For those of you who live in the Northerly winter climate, you know how long the winters are. I have lived in this climate my entire life but...enough is enough. After a week of lovely sun and freezing temperatures, I woke this morning to 6 new inches of snow. Now, I like snow...but once again...enough is enough. I didn't even bother to shovel. I. Am. Done. I will shovel no more...after all there really is no point...the path just gets blown in or covered up...Enough is enough! So, this evening I was surprised to step outside and smell something I was sure would never come. You who live in the North can relate...you probably can already guess what that southerly breeze was hearkening to...that smell...that lovely wet smell of Spring! In my ecstatic state I drug another Grad Student outside with me...I just wanted to make sure that I wasn't delusional...and asked her what she smelled...she unfortunately likes snow and feels that the smell of it melting away isn't lovely...but what do I care? She agreed with me! SPRING! We tried to figure out just what that first hint of Spring smells like...the best I can come up with is...it smells like the trees are breathing...it's fresh...it's alive... it's SPRING!
Now watch it dump another six inches just to spite me...that would not be good...
Monday, February 25, 2008
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Update
In my class this week we have learned a variety of helpful and mind boggling things. On Tuesday we learned that when radio-collaring sage grouse, the males are fitted with backpacks. Why backpacks instead of collars? Well, that's simple. During mating season, the males puff out their throats and make a drumming sound to attract females. I've always had a thing for drummers...so I see why this technique works so well....so if they, the scientists, would put a normal radio collar on the males, they wouldn't be able to drum....and that would be bad...all those female groupies would have to find new mosh pits to visit. Although I don't know if the complete nerdiness of the little backpack really helps with attracting females...and it really doesn't help that the backpack is powered with a small solar panel..."Hey Chicky, check out my nifty backpack...it's solar powered you know"....I suppose that line would work with all the green chicks out there...and there are a lot of those in the valley to be sure...but does it help with overall popularity at mating time? I'll have to ask the scientists...I'm "The Lit Major"...so they expect random questions from me anyway...
On Wednesday we learned that Pronghorn hate fences and freak-out whenever they encounter one they can't crawl under...yes Antelope crawl under fences they don't jump...they have evolved into one of the fastest land mammals but apparently they haven't figured out how to jump over things...hey, why jump...crawling is so much easier...unfortunately the fence of choice amongst private landowners in Wyoming is barbed wire...which is not a fun thing to crawl under...so the Fish & Wildlife Service is trying to change the Wyoming love of barbed wire to a more antelope friendly, straight wire...at least on the bottom...
Also on Wednesday we learned about the natural gas boom happening across much of the west...apparently Wyoming has enough natural gas to power 12.5 million homes for 20 years...which sounds like a lot until you realize that that number is roughly a third of the population of California...so after destroying the Wyoming Mesa...natural gas companies can help 1/3 of the population of California stay comfortably temperature-controlled for twenty years...do more math...which I hate normally anyway....and you will find that this amount of natural gas will not last us long as a whole and will definitely destroy the land from which it came....Now many of you are rolling your eyes, thinking that the Tree huggers have converted me...but I assure you that this is a big deal...the rigs they move onto the drill sights are gigantic....and I don't use that word lightly....GIGANTIC...and they're mobile. So, every three months or so they deconstruct the whole thing and move it to another drill sight. I'm telling you that this is truly mind-boggling! It would be like moving a ten-story building...although the drill rigs look more like something you built with and erector-set...every three months...and what's left of the sagebrush after they drill is tragic. Now I used to think that Sagebrush was everywhere and not at all necessary until I was faced with the sight of it being bulldozed. Did you know that Sagebrush is really very fragile and grows very slowly....so once it's disturbed it takes decades to re-grow...decades! So faced with all of this information I am feeling quite conflicted. I like grilled steaks and a warm house...but I also like wild animals and wide open spaces untouched by man...I guess those are things I never thought I would have to choose between...but now I'm not really sure what I would do if faced with the choice...a difficult thing to think about, but there it is....I'll get off my new soap box...
