Somehow, now that we aren't living on the road, it's harder to focus on a travel-blog! But a quick update on life in Eugene nonetheless...
We're both settling into our jobs, learning skills & making friends. So this is good. We went to see a game of bike polo that is played in one of the local parks, and Chris is now hooked on the idea of this sport--he is making prototype mallets out of golf clubs, water-bottles, &c. He is whacking tennis balls down the traffic-free bike paths, and on the roads he takes pot-shots at bits of garbage or dandelion flowers to practice his aim. He's like a little kid with a new toy!
Chris also experimented with making a polo mallet out of a length of bamboo he had lying around...when he sawed off a section of it for the head of the mallet, he noticed a strange fibrous mass in the end. When he picked it out, he realized it had a
tail--yup, somehow a mouse had managed to crawl into the length of bamboo and die! "I had always thought that bamboo was just a smelly plant to begin with, that explains a lot..." muttered Chris, aghast. And then he realized that he had only dislodged the back half of the mouse, he'd cut the mummified creature right in half when trimming the bamboo segment. (What's worse than biting into an apple and finding a worm? Finding half a worm!!)
Photos of bike polo (mouse-free) and of the wildflower festival at the local arboretum (which is where K did her geeking out) are
right here. Hope everyone is well!