A new species of sharkpeople

Another day at the dig has past and as I lay in bed the thunder and lightening are warning me that tomorrow might be a lab day. I think.... yeah, I could handle a lab day. It has been a very hot and humid week, making things interesting in the field to say the least. We get to the site at 8am and grab our gear for the grueling 10 minute hike to the village units. Then we move sand bags, set up tents, distribute shovels and screens, and prepare our tools for the hard work. We excavate until around 3 when it's time to break it all down and prepare to carry our equipment back to the base house. I find myself the most sweaty and asthmatic after the initial trek through the woods, up and down root infested hills and gullies, and over the river on the hanging (and one step from collapsing) bridge. Through the day we cannot always escape the sun under our little tents and must sit directly under it as we scrape away the last 200 years worth of biota. And to think I always wanted to do this in Egypt... at least in Florida we get a break from the heat once a year for a few months!

Ok, well I still want to do it in Egypt, but whatever. For now I am happy to be doing it at all, even in this dirty bug-fest of a forest.

Field School Crazy

Exciting-ness! I have finally begun my first field school for the summer, and the first three days have been pretty great. 8 hours of sun, humidity, bugs, thorns, and dirt a day. Ah, the life of an archaeologist. I had two weeks off from school, which thankfully I got to spend with Lee before he jetted to the Phillipines for another deployment last weekend. Because I'm super smart I got another 4.0 this semester, and it looks like it will be another one after the summer.

The Arcadia Mill Complex Project

The site I am working on for the next two months was once the largest water based industrial complex in Florida. The land was bought by a Spaniard names Juan de la Rua in 1817 and was prepared to be re-designed to accomidate a lumber and textile mill. Soon after the Spanish lost Florida and the land was bought by an Englishman from New Hampshire. He brought over 50 slaves to the site and they began building an earthen dam, a river bed, a 16 mile log flume, and 4 mills. They lived and worked there until 1855 when the owner died and the textile mill was burned down. When the Civil War broke out the union came to Florida; as they were headed for the mill the confederates came to prevent them from taking it. They blew up the dam and destroyed the facility, and that was the end of Arcadia mills.

My first battle wound! What do you get when you put a clutz in the middle of a forest full of roots and crap sticking out of the ground? One clutz on the ground with a pointy tree stump slashing her wrist. Ouch! Plenty more to come I'm sure. I will try to update with pics whenever I can. Long days. Beer at home. Good times :)

Sad week for the Damon's

Two days till Christmas, it's ben almost 6 months since my last post! Heavens.... anyway, things are going very well for me. School has been awesome and I start my master's classes in two weeks. My average going into it is a 4.0 so needless to say, I'm thrilled.
This summer I will be doing a field school for 10 weeks, 5 in land and 5 at sea (for which I must get my scuba certificate, badass right!) and then in the fall I will start my osteology classes which should be great.
Lee left last week for another deployment, this time to Djibouti in Africa. He left on Saturday morning from the airport and later that day we received word that his grandfather, Major General Gordon H. Austin had passed away at the age of 97. The tragedy of losing such an astounding man is almost too much; I don't know how many Pearl Harbor veterans are still around but it just seems like such a loss to see him go. I will always remember his stories and his neverendingly cheerful outlook on life. When asked how he was doing, he would always respond with the phrase "deteriorating on schedule..." which always made us laugh. He was Lee's hero, and my heart breaks for him as he has to grieve in a strange land by himself. 
Today there was more bad news... a classmate and good friend of Lee's from pilot training was killed along with his wife as they flew their private plane home for Christmas. Landing in the weather caused them to go around for a second approach, upon which they crashed short of the runway. He was a wonderfully jolly guy, and Lee was very glad to have been at their wedding last year. I can't even imagine trying to deal with the loss this close to the holiday of two young and vibrant people as nice as them. Lee will be upset when he learns of it, making this an even harder week for him as he acclimates to his temporary home away from home. 

I feel that is all I can muster for the moment. I hope it snows for Christmas...

Seriously late

Geez-ums, it's been a while. I apologize for the long long LONG gap in posts but we've been busy.

Lee was deployed and came back again.

We had a great three weeks up north for Christmas.

We bought our first house and moved to Navarre.

I am registered to start school with University of West Florida in the fall!

We adopted a new dog, Lucy!

Lee is almost done with U-28 training.

He erased half the book I was working on by accident :(
I will be getting my archaeology certificate next month!
I quit the OG and got a new job at a family owned italian place.
Lee's sister Cassandra got engaged.
It's almost a year since we got engaged, actually!
I'm going to Maine in three weeks for the reunion...
.... um, that's about it.