The final thing I have learned this week is...skis are the devil and they want me dead...well if not dead...maimed. On Monday and Tuesday they waged a war with the help of the Sagebrush. first it was the dash and grab tactic in which, while I was dashing through the snow, the Sagebrush would try to grab my poles. This of course would leave me horribly unbalanced, and send me in to a flailing scuffle...as you know, this tactic was unsuccessful and I remained standing. On Tuesday the Sagebrush went undercover with its covert, "Sage Bombing"...once again it was unsuccessful. So on Wednesday, when all of its tactics had failed, the Sagebrush turned control over to Snow Pack and Topography. The combination was horrific and successful. They managed to pull me down...repeatedly. I have waved my white flag...I will not put skis on my feet again...there is nothing fun about falling down and not being able to get up from flat ground...every time I put my hand down to stand back up I would sink to my shoulder in snow...try standing up without using your hands...go ahead try it...lay on your back with brooms tied to your feet (brooms=skis)...and try to stand up without using your hands...not so easy is it?...
Now stop laughing and turn off your computer...that way I can rest comfortably knowing that we are conserving energy...and the Sage grouse, with its little backpack, can live to drum another day...
On Wednesday we learned that Pronghorn hate fences and freak-out whenever they encounter one they can't crawl under...yes Antelope crawl under fences they don't jump...they have evolved into one of the fastest land mammals but apparently they haven't figured out how to jump over things...hey, why jump...crawling is so much easier...unfortunately the fence of choice amongst private landowners in Wyoming is barbed wire...which is not a fun thing to crawl under...so the Fish & Wildlife Service is trying to change the Wyoming love of barbed wire to a more antelope friendly, straight wire...at least on the bottom...
Also on Wednesday we learned about the natural gas boom happening across much of the west...apparently Wyoming has enough natural gas to power 12.5 million homes for 20 years...which sounds like a lot until you realize that that number is roughly a third of the population of California...so after destroying the Wyoming Mesa...natural gas companies can help 1/3 of the population of California stay comfortably temperature-controlled for twenty years...do more math...which I hate normally anyway....and you will find that this amount of natural gas will not last us long as a whole and will definitely destroy the land from which it came....Now many of you are rolling your eyes, thinking that the Tree huggers have converted me...but I assure you that this is a big deal...the rigs they move onto the drill sights are gigantic....and I don't use that word lightly....GIGANTIC...and they're mobile. So, every three months or so they deconstruct the whole thing and move it to another drill sight. I'm telling you that this is truly mind-boggling! It would be like moving a ten-story building...although the drill rigs look more like something you built with and erector-set...every three months...and what's left of the sagebrush after they drill is tragic. Now I used to think that Sagebrush was everywhere and not at all necessary until I was faced with the sight of it being bulldozed. Did you know that Sagebrush is really very fragile and grows very slowly....so once it's disturbed it takes decades to re-grow...decades! So faced with all of this information I am feeling quite conflicted. I like grilled steaks and a warm house...but I also like wild animals and wide open spaces untouched by man...I guess those are things I never thought I would have to choose between...but now I'm not really sure what I would do if faced with the choice...a difficult thing to think about, but there it is....I'll get off my new soap box...
The final thing I have learned this week is...skis are the devil and they want me dead...well if not dead...maimed. On Monday and Tuesday they waged a war with the help of the Sagebrush. first it was the dash and grab tactic in which, while I was dashing through the snow, the Sagebrush would try to grab my poles. This of course would leave me horribly unbalanced, and send me in to a flailing scuffle...as you know, this tactic was unsuccessful and I remained standing. On Tuesday the Sagebrush went undercover with its covert, "Sage Bombing"...once again it was unsuccessful. So on Wednesday, when all of its tactics had failed, the Sagebrush turned control over to Snow Pack and Topography. The combination was horrific and successful. They managed to pull me down...repeatedly. I have waved my white flag...I will not put skis on my feet again...there is nothing fun about falling down and not being able to get up from flat ground...every time I put my hand down to stand back up I would sink to my shoulder in snow...try standing up without using your hands...go ahead try it...lay on your back with brooms tied to your feet (brooms=skis)...and try to stand up without using your hands...not so easy is it?...
