Small wonder

In the afternoon I went out with my group to help with their research project looking at the impacts of invasive zebra mussels on Campenoma snail fitness. Pretty heady stuff...and one of the best parts about their project we've all agreed is that it involves being out on the lake.

The sun was playing hide and seek with the clouds all afternoon but smiled long enough for us to canoe out to the shallow flats near pine point to collect snails. I'm quite good at this game and in no time we were all digging up snails by hand and muddy foot to plop them in our bucket. Most of them we found were covered in zebra mussels. In fact most any hard structure in the lake now is bound to contain at least a few of these invasive tag alongs. Some of these little snails (about the size of your thumb) were covered top to bottom in zebra mussels far bigger than their own girth. And this is exactly at the root of the question we want to figure out. What sort of effect does lugging around the equivalent of one to 15 stuffed duffel bags on your back have on your "fitness". In other words how does this affect your ability to survive? Well more on that once we get back the results folks. Stay tuned...

For now I'll say the collecting trip was a great success. We found more than enough zebra mussel plagued snails...(poor little guys) and many other interesting things besides. Wading barefoot through the sandy flats the water is clear enough to see and feel many things. The cool suction of mud to the coarse texture of sand and everything it contains. Washed up dragonfly nymph casings, small stones, pieces of driftwood, long abandoned snail shells, and of course zebra mussels covering any object they can get their little non-hands on. Some such clumps of zebra mussel covered mystery contain treasure though as I found out picking up this clam shell. Inside hiding was this sleepy crayfish discovered by my insistent curiosity. I just had to get a better look and so I took my treasure to shore for a picture before setting it back again in the sands...

There are a million lives, a million stories. Played out every minute and every hour. In every nook and cranny. A million little heartbeats. Small wonders everywhere I peer.