Lindsey's Adventures

Letter to a Douglas Fir

2012-01-16T09:13:00.000-08:00

In American Literature of Nature and Place, one of the classes I am taking this quarter, we were given an assignment during class to go outside to the arboretum for an hour and write a page long essay about a douglas fir. It isn't the fanciest piece of writing (I did write it in less than an hour) but perhaps you'll find it interesting.

      Here you sit atop a bluff, king of your little hill. From here the movement of those below look small, the time they are with you fleetin. Do you hear their conversation, do you know our words? What of the gossip of jays and chickadees, and the chatter of squirrels, do you hear them? I assume you do, with over 100 years to learn to decipher the clicks, caws, and whistles. What secrets do you keep great tree, locked beneath your thick bark? Have others before me asked you these questions?
      I know you can't answer me but I imagine a sigh as you ponder all the lives you have witnessed and the many more that are sure to pass around you. I imagine your voice as that of an old man brimming with stories; but you are still young yet. Perhaps I judge you wrongly and for all your stateliness you still brim with the energy of youth full of equally pondering questions for me as I sit at your feet deaf to your inquiries.
      Though I may not understand you what of your neighbors maple, alder, and cedar? Do you philosophize about the stars and discuss life as we do? In the winter when the life of alder and maple and alder is hidden from me do they still speak with you?
      I find the need to apologize for my incessant queries and beg your forgiveness if I have offended. I mean to leave you alone now to sit and think on these questions myself but once I sit back, more questions come to mind.
      Do trees have a religion? I feel the answer is no though there is still a deep spirituality in you. Your life is directly tied to the sun so do you worship it? My life as well is tied to the sun though sometimes I forget. Perhaps that is how we can communicate, through our mutual need of the sun. As I turn to face it I feel a kinship with you my tree friend and a not of pleasure as I came to the realization on my own. though we speak differently the light of our lives is unbreakingly entwined.

Learning to Enjoy Rugby (for Americans)

2011-11-03T17:55:00.000-07:00

I first started learning about rugby my freshman year at university when I decided to join the schools women’s rugby team. Now I realize not everyone may want to learn about this strange sport by spending six hours a week getting it literally ground into you, so here are my suggestions:

1. Find a way to actually watch rugby
Rugby is not the most popular sport in the US so it can be difficult to find a way to see it, whether live or on television. Unbeknownst to many, there are rugby teams at a considerable number of universities across the country. They don’t get as much press and are often more student run but they are there working every week just as hard as any other sports team. Some high schools even have rugby teams and many medium to large cities have recreational rugby teams that compete against neighboring cities. I can almost guarantee you that there is a rugby team somewhere near you if you look for it.

If you searched and still have no good way of watching rugby live then try the television. In the past American networks have been loathe to air rugby due the difficulty in having commercial breaks. Luckily with the growing popularity of the sport, that is beginning to change. In September and October 2011 Universal Sports and NBC Sports aired the Rugby World Cup live; this was the first time the world cup had been aired for an American network TV audience.

2. Find a knowledgeable buddy
I know this sounds difficult when you are just entering the rugby world but somewhere in your life is a rugby fan, I swear. Or, show up to the rugby pitch and find a kind soul to explain what’s going on. Rugby rules can be confusing – the rules change about kicks depending on what side of the 22-meter line (yes, 22) the team is on, if there is a foul or a smaller rule is broken instead of stopping the play one team is given an advantage; strange small rules such as this abound and having someone to explain them can be incredibly helpful.

3. Drink beer
Beer is the lifeblood of rugby. The team I played for was sponsored during its inception in the 70′s by a local bar, the Flames Bar and they are still called the Flames today. Other teams have similar stories. Most rugby teams and rugby events around the world have major beer sponsors and traditions surrounding beer. Bring a brew to the game to get the full experience and share it with your new found rugby friends!

MatadorU

2011-11-03T17:53:00.000-07:00

I started taking a travel writing class online. It is a twelve week program that can be completed on your own time during the twelve weeks or longer if you need it (the materials stay available to the purchaser forever). Part of the class is that we are given weekly writing and small research assignments to complete. I figure that I will post the writing assignments both at the MatadorU blog (lindsey.matadoru.com) and here. My first assignment will be posted shortly.

