Big Dogs - Big Bones

Katy and Yuki both got a special treat this morning — a super sized chew stick bone. Yuki went to work on it straight away while Katy hung back and slept next to it before getting up to "kitty cat" it. That's what we call it when she bats stuff around like a dingbat. She had to check on Yuki's progress a couple of times.... all part of her delaying strategy to lord it over Yuki when Yuki finishes first. Katy always waits until Yuki is finished chewing on something big before she starts in. That way she can torture the younger pup who always comes to watch Katy. One of these days Yuki is going to get wise to Katy's antics and swipe Katy's waited for treat right out from under her nose. One of these days...

.. but not today.

My Foray into Felt Food

Over the last few days I've been making a sandwich out of felt — using no patterns, just winging it.


The sandwich has:

* 2 slices of bread, with crust
* swiss cheese slice
* 3 slices of thin cut deli turkey meat
* 2 pickles
* 2 tomatoes
* slice of ham/bologna
* an egg with yolk
* cheddar cheese slice
* 10 leaves of lettuce


After making it, I came to realize that people who sell felt food on etsy severely underprice their creations. I've seen sandwiches, albeit not as complete as this one, for sale for as little as $11! That's crazy. It took me at least an hour alone to sew just the bread and cheese. And, it's not like I'm a novice hand-stitcher either — I've been sewing since my grandmother taught me when I was 11. And I have gotten plenty of practice making all those stinking OrnaMonkeys! There is definitely an upper limit on how fast you can stich by hand, so to see people so severely underprice their work it makes me wonder.

Of course, some of you may be wondering why the heck you'd make felt food, let alone buy it in the first place. Well... if you've got kids or are expecting them, they do make super cool toys. Kids can assemble their own sandwich, picking and choosing what they want to put on it to pretend to eat (or to pretend to make their dolls eat). This let's them practice at making their own food long before it's safe to. And, there's no mess. Depending on the type of felt play food they have to play with, they may even be more adventurous with eating the real deal. Play with fake asparagus enough times, or sushi, or pita sandwiches, and maybe just maybe she'll ask to eat that instead of a whole litany of other things that wouldn't be as healthy.

Baby Field Notes will have a well stocked felt food pantry by the time she's old enough to make believe. I can't wait! I've already bought some super awesome felt food from GoBuggy on etsy. Her creations are amazing — so much so that I now know it's not worth it to even try. I did try to make a lobster like her crawfish. It has joined the domain of Projects I Started And Never Finished. What was I thinking?! You can see her talent on display here in this crawfish dinner.

Birth Classes: To Take or Not To Take?

Usually when confronted with a decision where some research would help, I consult sources to help me make the tough choice. For the decision about whether to take birth classes, also called 'antenatal classes,' it didn't take much to convince to pass on them. Before you gasp and say, how could you? Let me just say that: a) they aren't free, b) the latest research report says they don't decrease the use of an epidural or create a more positive 'birth experience,' -or- reduce the rate of a C-section, and c) are considered by many women to be a waste of time — especially if you are the type to educate yourself.

Now, cost is not really a big concern, but the cost of dragging myself and Mr. FN to a class every Thursday night for 2 hours from 7-9pm is a significant cost. I start heading toward snoozeville at 7pm and both of us are ready to be out like lights by 9pm. Put me in a room where I have to listen to someone tell me crap I already googled or read on my own and make feel dippy by having me practice breathing (something I already know how to do from meditation practice) and I am bound to drop out.

Add in the latest research, reported by the BBC and based on the study of 1,000 women who participated in classes, and I am not inclined to go. The research found that taking classes to learn and practice breathing and massage techniques to reduce pain did not lower the rate of epidurals, C-section or use of instruments like vacuum and forceps, nor did it affect the perceived quality of the birth experience.

I can't say I am surprised by it, since I doubt there is anything that can prepare a person to cope with intense pain, besides perhaps, having already experienced it. Practicing breathing and massage in the absence of pain and expecting that juju magic to work when there is real pain is just plain naive if you ask me. I know it's going to hurt like hell, I can imagine it's a hell of a lot worse than the pain I got from endometriosis and cysts rupturing — the kind of pain where you are reduced to lying on the floor crying out for a god you don't even believe exists to make it stop. I remember that vividly, and I imagine what I am in for is at least that bad.

But, unlike then, now I know why the pain is happening, that it is for a good reason, and that it will not last forever. I think that can make quite a bit of difference, but we'll see. I do aim for a natural childbirth, free from drugs. Having an epidural strikes me as a good way to prolong labor and increase the likelihood of having surgery, something I definitely want to avoid. And, really, it will come as no surprise whatsoever given my academic background, that the knowledge that women have been doing this for eons is comforting.

This is one case where I can't wait to experience the pain. It means waiting will be over and the real fun can begin.

We canceled cable TV.

Although a recent AP story I read on the effect of TV networks offering their primetime shows for free online said that that few households were canceling cable because of it, we did.

For the past few months, well, really, ever since I started suffering the effects of pregnancy, we stopped watching primetime TV. I just couldn't stay up until 9pm to watch shows like Lost, Grey's Anatomy, 24, Chuck. So we started watching them online either the next night at an earlier time or whenever fit into our schedule. I don't mind at all watching the shows on my laptop while curled up in bed. It is far, far more convenient.

Not sure yet whether this was a brilliant way to save a couple of hundred bucks a year on a service we rarely use, or a decision I'll end up regretting, but we canceled our cable TV subscription yesterday.

The straw that broke the camel's back was getting selected to be a Nielsen family — you know the research organization that tracks TV viewership. Well, we got our TV watching log book for the week to begin filling out last Thursday and by Saturday we had not even turned the TV on. We only turned it on for a few hours Saturday when we were dog tired from gardening in the near 90-degree heat and had need for mindless entertainment. We channel surfed.

