Week 1 recap

So this field season has turned out to be interesting to say the least. In just one week we have had triumphs, struggles, and I've mentally thought "bless your heart" more times than I can count. But I'm trying to stay positive and I'll keep the horror/hilarious stories out of public knowlegde. 

It has rained just about every day since we started. In fact, the storm chances are so high in the afternoons, I have implemented drastic measures by packing a light lunch and doing work usually saved for shady afternoon hours right after surveys. If I said I wasn't exhausted I would be lying. We aren't quite 1/2 way through with surveys yet which was to be expected. I have a VERY green tech and we are just now getting into some what of a rythm. Today was the first day we have come back to the motel and weren't soaked from the waist down from dew and standing water and soaked from the waist up from sweat. My boots were more dry when we got back than they were when we left this morning. 

I'm really too tired to write anything more, so I'll update more later and leave you with some favorite moments from this week. 

Blessed be.

Full on field season

Yesterday, my tech (Stephen) and I headed out for full on field season. We got a few days of groceries, checked into our hotel room, and then went out to fog and pitfall the first stand. It was a long, long, humid, 4 hours in which I ran out of water at the end point, but the toughest of the stands are done! 

This morning we could have possibly got 3 surveys in, but the rest of the week is rife with 50-60% chance of rain, so I didn't want to do any of the stands we could possibly do of it rains and the other stands had been surveyed not that long ago, so we came back early. However once we got changed and were about to head to get breakfast I couldn't find my phone anywhere. I have never lost my phone and being this far from everyone put me in panic mode. I checked everything and decided to head back to our last stand where I knew I had it last. I didn't want to change back into my wet clothes so I went in my shorts and flip flops; big mistake.  

We searched and searched the road where I checked the time on my phone before we went back to Newton. Didn't find it. So I decided I was going to trek back to the last point in my flip flops and shorts. There's a decent bunny trail to it so I figured I would be ok, though I kept thinking I was gonna get bit by something. Still didn't find it. So we went back to the truck and moved everything around. I moved the seat back and lo and behold, there it was. I felt awful and scratched up like I got in a fight with a bobcat. So I got is some ice cream from the DG in Merryville cause ice cream makes everything better. 

We get back to Newton and I'm feeling a little better (see ice cream worked!) and start helping hang our clothes back on the tailgate to dry and I step in the ONLY ant bed in the whole freaking parking lot! So not only are my feet scratched up from briars, but now I have ant bites! I'm thinking fuck this day, so I put rinse off my feet in alcohol (holy mother of jeebus!) and put on my bathing suit to get in the pool. As soon as I get settled in the pool and used to the cold water, it starts thundering in the distance. Seriously!? So I get one lap in and get my head wet before I get out. 

A few hours pass and it's time to doors fogging and pitfalling and its raining! I can't fog in the wet, it won't work, so we turn around and head back, again. I hope the rest of the week gets better. Stupid El Niño year during my field season! In sure we will get it done though, it's just gonna be a struggle. 

The curly girl method is working wonders for my hair! 

One of my favorite pictures of Buddy. 

Ugh. 

Luna turned 4!!!

I need to get better at this...

There is so much I would like to write about, but I either A) completely forget or B) just haven't had the time to sit down and unload the words on the page.

I know I keep saying this month was crazy and I have all this stuff I need to get done, but Y'ALL, seriously. It's crazy. I actually argued with a girl in my Regression class that next week couldn't POSSIBLY be dead week. But it is! Seriously?! Where did this year go? It seems like just yesterday I was preparing for our trip back home. It's just been a whirl wind of one thing after another.

Let's see, I gave my first oral presentation on the first, finished my first draft of my proposal the following week, finished my poster presentation that I did not get to present due to impending field work, started field work that weekend, layed out my first set of pitfall traps Tuesday, presented my poster at the Bright Ideas Conference Wednesday, and tomorrow I go back out to Louisiana again for the weekend. Whew!

Poor Luna is already tired of me coming and going. She has decided she needs to sleep between the wall and my side of the bed so I can't sneak past her. Like I could if I wanted to anyway. Her "bed" is at the foot of the bed. Out of the way of my infant bladder that must pee every half hour until I fall asleep. But with her laying in her "new" spot, I trip over her every time I have to get up. No bueno. As if I needed help being even more clumsy. Even Serenity is back to snuggling with me at night. I know Buddy is also lonely.

