Kay is providing moral support:
...Andrew and Eric are accomplishing their chores:
Life is rough on The Cape.
Thursday, June 21, 2007
meanwhile... Back East
Andrew and Chung are catching dinner:
Kay is providing moral support:
...Andrew and Eric are accomplishing their chores:
Life is rough on The Cape.
Kay is providing moral support:...Andrew and Eric are accomplishing their chores:
Life is rough on The Cape.
Tuesday, June 12, 2007
whaling and a century-old bowhead
This Whale's Life ... It Was a Long One
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS - June 13, 2007
A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it had survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago. Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3.5-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale's age, estimated at 115 to 130 years. "No other finding has been this precise," said John Bockstoce, an adjunct curator of the New Bedford Whaling Museum in Massachusetts. The bomb lance fragment, lodged in a bone between the whale's neck and shoulder blade, was probably made in New Bedford, Mr. Bockstoce said. It was probably shot from a heavy shoulder gun around 1890. The 49-foot male whale died when it was shot with a similar projectile last month; the older device was found as hunters carved it with a chain saw for harvesting.
Since a child, I've always been fascinated with whaling. In fact, my whole family is - something about traveling in New England: visiting Nantucket, New Bedford, Gloucester, Providence, Newport, Mystic Seaport, the NB Whaling Museum, etc. It was impossible for us to not be fascinated with the culture, science, and people associated with the whaling industry.
I read the above article in the NY Times with awe. A bowhead whale was killed at Barrow Alaska in May 2007. BUT, a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile was found embedded deep in its blubber which allowed scientists to age the whale. From the Philadelphia Inquirer, I learned that calculating a whale's age is difficult and scientists usually gauge age by amino acids found in the eye lenses. (Whether they look for quantity of a specific amino acid or variety of aa's, I am unclear.) It is rare to find a whale that has lived a century, though whales are thought to be able to live to 200!
In addition, I have studied mostly antebellum whaling and did not know that such explosive devices existed. Apparently, this projectile was shot from a shoulder gun (around 1890). The cylinder was filled with a time-delay fuse and explosives that would explode seconds after impact. Meant to immediately kill the whale so it cannot escape. (Apparently in the 1890's, whalers had no patience for Nantucket sleigh rides.) This whale lived another century.
Needless to say, scientifically, culturally, and historically, this story is incredible.
The New Bedford Whaling Museum released the following photos of the original implement. This is the tip of the "bomb lance fragment" which was patented in 1879.
On the left is the disassembled bomb lance fragment; at the right is a similar bomb lance that is assembled and unfired:
Monday, June 11, 2007
Frish is BACK East...
Even though most Californian's are not from the East Coast, they all say "back East" - why is that?
Anyway, Andrew has returned to his birthplace for a few weeks - spending most of his time on the Cape fishing at the beach.
He has taken the camera, and therefore I am left out West without a lens - sort of like being up a creek without a paddle, but less figurative.
Anyway, Andrew has returned to his birthplace for a few weeks - spending most of his time on the Cape fishing at the beach.
He has taken the camera, and therefore I am left out West without a lens - sort of like being up a creek without a paddle, but less figurative.
Wednesday, June 6, 2007
Met Sacramento graduation
The Met Sacramento had its first graduation today. Andrew arranged for donated flowers and a huge variety of other odds and ends for the big day.
They arranged for the ceremony to take place at a beautiful Sacramento park.
Channel 10 news interviewed several students and broadcasted a glowing report of the school on the 6PM news.
The two 12th grade advisors, Andrew and Philip, spoke and called the graduates up one by one. Since there were only 24, adjectives to describe each graduate were also read.
Philip and Andrew pose with Beth, the principal.
Life's bowls of cherries were enjoyed by all in attendance.
They arranged for the ceremony to take place at a beautiful Sacramento park.
Channel 10 news interviewed several students and broadcasted a glowing report of the school on the 6PM news.
The two 12th grade advisors, Andrew and Philip, spoke and called the graduates up one by one. Since there were only 24, adjectives to describe each graduate were also read.
