The Never Ending Tick Check

So today was our very first day in the field.  This was started by me being exhausted from the weekend.  What did I do this weekend? you may ask.  The answer is nothing.  I did literally nothing.  I sat in my room and watched Dr. Who.  I Skyped two people.  I didn’t even leave for food.  I ordered pizza.  Both nights.  I took a shower once.  I think.  Anyway.  I was exhausted from doing nothing and then having to get up early to do something.  So, I got out of bed, somewhat grudgingly, put my field clothes on (socks over pants), and lathered up on bug spray and sunscreen.  What I’ve earned today: Anything under 25% deet is the devil.  I packed my lunch and was off.  On the way to the lab, Jackie and I were stopped by an orientation leader and politely told that orientation was the other way.  Because we would be those freshman who wear hiking boots, a baseball cap, and socks over pants to orientation.  First impressions, and all. 

Upon getting to the lab, we had to load up the vehicles with all of our field equipment.  In fact, today was supposed to be a getting ready day, and none of us really thought we’d get to digging.  It did take a while to get everything to the field and carry it from the car to the site, but it took less time than I had imagined.  Next, we split into our two groups, and, from this point out, the bioarchaeology team doesn’t exist because our sites are on two different sides of the overall enclosure.  My teams first step was to start a pedestrian survey.  We all lined up with ten flags each and walked the length of our site, tagging anything we thought could mean something.  This included everything from a Twix wrapper, to an entire rusted spring mattress frame, to ground that just somehow felt too soft.  Regardless, an infinite amount of flags were placed and we went around again to look at them all, take photos, and decide what should count as evidence.  If we thought it was something important, like a footprint or a beer bottle of winter ale, it was my job to map it.  This included taking compass measurements and distance measurements and making the map with a protractor.  It turns out this was a never-ending job.  As soon as I thought I’d gotten everything, someone would find more evidence.  For example, I’d put all the mapping stuff away anf then Jeff was like “Oh look!  A bullet casing.”  Crap.  I mean, cool.  I know it’s important, but I just put everything away.  So I mapped it and put it all away again because I’m the worst at this.  Because, then, of course, Jeff goes “Oh look.  A piece of a shirt.”  Well.  Fine.  You do the mapping then.  I was a bit proud though because Heidi came up while I was mapping and asked one of her questions that’s supposed to tell us we’re doing something wrong.  She goes, “So, how do you know what angle to put all the points at?”  And I look back, all worried now that I’ve just messed it all up and go, “Well, I took all the compass bearings from the site datum and transferred it with a protractor.”  And she basically said good job for knowing compasses exist.  That was a close one.  We then proceeded to go around and bag and label everything we had deemed to be evidence, which was like 25 things.  The part of being on the forensics team that’s tricky is everything has t be so precise.  The labels have to seal the evidence bags so that we know no one got into them.  We have to make everyone who visits our site sign in on a visitors log, and by visiting I mean anyone who comes inside the caution tape.  And the evidence box can’t be without a member of our team at all times or all the evidence is compromised.  Joy. 

We eventually got to the point where we decided upon a spot to dig.  We set up a grid of two by three squares, each one-meter square, and another unit off the corner of the last in the main body to encompass the cloth we found.  After the pain that is attempting to make perfect squares, which took an hour and a lunch break, we eventually got it to our satisfaction.  Which is very different than perfect.  Then, we set up our screens to sift through the dirt we dig up for small artifacts.  Anyway, Jeff and I had the square with the cloth and we started digging first.  It was fine until we encountered the foam.  If that sounded ominous, good.  It was ominous.  Basically, this layer of green and black foam covered the entire unit about two centimeters underground, and we weren’t really sure how to handle it.  Or know what it was.  And the cloth was under it, so we couldn’t really even get to that.  It’s a problem we shall confront tomorrow.  However, I did find a used piece of gum.  And let me tell you, it’s probably the only time in my life I’ve been happy to pick up a used piece of gum.  IT’S EVIDENCE.  Our other team members also found a small tin bucket, but let’s be honest, it’s not as cool as gum.  Anyway, the day continued on for a little bit more.  I peed in the woods, which was an experience full of mediocrity and sadness.  I also realized I needed more for lunch than a pb and j. 

After cleaning up and putting tarp over our sites for protection at the end of the day, we went back to the lab and logged all of our evidence into the evidence locker, which took another 10 minutes.  Then, we took a team trip to target where I bought infinite food rather than buying another meal plan.  And by infinite, I mean more bagels and more bread and some Capri-suns for lunch and those assorted individual bags of chips except they weren’t assorted, they were all Cheetos.  It was a good trip.  I also got Gushers, which were gone immediately.  I got fruit, too, since I’m out of yogurt.  Yum!  After that, We visited McDonalds and then I took a shower and finished the last few episodes of Dr. Who, and now I feel as though I’ve lost a very god friend.  What do I do now?  I dunno yet.  Probably Boy Meets World.  The never ending tick check continues.