I signed us up for Water Quality Monitoring of our own little Herkimer Creek through the Otsego County Conservation Association. Once a month we (meaning Friend Erin, Husband, and me) have to take water samples from the middle of the creek and then process them back at the house for dissolved oxygen, pH, nitrate, and orthophosphate, among other things.
The chemistry bit back at the house is fun, but time consuming. A lot of mixing in 8 drops of this and that, dissolving tablets, matching colors... Some wine drinking might have taken place while the samples were being timed... About 2 hours total for the science lesson.
The collecting water samples part is no problem at all in nice weather, but the weather was not so nice yesterday. Erin is in warmer climates until March (lucky Erin!) so it was just me and the Hub. It was 16° and snowing lightly, but more snow was predicted for today, when it is a balmy 28°, so we decided to give it a go yesterday. This part takes about a half hour.
What I learned:
1) My new waterproof gloves are not waterproof at all.
2) Cold fingers do not function well when trying to fill a small bottle with all water, no air, and then screwing the tiny cap back on while still under water. (and if you lose the cap, you're screwed :)
3) Cold fingers hurt like **** when they are thawing out.
4) Winter is not my friend. Here's hoping that February will not be so brutal. Or that it will be so unfriendly that we have to call off the sampling.
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