It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like

Halloween?

This week in the Gila, it snowed.  Yes, snowed.  Not a lot.  Only about 2 inches at the most.  But still.  It’s only October, people!  It doesn’t even snow this early in Michigan, usually.  And I still had field work to do!  Snow is not exactly conducive to identifying forbs (aka flowering plants) and determining canopy cover percent.  Digging the hole wasn’t too bad, once we got down to the soil part.  But the main problem?  It was coooold.  Very very cold.  Not just in the morning, either, but all day long.  A couple times the sun would make an appearance for about 2 seconds, and just when we were starting to get excited, it went away again.  Boo sun!  And it was very windy also.

This morning we had to clip a site.  Clipping a site basically means going out to where you dug your hole and throwing a metal hoop around.  All the plants that fall within the hoop are cut with garden clippers and put in a carrying container (in our case a Wal-Mart plastic shopping bag).  The cut up plants are later weighed to calculate biomass content, or some such thing (I’m not really sure how this is done or what it involves, since I have never been a part of this process).  In order to get an accurate(?) assessment we have to do this ten times.  It is oodles of fun.  It’s even more fun when there’s snow on the ground.  Don’t believe me?  You should try it sometime.

While we were clipping, Nori said, “What a ridiculous way to end the field season.”

And with that, I am done with field work.

Don't be sad, Gila. I'll be back next year.

Don’t Try This At Home

This past week at work was our annual field review.  Last year I went but I didn’t have to present anything for it so I spent the whole time wandering around being not much use to anyone.  But this year I presented my first site for review.  What happens is our main boss comes out and looks at the sites we have chosen to see if we did a good job or not.  This can be stressful!  I didn’t have to show anything until the last day so I was somewhat prepared for what to do by my boss and Nori, who went first.  They both did a really good job and I got some experience looking around at and describing sites I had never been to before.  And I saw some pretty neat stuff.

Plains of St Augustine

BEAUTIFUL eluviated horizons

At that point it hadn’t really sunk in yet that I would be the one doing the presenting very soon. By Thursday morning, I was shaking in my boots in anticipation for the events that were to come later that day, when I would be the one in the spotlight.

We started off the morning at Quemado Lake, where we met some people who usually work in an office all day.  It was the week of their leadership team meeting and they decided to go camping in the cold weather. (Believe it or not,  New Mexico does get cold this time of year)  Silly people.  Even we stayed at a hotel.  Anyway, we went up there because our bosses had to give a presentation telling them about what we do all day, because they have no idea.  Honestly, I have no idea what they do all day either, but oh well.

Then it was time to show my site.  I was nervous but I managed to explain things and answer questions with confidence (or at least what I thought was confidence).  On the site itself I had described some things that were not quite right but I just tried to explain my reasoning the best I could and admit when I knew I had done something wrong and correct my documentation where appropriate.

We were able to have some fun times as well.  It was a really great group of people, including all the usual suspects (the field soil scientists), the forest soil scientist and hydrologist (who are both awesome), the contract botanist from Arizona, and a couple student employees who came and went as time allowed.  I sat on the porch of the hotel drinking tequila and beer with my bosses and heard stories about serial killers, and pigs feet, and run-ins with the law, plus much more.  It’s great to hear from these people who have been in the business for so long because they have so much knowledge and experiences to share.

When we arrived back at the office on Friday afternoon and were taking out luggage to load back into our own vehicles, my boss told me I did a good job.  He said,  “I’ve seen some improvement, just keep trying to get better.”  I told him I was really trying and he said “I can tell.”  It was something I really needed to hear.

We also did some trundling.  This is amusing.  You should try it if you ever find yourself on a steep slope with many large boulders.  Exciting times in the woods of New Mexico.

Back to School! Back to School!

“It’s too damn hot for a penguin to be just walkin’ around. I gotta send you back to the South Pole.”

Okay, so I’m not exactly Billy Madison.

And I definitely don’t see a giant penguin.

But I am going back to school.  I’ve been considering doing it for a while and since I’ve been here over a year now, I decided it was time to take the plunge.  What I would like to do is become GIS certified, not only so that I will be able to include it on my resume in the future, but also because it is a really good skill set to have for my current job.  This semester, I am taking physical geography.  In a way, it’s kind of a pain because I’m still in field season until mid October- possibly early November (who knows…) so the only day I have time to take it is Saturday.  This severely cuts down on the time that Matt and I get to spend together, and definitely means no spontaneous trips to our favorite restaurant in Santa Fe, which isn’t open on Sundays.  Bummer.  But the class isn’t hard at all, and I enjoy it.

