pj & tj: the ghana years

It's a Boy!

2009-10-18T12:17:00.015Z

Name: Collin Alexander Baker

Weight: 100 lbs

Height: 5'2"

Personality: White and Nerdy

Interests: Seinfeld, NPR (Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me ...), Legos, Video Games, and Reading

Favorite Food: Mac 'n Cheese

Favorite Color: Blue

What's all this about?

As of 13 October, 2009, TJ and PJ are the proud parents and owners of this fine specimen. Yes, we received an email from our lawyer on Sunday morning with a copy of the signed court order and certificate of adoption for Collin. With this court order, Patrick is now Collin's father. A new birth certificate will be issued listing Tracy and Patrick as Collin's parents and his surname was officially changed to Baker by the court as well.

We began this process back in April, but because we live in Africa, it took a bit more time than we thought it would. It was a simple process overall, however. Our lawyer was able to get things like the "Home Study" waived, which was a huge help. We told Collin this year on Father's Day while we were eating breakfast in Nairobi, Kenya and he was quite excited. He has been waiting for this day for the past several months, so he was happy this morning when we told him. Here are a few family photos from our trip to East Africa, when we learned from our lawyer that in a few short months we would have all the final documentation for the adoption.

PJ, TJ, and Collin Baker
at Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.

Collin and Patrick at the entrance to
Amboseli National Park, Kenya.

Patrick and Collin at our campsite
in Amboseli National Park, Kenya
with Mt. Kilimanjaro in the background.

PJ and Collin by the lakeside in
Ngorongoro Crater, with a hippo looking
on at them in the background.

PJ, TJ, and Collin at Olduvai Gorge
Tanzania.

PJ and Collin waiting to drink coffee and Milo
before heading out on safari in the Serengeti
National Park, Tanzania.

Early morning in our campsite at
Serengeti National Park, Tanzania.

TJ, Collin, and PJ with Lake Manyara
(Tanzania) in the background.

Collin walks back to his tent in the Serengeti
after a cold shower while his happy parents
snap a picture of him under a warm African sky.

six month anniversary

2009-04-25T14:54:00.007Z

TJ and PJ have been married for six months as of 24 April 2009!

We have been remiss with our blogging, but we've got links to pictures from our honeymoon trip to Timbuktu and various other photo albums that TJ uploaded recently.

We even have a youtube tour of our new home in Accra.

As you can see, we've been keeping busy.

Commuting in Accra

2008-11-13T16:03:00.009Z

After all the hustle and bustle of the last month and a half we are really starting to settle down . In fact, I think our morning commute is starting to feel routine. We occupy two guest rooms at the the Ghalebon Guesthouse in Osu (aka Christianborg), Accra. The alarm goes off every morning at 6:00 AM and TJ hops in to the tub for a "shower" while I take Chloe for a walk in the compound. Most Ghanaians we meet are surprised to learn that the Chihuahua is not a baby and is, in fact, full grown. They are also surprised that she is so ferocious when she barks at them.

Collin walks Marcy when he is done showering and dressed in his schoolboy uniform. TJ dresses while I take my turn in the tub and we all meet around the breakfast table by 7:00 AM. Although Kwame, the guesthouse manager, is willing to cook us tomato scallion omelets every morning (I gave up after 10 days straight), our breakfast usually consists of toast with butter and jam. Tracy and I drink Nescafe while Collin slurps his Milo.

At 7:30 we need to be on the road. We have a Nissan 4wd pickup truck on loan from IWMI to go to and from work. Traffic can be very bad here and the rules of the road are that almost anything is acceptable so long as you don't hit another car. It will take some getting used to, but the drivers here go slowly and usually give way at intersections to keep traffic moving. It is nice to have a big 4wd vehicle to intimidate the little cars!

map of accra click on lower right corner to enlarge

For now, we live at the intersection of Ring Road and Cantonments Road (aka Osu Street or Oxford Street) in the Osu area. Driving on Oxford street can be an adventure at any time of day, but it is usually light in the morning. Collin's school is in Cantonments area near the US Embassy and just two traffic circles away from the guesthouse. This is usually pretty easy in the morning because most traffic is coming into the city and we are heading out. It will be much worse if/when we move out of town.

We must arrive at Collin's school by 7:45 or they will close the gate and he will be tardy; too many tardies can lead to detention. The traffic at the school is usually heavy because so many parents are making the turn into the school gate. We were nearly late this morning!

After dropping Collin, TJ and I make our way to IWMI on the CSIR campus across from the Chinese Embassy in the Airport Residential Area (just west of Kotoka Int'l Airport).

We are met by street vendors and alms seekers at the first traffic light (Giffard Road). You can buy just about anything while sitting in Accra traffic, people come to the car selling a variety of wares, fruits, cold beverages, Barack Obama calenders. Once we remember to bring our camera, I will post pictures of things people have tried to sell me at an intersection (e.g., rat poison with a passel of dead rats that prove its efficacy). I will also post pictures of the amazing things that people carry on their heads, often without using their hands. You must settle on a price and buy your item before the taxi cabs start blowing their horns. When traffic is heavy, stern men in yellow vests direct traffic through the intersections to keep Accra moving.

