Hi There All!
Hope that everyone is doing a-okay. I'm doing pretty darn well.
I guess I'll cut to the chase and tell you all what's been going on.
Monday: Julie, one of her friends and I went down to SE MN to swap out bugs, collect water from the auto-samplers and wander around the woods. It was pretty darn good. It was a shorter than a normal field day, but it was very productive.
Tuesday: I went with Cale to the UMore site to put in a few more data loggers, upload data and meet some locals. It was a good day.
Wednesday: Julie and I ran a bunch of samples through the spec. had a lunch time meeting and took it easy. I also meet with Josh Feinberg the guy in the Institute for Rock Magnetism (IRM) we discussed my mud thesis and started running some analyses. Oh boy!
Thursday: We ran some more samples in the spec and that was really about all that we did. It was a really easy day. In the evening I went out with Ben, Mike, and Alissa to the Guthrie Theatre where we saw "When We Are Married" written by J.B. Priestley. It was a really good play.
Friday: We went out on Lake Superior as a whole group on the R/V Blue Heron, owned by the U. Out there we cored the lake a few times using different methods: a gravity corer, a dredge, and this nifty thing that settles down to the bottom and inertia drives 4 tubes into the lake sediment, then when it is lifted up, it trips and closes the ends of the cores. Pretty cool. We also did some basic water chemistry. Finally we ran a few passes of sonar to map the lake bottom. Pretty neat stuff. In the evening when we got back I also ran some more magnetics samples for my thesis.
Saturday: I spent almost the whole day in the lab running magnetics samples. Oh boy. In the evening I went contra-dancing with Ben, Liz, Becky, and Alissa. That was a lot of fun. After that we went back to the U picked up Angela and Mike and went over to Julie's house for a party.
Today: Well, I spent almost all day in the lab running my magnetics samples again. Oh boy. I finished all of my samples for susceptibility and have about 5/8 of the ARM samples completed. I wasn't actually going to write tonite because I was planning on working in the lab this evening but the ARM machine isn't working as of this evening.... I didn't do it for the record, the post-doc touched it, not me, as he was trying to set it up for me. I feel kinda bad about it. Now I'm in a world of hurt to get my samples done, we'll see how it goes! Hopefully they can fix it tomorrow.
No real plans for the rest of the week. I am going out in the field tomorrow to change some more bugs. Besides that I'm meeting with Scott to discuss my project so I can start working on that. About time.... Calvin and Scott are going to be out for the next three weeks, so I better be in good shape pretty soon, or I'm in a world of hurt.
I think that I'm going to be taking some swing dancing lessons this week, so that should be lots of fun.
I guess that's really about it. Taking it easy. Hope everyone is having a great time!! Only four weeks to go. Cripes!
Enjoy!!
Erik
Monday, July 13, 2009
Saturday, July 11, 2009
Week 2 at Camp Farley
The first week of camp flew by like all good things! When I first met my campers I was extremely nervous, but they turned out to be amazing. They were talkative and so much fun to be around! Not to mention they got along with each other and always listened to their counselors. The transition into cabin life was so smooth, although we did encounter a few snags along the way. On Wednesday was the camp’s talent show and the girls were stoked to participant. Before the show, one of the girls felt that she did not have enough time to perform her song to the capacity of her liking and completely broke down. She cried, ran, and refused to talk to anyone. After a talk she eventually came around ad performed her song. She did such a great job and the crowd loved it! Our cabin sat down for a long discussion and everything was okay by the time they went to bad. Every time an obstacle occurred I did not feel unprepared because of my previous camp experience. I handled each one with great patience and a soft voice. Each problem was settled and the kids went home with all smiles. The camp was great this week and even though the kids complained they had a good time.
During the first week I got the chance to conduct, organize, and prepare several games that would allow my group to communicate and work together. The first two days are name games, group-solving games, and trust falls. The last three days are spent on the climbing wall and the zip line. The point of this weekly structure is to stimulate team work between groups of kids that have not spent time together. The first day is quite exhausting because the kids are bent on not participating. We have to constantly push them, but by the second day I feel that it really pays off. They start to get along with each other and support one another. These skills are pertinent to the success of the high ropes elements. I love watching the kids work together and strategize each step of the way! It makes the tiring moments so worth and I am grateful to be able to experience them.
