Agouti and Cecropia shrinky dink pins

I have been on a roll making shrinky dink pins of study organisms!  A couple of nights ago I made an agouti pin for myself (it is the Las Cruces type of agouti -- you can tell by its blond rear end).  Last night I made a Cecropia leaf and Azteca alfari pin for my friend Cindy.  She leaves DC in another month and I thought it would be nice to send her back to Arkansas with a little ecology present.  These pins are so much fun to make and I think they turn out really cute!  Any requests?

Shrinky dink beetle

The other night I made a shrinky dink -- I haven't made shrinky dinks in a long time (due to the dearth of craft supply stores here in DC). When I went home to Redmond a little over a week ago, I stopped by Ben Franklin Crafts (best craft store EVER) with my mom and finally found lots of shrinky dink plastic!  My idea is to make little shrinky dink pins of my and Carlos' study organisms (and some for friends too) that we can wear to conferences. This is a Chelobasis bicolor beetle (which lives in the young rolled leaves of heliconias and other gingers) and one of my favorite beetles that Carlos works with. I will eventually make an agouti (or peccary or BOTH) for me and I want to make an Odontomachus ant for my friend Cindy (she studies ant-plant interactions). Let the shrinky dink party begin!

Smithsonian staff photo contest

 

The Smithsonian is holding a staff photo contest and I decided to send off a quick little entry.  I don't think there is any kind of special prize -- the winners get their photos printed, framed, and displayed in an art gallery -- but I like this photo!  I took this with my little point-and-shoot camera when Carlos and I went to Rara Avis Biological Station last November.  These two little bats are Artibeus sp. and roosting under the tent they made out of a Calyptrogyne palm leaf.  Who knows if I have a chance (no photography training or equipment here!), but it was easy to send and who can resist those little leaf-noses?

Shannon and BJ wedding

 

A little over a week ago, my sister Shannon and her now-husband BJ got married in Washington state at the Salish Lodge -- a beautiful lodge situated above Snoqualmie Falls.  This was also where Twin Peaks was filmed!  Mom, Dad, Carlos, and I arrived around 3 pm on 2 June to get checked into the hotel and decorate the ceremony room with flowers and cupcakes.  Shannon and BJ were out near the waterfall getting their pictures taken and we eventually joined them outside for some photos too.  It was here that I met BJ's family (his Mom, Dad, Grandparents, Sister, her boyfriend were all there) -- a really nice, friendly, and fun group of people!

After outside pictures were taken, we all returned to the ceremony/dining room (which overlooked the falls -- so cool!) for a couple more pictures before the actual ceremony.  This was held right in front of the window overlooking the falls.

After the short but sweet little ceremony, everyone sat down to a decadent multi-course dinner.  We had a lot of wine/champagne to drink and tons of food (including delicious summer vegetable soup, seared tuna, scallops with potatoes, and huckleberry cheesecake!).  We all chatted together during dinner and had a nice time enjoying everyone's company.

After stuffing ourselves silly, Carlos and I returned to our super-fancy hotel room (we had a jacuzzi tub and a fireplace!) where we started a fire and relaxed in the tub before turning in for the night.

The next morning, Carlos and I went exploring around the Salish Lodge grounds (where I had seen my first Douglas squirrel -- Tamiasciurus douglasii -- the day before).  We saw a caterpillar and two juvenile white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus) this time.  We met up with everyone in the hotel restaurant around 10 am for brunch.  I was still full from the night before, but had some tasty gingerbread waffles nonetheless.  After brunch, we packed everything up to head back home and say goodbye to Shannon and BJ (who were off to the airport for an afternoon flight back home).  Carlos and I still had a couple more days to spend in Redmond with Mom and Dad before we finally returned to DC (on a redeye flight) on the morning of 6 June.

I am really happy that this wedding turned out so nice and I really like BJ and his family -- congratulations Shannon and BJ!  Below are a BUNCH of pictures from those couple of days (followed by a tired Remlington at my parents' house):

 

 

Wilderness First Responder

I am back from Washington state where I was visiting my family for a little less than a week while Shannon got married -- more on that in another post!

I took a Wilderness First Responder (WFR) course a couple of weeks back (as part of my OTS job, leading students and faculty around the wilderness) and I have finally downloaded my pictures so I can post about it. 

This was an EXTREMELY intense 8-day (80+ hour) course that I took at Georgetown University.  There were 11 people in the class (one person dropped out on day 3) and we learned a lot about wilderness emergency medicine and how to treat a variety of ailments/issues/etc.  This course was very difficult and definitely not for the weak-hearted.  We had to deal with simulations involving everything from traumatic brain injuries, eviscerations, snake bites, and fish hooks in eyes!  It was crazy but I graduated and don't have to take another WFR course until my certification expires in 3 years.  Here are some photos documenting the experience (I didn't have time to take many photos during class so this is just a small sampling of what we worked on).