Stream Table, Ex-streamly Fun

We all wait in breathless anticipation for sand cliffs to collapse dramatically as the tiny river eats away at the sedement like acid (we're not as bored as we look, seriously, it was pretty ridiculous). The stream table is an interesting tool that geologists use to understand and view how rivers act over a long period of time (while being able to observe a few thousand years in less than an hour). Everyone was enraptured by it and cheered everytime something happened, but finally we all broke down into building our own rivers and cliffs (sort of like a god's playing field!).

electro fishing

it was so much fun we got to where theses waters they were very larg on me but i was able to make them fit ...........anyways this is what you call electro fishing.there was these guys that tell you about themselfs and tell you about electro fishing and he showed us on how to do it so all we had to do was a couple of people hold buckest while a couple people hold nets and the guys was holding a machine that is a shocker and it shocked the fish but dont worry the fish did not die they were in shock but anyways the people that had the nets try to catch the fish that was floating and put them in the buckets and the other thing was that we dont touch the water when the machine was on.

Green Allegheny

Today we went on a tour from Green Allegheny, a program that makes "Green!" changes to the campus. My favorite part of the tour was the Green Roof. This is a beautiful garden on top of the Vukovich Center for Communication Arts. This garden helps attract sun to the building in the winter to warm it up without using a heater. We also saw the herb garden, this is green because you don't burn fossil fuels in going to the store and buying herbs because you already have them. On the tour we saw many ways to help drain rain water. One way is on a hill side there are flowers, hte plants roots help drain some water from flooding the storm drains. Also the pavement had cracks to drain the water. I never knew there were so many ways to make things green.

Games

As soon as everyone arrived, Matt took us outside to play a very fun but embarassing game, Bippidi Boppidi Boo. You stand in a circle and one person is in the middle. If the person in the middle points at you and says "Bippidi Boppidi" you have to say "Boo." But if they say anything else, like Dippidi Doppidi, you don't say anything. And if you do, you're in the middle. Another way to get people in the middle is to say something like elephant and that person has to make and elephant trunk and an elephant noise while the two people on either side of you make ears. Each thing requires three people and a noise. If you or the other two people don't do it, the person who was pointed at is in the middle. Every so often, Matt would add another action. It eventually got really hard.

Before bed we played another game: Catch Phrase. There is a handheld and it gives you a word and you have to get your team to guess the word and when they do, you pass it to the next team. The timer keeps going and it gets faster and faster. If you're holding it while it buzzes, the other team gets a point. We played Boys Vs. Girls. The boys won the first game, but the girls redeemed themselves and won the second game.

College Admissions - The Working Lunch

We got advice for selecting a good college that would really match our interests while having lunch at the same time. The sandwich wrap was pretty good that day and very distracting. After a short wait, Tahirah, our admissions presenter, talked us through the process and gave us ideas to narrow down our college options. At the end, she threw in a trivia quiz about Allegheny college and some things we'd learned earlier in the presentation. Some of us even won prizes like water bottles and T-shirts!

Cool Creek Critters!

After the Creek chemistry we grabbed our Creek kicknets and headed into the cold Creek. In teams, we planted the nets in the muck, two held the nets while the other "danced" to stir the little critters out of there homes. We picked up the nets and laid them out to see all the cool Creek critters we had found. all the nets were full of crazy bugs and some of us even found a few fishys =) The main reason as to why we did this was to see if the water was poluted because some of the bugs were sensitive to polution. we found that the river quality was fair. Go Creek!

"I want one!"

We were like oversized 3 year olds in an oversized sandbox. The stream table was a very exciting activity where we watched a scale version of a creek or river as it evolves. After observing how a river forms a delta and meanders down the path of least resistance, we were allowed to manipulate the stream table. Eagerly, we made tributaries, dams, loches, and other structures to see how rivers form and why they behave the way they do. Rivalries formed over who would get the water for their "projects". Eventually, after learning both about water systems and what we wanted for our birthdays, we packed up to go electro fishing.

Downstream Chemistry!!!

Today (July 19), all of the creekers went to the Downstream of Woodcock dam, to do water chemistry. When we did water chemistry we had to find all sorts of things such as temperature, alkalinity, dissolved oxygen and many more. All in all we found that the downstream is fair quality which is in the middle of the spectrum for creeks. This was a great time to be out in the sun and learning about the creek we had surronding us!

