All pictures are courtesy of the Triangle Beagle Rescue

Forrester is a 10 year old beagle. He came through the Triangle Beagle Rescue when he was just a puppy. He was adopted and lived with his family for almost all of his 10 years. Unfortunately he wasn’t a very good fit for their small children in the home, so they returned him to the rescue.

Here is the description from the TBR website:

Forrester is a really affectionate and adorable guy – loves to be petted, loves to sit on laps and loves to be near his people at all times. He enjoys going for walks and loves to spend time outside, though not so much in the cold. He loves to sit by the window and watch every person, animal, and car go by. He is just a sweetheart and knows how to win you over. He lived with another larger dog for 8 years and loved it but is sometimes nervous about new dogs. He would probably be happy with another friendly dog or as an only dog. He would be perfect for someone quiet who is looking for a dog to love, snuggle, and pet. He would be best in a home with no kids or with older kids (10 and up). Sponsor: Please Sponsor Me!

That pretty much sums him up. We’ll keep you posted on his life at our house. Senior dogs usually don’t get adopted as fast as the young ones, so we might have him for a while. However, he is really sweet and is a cute old pup so he may get adopted faster than usual.

Here are some more pics:

Smokey was adopted by a Mother and Daughter from New Jersey who moved to North Carolina not too long ago. They had a 16 year old Cocker Spaniel that had passed away in 2011 and were looking for a new addition to the family.

We took Smokey there for a home visit before we finalized the adoption. They had a ton of stuffed animals in their collection, so I think Smokey might just be in his own little doggy heaven. We hope his adoption and new life go well.

We wish you the best Smokey!

Smokey posing for the camera. Photo courtesy of the Triangle Beagle Rescue of North Carolina

He’s well along with his training. He’s already 100% house-trained, and he knows sit and fetch. Since he’s still a puppy he likes to mouth things, but so far that has been limited to his toys and raw hides.

His adoption profile can be found on the Triangle Beagle Rescue of North Carolina website here. Here’s what they have to say about him (note that this was written while he was in a different TBR foster home):

Smokey is one handsome boy.  He is almost a year old and is loving and sweet.  He was found abandoned as a puppy with several female siblings. The girls got new homes and Smokey is still waiting for his Family to find him. He gets along very well with the other female beagle in his foster home and loves kids.  He is a big boy, so older kids are probably best. He walks well on a leash and is currently fostering in a home without a fenced in yard. He is a healthy, happy dog, just larger than a beagle. Hey, more to love!

Smokey Close-up. Photo courtesy of the Triangle Beagle Rescue of North Carolina

Smokey is our 5th foster dog (all 5 have been from TBR). We really enjoy fostering. It’s been good for Maisie as well as she has really opened up since we started with our first foster dog in 2010. You can read about our previous foster dogs here.

I attended a presentation given by Mooney at the Soil Science Society of America conference in San Antonio in November. The presentation was superb… so I bought the book and was equally impressed. The book is Unscientific America by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum. It is an assessment of the current state of science as perceived by the general public (which is poor), how we got there, who’s to blame (everyone), and what to do from here on. One point that Mooney raises repeatedly is “Just 18 percent of Americans personally know a scientist to begin with, and exceedingly few can name a living scientist role model.” That surprised me, and I felt I should do something about it.

I also became aware of a related book during a guest lecture in my Watershed Hydrology class by a United States Geological Survey scientist. That book is Don’t Be Such a Scientist by Randy Olson. It focuses on some observations and recommendations from the author, a tenured professor of marine biology turned Hollywood film director. Don’t be Such a Scientist starts where Unscientific America leaves off – with suggestions on how scientists should, and should not communicate with the general public with many examples of how Hollywood does it. Both are excellent books and are definitely worth the read, regardless as to whether or not you are a scientist. That’s about as detailed a book review that I will present for now. However, I am now acting on what was discussed in the books.

I’ve launched a new website called Colby Digs Soil (like the double meaning?… clever eh?). My first post on the website describes the motives behind the website. However, it is mainly to communicate soil and wetland science to a general audience through blogging, Twitter, and links to and discussion of current (soil and wetland) news in the media. In addition, I plan to market myself with the website in the future by presenting my qualifications, teaching philosophy, and frequent research updates. Those parts of the website will be in the works, but I expect to have much of that information posted to the site within a month or so.

Science is crucial to progress in America and the world. I hope to do my part to communicate it well to the general public. I’d appreciate it if you stopped by my new website from time to time to see what I’m up to. As for this website (Colby and Stacy) I plan to post about as frequently as I have in the past, but posts regarding my research will be at ColbyDigsSoil.com.

I took a course named Watershed Hydrology here at NC State. It was taught Ryan Emanuel. We took a field trip to a research station 7 hours away from campus called the Coweeta Hydrologic Lab.

