Fun with Inverts

What could be more fun than catching fish in a creek? Catching inverts! For another fun ecology lab we spent the afternoon using nets of all sorts to catch inverts in three different locations to determine if effluent from the waste treatment plant affects invertebrate diversity. Sounds super boring, but we got to play in the creek instead of juggling excel spreadsheets so no one was complaining.

Picking through the stuff in the net.

My prof looking on as we identify the tiny little buggers.

I look damn fine in waders. Using the D-net to scuff around the bottom for some specimens.

By far the best story of the day occurred after all the collecting in the creek. My friend and I drove together, and before we left she decided to take of her waders so that she could drive more easily. She was born with some birth defects which she is very comfortable chatting about, and as she was taking off her waders she realized that her prosthetic leg was stuck. Apparently she had run out of the usual nylon that she would slip over the prosthetic so she just used the other wool sock she had. Problem was that the extra thickness meant that the foot was totally stuck in the wader. So I offer to help and as she sits in the car I am yanking on the boot, but still to no avail. Ten minutes later we get desperate, and she ends up taking off her leg, and while she braces her self in the car holding the boot - I plant my left leg, pushing off the car with my right and pull on the prosthetic as hard as I can. After much grunting, sweating, and laughing we finally pried out the leg. Needless to say when we arrived back at school late we had an interesting excuse.