Tales from the Microbial Laboratory

~don't laugh, this is MY silly life~

Introducing...the Airstream's Glamour Kitchen.

Yep.  This is it.

Part of it at least.  On the opposite side is the pantry and refrigerator.

Three gas burners (with a stainless cover), a double (and very shallow) stainless sink, and a gas oven (a propane-fueled oven? Hmmm...).

(Oh, I'm not sure if you can tell that the kitchen curtains are a lovely nautical theme - sailboats and lighthouses, to be precise.  It is a Land Yacht, you know.).

So today on the drive home from the lab I purchased a small microwave for my future temporary homestead. 

Next, I need tableware.  I want practical, lightweight, durable, and inexpensive.  It'll stay in the Airstream for future adventures (after I've moved into my newly built treehouse home) - so I'm thinking something '70-ish and funky.  I'm packing up my stuff - it's heavy and breaks easily - and the plates are large.  Not so functional for my new efficient lifestyle.

I'm thinking Corelle.  Easy, durable, inexpensive - and Airstream-ish, don't you think?  Also - very lightweight and takes up almost no space.  So what do you think about these patterns?  The first five are traditional Corelle - Square Pretty Pink, Spearmint, Lifestyles Rola, Hot Dots, and Square Autumn Mist.  The last three are Corelle stoneware (so heavier, more breakable) - Cumin Orange, Bay Leaf, Indigo Blue.  (You should be able to click on the images and see them larger.  There's also this site - so quit laughing and get into the proper spirit of this whole thing).         

So - Jeff (artist and gallery guy) and Gary (brother, Vermonter, Dentist, and acquirer of the Airstream) - wanna vote?  Anybody else want to chime in?

    

Now I'm even laughing at me.

Ry Cooder

Can you tell I'm trying to psych myself up for this whole Airstream thing?

Ry Cooder, 1970.

Dwell on airstreams

A good friend called this afternoon from Pensacola - someone that I met when I was a postdoctoral fellow working at a US EPA laboratory along the Gulf Coast. 

I remember going with Barb to this wonderful place where there were aquaculture ponds - and a larger pond with a pH so long that the water was crystal clear.  The water sparkled.  We took our dogs swimming in the pond, and you could go underwater and watch the legs of the dogs - 'dog-paddling' so to speak - and it was just amazing to watch them swim with such visual clarity.

I'll always remember that day.

Anyway, Barb called today and she asked about the new house and when I was moving into the Airstream, and then she remembered seeing a story in Dwell - the architectural magazine - about Airstreams.  The first thing of interest is that after the Dwell Conference, this was one lasting thought:

San Francisco's homeless problems could be greatly relieved with a bulk purchase of Airstream Bambis, a few extension cords and a leased parking lot. Who says they have to drive away? At less than 40K each, substantially cheaper than building something.
   

The second thing of interest is a wonderful piece on a modern redesign of the Airstream interior by designer Christopher Deam.

All I can say is WOW.  Check out the video.  The best quote by Dean on the video was "...connects you with adventure instead of insulating you from it."

Love it.

I love modern, I just don't know if I could go modern.  It seems like an all or nothing sort of thing. 

But I can see a modern Airstream!

You can also read a bit about Deam and his Airstream designs here.

And now take a look at this...

~imagining~

This afternoon I went out and sat in the Airstream and tried to imagine living in it.

I couldn't, really.

But I think that's okay.  It's a transition. 

It's a transition for Stanley too, who for several years now has been the man of the house.  He takes his responsibilities seriously. 

I realized today that the only place to put a small microwave is on top of the refrigerator.  There is a plug there, not an outlet - but a plug that comes up from behind the refrigerator and is laying on top of the refrigerator, at the back.  I'm guessing that will work.

I realized that my large All-Clad fry pan won't fit in the sink.  I couldn't wash it.  I guess the reality is that there will be few things I need in the kitchen - a small stainless fry pan (an omelet-size) and perhaps a small and medium sized sauce pan.  Well, that simplifies things.