Coweeta is a large watershed that drains into the Coweeta River.Despite being pretty much all Appalachian mountains, once it was clear cut for timber it was farmed for years causing lots of erosion. The US Forest Service, recognizing the need for scientific study of east coast forest systems, turned it into a research station.

Here is a blog post from Peeling Back the Bark that gives a pretty good history of Coweeta.

Coweeta Experimental Forest entrance sign with administrative building at right, 1942.

As for our field trip our discussions focused on many topics that had been, were, or would be discussed in our class, including: measuring water discharge using stream gaging stations, methods to measure evapotranspiration and other climatology data, the effects of changes in the plant community on the water budget, and much more.

Here are some pictures from the trip. The concrete structures are gaging stations used to measure stream water discharge. The scenic mountain views were taken from the lookout tower on Albert Mountain overlooking the research lab. Enjoy!

In other news, I recently changed my Twitter handle to @ColbyDigsSoil (it used to be @colby_cheese). This is in an effort to transition my use of Twitter from being an information consumer, to being an information source – especially as I near my goal of entering academia as a career. In the next few months I also plan on starting another website/blog that will have more of a focus on my career, career interests, and interesting news about soil, water quality, science, and more. I’ll keep you in the loop once something is launched into the blogosphere.

CD and his new family (people: Karen and Tav, dogs: Sydney and CD)

We had CD since late February or early March of this year. He garnered a lot of interest from potential adopters, but the only drawback was he doesn’t get along with cats. Karen and Tav loved CD and they didn’t have a cat so it turned out to be a perfect fit. CD is now a resident of Charlotte. He will be missed around here. He loves to cuddle and play; and unlike Maisie he actually made noise… too much some times, but he was a very vocal dog – especially when playing. He loves rope toys, killing squeaky toys, and chewing on a pair of bones we bought him a few months ago.

CD is a great dog, and we wish him the best in his new home. Here are some previous posts that mentioned CD. We’ll miss the little guy.

Here are some good pics we have of him:

CD and his buddy Maisie

CD on the Stairs of the Campground

CD Camping

Us on our BWCA honeymoon. The lake behind us is part of the fire-affected area.

Unfortunately, a large area of the BWCA that encompasses part of our adventure was, is, or may be engulfed in a wildfire. Google Maps has a great “special feature” for the fire that shows the area closed to canoeing, as well as all entry points that are current open in the nearby area. If you zoom in far enough on the northern edge of the affected area, you can see the names of the lakes. We entered at Lake One, and headed east through Lake Two, Three, Four, Hudson, and eventually Insula Lake. Our route back went further north along Fire Lake, Bridge Lake, and Rifle Lake. The whole trip straddles the northern edge of the fire area, so hopefully parts of it remain unaffected.

Sawbill Canoe Outfitters is keeping an up-to-date news feed about the fire on their site. Thanks to Doug Petty for pointing that to to me via Facebook. Doug has a blog that generally focuses on canoeing, especially in the BWCA, as well as Doug’s other outdoor hobbies.

Below are some pictures from the US Forest Service from the fire fight. The whole album is available on a USFS Picasa Album found here.

The fire from the air. Source: US Forest Service

Volunteers getting ready to fight the fire. Source: US Forest Service

Fire fighting from the air. Source: US Forest Service

We wish all of the brave fire fighters the best of luck in fighting this fire, and we hope everyone stays safe. Fire is part of the natural cycle of a forest, and it will bounce back fine. From disaster comes a new opportunity for life.

***All of the following pictures can be found here.***

We drove over to New Bern, NC on Friday night just in time to register, find a camping spot, and get some dinner before everything closed. We went to bed early since we knew we had a lot of work to do the next morning.

On Saturday we woke up around 6am, got our bikes ready, got changed, and got some breakfast. Then, at 8am they did the opening ceremonies, gave us a police record out of town, and we were one our way.

Saturday Morning Opening Ceremonies

The ride was interesting. We did 75 miles on both Saturday and Sunday. The area had just been hit directly by Hurricane Irene. New Bern was cleaned up pretty well, but the broken branches, downed trees, etc were very apparent. On parts of the route we had to be careful about debris on the road surface. There were rest stops about ever 15 miles that were fully stocked with food, drinks, water, and music. The rest stops were usually at churches or schools, and were sponsored by different groups, companies, and restaurants. The Saturday ride was very flat, but wasn’t as scenic as Sunday.

