Week 9 - Herefords

There's a lot of headliners from this past super busy week, but the biggest one I will have to keep secret for just a little while longer. I know that I didn't come across excited, but mostly because it scares me shitless and the excitement is still struggling to overcome the gut-bottom feeling of "Oh Shit".

The time has literally flown by and I feel like I can't get near enough done. My hydrogen measurements are finally starting to run smoothly and the machine is more responsive. I've got a system down which can pump out data and save me time. We still don't know what units are really being reported, but that's an after-the-fact problem, right? I also bottled the pear wine this past weekend with my wife's help and apart from being a little sugary, I think it should be just fine. Hopefully the sugar fermentation after the sealing doesn't lead to a bunch of blown tops, but the stuff looks good and tastes pretty good as well. For those of you out there who are wondering, you can use corks in standard liquor bottles - they have the same aperture as standard wine bottles. We finished our first puzzle together, and I have learned just how much she loves puzzles.

Our first puzzle together. As it turns out, my wife LOVES puzzles.

Wednesday was the OSU Horse Judging Team's debut back into judging. Although we fielded some kids last year, this was the first year with a team and I'm really proud of the kids. I help with the team from a reasons standpoint and was glad to see a couple kids place in reasons with all sets over the average for the contest. Congratulations to the team for placing 10th overall and this is only the start. You can check out a press release here.


Friday night, we camped out at the family farm. With the wind and cold, and rain, it was a pretty rough night. We ran around shooting each other with tactical airsoft in the dark and my older brother ran through a fence we never knew was out there. Dad tried a new method to keep us all dry this year with a tarp stretched over the ground rather than a tent set up. Cold, but moderately dry given the rainstorm. As always, the fire-cooked breakfast in a Dutch oven makes everything worth it. This weekend was truly a food weekend, as we went to Schmidt's on Sunday night to celebrate my sister's and my birthdays.

Celebrating as Scmidt's like we did in the old days.

No, the main announced headline is the sadness up in East Lansing from this past week - the End of a Legacy sale. In the ultimate wisdom of administrative staff as MSU, the Hereford (pronounced Her-fird, unless you're from the shire of origin in the U.K.) herd was determined to be no longer essential to the university. Now, the MSU Herefords have a long history of greatness in shows across the United States and beef cattle greats like Dr. David Hawkins (and OSU grad) have helped develop a strong genetic pool which has led the breed for decades. Certainly, it was a sad day when we all had to say farewell to the bulk of the herd as they were dispersed this past week. I have fond memories of watching the show out at Kansas City in '07 and showing Herefords at the Little I in '07 and '08. I only hope that these actions can help save the Ag programs at MSU and continue the prestige of the academics and experiences at my alma mater. Click here for a reflection on the meaning and impact of the sale.

Me and 2 of my best friends at the 2007 Little International.

MSU Block & Bridle Club with award-winning Hereford Heifer at the 2007 American Royal.

This past weekend was also notable due to 2 B1G football games. Ohio State pulled off an OT win that was absolutely fantastic and had the campus rocking. With the cold weather and an exhausting overnight campout the previous evening (Redneckness at its best), it was nice to sit on the couch and watch the game. Unfortunately, my Spartans lost the big game of the year to those damn Wolverines up north in the Whore.. Which leads to the joke I heard on the radio with a new WNCI parody: "Why do they throw a sack of manure at a UM wedding? To keep the flies off the bride." No love for that team and school's haughty attitudes towards the "lower callings".

In class we were talking the past week about energy expenditures during walking or running. As it turns out, a human will spend more energy walking at 5 mph than jogging, regardless of how slow the jog actually is. Here all this time I've been thinking that Olympic speedwalking isn't a real sport (and perhaps it still isn't) but in reality, the physical exertion is probably greater than those people running some of the longer races. That's amazing. We also learned about the genetic propensity for obesity which I have been fighting for a long time, but it turns out that from the standpoint of heritable energy storage and probability for increased or decreased PPAR expression, there is some fact behind the myth of genetic obesity. Unfortunately, that's not true for me - but I've committed to losing about 35 pounds and this time it's going down. I'll keep you posted - it won't be easy.

My inspiration for today comes from a microbiologist's art. This guy used his knowledge of bacteria to create beautiful art. The method can be more accurately described here, but briefly... The guy took bacteria of different colors and grew them. Then he used a negative plate to block the potential living cells for color on the "print", while killing the exposed cells with UV rays. Then he sealed the "print". I've included a photo below. Again, very awesome and innovative!

Image created with bacteria. How cool is that? Credit