Apple Picking!

2011-11-02T14:57:00.000-07:00

Two and a half weeks ago now my housemates and I decided to go apple picking at Apple Creek Orchard in Ferndale. It is a nice little orchard of Jonagold apples. The apples cost $0.50 per pound or $10 per five-gallon bucket. Upon arrival my friends and I each grabbed a bucket and headed out into the orchard.

We were greeted by these lovely fowl

Yay apples!

There are the bucket we were working on.

These were dwarf trees so I was able to reach the top in most cases.

One of the cool things about this orchard was that we were able to eat as many apples as we wanted while we were picking. I believe we all had at least three. And if kids come, any apples they can fit in their pockets are free.

By the time we were done we had three heaping buckets. When we got home we weighed them at approximately 80 pounds! At $30 total that is 38 cents a pound!

We made many a quart of apple sauce, apple chips, pie, and cake. After giving five and a half quarts of applesauce away, we still have 8 quart jars on the counter and several tupperware containers in the freezer (not to mention the immense amounts we ate straight off the stove). Two and a half weeks later there are four apples left...

Windy in B'ham!

2011-09-25T19:29:00.000-07:00

Yesterday and especially this morning it was particularly windy in Bellingham. My housemates and I woke up this morning to this site on our front sidewalk:

The branch had fallen from the middle of the tree!

New Classes!

2011-09-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

So this quarter I am very excited that I am now only in classes that have to do with my major! I still have one or two more general credit requirements but I can do those any time. Two of my classes began today and two yesterday. Yesterday I had Introduction to Global Change and Environmental Education. Today was Oceanography and Environmental Interpretation.

Oceanography is being taught by the professor whose lab I worked in all last year and he is in judo. I am very motivated to do well in that class because if I do badly I can't hide in relative anonymity, I would have to see him at judo later. I would much rather go to judo knowing I did well and excited to see him than did bad and want to avoid eye contact.

Environmental Interpretation is being taught by a woman with a lot of experience working for the Park Service and the Forest Service. She is a graduate of Fairhaven College with a much more liberal view of teaching. She tried to convince Huxley College of the Environment to have all her classes be pass/fail but the college said no. Now much of her class is participation, we grade ourselves for part of it and instead of having a final in December we will be going to North Cascades National Park next weekend.

All of my classes look like they will be a lot of reading and projects but it will all be interesting things. None of them have busy work or even homework every day. I just have to make sure to stay on top of deadlines and what not.

Project Survival - Cat Haven

2011-08-17T11:43:00.000-07:00

On Monday one of the other interns and I went to a local cat sanctuary. This place was amazing! they had leopards, jaguars, tigers, a cheetah, some bobcats and a few other less well known species. These animals are used as ambassadors, some just at the sanctuary and some travel to shows. the cheetah they have is the only trained cheetah in the state of California (I think that is what they said) and anytime you see a commercial with a cheetah, 90% of the time it is theirs.

Brew Bakers Brewing Company

2011-07-27T12:11:00.000-07:00

On Monday one of the ladies that I work with and I went to a nice brewery and restaurant in Visalia. They brew their own beer and rootbeer. Rootbeer floats sounded really good. The waitress asked "half size or full size?" We knew full size was a liter but somehow that didn't seem too bad.

They came out with this. It served on a plate because it overflows.

And we did it!

We didn't eat the lunches we ordered. We finished our floats and had some garlic fries that we ordered as an appetizer. We didn't even eat dinner. But I had my sandwich for lunch the next day and it was so good!

CIG Training

2011-07-24T11:17:00.001-07:00

On July 14^th, 15^th, 21^st, and 22^nd I was taking the training to become a Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) through the National Association of Interpretation (NAI). I was taking the training with eight other people from the Forest Service, the bird lady, the two other interpretive interns, one of the wilderness rangers, two people from recreation and two people from off highway vehicles (OHV). I was the only one getting certified though, the others wanted to take the training to learn how to better communicate with visitors and improve their public speaking skills.