After making a left turn we are on the Achimota road and it is clear sailing, well except that we usually have to get around a lumbering TroTro heading in or out of the 37 Lorry Park at Akuafo Circle while avoiding the motorcycles and scooters that weave in and out of traffic. This intersection is also notable because it is the home to a massive colony of fruit bats that hang from the trees. A local legend says the bats arrived with a village chief when he was being treated for an illness at the 37 Millitary Hospital. Unfortunately, the chief died at the hospital and the bats have been there ever since. It is quite a spectacle to see them disperse in the evening.

Next, we pass through the circle and make our first right into the Airport Residential area. This part of town has the highest concentration of foreign embassies and the highest rents too. You can pull off to the right and have your car washed with water carried from the small stream that crosses under the road or buy a small bowl of porridge that is cooked to order (same water???) at a roadside stand. There are also usually a dozen or more nice wooden bed frames for sale alongside this road. Once we have a house of our own we can furnish the place by shopping on our way to work.

Because there are few working street lights, we see very little besides brakelights (on the vehicles that have them) on the ride home. It is especially exciting to drive home in the dark while it is raining. The stern men in the yellow vests have fluorescent red and green wands to direct traffic through the rain-slick intersections. Again, I am grateful that Ghanians drive slow.

Those are a few of the sights, unfortunately I can't Blog the sounds and the smells for you to make the experience complete.

Life in one month

2008-11-08T10:57:00.011Z

It's been a long time since we've had a chance to post anything to the blog, as you already know. So many things have happened, so this will be a quick summary of events with a couple of more detailed blog posts to follow in the coming days: one about the Wedding and another about our move.

Essentially, in the past month, well, we have lived a lifetime!

TJ defended her dissertation and is now Dr. TJ Baker (October 10).

Our little family drove to New York in a humorously packed and crowded vehicle, and the drive of course had some unexpected surprises! OK, one really unfortunate (for PJ) unexpected surprise (October 14 - 16).

We spent about one week frantically planning the last bits of our wedding, which included things like getting TJ's dress fitted, finally visiting West Point and planning the ceremony, making the chuppah, receiving family from all over the country, making the wedding favors and programs, having a family get together for pumpkin carving ... yes, loads of stuff! (October 17 - 23)

The Wedding, which we will make an entire post about with pictures. It was a lovely day and a beautiful ceremony that we were blessed to share with about 50 of our beloved family members. It was also a send off party of sorts for us (October 24). It was an amazing couple of days with the pumpkin carving party and wedding. It was good to see so many people and to share such an important moment in our lives with them.

TJ went to Sri Lanka for a meeting the next morning after the wedding ... it was a sad day (October 25).

And finally, one week later, we hopped on a plane with our pets in tow and moved to Accra, Ghana, which we will of course make a nice long post about this weekend at some point (November 1).

After arriving in Ghana, we quickly set forth on many tasks such as getting Collin enrolled in school (starts Monday), visiting the Embassy and voting in the US of ass-kickin' A election, finding a home (not yet) and car (nearly confirmed), but sadly no good coffee, and finally, promising Collin in matrimony to a lovely young seven-month-old girl (November 8).

Hmmm ... life may get pretty boring after this whirlwind of a month!

So, in the next few days you'll get to hear about all the humorous and fun details of our new life. The most important thing to know right now is that we are doing great and having fun here in Ghana. We are learning the city (IWMI loaned us a car for the weekend) and adjusting pretty well to the ebb and flow of life here. We are making friends and looking forward to all the new things that will come our way over the next two years. Even the doggers are enjoying life and making friends ... the Guest House manager (Kwame) took Marcy out in the city for a walk one morning. More soon ...

Much love and hugs to all!

Oh Doctor!

2008-10-11T14:39:00.010Z

Well, this is just a quick short post to say that yesterday TJ (that's me, but all people with PhDs talk about themselves in the third person) successfully defended her dissertation and is now a Doctor of Philosophy in Rangeland Ecology and Watershed Management.

It was a long and exhausting day. All total, my defense was about three and a half hours. I gave a one-hour presentation, which was followed by two and a half hours of questioning by my committee. I don't really know what to say about it other than it is finally O-V-E-R. I think it takes a while for these things to really settle into the psyche. PJ came to my presentation and said it was well-done and that he heard many people afterwards giving compliments about the work I have produced over these long six and a half years (including my MS work). My adviser, Scott, afterward said that there was a never a discussion among the committee members regarding whether I would be granted the PhD, and that they were all more than pleased with both my dissertation and presentation. That doesn't mean they let me off easy. The questions they asked afterward were rigorous and they challenged me on many things. I have dissertation revisions from each committee member to work on during the coming months as part of the preparation of my manuscripts for publication, but it doesn't appear at first glance to be anything terribly difficult.

I was really nervous going into yesterday and PJ did his best to make me laugh throughout the day, which was a good thing. The hardest part of the whole day: when I got to my aknowledgements slide ... PJ said it would be the hardest and it was. When I got to that final slide, I cried because there really are a lot of people to acknowledge. No one stands up there alone on that fateful day, and when you're there at the end, it really hits you how many people have been there for you in one way or another. I wasn't even able to get it all out because every time I tried, I got more choked up. Even now, it is difficult to write because I start to feel overwhelmed with so many different emotions. It was a long road and along the way there were many challenges and adversities in both my personal and academic life, and many times when I questioned whether it was worth it. I am happy that I stuck it out and more than thankful that I had the love and support of so many people along the way.

