Last week was my “spring break” and thankfully I was able to get most of my shifts covered at the bookstore so that Laura and I could get up to Clemson and look at housing options. We saw about 15 properties over 6 hours and ended up signing a lease on Good Friday for a really great 4 bedroom house in Seneca, about 15 minutes from campus. Some of you might be wondering why little Laura and I would ever go for a 4 bedroom 2.5 bath house. Well, you might too if the rent was only $600. YEAH. I know! Corner yard with plenty of garden space, 1,600 sq ft, hard wood floors, fire place, central air and gas heat ($clutch$). There is a room that was built on a few years ago that will be my studio/laboratory with its own entrance, so I can store my bikes easily. Laura will have her own office as well, and we still have a dedicated guest room for all of you who we would love to see at some point over the next two years. …Read the rest »

On a beautiful sunny Saturday morning in Litchfield, South Carolina, a federally recognized Retirement Zone on the Hammock Coast of Georgetown County, the seagulls wheeled over the Bi Lo parking lot, waiting for Jo to take her seat at the bench under the live oak trees, as she did every morning, weather permitting. There, she sipped coffee from a stainless steel travel cup and threw crusts of bread and raw vegetable scraps which showed up sharply on the fresh blacktop that still smelled of kerosene. Large white gulls descended around her, screaming. The pecking order that was established during these feeding frenzies fascinated Jo. It was one of the highlights of her morning routine. …Read the rest »