Oh yeah, then the oil spill happened two months ago. We happen to have just moved to one of the areas worst affected by the oil in Florida, the beach down the road from our house has oil on it and the wildlife are beginning to show signs of serious trouble as a result. Tourism is down so businesses (like my restaurant) are suffering. Everyone talks about it non-stop, and not much is being done right now to fix it. It's quit depressing actually. I happen to like the marine life here and I don't want them all to die. I also like money and I'd like it if BP stopped messing with mine, thank you.

Otherwise things are good. Lee will finish training soon and I will start school at the end of August. I'm taking 4 major courses: biological anthropology, cultural anthropology, archaeology, and archaeological methods. So needless to say I will  be very VERY busy in a month and a half... But I couldn't be more excited about it!

Julie & Julia

Saw the movie "Julie & Julia" on my birthday (which unfortunately I spent entirely by myself). What a cute movie! It made me want to come home, cook, and blog! Now I've got this crazy yearning to make the perfect beouf bourgignon (fat chance that will ever happen). I went to the store and realized that it's hard to find fresh cut meat, the supermarket didn't have a butcher block, and I don't even know if there is an actual butcher in town.

So this Saturday since I have the day off, I thought I would attempt to make this crazy dish happen. Anyone who likes to cook, or just lacks enthousiasm for their own cooking, should see this movie!

Other things happening in Ft. Walton Beach: Lee just left for 4 months, two of which he will spend in the Mid-East. Joy.

He actually proposed to me right before I left town for the McNiven family reunion in Maine at the end of July, right on the beautiful beaches her in town! Yay! Now I actually get to plan my wedding.

Here are pictures from that day, Including me trying to share the excitement with my dogs... who would rather be sleeping, of course.

I am going to be working with both the Indian Temple Mound Museum and the Emerald Coast Science Center, which I am really excited about. Not too excited of course, since I still won't be making enough to quit my day job. But it's a step in the right direction, right?

I have started working on a new book, which I am really getting into. Already have 4 chapters outlined, and almost done writing the first chapter. It's a great idea, and a lead character that I really relate to. I would love to make it a series, but geeze-ums- how do writers plan things 4 books in advance? We'll see how excited I am halfway through it, when I feel like I'm stuck in a maze with no way out! Or, it could turn out to be complete genius. I'm hoping for the latter!

Been a while man...

Seriously, I have been a busy bee for the last 6 months, but this is unacceptable.

Get with it Jenny, the masses want to know about your incredibly fascinating life!

Ok, well it has been a little crazy. Lee graduated pilot training on April 10, becoming an official winged military aviator, hooray! It was a great ceremony, and he was third in his class- graduating with special honors. The pictures here are of his winging and us in the plane he was training in here, the T-44a.

Now we are getting ready to move again, this time to his first permanent base in Pensacola, FL where he will fly the U-28 (a super secret special-ops plane!)

I have been busy working and volunteering at the History museum- speaking of which, I saw an actual mummy there yesterday. Yes- an honest to god mummy. So sad though, it was a 6 months old Peruvian baby that was still in the basket it was buried in. Really well preserved- I was amazed. It was actually the first human remains I have seen in person, I see lots of animal bones- but never human. Very eerie. Anyway, I'm hoping to get a job at one of the museums in Pensacola- and transfer to the University of West Florida to finish up my degree.

Gotta go to sleep, the hours are precious with the clock ticking down to our move out date in three weeks. My dogs are already dreaming, and probably wishing we were already upstairs in the big bed ;)

Election Day Hooray!

Well today the country has come to a pass, and will change forever. It feels like a profound moment in history, which is unfortunately passing by the people of Corpus Christi with not much to do. Every now and then I regret not being back in New York for certain events, because they are so much more heavily felt there, and this is one of them. Four years ago I was there and felt every day the importance and excitement of what the country was doing. Here I haven't even found many people who are even going to vote. Ug. Perhaps it's just because I have been following the campaign the last two years, and watching the news much more than usual, but I'm actually nervous, and wishing that I didn't have to work tonight so I could see the votes stacking up. In New York I would surely be at some election night party, soaking up the excitement and the hope of the world... but Texas it shall be instead. Serving breadsticks and salad to the people who don't care enough about the election to stay home and watch it on T.V.
Oh well, despite the disappointing denuement I am still glad that I voted, and that it has finally come to an end. Now maybe we can all have our T.V. sets back and get back to business.
As much as I like the candidates (except for that poor woman), I have hope that the right person will win, and that the other will be okay tomorrow. I hate competition.
Well, off I go to the OG, while the country awaits the news of the decade...