When we hadn't turned the TV on after that come Monday night, I suggested we just cancel the cable service. Why not? We're not even using it. The TV shows we watch we watch online, and they're ending for the season anyway.

If we change our mind, we will have to pay the $50-100 to have the cable guy come back out to hook it up, but if not, we'll have an extra bit of money in the bank each month — to put into a faster internet service for one. And if we can live without it for 6 months and decide that's long enough, the cable company will offer a discount rate to entice us back — right in time for shows like Lost, 24 and Chuck to begin.

I think we made a smart move. But time will tell. In any case, internet has killed the TV in our house.

Competitive Bird Watching: Separates the sparrows from the hawks.

Bobolink! Yellow-billed cuckoo! Catbird! American woodcock!

Just some of the rare-to-us birds Mr. Field Notes and I were excited to see within spitting distance of the place we lived during my grad school days. I never got to see the cuckoo, and allegedly there was a black-billed one spotted too, but bygones. I am *not* competitive when it comes to birdwatching. However, some folks are and take to an extreme level.

Each year in Texas competitive bird watchers gather in Texas for the Great Texas Birding Classic, a 5 day long event in which teams traverse woods and waterways all over the state to collect the most species sightings as they can in 5 days. The prize? Bragging rights, a humongous bronze trophy shaped like an egret and $10,000 to donate to a conservation project.

I really thoroughly enjoy bird spotting and have for a long time — ever since my 7th grade biology teacher had us do a version of the Great Texas Birding Classic for a class project. I racked up quite a few species, including an American Goldfinch, which for a kid used to seeing only robins and ducks, was really, really neat. I don't think I did much authentic birdwatching after that, until I met Mr. Field Notes, who from what it sounds like, grew up going birdwatching with his dad. I say 'going birdwatching' because there's a difference between being a bird watcher and someone who goes bird watching. The former are content to see who comes to patronize their backyard feeds. The latter travel on purpose specifically to spot 'life birds' — new birds seen for the first time in your life.

Mr. Field Notes and I definitely fall into the latter crowd. Proof? We chose to go to southern Arizona in August on purpose for our honeymoon - so we could go birdwatching. Southern Arizona, specifically the area around Sierra Vista, is a birdwatcher's mecca, being the best jumping off place to see tropical species in the US. Later we went to Belize — to go birdwatching. We also snorkeled, and saw ancient Mayan ruins, and monkeys, but mostly we went there to see birds. And birds we did. We kept a list of everything we saw.

Some people who rack up birds on their lists give themselves credit for stuff they hear but not see. I think that's wrong. My personal standard is that I have to get a good enough look at the bird to make my own identification. I never check a bird onto my life list if I see it fly away after Mr. Field Notes does the ID work. I have to do that myself too, for it to count.

Another thing birdwatchers go crazy over, besides life lists and writing down heard-but-not-seens is equipment, specifically binoculars. Now, there are also spotting scopes, which come in very handy for identifying shorebirds, but, it's the binos that come in the most handy. And, as long as you are patient, and quiet, and observant, you don't need expensive ones with image stabilizing features, powerful lenses, and ultra-light weight. I get by just fine on my comparatively dirt cheep ones.

Needless to say, I am truly looking forward to teaching Baby Field Notes about birds and going out with her and Mr. Field Notes to see the birds in our area and then into the great beyond.

A trip down memory lane: Senior Year of High School

It's a meme. It's an easy blog post. I have 2 hours of the LOST season finale to catch up on, not to mention work! So here's a snippet of my former life, and please by all means, do one on your blog too so I can get to know you better too, dear readers!

1. Did you date someone from your school? --- sort of

2. Did you marry someone from your high school? --- No way. But I did from my college.

3. Did you carpool to school? --- No, I walked there in the blistering cold on days when my dad wouldn't let me drive or my neighbor didn't take pity on me and give me a ride. The walk was uphill both ways, through 2 feet of snow and 50 mile per hour winds.

4. What kind of car did you have? --- I didn't get my own car until I went to grad school, but in high school I enjoyed the occasional use of a then brand spanking new Ford pickup truck.

5. What kind of car do you have now? --- Honda CR-V but I still miss my red Audi 90 quattro very, very much. It's just not practical when you have huge dogs! And the CR-V is never in the shop for repairs that cost an arm and a leg... actually more like two arms and a leg!

6. Its Friday night ... where are you? (then) --- at a football game in the fall, dances in the spring

7. It is Friday night ... where are you? (now) --- at home with Mr. Field Notes and the two newfies

8. What kind of job did you have in high school? --- senior year? I don't think I had time for a job, but maybe I worked at the shoe store for a while then. I did work at Dairy Queen early in high school until I was fired for insubordination or some such thing. Come to think of it, that's how my other high school job at a video rental place ended abruptly. Apparently if you question management practices, you lose your job — a lesson I still have not quite 'learned.'

9. What kind of job do you do now? --- One that pays well enough for the time I put into it but is generally a pride-swallowing bore of a job that I'd rather not have to do for much longer.

10. Were you a party animal? --- No.

11. Were you considered a flirt? --- Heh. No. I knew boys were nothing but trouble.

12. Were you in band, orchestra, or choir? --- No.

13. Were you a nerd? --- I still am!

14. Did you get suspended or expelled? --- I think I came awfully close one time as editor of my yearbook over a photo I thought we should not have to air brush. I was and still am an ardent advocate of free speech.

15. Can you sing the fight song? --- Not anymore, but I remember its tune is Anchor's Away.

16. Who was your favorite teacher? --- My biology teachers for sure.

17. Where did you sit during lunch? --- In the yearbook office. Even then I took lunch at my desk and worked.

18. What was your school mascot? --- Bison.

19. If you could go back and do it again, would you? --- Not a chance.

20. Did you have fun at prom? --- I hated it.

21. Do you still talk to the person you went to Prom with? --- Every once in a while on Facebook.

22. Are you planning to go to your next reunion? If I live within driving distance at the time.

23. Were you a good student? Yes.

24. What did you like most about high school? I guess, being done with it.

25. Do you still talk to people from school? --- All the time on Facebook.

Katy scores another football! And we got our car back!!!

