A Small Fox in a Big World

Lois Hattery Tiffany, a Tribute

Lois Hattery Tiffany
March 8, 1924 - September 6, 2009

Lois Hattery Tiffany was born March 8, 1924, on a farm near Collins, to Charles and Blanche (Brown) Hattery. She married F. H. (Hank) Tiffany May 16, 1945.

Held in high regard by the public as “Iowa’s Mushroom Lady,” and known by many students, colleagues and friends as “Dr. T,” she was the matriarch of the Botany (and more recently, Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology) Department at Iowa State University. She joined the faculty of the Botany Department in 1950, served as department chair from 1990 to 1996, and was named as distinguished professor in 1994.

Dr. Tiffany’s degrees were all from Iowa State University: Bachelor of Science in 1945, Master of Science in 1947, and Ph.D. in 1950.

Dr. Tiffany taught mycology and field botany courses, both at ISU and Iowa Lakeside Laboratory.  She advised many hundreds of undergraduate students and was the major professor or committee member for numerous graduate students. Many of the graduate students she mentored have added greatly to the field of mycology in teaching and research.

Her research, although mainly focused in Iowa, was broad in scope, and included studies of fungal diseases of native prairie plants in Iowa, a 10-year survey of Iowa’s morels, and a study of the fungus flora of Big Bend National Park, to name just a few of her projects.

She served in numerous capacities in  leadership and service within and beyond ISU, including leadership in various ISU committees at all levels, the Iowa Academy of Science, the Mycological Society of America, the American Phytopathological Society, the Iowa Natural History Association, and other organizations.

She received numerous awards, including: first recipient of the Mycological Society of America W.H. Weston, Jr. Award for Teaching Excellence in Mycology, 1980; Distinguished Iowa Scientist Award, Iowa Academy of Science, 1982; first recipient of the Governor’s Medal for Science Teaching, 1982; ISU Teaching Excellence Award, 1989; Iowa Women’s Hall of Fame, 1991; First VEISHA Professor of the Year, 1993; Iowa American Association of University Women Distinguished Faculty Award, 1993; Distinguished Service Award, Iowa Academy of Science, 1994; Distinguished Professor, ISU, 1994; and most recently, an Honorary Outstanding Career Award at the 62nd meeting of the North Central Division of the American Phytopathological Society, 2009.

She is survived by her three children, five grandchildren, and one great grandchild.

Proceeded in death by her parents, husband, and one grandson.

"Death is nothing at all… I have only slipped away into the next room… I am I, and you are you… whatever we were to each other, that we are still. Call me by my old familiar name, speak to me in the easy way you always used. Put no difference into your tone; wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow. Laugh as we always laughed at the little jokes we enjoyed together. Play, smile, think of me, pray for me. Let my name be ever the household word that it always was. Let it be spoken without effect, without the ghost of a shadow on it. Life means all that it ever meant. It is the same as it ever was; there is absolutely unbroken continuity. Why should I be out of mind because I am out of sight? I am waiting for you, for an interval, somewhere very near, just around the corner… All is well."

 

~Henry Scott Holland

Oxford Professor of Divinity

We Hit A Deer

But the good news is, the shower is fixed now.

Slowly, Slowly

I'm slowly coming back from my little break. For those of you who don't follow my twitter feed here on the blog, my Dad had a heart attack on the 5th and I spent that whole week at home with my parents, helping to take care of things. He's doing much better now, and is very thankful to all of you who sent him good wishes. This week has been filled with catching up at work, but I'm hoping to be back into the swing of things starting Monday. This is the only bit of crafting I've gotten done in a good long while. I finished this block for Miss Mommymae sometime towards the end of March, but just haven't gotten around to posting it yet.  Jenny is making two quilts for her twin daughters and I got the one who likes red. Girl after my own heart!

A quick update

Sorry for my inactivity as of late. I've had a busy few days and will have a few more before it's all said and done. I haven't had any days off, like I usually do, and by the time I get home, I'm almost too tired to check my email, let alone string together a coherent sentence. So, blogging has moved to the back burner for a bit. I have so much I want to tell you about, so hopefully I'll get a chance Thursday afternoon, as that's my next time off. I have my Coraline box to blog about, some Busy Little Quilting Bee blocks, as well as three Story Hours to catch up on.  I hope none of you are too disappointed in me!

I'll give you a little recap of the week I just had, as well as what's to come. Monday, I worked on the cookbook we are doing as a fundraiser for the library, to get a draft completed to show our Friends group. Tuesday, I had Story Hour and work until 11:30 and then went shopping with my Mother in Law until around 9pm. Wednesday, I worked and then had a Staff Meeting and so didn't get home until 9pm once again. Thursday, I started a Public Library Management class, so I was up and about doing stuff for that from 6:30am until 6pm. And then I had homework. That I still need to finish. And Friday, I worked and came home super pooped! Yesterday, I slept until 10am, which was super nice and then got up and ran a bunch of errands and went to see Monsters vs Aliens. Today, we went shopping because all of Brian's pants are full of holes. Tomorrow, I have to buy a bunch of stuff for a meeting on Wednesday and go into work and make a poster for our Spring Tea and probably work on the cookbook and get set up for the meeting. Tuesday, I have Story Hour and work and then my yearly exam in the afternoon. (TMI, I know.) Wednesday, I have a meeting with 16 other Children's Librarians in my library and then Thursday morning is my next class and Friday I work and then we leave to go to Lincoln so we can help Brian's brother and soon to be wife move into the house they just bought. And then the next weekend we go back to see them get married. And then I pass out from tired.

