TA TA FOR NOW

Me Too

2008-11-17T20:52:00.000-08:00

I had to copy SAJ and CC.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"

Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

* Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.

* Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.

* Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.

* Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.

* Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

* my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level

* my ability to establish warm connections with people

* admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life

* my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor

* being unique and being seen as unique by others

* having aesthetic sensibilities

* being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

* experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair

* feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved

* feeling guilty when I disappoint people

* feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me

* expecting too much from myself and life

* fearing being abandoned

* obsessing over resentments

* longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

* have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games

* are very sensitive

* feel that they don't fit in

* believe they are missing something that other people have

* attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.

* become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood

* feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

* help their children become who they really are

* support their children's creativity and originality

* are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings

* are sometimes overly critical or overly protective

* are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

My Little Part

2008-11-12T16:03:00.000-08:00

I know I may whine and complain about my job sometimes but it really is a very cool job. In these parts of the woods the wind farms are a very big deal, they even brought the town of Wasco back from the brink of nothingness. So even though I may have to walk 75 miles a week during the migration seasons(which has made me skinnier than I have ever been and well toned too), I am involved in something that is huge. Not only are these wind farms known throughout the state of Oregon and probably Washington too, they are good for both the economy and the environment. On top of all that every once in a while (more recently due to the start of the next phase) you get to see the turbines being shipped to the building sites, by way of downtown Wasco, drive by. The turbines are a sight to see in themselves. Each blade is 120 feet long and I could probably drive my car through the base of the tower without scraping the sides. I really like working for WEST Inc. too. They carry out projects and studies that are right up my alley, if I can only get hired on permanently.
The above is a sticker I got to mark my time here on my Nalgene bottle and the one below is the best I could get in real life to the sticker. That's Mount Hood in the background.

Well time to watch some Battlestar Galactica, talk at ya later.

Pictures

2008-09-30T16:29:00.000-07:00

I haven't blogged in a while cause I just don't have much to tell. Work is good, things are still busy here since we are still on the fall migration period and the bats get cuter with every one I find. I have been taking some neat pictures which I will share with you.

Here's a pretty cute Silver Haired Bat.

A few weeks ago I took a trip out to Portland and decided to take a 9 mile detour on the Old Highway 30 which took me high above the Gorge and gave me some very stunning views. This is one.

This one is of the moonrise I was able to catch on my way back from my weekly trip to The Dalles. Spectacular behind the sagebrush!

Just a few days later I got this sunrise with the turbine. I believe it was during some heavy wildfires which is probably why it is so pretty. The air out here is so clean the sunrises and sunsets are no where as beautiful as the ones in California.

This is of a Mule Deer and her baby. I was trying to get a picture of them laying down in the wheat stubble but I spooked her and they ran away a bit before turning to look at me.

I thought this was a cool picture. One of the turbines is turned off, for maintenance or something, while the other is still on. You can see the different angles the blades are to catch the wind or let the wind slide by. The one on the right is off.

These are some tie dyed daises I bought myself to brighten up my room a little. I have wanted to do this on my own for a while but never got around to making the mess it would require and they are just as good from the store.

Harvest

2008-07-27T15:27:00.001-07:00

Yay!! It's finally harvest time. Well actually it started last week and will continue for about 3 more weeks but it has started. This is a combine used for harvesting and is very large. This huge smile on my face is because I will soon no longer have to walk through wheat that is up to my waist and chest and just forget about seeing anything I step on before I step on it. From here on out I predict the hardest obsticle to work with out here will be more plowed dirt and lots of squishy mud.
Here is a picture of a very pretty wildflower I ran across a few days ago.

It's been a while

2008-07-12T18:41:00.000-07:00

This is the view from Turbine 55. Everytime it comes time to walk this turbine I look down on the John Day River and wish I could jump in the river for a quick refreshing swim. So I finally asked around and found out how to get down there. Just before the 4th of July it was in the upper 90's here and the road to the river was right by the turbines I was walking that day, so I decided to drive down for a swim. However, the night before we had a rather spectacular lightening storm and on my way down I ran into this. I got part of the way down but decided to turn back so as not to get stuck in case the fire jumped the road. A few days later I went down again and the river is a rather nice place for a picnic but I forgot to take pictures. The road was a bit soft in places due to the water trucks but Betsy made it no problem.
Last Friday I went back to T-55 so I could get a comparison picture and this is what I got. It's not the best but it's hard to get a good idea of what is going on but all the grassland below the winter wheat is black and gone. The view from the river was much more revealing.

Just another environmental note on the area, all the crop trees in Hood River have no fruit due to the lack of bees. Since I am quite the fruit eater this a shame for me. Speaking of crops, this is a sign I came across a few weeks back. Guess what kind of biosolids they are talking about. That's right, human! I find it quite discusting but they get paid to use it so I guess if I were them I would too. By the way last Friday I walked 28,670 steps at work.

Sister!!!

2008-05-19T17:46:00.000-07:00

So En came up here to visit me on her road trip about a week and a half ago. We had a good time even though there isn't much to do here. We went for a walk at Celilo Park and found some rainbow colored rocks and had a pizza, movie and red wine night. The next day I took her and Aris to the turbines and as you can see it was windy, I don't think Aris liked it too much,

stopped at a spooky house (which we had to explore) and took a walk near one of the draws.
Not too exciting but it was wonderful having a familiar face to hang out with!

Spring

2008-05-04T16:43:00.000-07:00

Here it is the day before Cinco de Mayo and it finally feels like what I consider to be spring weather. Of course I'm a little biased to the warmer temperatures but the flowers were only a few weeks ahead of me.

Speaking of flowers I took some pictures of some wildflowers in the area and the sagebrush around here.

The sagebrush here looks much more healthy than the bushes in Idaho that I worked in most likely due to the cattle out there. They are supposed to be tall and bushy like the ones in my picture.

Don't the tulips out in the picnic yard look so pretty. They are a nice thing to wake up to, so happy and cheery.

Snow

2008-03-28T18:30:00.000-07:00

Today we got snowed out. It's almost April and we had to stop after two turbines because the weather was horrible and we couldn't see anything. Go figure. I posted the first picture of the turbines in just for comparison of the good weather and the freezing weather. Things here are pretty good other than being cold all the time. I am sooooo ready for warm weather. Some days are lonely and some days I am just too beat to be anything. Tomorrow I am going to Portland again, this means I get to go to Olive Garden again. I just can't get enough of their soup, salad and bread sticks. I guess I could go to another restaurant but my other favorite kind is steak houses and they make a really good steak right here a few blocks from me. I have a few other things to get done while I am there so I should have a nice full day in the city.

