Week 8

Here we go wrapping up the 2nd month of 2026 with this post.

Enjoy the pictures from to week 8: 

Day 54- Monday, 2/23/26

Happy Monday!  I'm between research projects so will be spending this week catching up on computer work which means less time in the lab and more time in the cubicle.

Day 55- Tuesday, 2/24/26

 

Today was another gloomy day that rained a little bit.  It's that time of year when mother nature cannot make up her mind--sometimes cold, sometime hot, sometimes rainy and sometimes sunny.  Also the squirrels have recently increased in numbers--spring babies--and they like to run our fence line which keeps Bailey entertained and sometimes on edge.  

 

Day 56- Wednesday, 2/25/26

My eye was drawn to yellow today.  First another pretty yellow weed flower and then the yellow on Bailey's banana chew toy which is a current favorite of hers.

Day 57- Thursday, 2/26/26

Pretty in pink flowers on our tree out front and I like how the sun is highlighting them today especially since we've missed having the sun out the past couple days.

 

Day 58- Friday, 2/27/26

This girl is such a happy girl and so am I because it's Friday!  Our Friday night movie tonight was Greenland 2 which we have been waiting on for awhile to stream for free and it's now finally available.  It was a good sequel that was really needed to help wrap up the whole story.

Day 59- Saturday, 2/28/26

Nothing too exciting going on this weekend.  Just trying to get some house and yard work done.

                                                                   Day 60- Sunday, 3/1/26 

       Welcome to a new month and happy March.

 

Ok now I've made it through 2 months and only have 2-3 more to go before being caught up.

 

Week 7

 Welcome to week 7- 

Day 47- Monday, 2/16/26

It's President's Day so no work for me.  After getting some chores done around the house and yard John and I decided to cross the bridge an go to dinner and a movie. We saw the newest rendition of Wuthering Heights which was really good, but I forgot how tragic the ending would be since it's been a really long time from reading the book and seeing one of the previous movie versions.

Day 48- Tuesday, 2/17/26

 

 I'm working from home today doing some online training and getting the brakes done on my car.  Rusty came to visit me and every time he comes in this room he enjoys playing with his new fish toy.  During a break in my training sessions I enjoyed a nice light lunch before getting back to it.

Day 49- Wednesday, 2/18/26

There are a lot of nice signs of spring in our back yard right now but also mother nature is not ready to let go of winter just yet.  These afternoon clouds were quite impressive during our walk and later turned into a full-blown thunderstorm bringing in lot of crazy rain.

Day 50- Thursday, 2/19/26

The leaves on the trees are starting to bud and the skies today are nice and blue with sun shining bright.  You can the remnants of the storm from last night with all the puddles left behind.

Day 51- Friday, 2/20/26

This morning as I was leaving for work the sky was so pretty out just before sunrise in on our street and later back at home for the evening Bailey found an interesting way to nap by my side.  LOL! Crazy girl.  TGIF!

  

Day 52- Saturday, 2/21/26

Today I enjoyed spending some time out in the backyard.  I love it when the yard starts to come back alive after the dormant winter vibe.  The only thing I don't love are how quickly the weeds take over, but at least the ground is still soft from recent rain so I was able to easily pull most of them for now.

                                                                Day 53- Sunday, 2/22/26 

I'm trying to get better at meal planning and shopping for what I need in the coming week to make those meals happen because having to keep running to the store after work during the week gets really old really fast.  After hitting up the store I had a good play session with Bailey that I think wore her out.  It's so cute how much she really loves her toys enough to want to nap with them. 

 

Let's keep it going!  On to the next week and even the start of a new month. 

Week 6

One of these days I'll get caught up again.  This year has just been non-stop!

Anyway, I left off on Week 6 so here we go: 

Day 40- Monday, 2/9/26

 

I started this week with a colonoscopy.  Not fun at all but it's important to get screened and thankfully no issues here.  Afterward I took it easy resting and recovering from anesthesia cuddled up with my nurse-mate. 

Day 41- Tuesday, 2/10/26

 

I was back at work today with no event. Later at home it was raining quite a bit on and off in the afternoon so Bailey and I suited up and took our afternoon walk in stride.  It was nice to see a pretty yellow sign of spring while we were out as well.

