Momma Cat

Thanks to Erin and Brian, I have a new cat. That is, if she sticks around. I sense that she is quite volatile right now so I need to make sure she knows I am an easy food source and an excellent head petter.

Erin and Brian brought her last night. They have been calling her Momma Cat (she's got some buns in the oven) and I kind of like it. At first she was really freaked out by the new surroundings, but then she seemed to relax a little and let me touch her a lot. We went to the gas stating in Kechi to pick up some kitty litter so she could spend the night in our enclosed entrance. Momma Cat is not house trained and I wondered if she would understand the whole kittly litter thing. She did ... sort of. When I checked on her this morning there was a little mess on the doormat and the kitty litter box was tipped over, but it looked like she had used the litter that fell out of the box appropriately. Hey, you take what cooperation you can get.

I didn't want to leave Momma Cat in the entry all day so I let her out this morning and put some food on the porch. I really hope she hangs around.

Alright, so Schmeckfest this weekend. Good times. I missed last year so I'm due for a dose. Shorthill, I know you like the Schmeckfest, you want me to bring a care package for you to Easter? What do you want?

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Now I'm older. When I was at the gym on my birthday, the elliptical machine asked me how long I wanted to exercise, my weight, and my age. I found gratifying to punch in 26 instead of 25. Then I began to wonder if the machine would change my stats based on the new age (i.e. target heart rate, calorie burning rate, etc.). How funny that one day might cause such a change.

It's kind of dreary and moist here today. Acutally, most of the week has been like this. It sort of makes me want to sit in an English pub drinking beer and eating a tuna salad jacket potato. Too bad I'm not in Enland.

Wine

Yipee, spring break is here!!! Remember my spring break last year? Blanco Canyon, TX. Ah yes, it's all coming back - camping in below freezing weather during snow and wind storms. Good times. Actually, now that a year has passed I can look back on it and get a little nostaligic. The canyon beautiful and since we were not doing much archaeology, we went on some wonderful hikes. I even considered going back this year (I checked the weather and it's a lot warmer and dryer), but I decided to stay home to work on reasearching for a paper and some City Archaeologist stuff. If it's nice enough outside I might even go surveying here in Wichita. For those unfamiliar with the term, surveying means to walk around - maybe dig a couple holes - looking for artifacts. There are some areas of Wichita being developed that I should probably check for archaeological sites.

Now to the title. One of the main reasons I decided to stay home this spring break is because I am trying to conserve $ for Belize this summer. I'm doing pretty good, except last Friday I stepped into Jacob's Liquor on my way to Barnes and Noble. About a month ago I had a really good Cabernet Sauvignon (Columbia-Crest Reserve 2002) at a restaurant. I kept the cork and decided to see how much it would cost in a liquor store. My trip to Jacob's was just supposed to be an exploratory campaign, but the salesman started talking to me and once we found the wine we were both so excited our efforts paid off that I decided to buy it. It cost $35 (but it's really good, tee hee). At that moment I past the $10 point I didn't care anymore. On my way to the cash register I picked up two more bottles that looked worth a try. $60 later I was on my way to Barnes and Noble to study. Sigh... So much for trying to save money. On the bright side of things I am enjoying a glass of an Argentinian wine I bought that day and I must say it's delightful. I guess everyone has to splurge once in a while.

p.s. I'm having a birthday party next Tuesday (3/20) so if you are around give me a call and I give out the details. I'm getting old and I love it!

Dead Sea Scrolls

I went to see an exhibit about the Dead Sea Scrolls in Kansas City, yesterday. It was a quick trip with a lot of time spent driving, but I am glad I went. The exhibit had a few pieces, what I would imagine were some of the best preserved scrolls. They had them in special environmentally controlled cases with lights that came on every 15 seconds or so and stayed on for about 5 seconds. Actually seing the scroll segments was neat, but they were in a different language and it is just writing (in languages I cannot understand) on parchment. For me, the most interesting parts of the exhibit were the historical and cultural explanations of the time during which the scrolls were written and the research that has been done since they were rediscovered in the 1940s. The information on the gradual cannonization process of Jewish and Christian scriptures was also very enlightening.

Now for some exciting news concerning Jeremy: He defended his dissertation at SDSU last Thursday. He has some minor reformatting issues to take care of (i.e. making sure the table of contents meets all specifications), but other than that he is finished. Yippy! Not having it hanging over his head is a great relief for him. I was all ready to go out and celebrate when he got back on Friday ... but when I got home from school he was passed out on the couch catching up on sleep instead. Understandable.

I'm Boring

Usually, I like to blog about interesting or funny stuff that has happened to me, but lately I have a lack of exciting stories.


Some little things have happened:
-The weather is getting more spring-like down here in KS and I am realizing as I "age" that warmer weather and more sun brightens my day. It probably has to do with not being stuck inside buildings all day.
-I found out I recieved a $300 grant for my summer thesis research from the graduate school. I had to submit a proposal and application and apparently only 3 or 4 people received the grant. Other people think my research project is a worthwhile endeavor, so that's reassuring. $300 is not much, but it will pay for a radio-carbon date.
-Sue and Linda Graber came to visit this last weekend. I did not get as much school work done as I had planned, but it was wonderful to see them (and Nick, Dan, and Lacey). I am not sure I was much of a hostess, but it was great to have them stay with me. Anyone who wants to come visit is more than welcome to stay with me.

Okay, enough dicking around. I really don't have enough time for this blog thing!