Then the gates of his heart were flung open, and his joy flew far over the sea. And he closed his eyes and prayed in the silences of his soul.
But as he descended the hill, a sadness came upon him, and he thought in his heart: How shall I go in peace and without sorrow? Nay, not without a wound in the spirit shall I leave this city.
Long were the days of pain I have spent within its walls, and long were the nights of aloneness; and who can depart from his pain and his aloneness without regret?
Too many fragments of the spirit have I scatterd in these streets, and too many are the children of my longing that walk naked among these hills, and I cannot withdraw from them without a burden and an ache.
It is not a garment I cast off this day, but a skin that I tear with my own hands.
Nor is it a thought I leave behind me, but a heart made sweet with hunger and with thirst.
-Khalil Gibran

Captain's Log ...

2008-09-27T04:22:00.004Z

Stardate -314262.5512295083

On this historic night, TJ has completed and turned in her dissertation entitled, "Spatially Explicit Multiple Objective Decision Support for Rural Watersheds".

I owe a big thanks to PJ because he has been so supportive the past few weeks by cooking meals; grocery shopping; cleaning around the house; walking the dogs; listening to me complain about how sitting all day and furiously typing was making me ache all over; making me laugh when I really wanted to cry or be angry at: a) my advisor, b) Bill Gates, c) existence, d) myself, e) cars daring to drive down the street making too much noise and ruining my fragile concentration (I know who you are...), or f) all of the above; and he even watched Out of Africa with me one night. I am truly blessed.

They came to sit & dangle their feet off the edge of the world & after awhile they forgot everything but the good & true things they would do someday.

That is all. I have written a lot today (seriously ... you have no idea), so PJ says there ain't no need to write no mo'! But, he says if I want, I can go streak down 3rd St. I think I'll just settle in for the evening instead.

Stayed tuned for the next exciting installment: TJ's Ph.D defense, 2:00 P.M., Friday, 10 October, 2008.

Plans are coming together ...

2008-09-19T22:36:00.012Z

This is a quick and rather bland post to share a few of the new developments in our life. It appears that slowly but surely our plans are coming together.

TJ's Ph.D defense is officially set for Friday, October 10th at
2:00 p.m.

PJ and Collin are all up-to-date on their shots. TJ went and got a TB test to express sympathy for their pin cushioned arms. PJ was a bit unwell following the Yellow Fever inoculation, which is normal, but not a good feeling whatsoever.

On Monday, our passports will be sent off to Washington, D.C. for their Ghana visas. Applications are nearly completed ... in quadruplicate as they asked.

And, the big news is, we are officially booked into our temporary accommodations in Ghana! We will be staying at the Airside Hotel. We can stay there for up to a month, but hopefully we will find a house rental quickly. Hotel living is not fun!

We are still working on flight plans and air freight for our stuff with IWMI. We do not have any special requirements to fulfill for taking our pets, other than the paperwork required by the airline. Whew! There is also still no positive word on getting Collin into the US Embassy School, which we may simply have to take care of in person in the weeks following our arrival.

We have many things beginning to fill out our list of things to do over the next few weeks. For example, we need to pick up several pounds of coffee to take, lest we suffer the fate of drinking instant coffee. In time, we will locate a place to buy overpriced coffee beans. You would think that coffee is easy to locate in Africa, right? Not so! It is all shipped to Europe and America. For the most part, Africans enjoy tea and not coffee. And then there is the soap, shampoo, conditioner, bottles of Frank's Buffalo Wing sauce, various medicines to have on hand, Jelly Belly's, rawhide bones for the pooches, and more coffee.

In essence, our lives are becoming crazy hectic!

Typhoid PJ!

2008-09-10T13:58:00.029Z

This is an actual update on our Ghana moving preparations! Recently, we've been posting more about our lives in New Jersey and Laramie. But now, we have some Ghana updates to share.

Yesterday, we headed to Albany County Public Health to update our shots. Much to Collin and PJ's dismay, TJ didn't require any shots! Collin required a Typhoid vaccine, Tetanus, and Meningitis. PJ, on the other hand, required, well, everything: Typhoid, Hepatitis A&B, Meningitis, Tetanus, Diphtheria, Yellow Fever (ouch!!!), and MMR. They were able to take the oral Typhoid vaccine, and they even got cool orange bracelets to indicate that for the next week they are taking pills for Typhoid ... or NOT Typhoid as PJ likes to say.

PJ took issue every time the nurse said, "Now, you are getting [insert disease name here]". As he pointed out, you aren't getting the disease, you are getting the vaccine so you DON'T get the disease (hopefully).

Last night and today, both PJ and Collin were feeling a bit under the weather. PJ is worse off because of the Yellow Fever vaccine and Typhoid combined. His body is trying to produce antibodies for some pretty serious diseases right now, which can wear a person out quickly.

And now, an update on our tentative travel plans...

TJ has been asked to attend an IWMI research planning meeting from October 28 - 30, which is prior to her original start date (November 3). Another complication with the meeting is that the meeting is in Colombo, Sri Lanka and not in Accra, Ghana. So, we have been working on suggesting logistical options to IWMI on how to proceed. TJ's dissertation defense is scheduled for October 10 (tentatively). One potential plan?