So far field work is going slow, but it is to be expected since I haven't started putting out pitfalls or doing any insect stuff until this week. I wanted to keep around the same schedule as I had last year, but I'm having to work around not only my classes, but my tech's classes as well. Not to mention East Texas has gotten over 12 inches of rain this month and Merryville has gotten well over 9. All of my stands thus far have been flooded and some I haven't even been able to get to due to the shape of the roads.

Two more months of this and I'll be done with field work possibly forever....I really don't know yet. That's the million dollar question right now. What is next. I have no freaking clue. I don't know if I want to start job hunting or keep going with my education. I still have a little time to think about it.

So, I'm going to make my best effort to chronicle this field season while we are out there full time. No promises (like I have readers anyway), but I'm going to do my best to.

Happy Beltane and blessed be!

Copperhead I almost stepped on while trail running with Luna.

Eastern Hognose found at Tucker woods

Worm-eating Warbler mist netted at Tucker woods with Comer's Intro class lab

Tent caterpillar. The favorite food of one of my favorite birds, the Yellow-billed Cuckoo.

Thunderstorms = 80 lb pansy dog trying to get as far in my lap as possible

Poor picture, but Blue Grosbeak on a snag in a eucalyptus stand. 

This stand was just a little bit flooded....

Oh, rubus (aka blackberry)

The blackberry is about shoulder high on me in some parts of this eucalyptus stand

Crazy hail storm in Nacogdoches after my first weekend of field work. 

Sweet Serenity

The eucs have put on about 2-3 feet of growth since I saw them last. That pink flagging is just about head height for my 5'5" self.

Not getting down this road.

Got down the road from above picture the following day only to find this. It was so deep those ripples were more like waves.

These little guys were only about mid-calf to knee high last year and now they are person sized!

A nice row between eucalyptus trees

I'll come back to this stand when I have a machete.

So much for blogging more...

I know I said I would be more attentive to my blog, but I just haven't had ANY  motivation to write anything. At. All...

Other than the last few days, this month as been cold and wet. So wet that as of yesterday both the river to the south and the bayou to the east have been under flood warnings. However, the last few days have been warm and beautiful, which doesn't motivate me to do anything but go out and play. That's not helpful when I'm trying to keep ahead of schedule for my classes/fieldwork prep.

We have decided to go home for spring break (WOOHOO!!) I haven't seen my loved ones in almost a year, which is the longest it has ever been for me to go with out seeing them and by spring break, I'm going to seriously need a break before field season starts up again. That and the universe keeps throwing "Alabama" and "home" related songs and tv shows in my path. Hell, I need a break now, but I'm determined to get as much done as possible before I break. lol.

This semester is going to be a busy one. At the beginning of this month I had a meeting with my projects major supporters and I presented what I had done this past field season and what information I had regarding that data so far. Next month, I present a poster at the Texas Chapter of the Wildlife Society meeting. I'm nervous and excited at the same time. Poster exhibits are during the first day and then on the way home we are stopping by Port Aransas Wildlife Refuge!!! I'm so excited about the stop because I will most likely get to see whooping cranes! The only WILD population of whooping cranes!! I can barely contain myself while typing those words!

After TCTWS and Port Aransas is the trip home in March. We are renting a car and traveling with our furbabies, so it's going to be an adventure to say the least. 6 days, 3 different beds, and trying to fill as much time as possible catching up with as many people as possible!  Then April...oh April. In April I have to give a 40 min seminar about my project. I'm the first one in the "class" to do this, which I'm kinda glad for since they are usually not as tough on the first person to present. Then by mid-April I need to start field work. This means before April I need to have at least 2 part time techs hired and able to work out in the field both during some days during the week and weekends while going to school at the same time. Craziness. That craziness will end mid-May when I can have a tech go full-time with me on the project, but a new craziness will ensue while we try to catch up on all the surveys and arthropod collections that we weren't able to do during the semester and end field season in June relatively close to last years completion. Whew!!

It may not sound like much, but when I start to think about what all there is to do and when it needs to be done by, I start to panic a little. So, don't be alarmed if I only get to blog once a month at most these next few months. But I do promise I will take lots of pictures and post them here eventually.

Here are some from the past few weeks! Enjoy and blessed be.

Beautiful sunrise right before a dismal cold and rainy day

This weekend's robin egg blue skies

bored and didn't want to work anymore...

Sunset is getting later and later (spring is on the way!!)

3 minutes after the above picture was taken. I love how the sun sets the clouds afire!