Big Deals in Small Strides

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      Big Deals in Small Strides

                                           -Vannessa Peters








                                                               What to do? What to do?

          My hand has been smelling like several weeks old crawfish remains for almost an hour now; it's a good thing that beetle was pretty. A smile and laugh got caught up in my emotions because I felt like it was worth it to catch the same beetle twice so that Hayley could have one, too. I remember the times like it was yesterday…

                                                                        Road Trip!

          It had been a fairly usual day at Au Sable in the Insect Ecology classroom: couple lectures, lots of notes, some discussions/reflections/conversations, 5-minute writings, a few breaks in-between. I kept struggling to remember where we we're going early after lunch. I had been to the Jordan river once before; it had been jam packed with ravenous mosquitos, and my canoe had tipped over into deep ice water the last time I was there. I hurried after lunch to pack all the insect collecting necessities (aspirator, envelopes, assorted sized containers, "tweezers", terrestrial net, etc.) I raced Nadia to the van. Hopped in. Shut the doors. And we were off. It wasn't going to be an extremely long drive, but I knew walking the trails and pit stops for insect hunting was going to bite into our limited time out. I was surprised and excited that Professor Hoekman stopped by to pick up his family to take along for the fairly brief adventure. On the road trip there I was still able to enjoy music without my headphones, notice a couple things unmentioned, and lose feeling in my shoulder and arm without a numbing injection. I exaggerated that last bit, but the rest is pretty spot on.
          After we arrived, we looked at the map for the trail we were about to be treading. To be honest, I thought it looked pretty small; I was thinking of what I might be able to accomplish, or get done, if we, presumably, got back pretty early. That's when the whole pretty, yet overpoweringly stinky, beetle left it's problems on my hand. The shear nerve. Can't even.


                                   https://infograph.venngage.com/p/244800/creative-process

                                                     Do you want to build a snowman?

          Only about 10% of the way in did I notice all the snow. What a blizzard. Could barely see 5" in front of me. Come to find out, most of our party had started to partake in making a snow globe of cotton in the middle of this beautiful forest. I mean, before my vision was compromised, the trees height, the leaves flamboyant greens, and the light pedals of sunshine was profound and relaxing to take in. However, at this point in the story, is when it looked like all of the trees had earlier had a pillow fight and left their feathery mess for trespassers to participate in. Honestly, quite the snow globe image; even a snowball was created out of pollen by being swept up and collected in one of our terrestrial nests.

picture taken by me

                                                        Every Biologist's Playground

          As we neared the slim body of water (a.k.a. the Jordan River), there was a noticeable dissipation of the snowflakes that had once sheathed the ground. I had been talking to Rachel when I first started to hear the body of water. It was considerably shallow, clean, clear, and inviting. Even the trees branches from below the walkway was tempting us to walk across. A handful of our group had removed their shoes and socks and were now wading in the freezing water. This bountiful area of land and water seemed a lot more friendly than me earlier mentioned previous experience.

                                                   this one was taken by Nadia I believe

                                                                              Team Work

          Lots of a good bit of us had snatched up a few insects with each others help. Their were some type of dipteras that kept hovering, swarming around, other people's heads. With the help of Rachel, I was able to lock in a fly called "rainbow eyes". This common name is due to their translucent eyes that give them the appearance of changing color. Simon had, also, introduced me to a live click beetle that he helped me capture. Near the caboose of our train line did were feel the teasing of a horse fly, deer fly, rainbow eyes, mosquito, etc. However there were good talks that were being had along the way. Rumor has it that if a particular someone found a praying mantis for a particular student in a particular class then said someone would be awarded with either ice cream or cold, hard cash.

 
   
   
        




                                                                             In Short

          Along the way back to our way of transportation, we walked through spider webs, witnessed caterpillars exercising their silk producing abilities, worked our calves and cleared our sweat glands. After a few sacrifices to the gods, some serious praying, being strictly reminded that I should get checked for asthma, and counting my blessings for not being a smoker, we made it back safe and sound to the van. It had been a very productive trip-- full of interesting insects and sights like the one by the title at the top of the page. I would do it all again.


Links
https://twitter.com/cinespia/status/925103137400033280
https://www.pinterest.com.mx/pin/413205334541858839/
https://www.thoughtco.com/is-it-illegal-to-kill-praying-mantis-1968526


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