Went out and counted milkweed stems, flowering stems, and forming pods this morning, for part of the research.

It always makes me think of that bit in "Winnie-the-Pooh" where Kanga is in a counting mood, and she counts Roo's jumpers (sweaters) and the clean spots in Tigger's feeder, things like that, when I'm counting things as part of my research.

It's nice to do research, doubly so when there are no other deadlines to worry about. (I think I mentioned that my summer class had been cancelled). There's something very satisfying about getting it done, about seeing the progress you are making - I know I had 175 plants to examine and count stems/flowers/pods, so I could tell exactly how much I had done, and how much more I had to do.

And you know, that's where I'm happiest and most satisfied. When I can see progress on a project or a study or even cleaning my house. It's so unlike writing, where you can keep tinkering and changing and adjusting, forever and ever, until you just get sick of the thing and say "no mas" and send it in to a journal. And then six months later, it comes back, either rejected or full of changes that were things you had changed AWAY from earlier...

I also plugged away a bit on the Prairie Conference paper after coming in from the field. Writing is not as much fun as collecting data or even analysing data.

And now, I'm heading home for lunch, a shower, and an afternoon of knitting. And tomorrow, a trip to McKinney, to celebrate the finalization of my promotion and tenure.