Lots of work...and some fun too!

The last two weeks have gone by so quickly! I spend most of the time these days reading journal articles, doing dental charts, and comparing antemortem/postmortem radiographs. I admit I've become somewhat of a sucker for a good positive identification! Anyway, yesterday Tom and I went to a BBQ held by the head of the forensics dept. here at MSU. Before we headed over to his house, however, we all stopped by this beautiful apple orchard about five miles out of East Lansing. We had never been apple picking before so we had a great time. We ended up taking home about 20lbs of various species of apple at less than 50 cents a pound! It was great! It makes me wonder why we all have become so accustomed to paying $1.99 per pound in the grocery store for old apples that are shipped from all over the world. That's exactly what you have to pay here for Washington apples...$1.99! Why waste so much money when you have better, fresher, and probably healthier fruits right in your own backyard?

It was so gorgeous that day too! The sun was out and there was a wonderful breeze. Now all we have to do is figure out what to do with 20lbs of apples! We also had a great time at the BBQ. Tom got to play a few rounds of croquette while I played one of my favorite games ever...Apples to Apples. I've missed playing that game with my family so much!

Now that fall is finally upon us the colors are really starting to change here! I'm so excited! We really don't get anything like it at home in Washington. Tom and I are going up into Northern Michigan this weekend as an early celebration of our anniversary. I'm really hoping the weather gets a bit cooler. Today was 90 degrees and I'm tired of it. Hot weather and pregnancy don't mix. Well...better get back to all of my reading!

Frankenmuth

A traveler trekking across the United States will most likely run into a small German Village in every state. Although each town is entirely void of any real Germans, or those who speak any German, they try their hardest to imitate the quaint lifestyle of a small community found somewhere in the Alps or even the Black Forest. Michigan is no exception with it's rather eclectic town of Frankenmuth. Oddities abound in this German style village including everything from it's motorcycling Chiwawa to it's House of Horrors. Tom and I enjoyed our day there walking around in the shops and eating the best German food I have had in a long time. After living in Vienna I swore I would never eat Wiener Schnitzel ever again but after almost four years I couldn't help myself. I think my favorite part of the trip, however, was Zehnder's Market Place. The pastries here defy any qualification I could give them except "awesome". I love food if you can't tell. Their bread was great too which coming from a bread snob is high praise!

After traveling around in the Midwest I have come to the conclusion that Midwesterners have got to be the friendliest people on this planet. Everywhere we have gone so far there have been people who have helped us along the way with maps, hotels, places to eat, movie theaters, various weather predictions and explanations for Michigan's terrible drivers. Although it is a rather flat place to live geographically, the company is great!

A story of murder...

Late one evening in 1910 London, the American born Dr. and Mrs. Crippen bid farewell to their dinner guests. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary that night except for the fact that that was the last time Mrs. Crippen was ever seen alive again. Over the next few weeks friends of the Crippens noticed that Mr. Crippen began pawning off his missing wife's jewelry and openly paraded around with his new love interest Ethel Clara LeNeve. When asked for the ware abouts of his wife, he simply replied she had taken ill on a trip to America and died there while visiting relatives. Unsatisfied with this answer, friends of Mrs. Crippen went to the police. During an interview with the police, Crippen admitted that he had lied about his wife. He told them that she had run away with one of her past lovers and he had lied to keep them both from any embarrassment. Satisfied with the answer, the police dropped the case. Everything might have gone off well after this had Mr. Crippen and Ms. LeNeve not suddenly decided to leave the country by boarding a boat to America in full disguise. When the police got wind of this, a thorough search of the house was conducted.

What the police found was of no surprise to them...a body buried in the basement of the house. What was surprising, however, was the complete absence of any limbs, bones, the head or anything else that might be used to identify the person. The only identifying mark on the body was a small scar on the abdomen. It was well known that Mrs. Crippen had undergone surgery in her past which left a small scar very similar to the one found on the body. There was also a trace of the chemical hyocine in the body which Crippen, being a doctor, had access to. The police took this to be absolutely incriminating evidence and had Mr. Crippen captured, tried and hanged in a matter of months. So did he really do it? Apparently Crippen received a letter while awaiting sentencing that was from his supposedly dead wife claiming she was sorry but could not identify herself for fear of embarrassment. The court didn't seem to think this was worth looking into.

Tom and I went to a talk on this murder last Friday by a toxicologist who believes there may be some evidence to prove he didn't. The murder case itself is second to only one in England and that of course is Jack the Ripper. There have been numerous movies and books on this case, not to mention a very VERY cheesy Broadway musical. Just recently this toxicologist was able to obtain a small piece of one of the samples taken from the body. He was also able to identify several relatives of Mrs. Crippens making it possible to do a DNA analysis. The thing that is so cool about this is the tests are all being done here at MSU. So if you are interested, I'll let you know how the results turned out.