Hello all!

So I’ve gotten to the point where I’ve been afraid to start working on this post because I’ve been neglecting this blog for so long. Seriously, Amy and I have been having so many adventures I just haven’t had enough time to write about them, so I put it off, only making this potential post much, much longer. So, since I haven’t posted three week’s worth of adventures, I’ll just give a bunch of mini descriptions.

Also, Amy and I are all about taking pictures now, so please enjoy.

One man’s Trash…

Just before da Vinci Days we went on a field trip to the dump just outside of Corvallis. I was interested in the trip to see how leach-ates (the product of landfills when rain water runs through the waste) are collected and treated. This is relevant to my pharmaceutical research because the government asks civilians to put all unused drugs together in a zip lock bag,  add water to dissolve the medicine, than throw it away. I found out that while our landfill collects leach-ate extremely effectively, it is treated at the Corvallis waste water treatment facility, which cannot detect or extract pharmaceuticals (just like most municipal water treatment facilities)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

da Vinci Days

Amy and I were put in charge of designing the booth for daVinci Days and finding all of the volunteers to help staff the

booth. It ended up that I worked the entire weekend, along with set up and take down, but that’s how I like to work events such as this. Because that weekend ended up being quite saturated, there seemed to be less attendance than in years past. But working with the kids as well as having great conversations with stakeholders was extremely rewarding for me, because I felt like I was contributing to Sea Grant’s image. I also had some fun meeting the Summer scholars, talking to Joe Cone, getting to know Kathryn Hawes from Hatfield and watching AnnaRose flirt with boys, all in all, I had fun.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Beach Trip!

Just this last friday, Jen, Amy and I went to Charleston bay to learn more about some invasive Tunicates that Oregon has. A representative of Alaska was there to get some advice and further her understanding about the species because they have a population in their waters. After trading information, we went to the docks and pulled up some substrates to see what was attached. We saw very little Didemnum vexillum, which is a good thing. Afterwards we took a trip to the “Umpqua triangle” in Winchester Bay, where the tunicate has been spotted. Amy and I climbed on some rocks and got some cool pictures. An extremely informational and adventurous field trip.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There were many, many smaller stories embedded in each of these larger topics, and I’ll probably talk about some of the more funny  stories on Friday. Until then, have a great week!

-Josh