elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (happy)
2010-08-31 08:10 pm

How things are

Things are great!

So far, we have dug on 4 properties - Yellowbird, which has some material on an old property but a lot of disturbance in the accessible areas (4 shovel tests only); The Methodist House, where we had one day... really half a day... to dig, and managed to get 6 tests in), the Old Barry House ,in the old old part of town, around an exposed foundation, up into a gravel yard with lots and lost of chickens and some run down trucks (12 shovel tests), and Java House - another old house currently under historic-minded renovations (6 pits on two short transects where we could find bare yard, the second leading to where they found an old outdoor toilet (in local parlance ;) they have since filled in).

So that's a total of 28 tests! I know some of you who do CRM are probably laughing at such a poor turnover of tests for two people over 8 days of work but hey, we're actually finding stuff! Lots of stuff @_@ Lots of small things that require careful screen sorting - there is *Always* another fish bone, for instance! In addition to the piles of your typical historic small finds (glass, ceramics, bones... not as many pipe stems as you might expect...), we've found a handful of cool more unique things. The first (only @_@) day at the methodist House (MDH, as we call it around here), we found a cool little bone..... thing. It is clearly meant to be held, but its purpose remains enigmatic!

We found a cool pewter broach at the Old Barry House (OBH).... of course, it is in four pieces, but whatcha gonna do? Java House (JVH - do you see a trend here?) was especially kind, and we uncovered an iron, sans handle, the bone handle to some kind of implement, possibly a whisk (two pieces), and a fork! We've also got a handful of cool buttons, though none quite as snazzy as the kissing birds from last year.

In addition to digging the tests, we've also been keeping up with cleaning the artifacts (well, mostly... I think we are only 2 bags behind, just ognore that the last one probably has a hundred fish bones in it -_-), and mapping the sites. It is a fair amount of work, I promise! We're hoping to get one more in, which gives us time to dig, clean and log artifacts, and pack everything up before leaving on Saturday.

Of course, we are in a nice little property, right on the harbour, with a private dock home to probably a dozen different species of fish and other marine life, so there has been some evening swims, the lightning and star gazing, and the three evenings we got to watch the bermuda fire worm bioluminescent mating ritual :D

So that's basically what Catherine and I have been up to... now it is time for BBQ burgers and a dark and stormy. Or, since they have no dark rum and I'm making due with gold, an overcast and windy.

If anyone wants more info... I'll catch you in the morning :)
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (peace)
2009-05-29 10:55 pm

this is your update!

Crazy what all happens in a week away!  I got some good news, but I also got turned down for a grant (NSF) because the guy running it is being a dick >:(  Boo-urns!

On the upside, this week in Opposite World (that's where I tent all ween and come home to civilization on the weekends, you see), I saw:
deer
fox
frolicking baby cows
no frolicking older cows
wild turkey (animal not liquor)
a hawk catching a snake
toads
lizards
a very sad and lonely Barbados ('Barbie') sheep
some vultures and buzzards
various song birds
...probably more that I can't remember.

I also dug some perfectly square holds very slowly, and got to play in the dirt, looking for pieces of razor sharp rock by mashing my hands in to mud.  Now I am very tired.  Six more weeks!


...anyone want to beta a STXI Romulan fic for me?
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2009-04-03 09:24 pm
Entry tags:

DEETZ! >:|

Rural peasants represent the true heart of colonial America?

Piss off with that crap :p

Oh and you too, Glassie, with your idolization of craftsmen.

*shakes fist*
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2009-03-05 08:32 am

hmm hmmm hmmm....

Dr. Waters asked me if I'd like to come back and do Buttermilk again this year. I could use the money, that's for sure!

But then I'd need to find some one or some place to take Jola for at least the weeks (home on weekends) when I'd be gone, and it is a 7 week season. Plus, even if it ends in July, I am probably going to need time to get my own shit together... but it will be good for me to have already been in the field that summer also, so I'm not all rusty and confused :p

Well, I'm going to e-mail and check the dates with him at least. TBH, I'm happy enough that he asked me back :) I must have half a clue what i am doing after all :V
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (arrrchaeology)
2008-08-05 04:16 pm

D:

I have to admit, I continue to be intimidated by some of the people I'm deaing with for my dissertation research. I jokes about the German movie producer (still no word from him!) but there are other scary names on the list.

But they've been encouraging and enthusiastic to date, so hooray?

Although I haven't gotten much form my follow up letters.... But that's more to read and think about.
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (arrrchaeology)
2008-08-01 07:44 pm
Entry tags:

The day I stole Daniel's Titling Style

Its infections. I keep wanting to make posts title 'The day I did X'. Today would be 'The Day I e-mailed a German movie producer and asked if I could dig holes in his lawn.'