Philip and Andrew pose with Beth, the principal.
Life's bowls of cherries were enjoyed by all in attendance.
Saturday, June 2, 2007
What's up?
As usual, things are busy with us. Here I am taking a nap while Andrew rather intensely reads a book:
The Met Sacramento's graduation is next week so Andrew has been busily readying the kids for graduation and the 'after[Met]life'. I (Leigh) have been busy with lab work - things are going great and I'm having such a good time with a new project in a new lab; I feel rejuvenated. In addition, taking time off was the best thing I could have done - though I forgot a bunch of science, I have much more energy to dedicate to research since our return.
Besides work, we are still discovering new things here in Davis/Sacramento. We found a fun Japanese restaurant in town with sushi delivered on boats that are 'sailing' in a stream around the sushi bar. Today we drove to Winters (through the orchards and wheat fields) to see a Met kids' photo exhibit. Then we drove to Lake Berryessa (about 20 miles from our apartment) where we tried to visit 2 weeks ago (but the road had been closed due to fire). We fished along Putah Creek that (oddly) flows East (down from the reservoir to the Sacramento River.
Some interesting factoids about Lake Berryessa (from Wikipedia):
Prior to its inundation, the Beryessa Valley was an agricultural region, whose soils were considered among the finest in the country. The main town in the valley, Monticello, was abandoned in order to construct the reservoir. This abandonment was chronicled by the photographers Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones in their book Death of a Valley. Construction of Monticello Dam was begun in 1953[1], and the reservoir filled by 1963, creating what at the time was the second-largest reservoir in California after Shasta Lake.
Some pictures of the reservoir, the dam, and Putah Creek (where we went 'fishing', but not 'catching'):
On a sadder note, we spent Memorial Day weekend with Andrew's family in Andover. Andrew's grandmother, Ruth Berthold, died after 97 years of a wonderful life. She gave so much to everyone and we were grateful to be there. We were able to see so many people - family and family friends. Although we only spent 4 days in Andover, it was great to be there and celebrate Ruth's life with people and the place she loved.
On our flight out East, we had the "opportunity" to again visit the Las Vegas airport. Boasting four runways and more than 1,300 slot machines, we were more than delighted to have a layover here. When we visited this airport last, there were no less than two women wearing wedding gowns in the airport. This time were were not so fortunate to witness another's life-changing event.
The first image speaks for itself (Las Vegas Fruits & Nuts). The second just makes us laugh - the plane gates and gambling within feet of each other:
In addition, we were struck by the Massachusetts' climate and architecture. It was very warm and humid - unlike Davis which is hot and dry. The architecture was such a pleasure to be around with unique and carefully-planned homes - unlike California where the architecture is repetitive and mostly views of peoples' garages. These are some gorgeous buildings in Andover, unlike anything one could see out here:
We returned to Sacramento to find that the humpback whales had finally reached the Pacific Ocean. See a previous blog for the news reports leading up to their eventual escape from the River.
We went into San Francisco to check out a band called The Hold Steady. Their recordings remind us of a very young Springsteen (Steel Mill era) and Marah. They are in their early 30's and hail from Minneapolis. Their lyrics are clever and interesting, but in their live performance, the lyrics were undecipherable and they drank and drank and drank. There has been much said about how terrific their live performances are, but by the end of the show, we didn't quite like them as much as we thought we would. I think they have a bit to learn with their live shows. But, it was good to get into SF again and see a new band and venue.
Today, we saw the UC Davis performance of Urine Town. What can we say? It was entertaining and surely a bit odd.
On a final note, we have been gardening. We are still shocked that we began planting our garden on March 10th! Here is our first tomato:
Today we purchased some more pepper plants because for some odd (and upsetting) reason, our basil won't grow; we think that slugs are eating the fresh sprouts. Additionally, we hear that Davis water contains high levels of boron, but we are not sure how this would affect our basil plants. So after 3 packets of seeds, we gave up and placed pepper plants where the basil was supposed to grow. It's shocking just how fast and tall the tomato plants have grown; many of them are taller than me!
