Lizard

Texas Spiny Lizard on limestone

Winter/Spring Schedule

Hey Folks,
I finally have a somewhat free morning (ie. no homework, readings, or tests today), so I thought I would go through and solidify my rather confusing schedule for the rest of the year and the spring.

11/23 mid-morning come home!!!
11/27 noon-ish return to school
12/6 Statistics final
12/7 Art History final
12/9 9-11am Latin American final
12/9 12-2pm French final
12/9 2:01pm burn books, go ballistics, and come home!
(Actually I may end up having to stay another night so that I can get my room cleaned and my stuff packed up as I will not have time before finals to do so)
Christmas Break!!!
1/2 Return to school
1/3 JanTerm begins
1/24 JanTerm ends
Probably come home
1/30 Classes start
3/9-19 Spring Break/possible Alt.SB
5/13 Classes end!!!

Also, my classes for the spring will be Art History Survey: Renaissance to Modern, the Sociology of Childhood, French 202 (French 4), and Art Fundamentals.  I got lucky that I got the courses that I needed and they are perfectly spaced so that M-F I have a class in the morning and a class in the afternoon.  Because these are all 200 level classes it should be a bit easier than this semester which is a good thing because I will be having to spend extra time planning to study abroad in the fall.  Cross your fingers!
I love yall buckets and can't wait to see yall in just a few days.
xoxo

-Kate

R.I.P.

The Scud family kindly request that in 

lieu of flowers, donations be made to

the Kate Hamilton Donut and Coffee Foundation.

We offer our deepest sympathies to the Scud

family in this time of great loss.

Sincerely, the Grande Cup Funeral Home.

Il fait froid.

It appears as though that cold front yesterday has officially set in and it has stayed in the mid 50's all day.  I hope it will stay because lately the weather has been so erratic that I have to walk outside in my PJs every morning just to see if I should layer on with scarves and mittens or wear shorts.  

Today has been quite successful so far.  I've managed to write another page on my research paper which means that I am about 1/4 of the way there.  It is French Week, so last night we held a screening of Le Diner de Cons, the inspiration for the American version Dinner for Schmucks.  While a classic, it was so frustrating that I don't think I could stomach watching it again.  Oddly enough we ended up watching it in another part of the Language House than we usually do, so basically we were a group of mostly Spanish students watching a French movie with subtitles in English in the Japanese commons.  That's college for you!  This evening we are also having a French cooking class put on by Brittnay who actually trained to be a pastry chef in France.  I'm just looking forward to the madeleines and chocolat chaud.  Yum...

I also managed to reach new levels of professional studentship today.  I actually had my art history professor ask to borrow yet another one of my books that I ordered through Inter Library Loan for part of his own research. I see now that being a teacher has its advantages in this symbiotic relationship.  The student does the legwork for the professor's research in exchange for brownie points and extra credit.  This might just work!  

In yet another moment of spontaneous goodness, I have discovered that writing French cuss words on a cardboard replica of the Berlin Wall is oddly liberating.  The German club taped together a colossus of boxes on the North Lawn and then invited everyone to paint and graffiti it with whatever they wanted.  It is actually coming along.  I couldn't think of anything original yet suitable and relevant that I would have painted on the wall had I actually been there so I settled on the old favorite of French profanity.  You sound so worldly and high class when you cuss in another language and people don't get as offended.  I would suggest it.  

Well, I must go back to writing that paper.  

I love yall all and can't wait till Thanksgiving.

xoxo

-Kate

p.s. I so totally got an A on that Latin American Studies test

...just saying

...in case anyone was wondering

beep.

Yeah, that moment when you realize that the "broken fire alarm" that you have taken the last ten minutes to dismantle is really your neighbors' clock alarm.  Classic.  It has now been going for the past hour with no sign of their return, so I am resigned to attempting to put back together the perfectly fine fire alarm and just try and sit it out.  Every once in a while I almost forget that it is there and that is...wait...its still there.  Despite the persistent beeping, I've had a mildly productive day of walking back and forth across campus and arriving at class an hour early because of clocks still set on pre-time change time, but besides that, it's been good.  The cafeteria had some amazing pesto-pita thing that went especially well with a little scoop of cherry cobbler on this windy evening, so I can't complain.  I finally finished that essay that I was working on while complaining in my last post, and it is such a relief to finish that assignment.  Unfortunately, I have a feeling that it is a B paper.  I kind of BSed in the middle where I was discussing the author's perspective, but hopefully she will kindly overlook that bit and take note of my perfectly centered title page and correct spelling.  Just kidding, the perfect margins are what I should really be getting points for.  Those were deceptively difficult to type out!
Back to the books!

