Yep, I'm back in Raleigh for the week. I meant to post again before now, but oh well. Guess I didn't get bored enough last Sunday, though I don't actually remember what I did. Oh that's right - my parents came to visit! Yay! They were down in Gainesville helping my sis close on and move into her new house, which I will also be living in. So they stopped in Aiken on the way back to see where I was spending my summer. I didn't see much of them since I had work, but they took me out to dinner Sunday and Monday nights. Sunday was some fancy little cafe and I had an amazing salad with smoked trout and roasted peaches. All the other dishes were too salty. Monday we went to TakoSushi which is a half Mexican half Japanese place. Most of their dishes are one or the other, but a few are fusion. We just got sushi and a raw tuna appetizer. It was yummy. Afterwards we bought some funky sodas and candies at the Old Aiken Market. Mom found this spiced apple soda that she really liked and we got some super spicy Blenheim ginger ale. Don't inhale when you drink it or you'll be sneezing and choking for several minutes.
As for work, Candice and I managed to make it through the 75s alive on Monday and Tuesday. It actually wasn't quite as bad as we had imagined, but the chaps were definitely a life saver (but they made us SUPER sweaty). A few patches were jungle-like and we couldn't make our way inside, so we may see some edge effects when we analyze those samples. The rest of them were at least semi-navigable, but I definitely got a leg workout stomping down chest-high blackberries. There were also lots of BIG spiders to look out for, and they always seemed to make their webs in the best pathways. Yuck. I don't really have anything against them as creatures, they're just super creepy and I'd rather not be near them. I walked through a few webs, but luckily they seemed as eager to avoid me as I was of them. Don't you love it when things work out that way?
We spent Wednesday collecting additional samples from 52 for Julian's project. Thursday we went out with sweep nets to catch bug samples for the isotope catalog side project we're helping out with. Every damn time I looked in my net there were either green spiders or green grasshoppers. And while everything else was in a hurry to get out of the net, these guys were just chillin. So annoying. But we got a lot of samples anyway, though I bet a large number of them are duplicates. All of these days worked out so we could sample half the day and then sort the other half. On Friday, we were just planning to sort, but after talking on the phone with Julian and Dr. Levey Thursday night, I learned we needed seed samples for the isotope catalog. So I called Candice and told her, and she informed me that her hair appointment that was supposed to be Thursday afternoon had been postponed to Friday morning. It took every ounce of control in my body not to yell at her. And I seldom yell at people. So I went out by myself Friday morning to collect seeds and more bugs, grumbling the whole time. Candice showed up to count ants at noon. And I have to rely on her to help me write a publishable paper.
My last weekend in Aiken was a bit disappointing because everyone was out of town. I had ice cream on Friday with a few people, but my Saturday and Sunday were spent packing. No one showed up to ultimate on Sunday which was quite depressing. But I had Beck to talk to =). On Monday I drove to SRS for the last time to say goodbye to folks in the office, then to transfer the frozen bugs and berries from my freezer to the freezer at the research campus. Got back home, put all my stuff in my car, cleaned a bit, and got on the road around 2. Made it home around 8.
Now I'm unpacking from SC, packing for the Netherlands, semi-packing for college, and trying to fit in some fun times and relaxation before I leave Sunday. SUNDAY! I'M FLYING TO EUROPE TO SEE BECK ON SUNDAY! I'm excited, in case that wasn't obvious. I saw the 3rd Mummy movie on Tuesday with some friends. It had Yetis in it. I want one. On Wednesday I went to play ultimate at Hat League, but that didn't work out too well. About 2 points in, I attempted a layout but my toe got caught in the grass so it was like a flying trip which resulted in me landing hard on the top of my right knee. The rest of the night my knee hurt like hell and I couldn't really bend it, which was worrisome. This morning it's a bit better, still sore and stiff and a little swollen, but more mobility. I'm hoping it's just a severe bruise, but I may end up seeing a doctor just in case. Hopefully, whatever it is will heal by Sunday... Anyway, back to packing and whatnot.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Oh, right, the fire ants...
I kinda just left ya hanging on the last post. Oops. Well, the fire ant thing is going rather swimmingly, I'm happy to report. We've collected and processed at all but two sites, so we should finish up the sampling stuff next week and be able to go home as scheduled. We had trouble finding enough colonies at a couple sites, so we may have to revisit those, and the power in my trailer keeps blinking on and off. Dammit. OK storm, you've had your fun, now go away. There we go, OK power, please stay on? Anyway, I've only been bitten/stung about 7 times and without any adverse reactions, so I'm pretty happy with the project. I'm really not looking forward to sampling at the 75 sites. These were abandoned several years ago and 2 new sites were created. Now, they have 10 foot tall blackberry stalks. Not kidding. One of the PIs has offered me his chaps and recommends carrying something to beat back vegetation with. We're gonna die. And now for your entertainment, here's a video of fire ants swarming:
Notice how my camera becomes possessed by Satan at the end of the video.
It's been doing that since I took it to Mexico.
It occurred to me recently, that I've never fully explained the Corridor Project. It can probably be gathered from the name that the project has to do with habitat corridors. The experimental landscape is pretty sweet, though. There are 8 sites with 5 patches: a square central patch (A), connected by a corridor to patch B (also square). There are three more patches (C, D, and E) surrounding A, but not connected. These patches are either rectangular or winged (they have half a corridor extending from 2 sides). C and E are always the same shape, and D is the other shape, and which is which varies between sites. The square patches are 150m X 150m, and all patches are separated by 150m of matrix. The matrix is the forest (mostly pine) between the clearcut patches. The patches are meant to be a restoration of longleaf pine savanna, a natural community in this area maintained by fire disturbance. Thus, prescribed burns are conducted at the sites every so often. Here's some pictures, because my explanation is probably confusing:
From center, then clockwise from top right: A, B, C, D, E
I think this is patch D at site 8 (could be wrong)
Notice how my camera becomes possessed by Satan at the end of the video.
It's been doing that since I took it to Mexico.
It occurred to me recently, that I've never fully explained the Corridor Project. It can probably be gathered from the name that the project has to do with habitat corridors. The experimental landscape is pretty sweet, though. There are 8 sites with 5 patches: a square central patch (A), connected by a corridor to patch B (also square). There are three more patches (C, D, and E) surrounding A, but not connected. These patches are either rectangular or winged (they have half a corridor extending from 2 sides). C and E are always the same shape, and D is the other shape, and which is which varies between sites. The square patches are 150m X 150m, and all patches are separated by 150m of matrix. The matrix is the forest (mostly pine) between the clearcut patches. The patches are meant to be a restoration of longleaf pine savanna, a natural community in this area maintained by fire disturbance. Thus, prescribed burns are conducted at the sites every so often. Here's some pictures, because my explanation is probably confusing:
From center, then clockwise from top right: A, B, C, D, E
I think this is patch D at site 8 (could be wrong)So this project has been around at least 15 years, with tons of experiments conducted and papers written. My project is only one of at least 10 going on right now. The original landscapes were a bit different from this, but this landscape was designed to test for more factors than just connectivity. Patch shape and edge effects can also play a role in explaining various environmental phenomena, and I'll get to see if they affect my project results in addition to connectivity. For its size, this particular experimental landscape is the best replicated in the world, so it's actually kind of exciting to work here. Who knows, maybe I'll come back here...
As for the people on the project, they're pretty awesome. I've been having a lot of fun with them, and I'm sad that it's getting to the end of the summer and people are starting to leave. Including people on other projects at SRS (they're awesome too), I think 6 or so have left, and it sucks that I'll probably never see them again. So we've done a lot of partying and going out in the last few weeks, which has been a kind of bittersweet fun. Anyway, I'm the next to go, so I'm expecting at least one more good party before then.
Since I feel bad for not updating much lately, if I'm bored enough tomorrow I might post some random stories, photos, etc that I've been meaning to all along. But only if I'm bored enough.
As for the people on the project, they're pretty awesome. I've been having a lot of fun with them, and I'm sad that it's getting to the end of the summer and people are starting to leave. Including people on other projects at SRS (they're awesome too), I think 6 or so have left, and it sucks that I'll probably never see them again. So we've done a lot of partying and going out in the last few weeks, which has been a kind of bittersweet fun. Anyway, I'm the next to go, so I'm expecting at least one more good party before then.
Since I feel bad for not updating much lately, if I'm bored enough tomorrow I might post some random stories, photos, etc that I've been meaning to all along. But only if I'm bored enough.
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Abandon Ship!
The U.S.S Bunting shall sail no more! She carried us a long way, but her journey has ended. Alas, she's run aground on the Rock of Low Testosterone, and the Nesterly Winds are not enough to keep her going. We must board the SIA lifeboats and hope for rescue ship. Otherwise, our journey will have been in vain. Ahoy! The U.S.S. Fire Ant has responded to our S.O.S.! We're saved! The Generalist has offered to carry us to our destination, the Trophic Tropics, and it can do so much faster than the bunting could. Hooray!
See kids? Science is an adventure!
Yeah, Candice, Julian, and I had a conference call with Dr. Levey and decided that we weren't going to be able to collect enough blood samples to conclude anything about trophic niche. So in order to stay with the stable isotope analysis and trophic niche premise, we decided to pick another generalist species that would be easy to collect. Fire ants are everywhere and eat everything (almost). Fire ants it is, then.
Fortunately, our collection method of grabbing a handful in a ziploc bag, then throwing them in a freezer at the end of the day, will minimize the potential for bites/stings. Once they're dead from the freezing, we'll pick out however many we need for SIA, label them, and hand them over to SREL, essentially. Best part is, we don't have to set up a net and wait for them. We just walk right over, piss them off, and grab some of the swarm. Seems pretty doable in the 3 weeks or so we have left. Julian's gone home now, which leaves us on our own, but I think we'll be fine.
We also have a side commitment of collecting fruits, seeds, and bugs from patches to make a catalog of stable isotope signatures, but that's easy enough.
So things are looking up, I've been having fun (but not too much) with the other researchers, I'll be in the Netherlands in less than a month, and ... yeah that's pretty much it.
R.I.P.
U.S.S. Bunting
See kids? Science is an adventure!
