Here's to Now

Whoa. It's been a month since Andrew and I have been engaged, and a week since he left for Louisiana. 

Time flies hey?

By day I am a receptionist, by night a bartender, runner, and wedding planner :)

My desk

We are really making progress on the wedding planning, I think I have more fun with it than Andrew ;)

Be sure to check out our wedding blog, there will be a post  bridal party post once everyone knows!

Andrew's first week is going well, lots of prep work before the expeditions begin! His first group comes on February 6th, so him and Darwin need to find the loons and capture a few before they have an audience!

Well, that is all for now! Happy Thursday!

you and me goin fishin in the dark!

Andrew and I at our new found river spot behind the doublewide!

Well here we are in the depths of Chinook season again! We have been already tagged over half of the fish that we tagged last year, with a lot of season left! So that is a good sign for our marking skills, AND for the fish run!

Bit Blurry, but a good sized wild adult male chinook! (About a meter long!)

Coworker Julia on our Tagging mortality float (Found none!)

It hasn't started raining....yet. So the fish are still holding down near the mouth of the river, once a little bit of rain comes we should be elbow deep in them! (Keep your fingers crossed!) Working nights has caused all of our crew to feel like we are in a time warp, so if we don't call or write in a timely manner... it's because we generally have no idea what day it is, and are generally not awake during normal business hours. Please forgive us. We will be back to the real world come November.


7 Days until we are back home for the Marty and Cassy Wedding extravaganza! Yahoo!

I think I'm Growing Feather's but I'm Not Sure of It! -Cloud Cult

The Crew all Geared up to head to the stream

 The new job is really fun! We camp near the headwaters of the Trask River here in Oregon. We have 14 streams that we study 8, 5-m plots in. Half of the plots in each stream will be in a logging area next year and half will be outside of it. This allows us to determine the effects of logging on the streams. My crew is in charge of the amphibians (Pacific Northwest salamander, Pacific giant salamander, and tail frogs (tadpoles and adults)). Other crews are studying flow, macroinvertebrate densities, substrate, fishes, and sediment deposits. They have been doing this study for 4 years and next year the logging begins, after the logging is done they will do 4 more years of collection. In past years the amphibian crew marked certain individuals to calculate a population estimate. We aren't marking this year because of the logging break, but we are getting a fair amount of recaptures!

Me with a Pacific NW salamander

A recaptured dicamp

 The salamanders are marked with an elastomer tag, or a dye injected into their skin. The combination of colors and location of mark allows us to identify individuals! We can look back in the database for this combination of marks and find out how much it grew (length and mass) and where it came from (what plot it was marked at). I am having a great time, my crew is fun, camp is awesome, everything is great... except for salmonberry and Devil's club- two plants that are everywhere next to the streams and have obnoxious thorns that are determined to poke every possible surface of my body. Arrg!

salmonberry

After last week of work, I went and joined Andrew capturing cormorants on the island! It was pretty awesome! We wore coveralls because of how disgusting the tunnels are... filled with sand and cormorant poop... but it was really awesome seeing the banding done! I am still pressuring him to guest blog... hopefully while I am on this next 8 day stint he will find the time ;)

Andrew and I in coveralls

Well, that is a bit of an update on my adventures out here! I will be out in the field from Wednesday to Wednesday this coming week, then flying to Minneapolis for Will and Erin's wedding and family and friend camping fun! Can't wait!

Pick yourself up and Try Again

Minnesota Tulips

Well, the week of mourning is over. Andrew found out he didn't get in and we both went through the angry stage, sad stage, and now we are rebuilding. Everything happens for a reason, and we weren't meant to be in Maine. 

Ohhh They missed each other! Andrew, Marty, Rodney, and Brian

 We had a lot to take our mind off of these things: I went to visit him on the island, and even better still Max and Lorraine's Wedding! It was such a beautiful ceremony...tornado sirens and all. We danced the night away and caught up with everyone, it was so wonderful. We spent the night with Andrew's sister Janelle and boyfriend Bern the night before the wedding and Trout Laker Samantha Reuter for breakfast before the wedding. So wonderful. We didn't get very many good pictures from the wedding, so when I get some from friends I will share them here!

I spent a few days on the island with Andrew, which was a blast! He is back to capturing these dinosaur birds... but afterwards I am going to try and convince him to guest blog about his experiences!  He has lots of stories and pictures to share with you all! Here are just a few from my visit:

Double Crested Cormorant

Lots of Double Crested Cormorants

Radio telemetry!

Well, life goes on, and we are stronger and smarter for it. Keep us in your thoughts!

Everybody's Working for the Weekend

Andrew and I have started our first week of work, and we have had some interesting experiences!! My job is on the Nehalem River marking adult steelhead and juvenile steelhead, coho, and Chinook. With our high water events trapping is slow, but it is kind of nice to ease into learning juvenile identification and a new River basin (Will bring camera tomorrow!). My new work schedule is Friday to Tuesday which will be strange to get used to, but not as difficult as Andrew... who started last Monday and has yet to have a day off... and won't have one until Friday!! 

He is enjoying himself though, digging trenches and building tunnels in preparation for cormorant spooking. 

Ginny is doing well, she is growing like a little weed. She is a cuddler, and a yarn bandit, and has terrible gas... all in all she fits right in :)

My first term at OSU is OVER!!! YAHOO!  This next term I will only be taking one course because I am working now! 

Well, that is all for now, Happy first day of Spring!