RACCOON MOUNTAIN CAVERNS

Yesterday after school we rushed home, loaded the van, said goodbye to Buster and the cats (don't worry, Mr. Nick was coming to stay with them), and headed north to Tennessee. We stopped for our usual leg-stretching dinner in Meridian (read: ChickFilA - the parents eat while the kids run around the playground, then the kids eat in the car), then made it as far as Tuscaloosa, Alabama before stopping for the night (in time to play at the hotel pool before bed). We had borrowed an audio book from the library (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone) to see whether the kids would enjoy it (since they often ask us to read to them while driving, especially on long trips) and also because James was not allowed to play on his Kindle. The audio book was a huge hit with James (even when he didn't look like he was paying attention, he was - he'd comment on things he remembered from when I read the first half of the book to him), and liked/tolerated by Cora (she complained that we didn't listen to any songs). It took the whole drive to Tennessee and half the drive home to finish the novel, and we rewarded the kids with a viewing of the movie when we got home Monday night (which proved Cora was listening even when she was complaining, because she knew exactly what was going to happen at each scene, and hadn't previously read the book with James and I). And we did end up bending the Kindle rule at a couple of the restaurants we visited while in Chattanooga (but never in the car!)

Cabin #2, stage right. Two happy kids on a swing, stage left.

Goats! Adorable, but they made VERY creepy middle of the night noises one night that completely freaked me out. I swear I thought I heard children crying...

We arrived at our campground (Raccoon Mountain) nice and early (before lunch), and our cabin wasn't ready yet (we rented a "camping cabin", cabin #2, which was just a tiny, AIR CONDITIONED cabin with enough room for a full size bed and two twin bunk beds, but no bathroom - it did have a little refrigerator though, which was a nice bonus), so we decided to do their Crystal Palace cave tour first thing.

Cave salamanders! We saw a few of them, different species. There were also a bunch of cave crickets. No bats to be seen though (which is good, I suppose, since there was no discussion of cave visitor sanitation methods to prevent the spread of White-nose Syndrome)

After the cave tour, we checked into our cabin, made lunch (hot dogs and root beer, of course!), and the kids dug around for acorns while we decided how we wanted to spend our first afternoon in Tennessee!

FRONTIERLAND: THRILL SEEKERS AND PIRATES

Gramma needed to rest this morning, so the four of us went out to Magic Kingdom solo and met up with her later at Epcot. We had the big rides planned (AKA FastPasses attained for) this morning, and Gramma knew she couldn't ride Big Thunder Mountain Railroad or Splash Mountain anyway. There's a lot to see and do at Disney, even if you have to skip the jostling (or bumping/jolting) rides, but with it being so dang hot, it just didn't make sense for her to be on her feet waiting around on us when she could enjoy the comfort of the (expensive and not utilized for much more than sleeping) resort. Our first stop was the square in front of Cinderella's castle, where James got his own solo photo snapped. Then it was off to explore Frontierland (with a stop on the bridge overlooking the castle to kiss one of Christopher's treasures and send it flying into the Magic Kingdom).

I think Jay forgot how big that final drop was going to be...

Pretending to be a ghost with the Haunted Mansion in the background. We could hear the ghosts wailing across the water and James couldn't wait until our FastPass - it was his most anticipated (and favorite) ride of the trip!

Shooting the bad guys from the fort on Tom Sawyer's island

While wandering through the caves on the island, James said "Are we in Goonies, or what?!"

Just keeping up with that cotton candy goal...

Checking out the bear claw scratches on the wood floor at Country Bear Jamboree

Taking a short rest on daddy's legs, with my little backpack as a blanket (and it was NOT cold or cool or even pleasant - blankets were not needed, even inside the air conditioned buildings)

We LOVE the movie Tangled! It really is too bad Rapunzel's Tower and her crew are relegated to a bathroom/rest area between Fantasyland and Liberty Square...

