(no subject)
Tree coring is fun! Lots of work, but fun! Way more fun than lake sediment coring.
Of course, we also had a friggin beautiful day for it. For the first time in, like, a week the sun came out, and the winds died down (a little, at least) and it was around 40 degrees F. Of course, the area we were collecting cores from had just gotten buried under an additional 9 inches of snow over the weekend, so we were walking about a mile through knee-deep packy snow (which actually wasn't that hard - either I'm in better shape than I was for the lake coring, or packy snow just makes for better walking conditions than crusty-with-soft-stuff-underneath. We still sank up to our knees every dozen or so steps, but for the most part it was packed down and we only sunk about ankle deep), but still! It was pretty and quiet and fun and after starting around 11, we finished up around 2 so it took way less time then the lake sediments. Also, any day I don't have to spend on a frozen lake in wind and 20 degree temps is a big plus.
That said, OMG SO TIRED! While we did have a bit easier time of collecting field samples this time around, it was still some damned hard work. I have a feeling my arms and probably my shoulders, too, are going to hate me tomorrow. But, for now I leave it at this:
TREE CORING IS AWESOME! I would totally volunteer to do it again if the weather wasn't icky.
Of course, we also had a friggin beautiful day for it. For the first time in, like, a week the sun came out, and the winds died down (a little, at least) and it was around 40 degrees F. Of course, the area we were collecting cores from had just gotten buried under an additional 9 inches of snow over the weekend, so we were walking about a mile through knee-deep packy snow (which actually wasn't that hard - either I'm in better shape than I was for the lake coring, or packy snow just makes for better walking conditions than crusty-with-soft-stuff-underneath. We still sank up to our knees every dozen or so steps, but for the most part it was packed down and we only sunk about ankle deep), but still! It was pretty and quiet and fun and after starting around 11, we finished up around 2 so it took way less time then the lake sediments. Also, any day I don't have to spend on a frozen lake in wind and 20 degree temps is a big plus.
That said, OMG SO TIRED! While we did have a bit easier time of collecting field samples this time around, it was still some damned hard work. I have a feeling my arms and probably my shoulders, too, are going to hate me tomorrow. But, for now I leave it at this:
TREE CORING IS AWESOME! I would totally volunteer to do it again if the weather wasn't icky.