Ficus (Moraceae)

"Kitty." Joint custody of Amber, Natalie and Angie

This is my pet ficus tree. She got cold this winter when I took her from Natalie's apartment and all the leave fell off :( But don't fret, they are sprouting yet again!! It's hard taking pics of leaves that are like 1 cm long, but I wanted to show you.

I think trees are inspiring. Or deciduous ones at least. Even when it looks dead because of the lack of leaves, its still alive and healthy. They change along with the seasons to be well-suited for that particular time of the year. A ingenious evolutionary mechanism I think, I wonder humans don't change with the seasons? We just change our wardrobes. We R so Dum.

THREE DAYS TIL ALASKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ames

AHHH I just woke up. Last night was the last night in Ames (just til I come back in 4 mos) so it's not reary the last night. Needless to say I still prob have a BAC above .08. OOpz. Umm I miss my ISU friends already and I'm still here. I know we took a group photo at some point last night, it will be posted in the near future.

HI

6 more days til I leave for Alaska....

I'm actually starting to get nervous every time I think about it.
I am really not worried about the snow and cold, I'm just worried about not knowing a single soul up there. I hope my room mate is cool also...had some issues with that freshman year at ISU! I think I might get a job up there too, just some university position or something, so I can meet more people.

On a less serious note....also worried about fitting all my stuff into 2 suitcases!! Seriously. My snowboots are gonna take up like half the space in one suitcase. Winter clothes are just too bulky, plus I need stuff for the nicer weather in the spring too!!! AH DIHLEMMAS. (SP?)

This is me soon! WEEEEEEEEE

2 Weeks To Go....

 COUNTDOWN TO ALASKA: 13 DAYS      !!!!!! yay

I'm also going to Ames this Sunday to visit my beloved friends and co-workers for a few days, I'm so excited to go back. It's fun here in Dubuque too, but I have been going out much less.....seriously like 3 times over break, WHAT! And I've concluded that drinks are cheaper in Ames.


Last night I had a dream about watching TV, does that mean my subconscious is bored? Just a thought...

Sundaze.

Dearest blog, today I share with you a haiku of my own:

A cold winter day

The green conifer revels

Near shivering oaks

-AJR

Ansel Adams- Winter Yosemite Valley

 (trees inspired by trees)

....jk

1-1-11

I almost forgot...Happy New Year!!!

I'm hungover duh.

Mississippi

I went the the Mississippi River Museum the other day with my mom, it was soo cool. The have a ton of indian (yeah I'm not politically correct boohoo) artifacts and models and parts of old steamboats. My favorite parts were the tanks with real animals in them.

There was a saltwater tank (kinda doesn't make sense since it's supposed to be all about the river, but whatevs) with a hugee octopus, sea stars and cucumbers, anenomes, cute fish and corals.

Sea Squid- excuse the crappy quality, this is a phone picture.

The octopus has been a big attraction for the museum since they're such odd creatures. Sadly, this is the museum's second octopus-the first one died shortly after it was introduced to the tank because of water temperature issues.

I always have mixed feelings about zoos and aquariums, taking animals from their natural habitats and putting them in cages and tanks just for human entertainment doesn't seem right. At least the river museum does actually offer a lot of information to its visitors. I feel like zoos aren't so educational. My mom and I loved looking at the animals, but since we've both lived in Dubuque all our lives and been on the river too many times to count, the fish tanks didn't really show us anything new. It would probably be cooler for people from further away.

Anyways, I hope someday zoos and aquariums will be obsolete. People's time and money could be spent much more wisely on habitat restoration efforts and supporting local wildlife organizations (DNR, US Fish & Wildlife Service) rather than maintaining captive habitats.

On another note, I was a little awestruck upon viewing a tank with the river's most popular game fish: catfish, northern pike, bass, carps (ew) etc. Fish have indeterminate growth, meaning they grow throughout their ENTIRE lives, so crazy. Some turtles and other herptiles also share this quality. So some of these fish are like six or seven feet long! I don't even know how much they would weigh...some were probably near 300 lbs, just guessing.

Me with the gigantic catfish. 

I would recommend anyone visiting Dubuque to go to this museum, it's so informative and interesting. I think everyone in Dubuque should visit too, though I think people here already do have a deep (puns intended) appreciation for the river.

I'll leave you with this, some translations of the Ioway tribe:

Iowa- means beautiful
Chicago- means place of the skunk

LOL