I love yall much and hope yall had a great day.

xoxo

-Kate Alice

I have a complaint...

Having already spent six hours of my day staring at a computer screen writing a tremendously boring essay, I feel that I am justified in spending a few minutes complaining.  Today is probably one of the most beautifully perfect days of the year and yet I have only spent about 6 minutes of it actually outside with no hope of anymore precious minutes.  In the perfect world, colleges would be designed without any homework to do in one's "free time".  Instead of the current system, I would devise a school, much like our public primary schools in which there would be one large chunk of each day spent in class where all of the work and homework expected of you could be finished in class.  Then, when the classes were over, one would simply go home and be free to live until the next morning.  I guess you could say I am just feeling pessimistic over the exorbitant about of homework that I have left even once this paper is completed, but there has to be a better way.  The ability to spent time outside on a beautiful day is something that should be taken for granted.  Instead, we scurry from one class to the next and back and forth as fast as we can between our meals and our dorms trying to live up to the insanely high standards set for us by society, ourselves, and our professors.  All in all, I object.  I guess that just means that I am going to have to start a campaign for a mandatory outdoor appreciation class each semester.  The things this world is coming to...sigh...well, back to that really boring essay.  I love yall much and hope that yall are spending extra time outside on this beautiful fall day to make up for the time that I am forced to be inside.  Much love always,

Kate Alice 

First Week of November

Mustard green salad

 We picked new three-inch high mustard greens, roots and all, and incorporated new cilantro, fresh basil, cheese, tomatoes, and a dressing made of Italian dressing mixed with equal part mayonnaise.  And sprinkled with almond slices.  Maybe the best green salad I've ever eaten.

Frost defense

Temperatures dropped to twenty-nine degrees, burning most of the tender leaves that weren't covered.  We managed to save the green beans, which were a high priority.  The old electric blanket on the right appeared to work better than cloth or plastic tarps. (Yes, those are sleeping bag pads there in the middle.)

Rooster

 The idea is to loose the red rooster when the hens are mature enough to form a harem, wait for fertilized eggs to pile up in the hay, and encourage some patient hen to keep them warm for a month till chicks emerge.

Sparrow-flavored water

Yum.

Next spring's deck

 I worked a deal with the local lumber yard to get these pressure treated culls for one fifth their regular cost.  They should be just fine for a deck around the remodeled shop house.

Autumn afternoon

1431 and to-do list

Preparing soup (and sipping mead)

Celtic Festival

Thank you, Amy, for inviting us for such a fun time.  (Fiesta Gardens on Lady Bird Lake in east Austin)

Celtic violence

An actual image depicting how fast time flies

Joyeux Halloween!

As a proud member of the French Club RooBoo team, I can officially say that it was a success.  About twenty different clubs and Greeks set up tables with tons of fun games and all that stuff, and with the Halloween music turned up loud we danced to Thriller at least four times and played lots and lots and lots and lots of ring toss...with a zombie...and Belle...

I unfortunately didn't get any photos of myself but I went as a painter.  I dug out an old pair of ratty jeans, and old shirt, and a ton of paints and sort of went to town smearing paint everywhere.  With paintbrushes stuck in my hair like chopsticks and a fairly accurate cardboard artist's palette in hand, I actually looked the part.  Now if only washing paint out of my hair was that easy!  I have officially ingested way too much sugar for the day, but I guess that is part of the fun.  I love yall much and hope you have a great evening.

Bon soir

-Kate

Homecoming Football

Hey All,
Yet another fun day of homecoming and there is still more to come!  Robert and I met up with our professor friends Jane and John White to watch the golf cart parade around lunch and then it was off the football game.  We played against Depauw and tragically lost 17-21.  Within the first 30 seconds of the game we had caught an interception and turned it into a touchdown, but it kind of went downhill from there.  However, we did not let one play go by without much clapping, yelling, waving of pompoms, and stomping of feet.  Now, my voice is a bit hoarse and I feel like I just left gym class, but it was totally worth it.

It was a bit chilly towards the end when the sun went behind the sky box, but stomping your feet does a lot to warm you up!  Now it is homework time until 7:30 when the choral and orchestra groups will be performing in the chapel.  I hope yall are enjoying this beautiful day and GO ROOS!!!

-Kate

Homecoming!