During the first week I got the chance to conduct, organize, and prepare several games that would allow my group to communicate and work together. The first two days are name games, group-solving games, and trust falls. The last three days are spent on the climbing wall and the zip line. The point of this weekly structure is to stimulate team work between groups of kids that have not spent time together. The first day is quite exhausting because the kids are bent on not participating. We have to constantly push them, but by the second day I feel that it really pays off. They start to get along with each other and support one another. These skills are pertinent to the success of the high ropes elements. I love watching the kids work together and strategize each step of the way! It makes the tiring moments so worth and I am grateful to be able to experience them.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Update from the Cape Cod Canal
Now that the summer season has officially started, I spend most of my time working in the Visitor Center. Working there is pretty predictable most of the time, so I don't have many shenanigans to report. The last three days we have had groups of 50 junior-high students come in from a summer enrichment program at Mass Maritime Academy, so we have been giving tours to them. We have been getting a lot of questions about tall ships, since many people hope to see them coming through the canal. A few have come through, including one today, one yesterday, and five one of the days I was off. A lot of people ask if any tall ships are planning to come through, which is a question we can't answer, since we -- or at least, Marine Traffic Control -- don't find out until about an hour before they arrive, when they call and ask permission to transit the Canal.
This morning was the first time I led the Sagamore Hill Hike. Before it was time to leave for that, I found myself accompanying Roger and JP out to the Bourne Bridge approach to pick up a box of nails that had fallen out of a passing truck and gotten all over the street. These nails were huge -- about six inches long and as thick as a pencil, and there must have been hundreds of them lying in the road. We used two large pickup trucks and a bunch of cones to block the traffic, and then set about collecting nails. One unfortunate driver got a flat tire from one of the nails, so she had to call AAA to come and help her out. We got all the nails picked up fairly quickly, but we still caused a major traffic jam in the process. Of course, the traffic is an almost constant jam on Cape Cod anyway, so any traffic incidents -- or nail incidents, for that matter -- just make things worse.
I did get to Sagamore Hill on time, nails or no nails. It turns out that I will have an Interpreter from the Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation accompanying me on each tour, which is a good thing for safety reasons. The Interpreter they sent, Sarah, is very nice, and it will be great to have her along. Today we had one visitor, so the three of us had a grand old time walking up Sagamore Hill. We even met Sam on the way, who was doing some other job on Sagamore Hill at the time.
(This is a picture of me at work on Water Safety Day. This event took place a few weeks ago, but it took me a while to figure out the size requirements so I could post pictures. I'll try some more next week. )
Thursday, July 9, 2009
Kia Ora from Aotearoa!
Which means; Hello from New Zealand (Land of the Long White Cloud) in Te Reo. Te Reo is the language of the indigenous people from New Zealand called the Maori’s.
I meant to write earlier this week but I was really sick the last few days. With New Zealand being Swine Flu central at the moment, I was a little nervous. In the end it all turned out fine. It is winter here in the Southern Hemisphere and the daytime temperatures in Wellington have been averaging between the high 30's to low 50's, a little colder then back in Maine this time of year.
New Zealand has been amazing and I am really enjoying working as an intern for The Department of Conservation. I am mostly working in the Recreation & Historic Unit which has proved to be very interesting. I am learning new things every day, especially in the areas of eco tourism. I am anxious to learn about the native people, their culture, historic sites and the county's national parks.
I am currently undertaking an important survey project on what makes a well managed, quality recreation site. I have been e-mailing and doing phone interviews with different Department of Conservation offices from all over the country. Through a series of questions I developed, I'm establishing a list of the sites that the employees feel are popular with visitors and well managed. I'm also developing specific recommendations for improving sites,such as highway turoffs that provide scenic views. The idea is to create a table that identifies consistent factors that make a recreational site successful.
Employees have ranked the Fiordland Great Walks in the Southland Region very high. This area of New Zealand is arguably the most beautiful and a well known tourist destination for the entire country, Matiu/Somes Island in the Wellington Region is rich in European and Maori history. Cape Reinga located in the northernmost tip of New Zealand is held as scared ground to the Maori people.
