White Rock Wanderings

Long Time No Post

2011-03-24T17:17:00.000-07:00

Here are the best photos from my fieldwork on the Fraser, mostly from summer 2009.

Whats the world coming to?

2010-12-30T10:14:00.000-08:00

Every time an election comes along

2010-11-04T15:16:00.000-07:00

I can't help but look up Cartograms.

They give a much more nuanced view of the political landscape.

Here are Cartograms from the Midterm

and from the 2010 election.

To me the most striking thing is how difficult to differentiate the Carigrans house control are, especially when compared to representations of the control in normal space.

Yeo Valley Rap

2010-10-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

I'm not usually a fan of blogs that re-post other people's content. This is hilarious, however.

Origional YouTube Link

To Change the World

2010-10-14T10:40:00.000-07:00

The burning of Little Jack (Jacklein) Rohrbach, a leader of the peasants in the Pesent Revolt of (1524-1525) where Luther "was not innocent of the blood [up to 100,000 people] spilled. File courtesy of WIkimedia Commons.

Currently in the UBC Graduate Christian Union we are discussing James Davidson Hunter's book To Change the World: the irony tragedy and possibility of Christianity in the late modern world. I highly recommend the book Hunter argues that current models of how to pursue cultural change in the Christian community are ineffective, that the task of seeking overt cultural-political influence as Christians is fraught with moral ambiguity and that often great evil accompanies great good when the Church is at the forefront of cultural change, and that a new model of cultural engagement that he calls "faithful presence" may provide a way forward to live a Christians today with integrity.

My major reservations about the book are that his view of culture does not explicitly scale to the level of small communities and the incredible influence that they have in many of our lives, and the fact that he believes his presentation of faithfull presence is something new. In some point in my discipleship I was taught, I think by Don Everts, to be very skeptical of any preaching that claimed to present something new. In this case, I do like Hunter's presentation of the idea of faithful presence, but believe he pridefully claims originality when all he is doing is contextualizing basic Christian orthodoxy.

I recently led a discussion during the Graduate Christian Union's fall retreat about Graduate Students and power. I summarize the discussion below, and hope that it is possible for those of you who are not graduate students to contextualize the discussion for your own situation.

We discussed the power that we as graduate students have and the necessity of grappling with the reality of our influence and the possibility for that influence to be constructive in the Kingdom. Hunter put forth five propositions about power that helped frame the discussion: Power is inherently relational and is wielded by all persons who are in relationship; power is inherently asymmetrical -though wielded by all parties in a relationship, the “weaker” certainly has the possibility to affect the stronger and thus has power; power tends to become and end in itself -for example, charities demonstrably put there institutional interests above the interests of those they claim to serve; power generates its own resistance; and finally, power seems to always carry unintended consequences.

As graduate students we have power in the context of a plethora of relationships. In some we are in the position of greater power, while in others the position of lesser power. As a group, we discussed examples of our own power and moments where we recognized that we have abused that power. We have power as authors, as people with unparalleled access to material resources, as TA’s and as peons in the institutions of our departments and universities we perpetuate, defend, and legitimate the power of these institutions.

If we believe Hunter’s assertion that the only way to avoid power is to become a hermit (and that even then we will be exercising power in our relationship with the physical world and will have influenced many interpersonal relationships by cutting ourselves off from them), then we must wield power. Hunter also makes a theological argument that we must wield power by proposing “the Creation mandate” where we are called to exercise influence in our relationship with physical world (eg to till and to keep), relationships within the body of Christ (eg Colossians 3-4) and in relationships with those outside of the faith (eg the great commission). Hunter frankly acknowledges that “the call to be in the world but nor of it is a call to abide in the will and purpose of God in the present would disorder with integrity... knowing that failure is inevitable, forgiveness is ever available, and the work of the Holy Spirit to transform and sanctify our efforts is always at work” (p. 183).

With the risk of arriving at a simplistic answer we asked: what hope does Gospel have to give to us who inherently have and will abuse power? How ought we, as broken people in a sinful world, wild the power that we have? We have hope that as we enter into a relationship with Christ and allow ourselves to be transformed by him our relationship with power and "the powers" is transformed. We have hope that we are bieng shaped into the likeness of Christ who related to power in the following ways (Hunter pp. 188-193):
~ Christs power is derived from intimacy with and submission to the Father (this is a blessing from the trinity that we are given such an example of submission)
~ Christ rejected status and the power and privilege that accompanies them
~ Compassion defines the power of the Kingdom

And so I must now ask, what does this mean for us as graduate students? How can we submit to Christ? What does it mean for us to actively pursue compassion in each of our power relationships? And, perhaps the crux, how can we rejected status and the power and privilege that accompanies them while pursuing excellence and leadership in our fields?

Nasty Slide on Baker

2010-10-11T09:47:00.000-07:00

Hey all,

I guess this is the second mass-movement post to the blog in a row. Alas, do Rachel and I think about anything other than landslides? Yes, we do. But this is cool. On Sept. 3rd I hiked up to lake Ann with Kwees and my Dad and got to look across to Mt. Baker. There was this tremendous landslide/avalanche/debris flow (probably some elements of all three) that had originated on Sherman Peak and covered almost the entire Boulder Glacier. Gladly I did not hear of any mountaineers on that glacier during the event.

Here are photos:

Meager Creek Landslide

2010-08-13T15:08:00.000-07:00

There was just a massive landslide in BC. Enjoy the link below to an article describing the response to the slide and photos from the Search & Rescue team that went in to respond.

http://thetyee.ca/News/2010/08/12/MeagerLandslide/

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dbsteers/sets/72157624700543708/with/4874432103/

Also worthwhile is the photo album of a group who narrowly missed being wiped out.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/agentspanky/sets/72157624565826683/with/4877193250/

I am thinking of ways to turn this into a PhD. :). There is plenty of work to be done in the aftermath. 40 million cubic meters of sediment is comperable to the whole volume I have identified form 50 years of placer mining along the Fraser.

Baby Nuthatch Extravaganza!

2010-07-22T11:21:00.000-07:00

I have often wished my birdfeeders would get chosen as the spot for the National Tree Creepers Association Meeting, but it never has. I suppose it would help if the National Tree Creepers Association actually existed, but that is beside the point. However, this year our yard has apparently become the #1 cool hangout spot for baby nuthatches, and you couldn't ask for a better honor than that.

It started a couple months ago, when we noticed a mother nuthatch, a faithful customer of ours, trailing her beautiful little daughter along with her. Little Miss Nuthatch was extremely shy, and would sit on top of our feeders, her little wings quivering, waiting for her mom to feed her. After awhile, she started learning to eat on her own. She was kind of a little Rachel when it came to trying new things--it took her half a day to get up her courage to land on the feeder, let alone eat from it. I bonded with her immediately, and loved watching her grow and get more and more confidence. She had a tiny little voice, and she would squeak quietly as she went from tree to tree. Once she learned how to get peanuts out of the feeder, that was the only feeder she would visit, and she would sit there for minutes at a time, pounding away, until she got the peanut she wanted. Unlike most birds, who keep trying various peanuts until one comes out, she would always get the one she started, no matter how long it took. If something scary like a chickadee came out and startled her away, she would always return to the exact same peanut.

As Little Miss Nuthatch grew, so did her confidence in exploring other parts of our yard. Her mother was usually with her, often sitting on the roof, quietly encouraging her in her food-gathering exploits. She discovered the pond on the side of the house, and enjoyed bathing and drinking there. Unfortunately, one tragic day, after drinking from the pond, she crashed into our window and died. We ran out to try to rescue her, but she was too far gone. So we buried her under a fruit tree and we mourn her loss still.

I thought our feeders would never appeal to nuthatches again, after that sweet little creature died on our property, but fortunately, I was wrong. I guess this has been a good year for nuthatches, because baby nuthatches are cropping up everywhere. A lot of them turned up when I was gone in Wisconsin last week, and Andrew said they were kind of taking over the world, which was exciting.

Today, as I was taking a load of laundry back into our room, I looked up, and there were not one, not two, but three baby nuthatches on one feeder!

You can find a full resolution version here.

Another flew into the scene and got overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and left. She came back eventually, though.

4 Red Breasted Nuthatches at once!

I don't know if they all belong to the same parents or if it's a couple of broods worth. Two are fat, and two are skinny, and one of the skinny ones is definitely the runt and gets bullied around by the others, poor thing. The fattest one is also the most immature (he still waggles his little wings and opens his mouth to be fed), and he has decided he owns the peanut feeder. Unfortunately, he has yet to figure out how to actually get a peanut out of it.

They are so precious! I can't believe we got this lucky!

More Than A Square Foot Garden

2010-06-11T11:45:00.000-07:00

Last season, all the space I could afford was a for a square foot garden, which, all things considered, was remarkably productive and beautiful.

Since moving to Blaine, I have been busy creating a moderate garden and landscaping around the house. I am almost finished with phase one. Here are some photos:

Here is an overview of the vegetable garden. It was designed with inspiration from both the French Biointensive school of thought and the Permaculture school of thought. Permaculture has certainly been the primary inspiration for my overall sight design.

Leeks

Swiss Chard

Radishes in need of thinning.

The pea harvest is just beginning.

This mini-greenhouse has allowed me to get some peppers (already!) and should help with some of my Basil and Tomato harvest.

A Jalapeno!

An experimental Tomatillo.