Next semester should be a little easier since it’s not field season.  I’m thinking of taking cartography and maybe something else.  Not sure what.  It would be fun to be able to take a class with Matt sometime.  (He’s getting a GIS degree)

It’s kinda funny because today I have work to do for my job and also work to do for school, and honestly, I’d prefer to do the school work.  Although, I suppose right now I am doing neither, but that is beside the point.  I really enjoyed spending this past week at home and am getting overwhelmed thinking about going back to the field tomorrow.  I like field work, but sometimes I think it would be nice to be closer to home more often.  To get things done around the house, spend more time with Matt, actually use the swimming pool when it’s open, etc.

But for know, I guess the only thing I can do is get some homework done.

Life in the Fast Lane

Actually, now that I’ve been driving back and forth to Nowhereville, New Mexico (not an actual city) all summer I’ve been spending a lot more time in the fast lane than I’ve ever imagined possible for myself.  (These people in their sedan on their family vacation are going waaay too slow!  I’ll just pass them!  Never really thought I’d do that.)

Anyway, two weeks ago was my last week at the hotel in Reserve, and now we are camping.  I thought it would be hard to go without a shower all week but honestly by the time I got back from work I didn’t really care.  All I wanted to do was drink a beer, eat, sit by the fire for a little while, and go to bed.  So that is what I did.  The weather was really good.  I don’t remember it ever being that warm while I was camping before, even in Nevada and California.  It only rained a little bit.  Once for about ten minutes while we were working, and then the afternoon we were packing up to leave.  Not exactly the most fun time, taking down a tent in the rain, but I guess it can’t be all perfect.

The other thing that wasn’t so perfect was getting stuck behind a locked gate right when we were trying to go back to camp for the evening on Wednesday.  We had to drive allll the way back the other way to get out.  It took about an hour and a half.  Stupid private property.

But other than that it was pretty good.  I got everything done that I wanted to this week.  And also, it was the last week for the student employees (HALLELUJAH!   …I mean, umm, that’s so sad…)  Ok, I’m happy.  They were really starting to get on my last nerve, and I think it will be a lot better now with just the three of us left.

And now, I will leave you with this picture of what I like to do in the field when I run out of stuff to work on.

That was taken last week.  This week, while I was digging, I made up a song for him.

Dirty the soil man

is a very messy soul

with two gravel eyes and a gravel nose

he was dug up from a hole!

Yes, I’m a dork.  Later.

Battling the Elements

This week, I experienced the dynamic effects of weather in the New Mexico forest, and lived to tell the tale.

It started out like any other week.  Monday we drove down to the Gila; my boss, a student employee, and me; met up with the rest of the crew from Silver City, and headed off to our respective mapping areas.  The afternoon was short and uneventful, and we returned to the hotel to rest and prepare for tomorrow.

Tuesday we drove down a dirt road in search of the site I had previously mapped out.  The crew was my boss, Nessa and myself.  Some minor navigational errors occurred but eventually we found the site and began working.  By lunchtime, one site was done and a second almost complete when it began to look like rain.  We finished up quickly and sat down under the trees to eat lunch.  That’s when the thunder and lightning came.  I put on my rain jacket and prepared for the storm.  But nothing could have prepared me for what happened next.

It hailed on us.  And when I say it hailed, I mean it HAILED.  In New Mexico.  In July.  It started out small, just a few little circular pellets of ice.  Then a few more.  And I thought, this isn’t so bad, and remembered the times when we were kids and, from the safety of the garage, watched the hail fall like little pieces of raining fertilizer bouncing off the pavement.   After that, it started to get nasty.  And it hurt, as rapidly falling pea to marble-sized ice crystals being pelted into your back are bound to do.  It was also really REALLY cold, and I was soaked.  I thought it would never stop, but when it finally did, I looked up from under the dripping brim of my hat and saw the land covered in ice.  It looked like it had snowed (which I might have preferred, actually).  I headed back to the truck tired and freezing but still managed to get one more site in before the day was over.  I honestly thought it couldn’t get any worse than that.

The next day began fresh and full of promise.  The weather looked clear and I felt optimistic.  But then things started to go wrong.  I won’t go into all the details because I think some decisions were made that I did not exactly approve of, but I often neglect to speak my mind for fear of being wrong in front of other people.  This usually ends up causing some problems.  Long story short, we went the wrong way a couple times and by the time we got to where we wanted to be, I was exhausted.  As in heat exhaustion.  I felt nauseous and lightheaded, collapsed under a tree, and did not dare to even stand up for quite some time.  I must have been dehydrated, though I honestly thought I had been drinking water pretty much constantly, so I finished one water bottle, drank another, added some of Nessa’s to mine, and drank that too.