All week the staff has been preparing for homecoming this weekend and this evening we kicked off the weekend festivities with an uber-fun carnival hosted by all of the clubs and Greeks.  Robert, Elise, Brittnay, and I all ran around for two hours eating caramel apples, competing in a 3-legged race (Elise and Brittnay won), smashing a car with a sledgehammer, standing in line for free t-shirts, shooting rubber tipped arrows at a guy with an apple duck taped to his head, playing guess-whats-in-the-box (I got all but the one that ended up being a peeled tomato), getting face paint (rockin' the whiskers), eating a root-beer cupcake I won in the cakewalk, getting beaten up by giant rubber cannonballs while trying to balance on an inflatable cube in the bouncy house, and having our names written in Arabic complements of the Muslim Students Association.  What fun!  

Hillary, Viana, Me, and Robert

Viana and Hillary joined us at the end for the Pep Rally that followed which was fun as well.  All of the dance teams did their thing, homecoming court was announced, the sports captains were acknowledged, and Zeta Chi Zeta did a surprisingly good skit about the Kangaroos beating up all of our conference opponents in a dance off.  You would have had to have been there.  And now, I am exhausted from all of the excitement and probably on a bit of a sugar crash.  However, the studying must continue seeing as how I have not done any homework for the past 5 hours!!!  That truly is a bit of a record.  

I hope yall have a great evening and weekend, and stay warm!

-Kate

Birth Announcement!

Congratulations are in order as I am now the proud Mama of a brand new baby scud.  He was discovered this evening at 9:38pm, is approximately .5cm long, and sports a lovely white translucent color much like the scud below.  Named Garbanzo after the late 19th century boom in legume production in Sonora, I affectionately call him any variation of Banzee, BonBon, and Garbanzillyboop.  He enjoys scurrying from one dark hiding place to the next and has already made friends with the snails.  I think Ticker is a bit jealous of all the attention Garbanzo has been receiving, but I'm sure the sibling rivalry will wear off soon enough.

Wish me luck as I have never parented a newborn scud before!

Bon nuit!

-Proud Mama Kate

My New Motto

I have gotten into the habit of writing it on my hand every morning, and as crazy as it sounds, it works.  Sometimes, the wandering mind only needs a little reminder to not off into LaLa Land, and this seems to do the trick.  Speaking of trick...or treat, we are gearing up here for the Roo Boo where we fill the gym with decorations and booths for the local kids to come on Halloween for a "safe alternative to trick or treating".  The French Club is hosting a Ring-Around-the-Eiffel-Tower ring toss thing with an actual miniature Eiffel Tower and so I will be manning the booth for a while next Monday.  I haven't quite decided on a costume, but I have a few ideas.  In other news, we had an ice cream sundae bar at the cafeteria today at dinner.  That was yummy.  And, while double checking the syllabus for Art History, I realized that my research paper is due three weeks after I originally thought which is a great relief.  

Anywho, I love yall bunches!

-Kate

The Big Day

String together a list of roughly 7-8 cuss words followed by "art history mid-term" and you have about what is going through my head right now.  I have been studying non-stop for this thing since last Wednesday and can officially say that I have not done even one minute of homework for any of my other classes since then.  I have mastered standing in line at the cafeteria, eating, and putting my tray away in less than 15min.  Truly a new art form.  Having already been up for five hours and basically made to sprint and jump rope for 45min. in P.E., I feel like it is almost time for bed; alas, two more classes, a big bleep, bleep, bleeping, bleeper, bleep, bleep, bleeping art history mid-term, mandatory meeting with mentor, and an in-class essay in French await.  Oh the joys of being a college student.  Remind me why I am doing this again? [note: I actually do remember, but I still ask myself this about 43 times a day.]

Wish I was home and miss yall bunches!

-Kate

p.s. Don't for a second think that I still look like that philosophical, under control, showered student in the photo in the previous post.  Yeah, that went pretty fast.

Kate Says Hi

Today it is officially cold so out came the hot cocoa, hoodie, and thick socks.  I have had quite a productive morning working on my research paper and being completely lost throughout my entire statistics class (nothing unusual).  I am finally making progress on this paper and am finding that the organization part is more difficult than the research, bibliography, and reading combined.  However, I get to read old books and sit by my window looking out at the bright sun so I really don't have much to complain about.  

I hope yall are well and I was glad to hear that there was water once more at the creek property.

