Trinity University

I am tired. Very very tired. I remember going to the end of spring semester and thinking about how great it would be to start summer research and focus my mind solely on summer research. Well, now that I am at the end of summer research I can’t wait for school to start again. I still love summer research, so much that I am continuing (again) to do research in the fall. But it will be less of a time commitment. Our presentations are next Thursday. Frankly, I’m frightened of all the people that are going to be there. Last year I did a poster presentation, which was much less stressful. This year I will be doing an oral presentation in front of a lot of highly educated people…all by myself.

This summer has been rough because we had so many people doing so many different projects. We went out in the field so many times.

One of our field sites. This is Ryan’s.

Me and Ryan. Father and daughter day at work? We match.

We were working so hard so we decided to take a mini-break (while accomplishing some tasks). Our lab decided to take a trip to Bamberger Ranch (owned by the ex-CEO of Churches Chicken). I met Mr. Bamberger. He was pretty nice. We went there to lay ant traps and collect them. We had to dig 24 holes in terrible soil in the blazing sun. It was awful! But after the hole digging and collection of data on what plants occupied the area around our traps, we were free! We stayed at a cute little bed and breakfast and played by the river. There were frogs and fish and dragonflies. It was all behind our little cabin. We tried to identify plants and watched birds. We had dinner by a river, BBQ brisket and turkey with coleslaw and potatoes. Then we went back to our cabins and worked on our presentations and talked through them. We finished our abstracts earlier in the day. They were due as soon as we got back. Abstracts are very difficult to write. Don’t be fooled by their length. Trying to get your point across in about 200 words is difficult. Especially when you have to write scientifically.

Me and Macaroni, the hugest horse ever! He was very sweet. I met him at the ranch.

The back of the little cabin we stayed at. The front was equally cute, with a garden and a trellis. You can see a bit of the creek we played in.

Are you wondering what I am doing outside of research? Well, I am planning a new research experiment that needs to be set up before school starts. I am also trying to work on a recycling campaign for the school. I am working with the group called Students Organized for Sustainability and we need to think of ideas this summer to make people recycle more.

Oh, did you mean what relaxing things I am doing? Well I am reading A Short History of a Small Place by Pearson as well as Three Cups of Tea. Greg Mortenson, the co-author of the book (and the man who built the schools) is coming to Trinity on the first day of classes. I would like to have the book read before then. I am also learning how to cook. I have discovered that I can very recently. So, I did what people would do when they discover they have a hidden talent. I went shopping. No, you don’t do that? Well, I bought an apron and some organic flour. So far I have made chicken yakitori meatballs and ice cream cake as well as rice krispy treats.

My three layer ice cream cake. Not a very good picture but an excellent cake.

I also saw Batman. I love Christian Bale. No, seriously. He is such a great actor. I have liked him since he did the voice acting for Howl’s Moving Castle by Hayao Miyazaki. I thought the first Batman with Bale was a tad bit lame but this second one blew me away! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. It was incredible! Oh yes, everyone must see Wall-E. It will make you understand my interest and research in biodiversity. It was definitely the best movie of the summer.

Speaking of bats, this is a bat cave I saw at the ranch. It was man-made. They thought it would not work but today it houses approximately 250,000 bats! We saw them coming in after a night's hunt. It was awesome!

I guess I need to go back and work on my presentation. I have done very little to prepare so far. Wish me luck!!

Posted by Nancy at 5:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My summer research has been going great! I am having a lot of fun with the new lab students. They are all very smart and sweet. We are all working on different projects (that all deal with Plant Biology) and making excellent progress. We are going out in the field tomorrow at 6:30am to prep for our Wednesday field excursion. I think it takes a really special person to wake up at 5 in the morning to study grasses. It shows how interested we are in what we do. Since I am interested in all of their projects I try to help whenever I can. One of the students, Amanda, has this awesome project where she must catch bees to study them. Last week we went out to find some bees around campus. When you are looking, bees are everywhere. By the plants, buzzing behind your back, swimming in the pool, and hanging out by the library. We went out to the pond by Murchison computer lab. We found some nice cute bees and trapped them. Every time I went near one I was so afraid they would sting me. Having never been stung, I had no idea if I was allergic or not. Well, it is best to find out surrounded by friends who can drive me to the hospital. So I went for the bees. Behind the pond I saw a huge bee pollinating some white flowers. It was the same bee that had stumped my lab mates earlier that day. I held on tight to my net and waited for the perfect opportunity. After a few minutes of shaking and wondering if I should catch something so large, I let my net go and snatched the bee. Fortunately I did not get stung. But the bee was really angry inside the net. She buzzed furiously. I let Kevin (another lab mate) put her in the container and watched him expertly thread through the net and calm her in the jar. It was fascinating. We have not had the opportunity to key out this large species but I would not be surprised if it was called something like “Texas Hercules Bee,� because it was that large.

Me catching bees.

It has been raining recently!! Because we are in an ecology lab, the rain excited us to no end. I ran outside with my umbrella and thought to myself…what is the point? I just dropped it and ran out in the rain. No shoes, no umbrella, just me. It felt so great to have rain after the serious dry spell we had. It has been raining for three days now. Awesome!!

We took pictures of the rain and then ourselves after we got wet.

Another wonderful thing happened in lab. Do you know what a carrion flower is? From the name I am sure you can deduce it has something to do with rotting flesh. Well, we have these carrion flowers that recently bloomed in the greenhouse. Seriously…I have never smelled anything worse! But seeing them was so exciting!! I took a whiff of fresh air and carried the darn plant all over Cowles Life Science building to allow non-plant biologists to take an unsuspecting sniff. It was great to see them recoil when the scent hit them. I have waited two years for the plant to bloom. Dr. Lyons told me the plant was supposed to produce some smelly flowers but I did not believe her because I have not seen them and after months of coaxing them I could not get them to flower. I have a pretty green thumb so if I could not get them bloom then they were probably no good. Well, thank goodness I was wrong. The flower is starting to die but that did not stop me from pushing it into my sister’s face. I only regret Bianca could not smell the incredibly potent power of the carrion flower. Well, I hope you are having a cool summer. I know I am.

Carrion flower...nice.

Posted by Nancy at 8:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)