All of this research makes me want to go out and see these amazing places! That’s probably the one downside to the job so far. I have only been out of the office once to do any type of fieldwork. We installed visitor counters in Holdsworth by burying them below treks (trails) in the Wairarapa Region of the country. It is a beautiful area. The counters were also placed at the main entrance on the eastern side of Tararau Forest Park and at Cross Creek. Cross Creek is an abandoned community that is now a nice hiking area and an access point to the Rimutaka Incline. This is a very popular tramping (hiking) destination. The eerie thing is there is NO evidence of there having been a vibrant community in the past.
As I have said before, it is a little frustrating that I am in such a beautiful country and I have been stuck in an office the majority of the time for the first four weeks of my internship. A combination of it being winter and lower visitation has contributed to a significant amount of time spent in the office.
However next week I am traveling down to the Southland Region. The South Island is much colder then the North Island. As you travel south in New Zealand you are closer to the South Pole. My agenda includes working on Milford Sound! I can’t believe I'm halfway through my internship. I plan on taking allot more photographs of working activities and the beautiful scenery. On days off I have been keeping myself plenty busy. There are a lot of fun activities to do here. I have visited the Te Papa National Museum which includes may displays of the native people and their culture. There is even a fully mounted Giant Squid that was the first live specimen caught last year by Japanese fisherman in very cold and deep waters off of southern New Zealand.I can't wait to report back on my experiences next week from the Southland.
Cheers!
Erin
I meant to write earlier this week but I was really sick the last few days. With New Zealand being Swine Flu central at the moment, I was a little nervous. In the end it all turned out fine. It is winter here in the Southern Hemisphere and the daytime temperatures in Wellington have been averaging between the high 30's to low 50's, a little colder then back in Maine this time of year.
New Zealand has been amazing and I am really enjoying working as an intern for The Department of Conservation. I am mostly working in the Recreation & Historic Unit which has proved to be very interesting. I am learning new things every day, especially in the areas of eco tourism. I am anxious to learn about the native people, their culture, historic sites and the county's national parks.
I am currently undertaking an important survey project on what makes a well managed, quality recreation site. I have been e-mailing and doing phone interviews with different Department of Conservation offices from all over the country. Through a series of questions I developed, I'm establishing a list of the sites that the employees feel are popular with visitors and well managed. I'm also developing specific recommendations for improving sites,such as highway turoffs that provide scenic views. The idea is to create a table that identifies consistent factors that make a recreational site successful.
Employees have ranked the Fiordland Great Walks in the Southland Region very high. This area of New Zealand is arguably the most beautiful and a well known tourist destination for the entire country, Matiu/Somes Island in the Wellington Region is rich in European and Maori history. Cape Reinga located in the northernmost tip of New Zealand is held as scared ground to the Maori people.
All of this research makes me want to go out and see these amazing places! That’s probably the one downside to the job so far. I have only been out of the office once to do any type of fieldwork. We installed visitor counters in Holdsworth by burying them below treks (trails) in the Wairarapa Region of the country. It is a beautiful area. The counters were also placed at the main entrance on the eastern side of Tararau Forest Park and at Cross Creek. Cross Creek is an abandoned community that is now a nice hiking area and an access point to the Rimutaka Incline. This is a very popular tramping (hiking) destination. The eerie thing is there is NO evidence of there having been a vibrant community in the past.
As I have said before, it is a little frustrating that I am in such a beautiful country and I have been stuck in an office the majority of the time for the first four weeks of my internship. A combination of it being winter and lower visitation has contributed to a significant amount of time spent in the office.
However next week I am traveling down to the Southland Region. The South Island is much colder then the North Island. As you travel south in New Zealand you are closer to the South Pole. My agenda includes working on Milford Sound! I can’t believe I'm halfway through my internship. I plan on taking allot more photographs of working activities and the beautiful scenery. On days off I have been keeping myself plenty busy. There are a lot of fun activities to do here. I have visited the Te Papa National Museum which includes may displays of the native people and their culture. There is even a fully mounted Giant Squid that was the first live specimen caught last year by Japanese fisherman in very cold and deep waters off of southern New Zealand.I can't wait to report back on my experiences next week from the Southland.
Cheers!
