In the zone

Paul was very tolerant of our questions and interruptions in the lab, but apparenty others are not so patient.

Paul in the hood

and Paul, well, in the hood.

Paul's Companion

While visiting Paul last weekend, we had the opportunity to spend a few hours in the UGA lab with some trypanosoma, and we also got to meet one of Paul's lab mates. We aren't sure what the status of their relationship is though....he claims not to see her much. It is hard to keep up with him I must admit.

Our "new" camera

 

Everything appears to be working so far with our repaired camera. Daru got a new flippy flopper since she reduced the flippy flopper she got for Christmas in 2005 to a broken rubber ring. I tried to get some pictures of her catching it, but most are pretty blurry. It's hard to throw the frisbee and take the picture too.

Crazy cockatoo!

 
This bird may look calm in this shot, but these aves were crazy when we saw them in Australia. One went off on my sister and me.

This should be one of our last archive shots for awhile since our camera has been returned safe and sound as of today- although I have not tried it yet.

What is up with the weather?

 
We celebrated Easter yesterday with below freezing temperatures in the morning- yes we were in SC. My sister and Ryan enjoyed a lovely picnic in their 70 degree weather- yes they were still in MT. My parents had snow on their picnic with the fam- no they weren't in PA, they were in MD. Weird! We had an indoor picnic since 2 young children attended. This picture has nothing to do with Easter; it's an old picture from the Duck Pond in Boston.

Excessive posting

Okay I know this is twice in 1 day, but Kristine sent me a link....to an otter video. This is not from the GA Aquarium, but we did see Southern Otters like the one below there. I picked the remix of the video so you did not all have to listen to 1:40 of "that is so cute!" though I would be surprised if you could make it through the video without even thinking it. I, as a cynical scientist, followed that thought with, "Well, they must be doing it because otters like to hold on to kelp or wrap themselves in it to keep from drifiting while sleeping." Click on the otter to see the video from YouTube or it is embedded below

The real attraction

Whale sharks! Rhincodon typus! The largest fish in the world! The GA Aquarium has 3 half grown whale sharks (4 until January) in a 6.2 million gallon tank and they say they have room for six full grown ones. GA Aquarium is the only aquaruim in the Western Hemisphere with whale sharks so it was worth the trip I think. They are pretty cool animals to watch though they are not vicious killers. They can grow to be 40+ feet long. Ralph, the larger one of the male whale sharks, died of a stomach infection, but the other male, Norton, is about 20 feet. They hope that the sharks will breed, but that has never happened in captivity and they have to be 25, as I learned in the video below that Andrew sent.

Japanese Spider Crabs

This was one of my favorite animals we saw there (though I did not take the picture since we don't have a camera!) This is a Japanese Spider Crab which lives deep in the Pacific Ocean- this picture was taken apparently at 278 m. They can weigh 15-20 kg and grow to 3m from one side to the other. They are pretty creepy looking, but pretty amazing at the same time. Doug contemplated how many people it would take to eat one.

(picture from http://www.jamstec.go.jp/jamstec/organi/goin4-1.html)

The Aquarium

Doug and I went to the Georgia Aquarium this weekend in Atlanta, but we had no camera so this is from our trip to Australia a few years ago.

Simon's Daughter

This is an old picture Doug took in PNG of the daughter of our guide in Daru, PNG for the 8 hour "layover" we had there. I don't remember her name- as my mom would say, "That's why you label pictures right away, Rachel!"

Vandalism in my name

Someone decided to carve my name into the bamboo growing at Magnolia Plantation. At least they spelled it right!

From the archives

An old picture from our rainy Labor Day car picnic. It is sunny here today and almost 70- come on down!

Our crown molding

You may think this a strange picture of crown molding. This is either Luke or Doug in the garage playing with a nail gun. However, it seems that these images literally broke the camera, and our faithful S1 IS will be journeying back to its maker to be repaired. How will we live without our digital camera? How long will they keep it? Will it come back to us the same?

Precious

Precious is one of our neighborhood kids that we take to church. She's the oldest in my Sunday School class which ranges from ages 3-12 some days. She's in 6th grade and a good 4-5 inches taller than me, but don't mention that to her or she won't be so precious any more!

  

Our change jar

Doug took this picture a couple weeks ago.
  

Joga Bonito

Here you see the B league Summerville YMCA winter runners-up! Our last game was Thursday and Doug took the official team photo which supposedly will be in the paper here...We had a rough last game- really obnoxious pushy players on the other team who trash talked and swore up a storm the whole game and a ref who let it all go on. It was frustrating enough that I told one of their 30 year old men when we shook hands that I was not impressed with his behavior. We did have a good season overall and some really fun games, which is I believe, the point of a rec league.

  

The new kid on the block

A little bit more excitement has been created in the backyard when this guy comes around to visit....
Buteo jamaicensis I believe. Any ornithologists want to confirm or correct?

  

Bird watching

Daru and Kina both like to look at the window to see what is going on in the wide world of the backyard. It is usually not too exciting, unless a squirrel (they must have no long term memory) ventures into the yard.

  

Bizarre traditions

My family has several odd Christmas traditions, including putting on all of the clothes you get for Christmas at one time. We are not sure of the origin of this one, but it started when I was about 10. This year, the girls did not get any clothes to model, but the boys did. I think they are trying to look gangsta here.


  

The Graham Fam

Self-explanatory I think- except for Steve....

  

More Christmas portraits

Matthew had a lot of fun this Christmas and he definitely entertained us! Here he is with Robin and Steve. My one picture of his cheesy smile is too blurry.


  

Daru

Here is Daru in front of Doug's parents's Christmas tree....She was very cooperative about wearing a bow once she forgot it was on.

  

Life on the road

In our many hours of travel, we sought to entertain ourselves various ways: books on tape, fruit roll-up tongue tatoos, Christmas music, conversation, and taking pictures of road signs. I was not thinking clearly enough to get a picture of the Mason-Dixon line sign (either time we crossed it!), but we did snap a picture of the Preble sign for our friend Megan P. and a picture of the health facility sign for my sister and her "odd fellow" (this is apparently a chain of health facilities since there is one near where my parents lived in MI.). I am not sure who you send there!


  

Makenna

Adam and Kim had their baby December 11th. She has a lot more hair than your average kid.

  

Thanksgiving at the beach

The waves, the sand, the sunshine.....oops is that the moon?


  

So we're a few holidays behind...

I know some of you have found it hard to go on without an update in almost a month....This is the first time I have downloaded pics since Thanksgiving, so I am just a little behind. My parents came for Thanksgiving and we had our 3rd annual Thanksgiving beach picnic, except we went the day after Thanksgiving because it was (gasp!) too cold on Thanksgiving (and my dad didn't feel great). We saw a nice sunset and had all the Thanksgiving staples in some form.