black_muzzle

It's been over a year since I've posted here! Egads. We'll, I have a new blog that I've been working on, and I post there more often than here and facebook (don't worry -- it actually does get updated!). I prefer to have a more-customizable page than livejournal's setup. I will still be lurking around here, though, to keep an eye on my friends' posts.

Without further ado:

http://howthewindhowls.blogspot.com/

I'll let it speak for itself.
Enjoy,
-Adam

I've been busy as usual, but the past few weeks have been pretty fantastic. It all started with a rambunctious little creature called Shadow:
( Puppy! )
Mid-August landed upon me shortly after, and my free time was swept away with Woods leader training over at the Somerset Reservoir. I had a great time on the trip. It was quite different for me this year, as I had more of a teaching role. I spent a lot of time talking with my Forest Skills co-leader Liz, and hanging out with Randy and the other woods leaders. The reservoir was beautiful, and evenings on the shore were quiet and calm.

The Forest Skills Woods trip was totally awesome this year. We had death-defying lightning storms, morning sightings of carnivorous moose, flaming black bear attacks, and lots and lots of debris for the shelter. We ate well, as we had sushi, bacon and eggs, chickpea curry, tacos, potato leek soup (and garlic bread), and many s'mores. We had a great time with Allison when she visited to talk about edible and medicinal plants, and we had a great visit with the Skills Share Woods trip (which involved lots of spear making and singing). The trip back was quick and painless, as we found that one of the hiking boots was actually a portkey to the OP. We also had a restful night at the stone circle. All in all, fabulous trip. Pictures coming soon.

When I got home, my garden was HUGE. I mean, gigantic! All of my black-eyed susans are blooming (at four feet tall!), Trevor's marigolds have countless flowers, my tomatoes are finally producing fruit, and my parsley has taken over the herb garden. We've got sage, spearmint, catnip, garlic, three varieties of thyme, lavender, and nasturtiums. Our pumpkin is flowering, and our basil was big enough for a big pot of pesto! I'm quite pleased. Everything had a slow start (due to seed planting, 'cause I'm cheap and I like watching things sprout), but it's definitely caught up at this point. Yay flowers! Soon, I'll be starting my indoor herb garden again (hopefully with two grow-lights this time). It'll be fun.

I've also finished my hutch. Finally. In terms of working hours, it took almost no time at all, I just procrastinated finishing it a lot. I finished the base before my woods trip:
( Cut for many pictures and descriptions )

The rest of the pictures will have to wait, as they are still on my camera. I did finish the cabinet, however, just after returning from my woods trip.

That's it for now. Lots more to do, and many places to go (first fencing of the school year tonight!).

Peace out.

I saw a Great Blue Heron today, just chillin' on a rock in the middle of Lake Raponda. Trevor and Edwin and I canoed to about 100' away, and we just watched it stand there, preening its feathers. Then we saw it fly away. Pretty awesome.

I have to admit, working with pine is easy and satisfying. But I wish I had the money to get hardwood. It's so much more rewarding. And the boards don't constantly tear out when you make a simple cut.

But my pinings for hardwood aside, my hutch is progressing beautifully. I finally got my

( BAR CLAMPS! )

( And I assembled my first side panel that night )

I've actually since assembled the other side panel, the cabinet face, and the drawer slides. Hopefully, by tomorrow, the top will be done, and I will also finish the cabinet doors and the drawers. Maybe I'll even start on the shelf! Woot!

( Trevor playing with my camera )

Am I a woodworking junkie? Yes, yes I am.

I have finally decided to tackle the second largest project from my dream woodworking list: a kitchen hutch. On Friday night, I drew out the plans (with input from Trevor, of course, because he is the master of the kitchen). The hutch consists of a base cabinet that has pots and pans storage, as well as two drawers for flatware and utensils, and an upper cabinet that has three shelves for food and dish storage, as well as a countertop that can be used as a workspace.

( Day 1, plans (the cleaned up version): <div text= )

On Saturday, I got to go downtown to buy the wood for the project. I decided on pine because of the price and weight of the wood, as the hutch will inevitably need to be moved. $120 bucks later, my roof rack was full. One piece of pine in particular I discovered at ReNew, and $2.81 later, I had a countertop that formerly was the side of a barn. Beautiful. Still has some bark on it.

On Sunday, I started work on the hutch. More accurately, I started work on two sawhorses so I could build the hutch. Two 2x4's and a few pieces of scrap wood + 1hour = two sawhorses.