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Goodbye dear friends.

To the 'awesomest' Session I Creek Campers ever.

Make sure to keep checking the blog and see what this week is up to! Also at the end of this week we will post your surprise from the counselors. All of the 'missing' fun pictures are now posted on creekconnections.shutterfly.com too!

Hope everyone had an amazing time because we sure did!
We will miss you dearly.

Love,
The Best Counselors in the World.

P.S. You're all allowed on Awesome Island now
P.S.S. Matt did not approve this message and griped about it later.

P.S.S.S. I also thought you might enjoy this picture

The Cool Reptile and Amphibians

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We had fun look at reptiles and sankes. The picture has people holding a non venimous snake. It was very cool that the person came in and talk about reptiles and amphibans. She also brought them too. I found it interesting that amphibian are like the canaries in the cold mines. If something is bad it kills the amphibians first. I liked the snake the best its was really cool. You could feel their muscels move. It was prettey cool.

Creek Camp 2010 ~I~ Herps

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Creek Camp 2010 ~I~ Herps

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Stars and Satalites

Wednesday night we met astronomer Jamie Lombardi who took us onto the roof of Carr hall to look at the stars and the planets. We looked through his high tech telescope and saw venus and saturn. After that we walked over to the observatory and looked at some stars and constelations. We even got to see a few satalites fly past! One the stars was alberio which was actually two stars orbiting around each other. It was a blast!

Reptiles and Amphibians

Today talked about reptiles and amphibians, like snakes and salamanders. We got to see a Hellbender and a few smaller salamanders like the Northern red, the Redback, a Mudpuppy, and a Red-spotted newt. We also were able to catch two snakes as well, the Northern ringneck and the Eastern milk snake.

Lucky Charms of French Creek

This morning on our canoe trip we stopped several times to look for mussels. The main types were the three ridge mussel whose first three ridges are the farthest apart and formed during thier earliest life stages. I found a lucky species called the rabbit's foot mussel, obviously named because of its peculiar shape. It was mind-boggling the number of mussels that could be found in such a small area.But overall, I think the best part of the trip was the rabbit's foot mussel.Yeah, talk about a good luck charm!!!!! What an awesome day. I hope I can do it again in my creek back at home soon!!

Stars

On Wednesday night we went to see stars, planets, satellites and other celestial body we could find. Our guide was the Allegheny professor Jamie Lombardi. First we went to a building roof to try to locate different bodies. We could see Venus and other planets. Then we left that building and went to the observatory, where they had 2 bigger telescopes. Professor Lombardi showed us some different stars and constelations. Finally he showed us a pair of stars, that were shining in different colors. It was a really nice thing to do...

Canoeing

We went on canoeing. We were on French Creek. I by accident tipped the boat over. We got all wet. We stopped by a little beach thing and learned about mussels and had a water gun fight it was cool. We stopped at another river made beach and was looking for mussels. Then we went back and had lunch.

Hellbenders

The hellbender... is the biggest salamander in the United States. At a length of up to 29 inches, these huge salamanders breathe through their skin and have a very odd way of defending themselves. Finding them was relatively easy, catching them was very difficult. The hellbender excretes a slimy film whenever handled, allowing them to escape even the firmest grip. Despite this fact, we as a group captured eleven total hellbenders with a combination of teamwork and luck. To find a hellbender, you must lift a large rock, wait for the murky water to clear, and then spot them. Once you find them, you have to catch them. This was done by grabbing it, putting it into a net, and then transporting it to the bucket before its’ slippery hide escapes. Some were fortunate enough to catch a hellbender on their first try, others were not, but in the end everybody had fun.

Mushrooms!!!!

We went hunting in the woods tonight for salamander but we found mushrooms also!!! Artist Fungi, a coral fungi, and a stalked fugi that had already released its spores were some that we found. We brought a Artist Fungi back to crave our names into it and keep at creek connections. Though we had gone looking for salamnaders we found much more!!!

Canoe Skills

We learned how to canoe its was exciting. we had a splash war and it was funny. We had a a talk about safety. We learned how to enter and exit the boat. It was amazing