Much love,
-Kate

Ticker the Minnow

Ticker stuffing himself with bran flakes

Hello All,
After the tear-jerking and heartbreaking death/disappearance of mon petit poisson Zaz, I decided that it would be a good idea to document the life of Ticker, my precious remaining minnow.  In his Starbucks Grande square foot home, he enjoys the company of roughly a dozen snail, three varieties of water plants, and a rock.  Since the loss of our warm summer sun, he has been enjoying the sweet life parked under my trusty study lamp and is thriving in the glow of the 40 watt.  Ticker likes spending his time hiding from his mother, nibbling on bits of bran cereal, visiting with his snail friends, staring at his reflection, and meditating under the penny wart leaves.  While he does like the snails, they tend to multiply rapidly and thus some have had to be relocated to the terrace (aka the dying flowerbed outside Clyce Hall).  When he grows up Ticker would like to be an alligator gar and hopes of one day meeting Nemo and the Pepperidge Farm Goldfish.

 Poppy reclining on the penny wart

Hoover (top) taking a nap

Ticker in a moment of thoughtful repose

Scallion exploring the edges of his territory

Well, good night all!

xoxoxo

-Kate and Ticker

Note: I know their water looks a bit yellowish, but I swear in real life it is much clearer :)

Quoi?

I just spent the past three hours helping two girls from Guinea learn English and I can officially say that it is a lot harder than it looks.  They already speak six African tribal languages plus French, but I don't speak any tribal languages and not very much French.  Needless to say, it was interesting.  Now I feel the need to use basic words and tenses, speak very very slowly, and come up with synonyms for everything that I say.  Well, back to homework, love yall :)

-Kate 

Miss Yall!

Hola Folks,

Sorry my communication skills have not been the best since I got back from fall break, but things have gotten exponentially busier than before somehow.  However, I finally have things to write about so I figured I would take my afternoon break time and update the blog.  I have been managing to keep a somewhat A-ish average in my classes which is good, not great, but good.  

Yesterday I had a meeting set up with my mentor to go over my major and minor declaration, and so I show up and knock on the door then waited in the hallway for twenty minutes for him to show up and then gave up and went back to my dorm room.  About twenty minutes later, I decided to go back with my homework and wait just in case he thought that our meeting was at noon instead of eleven.  When I came up the stairs the first thing I saw was my mentor being wheeled away by the paramedics.  Apparently he's a diabetic, went low in his office, tripped, hit his head, and thus was unconscious the entire time I was sitting outside his office and it was only when one of his colleagues got worried during the time that I was gone that they found him.  Craziness! Don't worry he is fine and will be back on Monday, but today I have been running around trying to find someone to approve my JanTerm so that I can finish registering.  More craziness! 

Also, yesterday I learned two new cuss words in French.  The French are known for their foul language and cuss like sailors all the time in just about every situation.  We watched a movie for French club last night in which they cussed every other word, and now I can say whore and shit quite fluently; although, those words don't have the same impact in French as they do in English.  Anyway, who says its all about conjugations and asking directions?

Well, my afternoon break is over.  Love yall!

-Kate

Birthday Bash Dorm Style

Hello All,
Today is Viana's 22nd birthday and so I planned a little party...dorm style!

On our door

Viana and I were craving donuts one day, and we decided that for her birthday, we would have a donut cake because it is a true feat of bravery to try and cook in the dorm oven.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to pull it off, but after some scheming I was finally able to settle on a design and it actually turned out to be the easiest cake ever!  I would highly suggest it as it is easy to assemble and any points it lacks in traditional beauty it makes up for by simple being made of possibly the yummiest food ever created.

 The candles had to be upside down because technically we aren't allowed to have them 

in the dorm, so I figured we wouldn't get into too much trouble this way :)

Viana's (boy)friend JT was able to come up today so he, Robert, Hillary, Viana, and I all gathered in our kitchen to sing, eat "cake" , and open gifts.  Robert and his parents were so kind and gave Viana a little goody bag of a mug, travel cup, hot cocoa, and other what-nots.  I gave Viana a container of Fage yogurt and a little bar of dark chocolate both decorated with markers and construction paper.  All in all we had a great time, and even though none of us had much time to celebrate because of homework, it was a nice break from the steady hum of interrogative pronouns, conditional probability, the colonization of Brazil, Fra Angelico's Descent from the Cross, and things like that that keep repeating themselves in my head.

Also, it is looking as though I will be able to come home this next weekend because of fall break.  I hope to leave here Thursday afternoon, stay the weekend, and then drive back Sunday afternoon.  Yahoooo!!!
Well, back to the steady hummmm..........

