Dad's back, but oh his poor back

We weren't expecting Mike back from Mt. Adams until tonight, but he and his field assistant Ryan worked hard and long to get everything done more quickly so they could get back to town last night. Mike says they hiked 27 miles in two days, and got the highest he'd ever hiked on Mt. Adams -- above 8000 feet (so he could get altitude sickness. silly boy). He and Ryan came up with an idea for another paper where they will create a program or algorithm taking into account elevation and vegetation levels (from satellite imagery!) and some other things that will enable anybody to know exactly where they can find the kinds of lichen they need to date landforms before they get there. Check out Mike's pictures of Mt. Adams above.

We are so very glad to have dad back in town -- we joke all the time about how I only need him around to be a cash cow for me and my baby, but when he's gone I always worry that he'll get eaten by a bear, and that makes me remember just how irreplaceable he is in all respects. The night before he left, he sat with Isaac in the glider and read Guess How Much I Love You to him -- I thought my heart would break. This book is one of my faves to read to Isaac -- it involves a "little nutbrown hare" trying to tell "big nutbrown hare" just how much he loves him, but he can't always find the right words. And then I thought my heart would break in an entirely different manner when the book was over and Mike explains to Isaac about Hasenpfeffer. Irreplaceable.