At the edge of the garden is an herb spiral. It is a beautiful permaculture design element that provides a large variety of soil moisture and microclimite conditions in a very compact area. At the top it is hot and dry, at the back left it is cool and wet, and at the front it is warm and wet. It is planted with Sage, Oregano, Rosemary, Tyme, Lemon Verbena, Fennel, Chives, Garlic Chives, Parsley, Peppermint & Spearmint.

The larger landscape has been designed to maximize food production and wildlife value. A pond, hummingbird feeder, nestboxes (unfortunately unoccupied), and bird feeders are elements that the local wildlife enjoy. As a side note, the gentle gravel beach at the top right portion of the pond is critical for birds to enjoy it. There is almost always a bird bathing or drinking there. Before I constructed it there was nearly no bird activity.

An overview of the front yard, where much of the smaller fruits are planted.

A Fig (desert king).

Red Currents forming.

Grapes.

Other fruit producing plants in the yard include a Peach tree (frost), Cherry tree, Apple trees, Plum trees, Raspberries, Strawberries, Blueberries, Saskatoon Berries, Honeyberries, Lingonberries, Lowbush Blueberries, Cranberries, Huckleberries, Black Currents, and Maypop Passionflowers. Most of these were purchased from Cloud Mountain Farm and Raintree Nursery, and Territorial Seed Co. I have been very pleased with the products I received from all of these operations -especially Cloud Mountain Farm in Sumas.

Ski to Sea Fun

2010-05-31T21:58:00.001-07:00

I (Andrew) just got to do the Kayak leg of the Ski to Sea relay race for team RYD Knights of Bellingham. The Ski to Sea is a 90 mile relay that starts at the Mount Baker Ski Area and cascades across the county via XC Ski, Downhill Ski, Running, Road Cycling, Canoeing on the Nooksack River, Mountain Biking, and finally, Sea Kayaking.

Kayak Staging Grounds

Waiting for the hand off from the Mountain Bike Leg

Approaching the Beach. You can see the bow of a Kayak that paralelled me for the entire race. I barely met my goal of holding the team's place, passing 14 boats and being passed by 12. I also maintained the rule set for me by teammate (Road Bike, Gaining us 50 places!) and buddy Brian Russel: don't let anyone in a Sit on Top Ocean Kayak pass you, no matter how burly s/he is!

Ringing the Celebratory Finish Bell. You can see our time. 8 hours, 58 minutes, 29 seconds! At nearly 3 hours behind the leader, that was good enough to put us into 204th place (out of 464 teams). Full results are here if you enter team no 150.

Celebrating after the finish with team Captain and Mountain Biker Ben Muller (Top) and Family (Below).

Now that you are all excited. I am recruiting a team for next year. There is a bit of a hitch, but if the race sounds fun to you, you'll love the plan. Let me know if you are interested!

A Foray on to Mount Baker

2010-04-26T12:32:00.000-07:00

This last weekend Pete Day, Andrew Hamilton, and myself made an attempt on Mount Baker. We only climbed onto Heliotrope Ridge Just above the base of the Black Buttes due to a late start, really soft snow (should have been on skis!), and concern about avalanche danger.

Nonetheless, it is beautiful country! Thanks to Andrew Hamilton for bringing a camera and sharing these photos.

Colfax Peak and Mout Baker from the high? point on Heliotrope Ridge

Soundless woods in a snowstorm on the approach.

Our tracks and ski tracks onto the moraine at the edge of Coleman Glacier

Lunch overlooking the Black Buttes (Colfax an Lincoln)

A Storm Clearing in the Early Morning

A Cross-Chaped Science

2010-04-09T13:22:00.001-07:00

Wow,

We have been lazy about updating our blog. We have had an early, beautiful spring (maybe the only one in the northern Hemisphere), and have enjoyed doing some home improvement work landscaping outside and painting inside our house. I hope to take and post some pictures soon.

But that is not what this post is about. A while back I preached a sermon at our Church in Blaine, about being a scientist and a Christian. You can find a MP3 of the sermon here. Sorry about the slightly poor audio at the beginning. I was having some microphone issues:). I would love to get feedback on both the presentation and content of the sermon. One big lesson: my public speaking would be a lot better if I slowed down a bit and replaced every "uum" with a pause.

While preparing for the sermon, I compiled some resources from orthodox Christian thinkers who do not preclude accepting the consensus scientific view of the age and history of the earth and its life. Some of these may be of interest.

The Vatican : John Paul I's Message to the Pontifical Academy of Sciences, October 22, 1996 "Magisterium Is Concerned with the Question of Evolution for It Involves Conception of Man."

"In his Encyclical Humani generis (1950), my predecessor Pius XII had already stated that there was no opposition between evolution and the doctrine of the faith about man and his vocation, on condition that one did not lose sight of several indisputable points (cf. AAS 42 [1950], pp. 575-576).".....

"In order to delineate the field of their own study, the exegete and the theologian must keep informed about the results achieved by the natural sciences (cf. AAS 85 [1993] pp. 764-772; Address to the Pontifical Biblical Commission, 23 April 1993, announcing the document on The interpretation of the Bible in the Church: AAS 86 [1994] pp. 232-243)."...

"How do the conclusions reached by the various scientific disciplines coincide with those contained in the message of Revelation? And if, at first sight, there are apparent contradictions, in what direction do we look for their solution? We know, in fact, that truth cannot contradict truth (cf. Leo XIII, Encyclical Providentissimus Deus)" "Today, almost half a century after the publication of the Encyclical, fresh knowledge has led to the recognition that evolution is more than a hypothesis. It is indeed remarkable that this theory has been progressively accepted by researchers, following a series of discoveries in various fields of knowledge. The convergence, neither sought nor fabricated, of the results of work that was conducted independently is in itself a significant argument in favor of this theory."

From Tim Keller's The Reason for God "Despite widespread impressions to the contrary, both inside and outside of the church,, modern Creation Science was not the traditional response of conservative and evangelical Protestants in the nineteenth century when Darwin's theory first became known. There was widespread acceptance of the fact that Genesis 1 may have been speaking of long ages rather than literal days. R.A. Torrey, the fundamentalist editor of The Fundamentals ... said that it was possible "to believe thoroughly in the infallibility of the Bible and still be an evolutionist of a certain type (quoted in Mark Nol, Evangelical American Christianity: An Introduction [Blackwells, 2001], p 171). The man who defined the doctrine on Biblical inerrancy, B.B. Warfield of Princeton (d. 1921) believed that God may have used something like evolution to bring about life-forms."

Frances Collins (from a scientific viewpoint). "This narrow interpretation is largely a creation of the last hundred years, arising in large consequence as a reaction to Darwinian evolution."

St. Augustine in Genesis 19:39"usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth... and this knowledge he hold to as being certain from reason and experience.

How, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking nonsense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show a vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn.

The shame is... that people outside the household of faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men. It they find a Christian mistaken in a field which they themselves know well and hear him maintaining his foolish opinions about our books, how are the going to believe those books and matters concerning the resurrection of the dead, the hope of eternal life, and the kingdom of heaven, when they think their pages are full of falsehoods on facts which they themselves have learned from experience in the light of reason?"

The ACG Affiliation of Christian Geologists:

"Statement on the Physical Age of the Earth and Universe"

The Affiliation of Christian Geologists is committed to the historic Christian faith and to its meaningful integration with the best available science. This effort reflects our desire to serve God with all our minds. Data from science also help us to serve our neighbors and to care for God’s creation. Investigations of the Earth and the universe have been ongoing for hundreds of years using such scientific methodologies as:
-astronomical data from telescopes and satellites
-observation of the physical makeup and arrangement of earth and extraterrestrial materials
-chemical and physical analytical study of rocks, sediments, soils, water, air, ice, and meteorites found on Earth as well as lunar and Martian materials
-experimental synthesis to determine the origins of earth and extraterrestrial matter
-analytical determination of absolute ages of natural materials, and
-mathematical and computer modeling of the above observations and processes.

Beginning in the mid-1600’s, geologists and astronomers (including many Christians) have consistently found that the scientific evidence clearly favors a vast age for the earth and the universe. Current scientific calculations indicate that the universe began about 13 billion years ago and the earth about 4.6 billion years ago. These conclusions are based on cumulative evidence and are refined with each new study. All scientific knowledge is constrained by the limitations of the methods of inquiry and discovery. We are limited and sometimes mistaken in our understanding of both nature and Scripture, but ultimately the two must not conflict, both coming from the same Creator. Although Scripture contains essential information on origins that gives meaning and perspective, technical details of the method and timing of creation are not major concerns of the Biblical text, and many orthodox theologians do not see a conflict between the Bible and an old creation."

Gary B. Ferngren writing for The American Scientific Affiliation on CS Lewis "There is no evidence that Lewis Every read the Genesis account of creation Literally. Repeatedly and publicly he described it as a folk tale or myth."

The American Scientific Affiliation: on Science and Faith

Christmas program!

2009-12-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Well, after about 2 1/2 months of preparing, my students performed their Christmas program today. I've been a part of many, many Christmas (and other) programs over the course of my lifetime, but this is the first one I've been entirely responsible for (as in, I wrote it, arranged it, ran it, and every student involved was mine). After a somewhat-hectic dress rehearsal (they always are), everything fell together just about perfectly (it always does).

