daffodils at sunset

salamander shirt

we just got our new oak knoll t-shirts in. they're only $12 if you want one. i designed them and wove them myself out of organic cotton. elves painted the salamanders. and they always smell like daffodils. how could anybody not love this t-shirt? we have many colors, including a neon-like green that "seemed like a good idea at the time."

more salamander shirts

two more color options. if you look up at the roof of oak knoll, you can see the shingle that matt replaced. geez, matt, couldn't you have used one that matched the exisiting roof? well, as pete seeger says: "volunteers. you never know how they're going to f*** things up." indeed, pete. indeed.

the fox went out on a chilly night...

this svelte little fox is soon to be quite portly, as it spent most of the day on saturday caching away the score of a lifetime- the remains of four tame and rather unintelligent chickens. we think it's most likely that the fox caught the chickens out in the yard in the early morning. i found what was left of three of them when i got up around 7:00am. matt and bekah watched him come back to the yard throughout the day to collect the rest. we had already ordered five more chickens, but now might wait on bringing them to farm street until the fox forgets about his amazing streak of good luck.

News from Farm Street

For those of you who haven't heard (which means for those of you whose phone number my mother doesn't have), we have had a topsy-turvy week here at Farm Street. Matt went in to the emergency room on Easter Sunday (April 16) with some abdominal pain. Because he had been showing symptoms of jaundice, he had already recently been tested for many viral forms of hepatitis and for mono and other viruses that can affect the liver. All of these tests had come back negative and the doctors had not been able to determine the cause of his yellowing. At the ER on Sunday, they discovered that he had very high levels of pancreatic enzymes in his blood. Normal lipase levels are usually between 114 and 256- Matt's were around 7400. They transferred him via ambulance (I am told that, disappointingly, neither lights nor sirens were used for the trip) to another hospital and then yet again that same night to another building. They thought it very likely that he had a gallstone blocking his bile duct and did a procedure called an ERCP on Monday to investigate the area using tiny cameras and maybe some sort of robot or teeny tiny little guy in a very small spaceship.

What they found, much to their surprise, was a tumor. They performed a biopsy to assess the pathology of the tissue and a CT scan to view the extent of the tumor. Matt has since undergone a colonoscopy (ugh. do you know about these? seriously, the only thing i can say is "ugh."), extensive bloodwork, stomach x-rays, and numerous meals of jello and broth. The doctors now know that there are two cancerous tumors, each about 2 cm in diameter. They are pinching his bile duct (and by "they" I mean the tumors, not the doctors), preventing digestive enzymes from entering his colon, which is what caused the symptoms of hepatitis and pancreatitis. The tumors are highly differentiated, which means that prospects for successful removal are high and it is NOT anticipated that Matt will need to undergo chemotherapy following the surgery.

Matt is coming home this morning after five days of enforced captivity and is looking forward to opportunities to be outside and to eat real food again. The surgery is scheduled for May 11 (that date sound familiar?) and he'll probably be recuperating throughout the rest of May and early June.

My mom was here for a couple of days to make fruit salad and provide moral support- it was great to know that she was holding down the fort while I spent a couple of nights at the hospital with Matt, and that the fort was well defended, as Scout was here too. Matt's sister Bekah flew in from Wyoming and will be staying with us on Farm Street through the weekend. And the rest of Matt's family has been making frequent trips down from New Hampshire to see him. Between us all, we've provided a mighty support system for him as well as increased revenues for the burrito place around the corner from the hospital.

Thanks to everyone who has called or sent their good thoughts and hope our way. It sounds crazy to say that things are good, but we've come a long way in understanding Matt's status since the discovery of the tumors on Monday. The doctors are very optimistic about his potential for a full recovery and while we were hoping to get the surgery over with right away, the next three weeks will give us some time to relax, enjoy spring, and perhaps fatten him up just a bit. Matt was definitely not in need of a five-day fast to slim him down.

I'll do my best to keep everyone posted as to his health and the status of his recovery. I am confident that we are all going to be just fine.

what matt looks like on the inside before his surgery

the doctor has indicated the approximate location of the tumor. we now know that there are actually two tumors, each about 2 cm in diameter. they are highly differentiated and therefore their removal is anticipated to be pretty straight-forward.

what matt will look like on the inside after his surgery

during the 6-8 hour procedure, the doctors will remove the tumors, as well as part of his pancreas, all of his gallbladder, most of the bile duct, and a part of his stomach. they will then re-position the pieces that are left so that everything will function appropriately after the operation. he'll be in the hospital for about a week after the surgery and then recovering at home for a while after that. the surgeons who will be performing the procedure are some of the very best in the nation and we are confident that everything is going to go smoothly. feel free to call or email with questions or to add comments to this page.

bekah plays set

can you see one?

scout walks in the water

happy easter

adam sent me this. i love it.

spotted salamander eggs

blogging the vernal pool

here's a picture of me taking a picture of some spotted salamander eggs. the water is not what you would call "warm".

matt gets a hit

it's windy on the island

the beach

we stopped by the beach before taking the ferry back to falmouth

riding the ferry

julie and i went out to martha's vineyard on sunday to help out at felix neck wildlife sanctuary's annual osprey festival.
wait, if julie is reading and sarah is sleeping, then who took the picture?

hey evie, where you going with that socccer ball?

spoon on his head

my nephew

chickens love to help in the garden

starting the garden

wood frog eggs

the wood frog breeds only in vernal pools. a female will lay a mass of up to 1500 eggs. the females often lay their eggs in the same place in the pool so that there are many masses clustered together.

egg mass

close up of the wood frog eggs. over the next two weeks, those black dots at the center of each egg will start to look more and more like little tadpoles. the egg mass might start to turn green as algae grows on it. this algae provides oxygen for the developing larva and will also serve as a food source for the young tadpoles after they hatch.

evidence of a big night

on the first warm, rainy night in the spring, salamanders migrate to vernal pools to breed. we call this synchronized mass migration "big night." this gooey thing is a spermatophore, a little packet of salamander sperm that the males place on leaves at the bottom of the pools.