Good News

Allo All }:8>

Well I got some good news today in the mail... I received my student loans award letter; something I've been dreading and hoping for at the same time. As I said, all good news. }:8>

To tell you a little more about me well... I'm the geek. Yep Geek.

I have a degree in Electronic Engineering Technology which means basically I can fix your TV if it's 30 Years Old... (My degree is 20 years old!)

About 13 years ago I did some research and started a ISP with a business partner in a VERY small town. I made many mistakes, including using Windows NT as the operating system to run all the primary services. It's good to say that my old ISP is still in business (Though I left many many years ago).

Since then I've worked as a gas station attendent, carpenter, accountant, electrician, and even a utility truck builder.... So I guess I'm kind of a jack of all trades.

Today I run Linux exclusivly and am working on a degree in Enviromental Tech.

And NO I am not as Rush Limbla (joke intended) a tree hugger..

PG

Meet the Research Site

Welcome to the Third Avenue Pond, our research site of choice for our capstone projects. The photo here shows north as "up" and is approximately a quarter mile square. It's not a very large area at all.

Starting at the bottom is the Little Brown House. This is the office of the Upper Big Sioux River Watershed Project, which monitors the river, Lake Kampeska, Lake Pelican, and the surrounding polluting areas like CAFO's and such. The Little Brown House sits on the south shore of the Third Avenue Pond.

In the center of the pond is Goose Island. In the spring and summer, the sandy beach on the west side of the pond through to the island is loaded with dozens, if not at times hundreds, of Canada geese. North of that is a serpentine body called Turtle Cove, which is much shallower than the rest of the water body. Originally the Third Avenue Pond was a quarry of some type. I am not sure how Turtle Cove factored into it (access road?) or what led to the formation of Goose Island, but hey, that is what exploration is all about.

Bordering the pond on the left hand side is the Big Sioux River. Interestingly enough, the bank cut between the two water bodies is so high that the two do not intermingle, with no inlet or outflow channels at all. It's difficult to see the difference in this satellite photo due to the time of day it was taken, but to give you an idea, we easily got 60cm on the turbidity tube on a Third Ave sample, where we got 21 cm on a sample from the Big Sioux five minutes later around the same time of year as the photo above.

That bank cut includes an area not noted on the map called the Crazy Hills. The Crazy Hills is the wooded area between Turtle Cove and the Bramble Park pond, and is a natural formation of small, steep dirt mounds closely packed together. The dirt bikers love it, unfortunately. The Crazy Hills area also includes one of the only wooded wetlands in all of eastern South Dakota. It's home to a variety of animals, including at least one small herd of deer, right in the middle of town. We know that there are at least two herds along the river.

North of Turtle Cove is the Kiddie Pond, which is the children's stocked fishing pond. To be blunt, this place is nasty. You can even see from the satelite photo the color difference between the Kiddie Pond and Third Avenue. Even worse is to the northwest, the Bramble Park Zoo pond. This is the waterfowl enclosure for the zoo, and to their credit they DO try very hard to keep it clean. However, with the huge influx of migratory birds they get every year, as well as the permanent injured residents, they are fighting a losing battle.

So that is our hopeful research site. No, its not as illustrious as the Titanic or the Dead Sea or Antartica, but that, in my very humble opinion, is one of the things that makes it so alluring. People are so ignorant of what is even in their own back yards, never mind (for the time being) what shipwreck full of riches, either monetary or intellectual, might be at the bottom of the ocean. If we can interest the town in our study, especially the children . . . well, if we can inspire just more person to say "I wonder what is really over here", it's all worth it.

Notes from PG (as transcribed by The Lion)

'Allo! I'm PG. We just got off the storm and tomorrow is going to be my next day to school. I'm taking a variety of courses, all of them electives; and I've just got over a problem being so nervous about being back in school that I can finally actually have something to eat, which feels good. One of the big problems that I'm thinking about is our two dogs, Mushu, aka Lt. Lump, and Atrus, aka Mjr. Face. I'm concerned about them because we have to leave them alone so long while we are at college. One of the dogs is older and might make a mess in the house. The other one is a dork (*snerk*) who is laying under an ugly blanket that I bought from a friend's wife who worked at an auto repair shop just down the hill from where I worked as a gas station attendant. Yes, I have a degree in Electronic Engineering and I worked for seven years as a gas station attendant. That's what happens when you are 39 years old and have a 20 year old education.