If this keeps going the way it's going, we're going to have to get her a jersey! Katy just adores football. Yuki does too, which is ultimately why Katy got another football today.

We drove a long way away to get it too, but got to do so in our own car. We finally got it back from the body shop after driving around a rental for 3 weeks. Keep reading for why we had a rental for so long...

... back to the football ...

Mr. Field Notes thought Katy deserved to have her own football after Yuki usurped it from her on our last football adventure to the dog park. This is the brand new football she just got a week ago and was bought specifically for Katy after she went bananas over the one she found at the park and wanted to bring home. Well, at the dog park to break it in, Yuki just would not let Katy fetch the ball, or alternately, Katy just wouldn't assert herself to snag it out from under Yuki. So, Mr. Field Notes had to get Katy another football today so they could both have one. Now, really, we did not make a special trip to the store (an hours drive away) just to get Katy a ball, but rather were already in the vicinity on account of needing to go retrieve some custom framing that was finally ready. Target just happened to be conveniently located and we thought we might be able to find a broiler pan for Mr. Field Notes to use in his new oven. The footballs were an impulse buy, so to speak.

Katy certainly appreciated it and posed for a second or two with her new ball. I had to snatch the camera and quickly take a pic to capture the fleeting moment so the photo has a funny exposure and is out of focus, but you can imagine how majestic and proud she looked in real life as she posed.

... and so the car ...

A guy slammed into us in rear end collision while we were stopped at a red light back in February. It seriously screwed up our Honda CR-V (incidentally just a few weeks after I finished paying it off! Murphy's Law, isn't it?) He hadn't even hit his brakes, so it was a pretty good size jolt we got. No one was hurt in the slightest but our car sustained enough damage to warrant 3 weeks in the body shop. The other driver's insurance covered the repairs and the rental. The only pain in the butt was that we had to wait almost 2 months before our car actually got into the body shop.

We got a brand new Toyota Highlander to rent. It was nice. Huge. HUGE. Compared to our CR-V. There's no way we can transport 2 newfies, a baby in a car seat and any stuff in our CR-V, but we could if we had a Highlander. It rode much more smoothly than the CR-V too. More like a car than a truck. Ours rides like a truck. But, the Highlander got horrible gas mileage so we weren't tempted in the slightest to go out and trade our wrecked car for a Highlander.

I am glad to have our own car back. No more worries about whether the dogs would mess up the rental too much. They only road in it once, to go to the dog park, the day before we got the call our car was ready — Murphy's Law again. So we (ha ha ha!) I mean Mr. Field Notes, had to clean up the Highlander, when if we had known, could have waited a day on then not been bothered with the clean up. Oh well.

Pur CR-V looks a little strange with a brand new back end and darned if it doesn't look much, much nicer with a washing! I swear they returned it to us cleaner than it has ever been since we took possession of it 3 years ago. We both remarked we're going to have to actually wash it every once in a while because it looks a lot, lot less ratty when clean.

My other brilliant (I think?) idea with the car is to install the baby's car seat now and put a stuffed animal in it to get the newfs accustomed to having to sit in their places and not jump or crawl over the back seat. I think that will allow us to see whether they might ever be able to ride in the car with the baby. Otherwise, it will be just the dad guy taking them to the dog park for years while I stay home with the baby. Or vice versa. Humpf on that. That's no fun.

Copyright Infringement vs. Fair Use

Recently one of our YouTube videos, of the newfies of all things, was flagged for copyright infringement. I wasn't going to write about this because I didn't think I'd be able to keep it clean, but I figure as long as I make a good argument and use some good vocabulary words, I can use a few swear words in the process.

The flagged video can still be watched in the US, but not in some other countries. The video in question is called "Sleeping Dogs: Smells like 2 dogs napping." Katy and Yuki rest on the back couch barely awake despite the Nirvana song "Smells Like Teen Spirit" blaring in the background. It lasts all of 69 seconds. The Nirvana song is not played in full. In fact, there's 40 seconds of one part of the song and another 29 seconds of the tail end of the song. In other words, what I would think would constitute fair use.

I revisited the issue today when I uploaded a video of the girls playing football at the dog park. All the YouTube site says upfront is:
Important: Do not upload any TV shows, music videos, music concerts, or commercials without permission unless they consist entirely of content you created yourself.

Okay. I didn't do that. Still not satisfied, I read the "Copyright Tips page" where I got some really cheesy advice: "The way to ensure that your video doesn't infringe someone else's copyright is to use your skills and imagination to create something completely original." Feeling like a 5th grader, I clicked on the "What about fair use" link to 'learn more' and there I went straight to "http://chillingeffects.org/fairuse/" where I finally learned something from the George Washington University School of Law after reading their answers to some of the FAQs.

In the event that the owner of the copyright to the Nirvana song (would that be Courtney Love?) takes us to court for copyright infringement, the court would weigh 4 factors. Now, nevermind that I doubt she'd bother taking the time to take us to court over 69 seconds of Newfies sleeping to Smells Like Teen Spirit, but if she or whoever actually owns the copyright did, the court would consider:

1) THE PURPOSE AND CHARACTER OF THE USE
Basically how new, novel or creative is the creation in question? The more it is something novel, the more likely there's no infringement.

2) THE NATURE OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK
Basically, if it's a work of art as opposed to a piece of fact, the more protection the copyright holder has. I think in this case, Smells Like Teen Spirit is a true work of art. I'd be busted if this were all that mattered. But it's not, which brings us to factor 3.