Time Off

2008-03-11T17:09:00.000-07:00

Recently I have had quite a bit of time on my hands so I've been working on some projects. I am almost done with a cross stitch I have working on for a few years but I need about 35 stitches worth of floss to finish it. The project I did finish all the way was an afghan which I have pictures of. It was a pretty quick and simple pattern.

A Little Bit of Everything

2008-03-02T11:51:00.000-08:00

I have several pictures for you guys this post. The first three are pictures of my room now that everything is where it is going to be for a while. If you look at them in respect to the bed you can figure out how everything is oriented. Small but cozy.

The next two pictures I took at work. There is no need to look at the one with me and the turbine too close:) I appear to have a grimse on my face instead of a smile which I am sure is either due to the amount of soreness I have been experienceing lately or the fact I was waiting for the timer to take the picture or both. The next is a picture of the turbines I work with and there just so happens to have a car in it for scale. The base of the turbines must be 8-10 feet in diameter.

Now on to the pretty Oregon stuff. I stopped on the way home from work one day to take this beautiful picture of Mt. Hood at sunset. Of course more extraordinary in person.

Now this past Saturday I went into Portland to get some stuff done. First of all I had to stop by Olive Garden to get some all you can eat soup, salad and bread sticks while I had the chance. Then to do what I had really gone there to do in the first place which was to trade my boots in for one that fit better and hopefully won't hurt my feet. REI is the best store for outdoor equipment and that is that you can return or exchange your equipment even after you have used it even if it is very used and torn up. However, it being the weekend and all the parking lot was full so while circleing looking for a spot I took the opportunity to snap a picture of the double rainbow. Once again, more extraordinary in person. Then on my way back to Wasco I stopped at Multnomah Falls since Gramma mentioned it and it is right on the Interstate. I, however, did not go under the freeway and climb the stairs but it was still pretty cool.

Blisters

2008-02-21T21:12:00.000-08:00

Today was a good day but I got some crazy blisters. Here are the pictures of the old merchandise building next door to me and the Oskaloosa Hotel I am staying at. The buildings here are old but there are some very nice Victorian houses I will have to get pictures of. The yard in the picture of the old store is part of the hotel yard and my neighbors who own the hotel are very nice and BBQed T-bone steaks for us on Tuesday so we ate on the picnic bench. Very nice people. More on the job next time. Good night.

A Little More Info

2008-02-15T15:02:00.000-08:00

It is my first real day here in Wasco and I am oh so tired. Yesterday I called my field supervisor and he told me to meet him in Walla Walla at 9 am. This means I have to get up at 5 am (you all know that's my bedtime not wake up time) so I have time to shower, eat and fill up on gas. When I get there proptly at 9 my supervisor is in a meeting and has no idea why I am there. Long story short my field supervisor was in the field when I called and thought I was someone else so there was no reason for me to be there. However, I did get to talk to them a little and they gave me a map of the turbines I will be working at and he told me a little more of the project. Basically West Inc. performed an environmental evaluation of the area a few years ago, the turbines were built and now I will be performing an environmental impact study of the area. Not too complicated but necessary. Anyway, I have a picture of the hotel I am currently staying in and one of the building next door but for some reason I can't upload them right now. I will find out what the building is and get a few more pictures of the town, that can be walked in 5 minutes, later but right now I need to take a nap. Yes Gramma I am somewhat near the Falls, aproximately 30-45 mins. east. I am about 15 mins. from the Columbian River, which I incidentally saw a Bald Eagle on today. If that last sentence didn't make a lot of sense please excuse me as I nap.

On the Road Again

2008-02-13T22:44:00.000-08:00

So here I am on the road again. It is 10:45 pm and I am stopped at Williams, 100 miles south of Redding, for the night. I had to stop and get one last picture of a California sunset, however, when I got out to take it I didn't realize exactly where I was until I "smelled the cows"! :) I miss everyone already but I am off to seek my fortune with the windmills. I better get to bed so I can get to Wasco before dark tommorrow. Pray for me that I have a safe drive and the courage to do this.

New Job!

2008-01-30T19:41:00.000-08:00

Hey everybody! I got a new job!! It is for a year and pays well, I will be seeing how many and what kinds of birds and bats get killed by wind power. The only catch is that it is all the way in Oregon. Doesn't sound too bad, does it? I don't think so, all the rain and trees and green. However, people keep telling me that folks from Oregon don't like Californians too much. The town I am going to only has 378 people, I guess everybody really can know everybody. We'll see how this goes, the next adventure begins.

More Interesting Stuff

2007-05-05T14:54:00.000-07:00

Things here are pretty much the same. Although my partner got a better job working for the Nevada Department of Wildlife so his last day will be on the 17th. I don't know what that means for me but oh well something will be figured out. I thought I would show you guys what my week was like when I was doing radio telemetry. All these pictures were taken that week and all but one of the tortoises have radio transmitters on them.

This guy is a good example of a male. You can see the long gular horn under his chin that the males use in combat to flip each other over. Also he has enlarged glands on his chin. I got along great with this guy, I shared some of my orange with him on the last day and according to the team that did the telemetry the next week he actually ate it.

I can't remember if this was a male or female but I thought it would be interesting to show you the shell. This poor tortoise was in a fire and that is why it's shell has scutes missing and is all discolored and scarred. This is not good for it at all, because of the coloring this one was very easy to spot even without the transmitter.

We had a suspicion that these two were mating but aren't for sure since every time we came around they were in the position they are in the picture but they were like that all day. I'm pretty sure they knew we were coming long before we spotted them and acted like nothing was going on. However, at the end of the day the smaller one with the transmitter on was walking away from the other so whatever they were doing all day was apparently done. In this picture you can really see the difference between the males and females. The male is the larger one on the right, look for the longer horn and the enlarged glands

This one I just had to throw in because it reminded me of a Dr. Seuss plant.

