oh yeah, everyone's eating lunch at home).

One thing that should simplify our life is our other major purchase of the weekend, a 2003 Nissan Pathfinder. It's unbelievable how hard it was to find a used 4-wheel drive vehicle in LA. Either they have 100K miles or they're overpriced brands or they're not on a truck body. We finally reached desperation after two days of shopping. Luckily this vehicle popped up, and I think we got an okay deal. It is also at a berth at the Port of LA waiting to be put on a barge. It's disheartening to spend $16K one day on a vehicle and the next drop it off and only receive a little piece of paper. Not to mention we only have one key for it, but that's another story...(stupid microchips).

Don't know what else to say right now. I've met people at WMSC, but nobody in town yet really. Except for the Harbor Master. He's married to one of the admin. assts. at WMSC. On busy weekends he even drives a shore boat, and we happened to be down at the dock in TH and the Things got into a conversation with him. (Thing1 is not so shy.) The funny thing is that I didn't realize he was the Harbor Master, since he was driving a shore boat, and we ended up going to a Conservancy dinner that same night with him and his wife. I laughed when I realized it was the same guy.

But I guess that's TH in a nutshell. They guy driving the shore boat is the same one with whom you attend a dinner at a Boy Scout camp run by Mormons and attended by the former CEO of Pioneer along with other well-heeled, old money types. You know, like every other small town.

The end of our vacation

So I realize that I haven't finished the description of our cross-country trip. For those of you who have been sitting at your computers for the last two weeks hitting 'Refresh', here (as Paul Harvey says) is the rest of the story...

Day two at Yellowstone. Our first stop was Mammoth Springs. I had been particularly excited to see the giant cascading hot springs I had seen on the web. We made a minor mistake in parking in the lower parking lot, which meant we had to climb up a long boardwalk, which, of course meant there would be much whining and complaining from Thing2 about how tired he was and how hot it was (did I mention it was hot, like, Africa hot?) We did manange to make it to the top, to discover that due to recent water flow, geologic conditions, whatever, only one part of it was actually flowing. Now I have to admit that, despite my disappointment at the limited flow, it was really cool (stinky, but very cool). The flowing water building these little pools, water cascading over the edges like a fountain, colorful streams of microbial mats - very beautiful.

We finished there close to lunch time. We had planned on doing another hike, to an overlook of the Yellowstone River, but had no interest in doing another hot, sunny hike like the previous day's. We drove down to the picnic area from which the hike started and ate. The Things had a good time climbing around on rocks while I scouted out the trail to see what it was like. I decided it wouldn't be a good idea to try it with the boys, so Sweetie identified another trail we could do, way down on Yellowstone Lake.

This turned out to be a boon. After a long drive down, we arrived at a shady, flat trail. After coddling Thing2 through his first experience peeing on a tree (he was very excited), we took off down the trail. We came to a break in the trees at the shore of the lake. We noticed some movement down the beach and saw a coyote about 40 feet away. We looked at it, it looked at us, then it trotted into the woods, crossed the trail behind us, and disappeared. Still awestruck by this close encounter, we noticed more movement in the bushes a little ways away, and saw a bull bison rolling in the dust, a little beyond where the coyote was. This was a little closer than we really cared to be to a bison, so we moved down the trail. We stopped to wade in the lake; the Things got their pants wet. Sweetie looked up the shore at some birds: an adult bald eagle and some white pelicans. Very cool. And then we saw the coyote again! It swam across a channel to a spit of land and started chewing on some piece of carcass it had stored over there. Like I said, this was a great hike! Then we were done for the day, and so it was back to camp.

The next day, we packed up camp and headed south toward Grand Teton NP. Of course, we had to stop for a hike, this time up to Harlequin Lake in the hopes of seeing some waterfowl or beavers. It was, you guessed it, a hot, sunny hike. Mercifully, it was short. The lake was a bit of a bust. We did see some grebes, but nothing too interesting, and despite several lodges there were no beavers about.

We stopped and did some shopping before we left the park (also got some ice cream). Then it was down to Grand Teton. We decided to camp there for the night (although I was feeling some serious vacation fatigue at this point). The Things attempted to fill up Jackson Lake with rocks while we waited for our dinner at a pizza place at the marina. The Things and Sweetie played a card game called Trash. Thing2 was playing for the first time and beat the pants off of the others. Thing1 at one point (he was having terrible luck) was literally laughing and crying at the same time. Very odd.

We awoke the next morning, packed up camp, and headed off in search of moose and Trumpeter swans, both of which had been spotted in the park. We went to where we were supposed to see Trumpeter swans and saw, of course, a bull moose. But no swans. Having accomplished half our mission, we drove down to Jackson Hole. Just outside town, and right next to the road, is a small river preserve. As we drove by we saw some large white birds; you guessed it - Trumpeter swans! Two pairs, one with two cygnets! This was very exciting, and we watched them for quite a while.

