Drippin' and tearin'

While Lyndsie was away at a conference in Canada, Delor and Nate took charge of caring for the channel experiment. This included a lot of tinkering and the fixing of several leaky couplers, because when does anything go our way during field season?

The answer is close to never. But we're flexible!

We are going to see if spray painting the black sections of the cold pipe white will help minimize solar heating of the water and keep the temperature down.

Spray paint also works as sunscreen! Don't try this at home.

The nutrient drippers require frequent maintenance, and Delor has acquired a certain fondness for the tinkering involved.

Her excitement is masked by tubes and exasperation.

To keep the pesky (but really cute) sheep from trampling the tubes, we set up an ominous warning sign.

"Stepping on the pipes is baa-aa-ad for you!"

At the end of the day, an additional field season in Hengill means an additional season of wear on the bank where we enter and exit the river. It's looking pretty worn out, so we have been examining possible side routes that will not result in falling back into the river. In the meantime, we've been keeping our boots on when we leave so we can hop out and lighten the load!

We're really just trying to give that bank the boot!