3) THE AMOUNT AND SUBSTANTIALITY OF THE PORTION DEFENDANT USED
The less used, the more it falls under fair use. This is like the difference between a fleeting expletive and a whole freaking song littered with F-bombs, which I happen to not find offensive, but that's another blog post subject entirely. "If, however, the defendant copied nearly all of, or the heart of, the copyrighted work, his or her use is less likely to be considered fair." Here I think that since I used only 23% of the song (69 our of 300 seconds) and that it was not the heart of the song, I would have a leg to stand on, especially in light of factor 4.

4) THE EFFECT OF DEFENDANT'S USE ON THE POTENTIAL MARKET OF THE COPYRIGHTED WORK
This one basically says that it isn't fair use if my use doesn't circumvent the copyright owner's ability to exploit his or her original work. Basically, since no one in their right mind, or even their severely deranged mind, is going to download the newfie sleeping video just so they can listen to Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit and avoid having to buy the song themself, then it's fair use. My use is not a direct market substitute for the original work.

Furthermore I might point out that when visitors to this blog watch the newfies sleeping video, or find it on YouTube and watch it there, they are actually encouraged to buy the Nirvana song where they can do so with a mouse click. In essence, the copyright holder is getting free advertising and anyone who doesn't own the song and is reminded of how much they like it when they see the video, may be compelled to buy it. Meanwhile, I earn nothing from the video whatsoever.

Thus, my use of 69 seconds of Smells Like Teen Spirit as background noise in the Sleeping Dogs video constitutes "Fair Use."

I rest my case.




And, here's the football video, for anyone who is ready for some lighter entertainment. If you look closely you'll see a tiny Yorkshire terrier who wanted to play with the big girls. I think he was smaller than a football.

Football at the Park

The Week in Review

Don't worry grandma! I haven't fallen off the face of the earth! You're probably the only one who still reads this blog now that I post so infrequently — for that I blame pregnancy and the horrible, horrible heartburn I still get. I wake up with it; I go to sleep with it; I pretty much feel like throwing up most of the day because of the acid reflux that goes with it. And now, I am huge enough that I walk funny and have to think about how I am going to get back up if I squat (there is no such thing as bending down anymore) to pick something up off the floor. Needless to say, I sort of wish I had more orangutan-like toes. I would put them to good use.

This week, I managed through 3 days of solo dog duty because Mr. Field Notes was away at a conference. They were sweethearts, mostly, and did remember to wake me up for work in the morning so that was good and all I really expected of them.

Mr. FN's nearly 100 year old grandpa died. He was a Lt. Colonel in the Army so he had a military service, complete with gun fire out at the army fort. We couldn't be there because I'm too far along for air travel. I'm glad I at least got to meet him when I did.

My belly button is starting to pop out, but still no stretch marks for now! Did I mention I feel like barfing? Ugh. I really wish that would stop.

Yuki has to go to bed now with her "Shreddy Bear" nearby. It's her ball made of rope. She has to have something to chew on every night before bed and the pieces of it come apart and scatter all over the floor. It makes a colossal mess, but she loves it and it helps her get to sleep, sort of like a teddy bear.

Two movies I watched were sursprisingly bad: The Day the Earth Stood Still and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. I didn't have high hopes for the former one, given it's a Keanu Reaves movie and he never makes good movies. But it had Jennifer Connely in it and is a sci-fi doomsday flick so I couldn't not see it, but jeeeeeez - who the heck wrote the script? Aliens want to wipe out humans because we are killing the earth's other life forms due to our selfishness, but the alien meets a kindly (female) scientist who takes him to meet an evolutionary biologist who is working on "biological altruism." This is supposed to show him that not all humans are selfish and that we can evolve altruism. The alien still has to help him hammer out the exact formula for it though. And then later the alien has a change of heart about destroying humankind when the scientist's kid demonstrates grief. Good grief, I say! Just because one kid is capable of grieving the death of his father does not mean humans are capable of being altruistic to other life forms. Ugh. And, whatever. At least the special effects were decent and I didn't fall asleep. The Brad Pitt Button film was a royal snoozer. I fell asleep numerous times and had to watch it in two parts on different days. It was at least a good story. Based on an F. Scott Fitzgerald short story. Who knew?

So that's pretty much it. Oh yeah, and I am finally reading a book for fun. Granted, it's an academic one (the only kind I really ever read) but it's a snoozer too. I don't think I'll finish it.

Good stuff happening? Ummmmm, lemme think. The flowering trees are stunning and I've already got snapdragons in bloom. The weather has been warmer and I'm eating ice cream like no one else! It cures heartburn, wouldn't ya know! And, if you put bananas and peanutes in it, you can *almost* call it dinner. Least, that's my reasoning tonight!

One bright bird brain: MAGPIES!

Add them to the growing list of animals that can recognize themselves when they look in a mirror: magpies. If you don't live in the West, you probably aren't familiar with them, but they are really neat birds that I happen to be rather fond of. They are showy, the West's version of a tropical-looking bird. I know some people don't like them because they're scavangers, but whatever. I think they're cool and they just got a whole lot more cool!

According to research published in the Public Library of Science - Biology, magpies passed the famous mirror test that psychologists have been using since the 1950s to determine when babies (and animals like apes, monkeys, dolphins and elephants) have a self-concept. Presumably, if they show evidence they know the image in the mirror isn't somebody else and show signs they recognize themselves in the mirror, then they have a sense of self.

The mirror test involves placing a mark on the individual while they are unconscious. Controls get touched, but no mark is left. When they wake up in front of a mirror if the marked ones touch the mark after looking in the mirror, they 'pass' the test. They also have to not touch the mark if they're not in front of the mirror.

Self-recognition is linked to highly developed understanding of social relationships, empathy and perspective taking.