So that really was pretty much the end of vacation. We drove straight down I-15 from there. We did have some bonus vacation as we drove past Zion National Park, and when we visited Hoover Dam, and when we went to the beach in Long Beach.

I'll try to get some more photos posted, but we're playing musical computers here so there might be a delay. I'll also do some more posting about life on the island tomorrow. (Hopefully.)

One small step for mankind...one giant leap for the Nelsons

We've arrived. Yesterday we took the USC boat out to the island at 8am. We took a lot of gear with us. We had all our camping gear, two over-sized suitcases and a duffle bag and a laundry bag that contained a large proportion of our clothing, a roll-on bag full of toys and books, a bag full of shoes, two totebags full of toys and books, two Lego lap-desk thingies, four boxes of dry and canned goods, two coolers of perishables, three laptop computers and one photo printer. Oh, and two Things. It's good to travel light.

We arrived at WMSC at about 9:15. Our friends who work there are both travelling right now, so they lent us their truck. We carried some of our stuff over to the new domicile and began unpacking. A University truck delivered the rest of our stuff. At lunch we ate at the WMSC cafeteria. A large bull bison decided to wander onto the property (not many fences can stop them, if they put their mind, uh, weight to it). He munched grass below us as we munched sandwiches on the patio. Welcome to Catalina.

The Things were both very excited about the boat trip, the new house, their bunk beds, the backyard, the tree in the front yard, everything. We had to take a trip down to the playground, which was hilarious, because while I sat there reading the latest Harry Potter, they holed up in a tube that was part of the playset. I wasn't sure they were still there, they were so quiet. But every once in a while Thing 2 would pop his head out and announce "We're playing Star Wars!" We went home and both of them fell asleep sitting up on the couch trying to watch a Speed Racer DVD.

We ate a delicious first dinner of salmon and cucumber sauce and pasta (ask Sweetie for the recipe) and then tried to get the Things to go to sleep. Eventually they succumbed.

Today I actually went to work, leaving Sweetie to deal with the Things on her own. (And I took the truck.) It was a day of setting up email and re-familiarizing myself with the computer setup. At one point, just as I was trying to establish a connection with WXYC (the UNC-Chapel Hill radio station which has a internet simulcast) to diminish the irritation of taking an on-line sexual harrassment training course, the internet connection cut out. For someone who does bioinformatics, this is the same as taking a writer's pencil or an engineer's scientific calculator. I could get no work done. Welcome to the island, so I thought. So I called an old friend who lives in CA, and had a nice chat with him. After lunch, still with no internet, I tracked down the lab manager (who is responsible for calling ITS when problems arise) and she said there was nothing wrong with her connection. I returned to my computer to discover that when I had tried to plug in my headphones, I jostled the ethernet cable and killed my connection. Oops.

I ended up having a rather productive day. Arriving home, Sweetie told me (to my suprise) that the Things had been remarkably good during the day, playing with each other inside, outside, on the computer, with not much fuss. Maybe it's something in the air? Anyway, another mostly pleasant evening passed. (Thing 2 did complain before taking a shower that "something smells funny" - I had to explain that it was the water. It's very hard, and smells faintly of seashore, and tastes, well, greasy. It's hard to explain.)

So two days down and things are going pretty well. Our friend Karla said that it would take time to adjust to the slower pace of life, and I can see how that will be so. But the advantages of cool, sunny days and offices with doors that open to the outside with gulls crying in the background and bison sitting on the volleyball court are immediately apparent to me. Tomorrow, Sweetie is planning on taking the boys to the beach, a walk of nearly a quarter mile. She may swing by the lab and we can go sea kayaking at lunch time. In not too long, we'll probably allow the boys to run down to the playground by themselves.

In time, there's a chance we might like it here...

7/24/2007

So at this date, our vacation part of the trip is over, now just the long drive is ahead. Tonight we are in Ogden, UT. Let me recap, and attempt to remember, what all we did.

So the next morning, we went to Wind Cave. The boys were very excited about going into a cave. Wind Cave is known mostly for its boxwork formations, which aren't as spectacular as some other cave formations, but very cool nonetheless. It was cool and dark in the cave, which was a welcome relief. Thing 2 was a trooper, but needed to be carried up several of the sets of stairs. Thing 1 earned yet another Junior Ranger badge.