I want to find a spot for a toaster.  I like toast.

You can see how they replaced the cover from the old water heater with a shiny white metal one.  Now that will have to eventually change (because), which shouldn't be difficult.  The opening for this one is larger, so the old one won't work - but it should be easy to get some aluminum and have a new one made.  Again, not a priority for now.  Finding a place for a toaster - now that's a priority (the toaster will probably have to sit in a cabinet, and be brought out only when needed).  Later I might head out and purchase a small microwave and a toaster for the place. 

You can also see from the pic at the top (and this one to the left) how they replaced the propane tanks with new ones, instead of retrofitting the old ones (sitting on the ground - there are two of these).  That's something that I might change later - it won't be a priority for awhile.

There are too many things that are higher priority right now.

Like my Mother.  And the Ancient Wonder Beagle.

And getting a new house built. 

The funny thing today is that I realized that the 'front door' (and only door) has a built-in screened door.  That was a pleasant discovery!  When it arrived from Vermont, I didn't spend alot of time looking around her - and then she want off to Camping World for repairs.  I think that around the front door that I might make a little 'porch' - perhaps out of those large square concrete pavers (something simple).  It does have an awning (that I haven't figured out how to operate yet) - so perhaps I'll have the porch have a similar footprint as the awning.  The thought of mosquito netting has been wandering around in my head for awhile - it sounds like it might be wise.  I'm not sure yet though.

The corner of the yard where the Airstream is located is the least 'planted' part of my garden.  I've started mulching areas with live oak leaves, and I've placed a Two-Winged Silverbell back there as well as several native azaleas.  There are also several red cedars (the trees of my childhood) - transplanted from my grandmother's farm outside of Charlottesville, transplanted before the farm was sold.  They aren't getting enough sun there though, since one of the large live oaks casts a dense shadow over them now - I might have to think about moving them.  There are also several small (~5') sassafras trees (Sassafras albidum) growing there - that will stay - plus a few smaller live oak saplings, a water oak, etc.  I'm happy about the Sassafras - since their leaves are the preferred evening meal of the spicebush swallowtail (Papilo troilus).  It's the more 'native' part of my garden - in the truer sense of the word - and I think I might continue that trend (also because it is the driest part of my garden) - I'd like to add several more native azaleas, a redbay, and some plants less known to me but that I admire when wandering the Woodlanders website.

Today I'm a bit tired though, and I'm not rushing through anything that I need to do.  It was a busy week with days that were spent working for too many hours, and I need to regain my balance.  Perhaps I will plant a few more sunflowers (to fill in the holes where some didn't germinate in my side garden) and the red zinnia seeds that my mother gave me.  Or perhaps I will sit in a chair on the side deck and watch the mockingbirds enjoy the figs - or perhaps, I will simply eat a bowl of figs myself.

   

land yacht technoogy

Well, the land yacht is back on the estate grounds.

The good news:  everything works.

The bad news:  I wasn't really thinking and the work they did wasn't compatible with the whole 'vintage' thing.

Instead of taking the original propane tanks and retrofitting the fittings, they just put new tanks on it, and when they replaced the water heater, they put a white metal cover on the outside over it (God forbid!), not the original piece of aluminum.  (But all of this can be dealt with AFTER I finish living in it, when there is the luxury of time.  I still have the original cover and the originals tanks to work with).  I've been so busy and preoccupied that I totally forgot about following up on that stuff.  I am in desperate need of a life assistant. 

So tonight the Airstream is sitting in the back corner of the estate with all of the windows wide open.  Breathing.

So I guess my brother and I are eligible to join the Vintage Airstream Club - since our land yacht is a 1973 Overlander (27') - so 25 years old or older.  I'm not sure about joining, but I did enjoy taking a look at their reading list.  Even more, I was intrigued by this site about the history of Airstreams - I guess we'll need to watch out for a bulge over the wheels on this one, since it has a rear bathroom.

