Struggle Bus

I have a sad story for you all. Unfortunately, for the past week, I have been on the struggle bus.

I have just been really good at messing things up this week. Nothing detrimental of course, but similar to the time where I managed to drop and break multiple glass things on the first day of chem lab.

During this semester, they warned us that the smoke detector in the dorms sometimes mistake steam from the showers as smoke. Now, I didn't really think they were completely serious in this threat. I mean stream is not smoke. They are two very different things. However, they were very serious. So at 11:30 the other night, just as I stopped my shower, the alarm went off. Whoops. To top it all off Cramer (who knows the code to turn off the alarm), was not at the dorm. It went off for about 5-10 minutes before he finally got back to the dorm. Luckily, my classmates have forgiven me.

Additionally, the next day we had to return our tadpoles that we caught to their pond and then collect some pond water. So the day after I set off the alarm, we drove down to the pond. I drove on the way back because there was a very large part of the road we had to back up the van and the Prospector and I have a special relationship. I had to back it up for over a mile last week. So I backed it up, all is going well. However, on the way back to the dorms I got the van stuck in the mud. Stuck BADLY in the mud.

To explain the roads up here are very narrow and all gravel so when you meet someone coming the opposite way you have to try to get as far as you can to your side of the road to insure both people can pass. So when I moved to the side of the road in order to let a few cars pass the car got stuck in the muddy shoulder. Needless to say, we had to call the main office and get them to come tow us out.

That is our tire halfway covered in mud and us waiting for Gary to come pull us out. He was very nice about it thankfully. I felt rather dumb for getting the car stuck.

You would think that would be it. Alas no. Today our van ran out of gas when we were out in the field and we had to walk back. HOWEVER, I was not driving at this point. Matt was. The best part about this story though is that the van has two tanks and we could have just switched to the second tank.

Other than that this week has been pretty great. My project is in a way coming together. We have to buy a bunch of things for it in the next couple of days. I am also discovering that Science is 1/4 science 1/3 stats and the rest is ingenuity and elbow grease. I get to cut plywood, caulk bins, and hopefully everything works out to the point where I can actually do my project. Fingers crossed.

In other news, I get to memorize 24 scientific names of amphibians and reptiles tonight. Woo party! ....and instead of studying I am currently watching the Cane Toad movie.

Sincerely,

Cane Toad Drug Abuser

Resident of Melbourne

UPDATE: Today we were in a different van and that van also ran out of gas. This time we switched the tanks. Our group has still been dubbed team car trouble.

Just go to the next dead tree

Cheerio!

I hope I find you all well and good. I have recently showered and found no ticks.

Ow. Leg cramping. Pain.

I suppose that is what I get for coming up here out of shape. I just returned from a 4 1/2 hour hike through the forest. We crossed from one side of property to the other after being dropped up by Michael and Heidi. Yesterday they taught us how to use a map and a compass and then today they let us loose.

For a visual here is a map of the property.

We walked from Peter and Paul lakes (where aquatic trophic cascade ecology began) to North Gate where there was a check point. At this point we stopped to eat lunch. Then we went essentially due south all the way back to the lab and the dorm, which is where that little cluster of black dots are down by Tenderfoot Lake.

This past week up here has been an introduction to UNDERC. We got tours of the property on Tuesday in these ancient massive vans. They have old vans and pickup trucks up here to get around property. The vans all have about 700,000 miles on them. I have no idea how they are still running. The Prospector (one of the vans) and I bonded on Tuesday too when we came across a flooded part of the road and couldn't get through. Therefore I had to back the van up for about a mile before we found a part in the road that was wide enough to turn around. That was a very interesting experience and also lots of fun.

Another highlight of the tour was seeing the fish shocking boats. A lot of the experiments up here alter characteristics in whole lakes and then look at the effects. The simplest way to sample the fish is to shock the water, which stuns them, and then they can be easily netted. The shockers basically just look like giant wind chimes hanging in front of the boat which they can raise and lower at will. I will try to get a picture one of these days.

My project has also already changed. I am just doing the work on the earthworms in the lab, not the work in the field as well. I am nearly finished rewriting it though (there was a lot of red pen on it after my mentor looked at the first draft) and then I just need to buy supplies and plant my seedlings.

Tonight we are going over to Gary's for pasties, a northwoods staple. It will be wonderful. Plus, it's a free dinner. Yum :)

I hope all is well for all those at home and still at school. I miss you all uber bunches.

KLAR

A Beginning....

These past few days have marked the beginning of quite a few new adventures.

Firstly, I am halfway done with college which is not okay in the least. I do not want to be so far done with college. I feel like there are many, many more things that I want to do and people I want to see and spend time with than I have time for during the year.

Secondly, I am finally up at UNDERC. Now for those of you who do not know what that is, it is the University of Notre Dame Environmental Research Center which is located up on the border of Wisconsin and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Approximately 8000 acres, it is used by scientists from many different schools (although owned by Notre Dame) and is the site of some pretty important work.

Today, we drove by Peter and Paul lakes. These two lakes used to be a single lake until they were separated back in the 50s (?). The systems were then altered and different species of fish were added to one lake and not the other. Then many different variables all throughout the food chain were monitored and trophic cascade ecology was born.

Also, we were able to see from across the lake the building where Father Hesburgh negotiated the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Act during the Civil Rights Movement. I might even get to go into that building and hear the story from Father Hesburgh himself sometime while I am here.

Oh, yeah, I am here taking a class and doing my own research for the next 10 weeks. More information about that to come.

Thirdly and perhaps most importantly, I am starting this blog. It will be filled with my adventures that I have up here at UNDERC as I meander my way through this summer covering both my research and school and also the inevitable other adventures that occur when you put 30 undergraduates in a house in the northwoods. Hopefully, it will also extend it's life to include my other adventures this year as I travel to Australia spring semester.

Pictures will come eventually. It is absolutely beautiful up here.

Claire