Windy city

"I just blew in from the windy city
The windy city is mighty pretty
But they ain't got what we got"
- the musical Calamity Jane

Blustery and beautiful. Seen from Woods Hole village

Man, is it windy in Woods Hole today! My bike ride to work took fully twice as long as usual this morning, because I was battling a strong headwind the whole way. This air is bitingly cold and furiously fast.

I decided to grit my teeth and visit my settlement plates, no matter how strong the wind was. They've only been out for a week, so I didn't expect much to be living on them yet, and I was right. They were covered in a thin film, but there weren't any animals yet. Barnacles around here usually settle in February-March, so I may have a long time to wait.

In the meantime, I'm working indoors to set up new projects. My succession study will have a field component and hopefully also a lab component, so I'm working with my advisor, Lauren, to design a productive and worthwhile study. The project is just outside the realm of my current knowledge (for the record, I designed it that way), so I'm hoping to glean a lot from Lauren's expertise. It is so important for scientists to be exposed to different questions, different methods, different ways of approaching scientific problems. I'm grateful that I've landed at WHOI, where I have an advisor who points me in the right direction and keeps me from blowing off-course.

Now, if I could just turn off the wind for my bike ride home!