On the last day (this past Friday) we each gave a ten minute presentation as a final. This presentation could be about anything we wanted. Myself and one other intern took the easier road of doing our normal talks, bats and stream health, there was also talks on beer, cake decorating, keeping fish, owls, animal rehabilitation, and orange picking.

They were all really interesting and a lot of fun because it was something people were passionate about. The talk about orange picking was quite eye opening. The woman who did the talk is Mexican American and works for the FS over the six month summer season. During the winter she works in the fields picking oranges and lemons. The pickers have to supply their own gloves, clippers, and bag capable of holding 80 pounds worth of oranges. They carry this bag with all the oranges in it over their shoulder until it is filled and then they dump it into a bin. Each worker has their own bin and they are paid $20 per bin they fill. Sometimes they can only fill one bin a day. The woman said her father supervises the pickers, her mother works in the field, as do many of her friends. Her husband picks peaches and nectarines and other types of non citrus fruit. She also taught us some of the tricks the pickers use to pick faster and pull one over on the fruit company’s so they can earn some more money. Very interesting. And the tricks weren’t anything bad; they just fudge the exact parameters of the rules of the company.

Pictures

2011-07-18T09:55:00.001-07:00

Yucca Plants

Kings and East Kings Rivers in the Kings Canyon. The Kings Canyon is deeper than the Grand Canyon is wide.

Me at the Chicago stump. this tree was cut down in sections and reassembled in Chicago for the world's fair. Before that these trees were called the California hoax. One had been cut down and taken to Philadelphia earlier but no one believed it.

Rusty old logging equipment (I think) in Stump Meadow

Stump Meadow

Smoke coming from the prescribed fire in Redwood Canyon.

Me in Redwood Canyon (day before the prescribed fire)

Sequoia Cones

Firsts

2011-07-10T11:06:00.000-07:00

I can't believe how fast time goes by here! It's already been a month! Some firsts during my first month:

First baby bear

On my way back to the barracks on Friday I saw a bear in the road. Momma bear was in the road and baby was off at the edge. Mom ran a few steps down the road when she saw me but baby just froze. Mom looked back, ran a few more steps, looked again, and finally baby turned around and ran into the wooded area off the side of the road and mom followed. When I first saw mom bear my thought process was “Giant dog! No. Bear! Eek!” I never really expected to see one so close to where I live, it was just up the road. It makes sense though; it’s still part of the National Forest.

First raptor in hand

So far I’ve held a western screech owl named Frodo, a burrowing owl named Thor, and a great horned owl Maxine (Max for short). I will try to get a better picture later but for now I have this:

Me and Frodo, the western screech owl

First flat tire in a car I was responsible for

The Forest Service vehicle I drive got a flat tire last weekend. It was a little flat when I went to sleep on Saturday, but when I woke up on Sunday it was completely flat. I slowly drove the limping car to the work center where I was hoping to find an air compressor or somebody to help me change the tire. There was no one there so I was going to do it on my own but I couldn’t find the spare! I looked everywhere and it was nowhere to be found! I had to call the main office to ask someone to bring me a car. About 45 minutes later one of the recreation guys arrived saying that there are no extra vehicles today so he will be my chauffeur/I’ll be his helper. He drove me to Princess Campground with just enough time for me to give my program. I next helped him give campers warnings for leaving campfires unattended. Then we drove around for a while and I helped him clean some of the bathrooms and take out the trash in various Forest Service areas. Eventually he dropped me off with another of the interns at Buck Rock fire lookout so she could drive me around for a while.

A few days later the car still hadn’t been fixed so my supervisor and I drove up to check it out. It turns out she had had to deal with this before and knew exactly where it was. She chastised all of us because no one thought to check the owners manual. At least seven people (including myself, a few firefighters, and various other personnel) looked for the spare before M—came up and did it. It turns out it was stored under the front of the vehicle with a plastic cover over it so you couldn’t see it if you looked under the car.