Nevada

2007-04-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

My job is keeping me oh so busy. We are in the full swing of things around here and things are still a little crazy. When out in the field things are great for me but I think that has a little to do with the fact that I am paired with one of the crew leaders and we always have the truck. The teams that don't have a crew leader have to wait for one of us to pick them up. Today we didn't go out in the field instead we had a huge meeting to figure things out. The teams had to change their schedules so some go out Mon through Thurs, some Tues through Fri and some Wed through Sat. I am still going out Mon through Thurs though which is good for me. Then we had to sit down and talk one on one with the project coordinator and give our opinion on things but my partner had nothing but good things to say about me and I him.

Tagged

2007-04-16T17:39:00.000-07:00

Since my Mom tagged me I guess it's my turn:

1. In the last year I have lived in three different states.
2. I like to twirl my hair.
3. I get paid to do my hobby.
4. I am more like my Mom than she thinks.
5. My bed is my friend.

It's your turn Auntie! :)

Ta and the Tortoises

2007-03-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, so it's been awhile. I am no longer in the frozen state of Idaho but in the very warm Nevada. I just started a new job in the town of Henderson next door to Las Vegas. I am working with the Desert Tortoises which are a threatened species. We are still in training and will be for the next week and a half but on my dad's birthday we will be out doing all this on our own. All I know right now is that we will be walking a huge 12 km square, 3 km on each side, and walking in a straight line for 3 km is much harder than it sounds! We will be looking for tortoises and if we find any we will measure them and tag them. All and all, heat aside, this job is very neat and will whip me into shape in no time.

New Job!

2007-01-29T20:33:00.000-08:00

Things are a bit warmer here lately. There are still not many things going on at work but I did get a new job that I start in mid March. I am moving to Las Vegas to perform Line Distance Sampling (LDS). I believe that means 12 km transects in the Mojave Desert to look for and find Desert tortoises. It only lasts about 2.5 months but should give me some more experience with exotic animals and at the end of it all I get a substantial amount of money for my student loans. My mentor here has also said I could come back here till the funding for my extended internship is gone if I want to. I am trying to get a job after that back here in Idaho, Lewiston not Twin Falls, tracking and collaring wolves with radio collars.
Last Saturday I went on a little bird walk up in Hailey, Idaho. The amount of birds we saw was a little lacking but the bald eagle and long horned owl were spotted. Sadly I did not get any pictures. I'll be back in So. Cal. in about 11 days for my birthday. Not good timing considering I'm moving the end of Feb. but I already bought my tickets so...
And yes, N is right. The ice crystals are from a truck window parked next to my car at about 8 in the morning.

Happy New Year

2006-12-29T10:21:00.000-08:00

There have been a lot of changes around here lately. First and most noticeably is the weather. It is nearly always around freezing here and just last week we got a good four inches of snow in a town that is not supposed to get much at all. In fact because of this the city of Twin Falls sold their snow plows two years ago so when we got the four inches I had to learn how to drive on snow, slush and ice. However, most of the snow is melted from a good 24 hours of nice weather. From what I've heard we are supposed to get more snow this weekend again.
At work I am now more focused on two GIS projects. The first one is creating 1, 2 and 2+ mile buffers around all the watertroughs in the field office and cutting them to only go as far as the pasture and allotment boundaries. This will show my supervisor where the good habitat for wildlife is and how much of it is out there. The second is to digitize the powerlines in the field office from maps to the computer. Most of the powerlines here need to be converted to wildlife friendly powerlines. That means the lines need to be staggered (one up and two down) so the birds that land on them won't get electrocuted if they spread their wings. Every so often when the snow is fresh we get to go out and look for pygmy rabbit track to find their burrows.
Yes, Gramma my snail mail address is still the same, and thank you for the pictures Toni.

Same ol, same ol

2006-11-20T22:39:00.000-08:00

Nothing new is going on here but I thought I would stop in to say I still exist here in Idaho. We have 27 points out of 109 to get done then we will be moving on to pygmy rabbit and sage grouse surveys. Maybe I'll get some good pictures for you guys at Thanksgiving in Seattle. Talk to you when I get back. Miss you all very much.:)

SNOW!

2006-11-01T18:42:00.000-08:00

Boy, there sure has been a lot of things going on since my last blog. First off New York and I got our truck stuck in a muddy creek and had to get it the next day. We had driven over a sketchy bridge and didn't want to drive back over it so we tried the creek. Bad call. The only picture we took during the whole time was of our frozen but beautifully manicured feet. The spooky house picture was taken just before we got stuck. We dug and dug and stacked rocks to get out but to no avail, we were GOOD AND STUCK for seven hours before our mentor came and got us. We pulled it out with another truck the next day. Then just a few days later we went down to Jarbidge, Nevada to spend a few nights because we could get more work done without having to drive three hours there and three hours back. The town of Jarbidge is straight out of Frontierland at Disneyland. The last day down there we were all ready to go out in the field and get another five or six points done but we woke up to snow. It was so beautiful and the snowflakes were actually snowflake shape. However, the tread on our tires were not all that great and the roads were slippery so we decided to head back to Twin. Wow, I don't know about driving on these icy roads!

Update

2006-10-18T22:17:00.000-07:00

I know I've been a stranger for a while so here is an update. First of all, for Columbus Day weekend 10 of us rented an old hatchery cabin for 3 days near Ashton, Idaho. Since New York lived in and went to school in Montreal, she thought we could have a Canadian Thanksgiving while we were at the cabin. As it has been the tradition at my thanksgiving at home, I took charge of the yams. However, I did not make yams flambe. The wood stove took a while to get the hang of but not fast enough to put chard marshmallows in the yams. You can see my yams on the back of the stove . While waiting for the turkey quarters to cook, we all went to the Mesa Falls which are double Falls. The picture is the river at the very bottom of both the lower and upper falls. The mounted bear picture is from the museum at the upper falls. I am happy to report all had a blast! Now on to what I am doing at work now that we aren't trapping anymore. We are performing browse surveys. This is done by starting at a point in the big game and ACEC ranges of the field office then taking 4 steps to either the east or west. After the 4 steps we choose the nearest shrub in the 180 degrees in front of us. We record the age, form class and % of utilization, then take another 4 steps and repeat the process until we have 100 hits. This is actually a quite interesting job since by looking at the individual shrubs we can see not only it's history but the history of the area and the interaction with the neighboring micro habitats. I put a picture of us learning this a couple of weeks ago and one of me all ready to go and yes that is snow on the ground.

