It's the end of a busy summer that included about 3 to 4 weeks of bushwhacking and soil pit digging in the Big Moose area of the Adirondacks, a two week trip to Alaska, and in between, helping summer research students learn sample preparation and analytical techniques back here at Colgate. Alaska always has great geology to enjoy, as well as wildlife and adventures like rafting and salmon fishing on the Kenai River or kayaking out of Valdez harbor with Sally Rothwell '84. The scenery is full of glaciers, their related topography and deposits, braided streams, avalanche scars and slumps, not to mention some fabulous coalified stumps and plant fossils. While hiking around Worthington glacier, we had the special experiences of finding an ice cave and also being able to look under the base of the glacier where it had pulled away from the ground surface. The blueness of the ice was striking. Soil sampling in the Adirondacks as part of Rich April's newly funded Acid Rain / Calcium Depletion Study also had me thinking of glaciers, although not quite as fondly, as I attempted to shovel, pickax and crowbar my way through the cobbles and boulders of the tills they left behind. Thankfully, as we all know from Chief, at least 'there were no bugs in the Adirondacks' (right!) and we managed to collect about 300 samples from those wonderful Adirondack spodosols with their distinct E horizons that I love so much. Working with Rich, Colgate biologists, Randy Fuller and Tim McCay, and Michele Hluchy '82 from Alfred University as well as the students involved in the study has been wonderful so far, and I'm looking forward to comparing data when we get it.

      During the academic year, I still mostly teach labs, although this past Spring I also taught about five weeks of Environmental Geology for Amy Leventer while she was away doing climate change research in Antarctica. It was a lot of work but a good experience, and I still found time to do some skiing and to chase after the three new kittens that were born in my house in February. Their mother, a stray that I had taken in out of the cold, is back outside (although now spayed) but the kittens are staying with me and have been very busy 'redecorating' the house. Evidently shredded wallpaper is the newest trend in home decor. Who knew?