Fly from Denver to New York on October 14th. Spend one week in New York. Depart New York for Accra on October 21st. We would arrive in Accra on October 22 in the morning. We can then get ourselves settled into our temporary housing and spend a couple days figuring out where things are in the city. TJ would then depart for Colombo, Sri Lanka (via London) on October 25, arriving on the evening of the 27th (yes, that's two days of flying halfway around the world, again). The research meeting takes place on October 28-30, and then TJ can begin the return trek to Accra on the morning of October 31st, arriving on the evening of November 1st.

After much consideration of various options and plans, this seems to be the best option for us. We haven't heard back from IWMI if that option is acceptable, however. If they don't like our plan, then we will probably stick to the original plan.

We momentarily considered TJ going to Sri Lanka and then to Ghana, with PJ and Collin meeting her there (Ghana) a few days later, but then decided that wouldn't work for two reasons: first, the State Department doesn't allow unaccompanied minors to leave the US without a parent, so Collin can't travel with PJ. Second, PJ has never traveled to Africa and it's not something to experience alone for the first time. The Ghana airport is a madhouse and getting through immigration and customs with all of our crap, pets and Collin would not be the best way for PJ to begin this trip.

So, that is the update ... written in sand. We hope to know more in the coming days. It is hard to believe that we are actually getting ready to really move. Things are beginning to happen at lightening speed for us, though we are managing it quite well. We're getting outside just enough to keep the stress levels down, playing games, going to see Cowboy Football, and watching movies when we get a chance. TJ is finished with her first two out of three manuscripts. PJ has finished some important manuscript revisions and is working on publication preparations from his summer research as well as attending a conference in Tucson, AZ next week. Collin is enjoying his few weeks of school here in Laramie, attending swim practice, and will attend a four-week Saturday art program at the University for our final weeks here. We'd like to climb Medicine Bow Peak and get down to Great Sand Dunes National Park if time and weather permit before we leave, but at this point we are cutting it rather close.

Turtles and Rattlesnakes and Tipis, oh my!

2008-09-03T14:11:00.158Z

What a beautiful planet we chose to live on! ;)

This past weekend, we had quite an adventure in the Nebraska Panhandle! PJ had 37 hatchlings left over from last winter's research and wanted to return them to the Sandhills. We thought it would make for a nice little road trip that would allow us to take in a couple of national monuments as well.

We have loads of photos in this post. If you would like to see them enlarged, then just click on the photo and it will open in full-size.

Originally, we wanted to camp at the Crescent Lake National Wildlife Refuge where Collin and I went with PJ in March for part of his research (a long-term research site for PJ in the Nebraska Sandhills). We weren't able to make contact with the appropriate people at the refuge, so we ended up camping in a tipi near Chimney Rock Nat'l Monument. And this, is where our adventure really began!

A tipi?

Yes, a tipi. We brought plenty of camping gear and stopped at a state recreation area near Bridgeport, NE to camp, but we were quite unimpressed. The state rec area was surrounded by a couple of scary looking trailer parks and the crowd at the lake was a bit rowdy for us. En route to Scottsbluff, where we originally planned to eat dinner, we discovered that right in front of Chimney Rock there was a small convenience store and campground. One of the camp sites had a tipi and Collin begged for us to rent it. It had a great view of Chimney Rock, so we decided to go for it. We paid for the site and drove up to the Chimney Rock overlook because the visitor's center was closed.

Chimney Rock National Monument

Pioneer Cemetery next to Chimney Rock

One great thing about this stop was that PJ found an ornate box turtle in the pioneer cemetery nearby Chimney Rock. Chimney Rock was beautiful, as you can see in the photos here and seeing a pioneer cemetery is always cool because itleads you to start imagining what it must have been like to make that Oregon Trail crossing. It's pretty amazing when you think about it.

We explored the area until just before dark and then decided to head back to Bridgeport to find some food, rather than go all the way to Scottsbluff. Our options were limited: Runza (which PJ says will have you running to the toilet) and Karette (a small drive-thru burger place). We decided on the latter option, though part way through eating, Collin began to complain that his tummy was hurting ...

Now, I hope that I can accurately represent how our night unfolded ... with all its "humor". After unpacking the car and rolling out our sleeping bags in the tipi, PJ started a fire. We were hopeful that the mosquitoes would die down a bit. I cannot in words describe to you the number of mosquitoes that were trying to carry us off to their lair, or at least drain us of all our blood. As the fire died down, we decided to test our luck in the tipi, though we weren't convinced that our circumstances would improve. Collin was especially attractive to the mosquitoes, so PJ and I decided toset-up a small mosquito net / travel tent we had brought. This comforted Collin and we were hopeful that we could now sleep, though PJ and I were slapping ourselves silly trying to keep the mosquitoes off. That the tipi was open on the top was no help because we simply could not get rid of the little beasts!

Suddenly, and without adequate warning, Collin ripped open his 'tent' and was rushing out the tipi door. Before we could follow him we heard him, er, well, uh, getting a little sick outside. After he was finished, PJ hauled him off to the bathroom. This whole event lasted about an hour and was fairly high stress for us all. We managed to finally get Collin back into his little tent and on his way to sleep. No sooner had we got into our sleeping bags, still slapping ourselves silly from the mosquito attacks, when we were hit with our next surprise: several rounds of drunken domestic violence coming from the camper parked near us!

