long weekend.

my long weekend is slowly coming to an end today. it was nice to have an extra day off after a big week this past week! as you know i started my IP with the cape cod stranding network on tuesday and a lot was already happening due to the wandering manatee that swam into cape cod bay. unfortunately, i did not get to help with the rescue, but from reading the cape cod times i learned that the manatee was captured late saturday morning and was going to be driven back to florida with the sea world folks. everything had gone smoothly and the manatee looked to be in pretty good shape. sadly, the manatee died yesterday en route to florida....just one hour away from the rehab facility it was going to. even though i wasn't a part of the rescue, i feel a little defeated, knowing how much work and effort went into saving the manatee. at the same time i am hopeful for my upcoming year, knowing that i am working with such dedicated people.
this past week we also got to work with the brewster DNR helping with their aquaculture program and clearing fire fuel. we had originally learned about aquaculture at the chatham conservation department a few weeks back, but was left rather confused after the man we were working with went off on rants about mexicans taking our jobs and the world bank going into debt. (yeah......) i feel more knowledgeable after our lesson on monday. basically, aquaculture is like agriculture....just in the water! lack of eel grass due to water pollution and overfishing has caused natural populations of shellfish on the cape to dwindle drastically, so towns now have to basically "grow" their shellfish in restricted areas in the surrounding waters. they actually buy "seed" (brewster buys theirs from maine) or veryveryVERY small oysters and grow them in cages in shallow water in the cape cod bay. once the oysters hit regulation size (3 inches long) they can be sold to be eaten. clams have to be 1 inch thick to be able to be eaten. we also learned how to "shuck" or open the oysters and clams. i got to shuck a clam....but did not taste the benefits of opening one. raw, slimy seafood really isn't up my alley. friday was spent in the punkhorn area in brewster clearing what they call "fire fuel", or dead sticks that are littering the ground. they hope that by clearing the area, any fires that happen will be able to be maintained more effectively by the fire department. it was definitely hard work and we are always a little leary of going in the woods here as there is poison ivy everywhere you turn (2 guys in my house -- greg & brian, already have it!) and a high incidence of lymes disease from ticks.
friday night was brian's 22nd birthday, so what other way to celebrate but with drag queen karaoke!? i am positive we will not be let in the next time we go there....we are such horrible singers! but we had a good time, so i guess that is all that matters. saturday, alex, tim, meg and myself decided to conquer the "RAIL TRAIL". it is a bike trail along hwy 6 that runs from wellfleet to the town of dennis....about 22 miles! from our house it takes about 5 miles to get to the head of the trail and then we biked 11.5 miles to nickerson state park in brewster and walked around for a bit. we were all feeling pretty good until we realized that we had to bike BACK. we racked up 33 miles that day! today tim, alex and i thought we would take another stab at biking (thinking our butts had recovered from saturday -- SO not the case!) and rode 19 miles just around the town of wellfleet....on the atlantic coast to the white cedar swamp, where we walked around on the boardwalk and then to leuitenant island on the bay side and skipped some rocks and checked out the view. needless to say....i am EXHAUSTED tonight after biking more than 50 miles this weekend! i will surely be sleeping well tonite, and am looking forward to the short week!
happy columbus day!

view of cape cod bay from lt. island....














the boardwalk at white cedar swamp....














myself & greg measuring oysters in cape cod bay...