Plants, hurricanes and rapidly approaching holidays

December 2009
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Guess what:
Work was really interesting today! So much so that I lost track of time & left 45 minutes later than I was scheduled to!

As a museum assistant at the herbarium, most of my responsibilities involve preparing plant specimens to be shipped out on loan or handling specimens that have been returned. Usually they’re quiet, simple tasks that allow for me to listen to podcasts, drink coffee & daydream about moving across the ocean. However, today, after catching up on those duties, I got to start on a really interesting project.

The university had a number of specimens out on loan in New Orleans with Hurricane Katrina hit. Although the specimens were inside a freezer, they still suffered a great deal of water damage and mold growth. They were eventually returned, but most have significant damage. Today I was given the stack of damaged specimens, a tiny paint brush, some tweezers & got to work cleaning them up. It was actually a lot of fun & I took some pictures with my phone:

my desk, with a begonia

working on a specimen

specimen with mold & water damage

cleaned & ready for remounting

So far, the majority of the specimen were gathered in the 1950′s in Nayarit, Mexico.

This type of work really appeals to my crafy nature & is the reason I wanted to do preservation as another school specialization. However, I’m glad to be doing community informatics since people will always be my passion and preservation & conservation will always be available as hobbies. Regardless, it definitely made my day at work & I hope to get more similar projects!

I just realized that Christmas is next week!! That came up fast.
Today we stressed a bit trying to figure out what to do with our dog while we’re visiting my family. My mom’s condo association doesn’t allow big dogs [even if he is the gentlest puppy, he's still a 90lb labrador to them...] & my dad offered to take him, but he lives almost an hour out of the way, which would mean extra trips & extra gas money. I wish it was acceptable to take him everywhere. He would love it too, I’m sure.

Gwen just climbed into my backpack. Too bad school is over & I can’t bring her with me!