Yeah, Candice, Julian, and I had a conference call with Dr. Levey and decided that we weren't going to be able to collect enough blood samples to conclude anything about trophic niche. So in order to stay with the stable isotope analysis and trophic niche premise, we decided to pick another generalist species that would be easy to collect. Fire ants are everywhere and eat everything (almost). Fire ants it is, then.
Fortunately, our collection method of grabbing a handful in a ziploc bag, then throwing them in a freezer at the end of the day, will minimize the potential for bites/stings. Once they're dead from the freezing, we'll pick out however many we need for SIA, label them, and hand them over to SREL, essentially. Best part is, we don't have to set up a net and wait for them. We just walk right over, piss them off, and grab some of the swarm. Seems pretty doable in the 3 weeks or so we have left. Julian's gone home now, which leaves us on our own, but I think we'll be fine.
We also have a side commitment of collecting fruits, seeds, and bugs from patches to make a catalog of stable isotope signatures, but that's easy enough.
So things are looking up, I've been having fun (but not too much) with the other researchers, I'll be in the Netherlands in less than a month, and ... yeah that's pretty much it.
R.I.P.U.S.S. Bunting
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
It's been a while...
I suppose not much has happened, but I figure I should update. Um, netting birds has still been pretty slow, not many blood samples to show for the past couple of weeks. I think we might have about 6 by now, definitely not enough. We would have one more, if that stupid bird from patch B in 52 hadn't wigged out. I swear, he wouldn't bleed! We poked any vein we could find, but could hardly get a drop before the flow stopped. I think we poked him a bit too much, though, because he started closing his eyes. So we busted out the sugar water. We heard on the radio that Julian had come to the patch for his own project, so we called him over to help. He suggested poking veins on the leg, but still no blood from those either. And the bird was looking worse. So Julian proceeded to practically drown him in sugar water, and we put him back in the pillowcase to chill out for a while. It came time to leave the patch, and zombie bird wasn't much better, so Candace and I took turns with him while the other took down nets. Eventually he seemed pretty revived, but he wouldn't flap his wings. Figuring we'd poked him too much, and following Julian's suggestion, we took him back to station and put him in the cage there. (I made it all nice and comfy for him.) We decided he could get the soreness out of his wings overnight and we could release him in the morning... And then he wasn't there in the morning. Most likely Julian took him home, but we never did ask. Maybe the solution to this mystery will appear in a later blog.
Anyway, most other days weren't so exciting. Nest searches still suck, though we're now doing them in the morning once we set Ipods at nets, which makes them suck less. Usually they don't yield much, just old or questionable nests. A couple times, however, they've actually rewarded us with a mommy bunting, so I guess we'll keep doing them. Also, now that we've learned how soon the babies fledge once they've hatched, we know to keep a better eye on them. (We missed our opportunity to collect feathers at one site.)
We've also had another tragic death, but not a bunting. And it wasn't from any negligence on our part. The warbler just hung itself in the net. Got caught in one layer, stuck its head through another layer or two and twisted itself around. We tried to cut the net before it was too late... I called him P. Deaddy (P for pine warbler). Candice liked Deaddy P better. We stuck him in the cooler because maybe a museum would want him or something. Then we left him in the office for Julian to maybe practice taxidermy on...
And that pretty much sums up bird stuff. In other parts of my life, I had a wee bit too much fun at the 4th of July party. Spent Saturday recovering. Wanted to play ultimate on Sunday but there was a crazy storm. There's probably been another Sunday since I last updated, and it was probably a decent game. Though I think I remember getting annoyed at some people for being obnoxious and making bad decisions. Oh well.
As usual I've been talking to Beck almost every day. I'm getting really excited for my trip to the Netherlands! We've made reservations at hotels and started writing out a rough itinerary. Only a month left! It's gonna be the bestest trip everrrrr!
Anyway, most other days weren't so exciting. Nest searches still suck, though we're now doing them in the morning once we set Ipods at nets, which makes them suck less. Usually they don't yield much, just old or questionable nests. A couple times, however, they've actually rewarded us with a mommy bunting, so I guess we'll keep doing them. Also, now that we've learned how soon the babies fledge once they've hatched, we know to keep a better eye on them. (We missed our opportunity to collect feathers at one site.)
We've also had another tragic death, but not a bunting. And it wasn't from any negligence on our part. The warbler just hung itself in the net. Got caught in one layer, stuck its head through another layer or two and twisted itself around. We tried to cut the net before it was too late... I called him P. Deaddy (P for pine warbler). Candice liked Deaddy P better. We stuck him in the cooler because maybe a museum would want him or something. Then we left him in the office for Julian to maybe practice taxidermy on...
And that pretty much sums up bird stuff. In other parts of my life, I had a wee bit too much fun at the 4th of July party. Spent Saturday recovering. Wanted to play ultimate on Sunday but there was a crazy storm. There's probably been another Sunday since I last updated, and it was probably a decent game. Though I think I remember getting annoyed at some people for being obnoxious and making bad decisions. Oh well.
As usual I've been talking to Beck almost every day. I'm getting really excited for my trip to the Netherlands! We've made reservations at hotels and started writing out a rough itinerary. Only a month left! It's gonna be the bestest trip everrrrr!
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Second round data collection
is very frustrating. We've gone back to the first site we netted at, and now we're trying to recapture the buntings we caught before (or new ones). This time we're also taking blood samples, so on Monday, Julian told us to come in a bit later (7 AM) and net some small birds around the office so we could practice bleeding them. The sparrow went well, but we discovered nuthatches are a bit too small. Candice and I did a couple nest searches at site 8 and called it a day.
Due to a lack of communication, Candice and I started trying to net buntings in 2 patches on Tuesday. And we recaptured every one from the first round. JUST KIDDING. We got nothing. Well, actually we got some bycatch, but that doesn't count. Julian came by later that day for his ant project, and that's when we found out he just wanted us to practice bleeding that day. Oops. We moved some nets, went back to station, ate lunch, and set up a net for sparrows. But it was too late to catch anything. So no harm done, really, but it was just a useless day.
Julian came out with us on Wednesday, and we tried again. Still nothing. Argh! We're pretty sure it's a combination of things causing one. Primarily, now that it's later in the breeding season and most males have settled down with a nice girl, they have lower testosterone levels so they're less territorial, and therefore less interested in the "intruding male" (Ipod). Secondly, a previous study on buntings just didn't have much luck at site 8, so it could just be the site. I hope that turns out to be the main reason...
Anyway, around lunch time, after we tied up all the nets, we decided to catch random birds for bleeding practice. We ended up with a tufted titmouse, a brown thrasher, and a downy woodpecker. The woodpecker was my favorite and I named him Rufio, because his hair (feathers) looked like the kid from Hook (awesome movie). Yep, good times.
Another student who had recently joined the project, Lena, wanted to come out with us Thursday morning before she had employee training. I guess she had netted birds for a class once and she was interested in what we were doing. Maybe she was good luck, or maybe we just placed the net well, but we got the mommy from the nest in patch D. We left her in a pillowcase to set up a net in A, Lena left, and we processed our first bunting. I returned to A and discovered a 2nd year male in one of my nets. Yay! Moved a net in D and then processed him. This day gave me a slightly better feeling about the data collection.
Which Friday killed again. It's not that there aren't buntings. We can hear a few, and even saw a couple. They just won't get in the damn net! And this one guy in A, I swear he's taunting me. Anyway, Candice and I have a few theories we might test, and we discussed them as we relocated to the next site, searched for nests, and set up nets. What a crappy week.
Saturday... didn't really do anything significant. I made banana pancakes, read for a while, surfed the web, did pilates, ate lunch, danced around the living room, worked on my beaded raccoon, went on a run, showered, made stir fry, and now I'm wondering why Matt isn't back from work yet... I think I'll call.
Due to a lack of communication, Candice and I started trying to net buntings in 2 patches on Tuesday. And we recaptured every one from the first round. JUST KIDDING. We got nothing. Well, actually we got some bycatch, but that doesn't count. Julian came by later that day for his ant project, and that's when we found out he just wanted us to practice bleeding that day. Oops. We moved some nets, went back to station, ate lunch, and set up a net for sparrows. But it was too late to catch anything. So no harm done, really, but it was just a useless day.
Julian came out with us on Wednesday, and we tried again. Still nothing. Argh! We're pretty sure it's a combination of things causing one. Primarily, now that it's later in the breeding season and most males have settled down with a nice girl, they have lower testosterone levels so they're less territorial, and therefore less interested in the "intruding male" (Ipod). Secondly, a previous study on buntings just didn't have much luck at site 8, so it could just be the site. I hope that turns out to be the main reason...
Anyway, around lunch time, after we tied up all the nets, we decided to catch random birds for bleeding practice. We ended up with a tufted titmouse, a brown thrasher, and a downy woodpecker. The woodpecker was my favorite and I named him Rufio, because his hair (feathers) looked like the kid from Hook (awesome movie). Yep, good times.
Another student who had recently joined the project, Lena, wanted to come out with us Thursday morning before she had employee training. I guess she had netted birds for a class once and she was interested in what we were doing. Maybe she was good luck, or maybe we just placed the net well, but we got the mommy from the nest in patch D. We left her in a pillowcase to set up a net in A, Lena left, and we processed our first bunting. I returned to A and discovered a 2nd year male in one of my nets. Yay! Moved a net in D and then processed him. This day gave me a slightly better feeling about the data collection.
Which Friday killed again. It's not that there aren't buntings. We can hear a few, and even saw a couple. They just won't get in the damn net! And this one guy in A, I swear he's taunting me. Anyway, Candice and I have a few theories we might test, and we discussed them as we relocated to the next site, searched for nests, and set up nets. What a crappy week.
