So much for thinking I'd have all this time to blog now that d.w. and Chins are out in CA fighting off the damp cold of a foggy coastal summer. Bird-watching has never been so intensely time-consuming, keeping me up from well before dawn to well after dark just about every single day. And day after day in the oppressive heat of an Iowa summer make me want to pass out, puke, and cry (but not necessarily in that order) when I get back to the field house each afternoon.
Not that I'm complaining, of course. I'll take a hot, humid day of field work over my little basement cubicle any time.
The upside of being so busy in the field (other than slimming down in preparation for a winter full of heavy Midwestern meals) is that I really haven't had time to miss d.w. and Chins too much. That's not to say I don't miss them, because I miss them every second of the day, but at least this way I don't have that soul-crushing sense of loss I was expecting. And I'll be flying out to meet them in a few weeks anyway, so things could be a lot worse.
What an incredibly boring post. You'd think I could include an anecdote or something. Jesus.
OK, how's this:
As a little diversion from walking around mapping study site boundaries today, I decided to keep a tally of all the ticks I took off me. The total? Fifty-seven. I should mention that total includes the 21 I found crawling up my legs after I suffered a brief lapse in judgment and walked a few paces down a cattle trail. But still. That is, as they say, naaaast.
Oh, you wanted a baby-related story? You'll have to ask d.w. about that.