Bog Blog

So yesterday I went on a field trip in Ecology to Lee Bog. Which is a bog. In Lee, NH. More specifically, a sphagnum bog, protected by the town of Lee.

We got there and first he took us to this little place:


Which I was very proud of myself for knowing that it was a vernal pool, before he even said it. Vernal pools are puddles that always show up in the same spot. I thought the dip at the end of my driveway was a vernal pool, but it turns out it's just a drainage problem.

Then we started our walk. Thankfully it was not a hike. Along the way he pointed out a bazillion white oaks, which are some of the few plants we actually will have to identify for this class. This is a white oak and white oak leaves up close.












I can't remember the name of this next plant, but you can eat the little purply-blue berries. They're very bitter and usually only birds eat them.


This is eastern hemlock. Unlike the hemlock that killed Socrates, this is not poisonous, and is in fact edible. The leaves are, anyway.


This is Lee Bog. It's kind of pretty. The little scraggly evergreen trees are black spruce, which only grows in bogs, at the timberline, and in the tundra. They need it to be rather cold and harsh. Bogs are cold because the water in them is blocked by the vegetation, so it can't circulate.




Notice the other pine trees are kind of scraggly. That's because bog soil doesn't have a lot of nutrients.

This is the sphagnum moss, which is what creates the bog. Rotting sphagnum makes the bog soil jiggle when you poke it with a stick, like jello pudding. Muddy, stinky, freezing cold jello pudding.


The nearby trees are all yellowed because of chlorosis, which means they aren't getting enough nutrients.


Bogs are usually surrounded by plants that do well in tundra environments too. This is reindeer moss, so called because reindeer like to eat it.


We walked through the woods, too, and he pointed out the canopy effect-- plants can't grow because the caonpy takes up all the light.


This is the American Chestnut.


It's almost extinct because humans accidentally introduced a chestnut fungus to the New World that the European and Asian chestnuts were resistant to, but the American one was not. They are incredibly rare; apparently there are only about three or four trees that are known to be breeding and that's only because their root systems are all but immortal, so when the tree dies off from the fungus the roots send up new trees. Which then get attacked by the fungus. Sucks to be an American chestnut.

And this is the pretty foliage on one of the trees by Parsons Hall.

So that was my Tuesday field trip.

I haven't forgotten, but I don't dwell.

The Ludi Romani continues.

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I was talking to Cellamica at dinner today, and the topic strayed over towards previous roommates, and she shared a very interesting story with me...

Imagine you're sleeping in a dorm room, and you wake up and the bunk is shaking. You look around sleepily, then, you happen to glance into the unfortunately-positioned mirror to see two sets of feet hanging out of the bunk over you, and a squirming set of bodies under a blanket.

Her roommate was having sex. In the top bunk of a bunk bed. While she was sleeping underneath.

I can't imagine what I would do in that situation. She said she just turned over and tried to not think about it, I mean, it's not like she could leave without it being awkward, and it was apparently really early in the morning...

I'm just amazed she didn't immediately request a roommate switch, I would have. But instead she stuck it out, and a while later she was working on her computer and her roommate had sex with a guy on the top bunk while she was in the room, and clearly awake. All that was covering them was a sheet.

God. That is just... man. Wow.

Best part? This girl is a girl that Ryter once mentioned to me before, in the context of "I once was attracted to her," so I got to inform him with a bit more glee than was probably fair that he was once attracted to an incredibly inconsiderate slut (to be fair, he stopped liking her when he started picking up on how obnoxious she was). Whee!

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My Ecology lab was outside today. It was raining. As in, downpour. It was depressing not only because I got soaked despite Cellamica loaning me her umbrella, but also because it was a really interesting lecture-- at least the parts I could hear while the rain drummed down on my umbrella and those of the people around me, and on the brook we were looking at. He was talking about invasive species, the species of plant that humans introduced to the area that have been damaging local environments, and he was throwing in survival tips as he went, like "This is poison ivy, note the shape of the leaves;" "Crush up the berries of this kind of sumac and you can make a kind of lemonade;" "The juice of this native kind of impatiens is an antidote to poison ivy," and "Do not eat any part of this plant or you will die immediately," which I kind of wish I could have heard the name for, in retrospect, especially after that lovely story about that gardener who mistook a root of it for a ground potato, ate it, and died.

Not that I normally go about eating random tubers I dig up. But knowing that the antidote to poison ivy grows all over College Ravine is useful. I just wish I could have listened to that lecture without mud in my shoes.

"Fine, the zucchini can have his damn rocket boots."*

I hate being sick. Especially since I'm desperately trying to get well before tomorrow night. I felt better today, though, or at least differently ill; I can breathe, and my fever is down, but my throat hurts like hell. This is possibly related to the fact that last night I was breathing through my mouth and I dried out my throat, but meh.

Anyway, skipped Chemistry today, because yeah, not sitting through that class and I needed sleep; I had to go to Bio lab, though, because I can't easily make it up. The trouble was that this week's lab was in the greenhouses, which are out past A-lot at the edge of oblivi- er, campus. It wasn't as crazy-cold today as yesterday but it wasn't exactly toasty either, so despite the hot peppermint tea I was drinking to help my throat and the fact that I was spilling at least as much on my hands as entered my mouth I was practically frozen by the time I entered the greenhouses.

That said... Despite being sick, I must say, if you ever go to UNH for some reason during the greenhouse's open house (which, by the way, is 9 to 4 on Friday, March 31st and Saturday, April 1), check it out; it's awesome. The room we were in had enormous cacti and flowering cacti and every kind of carnivorous plant imaginable, and orange trees and lemon trees and a banana tree that wasn't fruiting but still looked very cool; there was a full-grown palm tree and a little pond with goldfish in it and a Birds of Paradise plant, which I haven't seen since we saw that tropical garden on Capri in Italy. The diversity in that small space is awesome; plus, I have always liked carnivorous plants.

Anyway, yeah, very cool lab despite my feeling like I just wanted to collapse the whole time...

I'm going to bed.

I am a Self-Discoverer

I'm not religious, but I've created my own kind of spirituality. Introspective and thoughtful, I tend to look inward for the divine. I am distrusting of all forms of organized religion. I especially dislike religious gurus and leaders, who I feel are charlatans.

What's Your Religious Philosophy?

*Not a fortune, I didn't get one today-- but I thougt it was pretty funny...