Spring Cleaning

I thought I would be much less busy when I got back from a week long conference.*

I thought horribly wrong.

I am now Filled! With! Ideas!  in addition to having to finish up long-planned experiments and write my manuscript.  Oh and put together a journal club presentation, help plan and implement a career development series for the fellow's association, spend a day escorting around an invited speaker, and other various seminars.  April has been a bitch and May doesn't look much better.  I might not get any relief until my fucking cherished civil service of jury duty in July (apparently "I'm writing a goddamn dissertation and trying to find a job you fuckwits" is not a valid excuse for getting out of jury duty).

I'm also trying to fill out all the forms to transfer labs - my mentor is changing institutions and the plan is for me to go to a similar lab here to finish up the last few months of my training - and making sure supplies & such are in order for me to do so without too much disruption to my research.

To give you an idea of how busy I am, witness the current shameful, shameful state of my lab desk, which is the worst it has been....ever in my life:

Not Quite Dead Yet

Well the basil was pretty droopy on Monday and Tuesday, but as you can see, it resumed vertical growth today. And! Look! It has like 4 new leaves! 2 on the stem there and 2 on top. The thyme looks much better too, although this picture is so dark because I forgot to get out there until sunset was pending. I think I'll pick up some marjoram and oregano at the farmer's market this week.

Sore Throat from Hell

You know that feeling where your throat is so itchy and scratchy and painful, you want to rip it out of your neck?

Yeah. That's what I've been feeling the past few days. That along with a fever, disorientation, and the internet going in and out and in and out have left me with few post ideas and little time in which to post.

Oh! But! Garden update: The plants are still droopy, but I watered them some more and they're starting to look better. Still no rain here though, which I think would help immensely. We'll see, we'll see.

Outside the Comfort Zone

I have always had a brown thumb. My grand botanical achievement to date (aside from my B in Botany 101) is that I managed to keep a cactus alive for three whole years. Clearly I am a talented horticulturist.

So why I decided it would be a good idea to plant an herb garden is beyond me. I picked up two plantlings (basil and thyme) at the farmer's market a few weeks ago. When these plants continued to live and, indeed, thrive for 2 weeks in my kitchen, I decided it was time to put them in the ground. Armed with naught but trepidation and a shovel, yesterday I cleared out a weedy patch of soil that was growing next to my house. I dug deep holes, then gently buried my plants about a foot apart, with the crown slightly below the soil level, as per instructions. I watered them. Then I walked away.

Before

After

I went to check on them this morning and they looked droopy already (buy not yellow or brown! That's encouraging, right? Right?). The soil was dry so I watered them again. I really hope this takes...I don't know what I did wrong! The soil there is pretty shitty, but the weeds seem to like it ok. LB thought I didn't need to buy any of that there fancy soil. We'll see again tomorrow...we should be getting some rain then.