Today I finally got off my kiester and e-mailed Harbour Island property owners about permission to investigate their properties. I sent out about 25 e-mails, for properties I thought had potential and that i could find contact info for. I have had about 5 'yes I'm interested' or more enthusiastic replies already. One guy called me on the phone, which I was not expecting when I woke up out of my nap when the phone rang :V Still he owns 2 and a half places I'd like to look at, so score! Another guy just responded to my intro letter by saying "No problem!" I think I'll ask him if he wants more info, although he didn't specifically ask for it. His blanket acceptance confuses me!

I realize that I'm most likely to get any positive responses pretty quickly, but still, I'm feeling very encouraged. So far, most of the respondents are clustered in what i suspect will be a very productive area. So, score!

I also e-mailed some of the bahamas archaeology peeps to get things sorted there. they want me to have an advisor type person who's worked in the Bahamas before, and i'm getting that worked out now. So really I've spent half my day e-mailing for my dissertation and I feel very productive! i just have one more follow up e-mail to send, for now, and then I'm off to work on my August Writing stuff for the day. Hooray!

Still no response from the German movie producer. I'll let you know :V
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (arrrchaeology)
2008-07-31 10:48 am

initial intro letter re-draft

Following [livejournal.com profile] slapperfairy's suggestions I'm going to start with an initial short letter. What I've got so far is this, which I would probably just send as an e-mail.

Dear so-and-so... )

I've also now worked on the expanded info letter - broken down in to sections to make things a bit clearer, I think.

Expanded info letter )
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-07-30 10:23 am

a little bit of role-playing for my f-list

Lets pretend that you own an expensive property that you occasionally rent out to peeps for a week or so in the summer for tons of cash. What woulod you think of a letter like this? And how can I make it better?

Dear so and so.... )
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-07-11 10:45 pm

@_@

I find I am in a weird headspace after coming back from the field tonight. Last week was different, as I was kind of unexpectedly thrust into fun social things, whereas tonight i collected my puppy, came home, and have been a vegetable since. I haven't had dinner because I really have no fod here but can't be arsed to go nd get anything and don't want anything I could get through take out. I skimmed LJ, as I did last week, and saw a number of things of interest that I'd really like to respond to.

This weekend is going to be really different as I am already slotted to do a ton of gaming (err, different from last weekend, that is, not different form *usual* :p). If I had my druthers I'd like to see Hellboy II at some point as well, but I suspect it will have to wait until later. Wow, in retrospect, i think I am supposed to game pretty much all weekend. well, good thing I didn't have any other plans :p

...I don't feel like I am really up to communicating the state of my brain right now - maybe I ought to just go to bed and worry about it tomorrow.
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (arrrchaeology)
2008-07-06 03:07 pm

Take two!

I started to wrte something about my week but got all kinds of distracted. We'll see how it goes this time!

Living in a tent is going well - it helps that Texas is pretty dry. that said, it was supposed to rain this weekend, so we'll see how well my stuff fared. It's beet pretty warm at night (30 Celsius - I don't have my thermometer clock set to Fahrenheit so I can't help ya there).

There are two blocks open atm, both are just about a meter deep (90 some cm. I don't have my notes here for precision ;p). I'm in block A, moving around through various 1x1m units, some of which have nothing in them, some of which have some flakes and occasionally other exciting artifacts. We found a strange bifacially flaked tool of some sort, which we called the Chunky Monkey. It looks like it was made by a ten year old. The Block B peeps have found a couple of (mostly unfinished) Clovis points, and another biface suspected to be pre-clovis. We've also found a couple of what look like (fragments of) teensy blade cores of some sort, as well as some quite small flake blades (we in this case means me and Becca - we also excavated the Chunkey Monkey, but someone else had found it first. We didn't know what it was until it came out of the ground, though).

The site itself is actually an alluvial deposit - this is stuff washed in to a river (well creek, now) bed that has migrated around inside the little valley where we're digging. The deposit we're digging has been dated geologically (I don't know the specifics) to around 15000 BP, which means the stuff inside it should, theoretically, be of age with it. However, the clay tends to dry out and create deep crotovinas (sp) and vertic (verdic?) cracks, which lets stuff fall down in from later deposits. For example last week we also found an archaic point - whoops! This later material is generally found in a darker black soil or in association with crumbled limestone, so it is easy (well, easy-ish) to tell if your stuff is intrusive. We don't map the soils every level, but it is enough to see the changes in the site overall - as I said, it's pretty deep. And of course you do note all the important stuff in the paperwork and map all artifacts, and there are two photos of every unit per level.

