The Day We Rediscovered That's What She Said Jokes

Me being a real archaeologist.

Today was really, really hot.  It got up to about 97, but the heat index was around 110.  I think that was mostly because we’re required to wear pants though.  But it was humid.  And boots.  And socks over pants.  However, we were in the shade for some of the day.  So, factoring in those variables, I would still say it was pretty warm, but it was nowhere near those soccer games in 90-degree weather.  So that was a plus.  I drank two whole 32oz Nalgene water bottles that were full of ice water (I froze one over night and waited for it to melt (that took about 10 min)).  And I only had to pee once.  I think I probably sweat it all out.  In fact, it was so hot that we had to turn in a bit early because Heidi and Nick were afraid for our safety.  The good part of that being that the lab was, for the first time since we’ve been here, air-conditioned.  I made the wonderful decision of making a peanut butter and banana sandwich today, and I had a pretty good breakfast, so I was doing pretty well on the food front.  Plus, I stopped on the way to class to get an iced latte, which probably ranks in top ten best decision of my life along with transferring to the U and eating cheez-its for the first time.  It was a delicious drink.  And it was so darn chilly.  It melted almost immediately, but that’s ok.  Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter. 

Mr. Toad being all sleepy and warm.

I had shotgun in the van both to and from the site today, which was super fun.  Although we didn’t find anything very big at our site today, we did find a few little things, and we got all six square meters down to about 20cm deep, which feels nice to have accomplished.  We also saw our resident toad again, except this time he wasn’t hopping around, he was curled up and sleeping inside a rotted out hollow in a tree.  It was darn cute.  Today was also the day I got the most dirty, probably because I was so sweaty, so all the dirt just turned to mud.  And I wore kind of a light colored shirt that showed dirt easily.  I’m also very sore.  My hands and fingers are really getting used a lot, and it’s a different kind of muscle use than normal.  It’s no fun. 

I wanted to take a second to thank my mother for the idea of kneepads.  When she first brought it up, I’ll admit that I was a bit skeptical.  I could see how it could be a useful idea, but I wasn’t fully convinced I would use them.  I was wrong, and my mommy is a genius.  I literally use them every waking second of excavation, and literally everyone now had purchased a pair.  I was a bit worried on the first day because the straps kind of hurt the backs of your knees and make them all itchy.  However, once I figured out that you just kneel on the, without actually strapping them to your knees, my life has gained new meaning.  Thanks again mother dearest. 

My trowel in my back pocket because archaeologist are
really just that cool.  

The highlight of today was that we had a freeze pop break at around 14:00.  It was nice except for that Nick had to walk them from the van to the site, giving them a chance to melt.  And melt they did.  And then we didn’t have scissors, so we had no idea how to open them.  We all asked each other, but, as it turns out, no one had eaten freezies since they were little, and mommy always opened them.  So no one actually knew how to do it.  The group had just decided that clearly it was just a mom thing and we wouldn’t ever be able to enjoy them when Laura whips out this overly large pocket knife and goes, “Well, I’m not a mom.  But I do have a knife.”  And that solved that. At the end of the day, as we all were preparing to go back to the lab, we had to walk to the van.  It isn’t that far of a walk, but it really is.  When we got to the van, it was like a sauna.  We opened the van doors and the environment in the vicinity went up 10 degrees.  It was ridiculous.  When this occurred, Re turns to Lauren and goes, “Wow! Did you feel that?”  Lauren slowly looked at her and says, “I don’t feel anything anymore.”  It was pretty warm. 

The plan for this evening is to make some dinner, watch some television, and probably make lunch for tomorrow, since that seems to take quite some time in the morning.