Fall has hit the Southwest.\u00a0 Temperatures have dropped, the bosques are yellow-tinged, and BLM employees have unwillingly pulled out their flannels.\u00a0 There appears to be a general consensus that this is the best season \u2013 and I concur, based solely on the fact that field work is much more pleasant when you aren\u2019t sizzling (metaphorically and literally).<\/p>\n
My report for the month will be fairly slim because about half the month was lost to the government shutdown.\u00a0 I made the most of my undesired vacation by attempting to exercise, nullifying all exercise attempts by making delectable foodstuffs, watching movies (Like depressing? Watch Doctor Zhivago!), and stuffing my brain with reading. The most annoying part of the shutdown was fielding the inevitable questions, \u201cHow\u2019s the shutdown going? Any word on when it will end?\u201d My internal responses: \u201cI think the shutdown is doing great because everything is shutdown!\u201d AND \u201cWell, in my personal conversation with John Boehner today he wouldn\u2019t give me any hints\u201d.<\/p>\n
But alas! We returned to work and scurried around to check if any of our potential collections were still viable. Most were, and we\u2019ve been making speedy work of finishing up our collection season.\u00a0 Soon we will be moving onto some interesting projects that include monitoring some previously-planted sand bluestem and cataloging night-blooming cereus cacti.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ll end this post with some key hints\/tips related to seed collecting:<\/p>\n
1. When it is windy outside, bring a top for your bucket. Watching hundreds of feathery, miniscule seeds blow out of your bucket is highly demoralizing.<\/p>\n
2. When you find yourself collecting seeds in a huge grassy area out of sight from your co-workers, follow this procedure: sit down, close eyes, pretend you\u2019re Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves. Repeat for maximum atmospheric effect.<\/p>\n
3. \u00a0Have a strategy for remembering what hundred number of seeds you\u2019ve collected \u2013 forgetting what number you\u2019re on when you need 2,000 seeds gets old quickly.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fall has hit the Southwest.\u00a0 Temperatures have dropped, the bosques are yellow-tinged, and BLM employees have unwillingly pulled out their flannels.\u00a0 There appears to be a general consensus that this is the best season \u2013 and I concur, based solely … Continue reading