Saturday... didn't really do anything significant. I made banana pancakes, read for a while, surfed the web, did pilates, ate lunch, danced around the living room, worked on my beaded raccoon, went on a run, showered, made stir fry, and now I'm wondering why Matt isn't back from work yet... I think I'll call.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
one of these days i'll add some photos
It turned out site 10 wasn't so successful, only 2 birds. But Julian and I (Candice was in GA) decided on Friday that 2nd round sampling was way more important, so we headed to site 8 to get ready for Monday. We picked 2 patches out of a hat to do nest searches and set up 3 nets in each. We want those buntings, dammit. Patch A wasn't too bad, since it didn't have a ton of brush to look in. We found a lot of old nests of varying sizes, but nothing was definitively a current bunting nest. So we just picked 3 locations, semi-strategically. Patch C started out OK, but then we got to the wings. One of these days I'll actually explain the experimental design of the Corridor Project, but for now, patch C has wings, OK? Brush removal seems to have been either less successful/effective or more neglected here. Very hard to maneuver and too much to search. We did find a nest, though, so we put a net there. After sloppily making my way through the other wing, I felt on the verge of collapse. There was definitely dehydration involved, hot sun, slight anemia, and just tiredness in general since I was nearing 11 hrs of work. I think some was just mental, as well, subconsciously looking for a way out of Hell. (ha, that rhymed) As tempting as it was, I decided faking collapse was a bad idea, since they'd probably take me to the hospital and then I'd never get home. I got my water and we finally finished, though I know I most definitely skipped some bushes out of laziness or inaccessibility. I had to stop at CVS on the way home and it took forever, but luckily I got to talk (complain) to Beck anyway, which made my day better.
Woke up pretty early on Saturday and made something like an Egg McMuffin with fake sausage. Deliciousness. I thought I might check out the Hopelands Gardens, but I checked the weather forecast and it called for rain, so I made a blackberry tart instead. I picked the blackberries on Friday at Site 10 while I was supposed to be taking down nets. I'm a naughty little scientist. It was a simple recipe, and I might have been able to make better given the right ingredients, but it was delicious nonetheless, just like my breakfast. Beck called after lunch, but left soon to watch the Holland soccer team sadly lose to Russia in the quarterfinals of the Cup. Pissed off at the forecast for lying (it rained for like, 5 seconds), I decided to actually visit the Gardens. It was very pretty, lots of tall, old trees and small ponds with ducks and turtles. I wandered with my camera, and probably didn't see all there was to see, but I needed to stop by the grocery store so I left after roughly an hour.
Just a general view
A pond with... a duck house maybe?
Big ol' honkin cedar
A nice canopied pathway
Woke up pretty early on Saturday and made something like an Egg McMuffin with fake sausage. Deliciousness. I thought I might check out the Hopelands Gardens, but I checked the weather forecast and it called for rain, so I made a blackberry tart instead. I picked the blackberries on Friday at Site 10 while I was supposed to be taking down nets. I'm a naughty little scientist. It was a simple recipe, and I might have been able to make better given the right ingredients, but it was delicious nonetheless, just like my breakfast. Beck called after lunch, but left soon to watch the Holland soccer team sadly lose to Russia in the quarterfinals of the Cup. Pissed off at the forecast for lying (it rained for like, 5 seconds), I decided to actually visit the Gardens. It was very pretty, lots of tall, old trees and small ponds with ducks and turtles. I wandered with my camera, and probably didn't see all there was to see, but I needed to stop by the grocery store so I left after roughly an hour.
The grocer store trip was primarily to get cheese for the quiche I was planning to make for dinner. Miraculously I managed to avoid getting too many extra things, just the ones on my list. I guess I was just in a culinary mood, because the quiche was also quite delicious. I put zucchini, broccoli, squash, and shrooms in it. I kept Beck up waaaay too late on Skype, then decided to write this blog before I went to bed. And you're in luck because I'm putting a few photos from the Gardens in it! Hooray!
A sign depicting the labyrinth, which was just a path marked by a different color of brick
A sign depicting the labyrinth, which was just a path marked by a different color of brick
Just a general view
A pond with... a duck house maybe?
Big ol' honkin cedar
A nice canopied pathway
Duck/turtle feeder/house? I honestly don't know
Turtle island!
Duckies! They were all just sleeping or preening. So cute.
Turtle island!
Duckies! They were all just sleeping or preening. So cute.Tuesday, June 17, 2008
the dreaded 57
This weekend was a bit more fun than the last, since I actually did stuff. I talked to Beck a bit Saturday morning and we both decided we should go shopping. So I checked out the farmer's market, which wasn't terribly exciting, but I might have just gotten there late. I decided to go back to the Old Aiken Market instead, since I needed more granola (which, as usual, wasn't crunchy). On the way I passed a bead store and a used book store, so I stopped in both. I like beading, and considered buying some to make earrings, but I'm still not done with Beck's raccoon. I got a Stephanie Plum novel (very funny) at the book store. Next I stopped at the Curiosity Shop, determined to actually buy the Spotted Dick. I told the cashier it made me giggle. I haven't eaten it yet, but I'll describe it when I do.
After buying a couple things at the Market, I headed home to make some lunch and talk to Beck some more. Matt came home after lizard wrangling at SRS and told me some people were playing basketball at the park. I felt the need for exercise so I went with him. It was very obvious that I hadn't played since about 6th grade. But most of us sucked anyway, so I didn't feel bad. However, when we invited 2 kids to play with us, we totally got schooled. They were like, 10 and half my height. And of course the 2 of them ended up on the team with Matt, who's super tall and can actually play. Whatever, it was fun, and I found that my ultimate frisbee skills came in handy with defense, since I could read cuts well and avoid picks. After the game, Matt decided he needed to run around the mile track, which made me feel like a fat ass, so I joined him. I abandoned him on the 2nd lap, though.
We were informed of a bonfire at Brenda and Kate's house that night, so after showering and making some dinner, we stopped to buy marshmallows and beer and headed down. It was relatively low key, but fun. The fire was super hot so I had to be careful with the shmallows. Met a few people who's names I don't remember and I probably won't see again.
Went to bed late and woke up on Sunday. (Well duh, like I would have woken up on Tuesday or something). Can't remember a lot from the day except talking to Beck, and then it was time for ultimate! We had an awesome turnout and ended up with a 9 on 9 game (we decided subs are for sissy-la-las, I guess). I had a ton of fun and played decently, so hopefully that many people will show up again.
On Monday, Candice and I got to see for ourselves why everyone hates site 57: Horseflies. Not to mention lots of brush and poison ivy and brambles. But it's been bearable, especially with the flaps on my awesome hat cinched under my chin so I look SUpEr COoL. I think the main frustration was our inability to catch anything in patch E, where we can hear several buntings, but they just won't fly in. We caught 3 in B, though, so not too bad. It also didn't help that Candice's alarm didn't go off, so she showed up at 8-ish after getting lost and being escorted to the site by the police. I'm surprised she wasn't arrested, they're pretty anal.
Tuesday still didn't bring us any luck with E, and no birds in D, either. But I caught 3 buntings in A. I think I'm just magical. Julian did get a couple cool bycatches in D: a Baltimore Oriole and what seems to be a hybrid Blue-Winged/Golden Winged Warbler. We took down all the nets, put some in C, and moved a couple to site 10. Our schedule's been thrown off a bit but we should be OK if 10 is successful enough. Guess we'll find out by the end of the week.
After buying a couple things at the Market, I headed home to make some lunch and talk to Beck some more. Matt came home after lizard wrangling at SRS and told me some people were playing basketball at the park. I felt the need for exercise so I went with him. It was very obvious that I hadn't played since about 6th grade. But most of us sucked anyway, so I didn't feel bad. However, when we invited 2 kids to play with us, we totally got schooled. They were like, 10 and half my height. And of course the 2 of them ended up on the team with Matt, who's super tall and can actually play. Whatever, it was fun, and I found that my ultimate frisbee skills came in handy with defense, since I could read cuts well and avoid picks. After the game, Matt decided he needed to run around the mile track, which made me feel like a fat ass, so I joined him. I abandoned him on the 2nd lap, though.
We were informed of a bonfire at Brenda and Kate's house that night, so after showering and making some dinner, we stopped to buy marshmallows and beer and headed down. It was relatively low key, but fun. The fire was super hot so I had to be careful with the shmallows. Met a few people who's names I don't remember and I probably won't see again.
Went to bed late and woke up on Sunday. (Well duh, like I would have woken up on Tuesday or something). Can't remember a lot from the day except talking to Beck, and then it was time for ultimate! We had an awesome turnout and ended up with a 9 on 9 game (we decided subs are for sissy-la-las, I guess). I had a ton of fun and played decently, so hopefully that many people will show up again.
On Monday, Candice and I got to see for ourselves why everyone hates site 57: Horseflies. Not to mention lots of brush and poison ivy and brambles. But it's been bearable, especially with the flaps on my awesome hat cinched under my chin so I look SUpEr COoL. I think the main frustration was our inability to catch anything in patch E, where we can hear several buntings, but they just won't fly in. We caught 3 in B, though, so not too bad. It also didn't help that Candice's alarm didn't go off, so she showed up at 8-ish after getting lost and being escorted to the site by the police. I'm surprised she wasn't arrested, they're pretty anal.
Tuesday still didn't bring us any luck with E, and no birds in D, either. But I caught 3 buntings in A. I think I'm just magical. Julian did get a couple cool bycatches in D: a Baltimore Oriole and what seems to be a hybrid Blue-Winged/Golden Winged Warbler. We took down all the nets, put some in C, and moved a couple to site 10. Our schedule's been thrown off a bit but we should be OK if 10 is successful enough. Guess we'll find out by the end of the week.
Friday, June 13, 2008
everyone is here!
Well OK, most have left by now, but all the PI's came at the beginning of the week to hold a couple days of big meetings and presentations and whatnot. Monday morning before the meetings started at noon, Candice and I went to finish netting at a site. We caught 10 birds! ... And one was a bunting. Damn bycatch. We had a towhee, a few warblers, a few sparrows, a wren, and a goldfinch. Most were somewhat annoying, but I kinda liked the goldfinch. Striking appearance, very cute, and he didn't struggle much. My favorite kind.
Then began the 1st annual Corridor Project meeting. Even though the project has been around over a decade. It started off with lots of people in the room while the big important PI's talked about the Corridor Project in general, and then people not on the project slowly left as the talks got more specific and didn't involve them anymore. Once just Corridor folks were left we circled up and began discussing some of the larger studies going on. Mostly plant stuff that didn't mean much to me since the only involvement I've had in them is the one day of watering I did. But I sat quietly, contributing nothing to the discussion, trying not to fall asleep, but also learning a bit, so the time wasn't an entire waste. I think that took the majority of the afternoon and then there was a BBQ at Lars's house. It was BYOBBQ so I brought eggplant. Yum! I stayed to long and regretted it when I had to get up earlier the next day.
