I've been watching the presidential and vice presidential debates with interest.  Granted, I'm not an expert on many of the topics they discussed, but I do know quite a bit about science and climate change.  The focus seems to be on the cost of energy when, by far, the more important issue is what are we going to do about carbon dioxide levels that impact atmospheric temperature and the health of our oceans.  This has yet to be discussed.

Here is a link to a description of a couple of kid's classes I'll be running in early November.  There will be plenty of interacting and I have lots of fun activities planned.  I hope to see you there!

Speaking of classes, I took one myself.  It was fascinating stuff that I stumbled upon while doing research for one project I'm working on.  The professor and grad students used shrinky dinks (how fun!) to explain how they are doing their work.  We poured goop called PVMS (I think that stands for polyvinylmethylsiloxane) on our designs.  After shrinking, the design was raised slightly because the ink gets denser when it shrinks.   When the plastic hardened, they cut out plastic cubes.  (top photo: butterfly shrinky dink covered in hardened plastic with a square cut out of it) After drilling holes they injected dye into the tiny channels of these reverse images.  (bottom photo: reverse image glued to glass slide with dye injected into holes)   It was a really interesting way to understand the work they are doing.     

In September, I worked very hard writing eight test passages that utilized new common core standards.  Since I'm not a terribly fast writer, my initial thought was that I would use research from published material to save myself some time.  No.  No.  No.  They didn't want material that the test taker may have read.  So, in a short amount of time, I did a LOT of research for a little bit of writing (less than 250 words) and I learned a tremendous amount.  The majority of my passages involved some aspect of climate change.  This pleased me immensely.

I was disappointed to learn that my ChemMatters article that was originally supposed to be published long ago, has once again been pushed off until February or April of 2013.  It will be a "clipless" year.

Today, I took a watercolor class at the new Vernon Community Arts Center.   I LOVE LOVE LOVE the place!  Yesterday, I spoke at length to the person in charge.  We nailed down some dates for the hands-on children's science classes I'll be teaching.  We decided to offer them at various dates and times to see which would draw the most participants.  These reasonably priced classes will run in November as follows:
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Saturday  11/3     1-3pm        Jellyfish
Thursday 11/15   6 -7:30pm   Grizzly bears 
Saturday  11/17  10-12pm     Grizzly bears

I have ideas for a class for adults and I also mentioned a hands-on presentation that I would be quite happy to give, all were met with enthusiasm!

 It was feeding time in one of the labs at Woods Hole.  We got to see these miniscule anemones eating sea monkeys via the scientist's high powered microscope. 

My brochure is 92.75% done. It came out great, but needs some photographs. It looks like I'll have to plan a swim date with my niece so I can get myself a real life model of the appropriate age. I'm quite content that now I have something, something concrete to show people. Ahhh. I've tried and I will have to keep on trying because I intend to honor my part of the bargain.

I received a 21-page emailed pdf file (e-book) from the Highlights Foundation. Inside were short biographies for all one hundred writers/illustrators attending from all over the United States, Canada, India and South Africa. As expected, there weren't many men, but there were lots of teachers and lots of people who loved being outdoors. Of course they loved writing/illustrating too.

I've posted more photographs from the National Museum of Natural History. These were taken at the dinosaur casting area

The ending of my article is moving along, but it's still not there. I have six more days before I pass it off to my critique group. Hopefully, it'll be rocking by then. Currently, I'm reading about writing. This book feels like it has opened another door—the door to the first day of college. It's probably because of the chapter on characterization for fiction. I suppose I could have skipped it and gone straight to the nonfiction parts, but I wouldn't want to miss any savory nuggets in between.

Since the Mars rover Spirit has been in the news I thought I'd post my photograph of a Mars Rover taken at the National Air and Space Museum. Here's a letter from the head of the Mars Exploration Project Manager to his team about the end of Spirit's mission. NASA's Spirit was sent out for a three month mission that lasted over six years.

