Day 3 (Taco Tuesday)

 Day 3

The morning started at 5:30 again today and just like yesterday I didn't actually get up till 6 when Dr. Jessica Black came knocking. We all got up and started getting ready. for breakfast we had all the cereal options again and i went with honey nut cheerios made some coffee with a French press and then got to work on my lunch. I love coffee, I enjoy brewing coffee more than actually drinking it but making a French press with a ladle was a little hard because I couldn't distribute water evenly, that being said I brought my pour over kit and can use the funnel to perfectly distribute that water. We began packing things up as soon as everyone packed their lunches to avoid rushing later. shortly after we cleaned up camp, we got a visit from our guests for the day Brian Crossly, Cassie Flanigan, and [insert last person]. We were then taken to a local farm where we were going to be doing depths measurements on the stream of water.

first things first, we had to familiarize ourselves with the gear and the tasks. We were first shown a Transit, although it is shaped and looks like video camera it is actually stationary lens used to measure settlement layers in streams. The transit first had to be calibrated and to calibrate it we had to first adjust the lens to make sure the air bubble would perfectly sit in the middle. After that we made sure we familiarized ourselves with what we're looking for red numbers are ft, black were inches and in between are increments of 4.

Next up we would set up our lens and start sending people into the stream for measurements. We start with our base point (where the white metal rod with orange tip stands), and take depths measurements from a 1/4 width, 1/2 width, and 3/4 width, we then repeat these 3 widths 5 ft away and then at 50 ft away. we then move onto the next manmade rock damn and repeated the same process. we repeat this experiment in 3 different stream locations. 

going into the water was fun but I was also terrified of getting wet, as a super tall at a towering 5'2" you'd think I'd be just fine, but no the water would go from my knees to my chest in a matter of 5 ft.

This was such a fun activity, I was so excited to do the shock therapy on the fishes. I don't really want to hurt an animal, but I was reassured the fish would be stunned for just long enough for us to examine them but then they'd go about their day but unfortunately, we ran out of time. I did however really enjoy the walk, asides from fear of finding ticks the tall grass reminded me of that scene from Jurassic Park where the raptors are hiding in the tall grass field.

After returning to camp, we were reminded of why we should always take down a canopy before we leave... unfortunately the canopy was damaged, fortunately it still stands so hey got to make do right, beggars can't be choosers. we had a quick 45 min lunch and then got to work on our soil samples form yesterday. We started by checking the ph levels on the water in our soil sample mixture we made in order to separate the different layers. [insert other experiments] I got up until checking all of my shaded samples, but we then had to go for a quick lesson with Warren Seyler. We got a nice and length info bomb in Spokane and its Native American heritage/community. Because of how racially biased the people were at the time and the reservations not having high paying jobs it was hard for some to make their livings. The Native Americans looking for work to try and help their families/communities would travel far using all they had just for opportunity, but when they'd arrive to their destinations would ultimately be sent back the way they came with answers like "there is no work here but I hear there is opportunity in Spokane". Because of all the travelers going in and out and in and out, Spokane is home to different people of over 200 different tribes. I was unfortunately not feeling well maybe it was the nice ac in the dark room that made me feel a little cozy, but I was also feeling very dehydrated and was too embarrassed to get up in the middle of an informative lesson. He did however briefly touch on Dakota 38, a case in which 38 Native American's were hung for taking 2 cows to feed their families after reaching out for help and never really getting anything more than a "we'll look into it". These stories reminded me of the stories my parents, uncles, and aunts would tell me about how they had very little but came over with a hard work ethic and made it work as best as they could. The Dakota 38 is something I would love to look more into because I've never heard that, not in a history class, and not from my Native American friends.

When we got back it was dinner time, but we also still had to finish our lab work. So, we had a delicious taco Tuesday thanks to Monette, cleaned up all the food and got to work on our labs while racing the sun. Unfortunately for us we were not as fast as we had hoped, we did finish before all the light was gone but it did get dark. After I finished testing my samples with [insert chemical compounds used] I got to cleaning immediately. I started washing all the test tubes and anything else we may have used... I forgot the sample cups.

Although it felt a little rushed towards the end it wasn't awful. Juan supported us and helped us where we needed it, and we even watched a scary movie as the sun was coming down. Tonight is my last night at the Wellpinit reservation, and it feels a little bittersweet as this has been home for the last few days and as far as camping goes it's been really nice here