Slow Progress on the Home Front

...no, literally the 'home front'! Our builder finally got the frame up for the entryway, so you can begin to see what it will look like. Now, for a roof.

Looking forward to a reunion with Lee Stuart and Kevin and family at the U.S. Open 2006 edition; aka the Andre Agassi farewell show. Ah well, he deserves it. Hope he makes it to Labor Day weekend! I purchased Arthur Ashe tix for Sun. on the off chance that he'll be featured there. Who knows, we might see his last professional match! Wouldn't that be something for the archives? Until then, skol!

Going to Graceland, Graceland, Memphis Tennessee

OK, I didn't actually end up going to Graceland. The secondhand description from some of our grad students was enough. Probably a sin to make the trek all the way to this famous southern city and NOT do the pilgrimage (I must admit, I had the Paul Simon song stuck in my head for a while!). But it sounded way over the top and none too classy. The notion of seeing fans fall into fits of weeping at the grave was just too much for me to handle. Besides, we were there for the annual Ecological Society meetings, and it was difficult to find a window of time to get away long enough to visit Elvis' abode.

The meetings were good, the van trip long. Our grad students did us proud. Good food and jazz/blues on Beale street was worth the trip in itself. The only down side was the high population of homeless, always on the lookout for generous-looking tourists. Now it's back to the nonstop street and buidling construction of Morgantown.

Flying High in Mo'town

While Kevin is flying over the spectacular glaciers of the coast range on the west coast, I am flying over the spectacular hills of WV! Well, not so spectacular, but still always a fun part of my job - going up in a small plane doing remote sensing work. Today we were seeking out Ailanthus from the air, hoping to image females and their attendant seed clusters. My student Matt Kaproth was in the back seat operating our digital Sigma SD9 camera, while I was co-pilot in the front, directing the pilot and saying helpful things like 'Start shooting now, Matt!' The above is one of my photos taken with my handheld digital camera.