Fred's Airstream Archives has a great Airstream floorplan library - although the 1973 Overlander isn't represented, a 1967 is, and it's pretty similar.  A big difference is the organization of the bathroom (the sink is in the middle of the back wall and the tub/shower is across the right-hand side - also, the stove is on the counter to the left as you enter the main door).  Otherwise, add a foot (probably to the bathroom) and it's pretty similar. 

You're sitting there thinking it's spacious, aren't you?

Just say yes.

All of this is leading me to the following revelation (aka personal quirk):  while high tech at work, I'm extremely low tech at home.  Pitifully so.  It's like - I drive my car into the estate, close the gate, and a portion of my brain just SHUTS DOWN.  I'm getting a little better, but sometimes I can look at something (like the inner workings of an aluminum cannister with electric air and propane heat) and just think to myself 'I have no idea how to do this'.  So I have to take a deep breath, and then - after numerous deep breaths, I'm usually okay.  I come around.  But first I go through this almost comical period of - incompetence.  It makes me laugh.

So today, while peering obnoxiously over the shoulder of the lab's postdoctoral fellow as he was working on his poster presentation for tomorrow, a slip of the fingers on the keyboard resulted in one of the best typos that I've seen in a long time (please understand that I'm exhausted and there is a liklihood that I'm thinking that things are funny that truly aren't).  Instead of the word 'technology', Wes left out the 'l' and typed:

Technoogy.

So, the for the entire rest of the working day (which was fortunately only a few hours), the word 'technoogy' made me laugh out loud. 

'So Venetia, what different technoogies are you using in your studies?' 

'Well Ben, your poster is indeed technoogy-rich.'

Okay, it's not as funny now.  But the lab has decided to generate a new and fascinating definition for this word, and then let it spread out into the general public.  When we decide on this new and fascinating definition, we'll let you know.  But don't be surprised if...while...standing in the produce section of the grocery store...or in the sitting room of the tire store...or when listening to a radio station while on hold for the IRS...you hear the word 'technoogy'.   

Which takes me to a family holiday party years ago in Virginia - a gathering of my father's side of the family, who are all hilarious and happy.  It was the holiday when a friend of mine from graduate school days, a psychiatrist in the DC area, came to visit our family during the holidays - where she got to see the hilarious and happy family in action.  During that holiday gathering, while sipping eggnog and making fun of one another, my brother, my father's brother and I felt that we needed to select a word that we would all start using in more of a slang context, and see if it would 'catch-on'.  We failed to consider that night that we are all horrifically busy, not in the public eye, or (perhaps most importantly) that we are not terribly hip (which makes the assumption that hipness is required to start a trend, which perhaps it is not).  But our word that night...the word we selected to be incorporated into the public consciousness in a distinctly different way...the word was:

Shift.

Technoogy is gonna be big.

(Now the really funny thing is that when you google 'technoogy' you find all of the websites where folks mispelled technology - sites like this one).

I need sleep.  Soon.

 

creatures, dryers, and wands (in no particular order)

This morning I spotted this interesting creature on the arm of a teak chair out on the deck.

I spotted it because I was putting a shirt on the back of the chair to dry.

The dryer didn't want to turn on this morning.  Nor did it want to turn on tonight.  Okay, so be that way - see if I care.

(Okay, so I've been without a working dryer for 15 hours and I'm already cranky and yet I still plan to live in an Airstream while my home is being built and go to a laundromat?  What have I been thinking??)

Pete's helping me pick up the Airstream tomorrow at 8 am.

There will be a point soon when there's no turning back.  I was talking to the lab today about that moment when they start to demolish my current home.  When I walk away and walk into the Airstream for the first time for the night.

I'm guessing that will be an odd first night.

I'd better keep the good martini glasses out for the Airstream.

The Ancient Wonder Beagle has been funky today.  All day.

