Category Archives: Snapshots

Random things about us

Day 8

Community, Snapshots

Group photo with 8 fingers up and dirty clothes

It was another early morning for the UIndy team. We got to the cemetery before sunrise and moved loose dirt in our quadrant by flashlight. Overall, today was an amazing day in the field. I would have to say it was the most productive so far. I don’t know what was different about today than other days, but the Baylor students came together as a team and cleared three of their quadrants. The site was relaxed and the students worked with efficiency and confidence. We are really proud of the amazing job they did today! We have two days left and we are confident that if we continue on this pace we will be able to complete this area of the cemetery.

Burials being worked on with shovels while other team members sit in the background and Erica sits front and centerFor the UIndy team, the best part of the day came in the evening when we were invited to the La Mota Ranch by Peggy and Bill Clark. We had the pleasure of meeting the Clarks when we were in Falfurrias last summer and they were gracious enough to invite us to their home for a swim. La Mota is a 300 acre ranch and Peggy is a descendent of the founder of the town of Falfurrias. The few hours we spent at La Mota were exactly what we needed! It was a time to relax and clear our heads.

Ryan lays in a hammock with a yellow dog and a brown and white dog by his side Peggy told us a story about a migrant that came to their door on Sunday. He was a young man from Guatemala that told her he was lost and had been walking for three days with no food or water before he collapsed on her front lawn. She said they gave him water and peanut butter crackers and called Border Patrol to come and help him.  She said she gave him a new shirt because the one he was wearing was full of sticker burrs. But before giving her the old shirt he reached inside and unpinned a small charm of the Virgin Mary and attached it to his new shirt. He then passed out on the front lawn and Peggy checked on him regularly because she was afraid he would die there. This is what the people of Falfurrias are dealing with everyday and with each story we hear we don’t know how they can deal with death and broken dreams on a daily basis.

Peggy and Bill told us many other stories. We learned more about the ranch and their  families. Peggy’s family founded the town of Falfurrias and started the creamery that makes Falfurrias butter. We talked about the weather, and the plants and animals native to the area. They had 10 baby peacocks (peachicks) on the ranch and we got to see them. They were adorable and not what I expected a peachick to look like! All in all a very relaxing and special evening for the team.

Group picture in nicer clothes with Bill and PeggyFor a short news feature about our work, please see this piece by Nadia Galindo: http://www.valleycentral.com/news/story.aspx?id=1055564#.U5Z6_CjyS1g

~KEL

The Critter Getter

Environment, Snapshots

For those of you who don’t know me very well I want to let you in on a little secret, I’m kind of a nerd.  OK, maybe a little more than kind of a nerd.  I have always loved biology, especially those creepy-crawly things that normally terrify others.  Here in south Texas there are plenty of little misunderstood creatures all over our dig site.  Usually, people’s first response to something like a tarantula in their excavation hole is to smash it with a shovel.  I would hate to see any harm come to them out of misplaced fear and ignorance, so I have tasked myself as the resident “Critter Getter.”

My "Marshmallow" Toad
My “Marshmallow” Toad

Since I have been here I have liberated countless spiders, including dozens of tarantulas and a few brown recluses (I usually don’t tell anyone about the brown recluses for fear of dangerous freakouts).  I’ve also freed a few snakes, dug out a fire ant hives, and shooed away a bevy of other bugs from the clothing of my fellow excavators.  I usually don’t have the free time to photo-document every beautiful bug or splendid snake that I find, but occasionally I’m allowed to geek out about geckos and capture some caterpillars.  So if you will, come with me on a Tour-de-Nerd of some of the local creatures that inhabit Sacred Heart Burial Park.  I will spare you the spiders and scorpions, and only show some of my lesser seen friends.  I ensure you that none of them can hurt you, at least not via the internet.

The Silver Serpent
The Silver Serpent

Day four was the day of toads.  We were able to save about seven of these adorable little marshmallows, and move them into a safer section of the cemetery.

