The pets we leave behind

I see that two recent posts are about pets. Well, one pet. Unless you count the ticks. Regardless, who am I to fight the trend?

Pet week it is! Here is an overview of the dependents I will be aching for while overseas:

Borf

Figure 1: Borf Wellington, First of his Name

The sweetest, friendliest bunny you'll ever meet. He enjoys his kibble more than anything in the world, but is also fond of apple slices and dried mango. An expert loafer (Figures 1, 2). An expert beggar (Figure 3). Not that bright (Video 1).

Figure 2: The mighty hunter stalks his photosynthetic prey

Figure 3: A master of nonverbal communication

Video 1: He got into this mess himself. Just because I decided to take a video of it for a few seconds doesn't make me a terrible person. Right? RIGHT? PLEASE DON'T TAKE HIM AWAY

Gandalf

Figure 4: Gandalf. Not a wizard.

Gandalf is a cat with the conflicting qualities of being both terribly shy and needing an unhealthy amount of attention. He is free to roam outdoors, but the neighbors are presumably unaware of his existence. Squeaks when needy. Normal looking when upright (Figure 4), obese when horizontal (Figure 5).

Figure 5: I'm pretty sure he's not as fat as he looks

Spock

Figure 6: Spock. Prefers to sit on as much logic as possible.

Spock has the opposite qualities of Gandalf. He does not require much attention, but will happily approach any axe murderer in the neighborhood. Tends to bully Gandalf despite being half his size. Known for his loud, persistent, annoying meow. Enjoys sitting on the most important paperwork that happens to be in the room (Figures 6, 7) and performing the "walk on your side" party trick that wasn't even funny the first time (Figure 8).

Figure 7: Head butts signal that Spock is STILL SITTING ON THE PAPERS I NEED TO GRADE

Figure 8: Masterfully hunting any mice that happen to be laying on their side

Maybe I'll adopt something in Israel. Anyone know of any pets with a life expectancy of under 2 months? Like...a bee?

-Steve

Experiments!

I'm in the process of 'finalizing' my plans for this summer (I say that with '__' marks, because things always change) and it looks like I'm going to be very busy.

I will have two experiments, one for ~5 days and one for ~2-3 days. Most of the work is going to be analyzing the many subsamples from those experiments, because we are being very ambitious with how many things we want to monitor. I'm really happy about it and feel excited to have access to the samples, facilities, and guidance of collaborators. I think some of the students there will be helping me as well, and I'm also feeling fortunate for that :)

Next step is going to be writing up SOPs and making sure all of the materials are ready, most of which should be done by the end of the month if not within the next week or so!

-Esra

Who's tickling my legs!

Things are heating up in Santa Cruz! It was 86 degrees F this afternoon. That's 5 degrees less than what is typical for the month of July in Eilat!! Boy are we in for a hot summer.

In Santa Cruz our animals/insects are starting to notice the temperature change too. Our dog Pawesome has shed most of her Husky fur and made some unwanted friends... I'm talking about ticks!

Poor Pawesome! Ticks are rough.... WOOF.

Our housemate found that out the hard way today with a blood curdling scream. One of Pawesome's ticks had made its way up to her neck! Shortly after I felt a tick tickling my leg. Oooooof! Of course as a curious individual I had to take some close up pictures of it!!


Check out the photos below! You should see the tick moving to the top of my paintbrush and holding its first pair of legs out into the air in a position that seems similar to "questing." Questing ticks are waiting for an animal to come by. Once it does they grab on to it and begin the process of finding a place to settle down for a long meal! GROSS!.....

Radiolab did an excellent story on how ticks made people allergic to meat! Check it out here: http://www.radiolab.org/story/alpha-gal/

The 2-body problem

In introductory mechanical physics, we all have (at some point) heard of the '2-body problem.' Where you are given two particles that will interact with each other and you must determine where they will go and how fast.



Well, in academia, the '2-body problem' is colloquially used in reference to academic couples and the difficulty they face finding jobs at the same/neighboring universities.



As you may have noticed, Stephan and I have the same last name.
No, it's not a coincidence and we are not brother/sister.

We got married 2 years ago at my weekly lab meeting, 2.5 years after meeting each other at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) during a summer research internship.


(Wedding: January, 2015)         (Wine tasting near to WHOI: August, 2012)

We will actually be celebrating our 2nd anniversary 2x while in Israel (long story short, we had 3 weddings and celebrate each anniversary). We are very fortunate to both be able to participate in the IRES program together. However, there is one important family member that was not so fortunate - our beloved, 8yo rottsky, Pawesome (pictured as the 'ring bear' at our wedding).

Technically, we could have brought her to Israel, but her thick, husky undercoat in the Israeli summer would have bordered on torture. As much as we are going to miss her, leaving her behind in California really is the most humane choice. Thankfully, we have an incredible friend that manages a dog-friendly, 36,000 acre nature preserve in northern California and he has agreed to watch Pawesome for the summer (thank you Scott!).

Stephan, Pawesome, and I took a visit up there with multiple previous IRES participants during Thanksgiving this past year and Pawesome LOVED IT! She got to hike every day, romp around the stream, and chase the 4-wheeler used to patrol the property. Her husky coat also loved the cold evenings.

Here we are overlooking the preserve at sunset - Pawesome is riding in the back of the 4-wheeler at this point (she's 8yo and got tired).



So, for once, my classic 2-body problem was avoided. Only to be replaced by another. Thankfully, we have some pretty incredible friends willing to help us out.

2 months and counting till Israel!

#DogMom