I started laughing ... not because I think violence is humorous ... quite the contrary ... but because it was so unreal! PJ, with a smile on his face, looked up and said, "Dear God, thank you for this cherry to top off our night." We soon lost our sense of humor because these two folks were getting rowdy, well, mostly the woman. Her voice! I cannot describe it, but PJ had a great description: A woman has a voice like that for only one of two reasons. Either to stand in church on Sunday and proclaim her love for the Lord, or to shame a man in public. She was in the latter category. I won't tell you what exactly she screamed (think: drunken sailor).

Just when we thought all the commotion had died down (or passed out as the case may be), a truck came screaming into the campground and right by our tipi. It stopped just past our little spot and began hoking its horn! Mind you, we are now well past midnight at this point in our evening. Apparently, this woman had called someone to come and get her. After she was gone, we were relieved and hoped that the truck didn't return or any severe violence break out.

I recalled that when we were last in New York, PJ's sister, Denise, had given me two OFF! Bug Repellent towelettes (THANK YOU!!!!) for a hike out there. I had stuffed them in my camera case but we hadn't used them. PJ searched the car for them and we were able to use them for some relief, though they wore off in couple of hours and we were back to slapping ourselves silly.

Finally, Collin was fast asleep, the dogs were asleep, and PJ and I were able to drift in and out of sleep. Well, until it began to rain ... recall the open top of the tipi? Yep, that's right! I was sleeping under the opening and awoke to raindrops a fallin' on my head. At this point, I didn't even care anymore. I really just wanted a little bit of sleep.

First light began to break around 6:00 am, and PJ and I were now awake and laughing about the whole thing when suddenly, our tipi's cloth door began to move about. There was clearly an animal trying to come inside! We sat up quickly and stared at the door waiting ... when a small, white chihuahua head popped through the door! I freaked out because Chloe, the chihuahua, had never been out without a leash and now she was a dirty stay out with Marcy dog! She had no collar on or anything. She was covered in mosquito bites that made her look like she had severe acne. This ultimately required a visit to the vet upon our return to Laramie for a precautionary heartworm treatment.

Crescent Lake Wildlife Refuge

After breaking camp and repacking the car, we drove to Oshkosh, NE where we could pick up the road to the wildlife refuge. The roads were in good shape and the hills looked really green, especially for September 1. Small yellow sunflowers were in bloom everywhere! We stopped to look for fossil turtles in the ravine near blue creek; however, there were none to be seen. PJ found one spot where a turtle had recently been removed. Collin also collected two insects for his collection.

Selecting a place to release the hatchlings at Smith Lake.

Collin releases Western Painted Turtle Hatchlings in the reeds.

Releasing hatchlings into a ditch across from Smith Lake.

PJ and Collin walking up from releasing some hatchlings in a nearby ditch.

TJ plays with Marcy and Chloe next to Smith Lake.

After that we drove to Smith lake where PJ wanted to release the hatchlings. We parked at the fishing access spot and let Chloe and Marcy out to relieve themselves. Collin and PJ released half of the hatchlings in Smith Lake and half in the ditch on the other side of the culvert.

Walking back to the car ...

On the way back to the car, PJ saw something move in the grass. We were collecting inverts for Collin's science class project and PJ thought it was one of the squat green grasshoppers that we noticed were really abundant as we hiked around; however, as PJ's eyes focused in he saw that it was clearly the slowly waving rattle of a prarie rattlesnake sticking out of a rodent burrow. With Collin and the dogs safe in the car, I came over and took some photos. PJ "coaxed" the snake to turn and face the camera and we got a few diagnostic shots of face and tail, but no estimate of size. Based on the rattle buds, PJ estimated it was ~5-6 years old.

We left the refuge and headed north toward Alliance, NE where we took in a great piece of Americana, the world's greatest roadside attraction and the scene that should have graced the back of the Nebraska quarter: Carhenge!

Collin spots the ever ellusive Carhenge Crane!

Other views of artwork on display at Carhenge.

After enjoying a walk around Carhenge and taking loads of photos, we took in lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Alliance. We followed this up with some fancy cross-country driving to visit Agate Fossil Bed Nat'l Monument in northwestern Nebraska.

Unfortunately, a nasty storm came in just as we were getting ready to hike. The visitor center is really nice and we learned much about the natural history of the site. We also learned about the human history of the site, as many of the displays were incomplete because they were recently burglarized of some priceless Native American artifacts. The dumbasses that did the job were captured and are now in jail, but it will take time (and $$) to fix the exhibit.

We drove into and then around the storm, which was producing some impressive lightning as we crossed into Wyoming. The dramatic high plains landscape was enhanced by the "magic light" produced by a setting sun under rain clouds. Somewhere southwest of Lost Springs, WY (population: 1), I spotted a complete double rainbow with the most saturated colors any of us have ever seen. We stopped and took several photos and enjoyed a peaceful drive through Wyoming's beautiful wide open spaces.

Overall, it was a fun trip. We like to think it was a bit of a warm-up for more fun camping trips out here in the West in the coming weeks before we leave. And of course, it's good preparation for traveling with us all together in preparation for our move to Ghana. We are hoping to drive to New York after my defense in early October and we'd like ot take in more of the unique aspects of the American landscape, such as Carhenge and tipis.

