SCOOPIN' POOP

Yes, you read that right. I spent today in the field sampling bat guano for a genetics study that our team is conducting over the next 3-4 years. We visited 2 bridges and 2 abandoned buildings (in and around Port Gibson) where multiple species of bats have been documented in large numbers in past years, and essentially scooped individual scats into sample tubes. We'll extract DNA from these samples, which will contain DNA not only from the bat itself, but also any prey items they've consumed, endo- and exo- parasites, and in some cases, the fungus responsible for White-Nose Syndrome. After a series of experiments to confirm our ability to detect each aspect individually (bat species ID, gender, population estimate, and genetic health, plus ID of dietary items, parasites, and Pseudogymnoascus destructans), we'll pool the DNA into a single next-generation sequencing run to demonstrate the plethora of information that can be gained quickly and non-invasively about endangered bat populations using the latest DNA technologies. Cool, right?

And now for some poop pictures. And bat pictures, since they are far cuter.

Chester (retired ERDC employee that used to be my birding buddy) spotting a bat under a bridge

A couple of Rafinesque's big-eared bats, in torpor

Guano collection from the concrete walls of the bridge supports

A long-abandoned home that now houses hundreds of Rafs

Cute little pile of Rafs on the old shower stall wall

A few more Rafs in the pink room. The one on the left stirred and stuck out his ears - they are so cute!

An abandoned church that now houses thousands of Mexican free-tailed bat

So much bat guano and urine that it's literally dripping out the gutters, rotting the floors, and peeling the paint and boards from the walls. The smell was incredible (and the bats aren't even there right now...), so we didn't go all the way in (not that the floor would have supported us anyway) or stay long (too many airborne diseases to be picked up from all that mess).

Wasp nests everywhere to go along with the bat guano...

That is not a dirt floor, by the way... it's ALL guano. Years and years of guano accumulation. My job is sometimes so very glamorous!

This used to be the smallest post office in Mississippi (not much bigger than the one in Ochopee, where we lived while working as SCA interns at Big Cypress National Preserve), when it was still operational. Nowadays, it's overtaken by bats, moving over (expanding?) from the old church across the street.

END OF THE WORLD

There is nothing worse in the world than finding out you didn't get all smiley faces on your daily report card on the day of sissy's dance class, and thus don't get to play on your Kindle...

(Jay sent me this very sad photo while I was out in the field today. He's a tough daddy to stick to our rule when faced with a meltdown like that - I totally would have folded.)

CANNON RETURNS

SUCH A PRETTY DAY

Squinting into the sun, finishing breakfast, before heading into The Flats to ride

Cora fussed and whined and cried and wouldn't ride, so she walked her bike around, much to my annoyance, while James went up and down the hills and I listened intently for approaching vehicles since I was so far behind him with Cora...

After our ride, we hung out back at the van until Jay finished his run, then we switched and I went running while he took the kids down to the parking lot (for even flatter riding for Cora) and playground at Sherman. We stayed out far longer than I anticipated, then grabbed ice cream from Bops as a precursor to lunch on the way home. Holidays are always nice, even the ones where you stay home and don't do a whole lot of anything! We did lots of couch snuggling and movie watching in the afternoon while Jay brewed, and it felt so good to just relax. Busy week ahead...

KITTY CANNON IS ALL GROWN UP

Well, not totally grown up. But grown enough that he has to go in to get neutered today... He went in for his last booster shot on Thursday (he's up to 5.25 lbs now - that's a 2.5 lb gain in the past 3 months!) and they determined that he's ready. Send him a little healing prayer please - he was in quite the slump for a couple days after his shot, so we're worried we might have to quarantine him from Cora's Corporal Cuddling when he comes home from the vet tomorrow...

BIPPITY BOPPITY BOO

Marie turned 2, and we went over to play with all her toys and eat her cupcakes! The kids had a great time chasing Mason and Marie's older cousin around, while Mason and his younger cousin chased the bigger kids. Some kids dressed up, some didn't. We all ate cake and sang to the birthday girl, who did an awesome job opening presents and looking adorable. Thanks for the invite Michelle!