Have I mentioned how much I love my job, my students, and my school? Probably. But it doesn't hurt to mention it again. After the nightmare that was my student teaching, and a year of subbing, I am still so thrilled to have students that like me. Middle school students, at that!

I think the highlight of the program for me, really, was seeing how excited everyone was this morning, seeing my students coming in smiling and bouncing off the walls and asking if it was time to go backstage yet, and could they do anything to help me, and where were their costumes, and could I look at the new props they had found last night at the last minute. It makes me know I did a good thing this semester, knowing my students loved it and were excited.

I had a lot of parents, a ton of parents actually, come up and tell me how much their children liked music, and how wonderful the program was. I had several tell me it was the best program they had seen at the school. I suppose that's a pretty good compliment, for my first year.

The other highlight was walking past the middle school to return some props the kids had forgotten, telling them Merry Christmas, and having them give me a standing ovation. Middle schoolers! The age that scares me. They aren't like kindergarteners, who just like you because they like everyone.

Okay, so I'm bragging a little. But there are days when you have to overflow with happiness, and this was one of them for me. And as pleased as I might be about what I've done this year, I am really most proud of my kids. They are great kids, all of them, and they put in good work. I look forward to many more semesters with them.

Andrew took pictures, so if any of them turn out, I will post them when they come off his camera.

For all our fellow Liberal Arts students

2009-12-15T17:35:00.001-08:00

Birds and other creatures

2009-12-12T11:31:00.000-08:00

My birdfeeding station is officially the coolest hangout spot for the Blaine bird scene. Here are some of the birds we have been getting.

Last summer, we got a lot of Black-Headed Grosbeaks. They ate us out of house and home. Then they migrated on to warmer, more friendly climates.

We also got flocks of goldfinches. They also ate us out of house, home, and nyjer seed. They come back occasionally, now in their brown winter plumage. Usually they bring Pine Siskin with them, tiny little birds who are always cheery and remind me a little bit of Colorado's Lesser Goldfinches, whom I miss terribly.

House Finches and Purple Finches usually frequent our feeders when there is enough black oil seed. In Colorado, they were our most common birds. Here, we have about 10 who come and go.

A Female House Finch

By far, our most prolific visitors are our Black-Capped and Chestnut-Backed Chickadees. I think this is some sort of payback for all the chickadees I wasn't able to attract last year. They are constant here. Once we counted 12 on the feeders at once, which is pretty significant, seeing as how chickadees don't stay and eat at feeders like most other birds. Their primary mode of feeding is to sort through the seeds, throwing all the small ones onto the ground, finding the largest and most unwieldy seed there, and then carry it up into the trees and pound it into the bark to save for later, where it is promptly found and eaten by some other bird who was waiting for this moment. Occasionally, the chickadees' hunger gets the better of them and they have to eat at the feeders. But still, the larger the better. Chickadees refuse to eat small seeds on principle. They are the second-to-lowest on the universal wild bird pecking order and just about anyone can chase them off. This annoys them to no end, but it never keeps them from coming back.

A Couple of Chestnut Backed Chickadees

A Couple More Chickadees and a Dark Eyed Junco

Occasionally, chickadees have let us hand-feed them, when they are truly desperate (as in, all the seed is running out, they've been forced to humiliate themselves by eating seeds that can actually fit in their mouths, and they haven't had new food for 10 minutes). However, they are smart, and know that if they just wait long enough, we will refill the feeders for them. Andrew wants me to train them to hand-feed by not filling up the feeders right away. I can't resist the sad confusion in their little eyes.

Our suet has become a favorite in the winter. We have two pairs of Downy Woodpeckers, one normal pair, and one tiny, tiny pair. We also have a pair of Hairy Woodpeckers that come and go. They are bigger than the Downies by a lot. Mr. Hairy and the larger Mr. Downy got into a fight a couple of weeks ago, which Mr. Hairy won. Mr. Downy was crushed and left the feeders. I thought he was gone forever, even though his wife continued coming back. He came back for the first time today. I was relieved.

Ms. Downey

Tiny, Tiny Ms. Downey

We also get a couple of large Flickers, who are very clumsy and spill a lot of food. To see what happens to it, keep reading. They like to perch at the very top of the feeding system and eat and eat and eat. Their territory battles haven't begun yet.

A couple weeks ago, we got our first Pileated Woodpecker! She is enormous and looks a little bit like a dinosaur. For awhile, she ate from our tiny little suet feeder that we have mounted underneath the peanut feeder to keep larger birds away. She was undeterred. Now we have a suet feeder mounted up high for her benefit. She lands on our roof and walks around for awhile, then she goes to eat, and it sounds like she is drilling a hole in a tree. She sounds like a chicken when she calls. Considering Pileated Woodpeckers typically have a range of 200 acres (more if there is not constant forest cover) we can expect just to get her and a mate.

Ms. Pileated

Our peanuts are a favorite for our three local nuthatches. As you might recall, I can communicate with nuthatches. We had a hard time attracting them, but just recently realized that our lack of nuthatches coincided with our lack of peanuts. Now we have peanuts. And nuthatches. They are above the chickadees in the pecking order, and are not afraid to remind the chickadees of this.

What with the chickadees throwing out every seed that is beneath their dignity (which is most of them) and the flickers spitting out large mouthfuls of suet by accident, you might wonder how much we waste by birdfeeding. The answer is, nothing. Because of nature's trash can, the Dark Eyed Juncos. Juncos eat anything, as long as it is on a flat, level surface. They especially love flicker leftovers. Juncos are hard to notice at first, and then you look a bit closer, and realize the ground is crawling with them.

An inconspicuous Junco

Also on the ground, we attract Towhees (reading Annie Dillard's passage about them is highly worthwhile start on the second to last paragraph on the page), Fox Sparrows, Song Sparrows, and Golden-Crowned Sparrows from the woods. They hop around, eating scraps. Occasionally we get White-Crowned Sparrows, too. House Sparrows come and go. They tend to be by on the colder days.

A Towhee- or is it a Bear?

For awhile, we had only one Mourning Dove. She sat on the ground, all fluffed up and sad, and I was afraid the cold was going to do her in. Now she has two friends, and she is considerably happier. They are all very skittish, and tend to panic when they hear noises, but they like our seed, and they always come back.

The Loyal Mourning Dove

In the past few days, we've had a few new species. We've had two Stellar's Jays come by to claim our feeders for themselves. They are the second-to-top on the bird pecking order (right below the Pileated Woodpecker), but whereas Miss Pileated comes once a week or so, they want to be there all the time. Without any chickadees. This drives the chickadees crazy. So we are contemplating setting up a feeding station more suited to jays and large woodpeckers somewhere else, and leaving the chickadees in peace.

Also, we had our very first bushtit invasion! Bushtits are small birds, very small birds in fact, who look like gray cotton balls with tails. They come in droves of about 30, and crowd onto suet and peanuts, chattering and chirping away. They are below even the chickadees in the pecking order, and the chickadees are happy to remind them of this. Unfortunately for the chickadees, bushtits know that there is strength in numbers, and by swarming around a chickadee like a flock of fluffy insects, they can annoy the chickadee enough to make it back off. Then, for a few minutes, they have the feeders all to themselves, where they barely make a dent in them because they are so small. They swarm under, around, and--get this--INSIDE them. Yes, inside. Come and see our suet cage sometime, and wonder how on earth a bird fits inside there. But they do. I've seen them. Then the leader of the flock decides it's time to leave, and they all flitter off after him, except for one, which is always, inevitably, left behind, blissfully unaware, for probably a minute longer. Then it realizes its comrades have left, and hurries off.

Andrew has also created a pond, which attracts all our groundfeeding birds, chickadees, and American Robins! They are really cute when they bathe.

And today, we had a possum come to our feeders! Actually, it was yesterday that I saw it first. I was getting on my coat to go to work, and lo and behold, I looked outside, and a possum was walking across the yard! I shouted to Andrew to come see it. It ambled across and slipped under the fence, all nonchalant and unbothered by the fact that it's supposed to be nocturnal. Then today, I was watching my birdfeeders, and all of a sudden, a little possum face emerged from around the corner. It hopped around, eating leftover leftovers. A possum! Can you believe that? It was incredibly exciting.

Can you believe it?

Well, I have to go to dance, but I hope you've all enjoyed this incredibly lengthy description of our local creature life.

Text by Rachel, Photos by Andrew (I hope to get some better ones once we have a sunny day.)

When I'm bord or tired on the bus -

2009-11-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

I listen to these:

Pray as You Go ♥♥♥♥

APM Speaking of Faith ♥♥♥

The International Anglican Church sermon podcast ♥♥

TED talks ♥♥♥♥

The Nature Podcast ♥♥♥

The Naked Scientists ♥♥♥ (if you can't handle cheesy humor ♥)

NPR Fresh Air ♥♥♥

NPR All songs Considered ♥♥♥

This Amrican Life ♥♥♥

and, of course The Onion Radio News

Fall Harvest

2009-11-13T16:49:00.000-08:00

Several weeks ago friends Daneil and Lorianne Ludeman joined us for some fall harvesting.

"I had to do it because Daneil and Andrew's feet are too hairy" -Lorianne

Alas, we didn't have a carboy in which to ferment the grape juice. It was great as juice, though!

Why our house should have a second story and a flat roof-deck.

2009-11-13T16:48:00.000-08:00

Or At least a tree fort....

News from here, nothing too interesting.