The End of Trapping

2006-10-03T19:34:00.000-07:00

We are officially done trapping as of today. Last week was the last week trapping and my team caught absolutely nothing. Yesterday and today we went around and took apart all the reptile arrays. Tomorrow we will be going out to see what we are to do for the next month or so. I will be able to give you more of an update when I know more. As far as I know it has something to do with surveying California Big Horn habitat and seeing how grazed certain areas are. I have finally posted the pictures of the last rapids we went through on our rafting trip and one last picture of me measuring a deer mouse. Also there is a picture of New York being silly while we were collecting the arrays yesterday.

Vocabulary

2006-09-26T18:33:00.000-07:00

The first picture is one of the traps we use. We hang the bait in the back door, put some fluff inside and set the door. The trigger platform is in the back near the bait. There are two sizes, this one is the bigger size, I think a 7" diagonal. The smaller has a 4" diagonal. These traps are for small mammals but we have caught snakes in them every once in a while. This next picture is of a chipmunk we caught in one of the large traps. This next picture is of one arm of a reptile array. The five gallon bucket in the center is called the pitfall for obvious reasons. Then there are three arms of black, heavy plastic going out from the pitfall in direction 120 degrees from each other. Each of the arms ends in a reptile trap made of chicken wire. When I say "area" I only mean the next location I am to go to, and "plot" is the hexagon with 200 m sides and 10 traps per side and 19 down the middle. A burrowing owl has been caught in the reptile trap but they are supposed to catch reptiles. This is where I catch the snakes, lizards and scorpions.

Canyon Plot

2006-09-17T21:32:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on getting photos to help explain some of the phrases I have been using, however, in the meantime I will show some pictures of the plot I just finished last week. It was a canyon setting which was very pretty but at the same there were some scary moments since the canyon side is so steep.

Rattle Snakes

2006-09-07T20:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was a very exciting day for me! It was my turn to go check the reptile arrays while everyone else was doing the mammal traps. By the way we only have six traps to check since two of them had to be closed up until the road improves. The first couple of traps were okay, there were about 6 scorpions in one of the pit fall traps and a baby leopard lizard in the other. Then the next area I got to had some white-tailed antelope ground squirrels (very cute and while searching for them online I found out one of my profs has some copyrighted pics of them, Mark Chappell). As I made my way to the traps there were quite a few lizards just running around. When the trap came into view I saw the infamous dragon that we caught, then while looking in the "dragon" trap I noticed a small snake sitting on the outside of the trap near the entrance. It didn't look like a gopher snake so I was sure to use the snake tongs, it turned out to be a baby rattle snake. I took some pictures and moved on to the next traps. Here I came across what I thought was a hugmongous rattle snake but left to go check the rest of the traps before dealing with the rattle snake. The only other thing there was a very feisty western whiptail. So back to the rattler I went, he knew I was there and made all the noise he could. I put my gloves on and proceeded to grab his head with the snake tongs and lift him out with the snake hook. Low and behold there was another rattle snake all snug and comfy under him! This one was not quite as big but all the same a surprise. Actually I was a little relieved to find the second one since this meant I was not dealing with one ginormous rattle snake just with two hefty size ones. In the picture I took before taking the first one out you can vaguely see the second rattle right next to the cover board. I can not help but continue looking at the picture again and again, this very large rattle snake is one of the most beautiful snakes I have seen since I got here. Or ever for that matter. Anyway, back to the story, I let the snake out of the trap but I guess not far enough because he proceeded to slither right back into the trap. So, I went for the smaller unagitaed snake and got her out of the trap and put her a little farther away, then went back for the other one. With both of them out I stood there looking at them with a huge grin on my face and just kept thinking, "That is SOOOO cool!" (I refer to them as him and her only because that is how they struck me. The bigger one was aggressive, very big the smaller one hardly rattled at all and they seemed to be a pair. I mean with one covering the other, the one going right back into the trap and when I put them together outside the trap the coiled around each other and slithered off as a braid of sorts.) Two more traps to go. Down the road a ways I get to the first of the last two arrays and nothing so I continue to the last one. Here I regret not getting a picture. I go to all the traps and only one has something in it. I lifted up the cover board and moved the plants and I see a little coiled snake. Then right next to it is another about the same size. One was another rattle snake and the other is a gopher snake, both babies. The amazing part of this is that the gopher snake was the one hissing and striking at me not the rattle snake. Oh, believe me the rattle snake was none to happy to see me but the gopher snake was having an absolute temper tantrum. I let them go and continued back to the field office feeling very happy and content since there are days we go out and not catch anything.

Back From Cali and All Moved In

2006-09-05T21:53:00.000-07:00

I am finally back from California and have moved all my things into our new house, and when I say new I mean brand new! This house was just built so we might have some new house problems to deal with but as of yet everything is just fine. I got the master bedroom just like I was told I would but now there are too many empty walls. I do have a few things to put up, like the cool wolf picture my cousin gave me (thank you Shawn), and the wolf calendar pages from the pictures of my old room but those do not by any means fill the walls. Having the master bathroom is great too, however, for the next month I will still be sharing the bathroom with one of the other girls here. The sharing is not the problem, it is the horrible color combos we are making in the bathroom. Her stuff is purple and teal, mine are dark true blue and happy face yellow. It makes me want to twitch when I walk in there. I do have to go to the Salvation Army store though so I can buy some shelves since for the time being all my books and CD's are on my closet shelves. Speaking of closets, mine is huge. Not even half of it is used and that includes storing everyone's empty boxes. The backyard has no grass or a fence but that's okay since we are outside all day and don't really go in the backyard when we are home. I will be posting some pictures of the newness on my next blog so keep an eye out.