Erin
Monday, July 6, 2009
MTR Last Full Week Plus a Few Days
Our humble little house and the Kashi box I'm hiding behind.Week 5
16 June
Day 3 (31)
I’ve been here for a month and have a half a month left! I used a really big table saw today to cut wood for garden posts. It took me a half hour to find the unlock button, figure out how to move the unlock button, and then find how to change the angle. It was interesting but successful. I put most of the posts in the garden, but stopped when I realized that we have to buy more. The rabbit is eating our cabbage, so it has to be soon. I did budget work today: I made a spreadsheet to outline our costs and who needs to be reimbursed and such. So far I have faced the nitty gritty details that make a group work and succeed and the big obvious things that we learn about in classes. Doing it all is much more fun than learning about it. I’m really glad I did this internship because it’s been an internship on life: specifically my life. I have not only learned what is necessary to run an action advocacy group (the obvious and the unseen details like bookkeeping), many life skills. I can build things comfortably (use the tools), I’ve designed a house, planned, prepared, and planted gardens, done yard work, learned how to keep weeds away, identified local plants and what they are good for, when to eat road kill and when to not, how to connect to opposing groups, how to talk with media (I forgot to mention I had an interview at one point for a Reader’s Digest magazine), how to avoid making angry miners more angry, how to shut down opposing groups using administrative resources (court appeals, site visits, comments on permits, and using illegal actions against the company), planning direct actions, cleaning up after direct actions (raising money to get people out of jail and plugging into the media), making screens for a house, how to reuse almost anything, how to make cleaning and hygiene products, how to make tinctures and use herbal medicines, how to email and connect to senators and representatives. It’s been so much! It’s been a big glimpse of my life. This is the work I will be doing, this is how I will have to live since I’m allergic to everything in the grocery store, and now I’ve learned how to do it all. The great thing about this internship is that it wasn’t an internship. I did everything everyone else was doing: it was like being submerged into the job. I was never overwhelmed though, because I had good training (thank you Nancy and Mountain Justice Summer Camp).
17 June
Day 4 (32)
Didn't do a whole lot today. There was hail! Downpour, thunder, and lightening. It was so thick that the mountain ridge – less than 1/4 mile away – disappeared! It was quite the sight. I’ve been doing a lot of reading about the Early church recently: the way Jesus instructed the Apostles to make church and the way they formed it until it got changed. It’s all about love. Nothing is more important than loving everyone, even your enemies, because Jesus loved everyone. I’m enjoying it a lot. There is a lobby week in DC in September for MTR: anyone interested?
18 June
Day 5 (33)
I got the rest of the garden posts today, so I can finish the garden fence sometime tomorrow. There’s a big protest next week that I’m really excited about. To prepare for it, a couple people from the Coal River action group climbed a dragline – these are gigantic, really, tall pieces of equipment that help to move the mountain. They are camping up there until the police go up to get them down. They didn’t quite finish hanging the banner against MTR. A miner there started having blood pressure and heart problems, so they charged to Coal River folks with battery! Completely ridiculous. We can only pray that, that one doesn’t pass in court. Logically it shouldn’t, but you wouldn’t believe some of the crazy stuff that goes on down here; most high officials are paid off by the coal companies.
20 June
Day 7 (35)
I finished the garden fence tonight: no more rabbits or deer. I spent the day volunteering for the local historical society at the fair. I met a lot of townsfolk and the mayor, so some good connections were made between them and the organization. The people are very into what we are doing and are trying to turn the area into a national park complex – this means the lands are protected but there are camping, hunting, fishing, and recreation areas. These connections are really important especially since Christians for the Mountains does a lot of community outreach, organizing, surveys, and health assistance. Funny story: I locked myself out of our houses, had to break into one to get water and find keys. I didn’t find keys so I called my friends that were hiking and hiked to go get keys to let myself in. It was concerning, however, because it was so easy for someone like me to break into the houses.
22 June
Day 2 (37)
The last garden rows for the coming moon cycle were made so that the corn and cucumbers could be planted tonight or tomorrow. The guests arrived: Sandra and Celie have been here before and are always a joy (Celie is seven). There were a couple folks from Appalachian Voices – a lobbying non-profit in DC for Appalachian environmental concerns. They came down for a big protest happening at Marshfork Elementary School against MTR tomorrow. Marshfork is an elementary school feet away from a Massey strip mine and down ‘stream’ from a sludge pond that leaks. If it breaks they die. Also, the stream smells horrid and the fish have scabs. Jim Hensen, Daryl Hannah, and Ken Heckler are supposed to be there to protests and get arrested.
