5:25 AM part 2

Another day, another picture of the butt crack o'dawn. I took this today, 30 May 2008.
I also drove to Memphis today to look for a place to live and I found a place! It's a little shabby, but meets my basic criteria: big dogs allowed and walking distance from campus. I'll probably be moving over the course of July. I'm a little sad about leaving here. Not leaving my job, of course, but leaving the camper and the woods. I'll have to photo-document the things I'll be leaving. But I am also very excited about it since I have always loved change. Plus I'll be going back to school and learning how to read Middle Egyptian heiroglyphics.
I have ordered a kick-ass mattress set for me and I think I need to get Gilligan an orthopedic doggie bed. It seems only fair.

5:25 AM Paranormal sunlight experiment: Part 1

I think that the sun is coming up too soon these days. My friend Enrique, an astronomer, pretty much put the kibosh on my theory. But I am not alone in noticing that it is WAY lighter at the butt-crack o'dawn than it ever used to be. I've been getting up at about 5:15 AM for a long time now and I have decided to investigate this phenomenon.
The first picture here is from 28 May 2008. From my front porch, just over the top of the camper, before I left for work.
Ditto the second picture, but that one is from 29 May 2008. Both were taken at 5:25 AM precisely.
I plan to follow this and see what happens.
I turned the flash off for both of these. Note that it is a lot darker in the first one. Well, that's probably just because it was more overcast and it did rain an ass-load that day. Nothing to get too paranormally excited about. Yet.

In the mean time, back at the ranch...

G and L have been taking care of Mommy's dog Buddy while she had her surgery. Under their tutelage, Buddy lost his hippo-esque physique and became thin, tone and tan. The envy of all the tubby dogs in the hood. But back at home, Mommy misses her Buddy. When I was there this past weekend I noticed this small Buddy shrine in the bathroom and it was too cute not to photo-document.
The good news is that when Daddy and I go up there in June to deliver 150 feet of chicken wire, Buddy will get to come home with us and eventually be deposited back into the arms of his Mommy. This makes him my brother (and nephew), in a weird way.

Another Canine Series follows:

Ginger and Luis adopted a new family member and named him Fuego. He's beautiful. I think he looks like Ginger, but Luis is sure that he is his own doggie twin. He was being cared for by a migrant worker named Jesus who couldn't take him back to Mexico this fall and needed to find a home for him. Fuego lucked into the best possible home in the world.

3 May 08 Luis's Party

These are from the party that Ginger and Luis had to celebrate his passing his dissertation defense. Like a demented elephant, I forgot my camera. Fortunately, the great Any and Rodrigo brought theirs and I stole these pictures from Any's picasa album. I love the last. If you look carefully, you'll see Luis's friend holding Buddy.

More Graduation Night

Here I am with my sister and my niece. To be fair, Emma's not really all that short, Ginger and I are simply wearing 4 inch platform heels.

Where's Jenny?

Can you find me?

The Graduate

I had to add a few more graduation pictures. Ginger just sent them.

Call Me Master

After years of grueling procrastination and deep thought, I finally got my Master's of Arts degree from the Univ. of Alabama from the department of Women's Studies. Now I have a BA and an MA. So I have a BAMA.
Having achieved all of this before my 40th birthday, I am about to embark on another academic adventure and I will be studying Egyptology at the University of Memphis (in Tennessee, not Egypt). I will keep my friends posted.

Graduation night

Ginger and I went out in Birmingham and my niece Emma and her fiancee (you have to sort of scream it with a French accent) Sean met us at the Garage. I wore the mortarboard all night and everybody everywhere kept congratulating me. It was awesome.

After the ceremony

We took some pictures at home after the graduation.
Ginger took pictures at the event, but I'll have to wait till she sends them to post them.

More snake pictures

Here are a couple more pictures of Ginger with the snake that she loves. We took it as a very good sign that my graduation day would be good.

Good Omen for the day

My graduation day got off to a fantastically great start. Daddy found this snake and Ginger brought it to show me.

Lizards dying in my window

I finally forced myself to clear the spiderwebs out of my windows, but when I cleared away the first batch I found myself facing this little horror. There were a total of three lizard mummies in my windows, which makes me think that they must have come there to die? Maybe? I can't figure it out, but I find it oddly fascinating.