Fossil Hunting

Hello again friends,

I got to go on such an awesome adventure yesterday! My friend took me fossil hunting in one of the many gorges in Ithaca. Fossils were something I've only seen in a museum (due to the fact that my home was once the Chicago field museum) and I was surprised how abundant and relatively easy to find these fossils were. These fossils could have been anywhere between 360 and 450 MILLION years old!!!

This is the trail leading the path that goes down into the gorge. If you look carefully you can see the suspension bridge in the background behind those trees.

The bottom of the gorge looked a lot bigger and a lot more intimidating the closer to the bottom we got...

Yay! the last set of steps! So close...

We made it! It was a bit of a walk down, and I was afraid to imagine the walk back up. But here I am in the gorge.

How you go "fossil hunting" is pretty simple. All you really need to do once you get down into the gorge is start turning over rocks. Sometimes it may help to split rocks too. My friend did that and found a really nice crinoid fossil. But even if you don't split rocks you're bound to find one (or two, or three, or more!).

Is there one under here? Nope... gotta keep looking!

Here's one really cool fossil that I found. I wasn't quite sure what this armadillo-looking fossil was, but I suspect it may be a brachiopod of ancient times.

Here I am with the fossils that I found. I got some nice brachiopods, some clams, some crinoids, perhaps some cnidarians, and certainly a lot of well-preserved extinct "honeycomb" coral.

Well friends, that pretty much sums up my fossil-hunting experience. If any of you ever venture down to Ithaca, I would definitely recommend doing this. If you want more information on what you can find here, look at this site: http://www.priweb.org/ed-/finger_lakes/nystate_geo6.html.

That'll be it for now. Best until next time!

LFM

Louis Lunch and My Late-night Sculpture Adventure

Hello again friends,

I'm happy to say I have more exciting adventures to share with you!

My day started of with a little bit of biochemisty. I accompanied my friend to her biochem class to see what it was about. I didn't know that my DNA is over 90% identical with human DNA. Imagine that... we're not so different after all!

Then it was off to famous Louis Lunch on North Campus. It was actually on the way home.

So many yummy things on the menu!!! I ended up with some cajun fries because it came highly recommended by my friend. They were delicious!

Later that night I went out with two of my friends/apartment-mates to help them work on their sculpture projects that are due soon. This was around 7 PM.

I got to enter in the secret code to get in the sculpture building. I feel so trusted!

There were a lot of large and scary tools there. I went to check out the band saw but didn't use it because they didn't have safety goggles in my size. That's okay though, I'd rather keep all my fingers and toes.

The tool and equipment room on the other hand, was very fun to look around in. So much cool stuff!

I got to help with sawing. Don't I seem like such a mighty mouse?

Remember that white foam-core model I was helping to hold in an earlier post? Well here is the actual piece in plywood. I was helping to hold the piece steady so the wood glue could set.

It was getting late so I took a nice nap by the drill bits. They didn't finish working until 10 PM!!!

Luckily I found a nice cozy neck to nuzzle. They took me home so I could rest on the way.

Anway, what a day yes? And something tells me the fun isn't anywhere near over.

Until next time,

LFM

The Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology

Hello again friends,

My visit to the Cornell Ornithology Lab went very well. The weather was a bit chilly, but it was otherwise a beautiful day.

Here I am in front of the lab. You can't really make it out in this picture, but there is a picture of a Yellow-bellied Sapsucker on the sign. The lab is located in Sapsucker Woods, a 15 minute drive away from the Cornell campus. On the way I passed a lot of open field and crows with tags on their wings. What a sight. You would think that "Sapsucker Woods" would boast an abundance of Sapsuckers, but I didn't see one anywhere. I've heard that there is an interesting story behind the name though.

Here I am making my way to the entrance. I had to cross this bridge over a little pond and stream-lets.

Look at all the trails around the lab!!! The main building (the big black shape on the map) has the beautiful visitors' center and staff labs/offices. It would be so awesome working here. On my lunch breaks I could go on a little nature walk with my mushroom sandwich. I would just have to be a little wary of the Red-tailed Hawks that are around. If not, I might be the one for lunch!

This is the big pond and bird feeder garden right in front of the lab. In the visitors' center, there is a huge, beautiful window looking out into the pond and bird feeder garden. It really gave me a "duck-eye's view". There were ducks and geese everywhere!!!

Water break! All this exploring made me thirsty.

I then ventured up to the Adelson Library where my friend/apartment-mate works. There were so many bird books and periodicals!!! I was amazed. I even found an old bird book that I have been looking for for a while.

Since the library had so many nice, comfortable reading spots (even a fireplace!) I decided to do a bit of light reading. I probably should have asked the librarian to help me get this down from the shelf.

