Made a quick trip south at the end of last week, to reconnect with the department a bit. I got in some good meetings with faculty members and had a chance to see a few friends. Having left the dogs at a friend’s house for the day, I also learned a lesson in Things My Dog Will Eat if Given the Chance:

• One half bag cornmeal
• One bag oatmeal
• One box (36 count) See’s lollypops
• All the dog food for two days
• Various herbs and spices

Let’s just say that it was not a happy couple of days, digestively speaking, for Rainy.

With a tiny sprinkling of rain coming in, Thursday afternoon in Tucson was nice and blustery. Although Flagstaff’s climate is much more my speed than is Tucson’s, Tucson has a kind of openness to the landscape that’s striking, especially coming from the close-in pines where we live now.

I also learned that my cell phone can mostly survive (mostly, meaning the battery indicator seems a little off-kilter, and I can no longer use the “down” button on the keypad) one trip through the spin cycle in my pants. I’m not going to try for two trips.