Grilling

Here I am grilling. I got a new grill back in April. In this pic I've got the brisket and potatoes on the grill. I had to add other things later. I love my new grill because it's got the two sections and the coals can be moved up or down. I like to grill on the weekends, and I love grilled food. I will grill pretty much anything. I got a new cookbook for grilling that has recipes for desserts on the grill. I can't wait to try them out.

Research Lab

Here's the lab at school. This is where I am doing my research. This is Dr. Scale's lab, but I use it, along with other students who work with him on other research projects. It looks messy in this pic, and it usually is! There is another side of this lab that looks about the same. This is the side I usually work on, but it depends who else is working in the lab at the time.

I haven't been working in the lab this summer like I wanted to because I have been so busy with teaching the biology class at WOSC. But the class is almost over and then I am going to devote a lot more time in the lab.

Bird's Nest

I noticed a bird flying out of my pot when I would go outside to water my plants. I decided to look and there was a nest! It's difficult to make out but there is a baby bird on the left and four eggs on the right. I found the nest at the beginning of summer. Only two eggs hatched. Then the babies grew for a while and looked like they were doing well. I would look into the nest and they would look back at me and had most of their feathers. Then they fell out (or purposely left?) the nest and died on my porch. Hey, I didn't say this was a happy story! Well, it was neat while it lasted.

Birthday Pics

Here are some pics from my birthday. You can see the cake that Valerie made for me. It was so yummy. And you can see Lucas and Paige in the pics with me. They are Tim and Valerie's children. We all had a great time that day.

Skills USA

Brian took four of his students to a Skills USA competetion in May. These students had to take a test to qualify and they competed in the electronics portion against other students from all over Oklahoma. One student placed 4th and the other placed 5th. These students are great, and they all did an excellent job in the competition. Brian is very proud of them.

Flowers and Plants

I wanted to share one of my hobbies with you. I like taking pictures of plants and flowers. Here are just some of the pictures that I like best. I think plants and flowers are beautiful so I take pictures of them and hang them in my house or put them in an album. I also like to be outside and I think it's fun to find a pretty flower that I haven't taken a picture of yet. Also, I think it's better to take a picture than to pick the flower. Whenever possible I like to identify the flowers and plants as well.

The plant in one of the pictures is actually poison ivy. I think that it can be a pretty plant when the leaves are big and some of the smaller leaves are shiny. You can also see Indian Blanket flower, a sunflower, and I'm not sure what the pink flower is called.

New Haircut

I got a new haircut for the summer. I had long hair and I was ready for something different. This isn't the best picture of me, but my hair looks cute! I like the shorter hair because it's easier for me to fix.

Mosquitos!!

I hate the summer time when the mosquitos are out in full force! (Although, in Oklahoma we really didn't have a winter, so I don't think I got much of a break from mosquitos.) Every year it gets worse for me. As a teenager I never really noticed getting mosquito bites, and I didn't wear insect repellent. But now the mosquitos flock around me every time I go outside. Even in middle of the day!!

Here you can see what happens when I get a mosquito bite. I put a half-dollar there just to give you an idea of the size. I get a dark red center with a pink halo. And of course it itches like crazy. This redness and swelling will last about 2 weeks but the itching continues for a couple weeks more. I think it's obvious that I've become allergic to mosquito bites. So now I just have to wear the insect repellent, which I hate. I don't like chemicals all over my body!
Watch out for those mosquitos!!