Bill and Ted's Executive Adventure

Photo via Black Hills Facebook Page

Enjoying that the Washington Nationals baseball team's 4th inning racing team, aka Presidents Lincoln, Taft, T. Roosevelt, Jefferson and Washington, visited Mount Rushmore last week.  Actually, Taft and Teddy raced (Bill and Ted), and of course, Teddy won.  Taft looks way too skinny here.  The other mascots flew in via helicopter.   I am mainly just enjoying this photo. 

For more, see: http://dcist.com/2013/02/nationals_mascots_visit_mount_rushm.php

and: http://blog.letteddywin.com/presidents-race-facts/ 

President Nominates REI CEO for Interior Secretary

Photo: Sally Jewell climbing her career ladder at REI Seattle (I think I saw this type of caption in one of last week's papers :).  Photo by Scott Cohen/AP

Last week the President nominated REI CEO Sally Jewell to be Secretary of the Interior.  A surprise pick, but one I had hoped for.  Last summer I went on a tour with Sally where she talked about conservation strategies in central Washington, and I am glad she will now oversee conservation for the United States, if confirmed.

Photo: Sally Jewell climbing Mount Rainier.  Photo by Janet Jensen, The News Tribune

When President Obama announced her nomination, he said she'll probably be the first Secretary of the Interior who frequently hikes Mailbox Peak in Washington State and who spent a month climbing mountains in Antarctica, "which is just not something I'd think of doing, because it seems like it'd be cold, and I was born in Hawaii." Ha.

One of my favorite writers, Timothy Egan (The Worst Hard Time, The Big Burn) wrote a great profile of Sally Jewell for NYT last week.  You can read it here: "A Secretary to Match the Setting": http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/08/a-secretary-to-match-the-setting/

Autocomplete: The United States Is...

FlipCollective has a map that shows the results of typing in a state + "is" for Google's auto-complete function. 

For instance, top results are "Virginia is for lovers," "Maryland is for crabs," and Delaware is awesome." Ha.  Check out your state! 

http://www.flipcollective.com/2013/02/04/the-united-states-is-how-autocomplete-describes-the-50-states-by-matt-shirley/

Map by FlipCollective and story via DCist.com.

Austrian Embassy

Friday night concert at the Austrian Embassy.  That guy rocked the violincello.

Inauguration 2013

One of the wonderful things about living in the D.C. area is attending historic events, like the Presidential Inauguration.  Incredible to see people from all over the country gather outside during the cold of January to celebrate.

 
My mother-in-law and I had tickets this year, up near the Capitol lawn, thanks to the North Dakota Senator having an extra few tickets for us.   When she struck up a conversation with the woman next to us, they found out they both graduated from the SAME COLLEGE in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, the SAME YEAR!  Augustana College 1968!

"That's What's Up" Video

"I'll be the sun, you be the shining
You be the clock, I'll be the timing" - That's What's Up

Watching these little kids manage work-life balance in this video reminded me to find time to have fun and prioritize relationships. 

Thanks Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes for this That's What Up video to your catchy song.

2012 Year in Review

Photo: stairs to Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

2012 seems hard to summarize, maybe that's why it's taken me until the end of January 2013 to try.  The year involved healthy doses of the things I love the most: family, friends, and experiencing the outdoors, often all at once.  Tough to pick the highlights, but I'll try a few:

MORE LITTLE PEOPLE


New Niece - Jane!

New Nephew - Noah


New Hayes twins!  Eloise and Ainsley


New Trotter - Jack
  
MORE FLOATING
















White-water rafting Class 3-4-5 at New River, West Virginia

Brandywine River Canoe Trip, Branywine Valley of Pennsylvania and Delaware

Two days of sea-kayaking trails and camping on a platform at Jane Island State Park, Chesapeake Bay, Maryland


Jet-boat tour through the canyon at South Fork Snake River, in southeastern Idaho.  One of the nation's best trout fishing rivers, thanks to 20+ years of conservation work protecting the land along the river.

