Thursday, June 26, 2008

June 26, 2008

Been a while since I've written. Things have been pretty busy here.

On Sunday Gerry and Derke came to start testing the Cicada's. We spent a good hour trying to decide if they could even find a spot to set up their equipment that would be quiet enough. In the end they decided the basement would be the best spot. We did some rearranging and made them a great spot to work. Megan Morse was a lifesaver and spent most of the morning and a good part of the afternoon playing with Danny, and keeping him busy so I could help bring in the equipment and make sure they guys had everything they needed. They stayed until almost 10pm that night working to make sound and laser recordings of the cicada's calling through all 3 stages. The process involved first finding a male, then clipping it's wings off to expose the tymbals, the organs inside the Cicada that actually makes the noise. Next took some trial and error, they tried spray adhesive, and water, to no avail. They just mucked up the tymbals. Someone suggested KY, and it worked like a dream. They put a small amount of KY on the tymbals then sprinkle glass beads on top to give the laser something to reflect off of. I spent some time with them in the basement helping out over the course of three days. One day my job was to make sure the laser was aimed precisely on the tymbal by watching the lights on the laser machine, the next I was in charge of turning the sound recorder off and on in sync with the Cicada's call. It was lots of fun, and I'm glad to have been a part. Mike got home about 7pm on Monday night from a great time at the Woodturners symposium and Dad's. The guys in the basement had spent the better part of 5 hours trying unsuccessfully to move the data from the laser and sound machines over to their laptops. So while Mike was having dinner after his long drive I told him of the problems going on in the basement. He went down, took a quick look, plugged in his laptop and within 5 minutes had all the data downloaded to his computer. He really is amazing sometimes! He spent a little while checking out the tests, he understood much more then I did! The guys finished their testing on Tuesday just as the kids were waking up from their nap.
Wednesday Emily had off work, she hasn't been feeling well and had a couple of swollen lymph nodes on the back of her neck so I took her into the doctors. He ordered a blood test for mono and since she was having blood taken he ordered a CBC as well. She was very nervous and actually cried just before she drew the blood. Danny was great and told Emmy to hold his hand. When it was over I asked her if it hurt, and she said "My bee sting hurt more" I hate fear of the unknown! We came home, Danny napped then we went to see Kung Fu Panda before Emily's Ortho appt at 4:15. Emily was happy to hear that her braces will be coming off on her next visit. I can't wait to see what she looks like without them!

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