Blogging on the Powwow

There are lots of fancy ways to organize one's spices and I have tried many of them: shelves, uniform glass bottles with little labels, swiveling racks, etc. But, I always come back to the wooden soap box that came out of my grandfather's childhood barn in Gardner, Maine.  For a long while, probably more than 10 years, every time I would grab for a spice, I would grumble to myself that "this arrangement just isn't working!" - spices stacked on top of each other, unable to see the labels, etc. It can take several tries before one finds the desired spice. During one of these grumbles, I remarked to Neil that I needed a different system. He remarked that it would be a tragedy to put this old box out-of-use.  I gave it some thought and I couldn't agree more. This old, wooden soap box traveled from the barn of the Perkins' family farm to join our family and deserves to be put to good use. Now, it is. Well, it always was,  but now it is appreciated as we

I love thermometers. In truth, I am interested in many thing weather-related. As a social scientist, I know that many things are related to our experiences in childhood. So, I'll go with that on this one, too. My mother has always loved to watch the weather, especially on WCSH6, and especially if Joe Cupo was forecasting. My sister and I tease our mother that family dinner needed to be over in time to watch Joe giving the forecast - which was at approximately 6:17pm. I also love a good weather map, especially if a snowstorm is coming and the map predicts projected snowfall totals. But, that is the subject for another blog post, really. Back to thermometers. We have many thermometers around our house. I'm not sure why we need so many, but take it from me - we just do. I'd like to know the temperature in all rooms of our house, in addition to our enclosed front and back porches, as well as the temperature outside. In truth, we don't have enough to cover all of thes

I am sure that much of the public wonders (when they wonder about academia at all)... What do academics do during winter break? Oh, you know - we go to the movies, eat out, sleep in, read books, write blog posts, and visit family and friends. It's just like being on "vacation!" I do think that this is how the general public thinks that I spend my winter breaks.  I confess, the first part of that list is basically true. It is a time to catch up on lots of things in life, including some leisure activities, getting well-rested, and spending time with friends and family, who we may not see again in any meaningful way until May. That said, it is not a vacation, because this is also the time to tackle the backlog of professional work responsibilities and to prepare for the coming semester. I think that most academics have lists that look something like my list that follows: Prepare/update four syllabi for the spring semester; sometimes this is as easy as changing dates an

Yes, our "little" Drake is a walking veterinary bill. Actually, make that a running, jumping, leaping, crashing, swimming, licking veterinary bill...and that would describe Drake to a "T." Within the first weeks of bringing Drake home, right up until this very week, Drake has had many, many healthcare needs. We thought that our previous Lab, Blackberry --who had epilepsy, had serious health concerns. But, Blackberry couldn't hold a candle to Drake's constant healthcare needs. Here is the current tally: Kennel cough Giardia - a parasite that dogs often get; Drake has had it about 10 times Elbow dysplasia Torn "third" eye lid Irritable bowel disease - which means that he eats a bland and expensive dog food And, on a related note, bloody stools Chronic ear infections - probably from so much swimming Strained ligament to right front elbow Split toenail to back left paw Environmental allergies - which leads to chronic itchiness and scratc

I have another stress fracture. It started the week of Thanksgiving and solidified it during the Portsmouth Turkey Trot 5k on Thanksgiving morning.  The Mayo Clinic describes a stress fracture as  tiny cracks in a bone. These cracks are caused by the repetitive application of force, often by overuse — such as repeatedly jumping up and down or running long distances. The Mayo Clinic further explains that stress fractures often occur in weight-bearing bones, such as in the feet and legs. One podiatrist told me that stress fractures happen in "long" bones, not "square" bones - such as shins, as opposed to heels. In the 9 years that I have been consistently running, I have had about four stress fractures. Sometimes I have had a diagnosis of a stress fracture which has been disputed by a different healthcare provider. I have had stress fractures that were never disputed, stress fractures that were incorrectly diagnosed, and then suspected stress fractures for which

Twenty years ago this February, I was living in Worcester, MA while I attended college at Clark University. I lived on Hollywood Street, in the "Main South" portion of Worcester, which is not the most desirable place to live. One day, very near my 20th birthday, I returned to my apartment building after a day on campus, climbed to the third floor, and found a large cardboard box sitting outside my apartment door. A new Sharp TV  from my mother! Oh, the delight! At the time I had a black and white TV, which was probably 20 years old if it was a day old, which operated with the help of a failing antenna and  tinfoil. The Sharp TV has been with me/us every since. It has lived in Massachusetts and Maine; in Worcester, Old Orchard Beach, two homes in Saco, and Amesbury. It has been faithful, never failing us even once. I have the original remote control, which with some excessive pressure, still works. We finally decided to give into the pressure and get a flat screen TV.

We love to watch the ducks on our little river. In fact, Drake is named after the many ducks that visit our yard. We occasionally have other more exciting avian species, such as a Great Blue Heron and Canadian Geese, but mainly we have ducks, and mallards at that.  Last week, Neil spotted an odd-looking duck. He had all the markings of a drake mallard, but he was much, much lighter - almost cream-colored. Neil said that his coloring reminded him of a confederate soldier's uniform and so he set about naming him Sterling - after Sterling Price, a confederate general.  I have sought help from many sources to properly identify Sterling (who would want to go around without an identity, right?). My friend, Nancy, saw me post about Sterling on Facebook and she asked two local authorities on birds for his identity. The consensus was a  leucistic  mallard. Leucism results from reduced pigmentation and is distinct from albinism, which is the absence of melanin. I contacted the Cornell La

I understand that some people/families have "themed" Christmas trees. I only know this from what I see in Macy's commercials or Better Homes & Gardens  magazines - red and white trees, trees with seashells and starfishes, pink Christmas trees with white lights, and the like. Our tree is themed, but not nearly so clever. The Boylas family tree, (and for those of you who do not know, Boylas is a combination of Neil and Dorothy's last name and my last name - Boyer and Douglas), is like scrapbook of our lives. In high school I started getting my family members a new ornament every year; this is a tradition that I carried on with my "new" family in adulthood. When we travel to interesting places, I usually make sure to pick up an ornament as well. Here are pictures of some of our ornaments. (I know, who wants to look at Christmas trees in January; I definitely got behind on this post!) I made this ornament for Neil in 2011 - the year that we had our wond

 I've been delinquent on keeping up with my blog during December. I have a good reason though...I'm an academic and was being crushed with grading and end-of-the-semester demands. I have been keeping a mental list of new blog posts that I would like to make and thus, I begin. Unless you keep a garden, (as I had not for most of my life), you'd be inclined to think that there isn't much going on in gardens in November. But, in fact, there is a lot of magic to gardens in November and in the fall, in general. It's a time to prepare for the new and to appreciate the old. Just as everything is fading from its glory and I start to miss the blossoms, I begin to plan for next spring. Last year I planted 300 bulbs. I think that the squirrels and skunks got to them and only about 50-70 came up. It was disappointing. This fall, I planted 450 bulbs and this time, after I mulched the gardens, I put down chicken coop wire. As usual, I did a lot of my fall plantings in the dark