According to the researchers, magpies were chosen because they compete with conspecifics for food that they hide and have a memory for where food is hoarded, making them good candidates for complex social understanding. They were also chosen because they're smarter than monkeys, i.e., magpies achieve the highest level of Piagetian object permanence (ability to recognize an object still exists even when it is out of sight, i.e. why peek-a-boo is so amusing with babies) whereas monkeys don't. Magpies are curious and "prone to approach new situations, making them ideally suited for an experiment that requires spontaneous interaction with a new and puzzling context," the researchers said.

Flu during pregnancy raises risk of schizophrenia

With all the talk of swine flu, or whatever they're calling it these days, I couldn't help but recall some research I came across years ago. It found that pregnant women who contract the flu have an increased risk their child will develop schizophrenia later in life.

Schizophrenia is a serious psychosis — a mental illness characterized by disordered thinking — that can include visual and auditory hallucinations, paranoia, and delusions. In colloquial language, it means you're insane. Schizophrenia affects about 1% of the U.S. population and can be seriously debilitating, requiring institutionalization in severe forms. You may recall the movie A Beautiful Mind in which actor Russell Crowe portrayed a man with schizophrenia. The symptoms don't usually appear until a person is around 20 years old.

The link between maternal flu infection and schizophrenia was published by Dr. Alan Brown, a Columbia University psychiatrist, in 2004 in the Archives of General Psychiatry. His research team looked for antibodies to influenza in archived blood samples from 64 women whose children developed schizophrenia as adults and a control group of 125 women whose children did not. Women who had higher levels of influenza antibodies in their first or second trimester of pregnancy had offspring who were 3 to 7 times more likely to develop schizophrenia.

Brown calculated that if the women had not had the flu during pregnancy, 14 percent of the schizophrenia cases could have been prevented, an effect he calls potentially enormous.

Although researchers do not know the mechanism of action, many think a certain protein released by the mother’s immune system in the wake of a flu infection goes on to harm the infant's developing brain. A flu infection stimulates the release of an immune system protein called interleukin-6, which in normal amounts helps the immune system do its job. However, the release of abnormal amounts of IL-6 is associated with autoimmune disorders such as allergies and asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and more. In the wake of a flu infection, the immune system can go haywire. The normal result of fever, inflammation and secretion of glucocorticoids like cortisol, aka the 'stress hormone,' can go bananas and cause the immune system to destroy good cells — possibly in this case of schizophrenia, brain cells in specific regions of the brain of the developing fetus.

Given the known genetic links to schizophrenia, it is also possible that an inherited predisposition to an abnormal immune system reaction in the wake of flu is another risk factor. After all, the vast majority of women who get the flu during pregnancy do not have children that grow up to have schizophrenia. According to Brown's research, the overall risk of schizophrenia from flu is small — 97% of children born to women who got the flu while pregnant will not develop schizophrenia. But what if you have inherited a predisposition to over-react to the flu? Perhaps your risk of having a child with schizophrenia goes up — way up.

This is certainly something they arouses my concern given I have a family history of autoimmune disorders in my immediate family. My mom is a walking advertisement for screwed up immune system and my little sister developed an autoimmune response to the flu when she was 6 — a rare condition called ITP that put her in the hospital for a week. Then there's a more distant relative who actually had schizophrenia. Needless to say, I have already started taking precautions at work and will happily become a hypochondriac washing, antisocial freak just to be safe.

Regardless, it is interesting that schizophrenia may yet turn out to be a partially communicable disease.

By the way, if you are sick, please cough into a tissue or your sleeve and not your hands!!
If you put those germs on your hands you spread em!

Synopsis of a Week: AKA Finally some time to myself!

What a long week! In lieu of an academic post, I'm going to wrap up the week in RBoC style. That's random blogging on couch — so appropriate given I haven't been feeling well and finally managed to move from the bed to the couch. What an upgrade! And perfect timing too, given that I've caught up on all the online TV that I no longer have the staying power to stay up for to watch 'live.' I do have an academic post planned that I hope turns out to be at least timely if not really fascinating. It's on the psychological ramifications of swine flue.

The Week in Review

* Two sets of parents visit.
One thing can be said for certain — when parents visit, they really want to make sure you eat! I have never eaten so much before in my life, or out so many times in a week. I love that it ran the gammut from fast food (Quizos sandwiches) to upscale sit down places. It's really, really nice when parents pick up the bill, too! Yay! THANK YOU!!! They also brought presents for the baby. I really don't think we will ever have to buy baby clothes — ever. We now have so many onesies and sun dresses I honestly don't know where we're going to store them all. Even the newfies got pressies (pancake breakfast) from 'grandpa.' Video at the end!

* Most of baby stuff purchased.
What a relief this is to have researched major items that need to be bought and the reviews they've gotten and to have finally pulled the trigger on purchases. In a nutshell, the most important things we have checked off the list:

• Crib: a dark (walnut stain) hardwood crib made by Atlantic Furniture.
• Stroller: Baby Jogger City Mini stroller in brown/tan found on Albee baby for $20 less than Amazon. I decided on this one since it had the best overall reviews for the price.
• Car seat: Evenflo triumph advance LX convertible seat. It accomodates newborns of 5 pounds to kids up to 50 pounds, going from rear facing infant seat to a forward facing booster seat. See it here.
  
• Oven: Yeah, I know, how is this a baby item? Our oven has it's controls on the front within kid reach instead of up on top, and with a local appliance store having a big going out of business sale, I decided these were two great reasons to finally buy Mr. Field Notes a new oven. He's the house chef, and we are both thankful for that! The oven has a smooth top, so no more ugly, dirty coils.
  