Who turned off the oxygen?

2008-08-24T23:24:00.020Z

PJ and TJ sitting next to Lake Marie at the base of Medicine Bow peak.

As a reminder: if y'all want to make a comment or see how the post actually looks in our blog, then you'll need to click here and go directly to our blog where viewing the posts is much nicer we think.

PJ and I are writing this post together. He arrived last Thursday in Denver ... an hour early! For the past few days we have been running around a bit and just trying to settle into living together as opposed to visiting one another always with the knowledge that in a few days, one of us has to head back home. We have about 8 weeks left here in Laramie, so we are also trying to get in some fun activities on the weekends. We have a football game coming up next weekend and are planning a couple hiking and camping trips. In fact, today, we headed up to the beautiful Snowy Range for a bit of sightseeing and a picnic lunch. In two weeks we plan to go up again for a camping trip and to climb Medicine Bow peak (12,013 feet). It is the highest peak in the Snowy Range and prone to some serious lightning storms, but beautiful nonetheless. Interesting Medicine Bow peak factoid: it is the site of the first commercial plane crash! So now, for a bit about what we think of as our first real day together here in Laramie ... with photos!

We packed up our lunch and camera and headed straight out of town. Our first stop was Centennial, WY, where we were able to buy some coffee and visit the farmers market. Unfortunately, we only brought a few dollars with us today, so we were out of luck when it came to buying much produce. We did manage to procure some locally grown garlic, however, and we shall remember to bring more cash when we go camping up there in a couple of weeks.

After Centennial, we stopped at Libby Flats, where there are great views of Medicine Bow and some cute little islands of krumholtz trees.

Looking out from the observation deck at Libby Flats. This is looking roughly south and a little west down into Colorado.

PJ looking out over Libby Flats with Medicine Bow in the background.

Trail head for the Lake Marie trail. It is a short little jaunt down to the lake. We saw several fish jumping about while we ate our lunch. We only stayed at the lake a short time, as a storm began rolling in and the lighting was quickly approaching.

This is looking out from where we sat and ate our lunch. After eating, we bounced about on the rocks into the lake. It was an incredibly beautiful day out and there were few other people in the area. That is one of the beauties of Wyoming ... the trails are fairly vacant, so you can enjoy the solitude of open spaces.

TJ and the Collinator sitting by the lake's edge.

PJ and TJ standing on a rock out in Lake Marie. The trail going up to Medicine Bow peak is just behind us up the ridge.

PJ is hiking our lunch stuff out from Lake Marie. He's still getting used to the altitude, but didn't seem to have any serious issues. We're excited to get out more in the coming weeks that we have left here. We can only get out on the weekends though, sadly, due to that silly little thing called a dissertation that TJ is trying to finish. BOO!

This is one of the two trail heads up to the top of Medicine Bow peak. We went out a way on the trail, but it was getting late and the lightning was becoming more threatening with each passing moment.

On the trail to Medicine Bow peak.

After our day of sightseeing and exploring, we hung out around the lakes and relaxed. PJ saw this as serious business!

Collin celebrates after visiting a lovely Forest Service toilet in the Medicine Bow trail head parking lot.

TJ, as usual, is smiles all the way around!

On our drive back to Laramie, we saw a couple of bull moose feasting in a small clearing just east of the Libby Flats area. We stopped and watched for a bit. Unfortunately, we couldn't get any closer without taking a serious risk. One of them was already showing a bit of irritation at being watched from a distance.

What else did we do today? PJ and TJ went running together for the very first time! We only ran about 5k because we are both a bit out of shape at the moment. We have a half marathon coming up in about 4 weeks though, so we sort of need to get out and run as much as possible in the coming weeks. We are both runners, so it is more a matter of consistency for us right now. Neither of us has been in much of a position during the past year to develop regular running schedules, but we are hoping that with some team work, we can get our game back on! And, we have decided, that we did AWESOME today!

Cowboy Coffee

2008-08-15T14:24:00.005Z

Those of you waiting for the full report on the summer experience in Stone Harbor will have to be patient until Tracy Jean finishes her dissertation.

I thought it was a really good summer and now we are going to try the reciprocal experiment. On Thursday 21 August, The Baby Cat and I will fly from NY to Denver and take up residence for two months in Laramie, WY.

It will be interesting to see how Chloe and The Baby divide up the house. In NJ, it was clear that Chloe was in charge of everything that was carpeted and low to the ground. Chloe was willing to cede territory so long as she held the bedroom. The Baby's territory was defined as anywhere without carpet and most places more than 24" off of the ground. They never fought, apparently the tactical advantage of higher ground was that The Baby could look out the window and pretend that there wasn't a dog in the house. In Laramie, there will be two dogs (and a turtle); however, after seeing this, I think Marcy will side with The Baby.

What will I do in Laramie? As a physiological ecologist, I am interested in adaptations of animals to extreme environments. I haven't given much thought to adaptations at high elevation, but that will change now that I will be moving from sea level to 7300'. In fact, Tracy has registered us to run in two races in Fort Collins in September. I will need to acclimate quickly to the alpine environment or I will be crawling across the finish line long after Tracy has finished.