All our dirt is wet screened with water recycled from a little pond nearby, which an be pretty messy. We 1/4" screen everything, and keep all artifacts. We also take a 25x25cm sample from the south west corner of every level and screen that through 1/8" mesh and keep everything save the soil for later testing.

So yes, very slowly digging a very deep hole! That's what I've been doing! I found out that we don't have to backfill, though which is a relief, because as I said, those pits are pretty deep.... and we washed away all our dirt! Apparently they'll bring in someone with a backhoe later to fill in this year's trench.

We have three breaks - one at 10:30 for snacks and hydration, one at noon for lunch and hydration, and one at 2:30 for hydration and, if peeps want, freezies (a.k.a. icy pops). People are on rotation for organizing these things, and I was on snack/lunch duty last week. Dinner is at or around 6:30, and peeps volunteer to cook. Last week we ate really well, and this week sounds promising as well! If they still need peeps i might volunteer to cook the last week.

There are showers, and I usually take mine after we end for the day around 4:30 and before dinner if I can. After that I might read for a bit, and hang out, etc. I usually go to my tent around 9. Then I'll write for a but and go to sleep between 9:30 and ten, to wake up shortly after six and start work at seven!

And that's my week :)
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (nice ass)
2008-07-04 04:14 pm

Real Showers! real Toilets! Ahh, civilization...

they let us out early today account of it being some wacky American holiday or something. I don't know what the big deal is - we spent all of Canada sitting around very slowly digging a meter and a half deep hole looking for funny rocks ;)

In any case, I'm home on time to get in on some celebratin', so happy belated 1st to all my Canucks, and happy 4th to all my 'Merkins ^-^

I'm off to have some Jola visitation rights, and see some peeps! 'Tis a small world though, turns out my digging partner used to be in the cam here and roomed with [livejournal.com profile] ruby7829. Madness!

Anyway, I'm clean, and I'm home, but I'll be *in* later. hopefully my hand and shoulder can recover a bit over the weekend, and it won't rain too hard on my poor little tent.

See you all in a bit, and I'll tell you about the dig :)
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (arrrchaeology)
2008-06-29 02:46 pm

Where are you going again?

I realized I haven't said much about it really...

I am going to be away until sometime Friday night, working on a project out at Buttermilk Creek, about 2 hours away from here. It is a Paleoindian site with a Clovis and possibe pre-clovis component. Apparently they are through the Clovis deposits now, and last week the found a biface (spear point, to use the vernacular, although that's a huge generalization and probably not correct at all - I'm not going to go in to it here ;p) in a layer that they lnk dates to around 15000 BP. i don't know what they're basing the dates on, but I'm guess they're going by general stratigraphy. I really don't know many of the details beyond that. It's a phase three though, which is why I'm going - I need the digging experience.

I'll be back on the weekends and have no plans at the moment, though I am assuming there is Faust on Sunday?

I'm nt going to have the internet, or even my laptop while I'm away, so don't miss me too hard ;)
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-06-29 10:08 am

To do

I'm mostly ready. I just have a few more things to take care of.

-breakfast
-Arrange mail hold
-finish and send off abstract
-Get Jola's things together (esp food, note, treats)
-go to the store and get TP and unscented deodorant
-bake cookies if you have time (check ingredients)
-wash dishes
-see if there is time for Dr. Who!
-find and load ipod D:
-water plants
-pay rent

-tidy house - working on it
-maybe vacuum? (too many easily freaked dogs :p)
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (to do)
2008-06-27 08:50 am

List

My day is going to have to be pretty tightly organized, it seems

I was walking Jola this morning, and I
noticed that she had a big squishy sac of fluid (I believe) in her abdomen around her sutures. So, since we were halfway there already, i marched her straight to the vet! The tech I talked to shares my suspicions, so i left her with them - they said they'll drain it, and it shouldn't be back. So hopefully that's all it is, anyway - it certainly didn't seem to bother *her* in the least, even when I was poking at it. They'll call me this morning to go pick her up... which means I don't get to go in to school until later.

meanwhile:

laundry
check my camping lantern

This afternoon, I need to:
pick up both my inhalers
go see the center for the Study of the First Americans peeps about getting paid! (yay paid!)
saw a tent pole
make a letter for my Jola sitters in case of any emergencies


I'd also like to:
print some HI maps, and some other things, on the large format scanner upstairs

I might have to:
stop by ISS and ask about how much I'm allowed to work over the summer -I think it does go up to more than 20 hours. - e-mailed peeps, stuff is in the works. Huzzah!
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (fawn)
2008-06-26 09:28 pm

This mission was a success! This is the way!