I've done a lot of things in my life; I've been an accountant, I've been a carpenter, I created an ISP (Internet Service Provider), heck, I even learned how the net-pack even transmit through the router and all that stuff all by looking it up online. I was a programmer, worked in various languages, and I've had a computer since I was 11: back when you had to put a cartridge in the side of the computer to play a game. Right now I'm looking forward to petting the Lump and the Furball and going to bed, because I have to get up to go to school tomorrow. It used to scare me, but now that I've been there for a little while it's actually sort of familiar. Anyway, thanks for listening . . . PG.

Of Amoebas and Turtles

Due to the snowstorm last night and the -40 wind chills, school was cancelled today. Unfortunately we did not get to the library to work on our history research on Third Avenue Pond, which was a shame, but hopefully I'll be able to get some time in on it tomorrow while PG is in classes. We did however, do some basic research on one of the indiginous species of our pond, the Common Snapping Turtle. Our particular snapping turtle is named Bob, and is (as described by others) "the size of a car door".

Bob has been a matter of concern to us not only because of what type of turtle he is, but because the pond is his home. The last thing we want to do is disturb him or worse, cause him to think about choosing a new territory. He's a true staple there, known for scaring the begeebus out of the high school students who use the pond for their canoeing lessons, as well as LATI students out in the kayak. Though we know they are omniverous, the turtles in the Upper Big Sioux watershed appear to have developed a taste for goslings, based on my observations (note to self - try to take body counts while surveying the pond this spring). As such we wanted to know if turtles who had becomed accustomed to more aggressively hunting live prey were more prone to attacks on people or other intruders into their territory.

Thankfully it appears that snappers who prey upon waterfowl have generally been known to attack ill animals; this would fit in very well with the goose populations that tend to congregate around the river, in numbers that I would consider to be overly dense for the size and depths of the waterbodies. That goslings would have a propensity for becoming sick or injured in that environment would only make sense. On top of that, the Third Avenue Pond is also close to the waterfowl pond at Bramble Park Zoo.

This video (I hope it works!) is of a snapper climbing the fence from the marsh behind the Third Avenue Pond into the Bramble Park Zoo goose pond. This pond is often used as a recovery area for injured geese and other waterfowl, so it could be seen as prime hunting ground. (Another note to self - contact zoo for evidence the turtles are hunting the goslings or injured birds.)


Anyway, back to our interest in the turtles. It turns out that there has been no substanciated attacks by turtles on swimmers unless they are cornered or poked at. They usually exhibit either curious or bored characteristics, like most reptiles would. Looks like we have nothing to fear from Bob, and I hope he chooses to hang around and swim with us. We'll still try to keep our distance from him in his home, though.

Since we were largely stuck at home, we spent a lot of time watching "House". There was an episode on about Naegleria fowleri, which first struck my interest after that poor fellow died from exposure at a Florida waterpark. Naegleria is also known as the "brain eating amoeba"; they crawl in through a swimmers nose and - well, eat your brain. PG and I talked about the possibility of these creatures living in our pond, and while they are mostly known to exist in temperate to tropical areas, there has been at least one case of them infecting people from imported water. Now I'm curious if they could survive in our environment at all, even though they likely do not naturally. I'm going to speak with my Microbiology teacher, Mona, next week to see if I can't grow and experimental colony in the lab at LATI.

Two Days of Day One

Yesterday was PG's first day at LATI, and this morning is my first day back after winter break. Our town is under a winter storm warning, and of course our classes run completely opposite one another; as PG gets out of one, the Lion is going right into another, PG gets a two hour break, and when I get out I get a long break waiting for HIS next class, etc. Unfortunately we'll be going through this for at least another year.

Good news is though that Chad was able to sit and talk to me for a bit yesterday about the Third Avenue Pond project and he had some good cost-saving ideas. For example, the town Parks and Rec department has 8 canoes that they almost never use, that we may be able to get permission to borrow. There is a scuba shop in Montevideo that we may be able to rent tanks from rather than buying them (though we would still very much prefer to own our own so that we can bring them along as we further our education). He also advised that we should contact the City Attorney's office to sign a waiver since we will be working on city property (which is news to me, I though the Upper Big Sioux Watershed Project owned the pond).

Since I have a few minutes while I wait for PG to get out of his class, let me introduce my classmates since I'm sure you'll be hearing quite a bit about them. The only people I will be using "real" names for are LATI instructors since their names are right on the school website; I'll be assigning nicknames to the rest of them.

