Category Archives: Snapshots

Random things about us

Day 8: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Group image of Beyond Borders Team members holding up eight fingers for day 8
Day 8

Since we’ve gotten to San Marcos, all it’s done is rain. Today was no different. It was pouring buckets of rain this afternoon, thanks to Tropical Storm Bill.  There are flash flood warnings for this area in effect till the end of the week and tornado warnings in effect for today. This is unusual weather for this part of Texas and I’ve had many Texans tell me that this weather is nothing like the real Texas weather. San Marcos is supposed to be sunny.

Day 8 was spent doing skeletal analyses, while worrying about the laboratory flooding or the roads leading up to the laboratory flooding and trapping us there. Our emergency plan was to bring our work with us to another Texas State University building, so that we could keep working on identifications no matter what.  A little rain isn’t going to stop the UIndy Team. Thankfully, we did not have to use our emergency plan today and we hope that we won’t have to use it at all.

None of us have wanted to venture outside in the rain, so we opted to stay in for the night. We’ve been amusing ourselves by playing around with some of the videos we’ve made since we got to San Marcos. Here are two of our best ones. Enjoy!

Team member Justin swimming in the river
Justin jumps into the river!

Video  1

Texas State University emblem
Time lapse video of our daily journey to Texas State University.

Video 2

Amanda

Day 7

Group picture of Beyond Borders team members holding up 7 fingers for day 7 while at a restaurant
Day 7

Today was our first day doing skeletal analyses at Texas State University.  We are doing the skeletal analyses at the Osteology Research and Processing Lab (ORPL) facility.  This is one of several anthropological research facilities at Texas State University.  Once the individuals were exhumed from the Sacred Heart Burial Park in the summers of 2013 and 2014, about 75 of them were transported to the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF).  As the faculty and student volunteers are able to clean and process the bodies, they are transported to ORPL.  At ORPL the personal items are cleaned and documented and the body prepared for analysis.  The forensic anthropologists then construct a biological profile, which reconstructs the individual’s living characteristics.   The ORPL currently has a backlog of individuals needing forensic anthropology analysis.  That is why we volunteered to visit Texas State, to assist with the skeletal analyses of the individuals.UIndy student setting up some paperwork on an open table

The UIndy team set up it’s analysis station in the front classroom of ORPL.  We brought all the forms and equipment we needed to conduct analysis with us.

Two Beyond Borders Team Members opening a box with paper evidence bags within

Ryan and I are both from Texas.  Our moms both decided to come visit us this evening.  They planned to arrive around the same time to San Marcos and got to the lab in time for a quick tour.  After that we went to dinner and enjoyed a round of half priced appetizers and guacamole, queso burgers.  It was nice to have our moms there for a visit and for them to see what we were doing during our time volunteering at Texas State University.

~KEL

Day 6

Beyond Borders team group photo with 6 fingers held up for day 6
Day 6

Today we took the day off to refresh and prepare for for our upcoming week in the lab at Texas State University.  We spent the morning catching up on emails and blogging.  Justin made breakfast tacos for all of us and then we decided to explore San Marcos.  We started at the San Marcos River.  The water was so cold but so clear and blue.  After that we went to the town square to get Manske Rolls, which are delicious, buttery cinnamon rolls.  While we were in the restaurant a huge storm rolled into town. It rained so hard we were stuck waiting it out.  Once the storms ended, we spent more time exploring San Marcos. For dinner we went to get some good southern food:  Chicken fried steak, chicken fried chicken and fried catfish.  After that we went to bed happy, refreshed and with full bellies.

3 Beyond Borders team members siting on a dock, sitting their feet in the San Marcos River
Dipping our feet in the San Marcos River

Two Beyond Borders team members giving smiles to the camera as they dip their feet in the San Marcos River on a stair platform leading from the sidewalk into the river

Ryan walking back from the San Marcos River barefoot with boots in hand

Beyond Borders team members enjoying Manske Rolls, giving smiles to the camera
Manske Rolls

~KEL