( Giddyup... )

Monday afternoon, work on the hutch commenced! I designed a simple frame for the base cabinet, and assembled the structure along with an interior shelf and the back and bottom plywood. It's already starting to look vaguely hutch-shaped!

( I pine for you! )

I hope to continue working on it soon, though I'm waiting for two bar clamps I ordered so that I can glue the side panels together (no gaps!). In the meantime, I'll just have to have sweet dreams about sawing pine and clamping boards.

I'm not being totally useless during the wait, however. I finished a commissioned sign for a clothing business tonight. Mmmmm, oak. Precious oak.

( Black cat scratch... )

I'll post more when I can start working on it again. In the meantime, woof, I say.

"The air is sweet and fragrant, and none may pass without my permission!"

I am now an official woofer. That is to say, I am an official WFR. That's right -- I am trained to treat dislocations, broken bones, and allergic reactions (with epinephrine), perform search and rescue, assist in child birth, start and stop CPR, give rescue breaths, and play with O2 tanks.

Be very afraid.

I miss the thunderstorms in Ohio. It's one of the few things I miss from that place, but I can't quite seem to get my fill here in Vermont. This year is off to a good start -- there have been some spectacular light shows in the last week. But it's not the same as watching a storm sweep over the hills in the midwest, feeling the cold wind and rain blowing in your face. Vermont storms try; I'll give them credit. They just don't have the self-confidence that midwest storms have.

The rain will be good for my garden, though (and the lightning will be good for the corn for all the farmers out there). I've slowly been working on fixing up our yard, and I've been able to put in a number of flower beds and even a stone walkway to our front door. I've got some purple coneflowers and black-eyed susans (my grandmother's favorite flowers) that fill up the majority of the space, though Trevor's planted some marigolds, morning glories, and moonflowers to fill up the leftover spaces. We're hoping that the latter two climb the trellis I made near our front door.

I also planted some herbs and edible flowers for our kitchen: nasturtiums, dill, parsley, sage, garlic, and peppermint. I have plans for tomatoes and peppers once the nights warm up a bit. Also, I've also finished my garden enclosure in which I'll plant some peas, beans, and spinach. Maybe pumpkins if I find the space. I'm also still looking for a place to put some columbine seeds a neighbor gave to me, though I think I'll be putting them near the lamppost near the road.

Aside from gardening, I've been spending some time working on miscellaneous projects for friends and neighbors. I'm making an oak sign for Black Cat Fashions to use at the CT ren. faire, a walnut sundial for the stone circle at Marlboro, a coat rack for my mother, and (still in the planning stage) a small table out of recently harvested spruce for me. I've been doing some yard work around the neighborhood, and even got to go to Laura Stevenson's house to help out there. Franklin taught me how to use a chain saw, and I got to have a wonderful lunch with them both. And, of course, I've been spending time on campus and in the woods planning and preparing for WOODS this fall (Liz and I are leading Forest Skills)! Woot!

I'm getting awfully nervous about this weekend, as commencement is this Sunday and my family will be here, as well as Trevor's family. It will be hectic. Not to mention that I'm going to be doing WFR training four days afterward... I was looking forward to doing fencing at the alumni weekend events, but now that I'm taking WFR, I had to give that up (luckily pepperedmoth will be taking over fencing and such). And, on top of all that, my car will be getting a new head gasket on Tuesday (Subaru is paying, thankfully). All in all, I think things will work out okay. I'm looking forward to June, though.

Peace out.

I woke up today, stumbled out into the living room, and thought, "Gee, it's dark in here."
And then I noticed the snow outside had covered up one of our windows. My realization of this sparked a few more thoughts, mainly
1. OMG YAY!
2. I have to shovel snow to obtain natural lighting. And,
3. It's zero degrees outside.
The third of these realizations was confirmed by my taking the dog outside, and then promptly turning into a fuzzy icicle (both me and the dog). Snow shoveling commenced, and my houseplants were no doubt happy when they could photosynthesize once again. After a brief breakfast and the waking of the Trevor-beast, we were off to Will and Lynn's house to enjoy the luxuries of a wood stove and tabletop gaming. Luckily, my gasoline-powered abominable snow vehicle started, and it promptly told me that the temperature was somewhere between "Antarctica" and "Holy bajesus!" Even more luckily, it remembered that it had brakes about 15-20 feet after I had applied them. Let's just say it's learning curve is relative to its temperature.