2009-11-09T15:34:00.000-08:00

But life as usual is more satisfying this year, I think. Mostly because I have a job.

My job continues to go well, and I love it so much. Practically every time I go to the school, someone mentions how much they love music. Apparently parents have been telling the principal that their children like music again. This makes me very happy. It's kind of nice to be following a teacher who didn't work out well with the school (as opposed to say, following a retired teacher whom everyone loved). This gives me a lot of grace for being a first-year teacher. I am busy getting ready for the Christmas program. I gave out parts last week, which went remarkably well. Now I am trying to arrange all my songs with percussion, and some of them with dance and movement. Occasionally I wonder whether my Christmas program plans are too ambitious. But I think everything will work out. And one of the great things about my school is that everyone is so relaxed about everything. It's a nice environment for me to work in. I hate stress and pressure, and I thrive in calmness.

I am also getting to dance a little bit again! Our next-door neighbor teaches jazz and movement classes at the gym on Saturdays and she has asked me to assist her, and to help out with their Christmas program, mostly herding children on and off stage and fixing their costumes. It is incredibly wonderful to dance again. Hopefully, next semester we can work a bit more collaboratively and I can help with putting together a show.

I have one piano student now, a 16-year-old boy who has done a lot of piano playing on his own, but does not have much experience taking lessons. It is new to me to teach someone who has an attention span. It's kind of nice, as a change. He is very interested in counterpoint and theory, and is making me remember everything I learned way back in Theory I and Theory II, sophomore year. I am still hoping for more students; right now, I have a parent at the school who is interested in having me teach her kids. Hopefully that works out.

And, in non-job news, Andrew and I have (pretty much) decided to start attending Northwood Alliance Church here in Blaine. We decided that our church in Canada was too far away, and that it felt very strange crossing the border to go to church. Blaine has a huge amount of churches for being such a tiny community, but it seems like the local body of Christ is very strong and very caring and close. I guess no one church is too big, and people have to get to know each other. It is nice to see so many communities caring so much for each other. Northwood is a really nice place; we like the pastor a lot, and the music is amazing. Apparently lots of young people have left because the music wasn't rock-starry enough, but older guys playing fiddle tunes in E minor makes for a pretty amazing worship band for me. We'll probably write more about our church later, since we haven't been going there for many weeks, but that is where we are with church now.

P.S. Dreaming About What to do Next

2009-10-23T12:35:00.001-07:00

You may also be interested in reading an essay regarding my place in the Kingdom, which I wrote three years ago for my internship with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship.

Dreaming About What to do Next

2009-10-23T12:25:00.001-07:00

I have been trying to figure out what to do after finishing my current studies (which will hopefully be within a year) and set about to encapsulate my dreams about what I'll do next. I would really appreciate feedback about this piece:

Idea: Natural Science Applied to International Development

Keywords: NGO, Geomorphology, Hydrology, Ecosystem Services, Community, Agriculture, Academia, Agroforestry

Description: I dream of working as a natural scientist is the service of missions/development agencies Looking for ideas on ways to work academically while meeting acute needs felt by the world's poor.

Story: I am currently working towards a MSc in Physical Geography (geomorphology), and have additional expertise in Agroecology and Permaculture (Certificated Permaculture Designer), Geology (BA), and Environmental Science (Teaching Experience).

I am looking for ways to link this passion with the needs of the world's poor. Over 1/2 of the most impoverished people in the world live in rural poverty. The rural poor are nearly completely dependent on ecosystem services for survival. Therefore, it seems natural that natural scientists (experts in ecosystem services) would have something to offer these people (and the agencies who seek to serve them).

Furthermore, as the vast majority of scientific investigation has occurred in the developed world (typically, though not exclusively in Northern temperate regions), it is probable that many interesting and important observations of the biogeosystems in the developing world (typically, and also not exclusively in equatorial regions). By working alongside people and agencies in the developing world, who have local expertise, it is possible that academics may be able to identify significant knowledge holes and frontiers in their disciplines.

Design:

Ideally, research could be done that would:

be invited by local communities

involve local education and participatory research; so that with increased understanding of the systems local stakeholders can invest in the solution of practical (engineering) problems
and result in noticeable standard of living improvement without increased pressure on the local environment.

Furthermore, this research would need to:

address known or newly uncovered frontiers of global biogeoscientific understanding
be grounded in established biogeoscientific thought
and admit progress that has implications outside of the local system.

The keys are:

finding partners who are aware of specific environmental problems that need solved and who are motivated to assist in the solution of those problems
finding participatory agencies who will fund the research
discerning which of these problems will be fertile ground for academic thought
designing studies that will increase local understanding of the Ecosystem Services system while also providing data with which to explore theoretical scientific ideas
converting data into publishable material
and converting local understanding into local solutions

Progress; I am looking for:

researchers who have experience doing this kind of work (in any field) and are willing to mentor me
researchers who have expertise in biogoescience that meshes with mine who are willing to mentor me scientifically while I take the risk of working in an applied-theoretical context in the developing world
people/NGOs who are aware of local environmental problems and who are willing and able to facilitate the presence of an academic researcher
advice on what else to be looking for

I have a job!

2009-10-01T20:17:00.000-07:00

Well, many of you already know this, but the newest development in my life of late is the fact that I finally, finally have a job.

Two days a week, I am now teaching general music to all grades (K-7) at Evergreen Christian School in Bellingham. And I love it. I really love it. I come home every work day tired, but generally with more emotional energy than I went out with. Which I think is a good meter by which to say, I have a good job.

I was pretty nervous starting out, since general music with middle schoolers is notoriously hard (due to the fact that most middle schoolers have decided whether or not they like music), but my kids like me, and I like them, quite a lot. So far we have had lots of fun with rhythm, and I have discovered that a collection of music by the Trans-Siberian orchestra is enough to make me passably cool with middle schoolers, even if I am old and look young. Honestly, I have so much fun with my middle schoolers. I never thought I could have this much fun with them. But they are good kids, and, although they're full of energy, aren't any trouble at all.

And of course my younger kids are great, too, but that goes without saying. They weren't the ones I was worried about.

And my principal is amazing, and the school atmosphere is generally very relaxed, and I'm pretty sure that, come snow fall, the kids will not only be allowed to touch snow, but will be allowed to make and even throw snowballs. Did I mention I love my job?

Alaska

2009-09-30T16:44:00.000-07:00

Finally, Andrew is back from his field work and our Alaska pictures are up and running. Enjoy the following virtual journey through the beautiful, wild land of Alaska. Via cruise ship, no less. Pictures are courtesy of Andrew, text is courtesy of Rachel. Unfortunately the pictures are not in order, and I (Rachel) am a) too technically inept, and b) too lazy to set them aright.Skagway, Alaska (our second stop on the cruise, known poetically as "The Gateway to the Yukon") Andrew did not take this picture.

Another picture Andrew did not take, of Glacier Bay. We spent a day cruising in Glacier Bay. It was spectacular. I think most involved agreed it was the highlight of the trip, scenery-wise.

This is a view of the railroad that leads from Skagway to the Yukon, following the gold-mining roads. Courtesy of Andrew's friend, who works in Skagway, we got half-price tickets on the train. If you are wondering whether we got to go into the Yukon, we didn't, unfortunately. You could practically touch it, but it was still a few miles away. But the scenery was gorgeous and it was a wonderful train ride.

This is the train about to go into a tunnel. The tunnels were pitch dark, and extremely exciting. You couldn't see a thing.

This is our dazzlingly beautiful niece, Talya, all dressed up for a night on the cruise ship. We had two fancy dress dinners. Needless to say, I (Rachel here still) enjoyed the excuse to wear a dress TWICE in one week.

Talya and her mama (Andrew's sister Janelle), looking beautiful and happy on the cruise ship.

Happy Birthday to Andrew's mom and dad! Dave celebrated his 60th birthday the day of our departure, Lynne's takes place in January, which is definitely close enough to be included in the celebration. We had the first of many four-course meals, complete with cake in honor of the occasion.

So, my goal on our Peru trip was to see a Giant Hummingbird, and guess what? I did! My goal on this trip was to see a real live puffin. And guess what? I saw many of them! This has been a goal of mine ever since my toddler days, when I used to request the Audubon Field Guide to Birds be read to me as a bedtime story. Dreams do come true. In the above picture, it is unlikely that I just spotted my first puffin, but quite likely that I am enjoying many icebergs, kittiwakes, and other wandering pieces of nature, in Glacier Bay.

The gorgeously spectacular Glacier Bay, complete with a Black Legged Kittiwake.

More views of glaciers in Glacier Bay. We never saw an epic scene of calving, like we all hoped to, but we did see pieces break off. The sound was more impressive than the sight. When I was little, I liked to imagine thunder as God playing the drums. This was a bit like that, only in the earth instead of the sky.

I think this probably has some important geomorphic significance. Unfortunately, I am not sure exactly what it is, and I fear I will be wrong if I write down a guess. So, I will just say: amazing Alaskan scenery. Also, note the blue sky. We had sun virtually every day of the cruise, which is highly uncommon.

More beautiful Alaskan scenery, this time with mountains.

The view from one of the upper decks, looking down onto the bow. It was cold and windy out there, but worth it for the view.

The birthday celebraters, taking in the beauty of Alaska.