To better understand the effect of high elevation on athletes, I also plan to attend several home football games of the University of Wyoming Cowboys (Go Pokes!). I am especially interested in the game against the Ohio University Bobcats, a longtime rival of my alma mater.

When I am not running or watching football I will be writing papers and preparing for the move to Ghana. I have loads of data from this past year that need to be organized, analyzed, and discussed. It will be nice to have the time to write a few manuscripts and hopefully get them submitted before we leave for Africa.

Oh, and packing! Yes, I almost forgot packing! Having just finished packing up here on the east coast, Tracy and I will reduce, recycle, organize, store, and box up the contents of the home. Our goal is to get our combined worldly possessions down to a portable 500 kg.

Four walls and a roof

2008-06-15T16:16:00.031Z

Tomorrow morning at the break of dawn (literally), Collin and I will head out with Chloe Bear in tow to Denver where we will catch a flight out to Philadelphia. We are on our way to stay with PJ for three weeks in Stone Harbor, NJ!

Both PJ and I have crazy busy summers planned, with me trying to finish my dissertation and him working at the Wetlands Institute. We will be living in cramped quarters for three weeks with The Baby Cat and Chloe Bear, which should be interesting and it will be good preparation for the first couple of stressful months after we arrive in Ghana. Collin will turn the big 12-years-old whilst we are in New Jersey, so we will have to think of something fun to do that day. He is really excited to see more turtles and he wants to go to New York City. I also think it will be loads of fun to see what PJ does all day at the Institute. I will have to spend much of my time writing a lot unfortunately.

Most importantly, this is a good opportunity for us to research more of the logistics, especially finding a home, regarding our upcoming move to Ghana. For example, will we be able to find a place that accommodates all of our goats and sheep? Will they be kept inside or outside? Should we opt for a thatched roof and four walls, or a tin roof and three walls (a bit more air movement, but tin roofs can be a bit on the hot side)?

Actually, and on a more serious note, we have found a good web site where we have been able to find rental houses in Accra. When we were considering a move to South Carolina, PJ and I went on a house hunt and found that we have the same interests in housing, which was really great. I think PJ has a much better knack for looking at houses than I do, however, and I am certainly glad for that. What I like most about houses in Africa is that generally they do not have carpets. I detest carpets. They get dusty and hide dirt and are breeding grounds for all things allergy! Instead, most houses have tiled floors, which are easy to keep clean and cool to walk across on hot days.

After we arrive in Ghana, we will have three weeks of paid temporary housing and meals. That should be enough time for us to find a rental house in the city. We have received some advice on where to look from the previous post-doc. We have several factors to keep in mind while we are looking:

We want a place close to IWMI.
We want a place that is also close to Collin's school, which we understand to be close to IWMI.
We don't want to put in much money above the $600 per month housing allowance.

It may seem that Ghana, as a Third World Country is cheap. In many regards this is true, but not so much if you are an expatriate living there. For example, running water and electricity are considered luxuries in many Third World Countries, and they can be quite expensive due to lacking infrastructure. Another significant factor is that in major cities, such as Accra, there are many large NGO's such as the UN, USAID, GTZ, AUSAID, and on and on ... working. Their top people make big money (well over 6 figure salaries). Postdoctoral scientists, junior research scientists, run of the mill development workers, and locals, however, do not. From an economic standpoint, this means that housing and living expenses in expat communities are often inflated beyond what is reasonable. For example, as you will see on the link above, many houses cost more than $2,000.00 per month to rent. We, on the other hand, only have $600 per month for our housing allowance.

OK, now, do not fret or sound the alarm wondering what are PJ and TJ going to do?!

Factors to consider:

As recent grad students, we relish poverty (OK, maybe we don't relish it, but we have no clue that it could be any different for us just yet).
PJ and TJ aren't "Ugly Americans" (e.g., we aren't looking to experience another country from inside a community that mimics our own back home).
Middle class Ghanaians - which is who we will live among in our neighborhood - are pretty much like middle class people at home: they have jobs (teachers, doctors, shop keepers, bankers, business people), families, cars, too many TVs and satellite dishes, mobile phones, PDAs, go away on weekends to the beach, attend churches, have family picnics, etc.

As I mentioned above, we received some advice from the post-doc that I am replacing. She and her significant other moved to Accra from France in 2005 for her two-year IWMI post-doc. They lived in a couple of different neighborhoods and were able to give us feedback about where to live on our budget. They felt the most important factor was living as close as possible to IWMI. Their initial home was a bit too far away and the traffic in the city coupled with high fuel costs (in the US we are generally blessed with cheap fuel compared to the rest of the world) were problematic after a while. They eventually found a house close to IWMI. We will begin our hunt in the neighborhoods they suggested. They were able to find a place for $600.00 per month for three (they had a baby while they were living there). They liked where they lived and felt security was a non-issue. Even when they went away on weekends, they left their home unattended, which is something I would never do in Kenya!

Here are a few examples of houses in the $500 - $600 range that would suit us well we think; though, none of these places are likely to still be available when we arrive. They do give us an idea of what is available and what factors we will be considering.

$500 Range
This house is in a good location with respect to distance to services and work. It also has a large water storage tank. Remember, we may not always have access to running piped water every day, so extra water storage is critical. Also, we may only have water tank storage rather than piped water in some instances. In Kenya, even with piped water, the water generally only was available in my apartment during certain hours each day ... not around the clock, and there were several times where the water would simply stop running from the tap for a few days.

