We left Sioux City, IA Sunday evening and headed for Clear Lake, SD. We’ve had a challenging couple of days here so far. I think we’re just tired and fried from the long hours, the sun, the bugs, and the falling in holes, so we’re making stupid little mistakes, or things that happen are bugging us more than normal.

So first things first, Rick has twice requested bird info. Well it’s been hard to watch the birds because a) I’m looking at the ground most of the time, b) I’m really bad at watching birds, like noticing and remembering characteristics and stuff, and c) I don’t really know birds, so I have to look everything up in my bird book (which I did bring by the way), and there just hasn’t been a lot of spare time. However, I can report some bird news. Our last day at Broken Kettle we heard a rufous-sided towhee. I only know this because Lane knew the "drink your tea" call and pointed it out. Other than that, we’ve seen tons of swallows, some kites, and hawks, but I can’t really be more specific than that. On our first day here in SD we were on our way to the site and saw about 25 white pelicans soaring and gliding around in the sky. We pulled over and each busted out the binocs and watched them for awhile. So beautiful! This morning we saw a whole ton of female ring-necked pheasants with their chicks in a field, and kicked one up later in the day. And as we were driving through the prairie in the ATV the swallows (I think they must be barn swallows) were circling around us and following us. We think it was because the ATV kicks up bugs. It was pretty cool. So there you have all the bird news I can give at this point. I’ve added my binocs to the millions of pieces of gear I have hanging around my neck all day, so that in case I see a cool bird I can check it out, and I am making a more concerted effort now, so I hope to have more to report soon. 

So things look pretty different here at Crystal Springs from Broken Kettle. Much smaller hills, and it’s really nothing but prairie, not broken up by shrubs or trees. Sweet lunch spots are a thing of the past. Now we rig up an umbrella to try to create a wee spot of shade by the ATV. It works though. And I still love lunch time. Though sandwiches are getting a little old… We only have one ATV now, so today we piled all of our gear in the back, Lane drove, and I perched between her seat and the bed, hanging on to these bars and getting my head and arms smacked all to hell by them and the lights hanging off of them. It’s way bumpier here too, so me bum is aching. 

There are even more cows here too, and while I think they are sooooo cute, I am also a little afraid of them. When they see you they all start mooing and coming towards you. So far we’ve thankfully had a fence between us and them, because otherwise they would totally surround us and we would have to rodeo them away from us on the ATV. Sounds like trouble. Last time they collected data here they had a slightly scary encounter with a bull. So we’ve got this bull blaster noise thingy just in case and are keeping one eye on the surrounding fields at all times. 

While the fences have been a blessing in that respect, they have also been a curse. Take today for instance, when we drove all over the freakin place looking for a plot, only to find it but be on the wrong side of a fence from it, with no gate in sight. So we had to follow the fence forever until we found one and then go all the way back. And the gates! Arrggghh. Often they are just wooden posts with barbed wire wrapped around them, and a wire loop that goes around the top and holds it to the rest of the fence. But some are such a tight fit that you have to use a ratchet to pull the post closer so you can get the loop on or off, and the ratchet kept going flying, blah, blah, blah, pain in the butt.

Another interesting difference atCrystal Springs is the over abundance of my arch enemy – ragweed! And what’s worse, it’s another kind of ragweed that I didn’t even know existed – western ragweed! I died just a little bit inside when I learned this. Imagine my chagrin at settling down to count spurge in a big ol’ hunk of this:

The horror. Ooh, and guess what. It has just started blooming. Awesome. So my allergies have made their presence known, and it’s only a matter of time before I am a goopy-eyed, sneezing, snot-filled, itchy mess. Awesome.

So as not to make a total crabby post on this crabby day, here is the upside. Today, in a moment of genius, we made a significant technical improvement to our methods. We discovered that we could bungee cord our camp chairs to our bodies and waddle from quadrat to quadrat, thereby avoiding having to pick up too many things and inevitably dropping something. Ohhh, it’s good to be this smart. 

And another moment of shining glory: I found a brewpub in Watertown, SD. Nate would be so proud. We had dinner there last night, along with a sampler of their brews and a homemade root beer. Mmm. And check out this cool mural they had on their wall.

So I’m off to bed so I can do it all over again tomorrow! In case it’s another challenging day, we’re taking reinforcements in the name of chocolate and Dr. Pepper. That should do the trick.

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