*I need to laugh, and when the sun is out I've got something I can laugh about I feel good, in a special way I'm in love and it's a sunny day
Good day sunshine Good day sunshine Good day sunshine ... Thank you Beatles! *
WHERE IS THE SCIENCE? ARE YOU ON VACATION?
I am sure some of you are asking that by now, but have no fear it is coming. We are still waiting for all of the snow to melt. It could happen any day now. We went to the site today to have a look around. It is truly amazing to see how much of the snow has melted just since I first saw the site on Wednesday. Ironically, most of the snow that remains is due to the "man-made boardwalks" acting much like snow fences do, creating piles of snow build up.
Preparing to walk the field site - always checking the water pumps.
One thing about science and research is that you never can fully plan the outcome. Such is life – plan the plan – not the outcome. Several things happen in ways that are not totally predictable. Moving a large amount of water from one space to another is major task. The dike they built is leaking a little and there is concern that it may leak to much, but what can you do about that? The idea is to bring in sand bags and increase the dam bulk. But uh oh… how do you get 1,000’s of pounds of sand bags to the field site? There are no roads, only several miles of foot or bike paths.
I am not sure we could carry them for miles along these boardwalks. It would take forever and break backs. If there was still a lot of snow on the ground, NO PROBLEM, use a snow machine to haul them out on a sled. But sorry, there is not enough snow for that.
Any ideas?... Let me know what you think. How would YOU solve this problem? Stay tuned a solution will be revealed in tomorrows journal.
I took a refreshing nap this afternoon and then took a long walk on the beach of the ARCTIC OCEAN. I am such a beach comber, I cannot believe this was my first trip to the beach! Wait, I cannot believe that I** am on the Arctic Ocean**!
I took my walk with Sandee, she is a teacher from Miami who will be on our team for one week. We took photos of each other and I made sure to bring some of the St. Mark goodies that classes sent with me.
Campfire, somores, hot dogs, soda, the Arctic Ocean and family - what more could you ask for?
We came across an Inupiat family having an evening picnic. Everyone was so friendly and glad to answer my 101 questions.
I met C-Y-D-N-E-E, not Sydney. Cydnee told me her mom had gone through a lot of trouble and paper to figure out how she was going to spell her name. I met Cydnee’s best friend and cousin Noreen, they will be going into second and third grade. They were happy to show me their beach treasures of brittle sea star, hermit crabs and shells. They were also happy to take a photo with St. Mark’s 3rd grade Polar Bear, lent to me by Mary Killian! Don’t worry Mary, I will be bringing it back safe and sound – well at least that is my plan!
Cydnee grade 2 and Noreen Grade 3 take a photo with St. Mark 3rd grade Polar Bear
The girls were collecting and the boys were doing exactly what my husband and nephew, Nathan enjoyed doing while we were in California this summer, skipping stones!
Austin was doing great, he did have some encouragement from family friend Albert. Albert was telling him to flick his wrist a little more. Plop, plop, plop, plop, plop, the rock glided on the Arctic Ocean, it seems to be working
Past time on the Arctic Ocean
Meanwhile, Austin’s and Cydnee’s mom showed up. Her name is Rose. Rose was kind enough to give me her beach treasure. Now I hold the coolest treasurer ever, a Polar Bear claw. I can’t wait until show and tell in the fall!
***Other big news, Kim Miller from Palm Beach finally made it here. I say finally because she was supposed to be here on Friday night rather than Saturday. But she is here and writing away. She was ready to go the minute she got off of the plane – "skip dinner” she said "I want to see what’s going on.” Her stomach is still growling! You can follow along with Kim’s daily blog by going to www.palmbeachpost.com, click on Palm Trees to Polar Bears. Welcome to Barrow Kim!
## Bird of the day
These little birds are all over. They bob in circles as they eat. I think this one is a female...?
The interesting thing about the Phalarope is that they have a role reversal. The females are the brightly colored birds while the mails are a little drab. The female is vying for the affection of the males and expects THEM to raise the babies, while she lat-tee-da’s off with some other male to have more babies!
From the top of the world – bidding you GOOD DAY!