Summer Field Work #2

The Kohm-Yah-mah-nee Visitor Center opened in October 2008. It is a beautiful new building that replaced the Lassen Chalet. The building is of green construction like recycled glass counters and low flush toilets. The geology exhibits are well done. My favorites are trying to make a earthquake and of course anything on the Chaos Crags.

Continuing from my last entry, it was all clouds and rain, the entire weekend. I know there is a 10,000 ft volcano somewhere!

Oh, I forgot snow to add to the rain and clouds, the main park road had just opened the night before I got to Lassen, you might recognize this as the trail head to Lassen Peak. I am not even that crazy to attempt that!

This was the best view of Lassen Peak all weekend! The picture was taken to the east, looking back west at the plug dome.

Wonderful snowflowers to entire this trip. My next trip was in July.

Summer Field Work #1

I tried to due some field work in early June, as you can see from the above photo of my area, I experienced rain the entire time. Even with excellent rain gear, it is still not fun to work in a constant rain when it is 40 degrees. It would of been better if it would of snowed. Who would of figured that California would be rainy in June and it wasn't related to thunderstorms!

The above picture is of a wet enclave with crenulated margins. It is hard to distinguish between the different types of enclaves when wet. So far the total different number of encalves is five. The lower picture is my homemade net to point count enclaves in the talus slopes of each dome. (A quick reminder, there are six different domes at Chaos Crags) The grid is 1m by 1m and the spacing is 1 in apart. It is constructed out of rope and string and at each cross point to make the grid rigid, I applied superglue to both sides of the grid. I did not want to make a rigid grid since I have to hike miles over rough terrain, this way it is easy to stick in my backpack.

Feeling like a Teacher!

That was my final grading before the semester was done. It was research papers, 12 articles on current events, and some late work. I know too forgiving. Hey, it was only my first time! I enjoyed teaching and the comments the students gave me. They said I gave too much work, but they got over it because I had almost every student tell me that they are going to make more informed decisions about the environment! Which was my goal at the beginning of the semester, since most of the students did not even know why they were having to take environmental science and now they too much! I look forward to the next quarter starting in a week.

Happy Earth Day!

I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Earth Day! I know I have been absent for awhile, I have had good reasons. My thesis work is keeping me really busy and I just started teaching two Environment Science classes at a private college in my spare time. (hahaha!)

Tis the season for grant writing

Well time has gone by fast for me during my winter break, lots of research completed with plenty more things to start. But what I really want to say is thank you to Kim over at All of my Faults are Stress-Related. Awhile back she posted a blog entry about grants and scholarships. This made me realize the dates of some grants and scholarships I wanted to apply for were soon approaching and that I better get my butt in gear! Since then, I have learned alot about writing grants and the stress that comes with filling out my first grant. Everyday I am starting to feel more like a graduate student.

Geological playground

I saw this and just had to take a picture. Somebody had to be a geology geek............

Picture of the day- the fluffy stuff

It has been awhile since my last post. I hope every had a great holiday and a Happy New's Years. Fresh snow in the Sierra Nevada makes for wonderful pictures!