The lab is in various stages of preparing posters for our student research open house on Friday.  Everyone is busy.

I left the lab at 3:15 this afternoon and rushed across the James Island Connector to downtown and the IMAX theatre.  I met Jeff for the 4 pm show of...the latest Harry Potter flick.  I snuck in red raspberries, and Jeff had gotten there early, and bought popcorn...and got great seats.

The last 15 minutes or so of the film was in 3-D.

The average age in the theatre was ~12.

It was a blast.

I want a wand.

I wish I had spotted these in my bald cypresses today.

Or tomorrow.  Or next year.  Or ever. 

The dryer repair guy is scheduled to show up on Saturday.  How I handle these dryerless days might reflect my ability to adapt to Airstream Life.  I dare say that I have a ways to go...

(If I had a wand I could repair the dryer myself).   

instars

Bronze fennel.  This morning, while roaming the gardening and procrastinating the day - enjoying the cooler temperatures before the sun came too close - I noticed (finally) that the 5th instar of the black swallowtail (Papilio polyxenes) had finally shown up to devour the bronze fennel.  I want to remember to watch for where they pupate this year - I forget to do that each year, and most likely I will forget this year too.

Sometimes my garden has the feel of a $5.99 all-you-can-eat pasta buffet.

Selective isolations.  This afternoon I met for several hours with a colleague - to discuss a manuscript that I've been asked to take the lead on.  The data was not collected by my group, and I wasn't even involved in this project when the objectives of the research were established.  This is not something that I would normally do.  But the data is something I want to get very familiar with, and my laboratory is hoping to secure funding to extend these first studies into something...more.  However, right now I am struggling with my own microbial biases:  as someone that likes to have the story reflected in the DNA, to write a manuscript where the data was obtained by growing up microbial inoculum (in this case, the upper respiratory tract fluid of bottlenose dolphins) and placing them on selective media (media designed to isolate human pathogens in a clinical setting) - and based on growth alone assigning a Genus and species designation to the isolate...well, in my world, I'm just not comfortable with this approach.  But today in my discussion with my colleague, I was reminded of something very important - that in most settings with dolphins, molecular biologists aren't hanging around waiting to sequence the hell out of dolphin snot (my interpretation of her kinder words).  Point made.  With my attitude re-adjusted, it's now time to find a way to reduce this large dataset (diseased vs healthy, age, male vs female, year, location, etc) in order to look at the microorganisms isolated (and characterized) using these clinical approaches and see what I can find out.

But I will add that the lab will spend the $$ to get one 16S library sequenced for at least one dolphin sample - even in the absence of new funding.  I'm curious.  Really curious.

Presentations.  The laboratory has four poster presentations on Friday, for our program's annual research open house.  Tomorrow will be crazy, since I'll need to take a look at all of them.  Two of them are filling up my INBOX already, and perhaps in an hour or so I'll take a quick look at them - before looking at them more closely tomorrow.  The most fun part about these presentations is that three of the four have as a co-author one of the undergraduates in the lab.  This is their first co-authorship and they smile when we talk about it.  They deserve it, and they deserve more - hopefully these posters are the skeletal beginnings of manuscripts that will be submitted to peer-reviewed journals.  Then they will really smile.  Last night the lab's postdoctoral fellow emailed me and wrote 'It is 9:30 pm and I'm in the lab and all three undergraduates are here and they are all WORKING.'  That made me smile.

Today I was lingering in the lab, catching up with the undergrads - and we briefly touched on scientific ethics, an important topic that I should talk more with them about.  They are young, and it is important that they understand these things - it will shape their scientific lives.  Tomorrow I will try and remember to do this.

Odd transitions.  Thursday morning my friend Pete is going to help me bring the Airstream back to my place.  Slowly I've been packing up the accessories of my life, so they can be placed in storage while the necessities and I move into a 27.5 foot aluminum trailer. 

My life is in transition, an odd transition.  I wonder what instar I'm in.