Presentations were schedule to start at 8, but plants needed watering and birds needed catching. Candice and I were the only ones without watering cans I think. More bycatch, no buntings, so we took down the nets. We got back to station around 9, but we weren't too late comparatively. So we started down and alphabetical list of students/techs working on or wanting to start projects. It was mostly an informal, "here's what I'm doing or here's what I'm thinking about," that everyone else could give feedback and suggestions on. But we had a fancy shmancy powerpoint. Because Julian told us to. Or really, I made a powerpoint because Julian told me to. And I explained it to Candice. And we presented it and it went really well and got good feedback. Several suggestions weren't actually things we could do in our limited time period, but might make a good continuation project... Anyway, after the discussions were done, everyone went out to one of the sites to discuss a bit more, while Candice and I reasoned (slightly guiltily) that they didn't need us there, so we slipped out and went home.
Matt arrived home about when my tacos were done and informed me that everyone was going to the Pizza Joint. So we ate the tacos, planning not to eat pizza, but having that plan thwarted (it looked so delicious). I went to bed too late and then couldn't sleep because there was a crazy thunderstorm and I live in a trailer.
Wednesday was another bycatch day, but with slightly better ratios. 4 out of 14 were buntings. We quickly began setting up nets and Ipods and when I returned to check mine, 7 birds! One bunting, 4 brown birds (probably sparrows, phoebes, etc), a female cardinal, and a great crested flycatcher. The flycatcher was definitely the coolest out of the bunch, and rather snappish. In some of the other patches we caught a chat and some more nondescript brown birds and warblers.
Dr. Levey and Julian came out with us on Thursday to observe, help, experiment, advise, etc. We concentrated on two patches, moving nets around a bunch and trying new techniques, such as putting a male in a cage by the net to attract others. Not sure if this actually did anything or if the Ipod was responsible for the other birds caught. We now have a real taxidermied decoy, which also helps. Julian and Dr. Levey left around noon after discussing some specifics of the project with us, and Candice and I moved the nets to the next site.
Woo Friday! We managed to catch one bird in every patch, and we didn't really hear any more singing, but we didn't want to call the patch done in just a day, so we left the nets. But Julian decided we should just move on, so he offered to take down and move some nets this weekend while he's going to be working anyway. How nice. Candice wasn't too enthused, but I offered my help if he needed it, mostly so I wouldn't feel so guilty about the big favor he's doing, but also because I can't think of much else to do this weekend. I'll probably check out the gardens or something. We'll see. Time to wash dishes now.
Then began the 1st annual Corridor Project meeting. Even though the project has been around over a decade. It started off with lots of people in the room while the big important PI's talked about the Corridor Project in general, and then people not on the project slowly left as the talks got more specific and didn't involve them anymore. Once just Corridor folks were left we circled up and began discussing some of the larger studies going on. Mostly plant stuff that didn't mean much to me since the only involvement I've had in them is the one day of watering I did. But I sat quietly, contributing nothing to the discussion, trying not to fall asleep, but also learning a bit, so the time wasn't an entire waste. I think that took the majority of the afternoon and then there was a BBQ at Lars's house. It was BYOBBQ so I brought eggplant. Yum! I stayed to long and regretted it when I had to get up earlier the next day.
Presentations were schedule to start at 8, but plants needed watering and birds needed catching. Candice and I were the only ones without watering cans I think. More bycatch, no buntings, so we took down the nets. We got back to station around 9, but we weren't too late comparatively. So we started down and alphabetical list of students/techs working on or wanting to start projects. It was mostly an informal, "here's what I'm doing or here's what I'm thinking about," that everyone else could give feedback and suggestions on. But we had a fancy shmancy powerpoint. Because Julian told us to. Or really, I made a powerpoint because Julian told me to. And I explained it to Candice. And we presented it and it went really well and got good feedback. Several suggestions weren't actually things we could do in our limited time period, but might make a good continuation project... Anyway, after the discussions were done, everyone went out to one of the sites to discuss a bit more, while Candice and I reasoned (slightly guiltily) that they didn't need us there, so we slipped out and went home.
Matt arrived home about when my tacos were done and informed me that everyone was going to the Pizza Joint. So we ate the tacos, planning not to eat pizza, but having that plan thwarted (it looked so delicious). I went to bed too late and then couldn't sleep because there was a crazy thunderstorm and I live in a trailer.
Wednesday was another bycatch day, but with slightly better ratios. 4 out of 14 were buntings. We quickly began setting up nets and Ipods and when I returned to check mine, 7 birds! One bunting, 4 brown birds (probably sparrows, phoebes, etc), a female cardinal, and a great crested flycatcher. The flycatcher was definitely the coolest out of the bunch, and rather snappish. In some of the other patches we caught a chat and some more nondescript brown birds and warblers.
Dr. Levey and Julian came out with us on Thursday to observe, help, experiment, advise, etc. We concentrated on two patches, moving nets around a bunch and trying new techniques, such as putting a male in a cage by the net to attract others. Not sure if this actually did anything or if the Ipod was responsible for the other birds caught. We now have a real taxidermied decoy, which also helps. Julian and Dr. Levey left around noon after discussing some specifics of the project with us, and Candice and I moved the nets to the next site.
Woo Friday! We managed to catch one bird in every patch, and we didn't really hear any more singing, but we didn't want to call the patch done in just a day, so we left the nets. But Julian decided we should just move on, so he offered to take down and move some nets this weekend while he's going to be working anyway. How nice. Candice wasn't too enthused, but I offered my help if he needed it, mostly so I wouldn't feel so guilty about the big favor he's doing, but also because I can't think of much else to do this weekend. I'll probably check out the gardens or something. We'll see. Time to wash dishes now.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
my whole week, hopefully condensed into a reasonable length
So here's an abbreviated update of my last week or so. I may post additions later or something...
Saturday:
Matt and I wanted to go climbing in North Carolina for the day, but the forecast called for rain in the afternoon. So we went to the climbing gym in Columbia instead. It was probably better for me that way anyway, because I'm soooo out of shape climbing-wise. My hands and arms were like "Heeey Camille, you know we haven't climbed in a year and a half, right? Yea, just thought we'd let you know, hence the weakness and pain." They continued to tell me this for the next few days. But I'll show them. I'll go back to that gym soon, or maybe even to North Carolina or someplace cool, and I'll open up a can of pwnage on those walls that were kicking my butt. That'll teach those arms.
Sunday: Matt had previously found a local organic grocery store downtown so we went there to shop. It was pretty cool, some things cheap and some things ridiculous, like the dairy section. I liked how they had all the grains, granola, dried fruit, etc in barrels or sacks with a big scooper. It looked old-fashioned or something. I was sadly disappointed with their blueberry granola, however. It wasn't crunchy and it just didn't taste as good as the stuff Beck and I would get at Ward's in Gainesville. I'll probably go back to Old Aiken Market, but my overall impression was that I still haven't found a store as cool as Ward's.
I also played ultimate Sunday, which was pretty fun. A decent 5 on 5 game, though some of the playing was pretty unimpressive. I wasn't terribly impressive myself, either, as I discovered running used (and hurt) muscles I never associated with running. My throwing was also affected by my still weak arms. But I'll try to redeem myself next Sunday.
Monday: Candice and I made the mistake of trusting the weather forecast, so we got to work later than usual, without realizing that Julian was planning to meet us at the usual 5:30 time. So he had already been in the field a while when we got there and we felt really guilty. We also only caught one bird, despite spending the rest of the morning moving nets and Ipods around. Then I honestly can't remember what happened because I think I'm blurring Monday and Tuesday together.
So I'm gonna throw in Tuesday now and hope it's about right: Eventually, with a total of 2 buntings in 4? days, we just decided we were sick of site 52, so then we had to take allll the nets down that we had worked so hard to put up in the rock hard soil. Then we moved all 8 of them (Dr. Levey mailed more) to the next site down the road. After the 6th, we decided that a 12-hour day was a bit too much, and left the last 2 nets for the next morning. I could hardly stay awake to put my feet in a bucket of ice water.
Wednesday: A record success day! 8 Indigo Buntings! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8! It was ridiculous. I set an Ipod in patch A, while Julian and Candice did the same in B and D, and then we planned to meet in Patch C to set up a net. I turned around, walked to the matrix, looked back at the net, and a male had just hopped right in. So I took him out, hung him in a pillowcase, and went to patch C. When I returned to A, a female had been caught, and while I was getting her out, Candice appears from the corridor to tell me she has 3 in her net. I radio Julian and tell him to go help her. I get my girl in a pillowcase and and discover there's now another male in my net. Finally I've got 3 flapping pillowcases hanging from a tree, as does Candice, and somewhere in the meantime, Julian had caught one in D and another in C. Patch A actually had 5 birds, but 2 were bycatches, a prairie warbler and something else. Patch E had a yellow-breasted chat bycatch.
Anyway, we eventually got to processing the buntings. One in A already had bands from a different study, including a pretty silver Forest Service band with numbers on it. Bird bling, essentially. We didn't have to bother putting our own bands on it. After A, we went to B and in our hurry, Candice and I stepped within about a foot of a snake! Luckily not a venomous one - we're pretty sure it was a coachwhip, and Caleb, who knows a ton about herps, agreed - but it was somewhat defensive. It had a hole/burrow nearby, and it probably smelled the birds in pillowcases. It was also about to molt. We kept an eye on it while we processed.
Julian left for something else, Candice and I finished processing, we took down the nets from A and B, and we drove to the next site to put them up. The end.
Thursday: One bunting in C. Male and female cardinal bycatches in D. Too damn many horseflies. If someone was watching us who wasn't aware of how annoying they are, they'd probably think we had Tourette's. Seriously, we must look ridiculous cursing and flailing and slapping ourselves. Anywho, we took down the rest of the nets and put them up at the next site.
Friday: This was a good and bad day as far as buntings go. We set up in A, C, and D, then met at E to put up another net. Upon returning to D, I had 3 males. And no one to help me. But I got them all out pretty fast, hung them up, and went to check on Candice. In the time it had taken me to get 3 out, she had gotten one and was just starting on a prairie warbler bycatch. After that, all we got was another warbler, so we started processing and took down the nets in D. Brenda, who was watering, radioed me to check C. I got excited and thought we had another. We did, but here's the bad part of the day: she was dead. We shouldn't have left the net up when it was that hot unless we were constantly watching it. She probably died from the heat, or perhaps strangulation. We named her Deddy (Dead-y, I thought of it) and buried her.
