Free Rice

I just found this website after listening to NPR this morning . It's a word game - the better you are the more you can donate to the WFP. Check it out and help feed the hungry!

Getting All Set

Got my staging kit yesterday! So, turns out I'm leaving two days earlier than I thought - January 6th instead of January 8th. Staging got moved up a day and then it turns out that you can't get a flight from Abq to Philadelphia that gets you there before 1:30. So, I'm leaving Abq at 10:20 am on Sunday, January 6th, flying first to Denver then to Philadelphia, where I get an extra night in a hotel. Unfortunately I arrive too late to really see the sights, but I don't have to check in until 1:30 the next day, so maybe I'll be able to slog around a bit in the morning.

If anyone else is headed that way, I'm flying United - give me a holler and maybe we can sit together :)

Into the Great Beyond

So, I'm wondering, am I the only one interested in meeting the other volunteers for my stage ahead of time? Only one other person has found me **waves to Allie** and I'm trying to figure out why... **sniffs** If anyone else is headed to Niger in January of '08, please, give a holler!

I would like to send a huge THANK YOU out to the Gardener's Guild here in Albuquerque. We had just had lunch at a nearby restaurant, Kelly's for those of you around here, and we wandered in to browse. I mentioned I was going to Niger (yes, yes, it's every other sentence out of my mouth these days) and the nice owner said that he had a whole box of seeds that he couldn't legally sell in a month due to germination percentage laws and that I could take any of them that I wanted. So, in addition to my neat red popcorn and summer of squash mix, I snagged any and all warm season heirlooms that I could. Greedy little thing that I am I ended up with quite the bag full. Totally nice guy. So thank you very much!!! If any of you happen to be in town, please drop by and thank them for me while I'm in Niger :)

The Salt Flats

So, given complaints that the last header had zero to do with this blog, other than that I thought it was pretty, I snagged the above National Geographic picture of the salt makers at Teguidda-n-Tessoumt, Niger. Apparently they let the dry air evaporate the brine pools and then collect the salt.

Niger and Lions and Bears, Oh My!

Found out on Sunday that I'm going to Niger in January as a Crop Extension Agent. Woot! Decided to start a new blog as I start towards a new life. Will keep the old one, too, for now, but thought a new blog was in order :)