Since Pirate's of the Caribbean was closed, we decided to do lunch over there (where there was thus less traffic due to the closed ride). The meal at Tortuga Tavern was good and plentiful! Once again, we were all finished well ahead of Cora, so I took James out to take his photo with some "stoneheads" and cannonballs. We walked out into a small crowd gathered for Captain Jack Sparrow's Pirate Tutorial and joined in just in time for James to be plucked from the audience to go up on stage. The spiel started with instruction by Captain Jack's first mate on how to sword fight, then progressed to Captain Jack's lesson that after a couple stabs, you point over your opponents shoulder and shout "Hey look! There's Blackbeard's daughter!", and when they turn to look, you FLEE! It was really cute, and luckily Jay and Cora joined us in time to see James take his turn center stage.

James was laughing because Captain Jack was teasing that kid about his helicopter hat, asking him if he could fly

Getting scolded for laughing at the captain!

 (Yes, I know that was a lot of pirate photos, but I'm a sucker for Pirate's of the Caribbean, and James had so much fun up there. He even got a certificate for saying the pirate's oath - link to a video of that HERE because it was too long for Blogger - and swearing to serve Captain Jack Sparrow under the pirate's code, making him a true Pirate's Apprentice!)

We jumped on the nearby train after that and rode it all the way around the park back to the front gate

Waiting on the monorail to Epcot and enjoying a little more time in the spotlight...

BAT SEASON

Today I spent the majority of my work day out in the field (about an hour south of Vicksburg, outside of Port Gibson - the town that was "too beautiful to burn"), capturing bats. Last Thursday, our bat sampling occurred at night (as is usual with most bat work), but today we used a different tactic...

A tall mist net secured to trucks and the Jetta in front of a small roost of evening bats (Nycticeius humeralis) under the flashing of the corner of that building. You can see my boss, Rick, taking a bat out of the net, for a height comparison. Most of my experience with mist netting is with birds, for which I've only used regular height nets. Most bat sampling I have assisted with has been done the same way, by netting cave entrances or over streams. The only time I'd used a tall net prior to tonight was on a mammalogy overnight field trip when we netted high across a road.

Bats in bags, awaiting processing (we had to wait for them to deposit a guano sample, to pair with the tiny wing tissue sample we would be taking). Bats used to be stored in cloth bags, but due to the ever increasing spread of White-nose Syndrome and the resulting strict decontamination protocols that now accompany bat sampling, brown lunch sacks it is!

Quickly processing a bat: visually ID the species/gender/age, take a 2.5mm sterile biopsy punch of each wing, let the bat go, collect guano droppings from the bag and cutting board, sterilize the table and cutting board (and set it aside to dry), then start all over (with new gloves, new cutting board, new biopsy punch, new collection tubes) for the next bat

Eric taking a bat out of the net

A method of bat capture I hadn't seen done before... hand-netting under bridges!

Just look at that smile - field work is fun! It doesn't matter if it's 90 degrees and humid, and there are chiggers and mosquitoes all over you - you aren't stuck behind the computer!

Processing a big brown bat (Eptesicus fuscus). Rick was a little nervous handling these guys... they have the largest set of chompers of any local bats, and with the new regulations prohibiting leather gloves (a new set of disposable gloves must be used for each bat processed, and leather gloves are not financially feasible, even on government funds), that thin layer of latex doesn't offer much protection. Don't worry, we're all rabies vaccinated with yearly titers!

Processing a Rafinesque's big-eared bat (Corynorhinus rafinesquii). Are they not the cutest?

Processing bats on the side of the bridge so we didn't have to decon the work truck (since we left the folding table back at the office - oops).

 

This sampling is part of our team's ESTCP study titled "Multifaceted High-throughput DNA Barcoding for Addressing Critical Data Gaps for At-Risk Bats." Basically, we are comparing the quality and quantity of genetic data that we can get from pooled guano samples in a mass sequencing run to single tissue samples processed via traditional sequencing runs. After a series of test experiments this year and next, we'll move on to the demonstration phase. The planned outcome is a simple way for land managers to collect genetic samples (scooping guano from beneath roosts, thereby eliminating the need for capturing bats or conducting population censuses) and quickly receive a plethora of information about the population(s) inhabiting their lands (including species, gender, diet, population size, and overall population health - by testing for the presence of parasites and White-nose Syndrome). Genetic lab analyses are not inexpensive, but when compared to the time (and thus salary) that land managers spend monitoring their threatened, endangered, and at-risk species, we think our method will win. Fingers crossed.