This is Pinky, Andrew's uncle. He and Jan, Andrew's aunt, came along for the trip, too. Pinky grew up in a small town in Alaska, near where we cruised. Apparently, when he was five, he and his seven-year-old cousin used to take a boat out, alone, on the bay. This is pretty impressive when you've been in Alaskan bays.

Dawn in Alaska. I was still asleep. Apparently I missed a Jaeger. Alas.

An artistic view of the train above Skagway. The purple stuff is fireweed. It's beautiful, and people make jelly out of it.

More railroad pictures. My husband loves trains.

The train. See for yourself, it's the gateway to the Yukon.

More Alaskan scenery, with both mountains and glaciers this time.

This water was very, very cold. I did not swim in it. Other members of the party (namely, Daniel, Liz, and Andrew) did.

Alaskans: "Guys! Guess what? The sun's out! There's no ice on the pond! Let's go for a swim!" Did I mention this water was cold? And not just cold by my standards, even Daniel thought it was cold.

We saw a bear! It was a little one, maybe a year old, and it ran under the bridge when we were hiking. One fuzzy picture later, it was out of sight.

Cold, wind, Alaskan scenery, and happy Alaska cruisers! (Namely, Rachel, Liz, and Daniel).

It's a mountain!

Talya watches the world go by.

A very little boat, by cruise ship standards.

This port is Vancouver, where we departed from and arrived to.

Other highlights of the trip included the amazing food (I never quite got over the fact that you could order whatever you wanted for FOUR courses), the "thermal suite" in the spa (which we all got passes to, and we could go in there and watch the world (i.e. Alaska) go by FROM A HOT TUB), and of course, spending good time with lots of family and hiking and exploring in the amazing land of Alaska.

Also, I talked to Rebecca briefly before I left. Of all the questions she could have asked, she just wanted to know if I would see wolves and bears. So, she should be happy to know that I found the meanest looking wolf-head I could find in a tourist store, and got my picture taken with it. That didn't make it onto this post, but I will be sure to put it up somewhere, for her benefit.

And, as she has no doubt already discovered from the above pictures, I got quite close to a real live bear.

Pictures of the new house! Finally!

2009-08-31T13:51:00.000-07:00

New House!

2009-08-08T16:12:00.001-07:00

Well, Andrew and I are officially moved in to our new house in Blaine. Most of you know we were moving to Blaine, right? Anyhow, if you didn't know, we moved to Blaine.

Blaine is right on the border, on the American side of things. I think the population is roughly 3,000, comprised mostly of border guards and elementary school children (and I'm not even exaggerating that much!). It is very much closer to small-town, blue-collar America than beach-resort retirement community, despite the fact that there is very little space between here and White Rock. Fortunately, that means dramatically cheaper cost of living, less traffic, and fewer hordes of people everywhere. Unfortunately, it means severely limited beach access and nice trails near the water.

We moved out of our White Rock apartment on July 29th, went on a cruise to Alaska (pictures to follow when Andrew returns from the field), and into our house on August 5th. For the past few days, we have been doing lots of intensely deep cleaning and organizing our furniture. And setting up bird feeders, of course. As of yet, I haven't seen any birds, but I have no doubt they will come. Our house backs up to 25 acres of undeveloped woodland, hopping with chickadees, nuthatches, woodpeckers, and various other diverse and wonderful avian life-forms.

Pictures will follow of our house, of course, but for now, I will describe it as being a small, fairly nondescript one-story house, with 3 bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The third bedroom used to be the garage, but the former tenant remodeled it and put a woodstove into it. The woodstove, and the woods, were both very strong deciding factors in our purchase of this house. There are lots of windows, and lots of storage in the kitchen (every time I go in there, it looks like we have more storage, which, I suppose, is better than the other way around), and pergo floors, and nice, newer appliances. I think that's pretty much all there is to say. Pictures will do it better justice.

Anyhow, that's the news from here. And, our new address, is:

9738 Vista Terrace

Blaine, WA 98230

Unfortunately, White Rock Wanderings is no longer valid as a blog title. Somehow, "Blaine" doesn't lend itself to poetic titles. Trust me, we've tried quite a few. Any suggestions are welcome.

Fun on the town with friends Sarah and Nathaneil

2009-07-26T22:52:00.001-07:00

Sarah and Nathaniel came up from Seattle to meet us in Bellingham for a couple of days. Here are photos from our adventures. Thanks to Sarah for taking pictures that include me :).

Fieldwork

2009-07-21T22:18:00.000-07:00

I've been spending most of the summer working out in the field on my MSc thesis research. Here are photos from the expeditions.

Sam, my field assistent, with the total station

Apparently, all placer miners are named "Bill."

Samples from one of the sites that is actively being mined.

Bulk grain size sampling is backbreaking work. We shovel 500 kg (1,100 lbs) of sediment, put it through sieves, and weigh each size fraction.

Driving Beluga, our field truck.

An abandoned Anglican church on an abandoned reserve settlement.

Anneversary

2009-07-21T21:57:00.001-07:00

2 years seems like a short time when spent with such a great person as Rachel. Here are some photos of anniversary festivities.

Garden Update

2009-05-14T16:42:00.001-07:00

The square foot garden is almost planted completely, I still have 2 cells to plant. I'm not sure what I will put in them.

Lunch from the Woods

2009-05-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Who would have throught that two young men, a walk in the woods, and some crazy ideas from India would have resulted in an amazing lunch?

Gathering Stinging Nettle leaves

Into the pot and boiled until completely wilted to destroy the silica needles that deliver a sting.

The Water from boiling nettles makes a good, micronutrent rich tea:
And, finally, into the pot for an amazing Nettle Currey:

The recipe:

200 gm nettles, boiled

1 can tomatoes plus green chilies

2 links mango chicken sausage

½-1 onion

½ cup mozzarella cheese

2 garlic cloves

ginger

garam masala

tumric

coriander

cumin

chili powder

salt

lime

nuts

Fry the sausage and onion, while boiling the nettles, tomatoes and chillies. Add spices to the sausage and onion skillet. Combine, and serve. Add nuts and Lime to individual servings as garnish.

A trip into the field

2009-04-30T17:29:00.001-07:00

A few weeks ago, I got to get out into the area where I will be doing my field work. If you are interested in the details of what I am planning on doing, you can read my research proposal. Here are some of the more interesting pictures from the trip:

Reaction Ferry at Lytton.

This is visceral example of the story of First Nations people in the Fraser Valley. An Anglican Indian cemetery perched on a pedestal surrounded by a placer mined landscape.

Close up of a parallel stacked stones after placer mining.

View of Cameron's Bar, one of the larger placer sites.

View up the Fraser looking towards Lilloett.

Overall, I am expecting a very interesting summer exploring this area.

Windy Sunset

2009-04-30T17:24:00.001-07:00

Geography:

2009-04-13T08:29:00.000-07:00

These are the geographers over at Simon Fraser University. They are the kind of people I get to hang out with.

Note, these seem to be all human geographers. Just wait until you mix physical geography (my discipline) in with it and see how interesting it gets.

Wistler

2009-04-10T16:11:00.001-07:00

My parents and Rachel and I caught a little last minute (thank goodness, knock on wood) bit of winter with a trip up to whistler a couple of weeks ago. Here are photos.

Shannon Falls, Squamish BC

The view looking 430 m down off the new Peak 2 Peak Gondola on Wistler Mountian.

The view looking 3.024 k across the valley to the next span (not actually visible in the picture).

Crossing the Border, part 2: Canada

2009-04-01T16:47:00.001-07:00

So, Canada tightened up security at the border today, and it took me longer than usual to get home. This happens on occasion, and I have to go through two checkpoints instead of one, and the questioning is a bit longer. In addition, today they pulled out their psychological trick questioning techniques.

It is really kind of amusing to contrast the two countries. When the US wants to tighten security, they bring dogs and glare at you when you roll your window down and keep glaring throughout your questioning. The questioning is meaner, too, until they almost have you convinced you aren't telling the truth.

When Canada wants to trick you into lying, they're a lot sneakier about it. The guard I had today was an older guy, and if you can imagine the stereotypical old British uncle who spoils all the kids, he would fit the bill pretty well (minus the accent). I pulled up to the checkpoint, and he looked at me, smiled, and said, "You're hair's darker!" It took me awhile to even make sense of this. I assumed he meant, darker than when the picture was taken, but even then, it shouldn't be noticeable, seeing as how I've never colored my hair in my life. He went on, "You've almost got little blond highlights in your photo!" He used all the hand motions, too. I told him that my picture was taken in the summer when my hair was lighter. It's the only thing I could think of.

He just laughed and said, "Ra-chel Nel-son!" in such a way that you expected him to say something like, "You just get taller every time I see you!" or something. I said, "Yes, that's me." And then he said, "You just had a 23rd birthday, didn't you?" At which point I looked at him, confused, and said, "Not yet."

You could tell this was the answer he was looking for, because he smiled even bigger and said, "Not yet! You're right!" and waved me on. It was pretty funny, because, although I wouldn't have guessed it beforehand, it was obvious he knew exactly when my birthday is and said that, very intentionally, to see what I would respond. He seemed so proud of me for actually being myself, too.

After I cleared the checkpoint, I looked at my Nexus card. The funny thing is, with the black-and-white rendering, I do look like I have very prominent blond highlights. I never would have noticed it.

Some More Pictures

2009-03-06T16:09:00.000-08:00

First off, a celebration. This is officially the 30th post to this blog. That means it has survived longer than Andrew's last attempt at keeping a blog (http://andrewswanderings.blogspot.com/).