• Ceiling fan: He. he. he. The ceiling fan in the living room suddenly looked really, really ugly once we (ha ha ha, I mean Mr. Field Notes) put in the wood floor. So I got us a new one. Since it will circulate air in to the baby room, it's really a purchase for the baby.
• Boppy: The pillow that makes nursing easier. It's basically an open donut. I got a super cute cover for it too.
• Things still needed: A baby bath tub, ear thermometer, crib sheets, burp cloths, diapers and a baby carrier/sling. I know there's probably other stuff, but shouldn't be anything major left.

* Got my hair cut!
I chickened out of the freebie-teaching hair cut I had volunteered for at a new local salon (that looked sketchy) and got one at a swanky spa-salon while my mom and sisters were in town. I ended up having about 4 inches taken off the bottom and layers put in. It was amusing — and exhausting — having my mom and two sisters along for the ride. Even my new gay hairstylist said my 'mom's a bit much!' How about that? Well, it's true. I told him there's a reason I went into psychology! He was fun and did a great job with my hair. It weighs a lot less now and I can do more with it on account of him thinning it out in the back and adding layers. I even wore it curly for the day which is a huge change.

While we were there we met a local celebrity - Tonya from MTV's the Real World. We didn't recognize her until my stylist whispered it was her. She chatted with my sisters for a while. It was amusing. They thought she was pretty trashy-looking and her boyfriend was mega preppy. It was all mildly amusing. Apparently she told my sisters that I'm 'one of the cute pregnant ladies.' And, thanks to mom and sister #2, I now have 2 curling irons to experiment with when.... I have time or want to raise the eyebrows of everyone at work. They've only even seen me with straight or completely pulled back hair. Curls. Ha!

* DOGS
They got new toys. My sister's little boy thought their favorite old toy — Big Green Monster — was pretty cool. And why not? It has squakers, rattles and makes a weird farting noise when squeezed. He also liked the rings they chew on and play tug of war with. I think he wanted to play with them, but due to so many people in the house the dogs were too freaked out. They did much better with my dad when he visited by himself. He seems to be the only visitor they allow in their inner circle. He does have a way with animals. It's pretty cool. When he was here we took them all to the dog park and had a grand time.

And, Katy finally got her football. She's still recovering from a busted toe, which had caused her to limp for several days, so we haven't let her play football yet, but now that the swelling has gone down and she's walking well, I think it's time — once it stops raining! We're not sure what happened to her tow, but it did swell up badly. Our best guess is that she stepped on a bee and got stung. She's fine now, but for a while, we had been calling her Tripod. Poor kiddo. She was so frustrated during the whole time out period but was mentally upbeat and kept asking to go out, to go for rides, etc. even though she was gimping around.


* Custom paper orders.
Oof da! I was so busy I had to make paper while my dad was here. Poor guy had to watch as about 30 sheets were made. I think he made it all the way to the end, without getting bored. Or, maybe he was bored and just didn't show it.

One of the orders was a huge one - 250 butterflies made from lavender and printed with wedding guest names. I think they turned out beautifully, so I'm going to add them to the selection of products I offer. They took longer than I anticipated, so the price will go up from what I originally charged. I think the market can accomodate it though given that I'm the only one that offers butterflies that are printed for use as wedding table place cards. We'll see how it goes, not that I'm in a hurry to sell a bunch more given how busy I have been, and will be.

* Baby kickins' and pregnancy complaints galore. Ugh.
I'm sure it all be 'worth it.' But in the meantime why do I have to experience every pregnancy symptom in the book? The heartburn is awful. Sometimes it makes me so queasy I don't even want to eat. It's like I have a resurgence of first trimester pregnancy sickness: nausea and food aversions all over again. Just about the only thing I am always excited to eat is ice cream and that's because it rarely gives me heartburn!

I've also been getting the practice contactions known as Braxton-Hicks contractions. I've been getting them several times a day every day for months now but they've recently become much stronger. So have the baby kicks which means she's getting bigger. Sometimes she kicks so hard and rolls around so much it makes me sick to my stomach. And then there's the feeling I have a snake slithering around in the matress right next to my skin when I'm on my side. It's her, but man it feels like a snake. Unsettling! It all makes sleeping darned near improbable for longer than, well, honestly, however long it takes for one hip to get sore! I will be so relieved when I can sleep on my back and stomach again. The only place I am totally comfortable is while taking a bath.

Summary

I am exhausted! For the next month I have just one goal — take it easy and not get swine flu!

Could lice prevent asthma?

Ew.

But yes, according to new research published in the journal BMC Biology. Mice with the most lice had calmer immune systems than uninfested mice, adding to evidence that hyper-clean living contributes to asthma and allergies.

The idea is that if the immune system is not properly primed with germs, bugs, and pathogens during childhood, the immune system can go haywire, basically inventing problems to solve when it has nothing to do. Asthma and allergies belong to a broad class of conditions known as auto-immune disorders. In these conditions, the immune system launches a hyperactive response to harmless triggers such as pollen, pet dander, and even the individual's own body cells.

This is sort of pet subject for me, given that my mom and sisters have all had allergies, asthma or other auto-immune conditions. It's also a sore subject for me because no one ever listens to me about keeping the house too clean — except for my dad — he gets it. Perhaps because it's a convenient excuse to not clean the house, something I am sure he doesn't really like to do. My mom on the other hand is a complete neat freak/germaphobe. She takes it to downright scary levels. I think it's insane, personally. And she is coming to visit tomorrow, which means I do need to give my house a top to bottom cleaning so she doesn't freak out.

But while I give the house just enough dusting to make sure the dark wood furniture doesn't look gray, just enough vacuuming to eliminate most of the newfies' under-furniture-and-corner hair balls, and just enough scrubbing to make the kitchen and bathroom appear to be clean, I will keep in the back of my mind the funny yet sage advice from a scientist whose immune system talk I attended at a conference: Be sure to have at least some dog poop in your sheets!

