Science Camp 2008

Day One- Sunday- Douglas (me), Marie (my sister), and Patrick (my brother) got here at 4:08 p.m. and 12 seconds, 190 milliseconds, and 37 nanoseconds. We were able to meet our counselors Kendra and Nathan. Everyone was here by necessary 6:00p.m. and while we were waiting anxiously for supper to get here we went around and were able to put a name to somebody’s face. When the supper truck got here we had sloppy Joes with chips and grapes. After supper we made a plant press and a bug box for our plant and bug collections that we will collect throughout the week. We eventually got to bed at about 11:30p.m. End of Day 1.

	Site 1	Time	Recording
Wind speed m/h	Forest Group 2	1:57p.m.	0.5mph
Air temp. ^oC	Forest Group 2	1:57p.m.	27.3^oC
Humidity %	Forest Group 2	1:57p.m.	66.0%

Day 6,213- Monday- We woke up this morning to the smell of cold cereal and fruit. We started out the day with Dr. Gary Larson. He taught us about different native prairie plants including switch grass, little and big bluestem, and Indian grass. We got different kinds of plants to put in our plant presses. We had a lunch of ham and/or turkey sandwiches, grapes, and chips. After lunch we had Nels Troelstrup come to talk to us about GPS and GIS. We had a GPS unit to find a post with a bag of candy either in a forest or prairie environment. Then at that spot we took measurements of wind speed, temperature, and humidity. After we got back Nels put the information we took on our spot and put it into a GIS. After that we went down to the lake to do some water sampling. We did a secchi disk test, air temp., wind speed, and humidity test again. We also took jars of water and whatever stuff we could get into them to take back to the lab to

	Site 2	Time	Recording
Wind speed m/h	Oak lake	3:51p.m.	0.0 mph
Air temp. ^oC	Oak lake	3:51p.m.	25.7^oC
Humidity %	Oak lake	3:51p.m.	65.8%
Secchi Disk	Oak lake	3:51p.m.	49 cm

study under a microscope. After we did that we were able to go swimming. After a while it started to rain so we decided to head back. Then we had some free time so we just stayed put in the computer lab and did stuff on the Internet. After that we then had a supper of tater tot casserole, grapes, and chips. Then after supper we came back to the classroom to look at phytoplankton that we collected from the lake and to start work on our websites. After that we went back to the dining hall and had root beer floats!!! YEAH!!!! After that we had a fun time playing charades. Another late night getting to bed, but it was fun. End of Day 6,213.

Day 76,382- Tuesday- After setting up breakfast (Bryant and I were the food administrators for today), we went down to the field station to learn about birds from Dr. Jensen. He taught us how to set up and take down the nets that we catch the birds in. By the time we had checked the nets that Dr. Jensen had set up earlier, we had already caught 2 common Yellow-Throats, 2 Least Flycatchers, and an American Goldfinch. We then learned how to

identify the birds’ age, gender, and molting stages. After a delicious (NOT!) lunch of turkey and/or ham sandwiches, chips, and fruit roll ups, we went to the lake with our homemade nets and caught lots of different kinds of aquatic insects including water scorpions, several crawfish, and a bunch of clams. We then went out in the boat and used an Eckmen dredge and pulled stuff off the bottom of the lake. After we had collected our insects, we had the opportunity to go swimming. After swimming we came back to the dining hall and had a supper of chicken, potato wedges, and cookies. We then went back down to the classroom and worked on identifying the plants we had pressed and started putting those on paper and kept working on our websites. We then went back down to the field station and played a rousing game of Pictionary. End of Day 76,382.

Day 825,702,463- Wednesday- We woke up to the delicious smell of cold cereal and burned toast. We started out the day with the study of insects (entomology), with Paul Johnson. He taught us how to capture, euthanize (kill), and display the captured and dead bugs. We captured very stubborn bugs. They were in the killing jars for quite a while, but would just not die. Even after they were in the jars for several hours, some of the bugs were still moving. We then had a lunch of (AGAIN!) turkey and/or ham sandwiches. After lunch we learned how to extract dye from natural substances like a red dye from choke cherries and yellow dye from

goldenrod. We picked choke cherries and goldenrod and boiled them and then put handkerchiefs in to tie-dye them. After we did that, we went out and set a turtle trap in a tributary of Oak Lake hoping to catch a turtle. We then went and set out small mammal traps baited with peanut butter hoping to catch some kind of field mouse or 13-line ground squirrel. We then had a delicious supper

of (FINALLY!) pizza, breadsticks, and dessert pizza. We then headed back to the field station to work on our insect collections, plant collections, and to work on our websites which you can view on the Oak Lake Summer Science Camp website. After we went back to the dining hall, a longer term resident named Mary who is from Texas showed us a bunch of yoga so we did yoga for quite a while in the evening. ANOTHER late but fun night. End of day 825,702,463.

Day 340,845,128,936,071,718- Thursday- We woke up this morning to the smell of cold cereal and toast AGAIN! We then came down to the lab to listen to Jerry Krueger talk about trees. We went out and took core samples of trees to figure out how old the tree is without killing the tree. I took core samples of a box elder tree that was 42 years old and a bur oak tree that was 71 years old. We saw a variety of trees including bur oak, green ash, plains cottonwood, wild

grape, and box elder. After a lunch of (AGAIN), you guessed it, turkey and/or ham sandwiches, fruit cups, and fruit roll ups we came back to the classroom with Laura Dixon. With her we checked the traps we set yesterday, and to our surprise, we had caught 3 13-line ground squirrels and a field mouse which I caught. We also checked our turtle trap that we set and found that something (we think that it was a muskrat) had gotten into the trap and had

broken it open so we couldn’t catch any turtles. We then came back to the classroom and dissected some owl pellets. I found a vole in mine. We then had free time and most of us worked on our websites, our plant collections, or our insect collections because we go home tomorrow. Then we went back to the dining hall to a farewell dinner of spaghetti and meat sauce with garlic bread and chocolate brownies. We then spent the rest of the evening preparing our projects to show our parents when they come tomorrow to pick us up. Thanks for a great time at science camp. End of day 340,845,128,936,071,718.