First time being called ma’am

A visitor said that to get my attention. I’d had “miss” “ranger” “hey” and “Lindsey” but one gentleman felt the need to call me “ma’am”. So that happened…

First wild tarantula sighting

It was crossing the road as I drove by. I parked the car to go take a look but once I got close it turned around and started walking towards me shaking it's abdomen. When I backed off a few feet it turned right around and went back to the previous path. Not a terribly friendly tarantula. I did briefly consider catching it to take back to the barracks because one of the boys here who likes to be really tough is super afraid of spiders. One day he got a package and a spider had stowed away inside. Instead of just killing the spider or having one of us deal with it he took the whole package and locked it in the tool box in the back of his truck.

First Day in the Field

2011-06-27T14:24:00.001-07:00

Saturday I had a split shift, I was giving a talk about bats in the morning at one campground and the evening at another. The day started off pretty easily, I showed up at the first campground, walked around and talked to people for a while and went to give the talk at 10. The "Bats are Beneficial Beasts" talk is aimed at children and six adults show up so it turned into a question and answer/chit chat about bats. It was pretty fun, I liked the people that came.

Because I had the middle of the day off I went to Hume Lake where I was going to give my next presentation that evening. I spent the day walking around, reading, and swimming, it was very nice! Then when I needed to begin making my rounds about the campground telling folks the event of the evening I changed into my uniform and le the camp directors know what I was up to. They were confused; apparently D-- the bird lady always does presentations there Saturday night. Lo and behold! D-- arrived and I got out of doing a presentation. Best part? She going to teach me how to handle raptors!! She said I could hold the red tailed hawk next week when we walk around the campgrounds and she'll hold the great horned owl!

As soon as D-- and I finished our roving of the campground telling people about her presentation 7, a woman walked up to me asking for help.

It turns out that her friends had accidentally left her behind at the place they were hiking and she had hitch hiked a ride back. She needed help trying to contact her friends. Unfortunately, the places where her friends were and where some of her things were was all in Park Service lands. So I was on the radio with Forest Service dispatch who was on the phone with Park Service dispatch who was on the radio with their rangers in the area. I had to wait at the campground until all her party finally arrived. Some took a while because they went back to look for her after she had already left. I ended up leaving Hume Lake at 9PM. But the lady and her friends were really nice and fed me a big dinner and gave me Snapple.

When I got back to the barracks at 10:30, one of the girls I work with was getting ready to freak out. She had heard the beginning of my radio conversation while driving home but didn’t know I had to wait at the campground so she was really worried! All’s well that ends well though.

Interpretation

2011-06-19T11:14:00.000-07:00

Today is morning number six at Giant Sequoia National Monument. There was quite a rush to get here, but once you arrive everything slows down. So far there has been an interesting mix of camper time and professionalism. My supervisor is definitely the on time, efficient type. She is the District Planner, in charge of making sure all environmental laws are followed within her district, on top of being in charge of the three of us interpretive interns. It seems nearly every long time Forest Service employee has multiple jobs and titles assigned to them over time. So M-- is the district planner but she is also in charge of interpretation. I learned the other day that there is no budget anywhere in the Forest Service for interpretation. Those interested in having interpreters must carve the money from the recreation and wilderness departments within their district. In this case, the three of us interns are paid through the Student Conservation Association. The Forest Service just has to give us a place to stay, reimburse the driving that we do as part of our job, and pay for the indirect cost of people dealing with more paperwork.

When I speak of an interpreter I mean someone who teaches visitors about a forest, park, monument, historical site, etc without simply relaying information. In one of the interpretive theory books we are assigned to read the author described interpretation as a cross between an art and a science.

Part of our job yesterday was to walk around Hume Lake, to try and familiarize ourselves with the area. We then met up with a long time Forest Service volunteer who does raptor programs. This woman is amazing; she has a house in the middle of the city where she rehabilitates wild animals, or cares for those that can’t be rehabilitated. She has large cages in her backyard where she keeps owls, she has had deer and coyotes running around before, and a red-tailed hawk that just lives in the house. The opportunity to talk to this woman and have her as a resource will be wonderful. She is an encyclopedia of local plant and animal knowledge.

D-- and a Burrowing Owl

Judo Tournament

2011-03-20T18:52:00.000-07:00

On March 19th I participated in my second Judo tournament. After arriving for weigh in and registration at 10:30 all we had left to do was wait.....And wait.....And wait.... Around 4 hours later my friend got called and began his matches so Mom and I actually had something to do. About a half hour after that I was called up. Over about the next two hours my friend had four matches and I had two.

