Day 6 (Juneteenth)

Day 6

It is day 6 and you'd think I'd get used to the hang of this morning schedule but today I woke up extra tired despite getting to bed the earliest I have all this trip. Also, the bathrooms being a 1-person kind of sucks because when you got to go it sucks to wait 😭. For breakfast I had a cup of coffee and that was it, I'm not really hungry in the mornings but I do eat snacks throughout the day as I work and then heavy dinner. Then we continued our field research from yesterday, again we chose to be as efficient as possible by splitting up the task as a real team should be doing. We collected soil temp, and air temp, and recorded the gps coordinates for the dig sites. We tested the samples for ph levels, ph strips, nitrate, and phosphorate using test strips and the ph meter was with our trusty Hanna ph checker. We also tested the hold and tried to identify the soils hue value and chroma by color matching it to the "Globe" book. We are also testing out a batch of soil we were gifted by Gail yesterday; her soil however is planting soil so we arent expecting much but there are tiny nitrate pellets that shot its nitrate levels through the roof. After we all did our tasks, we regrouped and compared information. 

Soon after we had to get ready to leave as today is also laundry day and Jessica and Monette want to leave camp no later than 9, unfortunately for us we got hit with traffic on the way back to the wild horse resort where we got to explore the museum. Where we were treated to a temp exhibit for traditional baby cradles. The cradles were all fitted for different size baby's and even had custom designs, I guess they were also fashionable. 

There was also a animal pelt stand where I was able to feel and really look at the fur on these animals. First up was a cotton tail, that was very soft to the touch, I can see why they'd be used for coats however with it being such a small animal almost not worth it unless you caught or bred that many.

Next was a jack rabbit whose hair felt a little rougher than the previous cotton tail. it was also a lot bigger than that cotton tail.

Next up was a dried piece of buck skin, I was told that its extremely resilient and as long as it's preserved it would last many generations. 

They are also used for traditional Native American drums. 

Next in line I got to feel a black bear and grizzly although black bear was so soft and fluffy the grizzly was anything but, it had long firm hair that almost felt a little oily like a beaver hide.

Next up was the beaver pelt that was very oily and bigger than I expected it to be, it was very soft though unlike the grizzly who shared the same oily hair texture. 

I also got to see a red fox pelt and a white snow fox pelt; this was super cool to get learn about because I didn't know that these foxes were of the same species but would just adapt and change their cloak to camouflage/adapt to their environment.

 I am truly happy and blessed to have seen this little stand, I've been to this museum a few times now, but the temp displays are always worth it, and this was just awesome. I am actually a little sad about animals being skinned but it's also a full use of the animal that gave its life and it also allows for anyone to really get up close to what these animals really feel like, and this gives us a small perspective into how the animal lives.

after the exhibit and a quick lunch, we all took some time to do some work on our laptops and went for the showers at 1pm to get ready to head back to camp.

On the way home, packed all 7 students and driver into Juan's car and Jessica and Monette left to buy ingredients for lunch. We stopped at a gas station for quick drinks and snacks for our hard work. On the drive back we saw a baby brown bear, with the mama bear not far ahead. 2 miles from camp was scary close, but momma bears are usually smart enough to keep their babies away from people.

When we got to camp, we were we were told that we only had 1-2 hours to get everything done before Jessica and Monette returned. So, we split everything up into groups and then divvied all the data to each other like a team should💪😤. Me, Judy, Lovey and Aliyah took densometer readings and the gps locations along with slope and aspect. Gavin, Dallas, and Phabian took on the physical tests and test tubes. This was the fastest and most efficient way to do things I do hope we can rotate at the next sight because the test kits are really fun and interesting, but if we want to finish at a reasonable time, we have to delegate tasks and make sure everyone is doing something. If you're done recording, share your notes until everyone has the same things. We tested out our control sample (planting soil from Gail) a vegetation, and a no vegetation sample. And still finished in under 2 hours.

We were finished before Jessica and Monette even arrived and so we had few minutes to relax and share the data to everyone. After ensuring everyone had the same data, we took our laundry bags. After that me and a few students went to go help Jessica with the groceries. After that dinner took a little longer than usual because Monette was cooking individual pizzas for each of us, custom orders. Because I was one of the first few to finish my food I got to work on dishes. After dishes I was ready for a campfire and then bed, we stayed up late having a team bonding exercise, but it was a lot of fun learn more about my peers.