ScienceWoman is an assistant professor in -ology. She blogs about the intersection of science and real life - primarily based on her first-hand experiences. Her older posts can be found 
Alice Pawley is an assistant professor of 
We got back from Isle Royale Saturday night to a house with no toilet. Luckily enough, we have another house a mere 120 miles away, so really got home late late late Saturday night, and spent Sunday recovering. Today, shockingly, I actually got a good dent done in my research! I'll have some stories to tell over the next couple of days about our 3 days Up Nort, including a moose encounter and some wild orchid macro shots, or you can get the photographic preview here. Suffice it to say for now that it was fabulous, but cold, but fabulous - over 20 miles of hiking, and only 3 other people!
But first, I need to do laundry, kill some carpenter bees moving in to my porch, and start the reading I was supposed to do on vacation but didn't even pick up.
Happy Monday!
Environment
Comments
Welcome back! Thanks for the mentioning carpenter bees--it helped me identify what's boring a hole in our (not yet painted) front door area.
Posted by: Gymlabrat | June 3, 2008 12:41 PM
Haven't been to Isle Royale for years now ... I keep telling my wife about it, but haven't made plans to go yet. Is it still as beautiful (and isolated) as I remember it to be?
Posted by: TomJoe | June 3, 2008 4:17 PM
Gymlabrat: Sure thing. I had been thinking they were bumblebees acting strangely until I noticed wood shavings on my compost bin lid, right under one of their holes. We sprayed them with concentrated mint oil, which is apparently a neurotoxin for wasps and hornets, and worked okay for killing the bees off too. Then we calked the holes shut.
TomJoe: yes, it was phenomenal, beautiful AND isolated. 20 or so hardy souls went over on the ferry together, and most of them went hiking for multiple days so camped on the trail. We were soft, and stayed in a cabin, and were the only ones to do so for most of the visit. It looked like a throwback to the '60s, except for all the tech gear everyone was wearing... lovely.
Posted by: Alice | June 3, 2008 5:17 PM