Culvert Climber (6/7)

Today, I strut. This morning, I waltzed right into the office, coffee in hand, backpack full and my sense of humor greatly improved by yesterday's humiliation. I managed to make light of the events of yesterday when my supervisor asked me how I was doing. I had spent the morning pulling splinters and thorns out of the pads of my fingers, and when I studied the mazework of fine scratches on my arms I told him, 'No, it's good, yesterday makes it look like I'm actually doing something.' Battlescars. Welcome to the Great Dismal Swamp.

I was also a little proud of my ticks. I'm still really concerned about the one I let loose in my room, but I'll take my revenge eventually. It's official, I do fieldwork.

But today we did water work, and for that, I am grateful. We went to the southern end of the refuge, which is actually in North Carolina. Fred taught me to use the device that uses sonar to map the depths of the ditches. It's a big sensor that floats on what looks like a boogie board. We used a pully to map the botom, making passes over the ditch bottom. I effectively ruined the case that the blackberry (used to capture the data) is in, because apparently deet eats away at plastic. For a moment, I had to think about what would be worse- melting my skin away, or getting eaten by mosquitos. I'm sure by now, you know which I would prefer.

But I got to know the equipment and software, and I had my turn with the pully. It took me four minutes to push it across and pull it back, and those eight minutes were really... nice.
I was up to my knees, hip boots on in the water, standing at the pully. As I found my groove, I got the chance to open my ears up to the refuge. Behind me, a dragonfly as long as my index finger was chewing on a piece of grass so loudly I thought it was an animal. The dragonflies dove along the water, and where the trees cast shadows was a perfect reflection of their bright green leaves. The light coming through the brush we climbed over shot through a small section of the shallowest water by my feet. It shone orange and amber before turning brown again. After we left that spot, I could assemble and disassemble the device and collect data on the software, but what I really enjoyed was taking a moment to open up to the sounds.

Today I also learned how to take velocity readings by myself using the flow tracker device. It's not difficult to use or set up, but I feel good knowing that I can settle down and set it up myself.

To take readings today, I had to climb down from the road to perch on top of the culvert. The culverts are the wide metal tubes that run under the road, and I sat on the mouths of these to take my measurements. This was fulfilling, I would collect data, and my supervisor would go down a little ways to do his own work. This would have been wildly successful if I hadn't dropped part of the equipment into the ditch, losing it forever. It was just a little handle, that tightened the device onto its pole, but I had been thinking about trying to not drop anything right as the piece bounced out of my hands and onto the culvert, and into the water with a perfect little plop. I'm really embarassed, but I'm glad my supervisor is so mellow and understanding. I've been having a clumsy week, it's a miracle I didn't fall in as I was climbing down the ladder we brought into the ditch.

We spent basically the entire day doing this. Collecting data, talking  about the data, and conversing. I think I'm doing okay so far. Mentally, i'm doing pretty well, especially after writing everything out. But I plan on getting more experienced, more careful, and generally improving throughout the summer. I really have so much to learn.

I also wanted to take a moment and talk about my writing! Writing creatively is something I do as a personal hobby, I use it primarily as a vehicle for my personal thoughts and emotions, mainly as a workthrough of my thoughts when I'm by myself. This is  something I enjoy, and because I can't stay as connected as I normally do to family and friends, I feel like this is a good way to let everyone know how I'm doing. This is the most detailed and personal account of my summer I will ever give, and that is the reason why I'm writing. I want to share my experience in the most sincere way I can, this is why I chose this medium as my CDIP capstone project.  I truly appreciate your time, and your decision to be a part of this adventure with me. I hope you enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it.