We next moved on to Jewel Cave. On the way there, we drove through a storm that dumped rain and hail on us. It was pretty violent, and made driving on those mountain roads all the more exciting. We arrived to find out that our only tour option was the Jewel Cave Discovery Tour, which we thought should be renamed the Cruel Tease Tour, since the tour consists of descending to the cave, but staying in the first chamber for 20 minutes. This tour was made more exciting for us when the power went out above (due to the same storm system), and our ranger got trapped in the elevator. They eventually sent us down a second ranger, but apparently poor Shea was stuck in elevator for about 3 hours. The boys were very disappointed that we didn't get to descend the tempting staircases that led to the lower levels. So we decided we would try to return the next day and take a longer tour. But now it was time to head on over to our hotel for the evening.

We drove to Keystone, SD, which is right next to Mount Rushmore. The weather was still rainy, and the clouds had descended to the point that we couldn't see the faces when we drove by. That night we ate a a local cafe. Sweetie had bison ribs and I had a bison steak. Quite tasty. The boys swam in the pool after dinner, while Sweetie did some laundry (which was sorely needed at this point in the trip).

The next morning, the sun broke through the clouds. We drove up to Mount Rushmore, and enjoyed breakfast in full view of the four Presidents. For being a bit of a one-trick pony, the folks at Mt Rushmore have really put together a great park. They have exhibits on both the building of sculpture and the historical significance of the subjects.

We didn't spend too much time there, however, as we wanted to get back to Jewel Cave. This time, we got on a much longer tour that was spectacular. We saw all sorts of groovy cave formations, and the Things were fully satisfied (as were Sweetie and myself). I liked the cave bacon. Thing 1 liked the walls covered with nailhead spar, and Thing 2 liked his 'cave kiss' (a drip of water fell on his face). Sweetie like the soda straw and some of the wet formations. We all agreed it was definitely worth the return trip to take this tour. And Thing 1 earned another Junior Ranger badge.

We now drove over to Devil's Tower. Interestingly, the name Devil's Tower is due to a mis-translation of the Native American name (which, of course, I can't remember). We picked out a lovely campsite in the shadow of the Tower, and then decided to go on a hike. Devil's Tower is really, really impressive. I was shocked by how massive and geometric and beautiful it is. We hiked around the base of the tower on a nice shady trail (did I mention that we happened to be traveling at a time when temperatures were predicted to be 10 to 20 degrees above average?). The Things really enjoyed jumping around on the rocks, even though that behavior was driving us nuts at the time), and we saw some good wildlife - mule deer, rock doves in their native habitat, turkey vultures and squirrels. Back at camp we had lovely light on the tower as we ate dinner. It's a good day when you eat breakfast in full view of Mt. Rushmore and dinner next to Devil's Tower. That night Thing 1 and I attended a ranger program. At one point the ranger was talking about the stone that makes up Devil's Tower, phonolite porphyry. He said something about how it was a rare type that occurred mostly in Africa and that there was only a little bit in North America. I nudged Thing 1, pointed to the Tower and said "Yeah, only a little bit."

The following day was a traveling day. We packed up and drove all day to Yellowstone. We took a very scenic route through the mountains to get there, and entered through the northeast entrance. This meant that we got to drive the Lamar Valley at dusk. We saw bison and elk and even a momma black bear with her cub. Quite successful on our first hour in the park! We stayed in Gardiner, MT that night, just outside the north entrance. The next morning we grabbed a campsite in Indian Creek, and headed off for a short hike up to Mystic Falls. We drove down to Biscuit Basin and saw the springs there and then headed up the trail. Did I mention that they were experiencing record heat? On top of that the fire in 1988 killed many of the mature lodgepole pines in the park, and the replacement trees are only about 8 feet tall, meaning that there is little shade in much of the park. So hiking uphill in the heat of an extremely hot, dry day with two small Things can have some unpleasant moments. The falls were pretty, though and we had some fun climbing up a rocky slope we found. At times, the Things (Thing 2 in particular) found their hiking rhythm and were pretty good, but at other times, it was like pulling teeth. Occasionally, a hat was thrown to the ground as we were informed that it was "very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, hot!"

We next headed down to see Old Faithful blow. May I say here that the Old Faithful area of Yellowstone is completely overdeveloped and an absolute nightmare. The area immediately surrounding the geyser is okay (how pretty is a geyser basin to start with?), but the stores and the lodge and the huge parking lots and wide roads and loads of people were god-awful. We had a good view of the eruption, and I think the Things were suitably impressed, but we were glad to be on our way from there. Our next stop was Grand Prismatic Spring. This, I think, is best viewed from the air, but being able to see the microbial mats changing as the water flowing from the pool cooled and changed chemically was really cool. The colors were stupendous, but every time that hot, sulfurous steam blew across, it was mighty unpleasant. We made a half-hearted attempt to find one of the springs that one of the projects I'm working on was sampled from, but it was getting late, so we headed back to camp. It's remarkable how large that park is. You can't get as much done in a day as you might think because of the distances involved. The first time I realized Old Faithful was 50 miles away, I was dumbfounded.

