Canoes are heavy

Metal canoes are heavy. Sometimes we drag them (a big no-no, and yes we made a hole in one, which we have patched with the same epoxy we use to attach transmitters to the turtles) and sometimes we just carry them. We have ocasionally put one canoe on a set of wheels (a baby carriage bottom soldered to a wheelbarrow basket) named "the golden chariot." Today we put both canoes on the golden chariot at the same time for their journey from the water to the shed.

More Ladies of the Lake

Magnolia Lake has produced another Barbie! I wonder if they were involved in the same shipwreck. Also please note that despite the bubble bath, the first Barbie's hair is not any cleaner than it was!

Morning Commute

During last week's rain storm some branches fell on the road I usually take to the bike path, but I didn't think to take a picture. I did move the ones I could but like the picture below (from this morning - it must have fallen yesterday afternoon) some were too big for me!

Deadlines loom!

Just incase you think I'm neglecting my schoolwork in favor of galavanting with snapping turtles and lavishing fresh figs on my taste buds, here is evidence that I am conquring ArcMap or ArcGIS or ArcView or whatever your favorite name for the program is.












Also, I'll need a title for my Bioko blog. Suggestions welcome!

More Produce Pics

The eggplants are starting to grow!




















Also the sunflowers are helping maintain the local bee population.




















And a hot red pepper!

Holly and Josh's Wedding

First kiss as husband and wife!














Geocashing before the wedding.















A snake we saw while geocashing.














Rachel and Eric on the way to the beach. Note the fine for disrespecting pedestrians. Not sure why I can't rotate this photo.



















Meadow and Bryan playing in the surf.














Meadow and Julie in the ocean.














Rachel, Shauna and Julia in the water.


















And me, dancing with Rachel. Not shown: me chatting with Meadow about turtle trapping.














:)

Goofing off at work

Sometimes after a hot day in the field, I get a little goofy. About a month ago I found a Barbie doll in the flotsam in Magnolia Lake. I strapped her to the front of one of the kayaks as a figurehead.
She stayed there for a few days but someone removed her. She moved around the front of the garage where the canoes are stored for a while, sometimes sleeping under the canoe trailer, sometimes under a tree. Today, she got a bubble bath.

Ducks at Work!

After processing turtles last week a duck brought her chicks to visit us.

Bike Commute!

Snapping Turtle on Defense

Figs Are Delicious!

I must have eaten a fresh fig at some earlier point in my life. After some hard work (see picture)


















retrieving turtles and canoing around a gorgeous lake we harvested some delicious produce


















from the garden and ate figs off the community fig tree. Fresh figs are far superior to dried figs!

Turtle Trapping

In case any of you are curious about what I do at work now, here is a brief explanation.
















On Sunday or Monday we set traps. It is easiest if we carry the poles in one boat and the traps in another. This prevents the netting on the traps getting caught in the hooks on the poles.














I don't have a picture of it here but sometimes we also move the posts we tie the traps to. This involves standing in a canoe with a sledge hammer trying to hit the smallest edge of a 2 by 4.














Each day we check our traps and remove any turtles (and fish, logs, and once a duck) that are in the traps. We bring the turtles to shore and record each turtle's species, sex, size and weight. We also mark them so when we catch a turtle we can tell which turtle we have caught. To determine the sex of a turtle, we look at the position of the cloaca. If the cloaca is closer to the turtle's body than the end of the carapace (upper shell), it is probably female. If the cloaca is past the end of the carapace, the turtle is probably male. Male turtles also have longer front claws than female turtles. You can see the cloaca in this picture, it is the line in the turtle's tail that is parallel to the bottom of the turtle's plastron (bottom shell).














Sometimes, after we release the turtles, near the trap we caught them in, we play baseball. It is hard to tell in this picture but Steve (in the Kayak) has just completely missed the pitch thrown by Dave (standing, invisible life jacket) relieving Kelly (in the canoe) from having to figure out how to cover the entire infield and outfield from the canoe, without knocking the pitcher out of the boat. Which means the batter does not have to figure out how to kayak the bases while tied to the defending team.















On Fridays, we bring in our traps, clean everything and sometimes move the posts. Then we get ready to start over again the next week!

walking the dog

I saw this huge mushroom on the base of a tree while I was walking the dog!

July Garden Photos

Wow! A cucumber bigger than my foot, a small zucchini, a small eggplant flower and sunflowers!

Pennsylvania Aquatic Invasive Species

Pennsylvania Aquatic Invasive Species

The final chapter of the Tree saga

At the end of Shell Sliverstein's _The Giving Tree_, the boy, who is now a man, sits on the stump which is all that is left of the tree. Here is the stump of the tree from the courtyard. The rest of the tree has been taken away but the stump remains, as do some holes in the sidewalk.
See June 30 for background.

Celebrating Independence Day

Yesterday we met at 6:30 in the morning to go turtle trapping. Thursday was not very sunny and we did not find many turtles in our traps. We have set 23 traps and caught about that many turtles on Friday. Even though we were only three (Steve, Gabi, me) yesterday we pulled the traps out of the water for the weekend and were back at school by 2:30 pm. This left plenty of time to shower and get to Jess and Amy's bar-b-q by 4. Of course we didn't leave for the party until almost five. At the bar-b-q Amy gave Annie a Thanks Award for helping out at day camp.



















It was raining on and off the whole day but since it was warm and the rain was not heavy, it was pleasant. We headed down to the Art Museum in time to see most of John Legend's performance and all of the fireworks. We struck up conversation with a stranger on a bike who turned out to be another Drexel student. She is in the BS/MS program and is interested in Environmental Policy. We invited her to come turtle trapping - hopefully she'll come. Gabi had to dash off just before the fireworks to hand keys to an intrepid traveler who had just gotten back in the country, but thanks to my bicycle, she made it back in time to watch fireworks. On the walk back after the fire works we saw a very long row of motorcycles.