Home

Levi & I are home today after a full two weeks. I'm trying to get oriented & unpacked. I had a ten day stretch with no internet & so just now easing back into cyberspace & sorting thru the zillion emails that need replies.

I filled the camera card 3 times on my trip & will have some pics up shortly.

I've come home to an emerald wonderland - it is so lush here compared with the early spring feel of Chattanooga. Had a great trip - very full - accomplished most of the connections I wanted to make. Reflective. Peaceful.

Joe's Progress Report: Day 4

Well, I'm now on Day 4 without Mo and Levi, while they visit Wildwood for Bonnie and Marshall's spring break. This is not much fun anymore. The laundry is stacked up higher than the dishes. The dogs are starving and I can't find my razor. Just for reference, it's not a good idea to put Dawn liquid in the dishwasher....Or the washing machine either, strangely enough. Another important note: frozen pizzas cook much better if you take them off the cardboard tray before putting them in the oven.

Just kidding.....I'm actually getting along quite well, but I miss them too much already. The house is eerily quiet without my happy little tornado,.....but I've been cooking up a storm, turkey hunting, and watching baseball.

Miss and love you two and can't wait to see you!!

Busy Morning

Levi & I are pulling out the bags this morn & packing for a two week roadtrip - first to Athens, a stop in Atlanta, then on up to Wildwood to spend the week (it's Mom & Dad's spring break), we'll stop in Hogansville on the way back to visit with Angie!

Party Time!!

We spent the afternoon at a birthday party for the daughter of some friends from Mo's mothering group. What a blast!! Kids running around and playing everywhere and absolutely beautiful weather. Nice breeze through the trees....The party was at a boathouse on a little key near Savannah, complete with peacocks and chickens.

Really cool family day.

Going straight to touch the horse....

He got a big kick outta this!

Mommy talk...

Gonna catch that dern cat before we leave.....

Some of the older kids.....they were really good to the younger guys. They even pulled Levi around the yard in the wagon and taught him to throw pine cones in the creek.

My hot little gal...

Off the porch....

This is a wise policy.

Bok!!

Buncha Pics!

These are some random pics from the last few weeks....everything from Tybee Island to an old Lab. Below, me and Levi with our nightly book routine....my favorite time of day with him.

Mo's been on a blueberry pancake kick lately. She spreads apricot jam on them....she and Levi love them!

Buns of steel....he's potty training and it makes it easier if he can just go when he needs to without taking off a diaper.

Mojo in the kitchen....spaghetti night!

The kid has been scaling this wall for months now....all the way up and then down the slide, and over and over again.....

Cutting the rug with his friend Sadie. Molly and Sarah (Sadie's mother) spend alot of time together. We swap baby sitting duty with them as well....gives each of us a free night now and again.

Mo and Levi and a whole bunch of Moms and kids went to Tybee the other day. Levi and one of the other little boys had a blast in the sand.

Sandy kids!!

Sweet man...who lives in the backyard.

Mo whippin up spaghetti sauce...Levi's favorite!

My old gal Sadie....she'll be 10 in the fall. We've been on many a spree, but her hearing is about gone and another little critter gets most of my attention these days. Levi gives her plenty of love and attention, though (and ear pulls, and crawling on her back, etc.)

1st Publication

My colleagues at the immunology lab I used to work at just received noticed that their paper, "Relative imbalance in T regulatory cells and activated T cells in mice with differential morbidity in chronic Schistosoma mansoni infections" (yeah, that's a mouth-full), has been accepted for publication in the journal Parasite Immunology.

I am excited, as I'm listed as a 'co-author', although I had nothing to do with the writing of it, but did do a fair part of the bench work involved (think lots of mouse killing, blood collection, sample processing/analysis). Yay!

Shampoo: Less is More

So, this last week we've had a bit of a debate in my house over the frequency we wash Levi's hair. Let me tell you, up until now it has not been very often (think weekly/monthly here). My reasoning is that it's rinsed with water all the time - he's in the shower with one of us about once a day (he rarely bathes alone). And, I just feel that babies don't need all that much shampooing with so little hair and delicate skin.

Serendipitously NPR highlighted a shampooing news story this week - and it turns out where shampooing is concerned: less is more. The article (click here) was so convincing I've decided to forgo my every-other-day habit & think more on weekly terms.

Apparently, Americans love to shampoo (over 4.5 times a week). The result is a vicious cycle: the excessive shampooing strips hair of its beneficial oils, your sebaceous oil glands then compensate by producing more oil & then your back to the shampoo bottle to tackle your greasy hair. When you shampoo less your sebaceous glands began producing less sebum oil.

According to the article, until 1908, when media influences began to say otherwise, once a month shampooing was the norm. Decades of marketing later... and by the 1970's daily shampoo use was common.

New Pot Policy

I support the legalization of marijuana for a myriad of reasons - I believe it should be a regulated substance very much like alcohol or tobacco - graded, taxed, and readily available at your corner gas station - and like home brewing (beer/wine) laws across the US, which allow the hobbyist to produce tax-free quantities for personal consumption (ex. 200 gallons of beer annually), allow a permissible number of plants to be grown for personal use.


So, I was thrilled today when I heard several NPR news stories reporting the change of federal policy on marijuana. I think this is a great first step on the way to ending pot prohibition.

"The official word has come down from the Obama administration. Attorney General Eric Holder says the Justice Department won't prosecute marijuana clinics, which are operating legally in California and a dozen other states. This is a big change in terms of federal policy."

"Given the limited resources that we have, our focus will be on people & organizations that are cultivating substantial amounts of marijuana in a way that's inconsistent with federal and state law," the attorney general said.

There's also a huge economic spin-off from this new policy = it could lead to the drug becoming a regular source of tax revenue in states where it's legal. Analysts predict this could result in millions for state coffers. Medical marijuana clubs, without the threat of federal prosecution, may finally open the books and give economists, which could only speculate up until now, a better idea of just how much the pot industry is worth.

Thirteen states have laws permitting medicinal use of marijuana. California is unique among them for the presence of dispensaries, which are businesses that sell marijuana and even advertise their services. Legal under California law, such dispensaries are still illegal under federal law.