Winterwonderland

The touch of the summery sun that used to fill me with heat has cooled with the passing days to a merely luke-warmth, the green leaves on the trees have turned bright reds, yellows, and oranges and have since fallen to the ground, and to be covered by snow!  I have enjoyed what the Idahoan winter has had to offer me. I have gone snowboarding and sledding as well as enjoyed the snow showers and inspections of the intricate designs of tiny snowflakes (awe-some!).  As I was removing the snow off the windows of my car one morning before work I realized, “I am definitely living in the thick of snow…how cool!”  I had a more profound realization one evening after work when I was stuck in the snow in the parking lot!  Eventually I was freed, but not without assistance (apparently you’re supposed to kick the snow out and not into the back of the tires. Whoops!).  What a learning experience!  Now if I could only get over my fear of driving in ice!

Many hours have been spent stationed at my quarters toiling away entering data.

I have been doing more than enjoying the snow and fearing the ice of course. I have been shipping the seed that we have collected to Bend Seed Extractory and taking close up pictures of the seed before I do, as well as entering information from data forms for the 2010 collecting season into a database (BG Base). It’s a really dry database and not very user friendly (so it seems) until you get familiar with it. I have been able to decrease the time of entering each data form into the database with each passing day and can now mail merge like a pro! There were definitely times when I felt like I was dealing with a bottomless pile of data forms and data entry. However, I felt better about the situation when a friend suggested that I try to break down the pile of forms into smaller chunks. So, I stayed positive and broke down the pile and completed smaller sections instead of trying to do all of them at once. With the help of the suggestion and my changed perspective I realized I learned yet another tool for the toolbox that I’m sure will be useful in the future when the going ever gets tough again.

The soil scientists said it was better to classify color outdoors in the sunlight. So outside is where I was.

Although I’m done working in the field, the data sheet required one more task of me: to get my hands dirty and play with soil! I had to classify the soils for the sites we collected by feel of texture (from sand, silt, clay, loam, or anywhere in between) of moistened soil and by color using a Munsell color chart (to standardize what everyone calls a color). I had great help from the awesome soil scientists at the USDA/NRCS Service Center soil lab in Meridian, ID. With their help I was increasing my accuracy in in identifying texture by feel of soils. I had to ball up about 100 soil samples, so I started to get the feel for it by the end! It was fun, and according to my new soil scientist friends, I was picking up on it really fast (so perhaps there is a niche for me there..hmmm).

You can see the smaller bags of soil in that larger bag behind me.

The year is wrapping up and the 2010 collection information has to be sent in with a ribbon on top (the annual report). After that, I believe I am at the mercy of my mentor and his boss and what they need help with around the RMRS lab. Should be interesting.

Merry Marshall
Boise, ID
FS