Busy, Busy, Busy

2006-08-23T22:06:00.000-07:00

This week we are at a riparian plot with lots of pokey bushes. The area is really pretty and right next to the Jarbidge River but along with that also comes wild rose bushes and current bushes and such. Needless to say, my arms are covered in scratches and everyday I do an obstacle course but I will have to say I am still glad to be on the wildlife team and not any of the others. Scratches and all I would rather be measuring Deer Mice over looking for one particular plant or measuring the abundance of all the different plants. We were expecting to get some wood rats or water shrews in this habitat but nothing yet just a ton of deer mice, one canyon mouse (they look like a deer mouse but have really long tails, the guy in the picture is my mentor J. Klott) and a spotted skunk.
In other parts of my life there is complete chaos right now. I am packing, not only for my trip to So. Cal. but I am packing everything. My roommates decided it might be a good idea to move into the smaller house a little earlier so we can save some money before Alaska goes home. The most logical date to move would be the first and I totally agreed with their plan, however, I won't be getting back to Twin until the second. They agreed to move my stuff if I can pack it up before I leave. I have pretty much accomplished this, my pictures are down my clothes are packed and everything is stacked nicely in the corner. They said they would pack everything downstairs including the kitchen stuff. I don't think this will be such a bad thing, I'm just nervous about not moving some of my more delicate things. On second thought I think I will just put some of those things in my car and bring them with me and unload them when I get back.

Rafting the Snake River

2006-08-14T21:56:00.000-07:00

So sorry but I have no pictures for this post. It involves water and therefore does not involve a camera. Last Thursday about 18 of us went on a rafting trip down the Snake River. It was a three hour trip and I must say quite fun. We only had to maneuver about 5 white water areas but the in between times were the most fun. Between the white water areas we spend most of our time soaking each other with water shooters, throwing each other off the rafts or boarding the other raft and throwing them off into the river. There were parts when we just floated down stream along side the raft but needless to say we were wet more than we were dry for those three hours. At the end we got shuttled back to the start point and enjoyed an afternoon bbq while playing games of cards and stick ball. The game of stick ball was played with a dog toy ball and a broken off shovel handle, both of which were duct taped together but never the less completely destroyed by the end of the day. To top it all off we all got paid for the day. I may be able to get a picture of the last white water rapids and the end point sometime in the future since it is near a couple of our reptile traps.

Nothing much new here

2006-08-07T22:10:00.000-07:00

This past week was pretty much the same stuff as before except for a few new interesting things. In two of the traps we had newborn baby Deer Mice since they all seem to be breeding right now. They look really ugly too but it was fun and out of the ordinary 50 Deer Mice a day. We also caught a Desert Horned Lizard and some baby lizards. The last couple days we have had a bunch of dry lightning and 15 fires all around today. The plot we set up today should be interesting as well. Half of it is inside an enclosure so the cows can't get to it and the other half outside all trampled by the cows. More on the comparison results later.

Yellowstone

2006-07-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

This past weekend nine of us went to Yellowstone and it was totally awesome! We left at about 9:30 Friday morning and got to the North Entrance to meet with the head Wildlife Biologist, Glenn Plumb, at 3:00. This meeting went very well. He told us about some of the projects they have going there such as getting rid of all the hybrid cutthroat trout and the problems they are having with wildlife diseases, including parvo, TB and the Spruce Bud Worm, which causes the trees to have a reddish tint. He also informed me of a program at UC Davis which works on controlling these diseases so I think I may be looking into that. Then he told us the best times and places to see the wolves. After that meeting we went back to the West Entrance to set up camp.
The next day we drove all over the park and saw all the things you are supposed to see when at Yellowstone such as Old Faithful, the waterfalls and the steam/sulfur vents. Many of these impressed me more than I thought they would but at some of the spots the sulfur smell we horrible. Old Faithful was interesting but not as amazing as I thought it was going to be but that could also be because it was the last place we stopped that day. Then we headed back to the camp to get ready to get up at 4 am the next day to go see wolves. The last day there began at 4 am and we drove all the way to the north east entrance but the only thing we saw was an incredible number of bison. So we headed out of the park to go to the cafe that Glenn Plumb recommended but it was closed due to a wedding party. On the way back through the wolf and bear area we remembered what Glenn said and was on the look out for bunches of people on the side of the road. Soon we came across a crowd so we stopped and asked them what they were looking at and low and behold it was a pack of wolves! We got to watch them for about 45 minutes. I think I was able to figure out that the white one was the alpha and I'm not sure where the black one stood but he/she was very playful and tons of fun to watch. He reminded me a lot of Chase when he tries to get Brig to play with him and the grayish one, that the black one was playing with, reminded me of Brig because he/she just went along with it for a while then decided to lay down or get a drink or something and the black one went off to explore for a while. After all seven of them calmed down a bit we took off back towards the main part of the park. We had only driven no more than 2 miles when we saw another crowd of people so we pulled over again. This time it was a Grizzly Bear. He/she would look at us but pay us no attention and go back to looking for things to eat. My roommate Colorado got a really good picture of it. By that time it was 11:00 am so we went to one of the villages to get breakfast and continued on our way home. Since the pass to Yellowstone was good for seven days and the Grand Tetons we took the long way home. The Tetons were very pretty but not much in the way of wildlife. We got back to Twin around 7:30 pm and went to bed so we could get up the next morning for work.

Cool Stuff

2006-07-24T16:42:00.000-07:00

I have a picture of the chipmunk I was talking about last time on here as well as a picture of a Short Horned Lizard. I know I look like a dork in the pictures but I am having a great time not only getting to see all these animals but holding them as well. Things are pretty much going the same just at different plots. I am looking forward to going to Yellowstone this weekend and meeting the head Wildlife Biologist and possibly the Wolf Biologist while up there. We are still working out the details but any which way it should be exciting.

New Sites

2006-07-18T22:25:00.000-07:00

So far this week has been very long but much more interesting. For the first time since we started doing wildlife inventory everybody is working plots in the south. Our plot is an aspen stand and is much cooler than the sage brush since it is at a higher elevation and we get shade all day long. However, there is a trade off, the aspens can get very thick which makes it hard to walk through them to set mammal traps and walk vegetation transects. There is even one part for about 50 meters in which we have to actually fight our way through. Even with all this trouble I would not trade it for the sage again. We are finding a much more diverse wildlife here such as many kinds of vegation some included are the flowers I am posting. I don't know the names of them but I think they are very pretty. Also we are getting more than just Deer Mice and Voles. (Today we got Deer Mice, Voles, Yellow Pine Chipmunks which are not supposed to be here) and a short-tailed weasel that jumped on my head. It was quite funny and things like this are what makes this job so much fun. Utah was holding the weasel so I could get a picture since we aren't supposed to measure them cause they are too feisty, when it jumped onto my camera then onto my head and off into the aspen. It was quite comical. We have to take pictures of the chipmunks int the bags because they are too quick other wise.
We still have to go into the northern Jarbige area every day or every other day though because that is where our reptile arrays are and today one of the plots was 102 degrees F but we did catch a baby Western Whiptail Lizard just 52 mm. And that is ok with me because if we moved the arrays to the south too we probably wouldn't catch any reptiles. Reptiles in the north and mammals in the south. Lots of driving but I'm not complaining since we usually get to take naps on the drive and still get paid for it, it just makes for some long 14 hour days. Oh and by the way I put a picture of what I believe is a Western Kingbird feeding her babies on here too. I'll try to get some good pictures of the new mammals and put them up.

