Syzdekistan

Today, I received word that Mojave Max, the desert spokestortoise for the Clark County Desert Conservation Plan died. I had the pleasure of feeding and taking care of this tortoise at the Desert Tortoise Conservation Center in the early 1990s. He was a very friendly tortoise with a great personality and he lived in the […]

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Yesterday, Spencer died at the vet’s office. I could go into detail about his changing condition over the last few days (hey, I’m a scientist and took accurate notes and even produced a spreadsheet) but this isn’t the time.
His right front leg was amputated last Wednesday due to a chondrosarcoma tumor on his scapula. We […]

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I did get to go out for dinner with Hot Wife and Terry and Morgan for my birthday.
It was their first night out without kids. Ever. They have three kids. Let’s just say, the drinks flowed like water and we had a really good time.
Terry and Morgan are so cool — they got […]

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The vet had noticed a lump on Spencer’s right shoulder blade. I hadn’t noticed it and I felt terrible for missing it. However, Spencer is a pretty hairy cat and before his grooming, it was probably well hidden by hair. Also, like many semi-domesticated felines, he is pretty independent and doesn’t like to be petted […]

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Congratulations to Terry and Morgan on the birth of their daughter yesterday. Mom and baby are fine and they haven’t decided on a name yet but have narrowed it to Bevin or Berkeley. Baby was 8 pounds 12 ounces and 18.75 inches long.

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Today, Rob and I took the kids hiking up Golden Canyon in Death Valley. Both three-year olds had a great time and both dads had fun watching them. We hit some light rain near Death Valley Junction and it had just stopped raining we got at the trailhead. We had lunch in the parking lot.

Rob […]

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Here is the eulogy that Rob gave at his father’s funeral:

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Yesterday, Nancy and I went to Robert Williams’ funeral services. The Mass at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s was very touching. Rob gave a beautiful eulogy and the playing of “Taps” and the folding and presentation of the flag was extraordinarily moving. Since the Review Journal removes obituaries from their site, I have copied it […]

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I talked to Aaron today about his mammal trapping trip to northern Nevada, southeast Oregon, and southwest Idaho. He went with his girlfriend who is working on her PhD in biology. She is doing genetic work on kangaroo rats to determine the evolutionary relationships between different groups of kangaroo rats. To do this, she traps […]

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I just got done with my evening run (more on that saga later) around midnight tonight and I had just finished logging it on my Mac when I checked CNN and they had a breaking news story that Steve Irwin had been killed by a stingray near Port Douglas, Queensland, Australia.
I was a fan […]

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