Hiking up the hill to the house (for some reason Jay asked me not to drive up the insanely steep driveway...)

She's a real lady... I told her I'm showing this in her wedding slideshow someday...

These are their tough faces... sword fights are serious business!

It took her a while to figure out how to get it out of reverse...

Batman Mason, Cinderella Cora, Gage, Aila, and James on the run

King James eating "delicious popcorn" on the way home (it was cheesy and new to him - he loved it!)

"SICK" DAY

School was effectively closed Friday (as in, they begged parents to keep their kids home, and cancelled all tests and assignments due Friday) due to a flu and strep outbreak. James and Cora go to a small school (85 kids total, with about 20 of those being on the preschool and kindergarten side), and many of the older kids were sent home Thursday with fever and vomiting, only to have their parents report back hours later that flu and strep cases were confirmed by doctor visits. (Both illnesses are spreading like wildfire around town, actually, not just our school.) The teachers and admins just wanted everyone home so they could sterilize and disinfect the entire school, and hope that a 4-day weekend would clear everything up and nobody else would get sick. So to try and avoid the sickness, we obviously kept our kids home. I worked from home (other than a long lunch break to the carwash and ChickFilA to let the kids run off some energy) while the kids watched movies and played games (seen above is Triominoes, inherited from Gramma at Christmas). We have since heard of other cases of both flu and strep in kids that were home Friday, but the school sure did try, so you have to give them a shout-out for being proactive. James and Cora are still fine and dandy today, so fingers crossed they don't get the flu (or strep, which Cora had last weekend and was on antibiotics for through Wednesday, and which she healed from ridiculously fast, probably because we caught it so early). They feel so great, in fact, that they've been busy all morning cleaning their rooms and scrubbing the kitchen table and windowsills. Such good little helpers...

DANCE PARTY

"They're having a dance party!" - James and Cora

BEST BEHAVIOR

 The kids were so good for me today, all day (I worked from home because school was closed) and all night (they "helped" me volunteer at Chill in the Hills registration tonight for 2 hours). The key is obviously letting them do whatever they want... TV, movies, video games, Kindle games, board games, snacks, whatever. They did make me look good though, barely budging from that couch the entire time we were at registration. Thanks for that dudes. (I'm not volunteering at the actual race tomorrow because I have to run 18 miles, so my plan is to park at The Flats, run out to downtown, run the race course with some of my running group buddies, then run back to the park afterward.)

AT THE CARWASH

 The kids have been looking forward to the opening of the drive-thru carwash here in town for months. It did not disappoint... (And mama and daddy loved the free vacuums on the other end - our cars haven't been this clean in many months!)

WE NEED A BUDGET

Oh the joys of family finances... For years we've been talking about ways to cut back on current expenses (and splurges...) and reduce debt, but it's not that easy with two young kids (and inappropriate spending habits)... Childcare from infant to private school, newer/bigger/safer vehicles to transport them in, extra funds to clothe and feed them, and far more doctor copays than two healthy adults were used to, added to debt such as school loans and travel expenditures (years of volunteer, student, and seasonal positions do not add up to a lot of savings for people who lived far from family and wanted to visit at least yearly no matter what their banks accounts allowed for), has equalled a whole lot of "dang it" realizations for us in recent years. And after thinking we were making progress last year only to realize we really weren't, well, we decided to take more drastic action. We went ahead and purchased budgeting software (You Need a Budget) when it was on super sale earlier this month to supplement our spreadsheets, in the hopes that "giving every dollar a job" will get us on track to becoming debt-free sooner than later. So that's what we spent a good portion of the day doing... budgeting and talking and making plans. A productive day, even though it feels unproductive to look ahead at the changes we need to make and how long it will take to be completely debt-free. But it's there in our future, so off we go!

