We finally "get" Spring!

Posted by: Nic and Sal

When we say get Spring we mean understand Spring, and when we say we we mean Nic (try using we 6 times in another 15 word sentence, I dare ya!). Any way, when you grow up in Australia you are exposed to a body of popular culture from Europe and North America that glorifies Spring. Of course, we are aware what Spring is like in Europe and North America,you know, everything grows again. Well, if you haven't seen a northern Spring you don't get it. Everything doesn't just grow, it GROWS!!! And before it does that it flowers, PRO-BLOOMING-LIFICALLY!!! (good pun hu? Sal is still grinning). Up until a week ago we were still getting nights well below freezing. Today the temperature hit 32 C! One heavy rain and five days of warm weather and all the trees suddenly have leaves! Oh yeah, and Sal said to mention all the girls are now wearing skirts. We need to get off our bums and take some more pictures for you, but here is a one that really doesn't do it justice.

Aridity

Nothing new to report from NC at the moment, but there is a new post over at Aridskies, enjoy!

The OTHER Carolina

Posted by: Nic'n'Sal

We have just returned from Spring Break in the other Carolina (South Carolina that is). We spent a long weekend at Pawley's Island, one of the chain of barrier islands that skirts the coast of the Carolinas from the north of Pamlico Sound, past Myrtle Beach, and to points southwards. The big red arrow below should give you some idea of the location - about a 5 hour drive from Durham.



We stayed at our friend Mary Turnipseed's family beach house (read "beach mansion"), which sits 10m above the ground on long stalk legs built up so that storm surges from passing hurricans can just pass beneath the main body of the house without washing it all away. Given its admittedly gorgeous but precarious position on a 67m wide strip of land, this seems like a very sensible precaution!

Here is the view from the inland side of the house - a tidal creek filled with private jetties and decks.

And here is the view on the ocean side - pure North Atlantic stretching out to Bermuda and thence to Africa... both of these photos are taken facing south.

What did we do... well, a lot of eating, drinking, lounging, sleeping, reading, and a few more energetic activities... here are a lot of rather sozzled people on the front deck enjoying margaritas and bbqed prawns... yum.

Despite the frivolity a few of us got up in time to enjoy a sunrise over the sea (a novelty for two West Aussies).

But mostly we sat around enjoying not being at work and not being inland in Durham!

We did have a taste of adventure... here is Sal taking a kayak up the creek for a bit of a paddle. No sooner had I (Sal) returned than Nic stole the kayak and went to face one of his greatest fears... the sea. You can imagine my surprise when, having showered and cleaned myself up, I was lounging around and looked up to see Nic heading into shore... through the breakers from the sea. He had paddled all the way down the mouth of the creek, through the breakers there to the ocean, up the coast, and then managed to surf his way back in (wiping out impressively in the process). Those of you who know Nic well know that he really is quite phobic about the ocean...this was amazing! He's pretty damn proud of himself and hasn't stopped bragging about it, but I think he deserves to on this one occasion...

And finally, here is Najer, our friends' crazy-eyed dog. Named after Lucas' favourite cobra species in Africa, Naj lives up to his name by being completely hyperactive...but he's a sweety really.

Shameless plug

Just a quick post to let you know that we have decided the rejuvenate Sal's old blog "Arid Skies" as our new rant-site. It will become the place where we can vent our opinions on things. Follow the link on the left.

Spring has sproinged.

Posted by: Nic

The weather has started to get noticeably warmer over the past two weeks. The leaf-buds are just starting to swell and some trees are putting on blossom.



My post-doc is going well enough. I am starting to establish Canola experiments and we are gearing-up for experimental work on Switchgrass. The picture below is of my "supervisor" Ron Heiniger and one of our trial plots. It is an interesting farm to work on - with bears in the forest and alligators in the drains.




Now, I've decided that your average American TV show is actually no worse than your average Aussie TV show. Of course I think your average Aussie TV show is shit so that is not saying much. The problem is that there is just more shows to be shit with 40 channels. What really bugs me though are the commercials. We like to sit down each night and watch the Daily Show but have to endure the horrific chimerical breaks where, for example, people tell you to join their Internet marketing scheme - they did and they now live in a mansion - while the bottom of the screen says "results not typical". During these I get the overwhelming urge to throw things at the TV screen. So the other day, when I saw the following toy, I was extremely interested.



I did some research and found I could get one for the low low price of $10. So I did. Now I only watch TV with a pile of sultanas that I can shoot at the screen. Granted, the ads don't go away, but it makes me feel a lot better. Sal has given me permission to do this, provided I clean up the mess afterwards.


Finally, to more wholesome activities. The two drums I am holding contain whole meal and white flour. I have embarked on bread-making, a hobby I had left behind in Perth. It wasn't going too well but I got some advice from a computer programmer/baker (just trust me, he knows what he is talking about) and the last loaf I made was awesome. Perhaps I could make dough balls to shoot at the screen, now there's an idea...