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So school has started again. I'm back up in Arcata and as always have more time than I really should take and not use wisely for like studying or something. But that's what the beginning of the semester is for. I decided that it's been a good three months since I've updated and I feel like making some changes. And right now I don't yet feel guilty for taking the time to do it. And I'm sure you all want to hear about my classes and everything else I've done since my last update. Hold onto your horses! (I did).
To start off my summer, I packed up whatever I needed for the break and drove inland to Davis/Sac to spend Memorial Day Weekend with Shell, Dom and Louise. It was time for good friends, good food and good fun. We kayaked at Lake Natoma for a few hours, hit the grocery store for dinner fixins and then decided to go to the drive-in to watch "The Matrix: Reloaded." Being the weird ones we are, we brought kick-ass salad with us and ate in the trunk area of my CR-V. It was amusing.
The following day we went to Auburn and did a bit of hiking along the American River. Being that we can't be normal and stick to the path, we began walking along the bank and bouldered our way upstream until we couldn't go any further. Naturally, we had already made plans for dinner that night. We were going nostalgic and heading over to the all-you-can-eat buffet at Sizzler! Ooohhh yeah!
The highlights of the summer were the graduations. Deanna had her Ag Leadership Graduation at Cal Poly Pomona in early June and then Shell and Dom graduated later in the month. Naturally the UCs had their ceremonies on the same weekend so it wasn't a sane idea to try to go to both UCLA and UCD. So I attended the UCLA graduation and helped Michelle get stuff ready for her graduation party. That chica throws an excellent party!
July passed with little to-do. Auntie Naomi has been in the states since early this year and is now staying with Amy in Vancouver, WA. She had a window of opportunity to come down to the Salinas area for a few weeks in late July to visit with everyone. And she brought us a new favorite card game: Baja Rummy. It's out of control. Last year it was the domino game "Mexican Train." I wonder what game she'll bring next year?
When August rolled around, it felt like it came so quickly. Where did my summer go? It just passed by without too much incident. But I now had a new focus for my attention. I spent a few weekends of the month in San Luis Obispo. It has always held a special place in my heart and for good reason. It was the first place I called my home away from home and there are lots of people I don't want to lose touch with...one person in particular. We spent so much time together during that one semester at Cuesta. We kept in touch in the meantime but only on the occasion. But when I took a random trip down there in June, things were different. He is the object of my affection.
So August turned out to be the highlight month of the summer. Mom and I took a long weekend trip into the heat of the central valley and visited with Roger, Deanna and Abby. I rather enjoyed the heat as it was likely the last real warmth I would be getting for a while. And we chose the prime time to vist. For this wasn't just any weekend. No. This was "Rich Schmidig's sausage making weekend." If you've ever been to an Uyeda BBQ, you've had Rich's sausage. It's good stuff.
And finally, we achieved our goal for this year: horseback riding on the beach. It was tentatively planned months ago and finally came to fruition the last weekend before school started. Then that same weekend we called Beth, had coffee with her and Heather and then of course, I had to take a picture. Then we all scattered to the wind and went our seperate ways. I took one last trip down to San Luis before I had to come back up to school. And now, here it is, September already. And next weekend we take a big step. Next weekend is "meet the parents and then the friends at a wedding" weekend. It will be great fun.
I guess since I started off talking about school, I shall end on that note as well. I think school is going to kick my ass this semester. I'm taking twelve hours of lab for three classes. Three major classes: Lichens and Bryophytes, Ornithology and Mammalogy. And that's only nine units! I had to sign up for a random theater class to get three more units just to be a full time student! Like those three classes aren't intense enough! But this weekend ought to be fun. My Lichens and Bryophytes class is going on a field trip to go climb big Valley Oak (Quercus lobata) trees in Laytonville and survey their distribution of epiphytes. The professor, Steve, is really into tree climbing and has all of the ropes and gear so that if we choose, we can climb up 35 meters into the canopy and check out what's growing up there. Steve highly reccomended buying a specific hand lense for looking at the miniscule bryophyte leaves, so I ordered one online. I felt especially nerdy earlier this week when my hand lense came in the mail and I promptly went out and bought a chain to hook it to myself so I don't drop it and lose it. We're talking like $35 for a tiny little 14x magnifying lense. And now I'm finishing up my nerdiness run by updating my website. Perhaps I'll have some fun pictures to share after the field trip.
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