first day of 'work'

Monday I started my second job. Well... it's more like a weekend adventure time where I get paid. Oh, gee. Life is SOOOO terrible (sarcasm, incase you didn't catch it). Thanks to Dan the Man, I landed this amazing gig with AWash's research for her Master's project. Every weekend or so, I help her measure the depth and density of cypress domes in logged sites. I'm learning more and more about the process and regeneration of the ecosystems every day. I'm also brushing up on some rather rusty botany skills. My job is to help with collect data and identify plants in the area. I'll be going out with AWash as often as she needs, and my 'day job' permits. Stay tuned.

The site we went to Monday had been logged last year (2009). It is our most recently disturbed habitat and proved quite the difficult walk. Also, boots (galoshes) are not the most fun/comfortable things to walk miles in. Definitely noted.

Logged site, the entry point.

Cypress dome aka the Laboratory

Moss of sorts.

Possibly Selaginella apoda (Spike moss). It might be difficult to see, but there is representation of the sporophyte stage in this specimen. Uber cute!

The dominant tree species we were surveying were: Ilex cassine (Dahoon Holly), Gordonia lasianthus (Loblolly Bay), Magnolia virginiana ("Swamp Magnolia" or Sweet Bay), and Persea borbonia (Red Bay)

The logged pines were mostly Pinus elliottii (Slash pine).

happy mlk day

I know I've done this before, but I truly feel strongly about celebrating this speech and the things Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did for our country. While the fight he started is far from complete, we're so much closer to 'ending the long nights' of oppression, discrimination, prejudice and hate.

Today isn't just about a much needed day off in mid January. Or about the individual man it celebrates and honors. It's about something bigger. It's about an idea. A hope. It's about working towards a dream.

Take a moment or two to remember that dream and renew our hope and resolve to make the dream a reality.

what did i come down here for?

The new year has snuck in and made itself quite at home. Since the close of 2009, I've been in a odd place as far as wanting to write about my adventures and thoughts. Most of the time, I feel that the deepest and most profound things I have to say are lost in the storm cloud of my mind. Floating about. Morphing. Meshing.

My emotions complicate these thoughts even more. Adding a coarse additional layer to ponder and mull over. Instead of fully processing these blobs, I've been piling them up. I'll externally be upset for a day or two. Feel uncomfortable. Cry. Release... but not only partly. I keep a piece and stash it away to revisit later. Eventually causing the clutter and piles of half finished thoughts, ideas, projects and feelings which currently overwhelm and consume me.

This morning I took a deep breath and resolved to clear the clutter. The next hardest thing... where do I start?

Going to take another deep breath and start from the top. Work my way down. Slowly pick away at the layers. Perhaps there's buried treasure somewhere beneath the muck.