Next, a couple of fun pictures from last Friday. I spent the day reading/walking/photographing in Ferndale while Rachel taught as we were on our way south that day to visit my brother Daniel for his birthday.

A Great Blue Heron at Tennet Lake

Hovander Homestead Park: Rachel likes the domestic ducks they keep.

A Ferndale cityscape

As you might have figured from the close up of the heron, I have gotten a little better using the spotting scope as a camera lens. Here are some photos from explorations around White Rock yesterday and today.

A winter plumage male Ruddy Duck

Greater Yellowlegs

Green Winged Teal. Tiny -but handsome- dabblers!

A couple of "Mallard Lovers"

Northern Pintail

And finally, a handsome juvenile Bald Eagle hunting a small diving duck (apologies to Rachel, but indeed the key food source for overwintering Bald eagles is ducks and gulls along the coast. They appeared along the coast in droves right after the Salmon Carcasses washed out of the rivers during flooding events at the beginning of January.

Crossing the Border

2009-03-04T11:17:00.001-08:00

So, I am frequently met with astonishment when I say I commute into another country to work. Actually, it's not that bad. For one thing, we are a ten minutes' drive, and about a fifteen minutes' bike ride, from the border. It's like commuting into New Mexico when you live in Trinidad. For another, I have a Nexus pass, which cost $50 and about 3 or 4 hours total, and is worth every minute and every penny. Basically, it allows me to go into the special Nexus line and bypass the normal line. After waiting an average of 2 1/2 hours a day to get into America when I was doing all my Washington licensure paperwork, I did not begrudge any effort or money I had put into the Nexus pass. Now, in general, I don't have to wait longer than your average stoplight to get into one country or the other. Occasionally, the guards ask more questions, or there is more traffic, and if I'm really unlucky (which I have been only once so far) I get picked for a random thorough search, including parking my car and reporting inside to the immigration office while they check my car. But those are the rare days. Usually, I just swipe my card, say hi to the border guard, tell him/her once again the reason I have Colorado license plates (9 times out of 10, they ask; I feel like just having a bumper sticker saying, "Yes, I have Colorado plates. I'm from Colorado. My husband is a student at UBC, and I work in north Whatcom County." As it is, I just say this all the time), and go on through.

It's been interesting, though, doing this every day, and getting to know the different guards and seeing the differences between the Canadians and the Americans. Canadians in general are a lot nicer, and ask a lot fewer questions. However, they tend to be much more suspicious of why I'm in Canada and several times have asked me to show my passport and visas. Americans don't care about this so much (and a Nexus card works as a passport on the American side of the border). But they tend to be a lot more police-like in asking questions. I've found there are pretty much four different questioning styles (Andrew is sure they are all part of psychological mind games, and he's probably right). Sometimes, you just get waved on through without any questions. Sometimes, the guards are really intimidating and seem to start with the assumption that you're doing something illegal and they're going to find out what it is by whatever means possible. Sometimes (and this is probably the creepiest one), they treat you very much the same way you would treat a child you saw stealing something; they ask in a super-casual tone, "So, where are you going today?" or "Why do you have Colorado license plates?" but with underlying accusation, as if they're really saying, "You can either tell me the truth now, or I can tell you the truth and put you in jail for longer." Or, sometimes, they just have a friendly conversation with you, as if they're really truly interested in what you're doing in America and why you have Colorado license plates. I've gone through the border so many times now that it's just as normal to me as, say, stopping at the guard house in Carol's neighborhood. The guards can be scary, and they ask a lot of questions, but really all you have to do is tell them the truth.

The best border guard moment, however, occurred a few weeks ago, when I was driving to work. It was a new guy I'd never seen before, and he stopped and asked me (the usual first question), "Where's home for you?"

"White Rock," I answered.

His eyes narrowed, and he said, "But that's in Canada."

He sounded very antagonistic, like he was trying to draw attention to the discrepancies between my citizenship and my "home." So, as calmly and non-confrontationally as I could, I responded, "Yes. My husband is a student at UBC, and I--"

He cut me off. "But there are Canadians there!"

It's impossible to describe his tone without saying it myself. But for those of you who know Rebecca, imagine her saying, "What? Walk Chloe? But she's a dog!" It was at this moment I realized he was not at all serious, and so I said, "Yes, there are," and smiled and moved on.

Not very professional, probably, but absolutely hilarious. Definitely one of my more random border moments. It definitely kept me laughing all day.

Sqare Foot Garden

2009-02-20T11:13:00.000-08:00

I got inspired yesterday. I was thinking about a garden for our deck and started reading about square foot gardening. I decided to give it a try. I went down on the beach to find my materials, and was much more successful than I had anticipated. I located enough edge boards for two or three plots. I loaded these and a bunch of driftwood onto my backpack -with about 120 lbs of 10 ft lengths of wood I must have been quite a sight walking down the beach- and hauled them home. I first constructed the trellis. Next I put together the walls of the bed and assembled them on a piece of 3/8" plywood to size for the base. This I raised with a few stray pieces of driftwood.

I filled the bed with a mixture of different soils I purchased (the expensive part of the project). I added 90 L of a mix of equal parts loam, manure, and peat moss, 30 L of peat moss, 30 L of sheep manure, and 50 L of "potting soil." I would have made up "Mel's Mix" but could not find vermiculite. I figured I would get adequate mineral components in the potting soil and loam portion of the tri-mix.

After loading the soil into the planter and mixing it together, I added the dividers to make it formally a square foot garden." Now to plant and see how things actually grow.

In the end I spent about $35 CAD on the soil and plywood, and less than eight hours of my time and ended up with this beautiful set up.

I am hoping to add a net to the portion of the trellis that won't block the view from inside.

Just in case you are curious, the pictures are all taken with the camera pointing roughly due west.

Chickadee meter over the top!

2009-02-13T17:06:00.000-08:00

So, today we went to Campbell Valley Regional Park, legendary throughout the bird-savvy folk of White Rock for the place you can handfeed chickadees. My chickadee meter has been running pretty low lately, seeing as how I haven't gotten any birds but sparrows at my feeders. So we set out this morning with birdseed and warm clothes and a camera.

After a somewhat drawn-out excursion, we found the right place, where all the chickadees gather, and set to work. It would probably be an understatement to say that the chickadees didn't need much persuading. As soon as you stood near their bushes, and held out your hand, they would come chirping out, fluttering around you and seeing what you had to offer. The black-caps were a little bit more hesitant, but the chestnut-backs would just rush onto your hand with hardly any caution at all.

After hand-feeding a few chickadees, I decided to give a nuthatch call into the woods and see if anyone answered. Within seconds, a beautiful, tiny little red-breasted female came creeping into my peripheral vision, seeing what was up. She landed on my hand and took a seed, and flew off to hide it in the trees. She continued this for probably an hour, and was so friendly that I could move my hand around, sit down, face a different direction, and talk to random people on the trail, and she would just keep coming back, grabbing a seed, and stashing it in the trees (occasionally, she would get hungry and eat one on the spot). She also became fiercely territorial, and spent much of her time chasing the poor little chickadees away. The black-caps were terrified of her, which was funny, because who is afraid of a nuthatch? But they wouldn't come near me. The chestnut-backs, on the other hand, learned pretty quickly that she wasn't quite as scary when her mouth was full of food, and would wait until she had flown away and then quickly grab a seed from me and leave. It was amazing! I kept doing the nuthatch call, and she would look up at me curiously with her little black eyes. She landed on my head once or twice, too, and crept up my jeans to get to my hand. We had a really special hour together, and I bonded pretty strongly with her, whether or not she bonded with me.

Then, Andrew was getting bored, so we moved on, and I left a little pile of seed for my nuthatch friend. Finally, freed from nuthatch tyranny, the chickadees were able to eat as much as they wanted, and they mobbed me for seed. I stopped a few more times, but mostly I just walked slowly up the trail, a crowd of chickadees following me and eating seed out of my hands (I was feeding out of both my hands by now). You know the scene in Sleeping Beauty where the princess starts singing and all the little woodland creatures come out and land on her and follow her? I have always wanted to be able to do that. It was amazing. Chickadees were everywhere, and they were constantly landing on my head, and I could hear their little wings whirring through the air as they buzzed around me.

So, my vote on Campbell Valley Park andhand feeding chickadees? Out of ten stars, I'd give it at least a hundred.

Spotting Scope

2009-02-11T11:08:00.000-08:00

I have been experimenting with the spotting scope I got for Christmas. It is really tricky to get a decent picture (these came from about three hours of work) because a) the zoom is so extreme it is hard to find your subject, b) my tripod barley holds the weight of my camera and scope together, so their is a fair bit of shake, and c) the depth of field through the tripod is very small, so with fast shutter times to minimize blur and a ?wide? aperture to accompany those, the depth of field is very very small. (I can be focused on the tail but the head of a duck that is 20 m away from me). Well, here are the results so far:

Long tailed ducks diving:

Female bufflehead (almost in focus)

Go here for a full resolution image.

Sunsets

2009-02-11T11:03:00.000-08:00

Monday's Sunset. It had been forcast to be miserable weather all day (33 degrees and raining), but the sun was out, the air was still, and you could feel spring drifting from the south (It snowed the next day). I was out on the pier to catch the sun setting through the middle of a squall in the Straight of Georgia.