The article is now done, but I'm still tweaking and I have to add quotes. The last line isn't packing the punch I'm looking for. Yesterday, I went into a little panic attack that maybe I ventured down the wrong path with the chemistry concept. There is nothing quite like finishing an entire article and realizing it's not what the elusive editor is looking for. Well, the concept I picked is most certainly in my daughter's high school chemistry book, so there.

I enjoyed watching the panda at the National Zoo and I guess I'm not the only one. Scientists study the panda using the panda cam. The panda was kind of buried in bamboo for a while (top photo) and not moving much. When I got to the panda cam, I noticed the panda had risen and left the viewing area. Such excitement! I ran back to get a much better view and to take better photographs (not shown).

I've been having internet problems since May 1st at about 2:30PM (not that I'm keeping track at all). Today the phone guy was here to look at the line. He found some corrosion down the street so hopefully it's fixed.

The chemistry article is now about 2/3 done. I reread it this morning and when I got to the chemistry part it felt like the words fell off the paper and into a tar pit. That part was lousy. So, I looked at it and tried to figure out why it dragged. I finally concluded that the writing was generalized. It helped immensely when I related it to the specific topic I was writing about.

My next crit group email date is June 8th so that now becomes my deadline to finish this article. Getting questions together is my new priority. Hopefully, (this article - bibliography) + the fiction piece is < or = the 10 page maximum we set.

These photographs are from the National Museum of Natural History. This room is where scientists examine fossils. I once did an archaeological dig with my youngest daughter. No one in the group found anything terribly noteworthy. It must be so exciting to scrape away the dirt and find a 15 million year old bone. Note: Click on the top photo and you can read the note easier.

Here are some more photographs I took behind the scenes at the Peabody Museum in New Haven CT. In the back rooms, there was an entire library of jars with pickled creatures. Gosh, if they let me loose, I could have spent a long time exploring in there. All those jars reminded me of my grandparents cellar that contained a small pantry-sized room filled with canned garden goodies. In the top photograph, I was particularly impressed with how pretty those candy apple green beetles were. They looked glittery. I couldn't help but think (probably to the horror of the bug guy that was taking us around) how festive they would look threaded with cranberries and put on a Christmas tree. Lol.

I mailed off three queries today, but, oops, I think I forgot an SASE. Stellar. Queries are new toys I've been playing with so that's my excuse. I'm also getting charged up about a presentation I'd like to do for elementary aged kids. I need to make a couple of costumes and figure out one detail.

As promised here are some photographs from behind the scenes at the Peabody Museum. I asked permission to take the photographs. The woman said yes, but only if they are not for commercial purposes. They okayed them for a blog so I am posting them, but I added an unsightly total pain-in-the-butt watermark to prevent their commercial use by anyone else.

In the back room they have these special filing cabinets filled to the brim with stuffed birds, feathers, and even extinct birds like the Ivory-billed woodpecker in the top photograph. It made the news not long ago when someone thought they spotted it--alive. That sent a bunch of researchers hunting for the bird and recording its call. Sadly, it turned out to be a sneaky pileated woodpecker. The Senior Collections Manager opened a jar and uncoiled an octopus' arm. I really wanted to touch it to feel how gushy it was, but I was so busy trying to take the picture that by the time I was all set the arm was getting coiled back in the jar of liquid and it was too late. Artists sometimes come in and use these birds as models for accurate scientific drawings.

Today, I volunteered at the CT Children's Book Fair. I had a fun social task of asking everyone how they heard about the book fair. The majority said "we come every year." One Italian lady totally cracked me up. When she saw Clifford, the big red dog, she squealed with delight. I couldn't help but say, "now who is more excited here?" It reminded me of something I might of done when my kids were little. I also ran into a couple of people from town and I spoke with a woman from the New England Independent Book Association who happened to have positioned herself by the door where I was standing. I was heartened to see an entire table of nonfiction books.