Sadly, I quickly lost both of my matches to competitors with considerably more tournament experience than myself. Hopefully I will make a better showing at the next tournament :). My friend though won second place in his division!

Winter Quarter

2011-02-08T19:51:00.000-08:00

Wow, I have been really bad at this lately.

As I said in my last post, I am taking Geology 211 (physical geology), Math 125 (calculus II), and Biology 205 (Intro to cellular and molecular biology). I am also taking beginning weight training but due to that being a one credit PE class, it hardly counts.

Sadly biology 205 is my least favorite course this quarter. It's cell biology, which is boring and you can't see it, and there are so many tiny little things to remember. Ugh, I am getting through it, but there is a lot of textbook reading and lab work. I know I shouldn't really complain about having to work hard in college. It's just that I'm lazy.

I actually really like calculus. It seems the more math I take the more it seems like magic! My teacher this quarter is this nice lady, and a good teacher. She's also a bit of a push over which is nice. As long as you pay attention in class and ask questions she basically tells you everything that will be on the weekly quiz.

It took me a few weeks to catch on to the fact that geology was actually going to be some work. I came in to the class assuming that it was going to be really easy. I don't know why I thought that, I just did. Know that I have gotten into the flow of having labs twice a week I am doing much better in all my homework (meaning A's instead of B's). I got a high B on our first test and with some more studying for the next test I am positive that I will get an A.

Over the past few days I have been e-mailing national parks across the country to try and find a summer job or internship. Many have gotten back to me with a positive message, and I am now working on applications. A guy at Buck Island Reef national Monument in the Virgin Islands actually offered me a volunteer turtle research position with lodging and a stipend but they need people to stay until October and I have to get back to school by that point.

Speaking of school, I am finishing up all the paperwork necessary to go to Scotland in the fall so hopefully that will be finalized soon!

So...

2010-12-08T18:26:00.000-08:00

I guess it would probably be a good idea to update this thing.

It's currently finals week at WWU. I've finished with my history and theatre finals. Tomorrow I have a biology test, Friday is a stats test as well as a lab report for my independent study class.

You know, I don't think I ever even told you my classes! I took 18 credits this quarter.
History 103: US History 1492-1865
Theatre 101: Introduction to theatre
Biology 204: evolution, ecology, and biodiversity
Math 240: introductory statistics

Next quarter I have BIOL205, MATH125 (multi variable calculus), and GEOL211.

Well I'm off to meet with my professor to look over my lab report due Friday!

Where in the world is Carmen Sandiego

2010-11-02T14:08:00.000-07:00

Twitter

2010-10-26T18:26:00.000-07:00

You can now follow the Western Flames on twitter! @FlamesRugby

Pictures from the last few weeks...

2010-09-25T19:18:00.000-07:00

I Feel So Organized

2010-09-25T18:58:00.000-07:00

Why would somebody need two planners and carry around a pocket notebook to jot down things to remember? If they are a full time student with a job who is the officer of two sport clubs as well as a residence hall officer, they may need them...

I feel so on top of things right now with the crazy amount of organization I've got going on. I have one monthly planner that I keep appointments and events in as well as a weekly planner that I keep track of homework in. Today I decided to buy a little pocket notebook so that whenever I think of something I need to get done while in the midst of some other task I can write it down to go back to later.

So far I haven't had much homework but I have been making sure to get everything done whenever I have some time.

My Five Seconds of Fame!

2010-09-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

While chilling in Red Square today I was asked if it would be okay to interview me for Komo 4, obviously I said yes! The reporter wanted to know if I was aware of the professor who had been misappropriating tax dollars and what my feelings were on the subject. After the interview they had me just keep working on the computer looking natural and studenty and they videotaped me for another minute or two. Here is the final result:

http://www.komonews.com/news/local/102919324.html?tab=video

19

2010-08-21T17:59:00.001-07:00

Happy birthday to me!

