Wednesday, December 23, 2009

John's Graduation at OSU



Lots to celebrate right now with John's graduation from OSU with a BA in criminology and minor in entomology.

Sunday, July 27, 2008

South Africa in Bloemfontein






We hit the ground running at ClinVet working on the impact of UVC on fleas. The Fouries were great hosts in their newly completed home in Woodland Hills on the city outskirts. We enjoyed the rich variety of meats prepared on the braai. We even had a braai at ClinVet one afternoon.

Saturday, July 26, 2008

South Africa 2008






After a very busy Thursday there was one more paper to give on Friday at ICE on Dust Mites & Mattress Ecology. The very practical steps of vacuuming a mattress can remove mites and allergen, followed by flipping/rotation, can further reduce them by taking the mites away from body humidity. The project was funded by Sealy Inc. as part of a MS thesis. The story was sufficiently interesting that we were interviewed by the Durban paper. The highlight of the day was meeting the family of my former graduate student, Debbie Jaworski. She brought her two daughters and husband, whom I had not seen since they moved from California to Oklahoma. Debbie replaced my Ph.D adviser John Sauer, at Oklahoma State University. The evening was spent trying to organize a fishing trip off the coast of Durban. Due to a bad weather forecast we employed plan B, which was to visit the aquarium where we saw them feed sharks and turtles.

Fishing was on for Sunday now...the challenge was getting up to meet Captain Stewart at 6:30AM. Students from OSU and Texas A&M joined us for the outing, which was supposed to last until about 1PM because he had a flight to catch for Bloemfontein. After getting underway we caught some shad for bait then motored for about 20 minutes beyond the breakwater where we dropped anchor, which allowed us to drift while bottom fishing. There were two hooks on each line and a very heavy sinker. My first effort was to drop the line overboard rather clumsily and a large hook ended up embedded in my left hand. After collecting my wits I removed the hook and dropped the line into the water this time. After reaching the bottom and reeling up a few cranks I hooked a nice salmon...much better then my hand for sure. A few minutes later John caught a salmon and we were in business. I ended up catching three fish and John caught the most...five. Unfortunately the wind came up and soon we were looking up at some of he swells so we had to return early. Since we had no way to transport the fish to Bloemfontein they remained behind...such a pity as they would have tasted very well on the grill.

John and I caught an evening flight to Bloemfontein where long-time friend and colleague Leon Fourie picked us up. Now we are in the city we visited had 10 years before with the family (>3 months) where I worked on a tick repellent at the University of the Orange Free State with Leon. We will be in Bloemfontein for two weeks working at ClinVet.

Thursday, July 24, 2008

South Africa 2008






Thursday was a very full day with the symposium dedicated in honor of Professor Andrew Spielman, from the Harvard School of Public Health, who passed away in 2006. I received input from several colleagues, esp. Rich Pollack, and Andy's wife Judy (married 51 years) and daughter Sue. Contributions can be made to the Andrew Spielman Memorial Fund at Harvard, which honors him with student support for field research travel and a symposium (http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/spielman/donate-now/). The symposium was co-organized with Andrew Li and Laura Fielden, who were not able to attend the Congress. My former graduate student Deborah Jaworski was my co-moderator for some excellent talks on ticks, bed bugs, Rhodnius, mosquitoes and leaf hoppers.

South Africa 2008





Wednesday we were able to visit the Tala Game Preserve about 1 hr from Durban. This privately owned property has a large variety of animal life, minus the traditional predators. This was my first time to see hippos in the 'wild'. We were served a lovely lunch, then had an hour to wander around before heading back to Durban. Final preparation for the symposium went well into night, as I had two presentations, one a tribute to Professor Andy Spielman and one on tick adaptations to 'stressors'.

South Africa 2008


Tuesday was a busy day with John presenting his first paper at a scientific meeting, if you don't count science fairs. Some 100+ listened to his presentation on ultraviolet light as a non-chemical insecticide/acaricide (mite killer). He had a couple of good questions since he finished about 5 minutes early. I was very proud of he as handled the situation very well...I am sure he was one of the very few undergraduate students presenting. Afterwards we had a nice lunch, got our photo taken with us wearing our 'oxygen regulators' (neckties) in front of the conference center. Now we were back to the 16th floor of Southern Sun Elangeni to prepare for my Vector Symposium on Thursday.

Wednesday, July 23, 2008

South Africa 2008



John & I had an uneventful trip from Ohio to Durban via South African Airways. Our first full day was spent on a tour of Sani Pass about 2+ hours from Durban, elevation 10,000 ft. They claim the highest pub (in elevation) where we enjoyed a nice lunch and brief history of the highest country in the world (all above 3,300 ft) Lesotho. It is entirely surrounded by S. Africa and is one of the poorest countries. Most inhabitants are Christian. This pass is accessibly only by 4 wheel drive vehicle with a 24% grade the last few miles. Not a fun ride for those with motion issues! That evening was spent polishing John's talk for the International Congress of Entomology on the impact of ultraviolet-C on mites and fleas.