Fun was had by all, and after returning home, Trevor and I had a scrumptious dinner and watched the second part of "The Best of Both Worlds" (TNG 4th season for you non-geeks), which was excellent. And then, increasing my geek-allotment for the week, I planned out my Werewolf campaign plot for Friday's game and uploaded a fuzzy icon for livejournal.

What was wrong with Thursday, might you ask? Well, nothing at all, except that Friday is my birthday. That means I have to top Thursday! Quite the challenge! I think I'm off to a good start, though. Tomorrow, my sourdough starter (lovingly named Iago) should be ready for feeding again, and it seems to be working. And, I already know the day is ending during my Werewolf game.

Now, if I could only find my hairbrush...

Well, Trevor and I are nearly moved into our new apartment in Wilmington. It's looking very nice inside, as we've finally set up our kitchen. And Trevor is making scones ^_^ We'll probably be unpacking our last few things over the course of the next week or so, and getting ready for life in the 'real world' (though I hate that phrase with a passion).

I'm thinking of going out on a limb and becoming a self-employed handyman -- hiring myself out to do painting, basic carpentry, yard work, and other misc. jobs. I'm excited at this prospect, but I'm worried I won't get enough business to stay afloat. Luckily, though, the only real expense for me would be tools and the gas for my car, and I have a lot of basic tools. Getting materials is no problem, either. I've just got to get my act together and put an add in the paper or something like that.

Trevor's also searching for jobs, but just something to keep his hands busy while he's thinking about his writing. He's been spending a lot of time baking recently, so I hope he can find a bakery nearby to work in -- he'd have fun doing that.

But other than all of that, things are pretty simple right now. It's nice not to have to write plan papers. And its nice to read books for pleasure again. Oh, yes, and I can take walks on the Marlboro trails and not have to worry about trail work!

I think things will be more exciting when friends come back from the holiday break, and when Trevor and I have some work. But, for now, it's peace and quiet.

Finit!

Mailed! Done! Completed! Finished! Sent!

Whew. I finally finished the largest, and last academic paper for my plan. Forty pages of wolfy goodness.

Let me elaborate (the first two sentences from my conclusion):

The purpose of these arguments is not to raucously promote the possibility of consciousness in the wolf; on the contrary, the presence or absence of consciousness in the wolf does not change the fact that it is a beautiful, mysterious, and exciting creature. The possibility of its consciousness merely gives credit to the fact that humans may not be the only animal with a conscious mind, and that consciousness may have a useful purpose in the specialized predatory habits of the carnivores.

Take that, plan!

Now, all that remains is my independent project, which is well on its way. Sometime in the next two days, I'll have a printed plan, ready to bind, and ready to send to my outside evaluator.

The next step: Werewolf:The Forsaken, or Cowboy Bebop. Decisions, decisions...

To begin, Thanksgiving this year was very nice. Trevor and I traveled up to Montpelier on Wednesday night to stay with my mom and brother and sister, and we ended up staying until just this afternoon. It was wonderful to see my family again, if only briefly, as it gave me a needed break from the plan grindstone. Trevor had to finish his independent project Wednesday night, but was done early on Thursday morning, and we both relaxed on Thanksgiving day. We ate lots of Turkey and stuffing and yams, and everything was spectacular (including Trevor's homemade pie crust!), and then we all sat around and watched movies and played video games. Oh yes, and I was introduced to the joys of Cowboy Bebop by my brother, which will certainly make it harder for me to do plan in the next couple days. But more on that later.

I think Thanksgiving was the first real break I've had from work since... well, maybe spring break? Granted, my trip out West was spectacular (and Yellowstone is hard to beat in terms of vacation spots), but all of the preperation and anticipation of working at the refuge made it all seem so much shorter. By the time I knew it, I was back in Marlboro on Woods leader training (two days after I returned from CO). And then the woods trip, which was also great, but taxing. Then enrollment. Then course registration. Then plan research. Then plan. And while it was all happening, I was so pumped on adrenaline that I didn't realize how much relaxation time I missed, and now, in November, it suddenly hit me. Actually, I think it hit me last week when I stayed up three of the seven nights, and didn't sleep nearly enough to keep me ticking.