Now, this place has a special selling point for PJ ... INTERNETS! I think from the pics it is a nice little place and the neighborhood looks kinda cute.

I am especially fond of the pink color of this beauty. It will go well with PJ's and Collin's "My Little Pony" collections. Boys and their toys ... sheesh!

$600 Range
Furnished or unfurnished, that is the question. This home can be rented as furnished for $900 per month. But, given that we will have a furniture allowance ($6,000), we could consider such a place unfurnished and buy our own stuff.

$700 Range
This house is a bit pricey and we would unlikely be able to afford such a place at the start. We don't want to pour all of our money into our housing because we would prefer to have a nicer car and be able to get out and about in the country rather than spend all our money on rent. Priorities!

Speaking of cars ... that is another challenging topic that we will begin deliberating soon! Upcoming topics for our moving preparations will include: Collin's schooling, buying a car, moving pets, and what do we really need to take (besides soap).

TJ's Work in Ghana

2008-05-28T14:14:00.036Z

A few people have asked me what I am doing for my post-doc with IWMI in Ghana. I don't have as much to say (yet) about my work in Ghana, other than I will be working on water storage issues (primarily for irrigation) in the Volta basin. Click the "Read More..." link to read my job description and check out the presentation I gave at IWMI headquarters in Sri Lanka as part of my interview process.

Post Doctoral Fellow - Agricultural Hydrologist

The Post Doctoral Fellow will participate in the on-going project focused on land and water use implications of changing land use and climate change. Detailed spatial characterization of land use and global climate is currently being used as the basis for spatially explicit estimates of changes in water use driven by land use change, through development of a suite of integrated geospatial layers for biological process modeling at high resolution global scale. The Post Doctoral Fellow will continue this work integrating (and generating) additional spatially explicit data sets and developing tools that will be used to explore the factors and mechanisms that affect water use through land use and climate change. This project contributes to IWMI’s emerging global research agenda, looking beyond basin and discipline boundaries at drivers of water use often not considered within the realm of water management.

Duties and responsibilities

Providing expertise in hydrology and agricultural water management
The Post Doctoral Fellow will work in inter-disciplinary teams in projects that will consider the impact of additional water storage on basin hydrology, the downstream and groundwater impacts of various agricultural interventions, and implications for agricultural water management under climate change scenarios.
Project work will require extensive field work, measurements, analysis, and modeling, working in interdisciplinary teams, and with local partners, and
Preparation of research reports, journal articles, seminar papers and other scientific manuscripts for the dissemination of research results.

Qualifications and Experience

A Ph.D in Hydrology, Hydrogeology or Groundwater Hydrology, Water Resources Management or related discipline.
Experience in agricultural water use and management.
Experience in hydrological modeling, crop modeling and eco-hydrological analysis.
Competence in quantitative applied research methods, and strong quantitative and analytical skills.
Good communication and writing skills, with a good command of both oral and written English.
Computer literacy, with spatial modeling, programming, database, and RS/ GIS skills.
Demonstrated ability to prepare project documents and research publications. A record of relevant peer-reviewed publications is a major advantage.
Ability to effectively establish priorities, plan, organize and monitor own work in an interdisciplinary and multiple task environment;
Strong interpersonal skills and ability to establish and maintain effective working relations with people in a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic environment with sensitivity and respect for diversity.
Previous working experience in developing countries is an advantage.

Here is the presentation that I gave for my interview in Colombo, Sri Lanka. It's probably not terribly meaningful to people looking at it on a computer screen without a discussion, but it may give some indication of the type of research I do.

PJ's Projects

2008-05-27T19:17:00.004Z

I will continue my terrapin research in Stone Harbor, NJ and Key West, FL, but while we are in Ghana I have plans to study the diversity, distribution, and natural history of turtles in West Africa. Tracy promises that she will strap on some waders and help catch turtles too.

Making Lists!

2008-05-27T06:23:00.009Z

PJ got the first post. Damn him! He sneaked in a post whilst I was busy trying to fix the blog layout! I can see this competition thing is going to be fierce.

I am a pretty hard core list-maker so in preparation for our upcoming move, I have been generating (well organized) lists of things to take and things to do. Mostly, I am just worried that we'll forget the soap. We need at least 20 bars of soap. This may sound crazy to some of you, but after several years of research in Kenya and travel throughout Africa, I quickly discovered that there is not a decent bar of soap on the whole continent. Granted, clean water is a rarity, but the feeling of real soap makes every shower - regardless of the water source - seem like a clean shower. It's the little things in life that matter ....

Now, for your viewing pleasure, comes a fun video about public transportation in Kampala, Uganda. Enjoy! ~tj

Accra Bound

2008-05-27T06:03:00.007Z

TJ and I are moving to Accra, Ghana in November. We feel compelled to share this experience with everyone who has already let us know how unlikely they are to visit us in Accra, so we will begin blogging ~5 months before we leave.

You readers will get to hear all about the preparations for moving. Over the course of the next few months we'll need to find a home, buy a car, and I'll have to catch up with TJ's admirable immunization record. I am fairly competitive and will ask for a few extra vaccinations to ensure that I have the most.

-pj