Thursday was my last day to teach summer school. I chose to teach about resources and conservation, which are a couple of my favorite topics in general! I was in a teaching and learning mode even as I drove the Beach to Beacon course for the upcoming race and found myself at the beachfront at Portland Head Light. I found numerous items on the beach during low tide that I found both beautiful and interesting that I wanted to share: rock crab carapace, a giant piece of Styrofoam and a yet-to-be-opened can of Miller 64, barnacles with seaweed interspersed and a kelp holdfast. These were all interesting in their own ways as I learned more about them. For example: the rock crab female gives off a hormone that disperses in the water when she is ready to mate and they look incredible when the molt (although this video is a blue crab...) http://vimeo.com/37438364. The giant piece of Styrofoam was found pushed up on the beach by the breaking waves. I'm curious where it came from and how big it started out as. The can of beer will not be consumed by me. Perhaps I will put it on the street and watch to see if anyone drinks it.......
Barnacles are fascinating creatures. They spend the first part of their life floating around as zooplankton and finally attach themselves to a rock, crab, ship, whale, etc. Here, they will use their ultra-strong "barnacle glue" that they produce with their cement gland. How something this tiny can have a cement gland but no brain is incredible. When this sessile critter wants to eat, it must be fully submerged in water (as opposed to being exposed to air during low tide) and stick its modified legs or "feathery appendages" out into the water to draw plankton in for consumption. Imagine having to lay on your back forever and only be able to kick your legs in the air to draw food to you. Finally, kelp have something like tree roots called a holdfast. This feature allows the kelp to stay attached to rocks, groups of mussels or other stationary objects but not draw nutrients from them, as plant roots do. And we all like to think of trees as our oxygen heroes but it's actually marine plants (kelp, seaweeds, etc) that produce between 70-80% of the oxygen in our atmosphere. As I was leaving, I took a couple pictures of the old powerhouse, built in 1905. These structures once housed the equipment to power the generators for the fort nearby. It was reinforced with concrete as to protect it from enemy fire. These buildings are lovely in their simplicity and even more intriguing because of their history.
Later that day, while I was walking around, waiting for my running clothes to finish at the laundry mat, I found some daylilies. These ornamental flowers are not true lilies and are native to Asia, not America.
Ok, enough teaching. Thursday evening, I went running with my Pub Run buddies. It's hilarious to me that I have gotten water after each run instead of a beer at the end. Drinking after running has never appealed to me though and we all still have a good time.
Friday was spent working and mentally preparing for the race Saturday. It was "only a 10k" (self-proclaimed) but it was an incredibly large race and I had never before participated in something of this magnitude. I went to bed around 9:45, after consuming my pre-race meal of couscous, veggies and protein (see half marathon post) and a bit of time spent at the Friday Art Walk with Molly.
To be continued...
Barnacles are fascinating creatures. They spend the first part of their life floating around as zooplankton and finally attach themselves to a rock, crab, ship, whale, etc. Here, they will use their ultra-strong "barnacle glue" that they produce with their cement gland. How something this tiny can have a cement gland but no brain is incredible. When this sessile critter wants to eat, it must be fully submerged in water (as opposed to being exposed to air during low tide) and stick its modified legs or "feathery appendages" out into the water to draw plankton in for consumption. Imagine having to lay on your back forever and only be able to kick your legs in the air to draw food to you. Finally, kelp have something like tree roots called a holdfast. This feature allows the kelp to stay attached to rocks, groups of mussels or other stationary objects but not draw nutrients from them, as plant roots do. And we all like to think of trees as our oxygen heroes but it's actually marine plants (kelp, seaweeds, etc) that produce between 70-80% of the oxygen in our atmosphere. As I was leaving, I took a couple pictures of the old powerhouse, built in 1905. These structures once housed the equipment to power the generators for the fort nearby. It was reinforced with concrete as to protect it from enemy fire. These buildings are lovely in their simplicity and even more intriguing because of their history.
Later that day, while I was walking around, waiting for my running clothes to finish at the laundry mat, I found some daylilies. These ornamental flowers are not true lilies and are native to Asia, not America.
Ok, enough teaching. Thursday evening, I went running with my Pub Run buddies. It's hilarious to me that I have gotten water after each run instead of a beer at the end. Drinking after running has never appealed to me though and we all still have a good time.
Friday was spent working and mentally preparing for the race Saturday. It was "only a 10k" (self-proclaimed) but it was an incredibly large race and I had never before participated in something of this magnitude. I went to bed around 9:45, after consuming my pre-race meal of couscous, veggies and protein (see half marathon post) and a bit of time spent at the Friday Art Walk with Molly.
To be continued...