Sunday, June 10, 2012

June 2012 -- older kids, pawpaws, and monkeyflowers


Blog update Sunday, June 10, 2012

It’s amazing! Tonight CH was asleep by 7:45pm, TM was asleep before then (or pretending well enough that it was true soon after), and now it’s just me and the cat on the sofa! Q is travelling again, but he’s away for just a short trip this time.

CH is almost 14mo old now! In the last two weeks she’s really grown up. It’s quite obvious now that she’s definitely a toddler, not just a 1-yr old. Seeing her grow up is exciting and sad at the same time. TM is looking forward to being in 1st grade next year, which is good. We’re working on her math, but I keep forgetting to keep quizzing her, and without constant practice, she slides backwards rather quickly. Her reading is much better, which is fun. Q keeps threatening to go to business school, which is something he’s always wanted to do. I’ll be interested (very) to see what he finally decides…

Work is going well – or at least it’s fun, which is close enough to “going well”. There are so many things I wish we could do with my projects that it’s easy to get sidetracked and disheartened, but I have to remember that “it is what it is”, and we’ll do what we can with what we have. Thanks for the reminder, Dad J. Meanwhile, it’s fun!

Last week was a pawpaw week – I collected some leaf tissue for DNA extraction and basic genotyping, looked at some results from my last experiment, and messed around in the greenhouse some more. I absolutely love going to the greenhouse! Pawpaw plants are wonderful. The leaves are big (huge!), they have a delicate green smell, and the new shoot tips droop strongly downward, then straighten out as they get older. It’s such an interesting plant! They’re in the Annonaceae, family, along with the custard apple, which was one of my favorite fruits in India. Asimina triloba is the northernmost genus of the family (I think I’m safe saying that), which explains its oddly tropical appearance.

Last week I also went to the large commercial nursery with whom we are collaborating on the pawpaw grant. What an amazing setup they have! They can propagate hundreds of thousands of plants in a week or two. It’s absolutely astounding. And of course the smell is wonderful – green growing things abound. They also use mostly biological controls to keep infestations at bay. I hope I get to learn more about that as time goes by, because it’s fascinating to hear about pathogenic insects and their predators.

My favorite part of the trip was an infrared temperature gun – you point it at something, squeeze the trigger, and it tells you the temperature of whatever you’re pointing it at! My hand was 31C, the pots and the floor were at 25C, my purse was a little lower… oh so much fun! I want one.

Last week was pawpaw week, this coming week is Mimulus week. I’ll be collecting tissue for RNA extraction! I hope I get it done well and quickly. There are over 200 plants, and I won’t be collecting from all of them, but from as many as I can (the plants with fully expanded but not dying leaves). Once we get all the RNA extracted, we’ll ship samples off to be sequenced! I’m excited and a bit nervous about that – data from sequencing this sort of thing can be around a terabyte. How in the world does one deal with that much data? I’ll find out.

I’m so lucky to be working on these projects. They’re fun and interesting and take up whatever extra energy I have left over from mom-life. Speaking of mom-life, why in the world is it okay to pay someone ELSE to take care of your kids, but if you take care of your own kids, you’re unemployed (with all the associated stigma)? How is that logical? Huh? Not that I want to leave my job, no, I’ve just been pondering the logistics of raising kids.

4 comments:

  1. I've often said the same thing Alisa. You're at home raising decent humans beings to become functional in society and in many places, your job is looked down upon or isn't given much credit. It's the hardest job yet but no one ever values it more than your children. I know that my hubby stayed home at different times during our marriage. The first time, he thought it would be a cake walk but by the end of the month, he was like, "I don't know how you get anything done around here." Then when I had to return to work for a short time, he really didn't want to stay home. He will tell you that I do a better job than he does at staying home. So we do it because we love our families and our children. We want what's in their best interest and we joy when they joy and we cry when they cry. No one else in this whole world cares more for or about our children, than us ourselves do for our own children. I have read a few things concerning a Stay-at-Home Mother....we never get break, never get paid, work around the clock, if we didn't do the things we do, our houses and lives would be a mess and we would have a much more chaotic society. Think about it....I was going to adopt at one time. The state where I live wanted me to become a Foster Parent first. Many of these kids don't have a chance because they don't have parents who love them and are willing to take care of them and do what's in the best interest of the child. Interestingly enough, many of those children remain in the system and end up in jail or prison because of the lack of love and nurturing needed to help prepare these kids to become successful functioning human beings. Sometimes I think that all parents should have to be certified to become parents just so we could minimize this problem. So....in long response....Alisa....I salute you and all those other Mothers who are out there helping our children become well rounded high functioning adults. Keep up the great job!!!

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  2. Raising highly functional, caring, gentle, intelligent human beings is much more than just a job. It is a calling, and this world just does not acknowledge its importance. Just keep loving those girls, and showing them what good parents do. Love you
    Sue Carroll

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  3. You guys said it well! I'm probably going to have to rant about it sometime when my thoughts are more organized.

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