Parting shots of the Palouse!

It was good to be there, but oh so good to be home. Although we can't complain about the beds, showers, cars, etc. in Pullman, It really felt good to lie in our own bed, shower in our own shower, drive a "real" vehicle, and putter in our yard. Along with things I learned from the people at WSU, this area called the Palouse was a complete mystery to me. Different from any place we've visited yet, awesome in appearance; and now I know where lentils come from. Although I didn't confirm it with locals, I believe the green/yellow fields are lentil fields not ready for harvest, and the brown fields are lentils ready for harvest. We left Friday night to stay in Spokane. As we were leaving we got to see the bronze Cougar in front of the WSU football stadium and some of the beginning festivities of the World Lentil Festival (http://www.lentilfest.com/ ) which was held this weekend in Pullman. We missed that, but we should make the Urbana, Illinois Sweetcorn Festival this coming weekend where Greg will be Bono for an hour on stage. We took the advice of Dr. Mattoon (yes Illinois people; Mattoon), and took Washington state road 27 from Pullman. This road was smaller and more winding, but took us through "the heart" of the Palouse, through the town of Palouse, Washington. Since it quit raining, harvest was in full gear. Here are some pictures of harvest including the grain truck we got to follow for a while. We got a kick out of the lone eating place in the little town of Spangle, Washington. It appeared to be in the middle of a wheat field and the name was so appropriate for the time. Also, some of the farm homes in the middle of the wheatfields, appeared to be a bit opulent while others were quite modest.

I've created a monster

So, here I am filling in at Washington State University, getting to know the people and relating the past. Somehow this blog comes up and we get to the pics of the Oregon State imaging folks.. (See "homeward bound again"; June 22) Oh, oh!... So now we need pics of Washington State folks. We didn't catch everyone, like Dr. Russ Tucker whom I am replacing, Dr. Greg Roberts who was off doing something else at the time, Josh the MRI tech and I think one more of the techs. But here you go with another great imaging crew There is Vicki and Cindy flanking me, then Vicki on the phone with Sonya (who was off doing a CT when the other pic was made) and I. The 2 residents, Dr. Dana Neelis and Dr. Chris McKay) with me looking at some images (then mugging for the camera). You'll see a fleeting glance of Dr. McKay whizzing by me on his bicycle to work Friday morning further down the page. The "senior" resident is off studying for board exams. We did catch my host Dr. John Mattoon doing his thing with the ultrasound machine. Seems from these pictures that he is the only one working. Oh, there is a picture of the "nerve center" of imaging with Vicki at a computer. (Or is she sleeping?) Great layout here because you can be working on virtually anything and know what is going on in the rest of the section. So now I have to apologize to the folks at Purdue, Michigan State, and Tennessee, because I didn't showcase them. Somehow I think they will live with it.

Also since I "took you with me" on my walk to work in Corvallis, I though I would try to give you an idea of the somewhat more taxing trek to work from The Holiday Inn to Vet Med here in Pullman. In the picture with the Holiday Inn sign in the lower right corner, we are looking down the street the opposite way, to get an appreciation of the proximity of the wheat fields. Then we turn "uphill" on my path. John has been meeting me at the corner of the Holiday Inn and we walked together most days. Picture this lowlander at over 2000 feet elevation walking uphill talking most of the time (right John??) I'm doing my best to hide the huffing and puffing that seems to develop before we arrive at work. But Drs. Nelson and Attia back in Illinois should be smiling. As you look at the pictures you can see the tall residence halls against the skyline. That is where we take a right turn and head up into campus. This picture is taken when we are about half-way from the Holiday Inn to that corner. There are 3 crosswalks over the road before we finally arrive at Bustad Hall, named after the very colorful former dean of the Washington State Veterinary College. As with most university buildings the budget must include a certain percentage for artwork. I hear the WSU people calling this one the "X's and O's". The one at the Veterinary College at the University of Illinois is titled "Growing in Illinois" . I have also heard it called "a Vomiting Brontisaurus"... If you get by there, take a look and see what you think. I might have a picture at home that I can post when I get there. In addition to the "commissioned art", here at Washington State, there are some other bronze pieces. (Remember the service dog at the University of Tennessee?). I guess the mule speaks for itself. The other one titled, "The Caring Call", is cool also. Especially when I see on the plaque the name of Dr. Borje Gustafsson, a former department head at the University of Illinois who introduced Mary Haney (A former storeroom clerk at the U of I) to GLOG at department Christmas parties... It didn't take much glog to make Mary a happy camper. Hopefully this post will allow me to return Monday for my second week of work without harassment from the natives.

And amber waves of grain

Another locum; in the west. This time at Washington State University, the home of the Cougars, in Pullman Washington; 8 miles from Moscow, Idaho. I've been trying to get a handle on the terrain in this area since we started talking about coming here. Although several people mentioned the wheat, soybeans and field peas that are grown in this area, I was still tainted by a former faculty member from WSU who I had tried to recruit several years ago whose response was; "Why should I leave WSU when I can go bear hunting with my bow after work". Now this guy might be known to stretch the truth a bit in fun, but that image was stuck in my mind. Our first brush with displacement occurred when we recognized Lake Michigan out the plane window just after we took off from O'Hare. We assumed it was Chicago, but then the pilot announced that it was Milwaukee (See first photo). As we flew over the northern part of the country including the Dakotas and Montana, we noticed that the cornfields started changing to more and more of the yellow squares and circles that were wheat fields. The further west we went, the larger they got. Then we recognized the cascade mountains that had become so familiar to us on our trips to Oregon. All of a sudden Georgia noticed a mountain peak poking through the clouds. She commented that it looked like (our beloved) Mount Hood. Then another and another. We asked about them and the pilot responded that his device for remembering was RASH; Ranier, Adams, St.Helens. And Mount Baker was some where in there. So we tried to relate this with the view leaving Portland where we saw Mount Hood, and the 3 sisters. Then we came into Seattle and got a handle on all the water in and around the city that is bordered by mountains. Looks like a pretty neet place. We left Seattle on a smaller plane to fly to Spokane. On this flight we got to see the ever increasingly large wheat, etc. fields ready for harvest. We began to see the beauty of the "amber waves of grain". Regarding wheat fields, I had Kansas and the Dakota's in mind, but that is primarily flat land. As we drove the 70+ miles from Spokane south to Pullman, we got some real up close views of these beautiful hills of amber interspersed with fields already harvested and readied for replanting. I have to wonder how they run those large machines up and down those hillsides. You can see our present ride, the red Chevy Cobalt with a wheatfield background. Now we are in Pullman where we can look out one window and see a beautiful WSU situated on a hilltop and out another to see a wheatfield at the edge of town. I had my first day at work. Great people to work with. Nice setup for interaction and case management. I enjoyed it. Oh, I discussed walking to work with my host. He says, " I live very near where you are staying, how about I walk by and we go to work together." So we had an invigorating half hour walk to work this morning. Not to far, but pretty much up hill. Tonight after a hard day of work, we got to walk downhill. One day down and 9 more workdays to go for this trip. We have already identified more local sights to see than we will be able to work in this next weekend. One interesting fact! As we discussed coming here, the term "the Palouse" came up. I also knew that the noble Nez Perce indians lived in this area and that they had developed the great Appaloosa Horse. So as a person who is constantly trying to tie things together, I asked this morning if there was a connection between the name Palouse and the Appaloosa horse.... Yes, that is where the name comes from. Obvously there is need for further study to unearth the richness of this piece of history.