seal pup

there i was, collecting Mazzaella splendens and minding my own business near a big tide pool at fogerty creek when up pops this guy:





awwww isn't he cuuuuute? poor little seal was stuck in this tide pool and was probably scared to death of all of us drilling into rocks and making all sorts of noise. i hope he found his momma when the tide came back in.

bibbidi bobbidi boo (a.k.a. i enjoy ridiculous field clothes)

my new job is with a marine conservation organization called PISCO (partnership for the interdisciplinary studies of coastal oceans) - a collaboration between four universities (OSU, UCSB, UCSC, Stanford). the lab focuses on the rocky intertidal and works in many areas/has many different projects going on simultaneously. i'm working on a project involving a landslide that occurred a few years ago and studying how the increased sediment impacts the ecology of the area. it's pretty involved work – we do community surveys in each zone at four sites, which means that i've got to be able to identify any species (both algae and invertebrates) that i come across in my quadrats. thankfully, ben (the other guy working on my project) is a great teacher, patient, helpful, and a really nice guy. so my first week in the field was a bit of a crash course in species identification. i was, admittedly, a bit nervous that first day, but by the third day, was feeling pretty good about it. plus i love the ridiculous clothes i get to wear. my bibs have about six extra inches on each side ... tell me, who needs clothes that big?



[landslide site – they pushed all the fill onto the beach, thus the need for this study]


our project site is on the southern oregon coast, so once a month, we go down to a town called port orford and stay there for a few days. our hotel of choice, the castaway, has absolutely gorgeous views of the bay.



[leading the way to the castaway]


[this is the view from our room. yup.]


i must say that i am thrilled at the opportunity to be paid to play in tidepools. i mean, it's tidepools that got me all excited about being a marine biologist to begin with, and now i get to explore them for six months!

this work is ruled by the tides, so that first day, ben and i left at 4:00 am and walked down to the beach in the dark. no one said field biology followed a 9-5 sort-of schedule. but it's wonderful; when we had some extra time, and the tide was still really low, so we just wandered around for half an hour, seeing what we could find. it makes me happy that we can still grasp that magical wonder and fascination. i did worry that people might lose that after a while. and i am very excited that the sun does in fact shine in oregon!



[i worship the sun]


since our project is fairly small, when we're done with our work, ben and i help out other projects and teams in the field. and i just want to sort-of introduce the people i work with, since i'll probably be mentioning them quite a few times.



[group shot of the RPP and ONSH teams. from left to right: me, mae, ryan, camryn, lotti, ben, gayle]


i am really going to try not to post bajillions of photos right now because i will soon have six months worth of photos of the oregon coast, and i don't want to get too carried away here right at the beginning.

but my goodness it is beautiful.



[view from port orford head]


[along the oregon coast trail]

to build a house up on an oregon hill

i am starting to get settled into my new life here in oregon. i like corvallis thus far. it's a cute little college town, although i am sad at the lack of a target and a trader joe's. i am quickly discovering how wonderful fred meyer's is. and, despite the fact that it was a lovely 47 F when i stepped off the plane, the weather has been mostly cooperative since then. it was beautiful today - clear blue skies.

i've been perusing the web for info about local hikes and been thinking seriously about joining a hiking group. tramping was such a defining aspect of my life in new zealand, and i really want to be doing more of it. so on saturday, i dragged brad along with me to a meeting. we went up "bald hill" - very close, small little hill with a 3-mile loop that has great views of the valley and surrounding mountains.



[looking towards mary's peak]


although i must say that i may be a bit more ... hardcore than this group is. still, great to get out and see some of the surrounding area.



[lichen-covered reaching branches]

to the drawing board

my last week in tucson there was a sidewalk chalk art festival in downtown.



[artist style and technique]


in general i was very impressed by the quality of the artwork - and really impressed by this guy's technique. guess it makes sense - you don't want to smear the chalk.