The Excitement Never Ends

2006-07-12T21:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the newest addition to our house, Pennsylvania who got here two weeks ago, rolled her jeep while out in the field. She is ok and came out with no scratches but some very sore muscles. When telling the story she said she started to fishtail, which has happened to most of us if not all at one time or another, and while she corrected, her front wheel hit something and spun the steering wheel out of her hands directing her down a slope. The jeep rolled 3/4 a roll and the roof was all messed up. Well when I got back from the field today they had picked up the jeep and I was able to look at it. The roof above the driver seat is very much dented in as well as the windshield being massively shattered. Judging from the flat right front tire it has been assumed the blow out from the tire is what caused the roll. As traumatized and shook up as my roommate is it was a good thing that she was the one driving. The riparian team which normally takes that car and is made up of tall people were out on a work camping trip so Pennsylvania got to drive it. Pennsylvania is no taller than 5'1" everyone else probably would have some major head injuries. Anyway the word had spread to just about everyone who works at the BLM within an hour. Most heard from the CB radio and the rest was word of mouth but the only thing people are concerned about is if she is ok. I think she will be making the best of one of our friend's hot tub with jets for a while and she is still a little weirded out by it but she'll be ok.

My House Inside

2006-07-10T20:04:00.000-07:00

All last week we were working the streams of the area. Actually we were in northern Nevada. We were looking for frogs and toads which was tons of fun but the mosquitoes thought I was mighty tasty and bit me all over my arms, face, neck and back. They were quite painful for a while. Falling down in the stream and getting my waders full of water felt really good though. Also if anyone has ever been touched by a stinging nettle plant they will know that it is not very pleasant. This week we are back to our regular plots and transects. It is still hot here but not unbearable like a few weeks back.
This past Saturday it was my turn to check the reptile traps so Colorado and I decided to make a day of it. We went to check the traps together then went to a Bird of Prey Conservation area and went swimming in the Snake River. The only birds we saw were a Golden Eagle and some American Kestrels. However, I did get to handle and measure a rare snake that was caught in one of the traps. It was a Stripped Whip Snake, it has a couple strips down each side and a light, rosy, pink on the rear of the underbelly. Tomorrow I should have an easy day. The first part we are going out to our plot and checking the mammal traps then coming back to the office to finally enter some data. The database and spreadsheets are finally up and running, we hope.
These pictures are of my room (I took the picture from my bed and the wall behind me pretty much looks like this wall and the window above the garage is to the left), living room with our lawn furniture and the opposite wall with a map of the U.S. that has push pins in everyone's home town (the front door is to the right).
Love you all and goodnight!

The fourth of July

2006-07-04T23:14:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty cool. The day started out quite warm. We had a bunch of people over for a bbq and now we have a ton of food left over, which is a good thing since most of us haven't gotten our pay checks yet. Then we played some stick ball which is hitting a wiffle ball with a broomstick. This game has become a big thing at our gettogethers. Some people went down and bought some fireworks for at home and since we couldn't wait we went ahead and set them off right then and there. However, as we started a storm started brewing with wind and dirt everywhere. It was fun anyway. When the time came we all walked down to the college to watch the fireworks. Even though it was really neat to see the fireworks at the same time as the lightning I think Soboba's fireworks are way better. There was a radio station that played patriotic music to the fireworks but when someone mentioned it being choreographed "Mr. Third Grade", a math prof at the college said, "choreograph is too big a word for Idaho." Laughter all around since no one is from Idaho. Now as I am writing this it is raining. We have the craziest weather here. Good times!
I am too tired now but look for pics of the inside of my house next time.

Camping in the Sawtooth

2006-07-03T09:33:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was a blast! About 13 of us went camping in the Sawtooth National Forest and hiked up to the Independence Lakes. At first we were going to camp up at the top lake but soon decided it was a better idea to camp at the bottom then hike up with no luggage. This was a very good idea since the hike was 3 miles one way and parts of it were so steep it made my legs scream. Before my car load got to the campsite 3 of the campers had already hiked to the top and they kept telling us the hike was well worth it once we got up there. They were right, it was so beautiful up there. We stayed at the top for a while, some fished, some continued up to the top lake and most of us just rested. Soon we heard our cue to leave in the form of Thunder so we hike back down the mountain, got our stuff together and went home. My legs and behind are so very sore but it was all well worth it. Who knew co-workers could be so much fun? On the other hand who better to go camping and hiking with than a bunch of people who work for the BLM?
The first picture is taken from the campsite towards the creek. The second picture is the second Independence Lake which was our main goal.

Life in Twin

2006-06-30T15:26:00.000-07:00

Just to update you all I will tell you a little about things in Twin Falls. Twin is a very white city but everyone is very nice here. In fact the realty lady's secretary is from S. California and she said she calls this place Twinkie Falls because it is very white and very sweet. I agreed. Last Wednesday four of us went downtown and listened to a band along with a couple hundred other natives. It had a small hometown feel to the get-together and I think they do it every week with different types of bands.
There also seems to be really bad fire seasons here. Every week we have a new fire that takes a couple days to put all the way out. It is kind of neat though because when we are in the truck driving and driving all day we can listen to the two way radio and hear all the details of what is going on and how contained the fire is and such.
The fourth of July should be pretty cool too. They are setting off fireworks at the college which is about a mile from our house. We get a front row seat. I also saw someone in our neighborhood wheeling some bleachers in here. I don't really know what they are for but I'm thinking the 4th.

I'm Melting!!

