End of 2008 Already!

Wow. Where did the year go?

I can't believe that we're almost ringin' in 2009.
I've been spending the day with family in Duluth, talking over the past year... trying to remember what we all did to fill the time. It was a seriously wild ride.

I spent the majority of the summer working - probably more than I ever have in the past. The only thing was... I loved (almost) every minute of it! Most of that work revolved around the tortoise projects that I'm working on. In general, these projects involve assessing and mitigating the impacts that roads have on desert tortoises. Briefly, this work entails hundreds of hours walking across the desert looking for tortoises. Then, once found, we track a sub-set of these tortoises using radio-telemetry and GPS. We assess habitat use, attempts (successful or not) at crossing roadways, and the efficacy of mitigation strategies to reduce animal-vehicle collisions.

It's rewarding work for sure!

Other than that, I did a fair amount of hiking in southeast Arizona... took a trip to see my sister and husband in Ohio... and now I'm home (in Duluth) for the holidays.

But looking back, I cannot believe that we're closing in on 2009. I hope you've had a great 2008. And good luck in the new year!