None of which has anything to do with this squirrel.  I just didn't want you to have to suffer these words alone.

It's amazing how much one can hurt themselves on one little safety pin

Thankfully, I've healed enough that bleeding all over my quilt in progress is no longer a fear.  I took the bandaids off this morning.  I kind of miss them though.  They were pretty.

It snowed yesterday. Seriously.

We went to visit Brian's brother and on the way home, it started to snow.  Thankfully, none of it stuck, but I was a bit disgusted, none the less.  Add to that the 50 mile an hour wind gusts we were having and it all adds up to a very blustery day indeed.  My mom called it a "Pooh kind of day," which I found fitting.  And on Pooh days, you need a little something sweet to calm the rumblies in your tumbly.  So, we made Sour Cream Apple Pie.  If you haven't made it yet, please do.  It's so delicious that you may never want to eat "normal" apple pie again.  At the very least, it will calm the rumblies and warm up your insides.  Which is what all good pies should do!

Remember

I had an early class that morning, so I had no idea what had happened a few hundred miles away as I studied art history.  I walked blithely across campus, enjoying the balmy Fall day and arrived in my acting class with a smile on my face and a song on my lips.  I looked around at the somber faces and light-heartedly quipped, "What's wrong?  You all look like someone died."  My jest was greeted with blank stares tinged with disgust. 

Moments later, as we sat and pondered the whereabouts of our teacher, I learned the news.  My face morphed to match those around me and I regretted my earlier words.  Our teacher finally showed up, twenty minutes late, as he had been frantically trying to learn the status of friends in the City.  Classes were canceled that day, but none of us left.  None of us wanted to be alone. We gathered in the lobby of the theater building, our eyes glued to the television.  We sat that way for hours, not wanting to watch, but unable to look away.

I remember crawling into the lap of one of my friends, because I just wanted someone to hold me.  Seven years later, and on the verge of one of the most important elections of my entire life, I feel something of that old fear.  But comfort is harder to find.

Don't look! It might be another post about politics!

Who knew nine little words would be so volcanic?  I mean, it's not like I went all Dooce on you or something.  I posted a link that you didn't have to click on.  And if you did, you didn't have to read it.  And if you did, I hope you learned something.  Because learning is fun.  It makes your hair grow.

Anyway, on to... I'd say lighter topics, but I'd be lying.  I'm here to talk about infertility.  That's right.  If I was Dooce, I'd use this opportunity to make some joke about mormons and my vagina.  But you see, while I have a sense of comedic timing, I can rarely think of a joke.  Some people have all the luck.

We have been trying to get pregnant for a little over a year, to no avail.  And, being one who doesn't like to be "bad" at anything, we went to the doctor on Tuesday in an effort to improve our A-game, so to speak.  I'd really like to move on from the "trying" phase to the "succeeding" phase.  Sex is no longer fun when it feels like your second job.

Upon our arrival, I find out that our insurance company won't cover any infertility treatment, because they don't give a damn if I get pregnant.  They will cover diagnostics, with a pre-approval, which they may or may not grant, which is at least something, but we're on our own if we decide to pursue anything further.  That wasn't really the news I was hoping for, but it's what I got, none the less.

The doctor told us about the available options and I go in on Monday for a Day 21 Progesterone test, to see if I'm ovulating and they gave us a sterile cup to bring home for Brian's semen analysis.  After that is done, I'm supposed to do an over the counter ovulation test, to figure out my "fertile window."  And after all that, I'm supposed to have a Hysterosalpinogram, which I've heard is pretty painful and unpleasant.

And then... well, I guess we'll see. It's really hard for me to think about all this.  Having a baby is just something that I'm supposed to be able to do.  I feel broken.  Or like a failure or something.  And Brian isn't particularly sympathetic, not because he's a bastard, but because he just doesn't understand.  He can't.  His uterus isn't screaming at him to reproduce the way I feel mine is sometimes.  I can't even watch Calliou anymore without getting weepy.  And then I feel like an idiot.

I look around me, at all these people who have children they pay little attention to, or treat poorly and I wonder why they get to have kids and I don't.  I'd be a good mom, if someone would just let me have the chance.

We interrupt this broadcast...

Go here.

Read this.

Be informed.

That is all.

I appreciate customer service

So, when I experience a distinct lack of it, I feel the need to tell people about it.  I'm in the market for some linen to make a few advent calendars for Christmas.  So, because I had heard good things about them in the past, I decided to go to Grayline Linen to make my purchase.  I had a couple of questions, so I emailed their sales inquires address -- which they claimed would be answered immediately -- and waited.  A whole week went by and no response.  So, I called.  The woman I got on the phone was rude and couldn't answer my very simple questions.  She said she would contact the person in charge of the website and then get back to me.  That was three days ago.  So, I just don't think I'm going to give them my money and I don't think you should, either, even if they have a good product.  All I wanted to know was the color code for one of their products that wasn't listed and apparently that was too much to ask.

So, dear readers, I ask a question of you.  Where do you get your linen?  Do any of you have any good online sources for product that is of nice quality and resonably priced?  I know you won't let me down!