Go Giants!

This post isn't about the Giants at all, but I'm watching them play the Rangers as I type this. I'm probably one of the few people in this state rooting for the Giants. Anyway, onto my post.

I realized the other day that I'm now doing two things I've always said I'd avoid: work in a cubicle and drive to work. Yet I don't mind either here. Except I do hate how often I have to fill up. And I'm not always in my cubicle- yesterday I got to collect mussels! We found pistolgrips, fatmuckets, heelsplitters, bankclimbers, three-horn wartybacks and all sorts of other intriguingly named mussels (well, technically just the shells of these mollusks). We also found a jackass (the animal)` tied to the middle of a road. It was a strange sight.

I also got to do some geology! Kind of, anyway. I was going to tell 50 highschoolers the geologic history of the area (the broad area that is, in the park here, the only geology is soils). So I made a pretty handout and read about the geology of the Gulf Coast and it was fun, and then I woke up this morning feeling like crap and slept all day instead.

Oh, and because I haven't mentioned this many times in many other venues, I ran (and I actually ran the whole way) a marathon! I've run a mile and a half since, and it was the most painful mile and a half ever. But I got jewelry from a fireman in a tuxedo and a hot pink shirt to prove I ran 26.2 miles in San Francisco. I know I'm still recovering, but I am getting a little antsy not doing anything active.

Pictures!

First I thought I'd share a couple of pictures from the trip over:

A crow at the Petrified Forest National Park in

Arizona

Looking out the back window in New Mexico

My mom's and my shadows at Cadillac Ranch in Armarillo, TX

Really cool trilobite fossil!

And now some pictures from Big Thicket where I'm living!

Cypress!

I got to go on a boat in a bayou!

Sunset driving home

These spiders are HUGE and like to build their thick webs across paths... which of course I run into all the time. Let me tell you, it's creepy to all of the sudden have this guy and a bunch of its strong web in your face.

Checking out the newest bit of land the Preserve acquired. We saw some turtles here.

This is more or less what my commute looks like.

These cypress knees are about 7 feet tall!

Basically, it's really, really pretty here and I feel so lucky I get to live in the middle of it. There are deer and hogs and squirrels and a number of birds all around the house, not to mention all the insects and pretty butterflies and snakes and lizards. It cooled off a lot in the past week so it's not as humid, but warm enough that sitting outside is really pleasant.