More invaders!

Insects are awesome! Check this guy out. I'm pretty sure this is a robberfly. They hunt and kill other insects. Who needs sci-fi when there are things like this out there.

The invasion has started!

We found this strange creature plotting to take over the world. These fearsome aliens will soon rule the world!
Ok it is not really an extra-terrestrial, and it only about an inch and a half long. It is a snakefly.
The picture is not great but she didn't give me much of a chance to adjust the settings. I got only one shot before she flew away.

It was a Dark and stormy Knight

I went and saw the Dark Knight today. For all of you who went to the theater to see it you will agree with me when I say I'm sick and tired of these unoriginal, unimaginative, cheesy, over the top, special effects driven remakes. I mean come on, the original was a classic. The hollywood people have way too much money and no new ideas. What's going on? I am talking of course about the preview for "The day the earth stood still". Why remake a classic at all, and if you absolutely must then be true to the story rather then bury it with special effects. And another thing, Keanu Reeves, seriously? He is Neo of The Matrix fame and should not ever try to be anything else. (He's just not very good).



Did I mention that I absolutely loved The Dark Knight. What an incredible movie. If you have not seen it yet then stop reading this now and go see it. It is definitely worth the price of a movie ticket and that is saying something. Not very many movies these days are.



So to recap

The Dark Knight - Amazing!

The Day the Earth Stood Still (the remake) - Why!?

Keanu Reeves - Cool as Neo, otherwise not so much.

Hollywood executives with too much time and money and no original ideas - maybe movie making isn't for you, perhaps you should try politics...

Camping with the loons

Over the 4th of July weekend we took our family camping. Our journey took us to the Colville National Forest in northern Washington. The site we chose was Swan Lake. It was a beautiful place, right next to a lake. There were trails around the site and birds and bugs everywhere! Day one was great. It was warm and the kids had a blast. There was a family of Common Loons on the lake that were calling the whole time. We also had a Hairy Woodpecker visit our campsite, along with many chipmonks and squirrels. The kids had a rough time during the night. There was a big lightning and thunder storm with lots of rain. The next day was cold and wet and it did not warm up enough so we decided to head back to civilization. We drove back to the city of Colville and stayed in a hotel. It was fun and we got to go swimming. It was fun to go out and have fun as a family.
It got me thinking though that it would be fun to go camping with just the Lee men. It could be a tradition we could start sometime. It could be a ManLee retreat. We could go camping or hiking or do something fun by ourselves. It might be fun. Sorry I didn't get any pictures, the weather did not cooperate. You guys are great.

The Time Machine

Did any of you pay attention to the NBA draft? Our own Kyle Weaver (WSU) got picked 8th in the second round. We are excited up here. We don't have many NBA alumni to be pround of. He is going to Charlotte. He is a great all around player and should be fun to watch. I see that a BYU player also went in the 2nd round. How about that PAC 10. Three of the top five picks and 7 in the top 21. Not bad.
I also heard that Seattle is getting a MLS team. Have you heard that? We need it now that the Sonics are trying to leave. I guess they want to go to Oklahoma City. I thought of a great team name for them - the Bombers! OK, probably not. But will be sad if they leave. I wonder if I should be buying Sonics stuff and saving it. Then I could use this time machine to go forward five hundred years and try to sell them. Hopefully the apes will still be interested in stuff like this. Anyway I think its a good plan. As soon as I return I will of course destroy the time machine to keep it from falling into the wrong hands. I watched the movies, I know what could happen. You have to be responsible with things like that. Have a good day!

Bio Control

This summer I have been collecting insects for use in biocontrol programs. These bioagents specialize on specfic weeds and help control their invasive habits. It is a dream job for me most of the time. I get to be outside collecting insects! I get to see a lot of cool bugs, the other day I even caught a scorpion! I will include a couple of photos of the beetles on Canada thistle.

Larinus planus Rhinocyllus conicus

We spent a couple of weeks collecting these. As you can see the plants are pretty nasty. So what are you guys up to this summer? Let's have updates.

Initial Post

Greetings. I hope that this can be a means to improve our communication. Every day I think if things I want to tell somebody (sometimes they are even clever or relevant things) but I am not really the pick up the phone and chat kind of person. This way I can post my thoughts and you can reply or you can email me and I can transfer it to here so everyone can read it. I miss talking about stuff like sports or movies or current events or whatever. So let's do it!