5 1/2 inches

shoes required for my sister's wedding

Follow-up

Before

Trusty helper

After, hee hee!

It wasn't quite as dark as I expected, but strawberry blonde is quite acceptable.

I colored my hair

Wouldn't you like to know what it looks like?

Zion

My humble abode - no TV, no internet, no phone.

Zion National Park is my favorite national park.  Have I mentioned that I WORK for this amazing park?  Because I do.  Temporarily.  I love this job.  I get to hunt for lost artifacts all over the country!  I get to travel, read old correspondence, call and annoy archivists and curators, and generally set my own hours.

Last week I went to the park for an entire week!  I stayed in a renovated ranger station in the middle of Zion Canyon all week - by myself - that is now used for artists in residence.

I left the blinds open one morning, walked in in a towel, and discovered a family getting out of their car right next to my window. AH!

A fully-equipped kitchen!

Living room area.

Without lights, it was impossible to see this place.  The canyon was so dark - perfect for stargazing!

I spent most of my time in the archives reading, but I did manage to get out on chilly Friday morning for a few hours before I had to catch my plane.  Even in the early hours before the sun's rays spilled over the canyon walls to brighten my surroundings, the scenery was beautiful!

First

snow storm of the season.

This really happened: or the joys of tracking down poorly documented archaeological collections

This is yesterday's phone conversation with the long-time collections manager/curator of a museum for bird and mammal remains collected by professors in the 1940s and before:

Me: "I'm looking for archaeological materials sent to you in the 1930s."
Curator: "I don't work with archaeological materials.  We just have birds and mammals."
Me: "That's exactly why I'm contacting you.  According to our records, 4 boxes of faunal materials from the dig, such as bird and mammal bones, were sent to you for analyses, and we'd like to know if you still have them."
Curator: "We don't have archaeological materials."
Me: "Our records say they were sent to Dr. ____ at this institution in 1935.  There's no record that they were returned to us.  You have his collection in your holdings.  How do I find out whether or not they're in that collection?"
Curator: "That was a long time ago.  I wouldn't even know who you should ask."

NO WAY TO FIND OUT WHAT'S IN THE COLLECTION!?!  Collections is usually one of the first places to be hit by budget cuts, and archaeology is notorious for backlogged collection processing, but no catalog/finding aid/knowledge of how to find a prominent professor's collection when you're the person in charge of collections at a museum you've worked at for AT LEAST 10 years?  It's 4 boxes, not a random bone!  Also, no archaeological collections in a biology museum begun in the early 1900s by professors constantly receiving and analyzing archaeological materials?  Unlikely.

Guess which museum will be getting a personal visit from me this winter!

History Mystery

The ladies with whom I work decided to participate in the local museum's annual fundraiser/scavenger hunt around our fair town.  This year's theme was bacon.  All of the delicious food served before the hunt had bacon - even the cupcakes for dessert.  It was scrumptious!  The object of the evening was to collect as many correct answers to riddles about places in town as possible.  We ran/walked for 90 minutes trying to figure them out.  It was a workout for the mind and body.

We met with modest success, but we didn't win.  The winners bought all of the answers.  We are poor.  We had to use our minds.  They were not always up to the task.  Haha!  It was fun to observe the faces of people in Old Town for dinner who didn't know what was happening and why so many people were racing around town with booklets, dodging traffic.  However, I won Cromie (see below) as a door prize.  He didn't turn into a prince when I kissed him.  Oh well.  He will now serve as office mascot.

Our red schwag bags contained squirt guns.  Please note I'm not a slob; I was squirted by random passers-by during the event.  It was really hilarious to be in a giant water fight with a bunch of adults I'd never met.  Of course, the winners got the wettest and some mostly-good-natured booes.