Today I am tired

Darkness to offset brilliance

Women to show us all that we are not

Winter to remind us of summer

and bad days to put into sharp relief those that are great.

"Mojo"...a better name for a bike than a child.

So Kelley and I went to Santa Fe last Friday for an appointment with our perinatal specialist. They drew out a pedigree of our family's possible genetic conditions, talked with us about a few concerns we had, and even took us into the ultrasound room where we got yet another peak at our soon-to-be baby girl. We've picked the name "Moira Josephine Gregory"...

...after we picked it I quickly realized that I would have an excuse to call her "Mo-jo"! It seems, though, that neither of the pairs of grandparents really like that idea much...so we'll just stick with "jo" for short until her friends pick their own nicknames for her later in life! :)

We're both so excited about her arrival in December and I think that my excitement for her getting here is getting close to Kelley's excitement for getting her out of Kelley's belly!

The name "mojo" is just too good to waste though...so I've affectionately named my Harley in honor of what no one will let me name my own child! :)

On Saturday (the day after our trip to Santa Fe), I got on mojo and rode the beautiful ride to Taos, NM. It takes you up on New Mexico Hwy 518 through some of the most beautiful country I've ever seen. Desert turns to arid uplands, which become alpine forests complete with Aspen groves that are already in peak color change. Then the road descends into Taos, which is such a hip place as well.




I'm so thankful for the opportunity to be able to experience life this full.

cheers,
jeff

A day in the life...

Ok...so this is not the EXACT spot on the Gallinas River that we went, but today my first year students are completing part 3 of their training in random sampling as part of our ecology unit in IB Higher Level Biology. We took kick nets, sorting containers, a flow meter, pH meter, temperature meter, clip boards, and field guides down to a section of the river that runs right through campus.

Within 30 minutes we had collected caddis flies, mayflies, a stone fly, damsel flies, and even a planarian. The whole point was to qualitatively assess the richness, and therefore overall health, of the Gallinas River at that spot. I'm not sure whether it was our brief sampling time or not, but I expected to see more stone flies and we didn't. Stone flies are very sensitive to pollutants and are therefore generally the first order of organisms to decline in population size when a river is getting polluted. Interesting stuff...

The real point is that it is SO FLIPPIN' COOL to be able to take a 45 min. class period and get done in the field all that we were able to get done! Where else can this happen?!

until next time,
jeff