Although I can no longer remember the details of Marlene Zuk's talk, I do recall the take home message is that you need some germs in your environment to have a healthy immune system. Without stuff to fight off, the immune system launches assaults on stuff it shouldn't, causing you to actually be less healthy. Zuk's talk echoes what I had learned in the psychoneuroimmunology course I took during grad school. All of this makes me wish I had the time to read Zuk's book, Riddled With Life. She was an engaging and hilarious speaker, so I am
sure her book is great.

How could you not enjoy reading the work of a scientist who advocates for having a little dog poo in your home? I know we have trace fecal matter throughout the Field Notes' house. Hopefully, Baby Field Notes will have a terrific immune system.

We'll have to trade the lice for poo though. I draw the line at lice.

A wild hair of an idea.

Today I volunteered to receive a free haircut from a local salon in exchange for being a "hair cut model." Basically, a complete newbie will be cutting my hair. I get to choose from a book of styles and can keep it longish, which I fully intend to do so I can keep it all pulled back if this wild hair of an idea goes awry, which it very well could.

I may after all find out that you get what you pay for.

While I know other women, including probably most of my female friends (and my guy friends for that matter too) would never in a million years go for this, my attitude about hair is completely laissez-faire. I get it cut maybe once every two years — or more. I just don't really care about having it styled either. Keeping it all pulled back all the time works for me. I never blow dry, curl or dye it. I don't do anything to it besides brush it and wash it. Which means, in hairdressing terms, my hair is extremely healthy: It's in mint condition. It's also extremely easy to maintain — and cheap in terms of both money and time.

But, it does need to be cut when it gets too long and heavy. And I am at that point, so by volunteering I scored a free haircut which is great because I don't want to pay an obsurd amount for taking several inches off the bottom. That shouldn't cost 60 bucks! And, if it goes awry at least it will be at a length that I can keep it pulled back.

The deal is that a complete novice will do the hair as part of training. The salon owner I called today, after seeing a blurb in our local newspaper about this need for 'hair models,' said that the hair people practice on wigs first then real people and they are looking for volunteers to be the real people-guinea pigs. I have to go to the salon in the next couple of days to have my photo taken and look through the book to choose a hair cut. Should be interesting!

Book shelf shuffle amid Barkin' Dogs and Bible Thumpin'

Yesterday I must have been out of steam when a couple of Mormon missionary boys wound up on my porch. I had been organizing my large collection of books on evolution and primate behavior when I was suddenly jolted out of my task, which was entirely pleasant and all-consuming.

My task found me revisiting all the material I've read over the years, well, at least that in book form as there are still a good thousand or so paper articles currently residing in files in the baby's room (where will those go once she realizes it's not cool for her mama to store academic paraphernalia in her closet?).

I got to admire the completeness of my collection and revel at the thoroughness of my margin notes marked in red ink. I always use red to help me immediately see my thoughts vs. those of the author. I was especially struck by the apparent joy I had while reading a certain critique of the field of Evolutionary Psychology. I made it something like 400 pages into the book, writing and arguing back on nearly every page the whole way. It made me wish I still had that kind of time.

Then the barking dogs. Zounds alive! I thought perhaps Mr. Field Notes was home early so I opened the door prior to hearing any knock. And there they were, hopeful, standing before 2 humongous barking dogs and a pregnant lady — missionaries come to spread the good word of the lord.

The last thing I apparently was in the frame of mind to do was invite them in to talk, let alone be a decent human being. I simply smiled, put my hand up in an ambiguous wave/no gesture and shut the door. That was about all the humanity I could muster up. And with two giants mouthing their concern in the background, nobody would have heard anything else anyway.

I have nothing at all against Mormons. In different circumstances I may have invited them in and made them non-caffeinated tea and asked if they wouldn't mind helping me move books while we talked. I'm sure they would have happily helped. And, I bet they would have had a very interesting experience on account of exactly which books they'd be shuffling.

But, I didn't have the time or the energy for that. I just wanted them to go away. Yet they knocked and said plaintively, "Uh, hello?"

I ignored them and went back to my evolutionary book shelf shuffling while the dogs barked — wishing I hadn't been such a butthead.

RBFB: Random Blogging From Bed

Other academic sorts RBoC, randomly blog on campus, posting bulleted tidbits from campus. Me? I'm Random Blogging From Bed.

Yes, by 6pm my day is finished — thanks to being 'in a family way' now. It was a highly productive day, although I am so tired I honestly can't remember what I even did. I am pretty sure it involved some mix of some soft of mental and physical work.

I do remember vacuuming ants. Those annoying little beasts are back, necessitating another trip to the store to buy stakes for the perimeter of the house. Add that one to the list of stuff sure to be forgotten once actually *at* the store...

Yesterday is also pretty much a blur, though I do remember trying to find maternity clothes that don't make me look like I'm wearing some sort of burka. Everything I tried on was either tent-like or was exceedingly feminine. I am pregnant but I have zero desire to dress like a 5-year-old girl. My god, does every shirt have to have ruffles, lace and/or flowers on it? And these aren't necessarily clothes that are made for pregnant women! They are what appears to be 'in style.' I have never really been a fashionista type, but I do care about wearing clothing that is stylish and flattering to my figure, and I really, really don't do ruffles, lace or flowers or pink. The closest I get to pink is dark burgundy. I would guess that some people would say I dress like a boy, and that's true to some extent, but it's all figure revealing stuff. I have a waist; I show it. And just because I'm now pregnant, I have no desire or intention to suddenly become feminine. Gag. Vomit. Barf. Where the heck do women who still have an hourglass figure (from the front anyway) while pregnant get clothing that isn't awful?