We decided it was lunch time and meanwhile Julian had arrived to do ant stuff. I think almost everyone on the project was in that one site: Me, Candice, Julian, Lars, Brenda, Nash, Becky, Lauren, Nadia. Only Matt, Melissa, Caleb, and Dirk were missing. Feeling guilty, we told Julian about Deddy. He asked where she was so we could pluck her feathers and put them on a decoy. Oops. Didn't think about that. I would've felt wrong desecrating her dead body anyway, since I felt partially at fault for her death. Rest in peace, Deddy.
Candice came home with me to get ready for the potluck that night, where we were supposed to dress up like our radio call-in name. I'm Mike, she's Tango, needless to say her outfit (which was actually mine) was way better. I tried to pass off as a microphone by wearing all black and a black hat. Didn't work that well. But the potluck was fun, especially when 13Kilo came looking like a drug dealer. 13Alpha had helium nuclei (alpha particles) all over his shirt (super nerd), 13Charlie looked like a classic hick, 2Golf and 13Golf looked spectacular, and 13Hotel was in a short pink bathrobe under which he wasn't wearing much else. Other people were boring and not dressed up, but it was a delicious and fun party.
Saturday: I was bored all day and did virtually nothing. Finally I decided to go to a show at the USCA planetarium. I learned how to find constellations, nebulae, double stars, and a few other things, most of which I forgot. But I was reasonably entertained, and at some parts, totally entranced like a little kid. Space is pretty sweet. After the show we went up to the telescope and the fat guy up there showed us some stuff. Unfortunately the heat and the light made some things hard to see, but I had never looked through a telescope like this before. The moon was pretty cool up close, and it was pretty sweet to see the different colors of the double stars of Alberio (one is blue and the other is yellow). The best sight was definitely Saturn because you could actually see the rings! It looked like a tiny photograph, minus the colors because it's so far away. But I could see 4 moons and even the shadow the rings make on the planet. I'm definitely going back there, maybe next month to see some more stuff, and maybe the trippy laser show.
Sunday: Equally boring. I washed dishes and wasted time on the computer while I should have been working on my presentation for tomorrow. It's almost done, just needs a little extra. The only exciting thing was talking to Beck when he got back from his weekend in Amsterdam. I can't wait to go. I'm not even sure if I'll play ultimate today, as it's 100 degrees outside. I'm not lying. 100 degrees. Blah. Time to waste more time.
Saturday:
Matt and I wanted to go climbing in North Carolina for the day, but the forecast called for rain in the afternoon. So we went to the climbing gym in Columbia instead. It was probably better for me that way anyway, because I'm soooo out of shape climbing-wise. My hands and arms were like "Heeey Camille, you know we haven't climbed in a year and a half, right? Yea, just thought we'd let you know, hence the weakness and pain." They continued to tell me this for the next few days. But I'll show them. I'll go back to that gym soon, or maybe even to North Carolina or someplace cool, and I'll open up a can of pwnage on those walls that were kicking my butt. That'll teach those arms.
Sunday: Matt had previously found a local organic grocery store downtown so we went there to shop. It was pretty cool, some things cheap and some things ridiculous, like the dairy section. I liked how they had all the grains, granola, dried fruit, etc in barrels or sacks with a big scooper. It looked old-fashioned or something. I was sadly disappointed with their blueberry granola, however. It wasn't crunchy and it just didn't taste as good as the stuff Beck and I would get at Ward's in Gainesville. I'll probably go back to Old Aiken Market, but my overall impression was that I still haven't found a store as cool as Ward's.
I also played ultimate Sunday, which was pretty fun. A decent 5 on 5 game, though some of the playing was pretty unimpressive. I wasn't terribly impressive myself, either, as I discovered running used (and hurt) muscles I never associated with running. My throwing was also affected by my still weak arms. But I'll try to redeem myself next Sunday.
Monday: Candice and I made the mistake of trusting the weather forecast, so we got to work later than usual, without realizing that Julian was planning to meet us at the usual 5:30 time. So he had already been in the field a while when we got there and we felt really guilty. We also only caught one bird, despite spending the rest of the morning moving nets and Ipods around. Then I honestly can't remember what happened because I think I'm blurring Monday and Tuesday together.
So I'm gonna throw in Tuesday now and hope it's about right: Eventually, with a total of 2 buntings in 4? days, we just decided we were sick of site 52, so then we had to take allll the nets down that we had worked so hard to put up in the rock hard soil. Then we moved all 8 of them (Dr. Levey mailed more) to the next site down the road. After the 6th, we decided that a 12-hour day was a bit too much, and left the last 2 nets for the next morning. I could hardly stay awake to put my feet in a bucket of ice water.
Wednesday: A record success day! 8 Indigo Buntings! 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8! It was ridiculous. I set an Ipod in patch A, while Julian and Candice did the same in B and D, and then we planned to meet in Patch C to set up a net. I turned around, walked to the matrix, looked back at the net, and a male had just hopped right in. So I took him out, hung him in a pillowcase, and went to patch C. When I returned to A, a female had been caught, and while I was getting her out, Candice appears from the corridor to tell me she has 3 in her net. I radio Julian and tell him to go help her. I get my girl in a pillowcase and and discover there's now another male in my net. Finally I've got 3 flapping pillowcases hanging from a tree, as does Candice, and somewhere in the meantime, Julian had caught one in D and another in C. Patch A actually had 5 birds, but 2 were bycatches, a prairie warbler and something else. Patch E had a yellow-breasted chat bycatch.
Anyway, we eventually got to processing the buntings. One in A already had bands from a different study, including a pretty silver Forest Service band with numbers on it. Bird bling, essentially. We didn't have to bother putting our own bands on it. After A, we went to B and in our hurry, Candice and I stepped within about a foot of a snake! Luckily not a venomous one - we're pretty sure it was a coachwhip, and Caleb, who knows a ton about herps, agreed - but it was somewhat defensive. It had a hole/burrow nearby, and it probably smelled the birds in pillowcases. It was also about to molt. We kept an eye on it while we processed.
Julian left for something else, Candice and I finished processing, we took down the nets from A and B, and we drove to the next site to put them up. The end.
Thursday: One bunting in C. Male and female cardinal bycatches in D. Too damn many horseflies. If someone was watching us who wasn't aware of how annoying they are, they'd probably think we had Tourette's. Seriously, we must look ridiculous cursing and flailing and slapping ourselves. Anywho, we took down the rest of the nets and put them up at the next site.
Friday: This was a good and bad day as far as buntings go. We set up in A, C, and D, then met at E to put up another net. Upon returning to D, I had 3 males. And no one to help me. But I got them all out pretty fast, hung them up, and went to check on Candice. In the time it had taken me to get 3 out, she had gotten one and was just starting on a prairie warbler bycatch. After that, all we got was another warbler, so we started processing and took down the nets in D. Brenda, who was watering, radioed me to check C. I got excited and thought we had another. We did, but here's the bad part of the day: she was dead. We shouldn't have left the net up when it was that hot unless we were constantly watching it. She probably died from the heat, or perhaps strangulation. We named her Deddy (Dead-y, I thought of it) and buried her.
We decided it was lunch time and meanwhile Julian had arrived to do ant stuff. I think almost everyone on the project was in that one site: Me, Candice, Julian, Lars, Brenda, Nash, Becky, Lauren, Nadia. Only Matt, Melissa, Caleb, and Dirk were missing. Feeling guilty, we told Julian about Deddy. He asked where she was so we could pluck her feathers and put them on a decoy. Oops. Didn't think about that. I would've felt wrong desecrating her dead body anyway, since I felt partially at fault for her death. Rest in peace, Deddy.
Candice came home with me to get ready for the potluck that night, where we were supposed to dress up like our radio call-in name. I'm Mike, she's Tango, needless to say her outfit (which was actually mine) was way better. I tried to pass off as a microphone by wearing all black and a black hat. Didn't work that well. But the potluck was fun, especially when 13Kilo came looking like a drug dealer. 13Alpha had helium nuclei (alpha particles) all over his shirt (super nerd), 13Charlie looked like a classic hick, 2Golf and 13Golf looked spectacular, and 13Hotel was in a short pink bathrobe under which he wasn't wearing much else. Other people were boring and not dressed up, but it was a delicious and fun party.
Saturday: I was bored all day and did virtually nothing. Finally I decided to go to a show at the USCA planetarium. I learned how to find constellations, nebulae, double stars, and a few other things, most of which I forgot. But I was reasonably entertained, and at some parts, totally entranced like a little kid. Space is pretty sweet. After the show we went up to the telescope and the fat guy up there showed us some stuff. Unfortunately the heat and the light made some things hard to see, but I had never looked through a telescope like this before. The moon was pretty cool up close, and it was pretty sweet to see the different colors of the double stars of Alberio (one is blue and the other is yellow). The best sight was definitely Saturn because you could actually see the rings! It looked like a tiny photograph, minus the colors because it's so far away. But I could see 4 moons and even the shadow the rings make on the planet. I'm definitely going back there, maybe next month to see some more stuff, and maybe the trippy laser show.
Sunday: Equally boring. I washed dishes and wasted time on the computer while I should have been working on my presentation for tomorrow. It's almost done, just needs a little extra. The only exciting thing was talking to Beck when he got back from his weekend in Amsterdam. I can't wait to go. I'm not even sure if I'll play ultimate today, as it's 100 degrees outside. I'm not lying. 100 degrees. Blah. Time to waste more time.
Tuesday, June 3, 2008
I'll get around to it...
This is just to say I haven't died and I haven't been doing nothing, in fact the problem is that I've been doing a lot. Hence, no post in five days, but that's better than Beck's blog. =) Anyway, someday this week I'll update my adventures in climbing, shopping, birding, hurting, thinking, eating, sleeping, breathing, existing, etc. But not today because it's past my bedtime.
