Thingum Bob, Esq.

Husband, engineer, military, weekend adventurer. MY PHOTOS var _gaq = _gaq || []; _gaq.push(['_setAccount', 'UA-24062403-1']); _gaq.push(['_trackPageview']); (function() { var ga = document.createElement('script'); ga.type = 'text/javascript'; ga.async = true; ga.src = ('https:' == document.location.protocol ? 'https://ssl' : 'http://www') + '.google-analytics.com/ga.js'; var s = document.getElementsByTagName('script')[0]; s.parentNode.insertBefore(ga, s); })();

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The paraglider I met at the top suggested that we race to the bottom.  I won, but only because it took him 15 minutes to unpack his chute and gear up for the jump.

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Skeletons in the backyard.

Looking west over the aftermath of the Black Forest fire.

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Like two different skies

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We take lots of slow walks these days.

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It’s hard to believe we’ve already been living in OH for nine months.  School is clipping right along--I cleared the specialty exams hurdle today and the first of a half-dozen undergrad summer research assistants show up on Friday.  It’s still very early, but so far I’ve been hitting the academic milestones about six months ahead of schedule.  May didn’t feel very productive, so I’m hoping to pick up the pace again over the summer.

In the meantime, my mini-adventures have mellowed.  I don’t do much worth mentioning on Tumblr anymore.  Sorry :(

Plus we’ve had this going on for awhile now.  It’s going to be an interesting next few years.

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Obstacle course finish to tonight's trail race.

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Does this count as a wildflower? I always mean to look these things up, and then I get distracted and lose interest.

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After a week locked in my office slogging through qualifying exams, I came out to find spring is in full force.  I’ve still got a few finishing touches to put on my exams, but the facilities I need are only open weekdays, which was a wonderful excuse to go burn off some stress with a trail run and my first ever spin on the hand-me-down road bike we drug all the way across the country last fall.  Except for the handlebars trying to come loose every few miles, things went pretty smoothly.

I’m giving myself the rest of the day off from work, and then it’s time to start pushing towards prospectus defense in October!

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Hummingbird moths are really strange.

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The crossroads at Hankins Pass

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Back from our Easter trip to the farm.  We tore down an old shed, picked asparagus, and stayed a safe distance away from the one-eyed, one-eared king of the barnyard.

EDIT:  Also picked up my first tick of the year!  Hooray.

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I just licked a self-adhesive stamp.  This is what happens when one only sends letters twice a year.

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I’m burning a few vacation days to help increase entropy on the farm.  Taking shit apart is so much easier than putting it together.  I love hucking big things off of the roof.  The ground is pretty wet, so the tin panels make a satisfying THUCK if you can get them to impact edge-on and impale themselves into the earth.

This old shed is the last structure still standing on great-grandpop’s old place.  He was the nicest, hardest working dude I’ve ever known.  He also had big, floppy earlobes that nearly touched his shoulders.  I feel that if I can be a good enough man in this life, maybe I can earn my floppy ear lobes in my later years.

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I made a new friend today on the roof.