I got lucky catching this wave a couple of weeks ago

Foggy White Rock 3

2009-01-19T15:00:00.002-08:00

We finally had a bit of a break from the fog yesterday. It rolled back in right before sunset, creating this glorious light.

Foggy White Rock 2

2009-01-19T15:00:00.001-08:00

More Pictures

I finally got close enough to get a good picure of a couple of long tailed ducks.

The estuary of the Little Campbell River

Foggy White Rock

2009-01-19T14:57:00.000-08:00

The past week we have been stuck underneath a quite impressive temprurature inversion in the fog. Today is the worst yet, we can't see the water from our apartment. That said, the light has been beautifull and I have gotten some neat pictures. Enjoy.

Alot of starfish have died recently, I don't have a clue why. The segulls don't seem to mind. Most just peck at them, but this one decided to try to swallow one whole.

When not swallowing rotting starfish whole, the segulls 'dig' for clams by walking in place and liqufying the mud. After they get one, they fly above the rocks and then drop it to break its shell open.

Guess who just walked past.

And some cool pictures

Chicago Marriot Gingerbread Castle

2008-12-31T10:59:00.000-08:00

So I have spent the past few days in Chicago for thier graduate and faculty ministries "Following Christ" conference, which has ben a great time (if your lucky I will have the energy later to write a summary of what I foun mot interesting at the conference). There was this 1000 lb gingerbread castle in the hotel lobby.

Lucey's Christmas

2008-12-23T18:24:00.000-08:00

Here are a Couple of Photos of the Huffman's Cat Lucey. Merry Christmas!

Doing the Ducks

2008-12-20T17:38:00.000-08:00

No description of my (Rachel's) life would be complete without frequent mention of the ducks. Every morning and night for the last thirteen and a half years (with a few pauses due to illness, vacation, or moves to White Rock), I have taken care of them, giving them food and water, letting them out in the morning and putting them up at night. Somewhere a few months ago, I estimated my total number of duck-doing expeditions to be around 10,000 (math nerds can correct that if need be). Now, home in Colorado Springs from White Rock, I have the immense privilege of caring for my last remaining duck, the beautiful, lively Mitt, who doesn't like eating, does like drinking her water, and has yet to molt this season. Here, for your viewing privilege, is a step-by-step presentation of putting the little Mitten to bed.

Getting Warm Water

The One, The Only: Mitt

Rachel and Mitt Share a Tender Moment

All Put up and Safe for the Night

Feathers!

Ducks on the Bay

2008-12-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

Rachel has mentioned in previous posts that one of our perpetual activities is walking out on the peer, where we get to enjoy the overwintering ducks. Here are some feeble attempts at wildlife photography using my elementary camera/binoculars set up.

Some White Winged Scoters

Some Long Tailed Ducks using binoculars as a telephoto lense

White Winged Scoters Surfacing

Christmas Tree!

2008-11-30T15:20:00.001-08:00

The Christian Paradox

2008-11-29T09:23:00.000-08:00

It has been interesting becoming engaged within the community of Canadian Christians. Especially a community that would generally describe itself as quite conservative. But who don't comprehend the degree to which the church in the the States integrates neoliberal politics with the core of their mission. This article by Bill McKibben, an author who I am growing to respect very deeply is profound. It is an excellent discussion of the paradox between proclaimed faith of our nation and our actions. I highly recommend reading it.

Link to the article.

White Rock Thanksgiving

2008-11-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

Daniel, Liz, and there friend Rachel, came to visit us for Thanksgiving. We had a tremendous meal and lots of fun. Here are some photos.

2008-11-25T16:45:00.000-08:00

If you have been wondering what Andrew has been thinking about lately, here is your answer. It is the slideshow accompanying a brief presentation of the literature review I have been working on regarding my thesis project. Hope you enjoy.

If you want a higher resulution PDF, you can find it here

In other, non-Roomba-related news...

2008-11-21T16:20:00.000-08:00

...I just applied for the position of kindergarten teacher with Lummi Tribal School. I literally sent the whole application in five minutes ago. Here's to hoping: 1) that I get the job, and 2) that the reason the last teacher quit halfway through the first semester was not bad enough to make me hate the job once I (hopefully) get it.

I am pretty excited.

I Heart My Roomba

2008-11-21T16:15:00.000-08:00

Okay, so Andrew sent me this the other day:

http://miscellanea.wellingtongrey.net/2007/01/08/i-heart-my-roomba/

I've seen Roombas before, but my first real interactions with them began at Andrew's parents' house last summer. Those of you who have been around to watch me interact with it should appreciate this. And those of you who haven't still know how prone I am to talking to inanimate objects, giving things personalities, and so on, and should appreciate it, too.

I can't help it. The Roomba squeaks and looks confused if it runs up against anything (like a chair leg) that it can't get past, and it would be cruel not to rescue it and reassure it that it's still doing a good job. Also, if it's too far from "home" for too long, it gets depressed and died. Then, when you pick it up and comfort it and take it back "home," it makes these happy little squeaky noises that definitely reinforce the habit of treating it like a little person and making it feel better.

Okay. I'll stop now.

Church

2008-11-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

Rachel and I have settled into attending All Saints Community Church. It is a very small (~40 people there on any given Sunday) Anglican Coalition in Canada (ACiC) church which, theologically, is to the Anglican Church of Canada as the Anglican Mission in America (AMiA) is to the Episcopal Church. There is a key difference in heredity of the laity, however. The laity in AMiA is largely composed of disaffected evangelicals while, from our limited experience of ACiC the laity seem to be largely disaffected Anglicans. There is a distinctly different flavour to the service according to this. But I digress.

Let me paint a picture of a typical Sunday.
All Saints meets in a dainty little Catholic Chapel in the lazy seaside community of Crescent Beach. Small paintings of the stations of the cross hang on the walls and culminate in a 10 foot tall 'crucifix' that stands over the alter depicting our risen Lord standing triumphantly next to the cross. The priest wears white robes graced with a forest green stole.

Encased in the formal garb and traditional liturgy is a spirit and style of worship that brings me back to Hillcrest Chapel (the Assemblies of God church I grew up in) of 1992. Peter Klenner, the priest, spent much of his life in Australia, and has the accent to prove it. He preaches dynamic, interactive sermons. He shies not from discussing issues of social justice and poverty. Peter speaks plainly. He was the first person I have heard explicitly speak the equation that is really the foundation of AMiA and ACiC and that was implied in so much of the discussion from Urbana '06: “we [the Western Church] are resource wealthy and spiritually poor. The church in the developing world is spiritually wealthy and resource poor. Therefore we should give the church in the developing world the material resources necessary to teach us and others, spiritually.

The key difficulty Rachel and I have with this church is that there is one other “young” person. She is 35. We don't have many peers. So, we decided to attend the “Young Adults” service at a local evangelical megachurch in the hopes of meeting some peers. I felt strangely alien through the evening, which was filled with descriptions of the structure of the service, cliches about 'accountability partners,' 'quiet times,' 'generational differences,' 'reaching out and doing evangelism,' and the like.

When I made the observation that the content of the service seemed to be method-rich and gospel-poor as we drove home, Rachel described a profound and gripping observation. Many Evangelical churches assume knowledge of the gospel. Except when 'evangelism' is being done. Many churches have, in stark contrast to what their theology would state, created a faith of works. Accept the logical proposition “You're a sinner. Jesus died for your sins. Believe this and you'll go to heaven,” do your 'quiet times,' talk regularly with your 'accountability partners,' and you will be a good Christian. If this observation is true, there is a serious and frightening possibility that the evangelical church will die in the same way that the mainline protestant denominations have died over the past century. Let us hope this will not be the case.

We left this experience deeply grateful for the one sermon Ken Ross, the priest at The International Anglican Church in Colorado Springs, always preached. Jesus died. Jesus rose from the dead. That changes everything!

Storms!

2008-11-11T14:59:00.000-08:00

So, winter has arrived, and storms have arrived with it. And we, here on Marine Drive, have front-row seats to storms from the south.

Now, I will admit right out that no storms will ever have the same place in my soul as prairie thunderstorms in Berthoud on hot July afternoons, or really, Colorado thunderstorms at all. Mountain-prairie summer storms are in a league all their own, and are truly some of the most amazing things in the world. However, winter storms on the ocean are pretty spectacular, too. There is nothing quite like watching the sea whipped into a fury by the wind, and watching waves crash on the water, threatening to wash up onto the promenade. Couple that with a sky so fierce and thick and dark that you have to keep lights on all day, and blinding sheets of rain, and you're in for a pretty amazing show.

I have not yet acquired the degree of Northwest-ness to relish being out in the winter storms. I think the mark of a real storm-lover is that when a storm strikes, your impulse is to run out into it, rather than hide from it. That's what I do with Colorado thunderstorms. But I haven't yet reached the point where I instinctively run into the wind and freezing cold. Part of that is probably that I don't like wind and freezing cold. But also, there are things that are better to watch from the inside. You probably disagree with me if you're from the Northwest.

Also, on topic, but not quite: You know how Buttercup always says Westley has eyes like the sea after a storm? It's pretty amazing to live in a place where you know exactly what color she meant. And there truly is no other color like it.

A Rant About Gnostic Christians

2008-11-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

I just received a forwarded email about "a town down south" where a fundamentalist church and a Catholic church have had a sign war...