After that it was time to go home. I was told that a bus ran by the lab, so I borrowed my friend's ipod and listened to some awesome tunes while I waited.

Yay! The bus! Right on time.

Here I am on the bus all ready to go home! It was a pretty nice bus and the seats were comfy.

It was still a bit of a walk from where the bus dropped me off, but the day was still relatively nice so I didn't mind.

Put the keys in the lock, open the door, and I'm finally home!

Well friends, that was my visit to the Ornithology Lab. It was such a refreshing blend of nature and research. Hopefully one day you may get to experience it too!

All the best,

LFM

My Visit to Cornell University

Hello again friends,

Today I accompanied one of my apartment-mates to her classes. I definitely had an interesting and diverse day at Cornell University. Since my apartment-mate is a biology major, I was expecting all her classes to be biology/farming related. Boy was I off.

The day started off with sculpture. I was helping to hold her model together while she assembled a bigger version made of plywood. All the tools looked so scary and I don't think she really knew what she was doing. I guess this is the first time she's really been around tools like that. At one point she even broke the professor's precious drill bit, which he always carries around in his pocket. Ooops...

After sculpture, it was off to physics. I was pretty intrigued, but I think my apartment-mate was asleep for the latter half of that lecture. The topic of the day was geometrical optics and I learned a lot about rainbows and prisms. There were also a few cool (and colorful) demos.

Apparently in this physics class they have what is called "clicker questions" where the students have their own personal clicker registered to them and they answer questions given to them on a sheet of paper at the beginning of class. Well I've never seen a system quite like this, so I decided to borrow my apartment-mate's clicker and answer the questions. She was asleep anyway. First I had to turn on the clicker...

then I carefully pondered my answer. I got one correct out of two. Not bad for a field mouse new to the physics scene! I was pretty proud.

I was looking at some flyers and posters after class and lost track of time!

After physics I had organic chemistry. I had heard horror stories about this class. Since I got sidetracked with the flyers I was running a little late. So I ran to the chemistry building. Luckily it wasn't that far.

Thankfully, I got to the chemistry lecture hall on time and found a decent, but rather large, seat. I was getting the feeling that the typical organic chemistry student was much bigger than me. The prof was really neat because he had an awesome Irish accent. In some ways it was a little distracting because all I could think of at some points was "gee, I wish he would say 'catch me lucky charms!'" But I digress...

My apartment-mate had to work at the Cornell Ornithology Lab so I decided to meet her there. I went to ask where the shuttle to the lab stopped to pick people up, but I asked the wrong person. I guess she really had somewhere to go. The good news is that I figured it out on my own eventually.

Well, that was my first day at Cornell. This is me right before I got on the shuttle going to the Ornithology Lab. I'll have to save my Ornithology Lab experiences for my next post as I am getting a little tired. Right now I feel the need for some almond tea and a little nibble on a shortbread cookie.

Much love,

LFM

Grocery Shopping in Ithaca

Hello again friends,

It seems that my travels have led me to Ithaca, NY. This is definitely not the big city life of Chicago, but that is part of the whole beauty of it. Upon arriving, I realized that I had no food. Luckily, my five new apartment-mates were going out grocery shopping. This was my chance to get a glimpse of what Ithaca had to offer.

Before I left I had to make a shopping list. I don't like when I forget something... which I tend to do often without a list. I need more ginko I guess. But with all that out of the way, it was time to go! Where to? WEGMANS!!!

I was so excited. Are we there yet?






I even got the priviledge of pushing the cart.

They had these really cool machines that when you typed in the specific item number of the produce, it weighed it and printed a price sticker for the plastic bag. Pretty spiffy if you ask me.

Here I am typing in the number

Then out comes the price sticker











Ta-Da!!! (one of my apartment mates had to lift me up so I could get back down)








I found some excellent cheese, but had to pass because it's not good for my manly figure.










Fish on the other hand is very good for you. Mmm... that really got me in the mood for sushi.









Time to put it all on the belt and check out! So much food for such a little mouse.











The walk back to the car was super chilly! Brrrr...
I need to go get me some Ithaca-garb.









I was helpin' the guys put stuff back in the car. It was kind of difficult since those bags were probably over 100 times my weight. I need to eat more spinach.

After that, it was off to Green Star! Home of all sorts of organic goodies.







I love to munch on fresh green beans. It's so much better than the canned stuff (even though I like that too...)











Look at how HUGE this fennel is!!! It was so much larger than my hand. Amazing...








Finally after I battled an unfortunate avacado avalanche, I decided that it was time to go home. I was pooped!!!

Well friends, that was my first Wegmans and Green Star run here in Ithaca (and the first in my life actually). It was fun, but now I am totally ready for dinner, then bed. I got invited to take a few classes at Cornell University so I have that to look forward to (I think?).

Until then,

LFM