23 June
Day 3 (38)
The protest was a success. Everyone who wanted to get arrested got arrested, which means great publicity on our part. Last time they wouldn’t arrest Ken Heckler because they knew it would be great publicity. A strip-miner’s wife got arrested for assaulting Goldman Environmental Prize winner Judy Bonds, who also got arrested for trespassing with the other protesters. Sandra, Celie, and I marched, but did not trespass. The press was all over the event and we are very excited for that. I have not heard anything about additional charges or bail rates. Last time the bail wash cash-only and way passed the legal maximum for trespassing crimes (2000 cash-bail only a piece). Those that scaled the dragline earlier in the week got charged with battery because a mine worker that tried to get them down started having heart problems. This movement is completely ridiculous at times. Those that support MTR and many of the law enforcement officers break the law and constitution on a daily basis. The miners break hundreds of regulations and get away with it even when it’s cited and the officers place ridiculous charges that either don’t make sense or is unlawful. However, there are great exceptions here and there. Some that got arrested at the last protest had wonderful luck. Those that trespassed by crossing the property line and those that trespassed onto the sludge damn by canoe and ‘littered’ with a banner on it got the really high charges and bails, but those that trespassed and locked themselves to the machinery at Kayford ‘Mountain’ got fed lunch and offered coffee by the miners and got let off on their own recognizance from the drunk on-call magistrate because he “likes squirrels.” They were fortunate enough to have just barely crossed the county line that the others got arrested in.
24 June
Day 4 (39)
My internship is pretty much done. I left West Virginia today with Sandra and Celie for Virginia. I’m staying with them to swim, peruse Lexington, and play for a couple days, then I’m staying in Harrisonburg to have a final meeting with my supervisor, go to the Early Church, a ‘soup kitchen’ that serves three meals a day to anyone with a bellybutton, then trying to get a ride back to West Virginia on the 1st to catch my flight.
It was good :D
REU In MN
Hi All,
Hope that everyone is going great and had a fantastic week. Hope that you all had a great 4th of July as well.
So I guess it is time for that weekly installment. Lucky you! I am now officially past the half way point of the program. Yikes, where has the time gone?!?!
I guess I better get busy writing what I've done this week before all the time blows away... so here we go.
So at the beginning of the week I took time to get ready for the last half of the week... sound familiar, it sure did to me. On Monday Cale and I went down to the UMore site to put some more data loggers down in the wells and try and make some temperature depth profiles. On Tuesday Calvin and I went went up north to Preston to a Lapidary shop to pick up a diamond saw blade. We needed it for the last half of the week to cut some flow stone from a Mystery Cave. That was a good trip. We mostly talked about grad school on our drive. It was very informative and good to hear about how it all works from the professor side of it, and what all the procedures are. In the afternoon I worked with Julie on making some maps of our bug locations and writing up directions for how to get to them. I can unfortunately remember what I did on Wednesday. I cleaned the lab, prepared for field work, presented at the mid program meeting what I've been up to, and worked in the attic. Julie and I were lucky enough to get told to go up to the attic and empty how many thousand vials and restack them. That was very mind numbing. So, needless to say we took breaks from that and explored the attic, there are lots of neat things up there. On Thursday the week became much more busy in a hurry. We left for SE MN at 7am. When we arrived we waited for some more people to come from the IRM (Institute for Rock Magnetism). We then all went down into Mystery Cave and took some samples. Calvin and I cut some flow stone to date. Josh and company took some sediment cores from the caves to age. It was fun. We were then suppose to go back farther into the cave, but the ranger thought that there were too many of us, so Julie, Becky, Alissa and myself (all the interns that were there, how interesting) were told to leave and go to Freiheit Spring where they were doing a quantitative dye trace. So I got us over there. Then we mostly sat around as they had already dumped dye and were just recording what was going on using the data loggers. I guess they had the dye come out of the spring in about 15 minutes, the sinkhole was located about 200 meters away, that's pretty fast transport!! So, we did that for a bit. After a few hours Calvin and caving company showed up and we then got to go replace bugs and dump dye (mind you Calvin and company showed up at 6pm). So by the time we finished changing bugs and dumping dye it was 10:30pm. We ended up spending the nite down there. We got to bed at about midnight. On Friday we started work at 7. We went back to Frieheit to change the samplers, download data, and tear down some equipment. So after