A New Journey

This evening was quite unexpectedly exciting. Yes, it’s Friday night and after a long summer semester of school and work, I was looking to relax with some recreational activities. After some contemplation A--- and I came to the realization that all work and no play over the course of several months has left us with little to do on a Friday night. We decided upon dinner at our favorite restaurant and then a relaxing, stress free evening at home, maybe some popcorn and a movie.

After dinner A--- asked about the very loud buzzing and chirping sound we often hear coming from the trees around our house. I politely explained that it was the work of cicadas. Being the nerd that I am, I began to ramble on about the very interesting creatures. This prompted a short field trip to the tree in front of our house. I was really excited about finding a shedding from one on the base of the large pine to show him. We found three. Upon further investigation, I noticed the third was actually in the beginning stages of shedding. HOW EXCITING!!

We collected the specimen and brought it in to watch the shedding of its exoskeleton. It was really amazing! It took the little guy an estimated 20 minutes to complete his task of exiting his skeleton.

I decided that there must be more of them in the neighborhood molting, so we went hunting. Only found one more in the process and brought him in to compare. It was so very cool! I tried to get some footage of the act, but only caught the last 7 minutes. I will post some pictures!

Oh yeah! My National Association of Biology Teachers journal arrived today! What a day!

Leisurely Repudiating Creationism

In response to the call to action by PZ Meyers, I have ordered my creationist literature. Don’t worry; I’m not in the process of converting.

PZ has called for all his readers to take advantage of the free creationist literature recently advertized on Science Blogs all over the web. Read it… Go ahead… it will only poison your mind if you are a sucker. Then post on your blog, thoughts regarding this certainly highly speculative literature.

I think this will be a fun exercise and it will give me the opportunity to stretch my argumentative muscles, although, with subject matter such as this, it should not be too difficult.

I also decided to subscribe to their monthly propaganda entitled “Vertical Thought Magazine”. I’m sure they will publish all sorts interesting, no thought required, information.

Trip to the Great Dismal Swamp

The Great Dismal Swamp… what a horrible name for such a beautiful place. Today’s insect collecting escapades went well. Collected approximately 10 specimens in the short time we were there. Later we discovered that A--- had outdone himself in his collecting efforts.

Upon arrival home I noticed that A--- had several small black specks covering his feet and ankles. Further investigation proved that he had, indeed, collected more than his fair share.

I have yet to identify the hundreds of black specks covering his feet. I thought at first that they might be Chiggers. So, while A--- panicked over his unwanted tagalongs, I decided to do some detective work and see what I could come up with. This effort came to no avail.

I hope someone might be able to help me in my identification process. I believe these creatures too large to be chiggers, although I could be wrong. They can be seen with the naked eye, and under a magnifying glass they appear tick-like. My confusion lies in the fact that there were so many, at least 200 covering his feet and ankles. I haven’t heard of anyone finding this many ticks on them at one time. We were not walking through dense weeds or plants, so I wouldn’t expect to find anymore than a few ticks on either of us. We walked along the ditch on the access road, which was not overgrown. The grass came up, only, to our ankles.

Rather than let A--- continue to fret over the strange creatures attached to his body, I offered to help get them removed. First, I tried to use a wash cloth and scrub or wipe them away. This proved to be ineffective. The only method that worked well was tweezing them off one at a time. JOY! (Get out the specimen jars!! ) I collected approximately 100 and photographed them the best I could without a microscope.

Introducing me

Greetings fellow bloggers and Internet folk.

This is my second attempt at writing a blog so please bare with me as I grow, both with my writing skills and knowledge. It is my hope that I can contribute to the plethora of knowledge circulating on the web and perhaps share my own perspective with the world. I also hope to meet other bloggers with intrests similar to mine. Please feel free to comment and leave feedback. It will be greatly appreciated!