I as a geologist take special offense at the statement in the second to last panel that there arn't rocks in heven. Just in case anyone is not familiar with this passage it is worth quoting Revelation 21:

"15 The angel* who talked to me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. 16The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width; and he measured the city with his rod, fifteen hundred miles;* its length and width and height are equal. 17He also measured its wall, one hundred and forty-four cubits* by human measurement, which the angel was using. 18The wall is built of jasper, while the city is pure gold, clear as glass. 19The foundations of the wall of the city are adorned with every jewel; the first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, 20the fifth onyx, the sixth cornelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. 21And the twelve gates are twelve pearls, each of the gates is a single pearl, and the street of the city is pure gold, transparent as glass. "

This passage, for me as a geologist (and a person who takes his role as a steward of creation very seriously), is incredibly compelling, as it goes on to describe the river of life flowing from the throne of the lamb, watering a garden filled with the tree of life, whose leaves are for the healing of the nations. I see the beauty of the created realm nourishing the souls of those in heaven. (I'm not sure whether the passage addresses the question of inherent value in these physical objects)

It is interesting how the set of signs from the (fundamentalist) Presbyterian church reveal a very strong attachment to gnostic heresy insisting that matter has no place in "heaven. " This heaven I, personally believe to be an image of the perfect creation. Creation, inherently, is of substance. My wife notes that CS Lewis suggests that often we think of the spiritual as being sub-natural when, in fact, it is of greater substance making the natural the shadow of the supernatural.

I am reminded of Andrew West's (a biologist with YWAM at University of the Nations Kona) perspective of the task of a Christian scientist to explore the creation like a little boy who has been given a toy that was lovingly crafted by his father.
"Daddy, the wheals turn"
"yes, did you notice the doors?"
"Oh, they open!"
... as the father delights in watching his child learn just how much effort went into creating the toy for the boy to enjoy.
Intricacy in nature is a gift to us from God. I look forward to getting to explore the "super-natural" landscape that includes spectacular assemblages of gems into which cities are carved... :).

PS if anyone is interested, you can find a bible study I wrote on this passage on the Sustainable Spirituality Wiki Site

So, startng my attempts to update somewhere in the vicinity of weekly...

2008-11-04T09:35:00.001-08:00

Life hasn't been super interesting of late, but if I'm going to update regularly, it's important to do it on "boring" days, too (right Sarah?).

Cold and winter have officially come to White Rock. It's rained pretty hard for a few days, and it isn't raining now, but it is windy and looks chilly and the waves are pretty big outside the window. The boardwalk and pier are pretty tourist-free, and only diehard locals like ourselves are venturing out for walks. Daylight savings time ended on Sunday, which means that it's getting much darker when Andrew comes home, and that the Amtrak goes by in pitch darkness. We've watched it get darker and darker every night as the Amtrak goes by. It's kind of depressing.

My current favorite thing to do out on the White Rock pier is feed seagulls. Unfortunately, no birds have been coming to my feeders. At all. This is terribly depressing, but we do have plenty of seagulls. I tried to save scraps, duck-bowl style, and take them out to the seagulls and crows, but unfortunately, the vegetarian duck-bowl fare didn't do much for carnivorous scavengers. So duck-bowl food is now just compost, and food I couldn't put in the duck-bowl becomes seagull food. Like shrimp tails, for instance. Seagulls are amazingly good at catching food in midair; it's more exciting than feeding a dog. Seagulls also have incredible radar for picking up signals that someone is feeding them. For instance, last night I walked out on the pier with three shrimp tails left over from my pad thai that I got from a restaurant (I am getting pretty good at smuggling seagull edibles out of restaurants). I intentionally chose a seagull sitting by himself, knowing that I didn't want to try to split three shrimp tails with a whole horde of seagulls. So I threw them out quickly and (I thought) subtly, and within three seconds I had an entire flock of seagulls--20 or 30--appearing out of nowhere and circling above me. They're pretty incredible.

There are lots of ducks out in the bay now, too. Diving ducks and dabbling ducks and occasional wandering alcids. Some of them (surf scoters) like to ride the waves during storms and fish for mollusks dredged up from the bottom. If waves go over their heads, they just dive. It's pretty incredible to watch. Mallards, on the other hand, haven't grasped the whole concept of diving and just get buffeted around, occasionally losing their balance rather awkwardly in the waves. It's pretty hilarious to watch.

I did officially turn down the job I was offered. It was only an hour a week, with half-day sub jobs when available, and it just wasn't going to be enough money. So I am back to "normal" subbing, and will stay that way until something else comes up.

What our life looks like right now

2008-10-28T11:06:00.001-07:00

So, we've talked to most of you who will be interested in reading this, but just for information, this is generally what our life looks like now.

Andrew is taking classes at UBC in Vancouver, which is about an hour north of us, by car. However, due to gas prices and the fact that we can only keep one car at our apartment, Andrew takes the bus, which takes closer to 2 hours to get to UBC. He goes in 3-4 days a week (3 days of classes and 1 optional lab day), usually leaving pretty early in the morning and getting back early in the afternoon. Andrew generally likes his classes, his professors, and his fellow graduate students, but I'll let him elaborate more on that. He did find out that his advisor is an extremely important person in the field, who was not expected to take on more students. He never knew this, going into school, but is quite happy to be working with him now.

After spending the summer trying to find a job in the Vancouver area, and realizing too late that it is virtually impossible to get an elementary teaching job here, much less to get an elementary teaching job without a British Columbia teacher's license, I applied for my Washington State teacher's license, and am now substitute teaching in northern Whatcom County, in the Blaine and Ferndale school districts. I have liked subbing a lot, although it has its drawbacks. I am always the stranger in a building, and I have no colleagues, and I have to establish myself as teacher with a different group of kids every single day, as opposed to having my own classroom where the kids know me and I know them. But it has been great experience, and it is nice to have a flexible schedule, and it has done quite a bit in terms of giving back all the confidence I lost student teaching. It is nice to realize that I can keep a classroom under control, and that students do listen to me most of the time. This past couple of weeks I have been working as a math teacher in the same school; they are trying to make this a permanent position and have offered me the job, but it is not enough time or money, and I don't think it's going to work out.

We are living in White Rock, BC, which is right on the ocean and right on the border (across from Blaine, Washington). It is a beautiful place to live. We found a gorgeous apartment with huge front windows that face the water, and we get to enjoy an amazing sunset every night that it isn't cloudy. The White Rock pier is right outside our door, and we take a walk out to the end of it, to watch the sunset and the over-wintering ducks, nearly every evening after I get home from work. Our apartment is a huge step up from where we lived last year! Not only do we have insolation and a working shower, but our house stays clean and we even have a dishwasher and a washing machine and dryer. It's pretty amazing. We got a lot of furniture from Andrew's parents this summer, so our house feels much more like a house and much less like a glorified dorm room.

The downside of living in White Rock is that everything is extremely expensive. I have been doing most of the grocery shopping in Blaine, where you don't pay $4 for a loaf of bread. Without our cheap little downtown restaurants that we enjoyed in Colorado Springs, we have eaten out a lot less this year. But we have discovered The Bread Box, a produce market run by a Bulgarian lady and her sons, with ridiculously cheap, amazing organic produce, and so we have been eating a lot more fresh food.

We have been attending All Saints Community Church, a small Anglican church under a Rwandan bishop (similar to our church in Colorado Springs). We like our church a lot, and we enjoy the familiarity of the worship, but we are by far the youngest people in the congregation, by an average of thirty or forty years. We are really missing having friends our age living close to us, and we have been pretty unsuccessful in meeting people. White Rock seems mainly to be a retirement community, without many young people. There have to be some of them, but we haven't really found them yet.

Well, that most of the important changes of our year to date. I will continue to keep people updated on more of the details of our day-to-day life!

Some of Andrews Summer Excitement

2008-10-26T19:38:00.000-07:00

In early July I got the chance to attempt make an epic climb in the North Cascades of Washington. I along with a couple of my very good friends, Brian Russel and Jeff Widman, and 5 other people hiked from Ross lake, over the top of Mount Challenger, into Whatcom county, where I grew up. The first day was 14 miles, the second was much harder. And Shorter. We bushwhacked up 3000 feet of elevation and then traversed along treacherous cliff faces with stunning views into the Picket Range, beautiful ice-bound lakes and, short of our destination, stopped on a ridge around 7,000 feet just in time for sunset. The next day was the easiest of the trip. We descended onto a the Challenger glacier, and climbed it to the top of the mountain. The very top, however took some rock climbing up above two thousand feet of shear cliffs. It was pretty incredible! Back down the other side of the mountain before dinner. We were planning that the next day would be our rest day, but, we had no such luck. We were forced to climb deep into a valley and then back out in order to get past “the imperfect impasse” a gully that cleaves the side of the mountain and, to many, is impassable. Our final day was just 20 miles of hiking.... Enjoy the photos.

That is truly one of the most wonderful places I have been, and is clearly the hardest place to which I have ever drug myself.

Mr. Widman (Jeff's father) on the tip of the mountain.

One of the ice-bound lakes

Alpenglow on Challenger.

The Luna Cirque and Pickett Wall

Blog reset

2008-10-23T20:03:00.000-07:00

We have decided that, as our wedding is in the relatively distant past, we should update our blog to reflect our current life. So here goes. We plan on updating the blog weekly or semi-weekly with pictures, stories, and anecdotes on the weather, birds, and general geography of our new home here in Canada.