I tried to recover a bit over the last few days, and I really just ended up sleeping a lot. And now that I have a taste of relaxation, it's even harder to go back to working on plan. I've just got to keep reminding myself, "It's almost done, it's almost done!" Hence, Cowboy Bebop = bad. Except that Spike is "teh awesome" as Rachel puts it.

As far as plan goes, I'm 40% completely done. I've got another 40% nearly done (just ten more pages to go, which I will hopefully finish tonight and tomorrow!). The last 20% is my independent project, which is also planned and partially done. I'm feeling good about it. But I've got to finish it. I've got a very good feeling about a children's story that I wrote, as everyone who has read it has loved it. After two years of fiction and creative non-fiction writing, I think I've got one gem. And, that's not bad in the writing buisness, from what I can tell. I'm excited to start writing more, once I'm finished at Marlboro.

Anyway, I've got to get back to writing. But I'll come back from the dead again soon, and become an active (and better rested) member of the living society.

Peace out, homeskillets.

Hehe, more mappy goodness.



create your own visited states map
or check out these Google Hacks.

I promise I'll update for real sometime.

Livejournal.  Right -- that livejournal thing!  I should update it every once in a while!

I've made it safely to CO a couple of weeks ago (after an awsome stay in Yellowstone -- I saw two alpha wolves, a black bear, a bald eagle, elk, bighorn sheep, bison, and many other cool animals *does happy dance*).  Mission:Wolf is infinitely cool.  It's up on a mountain at 9300 feet, and we have a view that spans thirty or so miles.  There are nine of us up here running everything at the moment -- feeding the wolves, working on our new building (with a shower!  Egads!), putting up fence, and giving tours to the brave souls who successfully navigate six miles of dirt roads to get here.

Everything here is run by solar power, and we recycle about 70% of our waste.  Almost all of the buildings are made by donated or reclaimed materials.  We get our water from a well with a solar pump, and it's enough water to water 34 wolves and 9 humans, plus let us take showers and fill up our fire truck.  And yes, we need a fire truck -- just in case that 14,000 acre fire down past Gardner makes it up the hill. 

All of you in the Northeast, we'd appreciate your donation of water.  UPS is fine.  Just seal the package tight.

So, new things I've never done before:
-- Got licked on the face by a real wolf.  As a greeting. (They want to lick your teeth to say hi)
-- Been dragged around on the ground by an 11 month old pup.
-- Cut up a dead horse and a dead cow.
-- Learned to drive a stick shift.
-- Went whitewater rafting.
-- Cooked for ten people.  Successfully.
-- Drank a whole bottle of beer.
-- Learned carpentry from an actual carpenter.
-- Meditated in a grove of aspen trees.
-- Been dive-bombed by humming birds.
-- Met a wolf biologist who was also a writer.

It's been crazy here, but it's just wonderful.   I get to hear a chorus of all the wolves howling about three or four times a day, which just makes you stop in your tracks.  I've also learned how to spin wolf fur, and have occupied much of my free time by making wolf hair yarn.

Yeah, it's just surreal.

But, I do miss the green hills back home, and I miss all of my friends, and of course, my favorite person in the whole world ^_^.  I can't wait to come home and tell everyone lots of stories.

Peace out, and stay dry in the East,
(but send us the rain)

I Am A: Lawful Good Elf Ranger Bard


Alignment:
Lawful Good characters are the epitome of all that is just and good. They believe in order and governments that work for the benefit of all, and generally do not mind doing direct work to further their beliefs.


Race:
Elves are the eldest of all races, although they are generally a bit smaller than humans. They are generally well-cultured, artistic, easy-going, and because of their long lives, unconcerned with day-to-day activities that other races frequently concern themselves with. Elves are, effectively, immortal, although they can be killed. After a thousand years or so, they simply pass on to the next plane of existance.


Primary Class:
Rangers are the defenders of nature and the elements. They are in tune with the Earth, and work to keep it safe and healthy.


Secondary Class:
Bards are the entertainers. They sing, dance, and play instruments to make other people happy, and, frequently, make money. They also tend to dabble in magic a bit.


Deity:
Mielikki is the Neutral Good goddess of the forest and autumn. She is also known as the Lady of the Forest, and is the Patron of Rangers. Her followers are devoted to nature, and believe in the positive and outreaching elements of it. They use light armor, and a variety of weapons suitable for hunting, which they are quite skilled at. Mielikki's symbol is a unicorn head.