Here are some rest stop shots:

Rest Stop

Rest Stop

Here are our three bikes parked in front of a scenic, rural North Carolina neighborhood

Saturday Lunch Break

We stopped and sat in the shade for some lunch

Finish Line

As we rode to the finish line on Saturday they had a huge welcoming committee at the finished line that gave everyone a hearty welcome, cheer, applause, and thanks – a perfect way to end a long ride. They had two shower trailers waiting for us. I didn’t even have to wait for a shower which is a rarity among supported bike rides. We all got cleaned up and rehydrated, then went to the convention center for happy hour that was supported by the Carolina Brewing Company. I called it “carb loading”. As we were hanging out in the AC drinking some beers, I was getting text updates with scores to the Iowa at Iowa State football game from my brother, Matt – an Iowa State student who cheers for the Hawks (I know, I’ve tried to convert him to no avail). Suddenly the text messages stopped, so I called my dad who said ISU won in triple overtime (Matt apparently didn’t want to tell me the good news).

After we were cooled off from happy hour in the air conditioning, we walked to the historic downtown area to find an ice cream shop we heard about. It was called Cow Cafe. The place was a mom and pop ice cream place that made their own ice cream on site. They also had just about anything cow-related for sale in the place too, as well as a toy train that did circles around the ceiling that had a black and white spotted caboose. Their canopy on the front of the store was torn up from Hurricane Irene.

New Bern Convention Center

Cow Cafe

A local church put on a memorial for all of the fallen first responders of 9-11 (picture was taken on 9-10) in which they put up a small flag for each person, along with their photo and obituary.

9-11 Memorial at a Local Church

New Bern was the colonial capital of North Carolina. It’s a very old city, and and all of the old, coastal city that you’d expect. It’s also known as the “Bear City”. They have  bear in their city crest. They also have 50 decorated bears all over the city, painted to different themes. Here are a few that we walked by.

That evening they had a buffet dinner for all of the 2400 cyclists and 400 volunteers. After dinner there was an awards ceremony, but since our team consisted of only 3 people, we elected to walk the water front, and speak with some other cyclists. Later we hung out under the Bald Cypress tree (the species that I research in my graduate work) at our camp site, then went to bed early… we were pretty tired. Here are some pictures of the New Bern waterfront on the Neuse River (the river that flows through Raleigh).

New Bern is also the birthplace of Pepsi, hence the giant Pepsi can vending trailor:

Our campsite under the Bald Cypress tree

The next morning, on 9-11, we had a morning similar to Saturday, but at the morning ceremonies they had a short memorial for the tragedies of September 11, 2001. One of the local fireman played amazing grace and the national anthem on the bag pipes. There were some words spoken, a moment of silence, then the soldiers, officers, firemen, and other first responder  who were riding lead our group of cyclists out onto the route.

The Sunday route had more hills, but the reward of amazing views was worth it. On both days we averaged around 16 mph.

Sunday Morning Start

Amanda ready for another 75 miles

Stacy and Colby ready for another 75 miles

Sunday morning ceremonies

The "campground" in Union Point Park

We stopped for a scenic picture opportunity on the top of a bridge in Oriental, North Carolina – home to some of the world’s best sailing so I’m told.

Colby and Stacy in Oriental, NC; Pamilico Sound in the background

The lady in pink is Theresa. Her group would only do the 30 mile route and she wanted to do 75, so she drafted us all day.

A Marina in Oriental, NC

Colby, Stacy, and Amanda on Bike MS - New Bern

We had an amazing time on this ride. This was by far the best organized ride I’ve ever been on. Everything was planned to the smallest details. Most importantly it is for a great cause. We have one family member who has MS, and one friend from college. Hopefully rides like this will help us get closer to finding a cure. We plan on doing this ride again next year.

We also plan on participating in an upcoming, one-day ride that raises funds for a MS bike team that was at the New Bern ride. It’s called the “Making Room for Turkey Ride“. It’s a 50 mile ride in the Raleigh area. It will be hilly, but it’s not as long so we should have fun.

Now, for the real reason of this post. Stacy and I visited my mom who is living with her boyfriend, Buck. We stayed at their house that Sunday night, then drove home to Raleigh the next day. On Sunday My mom, Buck, his son Luke, Stacy and I all went to Bucks boat that he keeps in a marina on the river in Chicago. These pictures are from some trips we took up and down the river.

This is Luke in his Dad’s boat

Us two, getting some sun

A scene from Wayne’ World was filmed from this building

They have a water cannon that shoots out over the river at random times

Buck drove the boat slowly into the water stream so Luke would get soaked, then he stopped and turned around before it got the rest of us.

Stacy and I, Luke behind us

Trump tower is the building in the middle. This was the only night shot that worked for me. It was hard to get a long-exposure shot with a handheld camera on a boat on water… imagine that.

This was the first time I had spent any significant time in downtown Chicago. The other times I’ve been there I was just driving through and didn’t get to see much of the big buildings.  I was surprised how nice the downtown area is compared the sprawling industry you have to drive through to get downtown. Chicago is definitely not one of my favorite cities, but my mom seems to like it and I wish her the best of luck there and hope that she finds a publisher for her book soon. We did have fun on the short visit and on the boat tour of downtown. It was awkward, but good to meet my mom’s new family.