 

Day 42- Wednesday, 2/11/26

Time for a work trip.  Late this afternoon a grad student and I drove to Santa Cruz where we will help collect some samples tomorrow at a field station. It will be an early start so it was best for us to drive down today and stay the night so we'll be here and ready to work first thing in the morning.  It rained the whole 3 hr drive down so I'm not sure how the weather will be tomorrow but hoping it's not too bad.  Note the random eggnog sign on display in the hotel lobby.  Apparently they never took it down from December.  I thought it was cool though and had to take a picture because my oldest son's water-polo nickname from back in the day was Eggnog so I wanted to share this with him.  What are the odds 10 years later I'd run into a sign like this at some random hotel in a town we really only visited for water polo tournaments?

  

Day 43- Thursday, 2/12/26

I'm so happy to be here working with this team.  Dr Melissa Miller has been working with me for most of my 30+ year career.  She is the marine mammal pathologist for the state and stationed here in beautiful Santa Cruz.  Her facility is literally steps away from Natural Bridges state beach.  Look at us as the old-school folks standing next to these 2 next-gen researchers that will some day take over the path we have paved.  Our morning focused on lab samples work into early afternoon and then we walked to the beach before heading out for a great lunch on the pier.  It was such a beautiful day out and hard to leave especially since the drive back to Davis was a traffic nightmare but we made it back safe and sound.  

Day 44- Friday, 2/13/26

One more day in this very long and eventful workweek that started at the crack of dawn.  We had to  process the samples we brought back and make sure they were logged in and secure before the weekend.  Back at home John and I started watching Paradise since the the 2nd season is dropping soon and we heard good things about the 1st. So far it's good enough to have us hooked and we should be ready for that 2nd season soon.

Day 45- Saturday, 2/14/26

Happy Valentine's Day!  It's so nice to have it on a Saturday this year and on a 3-day weekend!  We decided to stay in tonight with the pets and go out to dinner on a less crowed day.

                                                                Day 46- Sunday, 2/15/26 

Today we braved the threatening clouds and headed out for a wine pick-up.  The rest of the day was a lazy Sunday and Bailey loves those days the most.  This girl knows how to hunker down and get comfortable especially on gloomy cold days.

 

Another week done and now on to more. 

 

Week 5

On to pictures from Week 5- 

Day 33- Monday, 2/2/26

It's been nice and sunny out and not quite as cold but the night was kind of eerie with some low lying clouds moving in over the moon. 

Day 34- Tuesday, 2/3/26

 Tonight's dog class was in downtown Davis for a good stroll.  All the distractions and traffic was good for working on their focus.  They did great and it was a fun vibe in and around town.  All the college students love seeing them and taking pictures of them.  I think they miss their pets at home.

Day 35- Wednesday, 2/4/26

The fog is back.  This is my view out the back of our lab.  Within the next year that big open field in the far ground will become a huge parking lot which is a shame.  Otherwise at work I'm helping a post doc with a prevalence study of protozoal disease in bay-area raccoons.

Day 36- Thursday, 2/5/26

I found this cute version of Mother's Animal Cookies for Valentine's Day and am planning to bag them up to include in care packages for the boys.  Sadly they don't look as good in person as they do in the picture on the bag.  It's really hard too make out what they are supposed to be.  Oh well--nice concept, great packaging, poor product execution.

Day 37- Friday, 2/6/26

TGIF!  Looks like we'll have a string of nice sunny days for a welcomed change.  Sadly I had a late meeting at work so missed my window in getting out before the traffic hit.  No movement for 20 min while a wreck was being cleared and then very slow and go all the way home.  I earned this drink tonight!

Day 38- Saturday, 2/7/26

Our neighbor's lemon tree is still going strong and makes our side yard smell so good.  Sadly, I think some of the neighborhood rodents have been sampling the goods and are making quite a mess on the ground under the tree.  It looks like they had a pretty good lemon party one night.

                                                              Day 39- Sunday, 2/8/26 

It's Super Bowl Sunday and we had a quiet one at home since I had to go through this awful prep for an early morning colonoscopy tomorrow.  Yeah-- not so fun with way too much prep liquid to get down in a small amount of time.  I know this is a good thing to have done but I also know there is an easier prep with less liquid.  John had that one and next time I'll be asking for it instead of this.  Otherwise it was at least a good game with no landslide either way.

Another week done and continuing to move on!