I felt better after that but still had a headache that didn’t go away for the rest of the afternoon.  We stopped work an hour early and I proceeded to pass out in my room for half an hour.

Hiking in the woods can be very physically demanding and potentially dangerous, and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of being well prepared for whatever may happen.  I may have a degree but I still have a lot to learn.

Back in the Real World

Normally, at this time, I would be sitting on the balcony of this hotel, drinking cheap, crappy beer with these people.

But not this week.  This week I opted to take a week in the office in order to take care of some personal business… namely, go to a Tool concert.  This is not something you pass up.

But it’s weird not being out in the field.  I’ve come to realize that office work is really not my thing.  As tired as I get, or as frustrated as I get, the field is still a million times better than sitting in the office.  And I’m already going crazy.  Luckily, I don’t have to enter data.  Blah.  I’m looking at my maps and planning field work for the rest of the summer, making appointments to get my new special ID pass, and getting the four-wheel drive on the Suburban fixed.  Etc. Etc.

So… work is ok.  But what I was really looking forward to was spending some more time with Matt.  And I think he wanted to see me too, but I often find myself competing with the other love in his life… airplanes.  If he’s not on flight simulator, he’s on Ebay looking for the best deals on model airplanes.  He already has a collection stacked up to the ceiling.  When we go to the bookstore, he will spend the entire time looking at airplane books.  I’m glad he has something he’s so interested in, but sometimes it just drives me crazy!

So today, he said he’d come over and go swimming with me before he went to work, but this afternoon he sent me a text saying, sorry, he was just getting to bed and wouldn’t be able to come over.  Why was he just getting to bed?  Because he wasn’t tired earlier and decided to play on his computer all morning instead of sleeping.  Nice.

All right.  Okay.  Whatever.  I just took an extra half hour at work, came home and made a fantastic (and healthy!) pasta dinner from my new cookbook, watched a movie, and then was planning to go swimming.  But New Mexico has a fun summer weather event called monsoon season, so it rained, with thunder and lightning, and I did not get to go swimming.  Boo.

Instead, I talked to my brother on the phone.  He called to inform me that my sister was going on a date with a guy from her art class and my parents were freaking out.  Things like that make me glad I have my adult freedoms.  I like doing what I want when I want.  And my apartment is messy but I don’t see any parents or roommates so who cares!

And I can watch silly reality shows like Dating in the Dark without anyone thinking I’m weird or making fun of me.  That’s what I’m off to do now.  Bye.

You Wish You Were Me in the VCNP

Well, Matt did not wake up in time to go to the French restaurant today.  Blah blah excuses excuses.  It’s okay, though.  I imagine it’s hard working nights and sleeping during the day.  I wouldn’t want to do it.

Right now I should be packing and getting ready to go to the Valles Caldera tomorrow.  I’m ALWAYS late to work on Mondays due to poor planning on my part.  This will probably not go over too well in my performance review.

But I thought I’d throw a picture of where I’m going to be up here just so that while all of you are at home on your computers you can imagine me frolicking in the forest.

See ya in two weeks!

Summertime, and the livin’s… easy?

Around here, summer means one thing: FIELD SEASON.  It’s already in full swing and I’m still attempting to get a handle on it. This year, I am expected to map 72,000 acres of soil and vegetation along a climatic gradient (try saying that three times fast).  Yes, 72 THOUSAND.  It should be an experience, for sure.

The funny thing about me having a mapping job is that my sense of direction is terrible.  I have absolutely no internal compass.  Therefore, my first field experiences in mapping have included a lot of getting lost and walking up and down a lot of hills/mountains that I probably didn’t really need to walk up at all.  But it’s all part of the learning process, right?  That’s what I thought.  Apparently, some people do not feel the same way about this.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  So I’ve been spending oodles of time down on the Gila doing my work (of which I’ll try not to bore you too much with the details, but some of it may come out eventually) and in the past couple of weeks, I have met a pretty interesting and diverse cast of characters, which I must tell you about.