Find out What D&D Character Are You?, courtesy ofNeppyMan (e-mail)



Wow, I'm almost the same as slyeagle over there. 

Yay for geeky D&D online quizes!

I finally finished buying equipment for my internship! (Thank you Town Meeting Scholarship and Science Building Fund! Woot!) And now, I'm sitting in the middle of a pile of electronics and camping gear. Yay for toys! I'll be giving some of the stuff back to the science building when I'm done, like the really spiffy binoculars and the word processor. The science building could use cool new stuff, anyway.

And, I've finally figured out my plans for my wolf study -- a comparison of age, sex, size, and (one or two) personality traits to dominance behaviors in the wolf pairs at the refuge. Once I get data, I can (hopefully) perform a linear regression hypothesis test, and *praying to all the mighty powers in the universe* find some correlation between the traits! And if that doesn't work, I'll be observing non-verbal communication between the wolves, and making inferences to what is being communicated.

Let's hope that some of the wolves are feeling particularly dominant this summer.

*fiddles with toys*

...it's been a while, hasn't it?





Find your Celestial Choir

It's very wet up here in Vermont. Very wet. It was raining when I was packing to go home last Sunday, and it's still raining now. Luckily, my mom lives up on a hill, so it's relatively dry inside.

I'd give it up to be back in the Marlboro woods, though.

I used to be very excited about coming home, but I'm not so much anymore. It means I have to be away from Trevor, and away from Marlboro and Brattleboro, and all of my friends there. Though I feel overwhelmed with school work sometimes at Marlboro, I love living with friends, working at the OP, taking walks in the woods... I miss it after just six days. And, I miss the freedom I get at Marlboro. Sure, I have freedom at my mother's house, too -- I mean, she knows I'm not a kid anymore. But I've changed where my family has not, at least, not so much, and it's hard to go back and live in the past. I felt ready to leave home when I first came to Marlboro, but the feeling I'm getting now confirms that ten times over. It's time to get out into the 'real' world.

Luckily, I have only one more week here before the real world gives me a boot and I'm off to the West. Off to Yellowstone on June 1st! Amanda and I'll be driving the whole way, and spending a week at the park until we go to our internships in CO. It's exciting. And scary. Very, very scary. But, to quote Laura (Stevenson), "If you don't get out now, you never will."

It'll just be me, fifty wolves, and a few other souls on top of the rocky mountains.

It should be interesting.

    Ah, you know you are back in college when you are awake to see the sun rise -- that is, after staying awake all night. It's nice sometimes, though, just to stay up all night. It has been snowing for a while, so when I went out to the library, my tracks were the first ones in the snow. Very cool.
    My all-nighter wasn't completely voluntary, as I had to do some writing for my Creative Nonfiction class, which I started very late because I was making character sheets with my dorm-mates.  I know, very geeky.  But, being very geeky is frequently refreshing and exciting, especially now that Trevor and I are living with or next to people who are great to be geeky with.  It's very fun.
    So far this semester, our suite has been cooking-central, as we have made omlets, breads, biscuits, cakes, salads, and scones (not including the foods that Rachel makes!), and we have planes for French Onion Soup, Baguettes, Cornish Pasties, and Mexican pie soon.  The Dining Hall is certainly not seeing much of me, which is a great departure from last semester.  Five semesters of DH food is quite enough.  It's time for some real stuff.
    Our suite has also been redecorated a bit to include coat hooks, a couple of shelves, and some cloth for our "casement" on the stairway, and a weasel picture in our window.   It's all pretty spiffy.
    Well, I think I'll try to go to sleep now.  Sleep is a very good thing.  *thunk*
.....*zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz*

Borrowed from raml:

Greed:	Low
Gluttony:	Medium
Wrath:	Very Low
Sloth:	Low
Envy:	Low
Lust:	Medium
Pride:	Medium

The Seven Deadly Sins Quiz on 4degreez.com

Not too bad, I guess.  Though, I imagine that the Greed indicator should go up a bit, because I just got a car to replace my crappy Ford Focus!  Yippee!  It is a 2001 Subaru Outback with more extra options than I could ever need, but it was much cheaper than buying an used Outback with standard additions at a dealership.  Buying used cars from private sellers saves so much money (but, as I'm finding out, is about a quadrillion times more complicated than buying a used car at a dealership).  I'm happy to be getting a car that will work in the snow, though.  Now, if I could only figure out what forms I need to fill out...
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