2006-06-27T19:31:00.000-07:00

Not much new has gone on since my last post. I have crazy busy but it is all the same. Checking traps, taking bird song surveys, setting up and taking down transects. However, yesterday and today have been way too hot to work 13 hour days out in the field. I think I almost got heat stroke yesterday. We started at our usual 6:30 in the morning and I was pretty warm already by the time we got to our plot. By noon I was sure I had a white nose with a red face, by 4:00 I was so hot I had goose bumps. We decided to take a break and go to the store to get more to drink and sit in the truck. Then we went back for two more hours and I got goose bumps again right before we headed back to Twin. At least this time I wasn't dehydrated but I was defiantly overheated. Today was still pretty bad but we were back in Twin by three and got to enter the data in a nice cool office.
This weekend I am supposed to go camping in Rock City, about 45 mins from Twin, with some co-workers. I think I am going to take Monday off as well as the 4th. I have the choice to work regular hours on the 3rd like everyone else, use one of my two paid holidays or use some of my overtime as comp time. No matter what I do I will still get my 40 hours. I really wanted to go see my sis but it does not seem possible to watch fireworks in Seattle on the 4th and get back to Twin by 6:30 the 5th.
I can see that everyone appears to be melting right along with me no matter where you guys are. If anyone has any good ideas to stay cool when outside with no shade please send them my way!! I have been thinking about just jumping in the Snake River at lunch instead of eating but haven't had the guts to yet.

Graduation

2006-06-20T21:25:00.000-07:00

As most of you know, I graduated last Saturday with my bachelor's in Biological Sciences. It was a very short visit but very tiring at the same time. I had an absolute blast though. I got in on Friday night only a few hours after my big sis did then basically went right to bed after getting in. The next day I was up early due to my current early bird schedule for work and the time difference. My mom, dad and I chatted and waited for my sis to wake up so we could open presents and go to my graduation dinner. When she finally got up we opened presents, which I love all of them and thank everyone for them, then we ran off to Outback. YUMMY!! All this took just the right amount of time for us to arrive at my school. After getting me a lai my family went off to find seats and I went to check in. I saw many of my classmates from my vertebrate class but not from many other classes. It was very good to see them and find out that many of them are also doing internships like mine but most were in California.
As we walked out onto the track field the graduation song was playing (of course) and I got a good size bounce in my step and began to walk with deliberation. I had finally made it to the day I get to wear the crooked hat and become an official success!! After we all made it to our seats there was a whole bunch of talking by faculty, past graduates and current graduates, I don't remember much of it. Then came time for me to walk across the stage and shake hands with the important people and get my stand in paper. No nervousness here just pride and excitement. After a few more words we switched the tassels to the other side and sung our alma mater. Then we were released.
I really should have kept my cell phone on me cause it was terrible hard to find my friends and family in the crowd. I was about to walk the long distance to the bell tower (that is where I said to meet) when one of my friends found me and called everyone else. Soon after they "kidnapped" me and my sis then we hung out all night.
It was such a short but wonderful visit.
Then came the trip home to Idaho. My first flight leaving Ontario was delayed two hours so when I finally got to Salt Lake City the last flight to Sun Valley had already left. Delta put me up in a hotel and gave me a $7.00 voucher for food and put me on the first flight to Sun Valley in the morning. It was a very good thing the airport had a Starbucks.
By the time I got back home I had missed 4 hours of work but it was o.k. since I had called them as soon as I found out about the delay and I have some overtime hours saved up. I would rather use the hours on a vacation or something like that but I guess that is what they are there for. I was still able to get 9 hours of work done yesterday though so I only had to use 1 hour of overtime to get my 10 hours. Today at work was more of the same, I was able to log into the computers at work but I still don't have an account. I have some cool pics to look at of gopher snakes and such. My mom still has all the graduation pics but I was able to get pics of the day at the falls onto my computer so take a look at that entry to see my friends and roommates.

Cold to Hot

2006-06-14T21:39:00.000-07:00

First of all let me give you a run down of my day at work. We did another bird survey, not many birds due to the cold weather, then we checked the traps again and there were many more than yesterday but I don't have the exact numbers with me. The first mammals we found were two voles in the reptile array bucket, voles are like mice but they have really furry ears, shorter tails and flatter faces. I thought it was funny that there were two recaptures that got trapped in the exact same traps as they did yesterday. During all this it began to rain but we had to get the mammals done so they could eat breakfast and feed their babies. I got soaked and frozen so we decided to go to the truck and warm up which felt great. Then we looked for more reptiles and found none, even though the sun came out a little, so we loaded up and went to our next area to eat lunch and start setting that area up. While eating the rain began again so we took a little cat nap while waiting for the rain to stop or at least slow down. This new area is completely different even thought it is only 1-2 miles away. Check out the photos, old area is the sage brush and the new area is the grass. Finally we were able to start building a hexagon in the new area and got half way done then had to go back to the old area and set the traps again.
Tomorrow I will tell you more about my house since I should get off work around 4 I can take photos in the daylight and give you a virtual tour. And yes I seem to be destined to live above garages and no we don't have furniture, well with the exception of a couple canvas chairs. (Mine has a foot rest.)

Building the case

2006-06-13T19:59:00.000-07:00

My week is now half over since I only work Monday through Thursday. At 6 am today we went out into the field again and took some surveys. The first was a 10 min survey of the bird calls in the area, then we went to check the small mammal traps we set out yesterday. We caught two Great Basin Pocket mice and four Deer Mice. (The one with the big ears is the Deer Mouse).
Not great numbers considering we set out 80 traps but at least none of them were dead. I suppose it proves the point that the habitats that have been overrun with cheetgrass can't support a large diversity or number of animals and the reason the cheetgrass has taken over is because the cattle have destroyed the ground crust. Then as my two other teammates set up another reptile array I walk the reptile transects and I found absolutely no reptiles. Same case in point. I also took a picture of a lily which is the state flower of Utah for you Mum.:)All that grass in the background is cheetgrass.

Back to my personal life I finally took some pictures of my house and the window above the garage is my room. It is a nice four bedroom house with three baths and it is only about two years old. It has a nice size backyard but it is not done being landscaped yet.
Today a windstorm with a little thunder and lightning rolled in at about 4 pm and that is why the sky is all grey in the middle of June. It was rather fun with all the wind!

