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Sleep deprivation is catching up with me, hard.
Friday night/Saturday morning: Up until 3 am to complete our last glucose circadian trial (samples will be shipped off this week for gas analysis). Then up again at 9 am to finish packing and get into the lab, pack more, and head out to Sedgwick.
We reached the field station just before 6 pm on Saturday. Traffic wasn't horrible but we hit a couple of slowdowns somewhere south of San Jose (Gilroy), so we followed the Goog's suggestion to hop off Highway 101 and onto Highway 25, past Pinnacles National Park, which made for some nice sight-seeing en route.
There was an organic grocery store on the highway about a five minutes' drive from the reserve, so we picked up supplies for a simple supper. By the time that wrapped up, it was starting to get dark. As we walked from the dining area towards our tents, I encountered the first female crickets. It was time to start cricket-hunting.
I believe we were up until somewhere around midnight that first night. Apparently, the crickets were much more abundant this year than last, seeing as we were able to collect close to 100 crickets in only two hours between the six of us (five adults, one five-year-old). So we were able to quickly accomplish our first aim of collecting enough crickets to replenish the lab stocks. With that task out of the way, we were then able to focus on a second goal of assaying cricket hemolymph and body composition for crickets in the field.
I managed to sleep in until around 7:45 am on Sunday. We spent the morning regrouping and generating plans for Sunday night, then drove out to Pismo Beach to dip our toes in the ocean in the afternoon.
For night #2, we conducted two activity surveys, one between 9-10 pm, another between 4-5 am. So I slept from around 11 until 4, then from 5-6. At least we learned that we'll never have to get up at 4 am again because the crickets were no longer active at that hour.
At 6, we got up, packed and cleaned up, and hit the road by 7:30 so we could get back to campus by 12:30 and one of the undergrads could make it to her course.
Now I am unpacking and repacking to head to the Midwest tomorrow morning for vacation, so to speak.
Friday night/Saturday morning: Up until 3 am to complete our last glucose circadian trial (samples will be shipped off this week for gas analysis). Then up again at 9 am to finish packing and get into the lab, pack more, and head out to Sedgwick.
We reached the field station just before 6 pm on Saturday. Traffic wasn't horrible but we hit a couple of slowdowns somewhere south of San Jose (Gilroy), so we followed the Goog's suggestion to hop off Highway 101 and onto Highway 25, past Pinnacles National Park, which made for some nice sight-seeing en route.
There was an organic grocery store on the highway about a five minutes' drive from the reserve, so we picked up supplies for a simple supper. By the time that wrapped up, it was starting to get dark. As we walked from the dining area towards our tents, I encountered the first female crickets. It was time to start cricket-hunting.
I believe we were up until somewhere around midnight that first night. Apparently, the crickets were much more abundant this year than last, seeing as we were able to collect close to 100 crickets in only two hours between the six of us (five adults, one five-year-old). So we were able to quickly accomplish our first aim of collecting enough crickets to replenish the lab stocks. With that task out of the way, we were then able to focus on a second goal of assaying cricket hemolymph and body composition for crickets in the field.
I managed to sleep in until around 7:45 am on Sunday. We spent the morning regrouping and generating plans for Sunday night, then drove out to Pismo Beach to dip our toes in the ocean in the afternoon.
For night #2, we conducted two activity surveys, one between 9-10 pm, another between 4-5 am. So I slept from around 11 until 4, then from 5-6. At least we learned that we'll never have to get up at 4 am again because the crickets were no longer active at that hour.
At 6, we got up, packed and cleaned up, and hit the road by 7:30 so we could get back to campus by 12:30 and one of the undergrads could make it to her course.
Now I am unpacking and repacking to head to the Midwest tomorrow morning for vacation, so to speak.