two hours there... we went to change some more bugs for Julies project. At the first site some man came up to us with some horses, handed Calvin the reins and told him to walk the horses up the road! So Calvin did that, turns out the horses jumped/broke a fence and the guy was trying to bring them home. Then the guy wanted to show us a stream and his well, so we lost an hour there. We then changed out the rest of the bugs. That was fun. By now it is early afternoon. We still had yet to dump dye at two sites and there are two more bugs to change that are back in the woods at some springs. So we went to the state park there because we were to borrow their dump truck with a 500 gallon tank of water in it that was suppose to be full. It wasn't, and the hoses weren't there like they were suppose to be. So Julie and I spent about 1.5 hrs filling the tank while Calvin went hose hunting. Basically I got to drive a dump truck all around on Friday afternoon. Pretty much a lot of fun. So we dumped dye in a sinkhole. Then needed to refill the tank to do another dump. So instead of driving back to the park we went to Alerd's house to ask to fill the tank there. Alerd is by far Julie and my favorite person down in SE MN. He's a retired farmer, a die hard republican, really funny, and just an awesome guy. We actually formed a club of Alerd fans, so anyone that meets him can join. So we started filling the tank at his house then went and changed the last few bugs. At about 6 we finished dumping the last load of dye and water. We then went back to the park to return the dump truck. Oh boy. We caught a quick dinner and got back to UofM at 11. What fun. So needless to say I was really tired. Haha.
On Saturday we had a party!! We went to Calvin's house (a bunch of us interns), to celebrate. We basically had a BBQ. It was pretty good. It also happened to be Calvin's birthday, though I suspect he didn't want anyone to know, so I didn't tell anyone. Hope that was the right move, still wished him a happy birthday anyways. He turned 66. Yikes!! We then went to see some fireworks from the river. That was nice I suppose. I can't remember the last time I saw fireworks. We then went down to a beach on the river and just lay back and watched the world cruise on by. It was good. It was a late nite again! Today, I haven't really done too much. I did some laundry and went grocery shopping. What fun. I'm just exhusted though, I suspect I'll be turning early tonite, especially since Julie and I are going back down to SE MN tomorrow.
I am going to start really working on my project this week with any luck as Scott will now be back to get me set up with a place to work...hopefully. I will also be meeting with Josh Feinberg about working in the IRM to run the magnetics samples for my lake core. What fun!!!
I suspect that is about all that is going on. Lots and lots for sure. Well, I suppose I ought to go take care of some other stuff. Hope everyone is doing well.
Enjoy!
Erik
Hope that everyone is going great and had a fantastic week. Hope that you all had a great 4th of July as well.
So I guess it is time for that weekly installment. Lucky you! I am now officially past the half way point of the program. Yikes, where has the time gone?!?!
I guess I better get busy writing what I've done this week before all the time blows away... so here we go.
So at the beginning of the week I took time to get ready for the last half of the week... sound familiar, it sure did to me. On Monday Cale and I went down to the UMore site to put some more data loggers down in the wells and try and make some temperature depth profiles. On Tuesday Calvin and I went went up north to Preston to a Lapidary shop to pick up a diamond saw blade. We needed it for the last half of the week to cut some flow stone from a Mystery Cave. That was a good trip. We mostly talked about grad school on our drive. It was very informative and good to hear about how it all works from the professor side of it, and what all the procedures are. In the afternoon I worked with Julie on making some maps of our bug locations and writing up directions for how to get to them. I can unfortunately remember what I did on Wednesday. I cleaned the lab, prepared for field work, presented at the mid program meeting what I've been up to, and worked in the attic. Julie and I were lucky enough to get told to go up to the attic and empty how many thousand vials and restack them. That was very mind numbing. So, needless to say we took breaks from that and explored the attic, there are lots of neat things up there. On Thursday the week became much more busy in a hurry. We left for SE MN at 7am. When we arrived we waited for some more people to come from the IRM (Institute for Rock Magnetism). We then all went down into Mystery Cave and took some samples. Calvin and I cut some flow stone to date. Josh and company took some sediment cores from the caves to age. It was fun. We were then suppose to go back farther into the cave, but the ranger thought that there were too many of us, so Julie, Becky, Alissa and myself (all the interns that were there, how interesting) were told to leave and go to Freiheit Spring where they were doing a quantitative dye trace. So I got us over there. Then we mostly sat around as they had already