-Kate

Thoughts on no thoughts

I have been trying to find something interesting to write about for the past several days, and I have come to the conclusion that at this point in my life, nothing new or exciting is happening on a day to day basis.  Granted as a whole it is fairly new and exciting, but today looks a lot like yesterday and yesterday sure looks a lot like the previous twenty days before it.  C'est la vie.  It is crazy how saying "that is life" has a negative connotation while saying "that is the life" is a good thing.  Je ne comprends pas.
In other news, I got a 93 on my Stats. quiz which is good but not great, and in sadder news I got an 83 on my first French quiz.  Apparently the whole class did so horrendously bad on it that she had to curve the grade, so I ended up getting a B+ instead of a B- which an 83 normally is so I am not complaining to terribly loudly.  I would have gotten an A but I cannot seem to grasp the concept of inversion, subject pronouns, interrogative adverbs, and all of that grammar hoopla that can't be as important as they say it is.  I mean really, needed whose grammar speaking clear?  Don't even get me started on the pluperfect and auxiliary verbs; I don't even know these things in English!
Did I mention that I have a cold?  I have been sniffling and sneezing for the past several days but have been staying away from the medicine just so that I will not be sleepy or feel fuzzy in the head.  Oh, the things we do for school.  I am hoping that since I am sick now that maybe this means that I won't get sick later when I really can't afford to loose any time, or at least that is what I have been telling myself.  Thus far I have been living in a mound of homework surrounded by empty coffee cups and cough drop wrappers, but things are looking up.  I hope to be well enough tomorrow to go to P.E. seeing as how I had to miss Monday's class.  The one day I miss is the one day where they play ultimate frisbee instead of doing sit-ups and sprints and lunges across the gym.  That is the life.  Well, I must return to les devoirs.
Much love,

-Kate

The Three Musketeers

I don't really have time to do a proper blog or think of an original title, but here is a picture of Viana, Robert, and I last night at the Jalapeno Tree having dinner.  A bit grainy, but the only one that we have of all three of us.  We truly do just about everything together, and it is great to have such awesome friends.

Love yall,

Kate

Revamp!

You guessed it, something is a bit different about the blog these days.  I decided that it was time for a bit of a makeover so bye-bye daisies and Ariel font, hello meadow with big green trees!  Any comments or suggestions from the peanut gallery are welcome and appreciated.  I hope yall are all well this beautiful evening and know that I miss you bamboozles!
xoxo

-Kate

Through New Mexico

Before we left Colorado, we took one last
trip up to the little lake behind the house
where Vaughn caught two tiny fish and
Carol hiked while Hope and Guapo just hung out.

The swollen Rio Chama near Abiquiu, about eight miles down a
once dusty, now muddy road through spectacular red, yellow, gray,
green, blue, and white desert rocks and dirt.

Cholla cactus on the banks of the Rio Chama

Cottonwoods beginning to change into their yellows

Looking up-river on the Chama.  Rain included.

Carol hiking down the part of the Continental Divide
Trail that takes off from a bridge over the Rio Chama.

Sustenance.

Driver and her tools on the way out of the desert.

The Truck.

We've Gone Postal!

Due to a large course load, long nights, really thick books with no pictures and really small print, and the loud group of freshman who live above us, we have officially gone off our rockers.  Kate has chosen the more devil-may-care-no-one-will-notice-if-I-start-carrying-a-big-knife-and-skinning-squirrels approach while Viana has taken the caffeine-study-caffeine-study-caffeine-study-put-off-showering-caffeine-caffeine-I-hear-voices! approach.  In all seriousness, things are going well.  Kate recently won an award for service to the school by reducing the resident squirrel population, and Viana has had the honor of having the local espresso machine named after her.    

Until next time!

-Those sort of odd girls from Rm. 104

Colorado Wet

Southwest Colorado has experienced a long dry season until about five days ago when we arrived.  The Durango newspaper said yesterday that the clouds should depart Saturday (tomorrow when we leave), and the area will experience a dry and sunny Indian Summer.

Driving up South Mineral Creek to Camp in the Rain, Sleet, and Snow

Here it comes

But Carol minds not the weather with such a glorious campsite

Still, the next wet afternoon we took refuge in Silverton at the Handlebar bar/cafe for  coffee.

"Urns not accepted."

The weaver/potter/weaver/painter woman in her home in Silverton.

Her tiny home in Silverton.

Just south of Silverton.  Getting colder (and wetter).

Back in Durango at the Steaming Bean

As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner
(depressing mountain-rain reading)

Pine River in the mist

Ripe choke cherries (plump with late summer rain water)

Self-portrait