Reflective Journal: I am starting from square one. I've spent so many years in Vermont and have forgotten everything I knew about shelling(my hobby as a child), flora and fauna. I've also never known what those little grids were on a navigational chart. I guess I have a long way to go with this course.
I am anxoius to learn, tough. I saw this course last year, but it was at the end of the summer. It ended after I was due back at work, so I was ecstatic to see that you were offering it in June this time around. I love the historical/romantic notions about the sea as much as the special ecosystems and challenges (eg. your story about fishing in spawning grounds). Many nuances to become acquainted with an understand.
Daily Log: Things I've found most interesting:
- Fisher Cats live in a shore ecosystem. That must mean the presence of mice and rabbits.
- I didn't hear any Red Wing Blackbirds on our walk today.
- Plum Island is not an end moraine like Cape Cod.
- Six feet to a fathom. I thought a fathom equaled miles.
- I need to play with Google Earth much more. Like everything Google, It's fantastc.
Vocabulary:
- Primary Dunes - Areas that protect the land beyond against flood tides and storm surges. They are held together by the plant life(eg. beach grass) that lives on them.
- Beach Grass/or Poverty Grass - Interesting grass that will colonize all but the shore area, with long roots that form a mat to stabilize the sand.
- Noran Lines - I must not have the correct spelling, but they are the lines other than longitude and latitude on a nav chart.
- Plutons - layered composition of the earth. Specifically for this course, the layered compostion of the ocean floor.
- Upwelling - the transport of deep water to shallow levels.
- Finger Moraine - no definition. Will clear this up tomorro