MORE MOUNTAIN BIKING

Overlook in Cle Elum, Washington.  Biking with the Evergreen Mountain Bike Alliance during the Western Governors Meeting


Obstacle park in Park City, Utah




Keystone Mountain Trails, Colorado


MORE CONGRESS

Always fascinating to meet Senators in person (and to try to figure out what to say!) I spent more time meeting with the Wyoming Senators, Montana Senators, and other Senators, and took my parents-in-law to a breakfast with Senator Al Franken for Minnesota constituents.


Rep. Don Young (R-Alaska) always has the most animal decorations!


MORE CACTI

 

Photo: Bear Canyon Trail to Seven Falls, Sonoran Desert, Arizona.  Took a few trips to Arizona this year - visiting Tucson, Oro Valley, Saguaro National Park, Petrified Forest National Park, Sedona, and Phoenix.  Can't wait to return in 2013. 

MORE TEDDY


Still obsessed with Theodore Roosevelt.  Read Colonel Roosevelt, the third book in the Edmund Morris series, spent a lot of time running around the Potomac's Roosevelt Island, and kept learning more about the man who in many ways provided the foundation for the American conservation movement.

MORE MARRIAGE



One year anniversary with Tom.  We celebrated with a backpacking trip in the Wilderness in Shenandoah National Park

MORE OF THE WEST

Family trip to Lake Dillon and Keystone, Colorado.  Thanks Mom and Dad!

 
Pagosa Springs, Colorado, for The Conservation Fund board meeting
 
MORE BOOKS


Felt like I did a better job reading this year.  Some favorites include: Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard (about tragic death of Pres. Garfield; riveting book!); Lasso the Wind, Away to the New West, by Timothy Egan (essays and observations on Western towns); Where'd You Go Bernadette by Maria Sempel (fun story that pokes fun at Seattle elite), End of Men by Hannah Rosen (informative on some recent demographic transitions), Maphead by Ken Jennings (fun chapters and info on anyone who loves maps.)

OTHER HIGHLIGHTS



Meeting Sally Jewel, President of REI, and hearing about how much she cares about conservation.  I've heard she's on the short list of possible candidates for the next Secretary of the Interior.

Not sure if seeing massive fires up close in Idaho were a highlight, but definitely memorable!

Climbed a 14'nr!  Gray's Peak, Colorado

This unexpected picture happened.  My mother-in-law and I were touring various embassies in D.C., but stopped in between at a mosque with an open house, where they gave us head covers in order to experience the mosque. 


Standing outside the Supreme Court when they announced the decision to the Affordable Health Care Act.  

Fish-farming in West Virginia

Today I visited The Conservation Fund's Freshwater Institute in Shepherdstown, West Virginia, where we grow fish.   Our first stop was the "fish eyeball" trays - the eyes of baby Atlantic salmon, 28 days old (photo above).

They asked us to guess how many fish eyes were in this tray, about the size of a desk-top inbox for papers.  I guessed 300, but the answer was 3,000.  3,000 baby Atlantic salmon. 

 Next, we visited the medium sized-fish.

Finally, we saw the full-grown fish. 

The Freshwater Institute is a premier national institute for research on sustainable water use and reuse.  As part of their work to enhance the sustainability of the modern fish farming industry, the Freshwater Institute raises Atlantic salmon to market size in indoor freshwater tanks with currents.

I learned that the male salmon are mean and take bites out of the female salmon.   I also learned that wild salmon gain their orange color from eating krill, and since these salmon are tank raised, they are not orange, but they feed them pellets that help them turn orange, or else people are scared to eat non-orange salmon.  The process is safe, and the Freshwater Institute's methods for all of fish-growing does not use chemicals or other non-safe products. 

I learned that we eat female salmon, because the male salmon mature too quickly, and then the meat is too soft to eat (people don't want to eat it). 

Fish-farming is an interesting line of work and science that I am learning more about, and interesting in its role in the corporate fish business, as well as a strategy for dealing with food security. 