Now stop laughing and turn off your computer...that way I can rest comfortably knowing that we are conserving energy...and the Sage grouse, with its little backpack, can live to drum another day...
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
So I was skiing along this morning, trying to utilize the placement of my poles to get the most of my forward momentum, when thrunk....yes thrunk. Thrunk is the sound you make when you, quite unexpectedly, sink to your waste in snow whilst Nordic skiing across sagebrush fields. Of course for me thrunk is the first of many sounds that follow such an event. Others are far less creative sounding and not at all appropriate...apparently such an event is commonly referred to as a "Sage Bomb"...this event seems to occur when it is least expected, whilst its victims are unaware of their impending doom, and results are quite catastrophic...not to mention they take out a lot of innocent bystanders...no, I didn't take anybody down with me...but I totally didn't see it coming....and I don't think I deserved it either. Tomorrow I will be wiser. Tomorrow I will be on my toes. Tomorrow...I should stay home...
Update
So I was sitting here tonight watching Casino Royale....blond James Bond...when out of my shaken and stirred state I heard quite an eerie sound. I thought for sure it was a moose yawn until it started in chorus and then there was no mistaking the distinct call of the wild...that gripping and lonely sound of a wolf howling at the moon. There is no mistaking it and trust me at times....like when I'm alone in my cabin in the woods....I wish there were. But, curiosity got the better of me and so I stepped outside of my cabin and nearly fainted when I heard a rustling in the bushes to my left.....out popped a snowshoe rabbit....and I nearly wet myself. I swear sometimes it seems like Nature has me on one of those hidden camera shows and just baits me to see what I'll do....I do have to say that the screaming has died down a bit and has been replaced by disgruntled and exasperated cursing....sometimes at higher than normal volumes, but not the cacophony that is my scream. I think I may have actually killed the buffalo with that one....they found a dead one the next day just down the hill...I feel badly about it so I've decided to give wildlife a break...at least for now or until I get charged again....then all bets are off....
In other news: I was out on Nordic skis today and realized that I am in fact the most coordinated person in the world...they should give me a prize or something. The only thing literally holding me back would be the sagebrush that kept grabbing my poles away from me thus sending me into a tustle of flying arms and near upsets....you can stop laughing now.....I didn't even fall once....now I should get a medal for that! The next round comes tomorrow when we go out to count Sage-grouse tracks....yes that's right tracks not birds...apparently we aren't to be trusted when it comes to counting the actual bird...which is probably good considering I'll be waging war with the sagebrush and will probably miss half the tracks in my efforts to not fall over in front of the world-renowned biologists conducting the study....sometimes I wonder what I was drinking when I decided that this was a good idea...now stop laughing and wish me luck....and while your sitting at your computer thinking that you are having a bad day...just think of me...covered in snow, swearing at sagebrush, and wishing to God that they wouldn't give me such great opportunities to mess up scientific research....
In other news: I was out on Nordic skis today and realized that I am in fact the most coordinated person in the world...they should give me a prize or something. The only thing literally holding me back would be the sagebrush that kept grabbing my poles away from me thus sending me into a tustle of flying arms and near upsets....you can stop laughing now.....I didn't even fall once....now I should get a medal for that! The next round comes tomorrow when we go out to count Sage-grouse tracks....yes that's right tracks not birds...apparently we aren't to be trusted when it comes to counting the actual bird...which is probably good considering I'll be waging war with the sagebrush and will probably miss half the tracks in my efforts to not fall over in front of the world-renowned biologists conducting the study....sometimes I wonder what I was drinking when I decided that this was a good idea...now stop laughing and wish me luck....and while your sitting at your computer thinking that you are having a bad day...just think of me...covered in snow, swearing at sagebrush, and wishing to God that they wouldn't give me such great opportunities to mess up scientific research....
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