Thankfulness Friday - Bats

Over the past few years, the bats that live up and down the eastern side of US, from New England down to Kentucky, have suffered and died from the White-nose syndrome.  This is caused by fungus that grow on the muzzles of hibernating bats.  The itchiness causes hibernating bats to wake up prematurely and leave their caves in search for food.  Once they leave the caves, they pretty much freeze to death.  Millions of bats have died from this.  In fact, the grounds of cave entrances are covered with bat carcasses and look like a layer of brown carpeting.

The dramatic decrease in the bat population has been obvious in the southeastern PA area.  At twilight, we don't see bats flying overhead anymore.  To me, they are kind of scary looking and carry to stigma of being blood-sucking, disease-carrying creatures.  In the Chinese culture, they are a symbol for prosperity.  But, bats do eat a lot of mosquito.  With the damp summers we've been having, creating breeding grounds for the mosquito, I sure miss these bats. 

Bats are symbols of prosperity in the Chinese culture and adorn Prince Gong's palace in Beijing.

So, recently, I was happy to hear that a small population of bats developed resistance to the White-nose syndrome, and the bat population is climbing back up close to what it was before the crisis.  We even caught one in our attic!  Gasp!

Thankfulness Friday - Summer/Fall

Today is the last of the summer.  My summer technically ended when classes started about a month ago.  Today is the official end of summer.  The weather has gotten cooler.  Soon, we'll start to see the leaves change color.

Fall is a pretty season because of the foliage.  However, it is not my favorite.  It reminds me of the upcoming winter and cold...!  The only reason to look forward to winter is that spring is just around the corner.  Spring is definitely my favorite season.  Everything seems to be waking up.  There's lots and lots of brilliant colors.  My favorite holiday is in the spring - Easter!

I still look forward to the changes in seasons... all of them.  It's time for change.  There are seasons in a life.  I look back and remember this past summer, especially from Bun Bun's point of view.  There were fun trips to the beach, meeting relatives, and meeting lots of milestone.  Before summer is gone for good, I wanted to remember all the fun times.

I wonder what the new season will bring.  What will Bun Bun be doing when fall ends and winter begins?  What new things she will have mastered come next season?  Will she be walking by Christmas?  How many new teeth will she have by then?

For now, here's one last look at the summer of 2012.

Asbury Park, NJ

Baby Bunny learned how to sit up all by herself.

She learned how to crawl.

Atlantic City, NJ

Cowtown flea market at Woodstown, NJ

At the flea market, we did manage to find one nice painting from one of the books we like to read.  And, we bought a fly swap.

Bun Bun's first trip to a local diner.

Zoo!

Yeah... we're going to the zoo!

 This is Baby Bunny's first trip to the Philadelphia Zoo!  It was a grand day.  The weather was perfect!  We saw lots of monkeys, but the lions and other big cats were sleeping.  We saw a giraffe family, some peacocks, big tortoises, some sleeping fruit bats, and turkey vultures.  There were lots and lots of animals!  Baby Bunny wasn't that excited to see the animals in her books.  But, I think she had a great time anyway!

Look, a monkey!

Hi Daddy!  I see a giraffe!

Peacock!

I'm zonked!

Thankfulness Friday - Done!

I finished putting together my dossier for tenure and promotion!  I finished!  I submitted everything electronically about 30 minutes ago!

This being the seventh year of teaching, I have must apply for tenure and promotion to keep my job.  I should have applied last year, but delayed it for a year because Bun Bun was born.  Tenure means that I will be able to keep my job for as long as I want.  Promotion means I become an Associate Professor (from Assistant Professor).  I have to show my colleagues on the Board of Rank and Tenure that I have done enough to keep my job in teaching, research/scholarship, and service.  For most of the summer, I have been working on describing how I have met the criteria for tenure and promotion and assembled a ton of documents to support each of that.

So what happens next?

My colleagues in the department will review my dossier first and decide if they like to keep me around.  Their recommendations will go to the Dean.  The Dean has already asked external reviewers to look over my research projects and evaluate whether my work is significant and worthwhile.  All of this, colleague recommendations and the Dean's evaluations, will then go to the Board of Rank and Tenure.  They will meet over Christmas break and make yet another recommendation to the President and the Board of Trustees.

Come March 15, 2013, I will find out if I get to keep my job.

At least for now, I am done!

Hooray!

Thankfulness Friday - Bun Bun's Agenda

Bun Bun is actually a very good problem solver.  Her solutions are a bit different from what other people might think.  All three of her therapists say she has her own agenda.  She does things her own way.

Exhibit A - Sitting Up
From lying down on her stomach, she swings her legs out into a full split position.  Then she props herself up on her arms into an upright sitting position.  At last, she swings her legs from the side to the front.  It's an effective way for her, but not the best way.  Her PT rather wants her to rotate and swing both legs to the side and use the oblique muscles on her sides.

Exhibit B - Taking Things out from a Box
If something is in a box or container that doesn't come out initially, instead of holding the box firm with one hand and repositioning the object to get it out with her other hand, Bun Bun will grab firm the object and shake it loose out of the container.  Hey!  It works!

She loves to stand in her cribs.  She gets up on her knees first, then grab on the to railing to pull herself to stand.  Then, she flashes a big smile... so proud of herself!

She isn't creeping yet (moving on hands and knees).  I wonder how she'll learn to do that.