Mac - one of my lab partners. Great kid, very smart, though a little idolizing of Chad. Probably owns the only Mac in the whole school.

Mom - is actually a little younger than me, but like me is also a non-trad. She has three kids, would do anything for a friend, and has a very strong "don't mess with me" attitude.

The Zebra - is the youngest of the bunch, and is your classic Californey hippie/punk. He's in a constant contest with Mac for the top of the class, and you could not find two more opposite people.

Mrs. Brisby - is another one of my lab partners and is your typical quiet country homegirl. She plays a mean game of Settlers of Catan though.

The Couple - consists of Hunter and Bean. No, they are NOT a real couple, not in the slightest, but that is the nickname they got in class because they always sit together, hang out together, etc.

Boog - Boog is one of those guys who just sits quietly until he comes out with something so funny you laugh for an hour.

Fitz - Along with The Couple and Boog, fills out the back row of the class. Another quiet type.

MusicMan - probably one of the hardest working people in the class, who is in a band that plays out several times a week, yet still never misses a day.

And of course Chad is our Environmental Technology teacher. Great guy and looks great in a Snuggie (we got him one for his birthday/Christmas).


. . . A Little Later

A pretty nasty snowstorm is affecting our area right now, and they are talking about cancelling classes for tomorrow. If that is the case, PG and I are going to try to make it down to the town library and research the history of the Third Avenue Pond, which we know was once a quarry of some type. And if we can't make it down there, there's still plenty of other work to be done here.

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Just a Technorati claim token, ignore!

A New Semester, A New Blog

For those of you who do not know me (which is probably anyone), my nickname is The Lion. I'm a non-traditional student at Lake Area Technical Institute in South Dakota, starting my second semester out of an 18-month Associates program in Environmental Technology. I'm a divorced mom and live with my boyfriend and research partner, known here as PG, who is starting mid-year at the same school going into the same program.

So why the blog? PG and I are working on a very specialized and long-term course of study, one that in our opinion is very underrealized in not only our own country but also around the world. We are pursuing an education that will prepare us to protect archaeological sites and artifacts against damage from the natural enviroment; in some cases, we may also be protecting the environment from damage from the artifacts and locations themselves. As a simple example of the types of things we would like to work on, here in the Black Hills of South Dakota are several old and abandoned gold mines. Mercury was used heavily in the mining process, and now that mercury is leeching into the Black Hills streams. Obviously something must be done about the mercury contamination, but at the same time, the mines are a major part of the Black Hills and American history, and should be preserved as well. As it stands right now, there are very few people who have the education and training to be able to work on this problem. We would like to do that.

Our dream vocation would be working for Woods Hole as researchers and advisors for preserving raised artifacts from shipwrecks and flooded civilizations, as well as preserving these sites when still left underwater. But for the meantime, we have our education to worry about, of course! We have already chosen our internship location: we will be taking an archaeological course in Mitchell over the summer under the supervision of Augustana College in Sioux Falls (and I am so thankful that my professor, Chad, was able to consider it and is as enthusiastic about our chosen career path as we are!). Technically PG does not qualify to complete an internship this summer as he is only taking his electives this semester, but no harm in getting off on the right foot.

We have also chosen and begun preliminary planning for our capstone project: mapping a flooded quarry known as the Third Avenue Pond. What makes this site interesting is that it is the optimal practice site for us to hone skills that will come in very useful in our further studies. It is small, cut off from other waterways, and is known to have in its depths everything from mining equipment to 50-gallon drums of who knows what substances. The pond construction is completely documented, and is on the private land of a watershed research facility. But there is so much unknown about the place . . . it will be amazing.

Looking forward, we're also trying to determining where we are going to go to continue our education. With PG one year behind me technically, I will have to spend an additional year at LATI, which is not enough time to receive a second AAS, so I will have to choose carefully from the available courses for choices that will suppliment my career and enhance my chances of being useful in the field. Right now I am leaning toward Robotics so that I may help with ROV maintenance, which would be backed up by PG's already completed AAS in Electrical Engineering Technology. A constant concern is that the only college who is guaranteed to accept our AAS's (as we are attending a tech school) is SDSU, South Dakota State University. They are a wonderful school, but are lacking in the courses we want to continue with. We are hoping that we can impress another college enough to get them to accept our credits even if they traditionally would not.

Tomorrow is PG's first day back at school in almost 20 years. Sleep is definitely needed right now.