For more on the Freshwater Institute - see this link.  Who knew about all of these Atlantic salmon growing in West Virginia!! They also grow Rainbow trout, Arctic char, and other fish, too.

Bats

 

A few months ago, I was at a group meeting with the Chief of the Natural Resource Conservation Service, a branch of the U.S. Dept. of Agriculture.  (NRCS started after the Dust Bowl, which has a new Ken Burns documentary this Nov. 18-19! I've spent my whole life being uninterested in the Dust Bowl, until last year.  Now I am fascinated). 

My point is that at the NRCS meeting we all introduced ourselves and two people at the meeting were from the bat lobby.  It had a more official name, but basically they worked for the "bat lobby." Wow.  I thought.  I am so glad that I work on a multitude of environmental issues, and that my job does not focus day-to-day on bats.  "Bats are nature's insecticide," they said. 

For many months, my attitude was "Ha ha ha.  Bat lobby." However, the last two months or so, I feel like I keep running into bat issues and bat media.  My organization has been working on bat mitigation.  I keep seeing stories about sick bats.  Bat diseases.  The Nature Conservancy had a whole profile on artificial bat caves, "a radical idea to save America's bats."  What is the deal with bats?

Well, I don't have a large lesson to articulate in this post, but just wanted to say, "OK, bats.  I'm intrigued.  I'm paying attention to your issues now.  Kind of." Maybe I'll post more when I learn more.  I guess the bat lobby broke through to me.  Dang. 

Probably Not Calm at the Jefferson

The America's Great Outdoors Tumblr sent around this beautiful Jefferson Memorial photo today. A great site for amazing photos of our best public lands.

Pretty blue skies reflecting on the Tidal Pool - This is likely the exact opposite of what it looks like right now.  Hurricane Sandy is swirling by!

Idaho on Fire

Photo: Smokey the Bear Fire Danger sign in Sawtooth National Forest

Idaho was on fire for a good part of the summer and beyond. I visited in late August and wanted to post some photos.  Sad that I could not see the famous Sawtooth Mountains very well, but it was a memorable trip all the same.

Photo: Fire burning in mountains north of Boise

Photo: Smoke from large fires north of Stanley in central Idaho

 Photo: Sunset in Sawtooth National Forest during fire season near Sun Valley

Photo: pronghorn in smoke, drive from Sun Valley to Boise

Photo: Not everything was smoky! Idaho is beautiful - a few more images: a rancher wagon in Hailey, the falls of Idaho Falls, the Upper Snake South Fork, Redfish Lake Lodge, Redfish Lake and Old Boise

Photo:  Holding rocks at Craters of the Moon National Monument in central Idaho.  Apollo 14 astronauts trained here in 1969 before visiting the moon.

Phone Home Glove

I follow the Appalachian Mountain Club's blog, and they recently told me about new gear called the Hi-Call Phone Gloves, which "feature a speaker in the thumb and a microphone in the pinky, allowing you to talk directly into your hand and connect with any Bluetooth-enabled phone."

I find it a fascinating but silly idea.  And, the reviews say that you must talk into the left glove, even though most people probably use their right hand to hold phones.

If you need to ski and talk and don't want to lose your phone, then this is the device for you.  You can use it with the GPS-enabled ski goggles with heads-up displays!

Photo:  Appalachian Mountain Club

Yarn-Bombed Bike Rack, Boise

Photo: Spotted, yarn-bombed bike rack.  Boise, Idaho. 

I must say, a yarn-covered serpentine bike rack looks pretty cute & cozy.

Fish Boiling in Streams

I have heard of eggs frying on the sidewalk, but fish boiling in streams? 

The intense summer heat in the Midwest has killed tens of thousands of fish, from 100 degree river temperatures.  Some biologists have said they have never seen anything like this in their career.  More about the fish at this link.  Sorry fish!

Olympic Moon

Photo by REUTERS/Luke MacGregor

London, August 3, 2012