Day six contained the widest array of critters.  We freed a couple small silver snakes.  These snakes were so small that even Erica managed to find them charming (Get it?  Snake-Charming?).  I also happened upon a patch of small caterpillars.  This little beauty will later metamorphose into a pipevined swallowtail butterfly.  Ryan also managed to help me capture a tiny whiptail lizard, which was no small feat considering how fast they are and how tired we were.

I hope you never change, caterpillar.
I hope you never change, caterpillar.

My favorite find happened yesterday.  This lovely lady is the larval stage female from the family Phenogodidae, better known as a glow worm.  In this stage of their life, the females are predators of other insects like centipedes and ants.  Best of all, they are bioluminescent, meaning they glow at night!

Green lizard looking at the camera out of a yellow glove
Tiny Whiptail Lizard

I don’t expect everyone to care about my little pals in the same way that I do, but I do hope that they might make a little effort to understand them.  It is not unreasonable to fear spiders and snakes (in fact it is often wise), but here in South Texas we are invading their homes.  They likely fear us more than we do them.  Next time you find one of these tiny buggers, admire it instead of reaching for the shovel.  You might be surprised at how truly amazing they actually are. ~Justin

Orange and black caterpillar
The Glorious Glowworm

Justin

How to Bulk Up In 10 Days: The Field Workout Program

Snapshots

A week in, our muscles are finally starting to feel pretty sore. We’ve been shoveling, troweling, lifting buckets of dirt, pouring buckets of dirt, and moving equipment around all day. I got to thinking about the amount of work we’ve been doing and decided to put some math to work (with whatever part of my brain that isn’t fried from the heat) to get an idea of how much work we’ve been doing.

Each quadrant in our overall grid measures 4 meters x 4 meters. As of today, we have finished one entire grid and half of another grid (we have to give credit to Team 3 of Baylor for helping with much of our first grid, some of the remains they exhumed crossed into our grid too). Our standard is to remove at least 80cm of dirt before digging small test pits to about 100cm and probing down to 140cm to look for deep graves. So, I made some calculations based on our above standards.

With a depth of 80cm, each grid measures 12.8 cubic meters. A quick Google search reveals that the average weight of a cubic meter of soil is about 1600kg, or roughly 3,530lbs (the dirt we are moving is much more compact, however, and so 1600kg is likely an underestimate). That means the total weight of the dirt removed from each grid is about 45,150lbs. If we divide that equally between the six of us, assuming we’ve each moved the same amount of dirt, that comes out to 7,525lbs of dirt moved per person.

Of course, there have been artifacts and remains in the dirt that take up some space, but we’ve also been helping out with every other grid and have moved quite a bit of dirt in the demonstration and assisting processes. I decided to see what adding 20cm of dirt per cubic meter meant for total weight of dirt moved. With a depth of 1 meter, each grid measures 16 cubic meters, bringing the total weight of dirt for this volume to about 56,440lbs of dirt per grid. Divided between the six of us, that comes out to about 9,406lbs of dirt moved per person.

We’ve honestly probably moved more dirt than that. Not only do we move dirt out, but we also relocate our dirt piles to access other grids. But I think that we can safely assume that each of us has moved at least 7,000lbs of dirt so far. No wonder our muscles are sore.

Our friend Stevie of Team 5 from Baylor has decided that this normal amount of work just isn’t enough to satisfy her need for fitness, so she has created several exercises that can be done at the field using our equipment. She calls them her CrossFit Moves of the Day:


Team member squatting with a shovel over their shoulders and 5-gallon buckets on either side of the shovel Team member squatting holding a bucket in their hand, their arm fully extended up Team members standing with 5-gallon buckets lifted to their chestsStevie is just one of the many people from Baylor who inspire us and keep us going. You’ll never find her quitting because her constant drive to challenge herself and push herself to the limits drives her harder and harder with every day, all with a smile on her face. We’ve learned so much from these students, and it’s students like Stevie that keep us trying to better ourselves so that we can do the best job we can. Moving 10,000lbs of dirt is child’s play with Stevie’s attitude.

Ryan