Friday, May 30, 2008
birds don't like rain clouds
After Julian netted one bird on Wednesday, Candice and I moved the nets to another site, seeing as we now had caught a bird in every patch of the current site. Which is good enough for us. We tied the poles to my roof rack, threw the everything else in the back, and set off down the gravel and dirt roads. I can't wait til I get my temporary license to drive the Forest Service trucks.
Setting up nets is a pain in the ass. No matter how neat and tidy you put them back in the bag, they will tie themselves in a knot somehow. Same with the strings on the stakes. Then you have to stand there in the hot sun and figure out what the hell is going on without dropping the net on the ground, because then it gets caught on every plant or stick within reach and it won't let go. On top of that, half the time you can't even get the pole in the ground. Either the dirt is just too damn hard, or it's all dry, loose sand and won't hold the weight up. Every now and then you hit a magic spot and the pole goes super deep. Did that sound dirty? Anyway you just gotta poke around til something gives. Aw yeah, that's how you do it.
We were supposed to put up 4 nets, but we were tired and it was thundering, so we left the 4th for the morning. Good thing, too, because the sky just went crazy. I love thunderstorms, but not when I'm in a trailer that wouldn't stand a chance against a tornado. The scary stuff stopped, but it was raining when I went to bed.
It was overcast and almost cold all the next day, with a bit of rain here and there. Candice and I decided birds don't like that, because they wouldn't come out of the matrix. They're stuck in this computer generated world, believing they're in 1999, when in reality, it's 2199 and machines control the world. Right. The matrix is just what we call the forest (mostly loblolly pine) between the patches, which are savanna-like. And the birds seemed content to hang out there and not venture out in the the patches much. Lazy birds.
They were still lazy Friday morning, as it was still overcast and cool. At about 10 or so, we decided to move some nets to other patches, and meanwhile a female finally flew into mine. She was not a happy camper. She struggled and made a lot more noise than any others so far. She also bit pretty hard, but luckily not enough to break the skin. We processed her and let her go, then called it a day because we thought Candice had safety training at 1. But she didn't so we went home. Did the usual routine with Skyping and all.
I think I'm going climbing in North Carolina tomorrow, so that'll be something a bit more exciting to write about. I realize the bird thing is getting a bit old, since it's essentially the same news most days. Maybe I'll include more personal thoughts and musings from now on, or anecdotes of past happenings. Whatever. I like to think of myself as entertaining (don't know if anyone agrees, though), so I'll attempt to make this blog reflect that. And add some pictures.
Setting up nets is a pain in the ass. No matter how neat and tidy you put them back in the bag, they will tie themselves in a knot somehow. Same with the strings on the stakes. Then you have to stand there in the hot sun and figure out what the hell is going on without dropping the net on the ground, because then it gets caught on every plant or stick within reach and it won't let go. On top of that, half the time you can't even get the pole in the ground. Either the dirt is just too damn hard, or it's all dry, loose sand and won't hold the weight up. Every now and then you hit a magic spot and the pole goes super deep. Did that sound dirty? Anyway you just gotta poke around til something gives. Aw yeah, that's how you do it.
We were supposed to put up 4 nets, but we were tired and it was thundering, so we left the 4th for the morning. Good thing, too, because the sky just went crazy. I love thunderstorms, but not when I'm in a trailer that wouldn't stand a chance against a tornado. The scary stuff stopped, but it was raining when I went to bed.
It was overcast and almost cold all the next day, with a bit of rain here and there. Candice and I decided birds don't like that, because they wouldn't come out of the matrix. They're stuck in this computer generated world, believing they're in 1999, when in reality, it's 2199 and machines control the world. Right. The matrix is just what we call the forest (mostly loblolly pine) between the patches, which are savanna-like. And the birds seemed content to hang out there and not venture out in the the patches much. Lazy birds.
They were still lazy Friday morning, as it was still overcast and cool. At about 10 or so, we decided to move some nets to other patches, and meanwhile a female finally flew into mine. She was not a happy camper. She struggled and made a lot more noise than any others so far. She also bit pretty hard, but luckily not enough to break the skin. We processed her and let her go, then called it a day because we thought Candice had safety training at 1. But she didn't so we went home. Did the usual routine with Skyping and all.
I think I'm going climbing in North Carolina tomorrow, so that'll be something a bit more exciting to write about. I realize the bird thing is getting a bit old, since it's essentially the same news most days. Maybe I'll include more personal thoughts and musings from now on, or anecdotes of past happenings. Whatever. I like to think of myself as entertaining (don't know if anyone agrees, though), so I'll attempt to make this blog reflect that. And add some pictures.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
I worked 13 hours on Memorial Day
That should be, like, a federal crime or something. I figured, "Well it's not like I have anything else interesting to do on Monday, I'll just go in and work a half day to get a little head start, right?" Wrong. And what do I have to show for those 13 hours? One bird.
Julian and I went out to net, but we got a late start because nothing was really ready to go and we kept forgetting stuff. Probably because it was so damn early and we hadn't woken up yet. Anywho, we decided to start netting in the patches so we can pull 2 tail feathers out of the birds we catch, measure, and band them. Then when we catch them again, this time to collect blood, we'll have 2 new feathers to analyze and we'll know which ones they are. We caught a male pretty fast and processed it, but it became light too quickly, so the birds could see the net and avoid it. Frustrating. You find yourself whispering, "Yea, that's right bird, just fly into the net. You're so close. Come on, come on... son of a bitch!" This happened for a while.
Finally we decided to move some nets, maybe try again in the afternoon when there's more shade, and take a lunch break so Julian could run into town and pick up some stuff. I pretty much fell asleep in the office waiting for him. Back in the field we positioned some nets for the morning. Then we moved a few into some shade to make them hard to see and tried afternoon netting. Very unsuccessfully. Maybe we could net around 8 PM, but I'm not willing to stay that long. So we moved those nets for the morning.
I got home at 7:30 PM after leaving my house at 5:30 AM. I could barely shower, eat, and talk to my parents before falling asleep.
Tuesday involved learning more lessons about net position, but we caught 3 times more than Monday (3 birds, for those mathematically challenged). Even better, we've decided that now we know better what to do (position nets strategically, hang the birds up in pillowcases til we've caught them all, then process them), we can probably cover a whole site in 2 days. I hope our calculations are correct. (3 times 1 is 3, right?)
And even more betterer is that I got to go home around 2! Yay! So I did a bit of shopping, then began my (hopefully) usual afternoon routine: shower, Skype, check crap online, make/eat dinner, etc, til bedtime around 9 PM. Yes, 9 PM, just like I'm in elementary school again. Beck did always tell me I'm 5 years old...
Julian and I went out to net, but we got a late start because nothing was really ready to go and we kept forgetting stuff. Probably because it was so damn early and we hadn't woken up yet. Anywho, we decided to start netting in the patches so we can pull 2 tail feathers out of the birds we catch, measure, and band them. Then when we catch them again, this time to collect blood, we'll have 2 new feathers to analyze and we'll know which ones they are. We caught a male pretty fast and processed it, but it became light too quickly, so the birds could see the net and avoid it. Frustrating. You find yourself whispering, "Yea, that's right bird, just fly into the net. You're so close. Come on, come on... son of a bitch!" This happened for a while.
Finally we decided to move some nets, maybe try again in the afternoon when there's more shade, and take a lunch break so Julian could run into town and pick up some stuff. I pretty much fell asleep in the office waiting for him. Back in the field we positioned some nets for the morning. Then we moved a few into some shade to make them hard to see and tried afternoon netting. Very unsuccessfully. Maybe we could net around 8 PM, but I'm not willing to stay that long. So we moved those nets for the morning.
I got home at 7:30 PM after leaving my house at 5:30 AM. I could barely shower, eat, and talk to my parents before falling asleep.
Tuesday involved learning more lessons about net position, but we caught 3 times more than Monday (3 birds, for those mathematically challenged). Even better, we've decided that now we know better what to do (position nets strategically, hang the birds up in pillowcases til we've caught them all, then process them), we can probably cover a whole site in 2 days. I hope our calculations are correct. (3 times 1 is 3, right?)
And even more betterer is that I got to go home around 2! Yay! So I did a bit of shopping, then began my (hopefully) usual afternoon routine: shower, Skype, check crap online, make/eat dinner, etc, til bedtime around 9 PM. Yes, 9 PM, just like I'm in elementary school again. Beck did always tell me I'm 5 years old...
Sunday, May 25, 2008
I got a roomie
Friday was another early morning, 6 AM. Candice, Julian, and I drove out to a clear cut area (buntings like open, brushy habitats) and unfurled the nets we set up the previous afternoon. We caught a male and Julian showed us some more techniques, weighing and measuring and such. He poked the brachial vein and demonstrated how to hold and wiggle the capillary tube so it sucks up the blood. We sprinkled a bit of quick stop powder to make sure he clotted, then let him go. By then, Julian had to go on watering duty, so we drove back to station and Candice and I hopped in my car to drive back out and catch some more birds. We set up the Ipod at the other of the 2 nets and caught a male. We were having serious issues getting his wings untangled, so we had to snip the net a bit. I tried my hand at bleeding, and got a full capillary tube on the first try! Yay me! However, he wouldn't stop bleeding afterward, so we used the quick stop powder, which did the trick.
We headed back over to the first net with the Ipod, but decided the bunting that wouldn't quite fly into the net was the one we caught before and he got smart. So we played the prairie warbler song instead, since those might also be of interest, and we got one. He was a somewhat smaller and a little easier to remove, but quite feisty. Candice's turn to bleed, but when I was getting the needle out for her I bled myself instead. Oops. Fortunately it was before we stuck the bird, so I won't get bird AIDS or something. With a new needle, Candice wasn't terribly successful at the bleeding, probably for several reasons. The warbler was smaller, she didn't poke deep enough, and she held the capillary tube so the blood flowed right back out onto the bird. She'll learn, I hope.
Meanwhile, we were constantly hearing guns go off, since we were right next to an area where they test weapons. I sure hope they don't miscalculate their ranges. We returned to station, Candice drove home to GA to figure out car stuff, I hung around in the office a bit, went to the grocery store, then went home. Talked to Beck, and then who knows what I did until Matt arrived around 11. I was super tired so I went to bed instead of helping or socializing.
