One day down

Well, I survived the first day of summer fieldwork. Tomorrow one of the students and I are going to start even earlier (7:30) and the other student, who is working on a shorter and quicker (well, in the field at least) side project will join us once her child is at day care.

I almost went into asthma mode in the field - got one point towards the end where I got very, very short of breath (it was extremely humid and we had been climbing up a hill). I wound up writing down the data for the last sample site down on one knee, because standing upright made me dizzy. (I recovered fast enough, and the walk back to the cars - maybe a mile - wasn't that hard).

I coated myself with Ivy Block before going out (Even to the point of smearing it on my torso and stomach, where my shirt would normally cover) and I used the tecnu wash (which is essentially deodorized mineral spirits - not great for the skin, I suspect) before getting back into my car after the fieldwork. (And took a shower immediately I got home).

I really, really hope I can avoid getting poison ivy. Or, if I can't avoid getting it totally, I would like these parts of my body to be free of the rash:

My face (especially around the eyes; been there, done that, don't recommend it)
My hands (I want to still be able to knit and sew in my free time)
And, um, another place, one ladies don't mention in public, but a place where it would be very painful but also would be very unlikely to contract poison ivy unless one had to answer the call of nature out in the wild, which I WILL NOT be doing, if I can at all avoid it.

I suspect today's site was the worst one, in terms of poison ivy, based on what I know of the other sites we're going to. So if I could avoid it today (and I won't know for a while...I find it can take up to a week for me to fully rash up), I might be able to totally avoid it.

I will say it felt darn good to be out in the field working, even with the humidity and the poison ivy and the fact that we saw a snake (I'm virtually certain it was non-venomous; it was sort of a charcoal gray above and looked like it was maybe white on the belly and it didn't have the pit-viper sort of head - and yes, we got close enough to it to see that detail and it didn't even move*. We thought it was dead but since it was gone when we went back through that area, maybe it was just staying really still in the hopes we wouldn't see it, and then took off when we were out of the area.). This is the kind of thing I'm good at - identifying plants, collecting data - and it's nice to be able to do it without worrying about "I have to get back for classes or office hours" or having to work my schedule around the students' (They are both taking their other classes online, meaning they can work on them in the afternoons).

(*Based on what I remember of its appearance, it was probably a black rat snake - a non-venomous snake and actually one I'd welcome hanging out in my yard, because they eat nasty rodents.)

***

So now, it's time for me to sign off for the day, and relax. I think it will take me a while to be really accustomed to the idea of "oh hey, I have the afternoons to do what I want" (I did go back up to campus and sorted one soil sample. I think I can only do one a day before my eyes fail on me, because of them being affected by allergies in the field. But still, just doing one a day still means one gets done each day... And I went to the grocery store, figuring I could avoid the 4 pm rush.)

I think I'll do some handquilting this afternoon. I want to finish the long-term quilt in the frame, because I found my "sea glass" top again and decided I want to quilt THAT next, before the "Dozen Roses" quilt top.