Fish

Despite my cruel and unusual neglect of my tropical fish over the past few months, amazingly all of them and the plants have survived.  I only lost one of my two snails.  They all should feel much better now, though, since I finally exchanged their water and pruned out all the dead leaves.  In a couple days I’ll go buy a new bulb for the aquarium top and will be able to post better pictures.

My Two Blue Gouramis

Robins

As you may remember, I bought a BirdCam when my husband and I discovered that an American Robin had built a nest literally right outside the window of one of our spare rooms.  Then, while trying to figure out the best way to mount it over the nest, we didn’t see any more activity at the nest and assumed it was abandoned.  I set the camera up to take photos of the feeders on the deck.

Then next time we glanced out, there were eggs in the nest.  That sneaky Robin had faked us out!  I didn’t move the BirdCam, however, because I didn’t want to spook the Robin and cause her to abandon the eggs.  So I used my Canon to get shots through the window, which accounts for the fuzziness of the images.  (I’ve never washed the outside of these windows, therefore there’s at least a decade’s worth of dust or whatever collects on windows.)

Nest on April 10, 2012. Three blue eggs. They looked just exactly like Easter candy.

Nest on April 16, 2012. Two of the eggs have hatched.

Nest on April 25, 2012. All three of the eggs hatched and all the nestlings appear to be strong and growing.

Nest on April 29, 2012. This is the last pictures of the babies in the nest. After this, they were gone. We can only assume they went out into the world to successfully make their way.

School

My last class for this semester was last Thursday, May 3rd.  I cannot tell you how relieved I am.  I still have a final exam tomorrow, and another one next Tuesday, and I have two papers due on Friday and Monday, but I don’t have to go to campus and sit through tedious classes wishing I were elsewhere anymore.  So that’s good.

Plus, I only have 1 more class and I’ll be done with the BA in Biology altogether.  I’m scheduled to take that class in July and August.  Then I’ll get my diploma and move on to other educational opportunities.  Like a master’s degree in Resource Interpretation.

This makes it sounds as if I don’t like school.  It’s more complicated than that.  I love learning.  I’ve learned a lot in the last 3 years.  And I appreciate being able to go back to a university at my age and study things that interest me.  What I’m tired of, however, is…..

• having to sit through classes that only deal superficially with topics that are dumbed down for 19 year olds,
• having to jump though hoops and be graded on it,
• being required to ask questions (or post them to discussion boards) that the instructors never bother to answer,
• being rushed through the lab experiments (since I’m not required to understand it, I only have to follow the lab ‘recipe’ then write up the results as if it had worked),
• listening to professors read their text-heavy Powerpoint slides verbatim,
• listening to professors (many of whom are the age of my own children) telling me to do things because it will be ‘good for me’
• or listening to the older professors lecture on how irresponsible students are and that we are all spoiled and lazy.  (No kidding-I’ve sat through more than one such tirade.  One instructor got so angry that she packed her stuff and walked out of the class.)

There’s more, but that plenty to get my point across.

Work

I’ve reapplied for the summer position with the National Park Service to be a park guide and visitor’s assistant at Prince William Forest Park.  I’m just waiting to hear if and when I’ll be able to get on full-time again.

That’s all my news, I think.