Woke up, made pancakes, and read or something til Matt woke up, then we had a more formal introduction. We talked awhile and I think we'll get along just fine this summer. A lot of the same interests, hobbies, etc. His personality is a bit more adventurous than mine, and sometimes the things he plans to do seem totally random to me. I almost feel boring. I probably am.
Anyway, he went on a run and I Skyped, then we went out shopping. We stopped at Goodwill, then searched for what we thought was going to be an organic grocery store, which part of it was, but it also had a bunch of random crap and a book section. Figures, with a name like "The Curiosity Shop." Highlight of the day: finding a can labeled "Spotted Dick." Not joking. It appeared to be some kind of sponge pudding?... right. We stopped at Kroeger, then went home.
I Skyped with Beck some more after he had watched Anchorman for the first time. And once again, I have no recollection of what I did besides dinner until I went to bed.
Sunday was kinda crappy. Matt went to check out the climbing gym in Columbia, but I didn't because I needed to work on a presentation of my project to show the other people on the Corridor Project. Think I got anything done? Not a thing. I did email I few people I needed to and checked out airfare to the Netherlands. Then I proceeded to Skype with Beck for roughly 4 hours. Half of that was us paying more attention to something online and making an occasional comment. We need to get better at this.
It was nearing ultimate frisbee time at 6, so I said goodbye and got ready. To find no one there. I somehow missed the memo that nobody was playing this weekend? Because I forgot to write about it like I said I would, last Sunday was fun. Only 3 on 3, but I layed out twice and felt pretty good about it all. This Sunday was totally lame. So I ran for about 15 minutes when I got home, just to get some negative energy out. Showered, blogged, ate gumbo (Matt likes to cook), and maybe I'll work on this presentation before I go to bed. Ha. I still got tomorrow...
We headed back over to the first net with the Ipod, but decided the bunting that wouldn't quite fly into the net was the one we caught before and he got smart. So we played the prairie warbler song instead, since those might also be of interest, and we got one. He was a somewhat smaller and a little easier to remove, but quite feisty. Candice's turn to bleed, but when I was getting the needle out for her I bled myself instead. Oops. Fortunately it was before we stuck the bird, so I won't get bird AIDS or something. With a new needle, Candice wasn't terribly successful at the bleeding, probably for several reasons. The warbler was smaller, she didn't poke deep enough, and she held the capillary tube so the blood flowed right back out onto the bird. She'll learn, I hope.
Meanwhile, we were constantly hearing guns go off, since we were right next to an area where they test weapons. I sure hope they don't miscalculate their ranges. We returned to station, Candice drove home to GA to figure out car stuff, I hung around in the office a bit, went to the grocery store, then went home. Talked to Beck, and then who knows what I did until Matt arrived around 11. I was super tired so I went to bed instead of helping or socializing.
Woke up, made pancakes, and read or something til Matt woke up, then we had a more formal introduction. We talked awhile and I think we'll get along just fine this summer. A lot of the same interests, hobbies, etc. His personality is a bit more adventurous than mine, and sometimes the things he plans to do seem totally random to me. I almost feel boring. I probably am.
Anyway, he went on a run and I Skyped, then we went out shopping. We stopped at Goodwill, then searched for what we thought was going to be an organic grocery store, which part of it was, but it also had a bunch of random crap and a book section. Figures, with a name like "The Curiosity Shop." Highlight of the day: finding a can labeled "Spotted Dick." Not joking. It appeared to be some kind of sponge pudding?... right. We stopped at Kroeger, then went home.
I Skyped with Beck some more after he had watched Anchorman for the first time. And once again, I have no recollection of what I did besides dinner until I went to bed.
Sunday was kinda crappy. Matt went to check out the climbing gym in Columbia, but I didn't because I needed to work on a presentation of my project to show the other people on the Corridor Project. Think I got anything done? Not a thing. I did email I few people I needed to and checked out airfare to the Netherlands. Then I proceeded to Skype with Beck for roughly 4 hours. Half of that was us paying more attention to something online and making an occasional comment. We need to get better at this.
It was nearing ultimate frisbee time at 6, so I said goodbye and got ready. To find no one there. I somehow missed the memo that nobody was playing this weekend? Because I forgot to write about it like I said I would, last Sunday was fun. Only 3 on 3, but I layed out twice and felt pretty good about it all. This Sunday was totally lame. So I ran for about 15 minutes when I got home, just to get some negative energy out. Showered, blogged, ate gumbo (Matt likes to cook), and maybe I'll work on this presentation before I go to bed. Ha. I still got tomorrow...
Thursday, May 22, 2008
I can catch birds!
As I will likely being doing often, I woke up before the sun, around 4:50 AM. I met Julian and Dr. Levey at 6 and we set out with our mist netting equipment. We was gonna get us a bird. We put the net up in a clear cut area, set up the Ipod, and before we got 10 feet away, we already had a male indigo bunting. Dr. Levey showed me how to safely remove a bird from the net, without damaging either entity. We plucked a tail feather so another one would grow, and the new one can be analyzed because it will reflect what the bird ate while it's here, not while it was migrating. Then Julian showed me how to collect blood, by poking a needle in the brachial vein beneath the wing. When we have capillary tubes, they'll just suck that blood right up as it comes out.
We let the little guy go, but we had left the Ipod on, so when we checked the net again we had snared his mate. She's not the beautiful deep turquoise blue like him, just tan, with a wee bit of blue on her wings. And I took her out of the net. I did! Me! My first bird! It was a special moment. We went through the motions again, Julian practicing bleeding on one wing, and me on the other. We also checked for a brood patch, when all the feathers fall off her breast so she can incubate eggs better. And she had one, which means she's nesting. So we let her go.
But disaster struck! She didn't fly away like her mate, she kinda hopped away, then just stood and wobbled. I was so scared I injured her and felt really bad, but we caught and checked her and everything looked good. Dr. Levey hypothesized that since it was early, her blood sugar might be low, and we'd just stressed her out. Normally, we should carry glucose solution for times like this, which are rare, but we didn't have any. BUT, I remembered I had a fruit cup in my lunch, which I left in the truck. I ran to get it, and Dr. Levey began to put drops of the juice on her beak so she could drink it. This went on for a while, and when her eyes opened a bit more (she shut them halfway, a sign of stress), we put her down. She continued to wobble a bit, but then she hopped on a branch and flapped, and a few minutes later she was flying. Hooray!
I saved a bird! Me! I sacrificed part of my lunch for her! I'm a hero!
After that ordeal, we just watched birds for a while while our binoculars, learning to identify them. Dr. Levey pointed out a Yellow-breasted Chat, which has a bright yellow breast (duh) and a wide range of songs. It's interesting because no one knows how to classify it. It's a warbler, but it's hardly like a warbler at all, way too big. Anyway, we decided to catch it, which was successful. No bleeding and stuff, but fun anyway.
After that, we looked for cuckoos and headed back to station. We hung out, then went to meet someone in the field, to talk, eat, and check for birds. Returned to station, Dr. Levey left, and Julian took Candice and I out to set up nets for the next morning. We can keep them twisted up over night, then spread them out in the morning without having to set up the poles again. Candice hadn't handled birds yet, so we caught a male bunting in one of the nets. We had a little trouble with an unsteady pole falling down, but I dealt with that while Julian taught her stuff. She called the bird "Bundt Cake." Cute.
It was later than I'd hoped, so I left pretty fast when we got to station. Skyped as usual, kept Beck up too long. Showered, made pasta, wrote blog, got tired, went bed, wake when no sun, Matt come tomorrow, need clean, birds. Ug.
We let the little guy go, but we had left the Ipod on, so when we checked the net again we had snared his mate. She's not the beautiful deep turquoise blue like him, just tan, with a wee bit of blue on her wings. And I took her out of the net. I did! Me! My first bird! It was a special moment. We went through the motions again, Julian practicing bleeding on one wing, and me on the other. We also checked for a brood patch, when all the feathers fall off her breast so she can incubate eggs better. And she had one, which means she's nesting. So we let her go.
But disaster struck! She didn't fly away like her mate, she kinda hopped away, then just stood and wobbled. I was so scared I injured her and felt really bad, but we caught and checked her and everything looked good. Dr. Levey hypothesized that since it was early, her blood sugar might be low, and we'd just stressed her out. Normally, we should carry glucose solution for times like this, which are rare, but we didn't have any. BUT, I remembered I had a fruit cup in my lunch, which I left in the truck. I ran to get it, and Dr. Levey began to put drops of the juice on her beak so she could drink it. This went on for a while, and when her eyes opened a bit more (she shut them halfway, a sign of stress), we put her down. She continued to wobble a bit, but then she hopped on a branch and flapped, and a few minutes later she was flying. Hooray!
I saved a bird! Me! I sacrificed part of my lunch for her! I'm a hero!
After that ordeal, we just watched birds for a while while our binoculars, learning to identify them. Dr. Levey pointed out a Yellow-breasted Chat, which has a bright yellow breast (duh) and a wide range of songs. It's interesting because no one knows how to classify it. It's a warbler, but it's hardly like a warbler at all, way too big. Anyway, we decided to catch it, which was successful. No bleeding and stuff, but fun anyway.
After that, we looked for cuckoos and headed back to station. We hung out, then went to meet someone in the field, to talk, eat, and check for birds. Returned to station, Dr. Levey left, and Julian took Candice and I out to set up nets for the next morning. We can keep them twisted up over night, then spread them out in the morning without having to set up the poles again. Candice hadn't handled birds yet, so we caught a male bunting in one of the nets. We had a little trouble with an unsteady pole falling down, but I dealt with that while Julian taught her stuff. She called the bird "Bundt Cake." Cute.
It was later than I'd hoped, so I left pretty fast when we got to station. Skyped as usual, kept Beck up too long. Showered, made pasta, wrote blog, got tired, went bed, wake when no sun, Matt come tomorrow, need clean, birds. Ug.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
First days on the job
After a weekend of getting settled in, I was ready to start work on Monday. However, as two of the people who are very important to my project were not yet here, I couldn’t start collecting data. So far Julian and others have been showing me the ropes, but I need Candice, the other REU student I’ll be working with, and I need Dr. Levey to tell us what exactly we’re doing.
So, I got recruited to water plants. Doesn’t sound too bad, right? Wrong.
