Cowboy Coffee

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.