Saturday

2010-08-18T17:25:00.000-07:00

Kate and I slept in the basement of the cabin, they have a bunch of beds down there for visiting children and friends. The two dogs that came are there too and I quickly learned that after about 6AM if you give any indication of being awake they will jump on you to be let out. They quickly descended when I checked my watch at 6:45.

Once I was up to take the dogs out I was wide awake so I had no choice but to I curl up with a book. Pretty soon Kate's parents were up to so they showed me around the kitchen so I could get some breakfast. Around 8AM Kate's mom asked if I would like to go kayaking with her, I gladly accepted! The Novich family has some great kayaks, very light and easy to maneuver. We went paddled along the shoreline for about a mile and a half. A half mile out the land turns from residential area to forest and the forest has tons of bald Eagles living there during certain parts of the year. On Saturday we only saw a few though.

Later in the afternoon Kate took me out on the motor boat and taught me how to drive it. It's so easy; no pedals or lanes, and very little traffic! While we were out we checked the four crab pot Mr and Mrs Novich had put out earlier. I learned how to pull the pots and pull out the crabs. I already knew how to tell male from female, so I was ahead of the curve :). I think we pulled up about ten crabs but only four were keepers.

Once back at the cabin Mrs. Novich taught me how to pick crab (how to pull the meat out of the shell after the crab has been killed and boiled). Because I had helped with the catching and because the Novichs kill the crab by quickly chopping it in half (instead of boiling it alive) I decided to have some crab with lunch. Bad idea. It was really tasty while I was eating it, but I had the worst stomach ache of my life for the rest of the afternoon and most of the evening. A few hours after lunch I puked up most of lunch. That helped the ache a little but it was mostly too late at that point, my stomach had already decided to throw a fit.

For dinner I made some excellent pasta, a fancier version of our traditional family olives and noodles (for me and my vegetarian-ness, the rest of the family adds sausage to theirs). It was olives and noodles and garlic, onion, mushroom, and feta cheese.

At night the sky was GORGEOUS! Tons of stars! Across the water is an Indian reservation, and for a while somebody was setting of some giant fireworks :). Around 9 PM the family set up this outdoor theatre screen and a projector and we watched Secret Window. It's a Johnny Depp suspense movie, it was interesting.

Friday

2010-08-16T19:11:00.000-07:00

This weekend was the best of the summer by far!

It started off normally enough with work. After a few hours I was contacted by a friend to see if I wanted to come over. Once I was finished in the lab I gave her a call and she came and picked me up (she was nearby shopping at Fred Meyer and it would take me an hour or so to walk to her house). Once there we chill playing N64 and Rock Band, we watch Moulin Rouge. After seeing it laying on the mantle, I commented that I had never seen Moulin Rouge before and apparently this was a serious gap in my movie knowledge that needed to be immediately rectified. It was a great movie! (All the songs in Moulin Rouge are medleys of other songs, this one is my favorite: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ajuITcvjyPE )

At this point it is somewhere around 7PM and we're hungry. Debating various places to eat Boomers (a locally famous drive in diner in Bellingham) comes up. I hadn't been there before, another serious problem to be immediately rectified. The food is pretty good, it has solid 50's diner food that is brought out to your car. The burgers are supposed to be wonderful but I obviously stuck to a veggie burger.

On our way back to my place K- mentions that she has to go to see her parents at their cabin this weekend. I offer to go so she doesn't have to be alone with them and instead of staying home, I'm packing and soon on the way out!

It takes about an hour to arrive. The cabin is near Deception Pass and right on the water, the place is beautiful!

To be continued...

The Arboretum

2010-08-10T16:09:00.000-07:00

Between the apartment complex that I'm staying at this summer and the campus is Sehome Hill Park, more commonly referred to as The Arboretum. Occasionally I'll take a walk through there and I've found that the more I go, the more I find. Here are some pictures!Trail...Barred Owl! I pointed it out to a biker and we stood and watched it for about ten minutes as it flew around and called back and forth to an owl we couldn't see

Downy Woodpecker! I saw several of these guys in different locations through the parkDouglas Squirrel. This poor guy i'm pretty sure was not long for this world. His tail was really ratty, he wasn't very concerned about the fact I was right next to him, and he kept bobbing his head like he was trying not to fall asleep. :(