I soon discovered that this task entailed lugging around a 2-gallon watering can in each hand, walking through thorns and other nasty brush, trying to locate the 16 plant plots in each patch, trying to find the plants within the plot (some are dead, some are weedy, etc), and deciding how much water to give to said plants. I set out around 9 AM with Melissa and Caleb and we proceeded to get lost on our way to the first patch. With an 8th of a tank of gas. Lars said we’d be fine with that much. Ha.
Anyway, I was given a basic run down of which plants to water, how many plots were in each transect, and how much water I should use per transect. I had no clue at this point, however, that the plots were oriented in a manner that would have made them much easier for me to find. I’m pretty sure I missed one in the first patch. Oops. Once I figured this out, developed a pattern, and stopped overwatering, we actually began to make good time. But it still took hours and hours (with a leisurely lunch break) in the hot sun, since each of the 4 sites we watered has 5 patches with 16 plots each. Now kids, if we do the math, that gives us 320 plots, and technically each one of us would have watered 106.667. Caleb, however, is a beast who runs with watering cans, so he probably did twice as many as Melissa and I.
We finished our day around 4:30, I went home, took a shower, Beck called, I made tacos, then I was going to go to MacDonald’s to use their wifi (seriously, some Mickey D’s chains have it now), but I ended up reading a book and finding I was sooo freaking exhausted (dehydrated) that I went to bed at 9 PM.
That was a good time to go to bed, though, because I woke up at 5:15 Tuesday morning to go look for buntings with Julian. We set up the mist net in a clear-cut area and caught... nothing. But I know how to set up nets now.
I had safety training at 9 AM, which, given the amount of info it encompassed, probably should have taken an hour. It took three. The guy, Ed, who’s in charge of lots of stuff, seems to get distracted really easily: “So, when you’re out in the field, watch out for venomous snakes. What does your T-shirt say about swimming?” He apparently noticed the word “swimming” on my T-shirt and we spent 5 minutes discussing the 100 butterfly before moving to the next safety topic. This happened numerous times.
After training I ate lunch and waiting for CPR certification at 1 PM. I’d say there were about 30 people in the room, waiting for the instructor to show up. He doesn’t. So Ed calls and we find out the class is cancelled. After all these people took off work for it.
So I get recruited to collect seed traps from an old project and put them in the “bone yard.” Just as we start unloading the trailer, it starts storming. So we finish up fast and get back to the office. Then it starts hailing. At this point I’m talking to Beck and describing dime sized hail. It keeps getting bigger until it’s golf ball sized. And I’m not exaggerating. Luckily my Trailblazer is pretty sturdy, so it didn’t sustain any damage as far as I can tell, but I know some other vehicles did.
Anywho, by now, Doug and Candice were in town, so we decided to all meet up at Moe’s and discuss things, and also just have a bit of fun. I really like the people I’ve met so far in the crew, so hopefully we can hang out pretty often.
We (the bunting people) decide to meet early Wednesday morning and scout for birds in some patches. Candice, Julian, and Doug go to get Candice a badge at 6:30, so I come a little later and hang out in the office, thinking they'll be there by 7:30. More like 8:15. They couldn't find the right people to approve it or something.
We head to one of the sites and begin to search, using our bird song Ipod, which plays classics like "Rockin Robin" and "Free Bird." Har har har. Actually, it's an Ipod you can buy loaded with bird calls, which is pretty sweet, I think. I'm a nerd. Anyway, we play the indigo bunting song on the Ipod to get a response from other buntings. The males are the only ones who sing back, though females might chirp a bit. At this point, though, most females haven't even arrived yet because they come later than the males. So the males respond to and look for the call from the Ipod, trying to defend the territory it's claiming. Essentially, we're pissing them off.Anyway, the first site is successful, and we get to the second one a bit too late in the day (11-ish) to see/hear much. So I head home at 12:30 so I can meet the guy that's coming to install my internet. I read a book til he comes at 4. Oh well, at least I have interwebs now. Soon after, Beck calls, so I can finally Skype with him. There were some strange issues at times, we couldn't figure out who's computer was causing them, but cameras kept freezing and we sounded like robots sometimes. Hopefully that'll work itself out...
After 2 hours of Skype, I got a call that everyone was going to a Thai restaurant, so I joined them. I had a tofu curry dish and it was delicious. We'll have to go there again. I came home, typed this, and now it's time for bed. Except I need a shower still. But I didn't really sweat today, and I'll just get gross tomorrow... I'm thinking just straight to bed, since I'll be up before 5 AM tomorrow. Such is the life of a bird researcher.
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Getting settled
So this blog includes a bit of the past 3 days. I suppose most blogs will include multiple days, because I’m not enough of a loser to update every day. ...Or am I? We shall see.
Anyway, Friday morning I drove to the trailer park to sign the lease and move in. And the landlady wasn’t there. So I wandered around Target and Walmart, looking for a frying pan. I got a baking sheet. And who do I see there? The landlady. Now she’s a nice old southern lady, but I really wish I could figure out her hours. She kinda works on her own time I guess. And she’s obsessed with yardwork. Anyway, as she was shopping, she told me she wouldn’t be home for a few hours.
Next I called Julian and told him I couldn’t move in til the afternoon, and he said he could show me around the sites at SRS. So I drove down there, showed them my shiny new badge, met Julian at the office, got a radio number (13Mike), and we set off. I soon learned the protocol for radioing in every time I changed grid locations. This place is anal like that. We got to the first of 8 patch sites, walked around to each patch, (A,B,C,D, and E, arranged in a set way) and listened for buntings. We did this for the next 4 sites, and I hopefully marked the right dirt road to each one on the SRS map. By then it was about 3 PM, and to give me enough time to move in, we just drove to the other sites, but didn’t get out to look.
So I drove back to the trailer park, found the landlady, gave her all my money, got the keys, and moved all my stuff inside. Meanwhile, Beck (my boyfriend if I haven’t mentioned him yet) called to let me know he made it to the
After Beck called, hunger was stronger than the need for organization, so I went to Atlanta Bread Co., as I had no groceries yet. I got a sandwich and signed up to get internet installed in my trailer. It’ll be nice to not have to go to a restaurant for internet, I think the people there might start recognizing me soon. Anywho, next I went grocery shopping and spent over $100. And I got a frying pan.
Then I just had a bad night because I had a headache and felt really lonely and starting crying. I would’ve given anything to be with Beck right then, but I just had to go to sleep instead.
I woke up the next morning still feeling ucky, went back to sleep, woke up again, ate breakfast, and finished unpacking. Then I read some papers for my project, trying to get a better idea of what I’m expected to do but what no one will tell me exactly.
And then Beck called! And I cried a little more, but happy tears this time. I drove to Atlanta Bread Co. (which I will now call ABC) to Skype with him so we could use our webcams. I got a drink and picked a table at the back of the restaurant so I wouldn’t bother anyone. But apparently everyone wanted to be bothered. Out of all the tables in the place, the next 3 groups of people in the restaurant chose to sit at the 3 tables surrounding me. I know at least one was clearly aware that I was talking to Beck, because I saw him in my webcam window, looking over my shoulder. He was creepy. So I moved away from the eavesdroppers, where I could talk more freely. I kept Beck up til about 11 PM on his time, 6 hours ahead of mine. So I let him go to bed, and I left feeling a lot better. I cooked some couscous and veggies, got a call from the parentals, did some random crap and went to bed.
I woke up and felt adventurous! Not really, I just thought (and my parents told me) I should explore Aiken, figure out where stuff is. First stop: Aiken County library. It doesn't open til 2 on Sundays. Next stop: downtown shops. All except a few were closed on Sundays. Next stop: Aiken Mall. Closed on Sundays when I got there (noonish), maybe open later? So, finding my expedition mostly fruitless, I began to drive home. And then Beck called! So I turned around and drove back to ABC to freeload on their interwebs, because I don't get mine installed til Wednesday. Skyping was nice as usual.
Anyway, as I am just an internet parasite, that means I can't say anything about ultimate frisbee tonight until the next time I post. So I'll leave you guessing until then...
Thursday, May 15, 2008
I live in a trailer!
So I just drove down to South Carolina yesterday, knowing hardly anything and not even having a place to live yet. Great start to the summer! Luckily Julian, a grad student from UF, offered to put me up for a couple nights til I found a place. And I found that place today! Hooray!
But first, I had to go to General Employee Training for SRS. That entailed sitting in a room for 2 hours and being told at least 6 times that cell phones are not allowed in restricted areas. I will never be in restricted areas. I did, however, learn that I am a "remote worker" and I get a walkie-talkie. After GET, I waited for another 2 hours for the people at the badge office to come back from lunch break. Apparently they need 2 hours to eat lunch. Anyways, now I have a super cool official badge!
In the meantime, I called about half the classified ads in the Aiken Standard (local paper), slowly advancing toward desperation and despair. And then I called a trailer park. And it was a miracle! I went to check it out, and it's nicely furnished, well kept, quiet, and a great deal. I asked the landlady to hold it for me, and I'll sign the lease and move in tomorrow. It's further away than I'd hoped, but it's probably the best deal I could find. And my roommate, Matt, will move in next week and everything will be happy. Yay!
Now I'm gonna leave Atlanta Bread Co. and get an early bedtime so I can move in tomorrow morning and drive around SRS to see the corridor sites.
But first, I had to go to General Employee Training for SRS. That entailed sitting in a room for 2 hours and being told at least 6 times that cell phones are not allowed in restricted areas. I will never be in restricted areas. I did, however, learn that I am a "remote worker" and I get a walkie-talkie. After GET, I waited for another 2 hours for the people at the badge office to come back from lunch break. Apparently they need 2 hours to eat lunch. Anyways, now I have a super cool official badge!
In the meantime, I called about half the classified ads in the Aiken Standard (local paper), slowly advancing toward desperation and despair. And then I called a trailer park. And it was a miracle! I went to check it out, and it's nicely furnished, well kept, quiet, and a great deal. I asked the landlady to hold it for me, and I'll sign the lease and move in tomorrow. It's further away than I'd hoped, but it's probably the best deal I could find. And my roommate, Matt, will move in next week and everything will be happy. Yay!
Now I'm gonna leave Atlanta Bread Co. and get an early bedtime so I can move in tomorrow morning and drive around SRS to see the corridor sites.
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