Some images of our gigantic plants (and our compost bin in the last image):
The Met Sacramento's graduation is next week so Andrew has been busily readying the kids for graduation and the 'after[Met]life'. I (Leigh) have been busy with lab work - things are going great and I'm having such a good time with a new project in a new lab; I feel rejuvenated. In addition, taking time off was the best thing I could have done - though I forgot a bunch of science, I have much more energy to dedicate to research since our return.Besides work, we are still discovering new things here in Davis/Sacramento. We found a fun Japanese restaurant in town with sushi delivered on boats that are 'sailing' in a stream around the sushi bar. Today we drove to Winters (through the orchards and wheat fields) to see a Met kids' photo exhibit. Then we drove to Lake Berryessa (about 20 miles from our apartment) where we tried to visit 2 weeks ago (but the road had been closed due to fire). We fished along Putah Creek that (oddly) flows East (down from the reservoir to the Sacramento River.
Some interesting factoids about Lake Berryessa (from Wikipedia):
Prior to its inundation, the Beryessa Valley was an agricultural region, whose soils were considered among the finest in the country. The main town in the valley, Monticello, was abandoned in order to construct the reservoir. This abandonment was chronicled by the photographers Dorothea Lange and Pirkle Jones in their book Death of a Valley. Construction of Monticello Dam was begun in 1953[1], and the reservoir filled by 1963, creating what at the time was the second-largest reservoir in California after Shasta Lake.
Some pictures of the reservoir, the dam, and Putah Creek (where we went 'fishing', but not 'catching'):
On a sadder note, we spent Memorial Day weekend with Andrew's family in Andover. Andrew's grandmother, Ruth Berthold, died after 97 years of a wonderful life. She gave so much to everyone and we were grateful to be there. We were able to see so many people - family and family friends. Although we only spent 4 days in Andover, it was great to be there and celebrate Ruth's life with people and the place she loved.
On our flight out East, we had the "opportunity" to again visit the Las Vegas airport. Boasting four runways and more than 1,300 slot machines, we were more than delighted to have a layover here. When we visited this airport last, there were no less than two women wearing wedding gowns in the airport. This time were were not so fortunate to witness another's life-changing event.
The first image speaks for itself (Las Vegas Fruits & Nuts). The second just makes us laugh - the plane gates and gambling within feet of each other:
In addition, we were struck by the Massachusetts' climate and architecture. It was very warm and humid - unlike Davis which is hot and dry. The architecture was such a pleasure to be around with unique and carefully-planned homes - unlike California where the architecture is repetitive and mostly views of peoples' garages. These are some gorgeous buildings in Andover, unlike anything one could see out here:
We returned to Sacramento to find that the humpback whales had finally reached the Pacific Ocean. See a previous blog for the news reports leading up to their eventual escape from the River.
We went into San Francisco to check out a band called The Hold Steady. Their recordings remind us of a very young Springsteen (Steel Mill era) and Marah. They are in their early 30's and hail from Minneapolis. Their lyrics are clever and interesting, but in their live performance, the lyrics were undecipherable and they drank and drank and drank. There has been much said about how terrific their live performances are, but by the end of the show, we didn't quite like them as much as we thought we would. I think they have a bit to learn with their live shows. But, it was good to get into SF again and see a new band and venue.
Today, we saw the UC Davis performance of Urine Town. What can we say? It was entertaining and surely a bit odd.
On a final note, we have been gardening. We are still shocked that we began planting our garden on March 10th! Here is our first tomato:
Today we purchased some more pepper plants because for some odd (and upsetting) reason, our basil won't grow; we think that slugs are eating the fresh sprouts. Additionally, we hear that Davis water contains high levels of boron, but we are not sure how this would affect our basil plants. So after 3 packets of seeds, we gave up and placed pepper plants where the basil was supposed to grow. It's shocking just how fast and tall the tomato plants have grown; many of them are taller than me!Some images of our gigantic plants (and our compost bin in the last image):
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