Things are winding down on the nutrient uptake project. We finished the last replicate day of experiments for my temperature experiment on Monday. I have looked at the data now, but I don’t want to discuss it here as I still have to do some further thinking on it. I will say, though, that there are two bars on the graphs I have created that made me jump out of my desk chair with excitement. I stayed after all my coworkers had already left creating this graph and thus had no one to share this excitement with until the next morning. It was agonizing.

Putting this excitement aside, the mood in the lab this week has become more somber for me. I am realizing that this summer is drawing to a close and the great times I’ve had at the EPA are as well. I’ve enjoyed getting to know the people in the field group and the lab, sitting outside under the Oregon sun in sometimes boiling waders, tromping through mud, gaining strength by lugging stainless steel cores across varying terrain, pouring liters and liters of salt water while belting out Hakuna Matata, jumping in and out of boats and getting splattered with mud by the hovercraft. It has challenged me in many ways and helped me to realize that I truly love field work.

There are now two weeks left to get a ton of things done. I need to prepare my presentation, which I am giving to the EPA and to the Oregon Sea Grant. I also need to discuss with my mentor what sort of write-up he wants on my project. There is also a portfolio that I am doing for the Sea Grant. It should be a busy two weeks. We have collected a lot of data this summer from many different estuaries. I am curious to see what sort of “story can be told,” to use the words of my mentor.

At the end of this week we have our last field hurrah down in Coos Bay. It will be an overnight trip and I think we are camping out somewhere. I need to get rest for this week as this weekend has been tiring. My roommates and I went up to Seattle and then down through Portland and Tillamook doing various touristy things, with a stop at Powell’s Books! I can never get enough of bookstores.