Monday, May 24, 2010

Mis Parceles en el Campo

We’ve done quite a bit of field work, installing temperature sensors at all my field sites. My parents arrived with the sensors, and then we found the high-tech equipment with which to install them at the field sites once they arrived here. Our “high-tech” instrumentation involves aluminum tags, a plastic funnel or bottle top, and aluminum foil. The local technicians here call them little sombreros.

After installing some of them at the sites, Juliana came out with us, and we realized that they would be easy bait for the cattle. Apparently underestimating their stupidity, I figured they would nudge them or poke them, but not actually eat them. Evidently I was wrong, as Juliana explained in Spanish, by demonstrating an ibutton in a stomach – and we really aren’t interested in the temperature as a sensor moves through a cow’s digestive system.

So, Plan B was to have Gerardo and company install posts at each of the sites, and we would hang the air temperature sensors from the tops of these. To be safe, they wrapped the posts in barbed-wire (or bob-wire, depending on who you talk to…I’m naming no names) so the cows would be less temped to try and knock the posts over.

Apparently there is no limit to the amount of work Gerardo and his guys will do. They have been extremely kind and gracious, and completely open to any ideas I have about adding work to their schedule. It’s been so nice to have their help, and also Juliana’s, who helps me coordinate all of this.

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