Well, it's getting late. I still have another day of Yellowstone and a day at Grand Teton to get through, but it will have to wait until tomorrow.

7/17/2007

The next day was a long drive day. The boys did pretty well. They played Legos and watched a movie or two. We got into Badlands National Park at around 3pm (I think). We were immediately met by some outstanding jagged formations. What a cool geography! And so varied. There are steep, teeth-like peaks, sod tables (flat butte-like things), rounded mounds, and even the occasional hoodoo. Every cliff is banded in grays and rust reds. Although I must say that the formations were smaller than they at first appeared. They looked like they should be huge mountains, but most were less than a hundred feet tall.

It was hot and a little windy. The first thing I discovered, while setting up the tent, was that I had left the tent stakes at the last campsite. So Dad ran off to try to purchase stakes so the tent wouldn't blow away. After a successful (overpriced) shopping trip, I returned triumphant to camp where Sweetie said "Walk in the tent." I did so, to discover that actually the tent stakes were trapped underneath the tent. (Chagrin.) We made dinner (bratwursts) and had just enough time to catch the ranger program on re-introduction of native mammal species to the park - bison, swift foxes, black-footed ferrets, and mountain goats.

At bedtime, it was hot. The Things were tired, and fell asleep quickly, but I sweated and tossed for a while. I think I woke up around 2 or 3 am, and by then it had cooled off to a comfortable temperature. The next morning, we had a quick breakfast and then went on a ranger-led geology walk. It wasn't that informative. Sweetie told Thing 1 he needed to become a geologist so he could tell us about how the formations, uh, formed. It was hot. (This is a theme.) The weather report said it was supposed to be 102. We hung out in the visitor center for a while. Their displays were great, and they had a very nice 20 minute movie. (And it was air-conditioned!) Then it was time for Thing 1's Junior Ranger program, which was also on geology, and followed the same course as the geology walk that morning. Oops. Anyway, with that out the way, it was back for hot lunch. We decided that in the afternoon we would stay out of the heat by staying in the car. We first drove up to Minuteman Missile National Monument, and Thing 1 got a second Junior Ranger badge. From there we were going to go on a loop drive. We decided to stop off at the Buffalo Gap National Grasslands office. They had a great educational display as well - we highly recommend it - and it also had a Junior Ranger- like program, so Thing 1 earned a third badge.

We did eventually get on the loop drive, although we took a wrong turn so it wasn't really a loop. We saw a huge prairie dog city which was great. The little guys were peeking out and running around. Very cute. We also saw some mountain goats, mommies and babies. Very cool. And one bison at great distance (somewhat disappointing). The views down into the valley were amazing. There was again the huge variety in the landscape, this time with the vast grasslands running right up to the edge of the severe landscape. Very striking. We also saw one area where plant like caused yellows and greens to run into and intensify the reds of the soil in these nicely rounded mounds.

We decided it was too hot to cook dinner, so we made the mistake of going to the Cedar Lodge restaurant. I don't know what the problem was, but it took forever for us to get our food, and it was overcooked when we got it. This was not great for two hungry, tired Things. But at least it was air-conditioned. We got back to camp in time for the ranger program on the history of the Badlands. This was not engaging for the youngsters, so they left. Once again at bedtime, it was sweaty-hot. But we slept okay.

The next morning (this morning) Sweetie got up early to bird. We made pancakes for breakfast, which went very smoothly, and then broke camp. They boys greatly enjoyed running up and down the little hills, while we packed up. We saw a few bunnies around camp. We drove over to the site of a paleological dig called the big pig dig. It was cool to see actual scientists doing their work. There was a jaw that was already plastered up, and a spine and another jaw being uncovered. The Things really like this.

We left the Badlands, and its heat and hard water behind. I really enjoyed the scenery, but I wasn't sorry to be leaving. I can see why the homesteaders called it the Badlands. We drove over to Custer State Park, which is lovely and has lots to do. We did the wild life drive, but didn't see too much wildlife: a few pronghorns, and some prairie dogs. The bison herd was off in a valley. But the day was saved by the Chuckwagon Dinner. We got hats and bandannas and loaded into big wagon (pulled by pickups). We took off down the road and right into the middle of the herd of 400 bison. We were surrounded by cows and calfs, and the huge bulls. It was really impressive. We had a singer on the wagon who was very good and funny. We sang songs the whole way. Dinner was unremarkable, but tasty. There was more music, and a little dancing (the hokey-pokey and chicken dance?) And then it was back on the wagons and home. The boys loved it. Tonight we're staying in a cute little cabin and taking some well-deserved showers.