Katy gave me a hilarious fit of laughter yesterday. I am still giggling about it. We were at the dog park where she had been playing catch with a football she found there. The wind was howling cold so I suggested we pack it up and head home, especially since Katy had already flopped down to pant and drool over the worn out pigskin more than once. She was tired. So Mr. Field Notes and the two digbats and I made our way down the hill to the exit gate. We focused on getting Yuki's leash back on her and turned around to put Katy's on. But she had vanished! What the heck? Where did Big K go and why? Why? It's not like her to just disappear. She's a total homebody. We both called out for her. A little while later, here comes Katy bounding down the hill toward us with that football in her mouth.

She had run back up the hill, way off back in to the dog park interior, to go back to get it. What a nut! And she actually thought she could take it home with her. She looked so proud too, coming down the hill with a facefull of pigskin.

She's such a card. I love her big gallumpfyness. Guess she'll be getting a football for Christmas this year!

Wish me luck finding non-burka-like things to wear for the next several months! Even better — pass along whatever websites you know of where I can actually buy non-feminine, professional-looking, figure flattering clothing for pregnant women.

Dogs & 2-year-olds share ability to understand pointing gestures

This month's Animal Cognition journal carries a sweet little gem of a study on when babies and dogs understand what it means when adults point. Kids up to age 2 and adult dogs only pay attention to whatever body part is outstretched — be it arm or elbow — and ignore whichever direction the index finger happens to point. But at age 3, kids grasp they're supposed to pay attention to the finger even if it's pointing in the opposite direction of an outstretched elbow. Dogs don't.

I don't know about you, but I know with dogs — and maybe soon I'll find out with really young human kids (?) too — that puppies spend months just sniffing your finger before they understand the whole gestural pointing thing. Both Katy and Yuki were finger sniffers before they looked in the direction of a pointing hand. I didn't keep track of how old they were before they 'got it' but I bet that you can measure a dog's intelligence based on how early during their development they stop sniffing your finger when you point.

The authors of the study conclude that children and dogs show generally similar abilities to understand gestures like pointing and directional glancing because of their shared environment and long history of co-evolution.

Glancing at what you want is a great way to communicate your desires if you can't speak. Yuki just recently figured that out and now looks up at her leash and then at us, repeating the leash-look/human-look sequence a couple of times. Katy goes one step, nah, make that six steps further and backs herself up while whistle-whining and going through the look sequence. Backing up is something I taught her to do early on because she'd lunge and snap at my hand to try to get a thrown toy within an inch of it being released. More often than not, I got chomped instead of having a nice game of fetch. So I taught her to back away — and wait for the throw. It wasn't long before she generalized that to anything she wanted: treats, morning and dinner chow, walks, pats. We joke all the time that when she really, really wants something, she'd back herself right into to the neighbors house if she could.

I know I will have a load of fun observing the three 'kids' interact and learn from each other. I really hope the baby doesn't ape too many things from the dogs! Glancing to indicate what you want — YES! Licking the floor and carrying around rope bones in your mouth — NO.

Gorillas Getting P***ssed

So much for Gorillas in the Mist, these days says a photojournalist, it looks more like gorillas getting pissed — that's British for getting drunk. Evidently the journalist noticed a group of mountain gorillas he visited were enjoying some fermented bamboo shoots a little too much.

See more pics and his story here.

By the way, primates seem to love indulging in alcohol and research has found the proportion of sipping simians to tee-totaling ones is about the same as seen in human populations. What's more, alcoholism has been observed to run in families among monkeys just as it does with humans. Researchers contend there's a genetic basis to the propensity to become alcoholic given a booze-indulging environment.

Monkeys on the island of St. Kitts in the Caribbean steal tourists drinks. You can see the results of that in this tourist video:


This video is one I frequently use in class when I talk about zoopharmacology - or animal self-medication.

Plum Blossoms are here!

One of the selling points of our house when we bought it, in my opinion, was the plum tree in our backyard. It only sports blossoms for a short time. A stiff breeze always comes within a few days and whisks them all away. But in those 4-5 days, the tree is profuse with tiny white petals and buzzing bees. They make quick work of pollination. Later in the summer we'll have gobs of edible plums. And while the blossoms are here, the tree looks stunning and smells out of this world.

I snipped off several twigs to bring inside and put them in a vase. Not only do they look pretty but the perfume the room naturally. Eh, so do the newfies, but this smells way better! One of these days I'm going to figure out which flowering plants to plant so that I always some sort of blossom to snip and bring inside. I had no idea what I was doing when I started my garden so I inadvertently chose plants that bloom in late summer.

I wish I had pics of the full tree, but instead I put my nose to the grindstone and took pictures of cards I made so I'd be able to make use of the excellent but momentary backdrop. The day after I took the pictures, the forecast called for gray skies and rain. Our spring is long overdue. Comparing the dates of last year's plum blossom photos, it looks like this year the blossoms came 3 weeks later.

Seeing the weeping cherry trees just about to explode makes me want to buy one for the front yard but they cost $60 and the environment in our front yard is downright brutal because of the exposure and the extremely well draining soil. I worry it wouldn't make it. So, I think I'll stick with the lavender that's there for now.

Another tree I'd love to have somewhere is a saucer magnolia. Someday..

And I've always wanted bleeding heart bushes. I think I may have found the perfect location for them in the one spot of good shade we have. I'll just have to figure out how to keep Yuki out of them. She is one destructive little wretch. At least I can rely on Katy to pull weeds. She's excellent at it. Only attacks the weeds — never the good plants. It makes me wonder how she knows. With Yuki it's the opposite. She picks the best stuff. Last year it was the jasmine, snapdragons and lilies. Who knows what it will be this year.

Ultrasound shots! Meet the baby early — sort of.

Here she is! We have a name. At least, I think we do. We are 90% sure on it, I'd say. And no, we're not telling anyone so don't come asking!

At 2 months... just a little alien bean.

3 months

5 monthsShe's looking straight 'at the camera' with her hand under her chin.

And she has big feet.