Racehorse Falls and Bison

I’m making maps today.

Helm Glacier catchment in way too many colors

I am maybe not super skilled at map design, which turns out to be much harder than I thought it was. The process also forced me to finally get my GIS data organized, which took most of the day yesterday (and I even had a dream about it last night). ORGANIZATION. I thought I had it, but I really had no idea. There’s a reason my professors have been drilling it into everyone’s heads. I was all smug about my data organization until I started writing. Only then did I make the unpleasant discovery that wow, I have about fifteen different files with the words “riparian forest establishment field morphology master data” in various combinations, with no description and no dates. And it only gets worse from there.

But my little organization freakout isn’t particularly interesting to talk about, so I’ll just suck it up, get more coffee, and keep sorting things out.

Wanted to take a break from relabeling files and arranging maps. This is a picture of Racehorse Falls on a lovely, fossil-filled tributary of the Nooksack River. Julius and I clambered through the brush to find it last weekend. Plant fossils are scattered all over the river bed, we literally tripped over them on the short hike to the falls.

Racehorse Falls

Last night we decided that bison burgers really needed to happen. We have bison burgers at least once a week. The bison comes from Twisted S Farm right down the road in Ferndale (watch out, the site is graphics- and music-intensive because bison are highly entertaining).

I love bison. They’re adorable and tasty. The Twisted S bison are very happy and healthy. Julius has visited the farm and met the owner and his bison. The owner is quite fond of his bison and has a big picture of the farm’s first calf on his desk.

These are serious burgers.

bison, arugula, Roquefort, portobello, red onion, serrano, avocado

We didn’t mess around with the Roquefort, either. There’s a whole slab of it on each 1/2 lb burger.

Neither of us is generally a huge fan of Belgian beers, but we were intrigued when we saw Green Flash Grand Cru in the co-op. It paired perfectly with the strong flavors of bison and Roquefort.

clockwise from upper left: empty pot that we need to plant peppers in, fossil, Grand Cru, bike saddle, burger under construction, ROQUEFORT!!!!, jar of beach glass

Roquefort is geologically interesting. True Roquefort can only be produced in the Combalou caves of Roquefort-sur-Soulzon in France. Penicillium roqueforti, the mold that is used in the cheese, is found in the soil of the caves. The climate of the limestone caves is perfect for ripening the cheese.

Roquefort has a luscious, smooth texture and remarkable depth of flavor, from tangy to smoky to salty. It pairs well with bold, rich red wines and dark Belgian beers.

Time for more coffee, and back to the maps.

Quench Designs

cedar shield pendant

Powell River mysterious moss

river ripples pendant

I found Kate Barazzuol’s display of exquisite metalwork at the Granville Public Market a couple of months ago. Touching the pieces, it felt as though the metal had a life of its own. She is a master at capturing the elegant fine details of an unfurled sprig of moss, ripples in sand, flower petals…each piece has a graceful and authentic beauty.

I just had to make Quench Designs the first jewelry feature, because one of these pieces will be my gift to myself (I am a big fan of self gifts) upon completion of my thesis. Haven’t decided which one yet, though.

Really in love with the gorgeous cedar, fern, and moss pieces.

coffee bean cuff

One of these streams is not like the others

I’m going to just go ahead and get started by elaborating on my new theory that geomorphology and Sesame Street have a bit in common. I’ve spent a couple of days agonizing over how to assign Manning’s n values to my proglacial streams, using the visual comparison approach (references are Chow 1959 – original edition, this book is so authentic it even smells like 1959, faint notes of an earlier geomorphologist’s cigarettes and gin seem to waft from the pages – also Barnes 1967 and Hicks & Mason 1998).

smell the ancient wisdom about uniform flow

Manning’s n is a roughness coefficient used in the Manning formula, which estimates streamflow. It is one approach to quantifying the roughness of the stream channel. It accounts for sinuosity (twists and turns) of the channel, particle size, and vegetation, among other factors. In basic terms, it is a way to account for everything within the channel that counteracts the force of gravity to act as a “drag” on the flow of water. Like, if you decided to use a stream channel as a natural slip ‘n slide, you would want it to have a low roughness coefficient.

As with many things in natural systems, estimating the roughness of a channel is rather subjective. This drives grad students (and by “grad students” I mean “me”) crazy.

Anyway, so basically the visual comparison approach goes like this. You look at a picture of a stream channel:

Boulder Glacier channel

And then you look at a picture in a book:

river in New Zealand from Hicks & Mason 1998

And then what you’re supposed to do is decide which stream channels in the book best match yours, and you assign a Manning’s n value based on what the book says. But if you’re me, you’re like AAAAUUUUGGGHHH which of these characteristics are the same? Which are different? Is this the right channel to use for comparison? What am I doing? Do I know anything? What is knowledge? What is our place in the universe? What am I going to eat for supper? WHY IS EVERYTHING SO CONFUSING??!?!?!?!

I was in the AAAAUUUUGGGHHH NOT UNDERSTANDING ANYTHING stage of doing this yesterday when a long-forgotten song popped into my head.

One of these things is not like the others,

One of these things just doesn’t belong.

Can you tell which thing is not like the others,

By the time I finish my song?

Epiphany! Chow, Barnes, and Hicks & Mason are just the scientific version of Sesame Street. BAM!! I unleashed my mad Sesame Street comparison skills gained two decades ago and ASSIGNED THOSE MANNING’S N VALUES.

PS. The font of wisdom that is Yahoo Answers just assured me that I am NOT the only person who always hears Sesame Street when I’m subjected to the painful experience of hearing the epically loathsome Foo Fighters’ phenomenally irritating song “Pretenders.” This has bothered me for YEARS. Ugh. The Foo Fighters are Nickelback-level anathema to me. Argh get out of my ears you bunch of crappy anti-science AIDS denialists.

References

Barnes, H.H. 1967. Roughness characteristics of natural channels. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Supply Paper 1849, 213 p.

Bird, B. and Monster, C. One of these things is not like the others. Journal of Sesame Street Hydraulic Engineering Standards, Vol. 123, No. 45: 25-34.

Chow, V.T. 1959. Open-channel hydraulics. McGraw-Hill Book Co. New York, 680 pp.

Hicks, D.M. and Mason, P.D. 1998. Roughness characteristics of New Zealand Rivers. National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research Ltd. Christchurch, 329 pp.