weekend 2

another great weekend here in the northern forest!

YESTERDAY
teenage dreamzz. except, there were no dreams because we decided to stay awake to see the sunrise. Unfortunately, the "sunrise" was really a viewing of day becoming light. Nothing too majestic, but still pretty fun. We had been hanging out at Ward, the seven-dwarfs-type cottage that the Cascades research project members live. We were just playing cards and this really strange game called Pass the Pig where the sole activity is to roll these dice-sized piggies and how it lands gives you points.

It's a midwest thing.

Then we thought it was a grand idea to take the research boat out on one of the lakes, which seemed really scary/eerie because Jason was driving pretty much in circles in this small lake with these giant lights on which reflected on the fog. Eventually we stopped and turned out all the lights and enjoyed the starlight. We = Jason, Seekell, Alexandra (my roommate), Rachel and Katie (apartment-mates), and Carol, another cascader. Seekell and Carol are actually from UVA. go virginia!

TODAY
Alexandra, Rachel, Katie, Carol, and I took a canoe trip across Tenderfoot and through a bit of the canal that I had paddled last week. It was nice being out on the water again, and we stopped on an island to wade around and lounge in da sun. The only notable nature we saw today was a beaver, and a deer wading and drinking water on the edge of the canal/lake. He quickly pranced away though when he saw us approaching. Oh! And yesterday when driving on property back from the grocery store, we saw The Cutest doe and her fawn running on the road. The fawn was so tiny! so much nature.

When we got back, we pretty much immediately started chopping veggies because my apartment hosted this week's sunday night grad dinner. This dinner consists of about 20 people that live in these apartments and gives everyone a chance for everyone to hang out and share a meal. We decided to grill kebabs, and I made sure to include lots of vegetarian ones using eggplant, tofu, potatoes, peppers, pineapple, onions, and mushrooms (mom! mushrooms!). The mushrooms were actually incredibly good; they were collected by Chris Patric ("CP") who lives across from us. I also cut two watermelons with a very weak knife. I feel like I'm going to be dreaming of watermelon slices tonight.
Afterwards, I read a journal article titled "Optimal Foraging and the Size Selection of Prey by the Bluegill Sunfish (Lepomis Macrochirus) in preparation for a discussion with Lindsey about my research project. The evening then finished off with a special presentation of David Attenborough narrating The Blue Planet's deep sea. Awesome. This one guy here, Mike Chips, ("Chips") literally owns every dvd that David Attenborough has narrated. So great.