Since retiring from an exciting, (mostly) fulfilling career as an aquatic toxicologist at OSU, I do occasional gigs when someone needs a seminar and sometimes contribute to someone else's research papers. But, my main academic work since retiring has been to contribute a couple of chapters to an historical analysis of the contributions of entomology to science. My co-author and I are in charge of the Age of Industry which covers the years 1820-1920. One of my chapters covers religion and entomology during this time period; the other is an analysis of the zeitgeist during that century. Thrilling, I know.
Now freed from the endless treadmill of getting grants and writing papers so that I could get more grants and write more papers, I have retired to life on the farm. There, I attempt to defy the second law of thermodynamics with a paint brush. Yes, my new augean task is to fix up our 120-year-old farm house and make the barn (finally) habitable for the dozen or so rescued equines that live with us. I should have watched more Bob Villa! Left to my own devices I perpetually bite off more than I can chew and proceed to chew most of it. But, I can at least announce that after 20 years of work, the barn will now keep 12 horses warm and dry when the winter gales blow. Of course, I failed to take into account the sisyphean ordeal that would ensue after keeping 12 horses in the barn all night. But, it keeps the weight off and I can now watch the seasons change from the loft of my renovated barn, marvel at the arrival of migratory birds that visit our pond enroute to their destinations and have come to a truce with the golden orb weaver spiders who insist on keeping a colony going near the main barn door. What can I say? Life is good.