dumped dye and were just recording what was going on using the data loggers. I guess they had the dye come out of the spring in about 15 minutes, the sinkhole was located about 200 meters away, that's pretty fast transport!! So, we did that for a bit. After a few hours Calvin and caving company showed up and we then got to go replace bugs and dump dye (mind you Calvin and company showed up at 6pm). So by the time we finished changing bugs and dumping dye it was 10:30pm. We ended up spending the nite down there. We got to bed at about midnight. On Friday we started work at 7. We went back to Frieheit to change the samplers, download data, and tear down some equipment. So after two hours there... we went to change some more bugs for Julies project. At the first site some man came up to us with some horses, handed Calvin the reins and told him to walk the horses up the road! So Calvin did that, turns out the horses jumped/broke a fence and the guy was trying to bring them home. Then the guy wanted to show us a stream and his well, so we lost an hour there. We then changed out the rest of the bugs. That was fun. By now it is early afternoon. We still had yet to dump dye at two sites and there are two more bugs to change that are back in the woods at some springs. So we went to the state park there because we were to borrow their dump truck with a 500 gallon tank of water in it that was suppose to be full. It wasn't, and the hoses weren't there like they were suppose to be. So Julie and I spent about 1.5 hrs filling the tank while Calvin went hose hunting. Basically I got to drive a dump truck all around on Friday afternoon. Pretty much a lot of fun. So we dumped dye in a sinkhole. Then needed to refill the tank to do another dump. So instead of driving back to the park we went to Alerd's house to ask to fill the tank there. Alerd is by far Julie and my favorite person down in SE MN. He's a retired farmer, a die hard republican, really funny, and just an awesome guy. We actually formed a club of Alerd fans, so anyone that meets him can join. So we started filling the tank at his house then went and changed the last few bugs. At about 6 we finished dumping the last load of dye and water. We then went back to the park to return the dump truck. Oh boy. We caught a quick dinner and got back to UofM at 11. What fun. So needless to say I was really tired. Haha.
On Saturday we had a party!! We went to Calvin's house (a bunch of us interns), to celebrate. We basically had a BBQ. It was pretty good. It also happened to be Calvin's birthday, though I suspect he didn't want anyone to know, so I didn't tell anyone. Hope that was the right move, still wished him a happy birthday anyways. He turned 66. Yikes!! We then went to see some fireworks from the river. That was nice I suppose. I can't remember the last time I saw fireworks. We then went down to a beach on the river and just lay back and watched the world cruise on by. It was good. It was a late nite again! Today, I haven't really done too much. I did some laundry and went grocery shopping. What fun. I'm just exhusted though, I suspect I'll be turning early tonite, especially since Julie and I are going back down to SE MN tomorrow.
I am going to start really working on my project this week with any luck as Scott will now be back to get me set up with a place to work...hopefully. I will also be meeting with Josh Feinberg about working in the IRM to run the magnetics samples for my lake core. What fun!!!
I suspect that is about all that is going on. Lots and lots for sure. Well, I suppose I ought to go take care of some other stuff. Hope everyone is doing well.
Enjoy!
Erik
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Our Hunting Dogs
Two characters I have yet to introduce are Fee and Angie. They are two hardworking gals that have a diverse range of skills and always accompany us to the woods. They are our two mainstay hunting dogs belonging to hunter Julias and my boss, Jagdpaechter Dieter Brecht. The dark brown is a Deutscher Drahthaar – a dog specifically bred for hunting with a very good reputation and the other white and brown one is Julias’s and I believe it is mostly Springer Spaniel.
Both are well trained and very friendly. They are mostly used to track injured animals but also prove their worth for bird and rabbit hunting. One of the pictures I have included is Julias with Angie inspecting a field for game damage. Angie and Feh are particularly helpful in this because their keen noses help them pickup game trails that are often hard for us to see and these often lead to areas of crop that has been eaten by wild boar or sometimes reh deer.
We’ve had a very warm humid few weeks here lately and the corn has grown and sprouted surprisingly fast. The cost of the Wildschaden- game damage to the crops is adding up as more and more crops are starting to fruit drawing the animals out of the forest to easier feed.
I already have my work cut out for me for next week as I have a crop field of my own to fence in. With all honesty I am not overly excited for the rather tedious work but I have little experience laying fence and I’m sure it will be a useful experience. Either way it needs to be done.
Have a good one Unity!
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