4 August 2008 Chef’s Choice - What I Really Do, Who I Don’t Want to Meet, and Other Oddities

Journal

We were back out in the field today. Things started out looking fine, a little cloudy but warm, in the low 40’s. A good sign? Not, really. Drizzle and rain fell for the better part of the day, as the temperatures dropped down into the mid-30’s, with a little more of a kick to the breeze. We got lots of gravel moved, that was a good thing!!

This little Chef’s Choice is to get enough material up for today to get folks excited about the work and to get ready for the big Live From IPY event for tomorrow. If you are in Chester, feel free to stop by the school. Nice PR from my dear wife, Julie.

Come One, Come All!! — Join either online or just stop by CAES for dessert, some activities, and a conversation with scientists and researchers.

I was going to get some overall shots of the status of the driftwood feature in part for you, as well as for Claire, who left last week. Alas, the cloak of secrecy still hangs over the site. I was able to "smuggle” some undercover pictures out that explain a little more about what I do on a regular basis.

First task, excavate or sift through the gravel. The procedure is rather simple, use the trowel to scrape or slide the top layer of gravel and sand into the dustpan. Easy, …, well, sort of. The observational part is the challenge. While the gravel is sliding in, you are paying attention to what is being uncovered as well as what is being moved. Any bones? Worked wood? Ivory pieces? Any big pieces getting exposed? What about shells? Any unusual at all? Nothing, OK, do it again.

Excavating Gravel, One Piece at a Time — The gravel is slid off the top, checked out, and put in a 5 gallon bucket. Once full, the bucket is hauled out of the feature and dumped. We still have not weighed a full bucket, we'll do that sometime.

Once that layer of gravel is slid into the dustpan, you go back for more. This whole procedure is done quickly, probably about 3 times each minute. You try to keep things moving in a level even fashion, no big bumps, no big dips. Watch out for the big pieces, no shredding branch fragments with the trowel!! Switch to the brush and the little wood or plastic pick for fine detail work.

As materials are found, you either leave them in place to be shot in or you wrap them in aluminum foil and add them to the big Ziploc bag you have going for the bucket shot.

Artifacts Ready to Be Bagged — These artifacts have numbers on them that will correspond to the identification number on the ziploc, the transit stores the same number. Off to the cooler with you guys!!

Once the artifacts are gathered in their Ziploc bags, they are transferred to a 5 gallon bucket and transported back to the lab at the end of the day. Final resting place, the refrigerator. Why the fridge? The fridge will keep the wood and other materials at about the same time they were at out in the field. Everything will stay nice and cool.

I will have some moving gravel audio available later in the week to give the "wow, that’s what it sounds like” impression. You can probably imagine the sound, I need to play around with the audio equipment though so it will be up sometime. Not doubt, it will rock!!

Quick notes: 1. I decided to include a few aspects of beauty each day. They might be small or they might be large. Here’s beauty for today:

Polar Bear Paw Prints Along the Beach — We have had the Bear Guards with us all season. I usually give them grief for just sitting around all the time. The tracks on the beach showed me that there really is a need for someone to keep an eye out for polar bears. I would enjoy seeing one, but not if it means the bear needs to be shot.

Blue Iceberg — The stunning blue of the iceberg caught my eye, one of the other native guys said, "What, haven't you seen an iceberg before?" I said, yes I had but others had not. He thinks I have been in the gravel too long.

Stone - Lots of Writing on the Walls!! — I can't help picking up and studying the stones with the patterns. They really do have stories to tell, if we listen hard enough.

A wonderful teacher-friend shared a poem with me many years ago. The essence of the poem is that there is more going on inside stones than meets the eye. The concept has intrigued me, and led me to bring home more stones than I was supposed to. Here’s why I keep gathering stones: "…So perhaps it is not dark inside after all; Perhaps there is a moon shining Just enough light to make out The strange writings, the star-charts On the inner walls.”

Excerpted from Charles Simic, "Stone”

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