Yarr, me and my power walking ways were able to still bookit all around the almost three miles from the drop off point on the bus route to the intersection with a crosswalk, back track to go to *two* sporting goods/outdoor equipment stores (should have followed my instincts and just gone to Gander Mountain first, although I'd never been in there), and still get to the theater well on time for the movie. I didn't think I was going to make it, and spend a lot of time cursing College Station. The whole adventure was over 4 miles of speed walking, if you count trying (succeeding) to make the 5:40 bus to get back, and the slower paced meander back from HEB. Slightly slower, anyway - I was kind of on a role with rushing at that point. I needed salt, also, so I bought a bag of salt and pepper kettle cooked chips at HEB and ate them all. I could barely taste the salt, but so much for the calories I might have burned during my jaunt! Still I think it demonstrates a pretty decent level of fitness...

Then I got in, took down my tent (which was blowing around all over the place - I'm glad I set it up where I did, as it was basically trapped between two buildings and a fence), and sat down to breathe a bit. And then I took Jola for a relatively short walk. I think she'll forgive me, all things considered ;p Afterwards was a shower that accidentally began with a bath. My feet were literally *black* in places. And since then, puttering.

Still! I have tent pole kit thing (I bought two but will bring one back eventually). It will do exactly what I need once one of the segments has a bit of a heart to heart with a hacksaw, which I hope I can borrow from the department.

I also saw the Hulk! It was smashy fun!

I also just took cinnamon blueberry biscuits out of the oven! Just this very second! I will commence the consumption forthwith. And then take it easy...

Oh! I am going to get paid for Buttermilk! So, extra score! :D
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-06-26 12:32 pm
Entry tags:

Damnit!

One of the segments of one tent pole is shattered. I have it wrapped with duct tape atm (just for the next few hours while the waterproofing spray dries and the tent aerates) but I don't think that is gonna hold :p Argh! I don't know where I can get new ones, but I'm looking in to it now.... However I need it by Sunday and have no car :p Also, the screen has holes in it (also patched with duct tape - there really isn't anything it can't do).

How did this even happen! It was fine when I put it away, like, um.... 4-5 years ago? -_-

Looking at stuff on Amazon but how do I know if it will fit? D:

Argh!

ETA: The Plan:

1:47 - bus in to campus
2:00 - bus to the mall
2:10-3:10 - Academy sports, crossing my fingers, also, travel
3:10 - the Hulk
catch 5:40 or 6:10 bus back the HEB
walk home from there, hopefully after getting some tent parts and seeing a good flick
Walk Jola late, take down tent after experimenting with poles
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (dark wings)
2008-06-26 11:30 am

What the hell people!

Stop havng life changing accidents and what not, seriously!

My friend Will from school punctured his ear drum - he finds out tomorrow from a specialist whether or not he'll ever be able to dive again. Considering that he is a nautical archaeologist, it is kind of an important thing for him to be able to do. Also I assume there is some kind of permanent hearing loss associated? D:

Meanwhile, my friend Tony has some kind of horrible infection in his leg/foot and might need to get it amputated. D:

I hope things turn out for the best for both of them. it sounds like Tony is on the mend at least, so hurrah!

In any case, i am trying to poke through my Bahamas stuff, and get ready for Buttermilk, which i go to this weekend, in theory. So, here is a list:

Set up and spray tent
Print maps
Call katherine to make sure I still have a ride
Call [livejournal.com profile] cheez_ball to set up Jola arangements
Laundry
Order other inhaler
Pick up inhalers

I'm sure there is more but I keep getting distracted! Off to set up my tent...
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-06-14 09:57 am
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-06-09 01:04 pm

Meeting

Meeting went well, so now I'm trying to do a little bit of follow-up stuff. I have some names for people I ought to talk to, and if I'm lucky I can do that this afternoon. I just finished lunch, so I'm gonna work on that now. I want to send a letter to one guy on HI who may be able to help. Yaaay!

I have my tickets to HI, and I have purchase a travel alarm, so score on that front!
elanya: Sumerian cuneiform 'Dingir' meaning divine being/sky/heaven (Default)
2008-05-23 01:55 pm

Quick Note

So, asuming I can find someone to look after Jola during the week for three weeks, or several someones, even, I am going to go volunteer at the Buttermilk Creek excavation this summer in July. Clovis and pre-clovis stuff, wooh! It'll be nice to get into the field. I'll be gone sunday night to friday night. Which conveniently wo't interfere with any of my current games :V

Now I am going to go take J to the vet to get weighed, then its back to school and do some more drawing and maybe talk to Wayne, and some other stuff... wooh!

ETA: Jola now weighs 26.3 lbs! <3