If April Showers Bring May Flowers, Here They Are

We have more pretties in our yard:

Johnny Jump-Up
(not to be confused with the Jossi Jukin-Up)
(only you hockey fans will get that one).

More bleeding hearts, because I love them.

Purty tulip guts.

One of the new tulips this year, in the spot where the arborvitae used to live.

We’ve also got some wildlife in the yard:

There are at least 2 garter snakes - one near the veggie garden and one near the neighbor’s pool. Here is PoolSnake sunning itself. I watched VeggieSnake eat a worm the other day. Holy circle of life Batman. !!!

Speaking of circle of life, here’s Maggie chowing down on the incredibly long grass, which we’ve already mowed three times this year. Before May 18. !!!

And here’s Maggie letting us all know that the mailman is trying to violate the integrity of the yard. It’s really too bad the mailman leaves every day, because she thinks it’s because she barks at him. Alas, silly dogs won’t be reasoned with.

Reference Librarian Haiku

Every semester during reading period and finals, there is a protracted online discussion in which students bemoan their current state of affairs in haiku format. Yesterday, I was working at the reference desk and thought I’d jump into the foray in an attempt to drum up some business. What follows is a series of haikus I sent out over the course of the 4 hours I was working.

writing a paper?
librarians have mad skills.
consult with megan.

here till 5pm
i can answer your questions
glorious sources

research pressure mounts
pubmed lion econlit
move beyond google

bibliographies
footnotes and endnotes galore
save time talk to me

what is your style?
chicago turabian
help with citations

i’ll help you today
someone is here tomorrow
use our great knowledge

(Reference Librarian Haiku by Megan Brooks is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.)

After posting those to my Facebook account, my friends Eric, Steve, and Mac all supplemented my offerings with ones of their own, which I offer here:

Find a citation easy
Document your sources right
Science Eye Brain Neuron

(Mac)

dewey decimal
what in the hell does he know?
go right to the source.

(Steve)

She knows where to find
the answers contained herein.
Your fault if you fail.

FInd the best sources.
The librarian knows where
they are all hiding.

Paper is due soon
Your Zotero is empty.
You should ask for help.

Do you understand
what the reference desk does?
You should ask, buddy.

The cursor blinks.
You will need more evidence
to support your claims.

You chose your topic,
but are not sure which journals
might aid your research.

I write these haiku
Hoping to charm you into
Asking me questions.

I am an expert
in tracking down resources.
I earned a degree.

Please don’t walk by me
another time looking lost.
I am here to help.

(Nine Library Haiku by Eric Behrens is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License.)

I am highly entertained.

Happy Mother’s Day

Happy mother’s day to my mom Carla, who was in the hospital with a newborn little me 38 years ago today. Thanks for putting up with me all these years, Mom!

MAYHEM!

My good friend Libby put together a team for this past weekend’s first annual AOK Women’s Hockey Tournament. Libby’s really good at putting together tournament teams; in fact, I don’t think I’ve been to a tournament where she hasn’t organized the team.

At any rate, this iteration of tournament team included Libby, Amy, and me, along with 2 of our friends from summer hockey and one of our regular-season teammates. Then we picked up 3 folks from the tournament team we took up to NH this winter, 4 folks from one of our regular-season opponents (the goalie used to play on Black Ice with Libby before Amy and I moved to town), and someone Libby knows from learn-to-play. Now can you tell why the team name was Mayhem?

This rag-tag bunch of folks - most of us didn’t know each other before Friday evening - managed to put together quite a weekend.

Friday night we took on Raising Kane. It was a good, even game, but we managed to put a few more in the net than they did and skated away with a 6-3 victory. Saturday morning we played the Nighthawks. Now I will be the first to admit that I’m not a huge fan of the Nighthawks organization as a general rule. All the teams I’ve played against with the NH name have been incredibly physical, appear to play angry when losing, and enjoy racking up the score when they can. I am sure that my perception is likely just that: a perception. Still, I never enjoy playing any of their teams and Saturday’s game was no different than normal. Unfortunately, none of the Mayhem players had a very good game, and a few of the Nighthawks players were feeling score-y. We walked away with a 0-5 loss. *grumble* Later that afternoon we met up with the Randolph Flyers. This is also a team that most of us play in the regular season; they are a well-established team and know how to play well with each other. Fortunately, though, we had a better game than they did and came out with a 4-2 victory. So going into the evening, we were 2-1 with 10 goals against, 10 goals for. We didn’t think there was any way we’d end up in the finals the next day.

The hockey gods were smiling at us, however, and sent losses to all the other teams that we were tied with in that 2-1 record. So we ended up playing (dum da dummmmm!) the Nighthawks for the championship. Fortunately for us, we really gelled for the game, played well together, and put more pucks in the net than they did. There were some incredibly questionable calls on the ice (to the extent that the ref who wasn’t calling all the penalties on us was shaking his head each time the other ref’s arm would shoot up in the air) but in the end, we perservered. Mayhem won 4-2, and ended up getting our photos taken with a REALLY BIG TROPHY. Happily, the trophy stays at the rink and will simply have an engraved label affixed to it each year for that year’s winner.

Way to go Mayhem!

Three Years of Our House

April 2009 - with small dog and new color (which highlights the weird lack-of-trim around the kitchen windows - gotta get on that)

Mid-June 2008 - with mown grass, pre-painting (way too many power and cable lines coming to the house - we got rid of 2 of them and we’ve also since cut down the gigantic arborvitae to the right of the house and two large ash trees to the left of the house (sob! except that they could have fallen on the house or a neighbor’s house in a heavy storm so it’s safer we cut them down now.))

May 2008 - with flowering quince and tulips

May 2007 - with tulips

June 2006 - with wheelbarrow

March 2006 - with open cellar door