Not in field.

Nope, didn't go out to do the fieldwork this morning, due to events beyond my control.

The student who was going to be helping me is the woman (she's a nontraditional student - she's actually a couple years older than I am) whose 20-something daughter "turned up" 34 weeks or so pregnant earlier this semester. So Penny had warned me that it was possible the baby might come this weekend.

I kind of said to myself last night: "I would not be at all surprised if the baby decides to come tomorrow morning. I just hope it comes before we get out in the field, so we don't have to drop everything so Penny can get her daughter to the hospital." (Apparently the father of the child was unavailable for that duty)

Well, at 7:30 this morning, my phone rang. And I had to laugh, because I knew there was but one person who'd be calling me at that hour on this particular Saturday.

Yup, her grandson is on the way. So I told her if she was free next weekend, we could do it then. (I COULD do the work by myself - but it's a lot more effort, and besides, having her come out and work gives her more experience in doing something she will likely do in her career.)

And anyway: it's actually better for me not to spend two consecutive days in the field during ragweed season. I got home last night and my hands were itching like CRAZY from all the exposure to the ragweed and long grasses (I also have grass allergies). I took a claritin and a zantac (which is, yes, a heartburn drug, but it's also a histamine blocker and sometimes works better than claritin at dealing with skin based allergies). Finally the itching went away but I wasn't looking forward to another day of exposure right away.

So, I'm in here instead (my office). I've got a bit of grading to do, and I need to update my course websites, and I could start writing an exam for next week, and I could work a bit on my packet. What this will do is free me up a bit during the coming week (which is more free anyway: there are no Wednesday morning classes because of assessment testing, and also, my Thursday lab is cancelled).

So I'm going to work for a while, and then go home and relax this afternoon. And probably finish Honeycomb, and very likely swatch for Potter, which I have decided is going to be my "next sweater" after all.