Mono Lake & Yosemite

Hello again... So my last post was my poor attempt to reconnect in blogland. Now that I have access to hubby's computer and therefore all photos from this summer, I guess I can provide at least a bit more visual stimulation.

I think my last vacation post was about our arrival in Wisconsin. I hadn't discussed our trip to Mono Lake etc. So - here are the Cliff's Notes:

July 8th & 9th, 2008

About the time the temperatures were soaring into the 100's in Sacramento, we departed to visit the Eastern Sierras - specifically Mono Lake & the east side of Yosemite. Many of you may remember Mono Lake being the center of attention for many environmentalists back in the 80's. Essentially the Los Angeles basin was diverting water from the tributaries that feed into Mono Lake. As a result water levels dropped & had a negative impact on the ecosystem. Eventually (I'm a science teacher - I can use ambiguous terms for historical dates, like 'eventually') measures were passed to stop the diversion of water with the hopes the levels of Mono Lake will return to normal. Political history aside, the natural history of Mono Lake is very interesting. For specific details, you may want to go here.

The formations you see in the picture above are called Tufa Towers. They are formed over time from the reaction of dissolved calcium from underground springs and carbonates that exist in the lake water. In a nutshell - limestone (Calcium carbonate - CaCO3) is formed in what is called a precipitation reaction. Yes - chemistry in the real world; my students will be thrilled! The towers are so impressive due to the level of the lake dropping as mentioned above.

The chemistry didn't stop there!! The blurry photo above shows Iain holding a piece of pH paper. For those of you who have forgotten, pH paper helps measure the pH (power of hydrogen) or how acidic/basic a solution is. This color is indicative of a pH of 10. On the pH scale (from 0 - 14), pH values above 7 are considered basic. Soap is an everyday example of a basic substance. Soap is slippery - a property associated with all bases. After wading in Mono Lake, you feel a bit slimy & need a clean water rinse.

You might think that a lake that has such a high salinity (I believe Mono Lake is twice as salty as the ocean) and so basic would be devoid of any creatures. Au contraire Mon frere! Check this out:

**Sorry for the sideways video - don't know how to edit & apparently this is how I took the video.

Alkali (basic) flies are pretty neat! They are everywhere! Normally you'd think - gross, I don't want to touch those yucky flies. Apparently the feeling is mutual since you can run through a swarm of these things & it's like the parting of the red sea - the darned flies just get out of the way!! My boys had a field day w/this - running through the flies to watch them scatter. To their delight - I even ate a fly larvae! Crunchy & a bit salty, but not too bad. I ate one after learning that the indigenous people used to eat tons of the larvae as part of their diet - high in protein!!

Fascinating political & natural history. I just love this picture - the two boys totally engrossed in the wonders of nature - so cool!

During this time we also attempted to visit the east side of Yosemite. I say 'attempted' because of this:

If you look close enough, you'll see steam emanating from under the hood.

A quick fix - adding a little lake water... (don't worry - we read the owner's manual & it said under emergency circumstances, water can be added. We think this constitutes as an emergency)
As we were heading up over the pass into Yosemite, the temperature light flicked on letting us know something was wrong. Luckily there was a pull-out nearby & a lake. Turns out all of our coolant had leaked out... not good.

Here's something you certainly don't want to add to your vacation photo collection:

We had the van towed to Mammoth Lake to have a VW mechanic take a look. Turns out a hose popped off & that caused all of the coolant to drain out. Fortunately it was a simple fix - reattach the hose & fill up w/coolant. I guess we'll have to save the east side of Yosemite for another road trip!

Okay - more of our adventures & perhaps some knitting content (must get batteries...) next time. I need to make dinner so my 8 yo will stop climbing in the refrigerator.

Happy Mole Day!

Damn, I'm tired! Why - you ask? Well - today is National Mole Day. We chemistry teachers bill it as the most important day in Chemistry, and East Anchorage H.S., we go all out. Mole day was started by some teachers in Wisconsin to celebrate Avogadro's Number: 6.02 x 10^23 (can't figure out how to make an exponent). A mole is essentially a counting unit analogous to a dozen. If I say I have 1 dozen skeins of yarn, everyone (even non-knitters) know I have 12 skeins of yarn. A dozen always refers to a quantity of 12. The same can be said for a mole, except it refers to a quantity much larger - 6.02 x 10^23 (602,000,000,000,000,000,000,000) So - if I had a mole of skeins of yarn - that would infer I have 6.02 x 10^23 skeins of yarn. Holy Cow!

So - to celebrate, we invite our chemistry students to arrive at school at 6:02 am on October 23. We meet at the front flag pole where we light candles and sing silly songs about Mole Day (Happy Mole Day to You, and We've Got The Whole Mole in Our Hands). After the outside festivities conclude, we move into the warmth of the building (it was 33°F this morning with a light dusting of snow) to enjoy juice, doughnuts, and participate in the Mol-ympics.

We had close to 200 chemistry students arrive at school this morning prior to 6:02. What's our secret (besides the fact they all just love chemistry?) = EXTRA CREDIT! Yup -kids will do just about anything for extra credit points - even wake up before God & come to school. It's a pretty amazing sight to behold. In addition to arriving so early, students also had to create a stuffed mole & enter it in the annual Mole Fashion show. Below you are some of the entries:

Dr. Seuss Moles - One Chem. Teacher is a Dr. Seuss Fan

The "Incredimoles" - This took 1st Place Overall (and I'm proud to say they were created by a student of mine who also dressed the part of the little designer - "No Capes!")

There were some 'punny' moles - like the S'Mole (again - another student of mine!) Isn't this clever?

Moles supporting a good cause were on scene!

Even the "king" was present for Mole Day! (See photo at beginning of blog) I even had a student submit a mole wearing a tiny knit sweater - complete with cables. Too bad I forgot to take a picture of that!

School does not begin here until 7:30. So - we have a bit of time to fill and keep students supervised, thus the creation of the "Mol-ympics". Events included:

"Molesical Chairs"

"6.02 Avocado Relay" - One entry made Guacamole :0)

We launched moles with the "Mole-A-Put"

We also had the "Mole Legged" Race upstairs on the track. Too bad I wasn't there to capture the exciting competition.

In a nutshell - "East High is the place to Mole Things Over". A great time was had by all & I doubt students will ever forget Avogadro's number!

Oh yeah - we start the indoctrination about Mole Day at a very young age. Here are the boys sporting their Mole Day T-Shits. Too bad I forgot to take the camera off of the night scene shooting mode - made for a blurry pic. That's what I get when I get up at 4:30 am.

Ciao - nap time!