You're Invited!

We've got just under a week until our big fundraiser bash in Warwick. Hopefully most of you local folks received the invite made by Shellie. If you're a little further away, here's a copy of it:


Beautiful right? So hopefully I'll see some of you guys at the party. We've got lots of great food contributed by many fantastic cooks. Bring your dancing shoes since we're lucky to have DJ John Vanner with us for another evening of fun. Also, we've got a multitude of sweet raffle prizes donated by family, friends, and local businesses. To whet your appetite we've got a handmade quilt by Shellie, a wool scarf made in Seattle by birder extraordinaire Molly Woodring, and several gift certificates for fantastic restaurants around Providence.


The weather's looking great, huh? My new bike and I have been putting on the mileage. I'm learning the pains/joys of clipless pedals and the necessity of sunblock on an 80 degree day. I had my first 50 mile day recently, and then followed it up with a big group ride around providence the same evening, bringing the total to somewhere around 65 miles for the day. The group ride is called Critical Mass and it goes down in lots of cities all over the world on the last friday of the month. People generally meet at a set location at 6pm and then take to the streets. In Providence we went from the East Side to the West End and all points in between. Traversing the city on bike makes you see just how accessible all parts of Providence are, and you love it even more!


My Uncle John and his tattoo-artist friends have been a huge help in recent weeks. Check out their websites in the new "Thanks for Helping" section. Thanks for checking in on the blog, hope to see you all soon!

Asheville and Points North

It's good to be home! I've been in RI since April 8th (Lauren's 21st!) and it's been so nice. Pat kindly fixed up my computer, and now it's time to blog! Our sparrow research in eastern Carolina finished up great. We said goodbye to our old haunts, and on our last day of netting were pleased to catch a Sharp-Shinned Hawk (that's the scared looking bird above). Needless to say, I think we all had a great few months.

Looking at my digital camera, the above is sadly the ONLY picture I took in digital format while in Asheville. It's Erin after Teddy had a very traumatic visit to Uncle Mike and Aunt Chris's house. I did take some 35mm pictures, but what good is that when blogging? After leaving the Swamp Sparrow house I took the 8 hour drive west to visit family and friends in Asheville. It was such a good time. There was plenty of pickin' on the banjo, a hike in the smokies where I took us dangerously far off the trail, and an unexpected cello concert at a restaurant called Picnics.


I had to sneak in one more bird picture. Here are a couple of Cardinals, male and female. They have the most vicious bird bite. Who would have thought?

After Asheville, I drove through the impossibly long stretch of highway in Virginia. Fortunately the Foelsters took me in that night! We caught up a bit and I had some delicious vegetarian soup. I even got to play a little fetch with their dog Penny! I dusted off the picture below to show that my Phillies pride dates to before their World Series win.

A new addition to the blog is the "Thanks for Helping" sidebar over to the right. It'll provide links to business, websites, and blogs that have shown Bike and Build some love over the past couple of months. Thanks so much to all of them, and all of YOU for the support!

Below is a little clip of us releasing that Sharp-Shinned Hawk. You aren't mistaken, it flies directly into our net after being released!