Taking a midday walk break to stretch our legs and refocus our eyes off the computer screen (and television and Kindles... the kids were very good sports about mama and daddy sitting at the kitchen table all day long, possibly because they got to watch movies and play video games to their hearts content) and onto the kids for a while (and yes, her throat was feeling well enough that she could eat tortilla chips, so she ate a lot of chips today...) Hopefully our neighbors don't think we're too crazy, going for a walk in PJs and slippers (and jackets) before the rain blew in... Then again, who am I kidding? That's pretty normal attire for Team Lindsay on Sundays, in or out of the house...

Putting a puzzle together during the 5 hours it took us to go through the program tutorials and set up our initial budget plan (with a little assistance from the kids, but not much - this was a hard one! 300 tiny pieces...)

WILL'S BIG 5.0

Will turned 5 earlier this week and we happily celebrated with him tonight at GymSouth!

 (Cora was fever-free by the time her meds wore off Friday afternoon, woke up cool and full of energy Saturday morning, and had her appetite return by lunch, so we cleared her attendance with Christina ahead of time and she was able to go out and party)

Will had a Lego themed birthday party and we loved the chocolate/candy Legos (and the kids also loved their Lego goody bags)!

 There were 13 girls and 7 boys in attendance (by James' count - he wanted to know out of the 20 kids whether there were more boys or girls). Here most of them are lined up for pizza:

Singing to the birthday boy! His proud little smile was too sweet! We just love Will!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ADDY!

Our niece Addisyn turned 4 today and celebrated with a Frozen themed party (you should see the cake Taryn made!) at their local gym where she takes gymnastics. By all accounts it was a great party and we wish we could have been there to celebrate with her! California and Mississippi are annoyingly far apart...

 

Happy Birthday sweet girl, we love you!

"I AM NOT A UNICORN!"

James fell off his top bunk (goofing off with Cora instead of going straight to sleep, when they were sharing his room two weeks ago), while hanging on/over the top rail even though we told him to NEVER do that, and landed his forehead square on the bottom bed rail. Luckily Jay was walking into the room at that exact moment to check on them and their noisy antics, and was able to partially catch him, or it could have been much worse (or he could have landed differently and broken something). He was obviously upset and scared (and hurt), but it ended up not being too big a deal and after 15 minutes of icing and an observation period, nurse Grambot cleared him to go to sleep. We think both he and Cora learned a lesson that will hopefully keep it from happening ever again (but you never know). It is still bruised two weeks later, but finally almost healed. When I lifted his hair to check on the healing progress last week I told him he was blue and green, but luckily his unicorn horn was gone, to which he replied "I am NOT a unicorn!"

HEALING POWERS

When you have strep throat, you get to have milkshakes and lollipops for breakfast. Because they have healing powers. And because mommy and daddy and the nurses feel sorry for you. And also because you haven't eaten much in 24 hours and we figure a little sugar is better than starving.

Apparently I bought her the wrong flavor though. She wanted "The brown one", so I bought her chocolate. But when I handed it back to her she said "No, like Grambot got me, with the black stuff!", which I assume is Oreo (but which I was unwilling to go through the drivethru a second time for since I needed to get to work to swap with Jay so he could take her to the doctor... then swap back after the appointment... then again after lunch when he got home with James... who didn't mind going to school while Cora got to stay home and drink milkshakes because he didn't have to get a giant shot in the behind AND he got to play his Kindle in compensation)

This is before the ibuprofen kicked in and knocked out the fever that had her dozing in the car on the way home, giving her plenty of energy to harass Cannon and demand weird cartoons and hot chocolate ("But COLD because it will feel better for my hurt throat. And marshmallows! Marshmallows IN my hot chocolate and marshmallows on the table NEXT TO my hot chocolate" - Your wish is my command little queen!) Luckily she mostly stayed on her cot in front of the TV and I was able to work from home quite easily.

DECEMBER WEDDING

I found this photo of Cora's recent artwork in Jay's phone and had to share it. After visiting the church where we were married (and where both she and James were baptized as babies), she was inspired to draw our wedding for us, complete with stars and a Christmas tree (and both she and James, even though I assured her she wasn't there - not even a twinkle in our eyes yet!)