fireworks suck!

i think that it is safe to say that whoever invented the firework and all of its subsequent forms never owned a dog. it was a rough weekend for cass (and me!). i have the best neighbors in the world...they love blowing up m-80s and other ridiculously loud things from dark until 3am. on the 3rd i came home from work and cass was so terrified she wouldn't even come out of the bush for me. her muscles had been trembling for so long that she could hardly walk and her pupils were dilated so much that their was only a thin sliver of iris was visible. fortunately, pete's house is much quieter and i was able to get her into the car and over to his house for the next two days. thinking that my neighbors would have blown up all their fireworks on the 4th, i brought cass back home on the 5th. things were fine while i was here, but i had to go to the monterey bay aquarium to volunteer for a sleep-over. i got a call from pete at 11:45pm saying that cass was gone. apparently the fireworks were not finished. in her frantic state, cass either jumped a 4.5 foot fence or shimmied her body through a 6-inch hole under the fence. fortunately, two girls saw her frantically running back and forth on a busy street and managed to catch her and take her home. once the animal services office opened on sunday, they were able to get my phone number and return the precious cargo. she's doing fine and is calmer than i expected. there might be some harsh words (or maybe just an illegal fireworks call to the police) if things start blowing up again tonight...


an update on the rest of the happenings for the last couple of months...
the class ended at the beginning of june after a field trip to the sierra nevada and one to big sur. it was a great class and it was both sad and a relief for it to end. i've signed myself up to ta another field class in the fall so it must not have been too horrible...or maybe it's just the fact that i get to spend four weeks in tahiti. :)

with the class commitment behind me, i am now fully buried in my data. it is exciting to be putting all of the research work together, but it is also a really frustrating process. i think this phd thing may make me lose my mind. i am trying to write two chapters before the end of september (read: this post=procrastination) so that i am on track to finish by next spring. it is going to be a lot of work, but i am in santa cruz for most of the summer which will help immensely.

there are some fun things to be done around here, though. a couple weekends ago pete and i went up to oakland for some family-reunion fun. it was the first time in twelve years that his mom's family was all together and i got to meet pete's cousins for the first time. we took a ferry across the bay to san francisco and spent the day on the embarcadero. i've never done all the touristy stuff down there so it was fun for me. last weekend pete and i went back up to the city for the symphony. we heard dvorzak's cello concerto...it was really good. it was our first time to the symphony in san fran, but i'm sure we'll go back. pete is now back up in the bay area for the next two weeks. he is taking his captain's license class (for boats) so that he is a more desirable candidate for jobs he may be applying for in the future.



at the end of june, pete suffered a loss in the motorcycle fleet in dramatic fashion. he was on his way to oakland for father's day/dad's bday/dad's retirement when all hell broke loose. he was on the interstate driving 75mph in the fast lane when he heard a horrible metallic noise and then the rear wheel of his bike locked up. miraculously he was able to keep the bike upright and off to the shoulder of the freeway. his engine block is cracked and there are some crazy broken parts on the inside. the engine only had 8,800 miles on it but unfortunately is outside of warranty coverage. he's bummed about the bike, but we're all thankful he isn't cracked too.

lastly in the update, it's been a rough year here for fires. there have been three in the immediate santa cruz area that have displaced friends (one w/ a five-day-old baby!) and destroyed so much. the big fire that is raging in big sur (basin complex fire) is currently burning through one of my field sites and is threatening the second. fortunately it may be beneficial for my research rather than a hindrance. my advisor pete and i are currently trying to find funding sources to study the effects of fire on watersheds and ultimately on marine communities. it is going to be sad to go back to big sur, though. it is a much loved and cherished spot for so many and it is going to be a long time before it returns to its previous state...