I’ll start off with the major players.  I work with three other women (yes, women, because we’re like adults now, and stuff) Nora-the “boss,” Nessa-the ex Mormon, and Jade- the hippie, (names are sorta changed; they aren’t exactly their “Chistian” names, if you will).  Nora and I are full time employees while Nessa and Jade are student employees.  This makes us the ones in charge, yes?  One would think so.

Nora is smart, quiet and down to earth.  She has the most experience out of all of us.  And she helps me a lot by explaining where to go and why to go there when we are mapping.  I have been depending on her a lot but am looking forward to getting out there and starting to figure things out for myself based on the experience she has given me so far.

I like Nessa pretty well.  She is nice and knows a lot about plants, since she started off as a biologist.  This is helpful.  The only problem is she walks FAST.  I have short little legs and do not walk so fast, especially when going up or down hills with many rocks and the potential for falling on my face, while she just takes off and leaves me in the dust.  I don’t think she even realizes it.  It just comes naturally to her since she’s lived and worked here for a while, so it’s not her fault.  Still, it makes me annoyed sometimes but what it really comes down to is I need to try harder (as much as I hate to admit it).  One of my goals this summer is to get in shape so if I can keep up with her by the time field season is over, I’ll know I’ve accomplished something.

Then there’s Jade.  How do I explain her?  She reminds me a lot of a guy I know from grad school.  Outgoing, pretty wild, likes to drink and strike up conversations with random strangers, and enjoys being the center of attention.  Generally in a fairly good mood, but can also be super bitchy at times without warning.  She’s like the female version of him, really.

All four of us have been staying at a motel in a little podunk town called Reserve, the county seat of Catron County.  It’s a popular town for people like construction and electrical workers to stay in.  And generally, because of this, the motel stays pretty busy.

One week we met an old man who was with a rockhounding group.  He was retired from his government job, of which he had spent many years and worked his way up pretty high on the ladder (GS-15 for those of you familiar with government work).  Several years ago his wife died of cancer and he has since remarried another woman, who was also widowed.  After they got married and he retired, he built a gorgeous house (he had pictures) for the two of them, and soon after that he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.  But it hasn’t stopped him.  He’s been to Australia twice since then and also goes on these rockhounding trips.  Later this summer, he’s planning to take his niece on a trip through several states around the country.  He’s a really cool old man.

This past week we met another old man named Bob.  He has been retired three times but was asked to come back as a contractor for his most recent job.  He and his partner, who is a younger guy, were working on electrical wires in the area, doing something or other.  Our first night there, we were sitting around on the porch drinking when Bob came out to go for a walk.  Jade, always the social butterfly, invited him to come have a beer with us.  It was an offer he couldn’t refuse.  We all stayed up pretty late that night so I decided to take it easy on everyone the next day and go to an area with not a lot of mountains or long hikes.  It was a really productive day and I was super proud of myself for getting so much done.

That evening when we got back to the hotel I went to my room to take a shower.  We were planning to go to dinner together that night so I went out to look for everyone and found Jade with a group of construction workers.  They offered me a Bud Light (bleh, I didn’t want to seem rude though…).  Soon after, Nessa and Nora came outside and we explained what we do to the construction workers.  Since I decided to do the easy stuff that day, it was inevitable that tomorrow we’d have to go back up to the other side of the mountain I took them on the previous week.  And Jade said to me, “you’d better plan that out tonight because I don’t want to have to walk all over the place again.”  Umm, is it just me, or should student employees not tell their superiors what to do?

So the next day, we went to the other side of the mountain, and it took a while as expected.  Nora was sort of taking charge even though it was my map area.  I guess she’s just used to being the one telling people what to do, and she was helpful, but sometimes she would get ahead of me (because I’m a slow walker, as mentioned above) and take us to a place that I didn’t necessarily want to go to, so that was a little frustrating, but I still got some stuff done, so it was ok.

The first place we stopped at, I was trying to figure out where to dig the hole, since we have certain things we have to incorporate when describing a map unit, and Nessa was just bounding up the mountain.  I told her we didn’t have to go to the very top, I just needed to go somewhere on the side of the mountain.  At this point, Jade stepped in and said, very sarcastically, “Yeah, that helps me a lot.  I know exactly what you mean.”  I sort of just blew this off and kept going.  It’s not my fault you stayed up until all hours of the night drinking beer and flirting with old men (oh yeah, some people stayed up late again the next night too, but I didn’t) and now you are cranky.  Deal with it.

