Agosto

Wowzers, August already; it’s the fourth different month I’ve been in Costa Rica. Definitely have the itching to be home really soon. And on to the last couple of days. Tuesday (yesterday) was a non-field-day, so I made a list of three things to do and I did two of them. Batting .667 on the day.

First, I entered all of the data in LEP Primary I had taken up to that point which (as I mentioned yesterday) amounted to about 1,000 numbers. Then I spent my afternoon writing the saga of LaserMan and DataDude. In a blander sense, I wrote all the final notes on the methods I used this summer for my reference and future use.

After dinner, we had a researchers meeting with free beer and cookies. We also got some issues taken care of. Still in amazement about how much people complain about/criticize the food. You’re literally paying $25 a day for lab services, lodging, and three meals, you should be happy you have something warm.

Went to hit the sack early to prepare for a solid day in the plot. Didn’t actually get sleep in until midnight or so. That was a real pain. Got up and after a few bike repair and assorted delays, hit the trail with Bernal to the plot. Looked really cloudy and rainy-like as we left the station, but soon enough it cleared up and we had perfect weather the whole day.

Not quite fitting the perfect weather was my tiredness and a solid group of big difficult trees. Pretty sure we did just 90 today, leaving 141. One hundred and forty one! Entered the data directly after showering along with eating field lunch. Learned a lesson about manbearpig from Mr. Al Gore.

After taking a crack at this writing thing I’m trying to finish, Dr. Chazdon and her 16-year-old son Charlie showed up at the office. Chit-chatted about various things for a while. Spent my half hour before dinner waiting patiently for home run #500. Barbecue for dinner, early bed time tonight. No more than a week to go tomorrow. 7 days/141 trees. Peace.

BP