Transects

2006-06-12T21:10:00.000-07:00

Today we started to do our transects. This consists of a hexagon with each side being 200 m. The first one we did today was the vegetation transect. This consist of going on each line plus the baseline which goes down the middle of the hexagon and dropping a stick every 10 m then recording what vegetation is growing in that spot. Then after that was all done and running out of water, we set up small mammal traps on the same lines only they were set every 20 m. Needless to say all three of us got dehydrated today so tomorrow I will be bring a whole gallon of water instead of just 1 liter. After I got two bottles of Gatorade in me I felt just fine. I think I should go to Costco and get a whole case of Gatorade. Today was a good day (except the dehydration thing) we finally started doing what we are here to do! Well I have got to hit the hay now because I am exhausted, but in a good way, and we start at 6 am tomorrow. Love you all.

The Falls

2006-06-10T18:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was mostly the same as Thursday except since Albertson College is a lot closer to Twin Falls than BYU we got back in town in time to check some of the traps we set out. The only things we had trapped were a scorpion, which was very cool and fluorescent green and yellow about 1-2 inches long without the tail, two voles that had starved to death and a bushy-tailed woodrat which drowned. We didn't realize how low that one trap was and we got some good rains on Thursday and Friday but we fixed it by putting some pieces of wood in the trap so they could get above the water next time. 75% mortality rate, not a good start considering we are going for <1% mortality.
Today my roommates and one of the other wildlife technicians who lives in the trailers all went to the Shoshone Falls and hiked around for a few hours. It was beautiful even though we were told right now they don't do themselves justice since most of the water has been diverted for irrigation. However, coming from S. California I thought they were spectacular. While hiking around out there we saw several of the lizards we are supposed to be catching and I believe we correctly identified them since 2 of them are ones that I became quite proficient in identifying while in the Mojave Desert. I was able to identify most of the birds we saw also but I will definitely have to pick my binoculars up when I come home for graduation.
The order of the pictures is: Alaska, colorado, Arizona, New York and all of us except Alaska (the photographer).

Day 4

2006-06-09T20:28:00.000-07:00

Day 4: 6-8-06

The week is almost done and I am so tired. Today was very easy physically because all we did was go to BYU and look at stuffed samples of the mammals we will be seeing in the field next week such as squirrels, mice, voles, rabbits and shrews. However, the trip to BYU one way is 5 hours. We didn’t get back home until a little before 10 pm and on top of that I fell asleep in the car and now I have a huge crick in my neck and shoulder but some Motrin and a hot shower will hopefully fix that. Tomorrow we will be doing the same thing only at Albertson’s, a college in Boise. I have a key now so everything seems to be progressing quite nicely.

Day 3

2006-06-09T20:12:00.000-07:00

Day 3: 6-7-06

Today we went out into the field again and set three array traps up. They were 1 ½ hours out and 1 ½ hours back. When we got back we learned how to do the data transfer on the GPS units then that was it for the day. The array traps consist of three funnel traps each 120 degrees apart connected to a central bucket by heavy black plastic which snakes and other reptiles will follow because the heat from the plastic. Then the animals fall into the buckets or climb into the funnel traps.
The other wildlife technician that is living with me for now and I went to the gorge since we didn’t have a key to the house yet and our roommates weren’t back yet. It was beautiful. Then all the wildlife people plus our two roommates and one of the girl’s husbands went to a Thai restaurant for dinner. It was my first time eating Thai food. I got the chicken stir fry with carrots, broccoli and cabbage and found it to be pretty good.

Day 2

2006-06-09T20:07:00.000-07:00

Day 2: 6-6-06

Today we waited for an hour a biologist to come here from Burley (the next town to the east), then we headed to the field to practice identifying birds by their song or call. I have no idea of the actual location but it was about 2 hours out and half of it was on dirt roads. We were too late in the day to get most of the birds but we were able to identify the Western Meadowlark, the Sage Thrasher, the Brewer’s Sparrow and the Horned Lark. After a while we took off down the road towards the Pygmy Rabbits but got side tracked by a Burrowing Owl nest. At the nest we got our GPS units out and recorded the point where it was so we could download it into the computer when we got back to the office. Since we had the GPS unit out already we decided to plot a point and have the unit lead us there. We had some trouble but we eventually figured it out and really learned how to use them in the process. By the time we got to the Pygmy Rabbits we only had time to find one of the nesting areas before we took off back to the office again.
When we got back we were supposed to learn how to do data transfers from the GPS unit to the computer and back again but the lady that was supposed to teach us forgot so now we are supposed to do it tomorrow. Since we had some extra time we set up our rooms in the new office as best we could then went home a little early.

Day 1

2006-06-09T19:58:00.000-07:00

Day 1 at the Jarbidge Field Office: 6-5-06

Today was an interesting day. When we first got there we got handed a bunch of equipment such as compasses, gloves (which I only got one), one of those metal clipboards with the lids, a 300 foot tape measure, 2 cds (one of bird songs and one of amphibians), a calibrator, some scales, a thermometer and some flag. We also got to pick out some markers, pens, erasers and pencils from the office closet. Then we got given the key to one of the trucks here even though we haven’t signed anything for it or gotten the background checks back. We also got a key to the office on a hush hush basis.
We met the other wildlife technicians that were already working there then we all went over to the new office, which just so happens to be down the street from my new house, to set stuff up but we couldn’t do anything because we didn’t know where the wildlife section was. Then back to the old office to build some snake fences which consist of wooden planks screwed to heavy plastic. The snakes follow this black plastic into a funnel trap then we can survey them. After that was done and all the supplies were put away we received some handouts and reviewed what we are here to do, which is basically survey the land to see exactly what is out there. Then we ate lunch.
After lunch we went back to the new office along with everyone else except the botanists (they were in the field) to get our GPS units and digital cameras. We went outside to learn how to use them because they don’t get satellite reception in the building. I proceeded to realize I was sunburned, probably from building the fence but I think it got worse at this time, so I went inside and put sunscreen on but it was too late. Oh well. During all this we did an awful lot of waiting but at least we got to talk to each other and I was able to meet one of the Chicago Botanic Gardens interns from last year and she is still working for the State Field Office in Boise.
We then went back to the old office and added some pieces of two by fours and flat pieces of wood for the snakes to hide under to the funnel traps. After that it was time to go home. Today was interesting but hectic and unorganized. I also found out that the reason all us interns are here is because an environmental group sued the Bureau of Land Management for not figuring what effects the grazing would be before they allowed it. So we are here to discover the effects.