At the end of the day we were sitting on the porch again at the hotel and some of the construction guys came over and started talking to us.  I didn’t really care, I just sat there eating my reheated dinner while some of the other people smoked cigarettes (yucky, but I deal with it, I did live in Vegas).  There was one pretty sleazy guy in the bunch though, who had sort of taken to Nessa the previous night, and something he had said to her did not sit right with me.  (She wasn’t too pleased with him either) Well that night, as we were going in to bed, Nora walked by the guy, Joe, to get into her room and as she walked past he slapped her on the butt.  I did not see this because at this point I had gone in the other direction.  I just heard some comment about a butt before I went inside and didn’t find out what actually happened until the next day.  Since Jade and Nessa are the more outspoken of the group, they yelled at him for it, so, good for them.

And that’s what my summer’s been like so far.  But since this week’s spin cycle was supposed to be about summer plans, I will say that I PLAN to be doing more of the same for the rest of the summer, plus some other things which I will try to keep you all updated on (I’m sure you’re all hanging on the edge of your seats) because I think the next month and a half is going to be a lot of fun, and I’m pretty excited.

I will tell you now that starting Monday I will be spending the next two weeks up north in the Valles Caldera, so no internet access for me.  Boo.  But I may make another post tomorrow because Matt and I are planning to go to the French Restaurant, if he wakes up in time, that is.  We’ll see!

Don’t Cry, Easter Bunny will be back next year!*

Oh, you guys, I really want to write a post about what I learned on my trip to Lincoln, because it’s interesting (or at least I think it is) but my computer is having MAJOR issues right now.  It’s gotten to the point where I can’t do anything with it.  It won’t stop finding viruses.  Ever.  I can’t even shut it down.  I click the button that says shut down, and it decides, no I would rather find some more viruses, thanks.

So I’m posting this at work and I don’t have the resources (or the permission) to be sitting around posting about my adventures all day, because it would take me a while.  (I write my posts with love and dedication, this takes time!)  Anyway, my field season starts next week so I’ll have no use for computers.  I’m excited and nervous because this will be the first year I go out on my own, and I have LOTS to learn, about many things not just soil related.

And with that, I’d better get going with my travel arrangements and getting the beast ready for my departure on Monday morning.  Later!

 

*I am not the Easter Bunny. This is from a girl scout camp song that I learned in simpler times, and it still amsues me to this day, as do many others.  I have a large repertoire of girl scout camp songs.  Hopefully I’ll be back before next year

HASAY: Because I haven’t done it in a while

Since announcing my intent to work out more and be more healthy, I have come to the sad realization that many of my clothes do not really fit me anymore.  And, unlike some of the other blogs that I read, I do not have a baby as an excuse.  (Trust me, it’s not.  If it was, Matt, myself, and my mom (and possibly my boss) would all have a simultaneous panic attack)  It’s all fat. Plain and simple.

So I’m really trying to take this fitness thing more seriously, and my work has graciously decided to help out, with this handy dandy pedometer.

They handed one out to everyone in our office who wanted it.  And began an eight-week-long competition between the employees to see who can get the most steps.  The winner gets some sort of prize (I’m not sure what) and everyone who participates gets a shiny new eco-friendly metal water bottle (which is awesome because I dropped mine in the parking lot and it broke).  There is also a challenge competition between the different staffs.  And I want to WIN!  Usually, I’m not much of a winner.  It’s true.  I just don’t really win much of anything.  But I’m really going to try this time.  So far I have done okay.  But I really need to step it up in the upcoming weeks if I even want to have a chance.

Yesterday and today I walked to the grocery store (yes, I went two days in a row), despite the fact that it was pretty hot out (I’m still in a bit of a shock going from cold Nebraska to hot Albuquerque within the span of several hours) and despite the fact that someone in a car thought it would be hilarious to throw a tissue box out the window.  AT MY FACE.  Who does that?

Anyway, so I walked to Albertson’s (where they’re still doing that Monopoly thing probably because no one has won yet, or at least I haven’t – again with the not winning) and forced myself to only buy healthy foods.  No chips, no cookies, no chocolate or otherwise overprocessed goods.  Only fruits and veggies and healthy whole wheat bread and skim milk and nonfat yogurt.  And no cheese.  I’m only getting Laughing Cow cheese from now on – it’s healthy, you can get it at Albertson’s and Sam’s Club (and the other cheese I got at Sam’s, because it really shouldn’t go to waste…) And I’m going to start making smoothies.  With my new blender, and with my own healthy ingredients.  (I will probably still add sugar, but it’s organic, so it’s okay, right?)

So that’s what’s going on with that.  And now I am off to figure out what I want for dinner.