   

tiger lilies

Tigers.  The tiger lilies are blooming like crazy - crazy tigers - in my mother's garden.  She doesn't really like them and when I asked her why, she said that it was simply because she didn't.

She didn't really need a reason I suppose.

So as I wandered around her garden, she asked me 'what do you keep taking pictures of, and why are you taking so many pictures of those ugly tiger lilies?'

I told her that I was intrigued by their spots.

So we sat out in two lounge chairs in the backyard, and as it got dark we played the game 'who spots the lightning bug first' which really is more about who best argues that they saw it first, because they start lighting up the lower woods like crazy and you can't even begin to keep up with them.  After the lightning bugs come out, the bats appear in the opening above the garden - first one, then a second - and finally a third - getting their evening meal from the cool breezes blowing through the oak forest.

Appliances.  So my architect architherapist emails me today and asks if I know what the dimensions will be for my kitchen appliances.  Huh?  Appliances?  Dimensions?  One thing that I've found very interesting about this whole process is that it's made me very aware of my movements at home - very aware of the space and spaces I occupy, how I move throughout the house - where I spend time and where I'm comfortable.  I like how it's made me slow down and pay attention - and I like how this new awareness is being incorporated into my home design in a practical sense.  This part of the process I enjoy - the thought of spending the weekend 'appliance shopping' does not sound enjoyable.  But I will.

I need to pay attention to these sorts of things, and I'll try.

Black Holes.  Today I received in my work Inbox about 80 pages of material to edit.  Before noon.  Today I edited five pages of material.  My one acre on the planet generates so much biomass, so much that it still surprises me.  I'm beginning to think that in my life, in it's current state, that I need someone following behind me - to pick up the debris field of, well, debris and thoughts and appointments and my life.

The mockingbirds go from the trellis that holds up the yellow roses of Mermaid to the dense leyland cypresses to the small grove of bamboo to the fig tree.  Happiness is being a mockingbird during fig season. 

       

tired and rambly

Does it have to be Monday tomorrow?  Can't we somehow...ignore that little fact?

I fear that I've missed Garden Blogger's Bloom Day over at May Dreams Gardens.  Between travel and life and just plain stuff (like the fact that my camera has a bug - and not the creepy, crawly kind, but something that I'm beginning to think is 'user error' due to my lack of desire to read the manual that came with it and the fact that sometimes it works just fine depending on...okay, it's a long and boring story and I'm tired tonight).

I did manage to capture some images of my Mom's garden - she has zinnias of almost every color blooming, lots of cleome and salvia and mexican sunflowers - hibiscus (those big giant saucer ones) and tiger lilies and stargazers - and my Dad is growing tomato trees this year - their gardens are amazing.  My Mother is doing well - she's definitely the 'tough cookie' that her oncologist says that she is.  (I'm too tired to even show off their garden tonight.)

I really like zinnias (I know, I've said this before).  In the south they provide relief - wonderful color - when the days get hot and humid.  I think I like them the best before they are fully open, when they are full of promise - and I also like to watch their colors fade and change as the blossoms grow old.  I have a few this year in my own garden, but plan to plant some seeds this week - if I plant them now, I'll have blooms through September and October (and folks say that we don't have fall color...). 

My architect sent me new drawings on Friday.  I need to look at them.  I did a bit of 'kitchen' shopping over the weekend - and I must say that the options are numerous.  This is like a flashback to when I designed my current laboratory - who knew there were so many cabinet styles and configurations?  I mean, I knew - but I didn't know.  I like the warmth of cherry.  I like the two part dishwasters that are like drawers.  I want a gas stove and an oven with convection capabilities.  My friend Susan thinks that I'd use a warming drawer (and she convinced me that I would).  I'm torn with respect to sinks.  Silliness.

