This is one of my esteemed professors for my summer course in biology. This picture looks a bit unfriendly, but at the end of her lengthy explanation on tree coring, a smile cracked across her face, followed by a pithy comment that I can't quite remember today. We spent 14 hours together yesterday, all 20 of us packed into cars and vans for a long and circuitous romp through the Cascades and into the beyonds of Eastern Washington.
Our first stop was for tree coring, stream surveying, and lichen data collecting. While each of my three professors is knowledgeable and interesting, Ola here is perhaps the most entertaining. She is very much like Professor Trelawny from Harry Potter, the mysterious and oddball divination professor (as played by Emma Thompson in the movie version). By the end of the trip, I was entertaining my van with my Ola imitations, though I have yet to master the blend of New Zealand and British accent she's cultivated over the years.
We visited many sites, including the "stonehenge" of the state...(that's Ola way up in the lead...)
...to the desert catcus just outside Vantage...
The best part of the long journey was the swim in the Columbia River, though I have no photo as I was stroking my way to the cool spots of the river before most of the others had emerged from their vehicles...Ola at my side. She's no spring chicken, nor does she talk about her age much, but we all figured she was in her mid-70's and more energetic than a flea on a hot skillet.
Meanwhile, Ann and I continue to paint the windows and the trim. Today's task is to paint the third, yes third and final, coat on everything. Then we can begin the less strenuous job of painting the walls. Painting the trim and windows requires so much more bending over and cranking of the neck, or, as the next picture illustrates, reaching high up to the window 14 feet above us.
To add to our circus, we've taken on the job of dog sitting Lucky, a King Charles Spaniel just shy of two years old. Luckily (pun slightly intended), with the heat of this day, Lucky has found her place on a cushion on top of the couch, perched in slumber in the middle of our painting mess...can you find her?
Ah, there she is...
What a life, eh? From Ola to Lucky, it's been quite an education in the last 48 hours.
Now, back to painting...two windows to go!
6 comments:
where is the "Stonehenge" of the state and what can you tell me about it?
Ola sounds like she'd be pretty fun to trsvel with.
bs
It's just outside of Vantage...not sure I could find it again, but perhaps FossilGuy knows the exact location.
It was amazing though the graffiti spoiled some of the impact...as did the rock climber's leftovers hammered into the rock.
Still...amazing in a geological sense.
So good to hear your"voice". Yum. "The day will come, when..." in reference to doggies. Any dog is a Lucky dog if he has you two.
Bookworm
Exactly where was that Stonehenge of WA State? That's my home terrain, but I've never seen this particular spot.
The cacti of Vantage are another thing .... when I was little, we used to drive from Smyrna to Beverly to Vantage, then over the mountain to Ellensburg to do our monthly 'big' grocery shopping. About once a year, my Dad would stop the car and hike out into the brush and dig one of the cacti up and try to get it to grow in his garden at Smyrna. They always died. Probably drowned.
Now that I look at that picture and let my mind coast, it does begin to seem familiar. Perhap you cross the river at Vantage(?) to the Grant County side, swing north and climb up out of the Columbia River gorge (?), and maybe its up there near the top of that upgrade - three or four miles north of Vantage (?). Does that ring a bell, noapologies? And you went by the iron horse herd up on the brow of the hill?
Yep, that's the direction...exactly.
As for the cacti, we learned that it needs a certain lichen in the soil to be able to grow. Therefore, your dad killed it by not taking along the lichen, which would have been difficult to take in the first place.
I'll try to find out the exact exact location of the Stonehenge.
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