Blogging from a new state: Texas! This is our layover on the way to my brother's wedding. Free internet kiosk! There's a chance we're going to be (voluntarily) bumped to the next flight in exchange for a $300 airline voucher (each person, I think). Wheelin and dealin the trip :) I wouldn't volunteer if it weren't for this free internet :)

These are my favorite:

So, I've been offered a fellowship for free summer housing at a field station in Maine. It would be a really nice place to stay. However, I also have an application out for a different field station, and that one would include extra $$$ for travel and supplies, so I have to wait and see.

Apparently my garden soil sucks and it's a wonder that I got anything to grow at all last year. I bought a little soil test kit:
The pH is about 8 (see dark green liquid in tube), whereas most vegetables prefer 5.5 - 7. The phosphorous and potassium were okay, but the nitrogen was very low. I added specific fertilizer and a soil acidifer to try to rectify these problems. We'll see how it turns out. On the plus side, the soil texture looks better than last year, probably as a result of adding compost and letting the earthworms do their thing.

Notes to my future self:
Carrots planted 3/18. Big Top in back, Red-Cored Chanteray in front.
Peas planted 3/19 after soaking overnight. From L to R: shelled, snap, snow.

If you read my grocery & drugstore budget blog, you might have noticed that I've been buying a lot of light brown hair dye lately. That's because I've started going gray! So far it is mostly between my temples and the top of my ears. Not a ton, but enough to know that it's not just a couple mutant hair follicles. I dyed my hair a few months ago just for fun, so I can't tell how far back those strands were gray, but it had to have started at least last year. Apparently my mom started going gray at 22, so I should consider myself lucky? At least I get tons of free hair dye through my wheeling and dealing.

Over the weekend we fired up my rototiller for the first time ever and tilled the big garden beds. It's warm enough (i.e. above freezing at night) to plant some peas, carrots, lettuce, and spinach in the next few days. I will put a floating row cover over them as an extra precaution. I already transplanted my onions on Saturday.

We also did a lot of clothes shopping over the weekend. Ryan replaced a lot of worn/faded work clothes. He even bought a second suit since there were some on sale at JC Penney for $130. He only wears his suit every couple months for work or weddings, but I figured that after a couple more promotions he will be wearing them more often and the recession deals will be long gone. I got three dresses at Marshall's for a total of $65...one for my brother's rehearsal dinner, one for my future sister-in-law's bridal luncheon, and one for the wedding itself. That's coming up in just under two weeks!

I am still waiting on word from the two grants I applied for that would provide summer housing in Maine, even though the notification date was supposed to be yesterday. Come on, people...if I had to turn in my application by the deadline, you have to tell me by the notification date!

Stop the presses! Same clump, more flowers!

How sweet does the Stormo look resting her head on my arm?

I am turning into a real-life scientist. A week ago I submitted my very first manuscript to a scientific journal...only 4-6 months until I find out if it's accepted or not :O Tomorrow Ryan and I are driving to Connecticut to get snails and seaweed for my lab experiment.