Went clamming today in Coos Bay. Got some really nice butter clams, a couple of small gapers, and a couple of littlenecks. I also wound up getting a small fish, too.

Dunno about that.

However, we had a TON of fun studying the water and sand that came with the clams. The microscope revealed TONS of awesome plants and animals in the water and around the sand. WOW! I need to get a projection hood for the 'scope or a camera eyepiece for it... SO much cool stuff!

Prior to eating the forbidden fruit, would Eve have lied?

       

( Yup. I'm answering BIBLE questions now... ME!!! BIBLE questions!!! ROFL )

I want to train the canines to find truffles.

So, to that end, I have been daily taking a slice of mature truffle for each and a bunch of small bits of treats. I started by sticking the truffle slice under their noses, saying "Truffle", and then giving them a treat.

I've now worked up to putting the slice of truffle on the ground, saying "Truffle" or "Find the truffle" and then treating them the second that their nose reaches it.

I'm just hoping that this actually gets them to learn to find truffles. After I get them to reliably "find" a truffle on the living room carpet, I'll take them out (one at a time) and working to have them find a truffle that I'll place on the grass in the back yard. After they get good at that, I'll start burying bits of truffle out there for them to find, or start taking them out to the areas where I've been finding truffles.

Airie and I, Saturday, made a pilgrimage to the coast where we hiked many long trails over dunes and found many deliquescent mushrooms. Airie was not thrilled about the dunes (she doesn't like to hike on sand... can't blame her, but it REALLY gives a work out... wow!) but got some GREAT photos. I wish that we'd found more non-goop mushrooms, especially as that area seems to be a haven for many Boletus species, including Boletus edulis (the King Bolete AKA Porcini AKA Cep AKA...) We will have to return after milder weather... perhaps next weekend sometime. We are planning a trip to the northern coast for New Years Day.

On the way out, right at the Tahkenitch Boat Ramp, I spotted a dead otter in the road. Someone had hit an otter at some point (prior night, I'm guessing) and killed it in the northbound lane.

I flipped a bitch, thinking that it was a beaver, and went back to move it from the road. It had a beautiful, completely intact coat and I made the decision right then to pick it up on the way back home, take it home with us, put it in the freezer, and contact ODFW on Monday to get permission to keep the pelt.

Sadly, when we returned after dark, someone had already come and taken it. I'm guessing that some trapper is making a good $300 off of that pelt (which I preserved by moving the animal from the middle of the lane) as it was a rather large otter whose entire pelt was intact and gorgeous. I only wish that I'd picked it up on the spot and put it in the car then, but I was worried about the legality of that (rather, worried about being spotted doing so), and also the possibility of decay as the animal would have been sitting in the car for the day, and it was a warmish day.

Nothing much happened during the work week, except that I'm having trouble sleeping again, and now I've completely hosed my internal clock since I worked most of the graveyard shift last night as well as my normal swing shift.

Looks like I'll also probably be working at least part of Christmas... not that I mind 'cause the money will be good for me.

I was going to go duck hunting this morning, too (on nearly no sleep) but missed out on the draw for the blind. Not a big deal seeing as I needed the sleep, but still disappointing.

There's my last week in a nutshell!

OH! The microscope that I bought on eBay arrived today!!!! I got to see Tuber oregonense (the winter Oregon White Truffle) spores!!!!!!!!!!!!! Holy CRAP how cool!!!!

I have gone through all my possessions and gotten rid of all the extra things with the exception of:

1. babylon 5, seasons 1-4 on dvd.
2. the 1999 edition of Diplomacy with metal pieces, new in wrapper with small rip in bottom of box.
3. a parcheesi game, new in wrapper.

these are all things that i was craigslisting that the people didn't come pick up yet. I'm going to relist them today and hope to get someone buying last minute christmas gifts. The diplomacy game in particular was a long interaction with the comic book guy from the simpsons that almost resulted in the guy's throat being slit. i'm craigslisting them relatively cheap because i want done with this process and hope to pick up people looking for a late christmas present. The diplo game is one that hardcore boardgamers want to own because of the metal pieces (it's the 1999 hasbro edition), but the actual opportunity cost of using ebay is high so i've been trying to sell it locally. Unfortunately, the whiny passive-aggressive loser quotient is really high on cap hill.

The beginning of this process was several months ago talking with cirocco about the show 'Hoarders,' which is generally a horrible horrible show. I have been slowly going through things since then organizing stuff and I have thrown away, donated, or craiglisted probably 2-3 truckloads full of stuff. I now have several empty containers that used to contain random stuff and are now used for storing other empty containers. It's overall less crowded in my apartment.

The thing that I haven't gone through as of yet are clothes. I've lost 50 pounds in the last several months and I'm unsure of what to do with all the extra clothing. I'm also very low on clothes that actually fit, especially good shirts. I'm going to go through some of that this weekend after xmas. Also, I still have too much shit in the kitchen but a lot of it is duplicates that i picked up at bm from someone and i'm going to be giving it back to them.

On Yahoo Answers:

Q:Is there a quick way to get adderall out of your system fast?
I accidentally took my add medication instead of my sleeping medication in my exhaustion. Is there a way to get it out of my system so i can get some sleep before my next work shift? Or should I just turn on some movies and prepare for a long day?

My A: Subtracterall? ;)
Sorry, couldn't help myself.


NOTE: I actually DID give some relevant info (said to check with their medication hotline or "ask a nurse" line)

So today, I went to the coast to see if I could hunt down some matsutake. I figured that the rain that we've gotten since the thaw, combined with the warm (GODDAMN BALMY) temperatures that we've had for the last week or so, might get the 'shrooms up and growing.
( My day and the birth of eXtreme mushrooming! )

It appears that the Tuber oregonense, the fall Oregon White Truffle (as opposed to the spring Oregon White Truffle, T. gibbosum) are starting to ripen in the areas where I've been hunting them.

Airie and I have a few spots that we've been searching and have found plenty of these better-than-gold nuggets, but none have been really mature. The squirrels have been getting some of them as well, even though they aren't ripe yet.
( Trufflicious )

So now they've released the H1N1 vaccine for the general population here in Oregon, rather than restricting it to high-risk groups (elderly, immune-compromised, diabetics, etc...)

I could be wrong, but I'm pretty sure that the Hammageddon has pretty much passed by, hasn't it? Maybe I'm wrong and I just haven't been hearing enough about it, but... vaccine may be too little too late, eh?

Either way, I'm really not that interested in the vaccine (thus, the reason that I haven't been inoculated already). I mean, from what I understand it's not that terribly virulent, just quite communicable.

Meh.

I'm actually kind of impressed (knocking heavily on a lot of wooden things to avoid a jinx) that I haven't been getting sick much in the last year or so... I've been pretty darned healthy. Usually I've logged at least two minor and one major illness by this time of year... this year, I don't think that I've had so much as a sniffle that wasn't caused by allergies.

I can't say that I'm too busted up about it... got to bed way too late, got to sleep way too later, and slept very poorly (I hate cats some nights).

Oh well... the sky was clearing up anyway... perhaps Saturday.