Tonight in my work INBOX I receive a draft of a manuscript from the senior doctoral student in the lab and a draft of a review manuscript that is being written by three other members of the laboratory.  This week is busy - we have four presentations on Friday at our annual research open house (presentations that are yet to be prepared) - and I have a visiting scientist to wine and dine and meetings to attend with these folks regarding future potential collaborations (hey gardeners, these guys sequenced Aquilegia formosa)...and a conference call with a colleague tomorrow regarding the initiation of the metagenomic libraries for Montastrea faveolata.

I want to go sailing.

I want to swim in the ocean and bake in the sun.

I want to find virus-free toad lilies (of every possible variety!) and plant them like a ground cover.

For now - I'll just pet dog bellies and torment my cat.

               

flood zones

Whew.

Busy day.

Was just sent a spreadsheet by a collaborator of all of the Vibrio species being sequenced as part of this large characterization effort the lab is participating in.  Wow.  The great thing about all of this is the comparative abilities that will arise - both in the genomics and proteomics arena.

So the architect I'm working with came out to my place this afternoon, and we spent about an hour or so pondering trees and the location of bedrooms, dining rooms, porches, and driveways.  He brought with him several more renditions of my new place - the original capital 'T' design has morphed into more of a small 't' - and I think it works but I need to think about it a bit.  There are a few new additions:  first, we decided that we need to incorporate an area into the design for an elevator.  I won't put one in, but there will be a space for one located centrally in the design.  For now, that space will be a nice closet/storage area - but it would make it easy to add an elevator if it was ever needed.  The other thing he has added is a loft - either above the master bedroom or study - and I'm still pondering this addition.  Right now, the house is one story, fifteen feet off the ground - so a loft would have a nice view - it could be a nice room.  I just need to decide where it should go.  Part of me thinks above the study (which is essentially a bedroom) - but that room right now is in the front of the house, and I don't want the higher roof line there I don't think.  We'll see.

The big confusion of the day though revolved around my flood zone.  You see, the surveyor said it was Zone AE-15 (15' elevation).  Charleston County now says it is AE-15 (and they refer to the FEMA maps).  But my flood insurance policy that I've been paying for years says it's the dreaded VE Zone (they have a certificate from someone that they subcontract out for this kinda thing).  So my insurance company says that if I get a letter from the county stating that it is an AE, then I'll get reimbursed for all of these crazy insurance rates.  Wow, now that's fun.  Except that I was originally told it was a VE, and have a certificate stating that it was a VE.  So, I go to the FEMA website myself and check out their maps, and damn if it doesn't look as if the dividing line between the AE and VE Zones isn't going right through my current dining area (which means it will roughly go through the kitchen of the new place).  So I called the FEMA number and actually got a person who both understood my frustration and commiserated with my situation, but could only tell me to fill out a form and in 30 to 60 days an official from FEMA will resolve the issue.  Now, this is important for several reasons...all of them obvious.  Who wants to pay extra for insurance that doesn't apply to them?  Also, my mortgage was really bought by another company and that company is saying I don't have enough flood insurance for my home (the one that will be demolished).  If I don't increase it, I won't have flood insurance after the last day in July - right before the start of our busiest time of year with respect to wind and rain and tidal surges.  But...but, the architect really needs this information.  Building codes for AE vs VE zone places are quite different with respect to height of the stilts and the type of structure that can be used for the first (ground floor).  Now, FEMA said that the county is generally correct - but I must admit it makes me nervous assuming that they are right, and I can only imagine them coming back to me after my house is built to Zone AE specs and saying "Well, we're really sorry, but...".  But after thinking about it, I've decided not to worry.  The reason:  when we get the building permit, it will have to be resolved.  (I think).

But my current place is ~10 feet off the ground, and at a minimum - the new place will be 15 feet off the ground.  So 5 feet higher.  I'm not sure that I can imagine that just yet, but I will say that I'm glad that I have tall trees.  I like the idea of a treehouse.

I'm off to Charlottesville tomorrow, to check in on my Mom. 

Busy life.