Today's photographs came from the Connecticut Envirothon on October 2nd at the UConn Avery Point Campus in Groton Connecticut. It was a beautiful day for the fresh and saltwater estuaries workshop. A few kids got to take part in seine fishing. Then the students carefully scooped up the little fishes that were bouncing around and put them in trays of water. One of the interesting little ocean finds was a soft green crab that had shed its skin. At this vulnerable stage, other green crabs could cannibalize the poor dear. I think it was safer in the tray than back in the sea!

I'm back at work on my big project, humming along on chapter 3 making revisions that were identified in a critique group a couple of weeks ago. The ending needs more polish, but it's in really good shape. This chapter is a little lighter with elements of humor.

I posted a few more photographs of poor Myrtle the green (in the gills) turtle. They measured her carapace (a fancy word for shell). They took an ultrasound of her heart. I'm not sure where the heart is in the turtle, but I can imagine it might be difficult to view it through a thick shell.

Currently, I'm working on three different projects, all different. Two are nearly complete as far as the writing goes. The presentation is still in its infancy, but I have a solid list of creative ideas.

Today, I posted photographs of Myrtle, a green turtle at the New England Aquarium. Like Ari, she also had a health check-up, but she was small enough for them to pull out of the water and examine up close and personal. They drew blood and tested it for disease. The Aquarium website says this turtle is at least seventy years old!

I'm still working on this same piece of writing that is maybe 90% complete. It may be done by our email swap date this week, but it certainly won't be verified for accuracy so, unfortunately, I will not make my own too tight deadline.

I have a new plan for a hands-on science presentation that I think will be exciting. Hopefully, I can get moving on this real fast.

I wish I could keep the photographs I really love up here forever, ahh, but that would be boring. Today, I'm posting more photographs from a visit to the New England Aquarium. I was fortunate enough to be there the day they did health check ups on two large turtles. These photographs were taken of Ari, a Kemp's Ridley turtle. They weighed the turtle, took blood from it and did an ultrasound of its heart (bottom photo). To accurately weigh it they subtracted the weight of the box it was lifted in. Ari weighed 583 pounds! The video on the Aquarium's website (bottom left) reminded me so much of snorkeling off St. John.

Saturday morning I will be heading down to the CT short to Uconn's Avery Point Campus. I will be driving some students from the high school to a CT Envirothon workshop. They plan to visit Bluff Point State Park (8/28, I wrote about Bluff Point) to sample water, study marine creatures in tanks and do other assorted environmental things.

I write like the tide coming in. The first page is excellent, the second page is pretty good, the third page is not that great and the ending isn't there. I keep washing over it from the start.

Today, my son and I explored the Environmental Protection Agencies research vessel that navigates through the waters surrounding the United States and the Caribbean. It was a really interesting boat. They scoop up mud and water samples for analysis and dive to analyze coral. The first picture is the research vessel "Bold." The second picture is a cowfish (left), shark egg case (top black thing), and a puffer fish. The third picture is a submarine that we saw off the deck of the ship. The fourth picture is the lab. The top tv screen was displaying pictures of the underwater robot used to record the pictures under the sea in the left screen. The bottom right screen displayed google earth or an on top of the water view. The bottom photograph is where the scientists sleep aboard the vessel.

I'm researching a new subject now - another endangered animal. The descriptions in some of the papers I've found are really graphic. A few pictures I've come across are just ghastly. It's really sad to see the suffering. There is certainly no shortage of material on the topic, so that's a good thing.

I look forward to my daily emails from the Bermuda Biological Station. There is excitement in those emails (I think it's all the "!"). The website contains photographs and journal entries for each day of the adventure. I have read about the discovery of brittle stars, sea squirts, and a Portugese man-of-war. Great trip and a great way to instill a love of science.

Right now, my daughter Julia is on a plane headed to the Bermuda Biological Station. It's a fantastic opportunity for her and her classmates to stay at a real research station that is off limits to the public. The 8th graders and a handful of high school seniors spend a week studying marine animals and the geography of Bermuda. One of the nice things this group does is that each kid brings down a book to donate to the library there. They are also planting cedar. From what I've heard, cedar products used to be common in the stores, but now it sounds like they've over done it.
Anyhow, to those on the plane.......best wishes for a great time!