urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:meepthesheep meepthesheep meepthesheep 2006-12-12T01:17:21Z urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:meepthesheep:1142 2006-12-12T01:17:21Z 2006-12-12T01:17:21Z I passed my second qualifying exam today--the last exam of grad school! hurray! I am sooooooooo tired now. But happy. In a tired way. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:meepthesheep:914 2006-09-03T16:35:28Z 2006-09-03T16:35:28Z Well, Thea and I dragged ourselves out of the Big Ditch (Randy's term for the Grand Canyon) yesterday about noontime--making it a 6-hour hike covering 10 miles. Not great, given the elevation gain in the West Canyon where we were hiking was only about 2500 feet. But HOT--good grief. Anyway, I'm in pain right now, time to go take some more advil. <br /><a href="http://pics.livejournal.com/meepthesheep/pic/00001acb/"><img src="http://pics.livejournal.com/meepthesheep/pic/00001acb/s320x240" width="320" height="153" border="0" /></a> urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:meepthesheep:758 2006-08-27T21:10:02Z 2006-08-27T21:10:02Z Snakes, it seems to me, are a lot like sharks. Except they are smaller and mostly live on land. Another difference: I have seen at least 15 snakes in Santa Barbara in the past two years, and while I know there are likely more sharks than that offshore, well, this post is about snakes on a trail. So, organized by trail and very loosely by dates, the tabulation is as follows:<br /><br />Rattlesnake Canyon<br />1. Fall 2004, Rattlesnake on my first hike in Santa Barbara.<br />2. Spring 2005, some sort of garden snake near Gibralter Road.<br />3. Spring 2005, a different sort of garden snake near Gibralter Road.<br /><br />San Ysidro<br />4/5. Summer 2006, two probably harmless snakes, on the same hike. One was a baby that slithered on me when I fell.<br /><br />Romero Canyon<br />6. Spring 2005, HUGE rattlesnake on the upper, overgrown part of the trail.<br />7. Summer 2006, unknown snake that wouldn't move off the trail. <br /><br />Inspiration Point/Tunnel Trail<br />8. Summer 2005, large snake, I forget what kind.<br />9. Summer 2006, large king snake (?). Laura was not pleased.<br />10. Summer 2006, long thin tree snake! the day we saw Snakes on a Plane.<br /><br />Cold Springs<br />11/12/13/14. Summer 2005, garden snake and three baby kings above the road--all on the same hike.<br />15. Fall 2005, garden snake close to the tree on the ridge.<br />16. Summer 2006, big rattlesnake that rattled at me! boo, hiss!<br /><br />There are more I'm sure I'm forgetting, but these were the most memorable. This does not count the large, coiled, sand-colored (I should say rock-colored) rattlesnake I nearly stepped on in the Grand Canyon Summer of 2005, during a scenic detour through the snake bog. urn:lj:livejournal.com:atom1:meepthesheep:263 2006-08-27T06:59:19Z 2006-08-27T06:59:19Z as fun as it is to secretly read other people's live journals, i have never created my own thus far. but it's good to take a break from 3+ hours of mind-numbing t.v. on a t.v. with only one, sad sad channel.