A Crab and a Bull and a (not so itsy bitsy) Spider

Today was a short day.

I’m not exactly sure why it felt so short, but I just don’t feel like I’ve been awake that long, even though I’m exhausted right now. We started off with some extra time to finish up our processing and project preparations for our presentations today. Cole and I were just about finished, so we touched up on a few things and basically just sat around for a while waiting to do the presentations.

It was really cool to see every group’s presentation, and to understand their methodology and how it differed from ours. Some groups seemed very systematic about how they moved around the valley, and others used existing maps as a starting point, whereas we tended to just work wherever we ended up (which, in retrospect, may not have been that efficient). In addition, our group had very little analysis and processing to do in the end because of the discrete nature of our points, but from what I gathered of the other presentations, several of the groups sat for hours trying to classify their data using various programs. That explains all the yelling the other night, I think.

I think our presentation went pretty well, though at one point I realized that I didn’t quite understand all of our attribute table as well as I thought I did, so Cole was nice enough to save me at those points. I was also very caffeinated, having had a diet Coke early to avoid falling asleep on the couch (as I did around 1pm), which didn’t much help me to control the speed of the words coming out of my mouth. But at least we got through it, and without any real problems or major misspeakings (that’s not a word, but it’s late and I’m tired, so I’m making it one).

After a scrumptious pizza dinner, we got together to discuss our individual projects in a little more detail. I’m thinking more about shifting away from my original thoughts of looking at coral and algae near freshwater seeps and instead focusing on the apparent hydrological and climatological differences within the valley, especially between the north and the south. I still have a lot of thinking to do as far as figuring out if that’s really a viable option, but I think it would be cool because it would involve using a lot of the common products all together and producing a fairly comprehensive analysis of how the sides of the valley differ. But again, it’s pretty undeveloped in my head and I’m hoping that sleeping on it will help me to come to a more substantialized idea.

Post-dinner was our wild safari adventure, and by wild safari adventure I mean finding a gigantic tarantula sized spider in the bathroom, and then going on a nighttime adventure. I say safari because of the amount of animals involved in our night. Immediately upon stepping out the barnyard gate into the gravel lot, we found ourselves face to face with a dark black shadow with very large horns. One of the bulls. My favorite.

Thankfully, Kerry was brave enough and confident enough to nonchalantly usher him away while the rest of us cowered in terror, and he didn’t even think twice about letting us pass. Even though I doubt he was even interested in us, much less in eating us, I’m still basically sure she saved my life tonight. (Did I also mention that I’m unnaturally wary (terrified) of cows?) After that, we started down the road to the main highway, flashlights glued to the ground only to find that our only obstacles were not, in fact, sharp rocks, but instead dozens of cousins of that very same spider we had just discovered in the bathroom earlier. I’m not even afraid of spiders, and it was basically a bit of a nightmare. Not to mention the gigantic centipedes that also made their way across our path. I can’t blame them for being there, but it still does freak me out.

In addition to the spiders, centipedes and cows, we also a bullfrog, some crabs on the beach, and something rustling in the bushes that I swear snorted at us (but I didn’t tell the others that I heard it because I didn’t want to freak them out, so hopefully they don’t read this). By the time we got back, I was thoroughly ready to climb up in my hammock and go to sleep, because I’m convinced that nothing can get me up there and I don’t think bulls climb stairs or hop fences.
And that brings to an end our weirdly short safari day. I’m not entirely sure what tomorrow entails, but whatever it is, I’ll probably be tired if I don’t go to bed soon, so that being said, goodnight!

PS: This was blog post number 14! I don’t think I’ve ever blogged this much consecutively in my life. Maybe there is hope for my attention span after all!