Saturday, November 13, 2010

Adventures in Water Monitoring, citizen science

    Ah, yes -- everyone should have the grand opportunity of that most humble of Master Naturalist activities --- water monitoring a community stream. I say humble because it is humbling that people who don't know a darned thing about chemistry and like, like myself, are entrusted with the activity of measuring such things as dissolved oxygen and PH levels in a stream not 10 minutes from home. What do these terms mean? Not too much to a novice in water science like myself-- I am better at identifying trees and wildflowers and certain butterflies -- but I "said" I would get naturalist volunteer hours doing this.
   So I went this time with my newly arrived son, who'd come in from the West coast, from job hunting that was not going very well. And he helped. It was a good thing. As soon as we got on the property, the owner's dogs were out in full force, barking and pawing the car -- nice. I don't like big dogs on the loose, who for some reason like to give me a hard time. Maybe they smell my dog and get angry. Who knows? I can't read their minds. Luckily, the owner and his daughter soon arrived on the scene and corralled the dang dogs away.
   So son helped with measuring turbidity (the murkiness factor) and gathering some water to be tested for PH ( 6-9 being the best, and this water was at 8, so not bad) and man, was it cold, when I had to get the water samples for the dissolved oxygen. We measured the water temp. at 52 oF (brrrrrrrrrr) and my hands got icy getting those little bottles filled with water with no air bubbles. That is a trick.
   But it actually got to 70 oF out, which I'd say is warm for November. Any Master Naturalists out there who've had their share of fun water monitoring?

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Fall, Leaves, Indians, Cold

   Fall is not the most pleasant time of the year -- once the leaves come down, along with the
temperatures. The past few days the temperatures have fallen dramatically, as though January
were now intruding itself upon the day. When the average temp. is closer to 40 oF than than 60, it's time to head in -- to your neighborhood rec center.
   I am lucky in that mine is only a few blocks away and is free if you are a local resident. I don't know if that is the situation everywhere, but this is town maintained -- it's not a club like the YMCA. For being a local you get to use various weights, have access to a walking track that goes above and around the basketball court, the opportunity to do aerobics, or relax with a game room that even has the old fashioned pin ball machines and pool tables. It's a good deal. And the last time I was there I also drank in a 180 degree view of the surrounding woods -- a rather drab red and orange, as the leaves were stubborn and never fully peaked. It was warm in early October and I guess the trees were not stressed enough to all get together in unison and produce bright colors. Even on campus, where I took my students on a "leaf collecting" expedition, many trees by the third week of October had barely changed color at all.
   Early in October we went to a Native American Festival, and did get some sunshine, and some warmth from exercise. The dancers, the main attraction of the festival, invited onlookers to also
do the Indian two step in their outdoor circle, so the spouse and I did that. That up and down movement I'm sure was good for my immune system (jumping is supposed to activate your lymph nodes, according to doctors in the Somers' book). I only did it for 10 minutes but wow, what a workout!