The Blue Notebook

Almost a month since I’ve posted here, hard to believe it. Well, I did have a nice little contract to keep me busy week before last, with last week to recover. Tonight I worked some on the images from my improptu research project in August, which involved a home-made plankton net, an $80 microscope from the Discovery Store, and a Canon PowerShot S70. Oh and don’t forget A Guide To Marine Coastal Plankton and Marine Invertebrate Larvae, by DeBoyd L. Smith and Kevin B. Johnson.

My certainty level as to the identity of the critters I was able to photograph is definitely in the low range, but then my guide book has a lot of “unknown X,” where X is the probable family or genus. So I don’t feel so bad. This one’s probably a diatom, although it could be one of the annelids. I love the delicacy and grace of the cilia coming off the sides.

It was hard to decide which one to post as a preview. Guess I’ll just have to get my PhotoPress installation up and running sooner rather than later, so they can all be on view.

Whoa! Everything I wanted to know about using and abusing paper products. My inner engineer is so happy: http://www.triplepundit.com/pages/askpablo-napkins-002511.php

 Unfortunately, after reading all this stuff I’m still not sure what to do. No really. La Bonita has already told me she “doesn’t want to be a martyr or an eco-peasant”  and so I’m tempted to stay up late at night worrying about paper towels and paper napkins and plastic freezer bags. On the other hand, maybe it is possible to go too far.

 More later….