In the field

Every summer now for the last four years, Ryan's been "out in the field." To us, those words mean he's in some remote area studying fossils or geology. I usually stay in Portland, except for the one summer I joined him in Canyon City, Colorado, where I too worked "out in the field." But that's another story.

When asked where the field is, the typical answer is "out in eastern Oregon." It sounds vague, and its meant to be, as the man covers a lot of ground east of Portland.

This weekend I joined him "in the field out in eastern Oregon." I covered 750 miles in three days. We camped by night and looked at outcroppings by day. And, lets be honest, he looked at outcroppings. I stayed by the shade, in the car, with a cold beverage and my magazines. I don't even know what an outcropping looks like.

Though I'm glad to be home and showered, I'm also glad I tagged along this weekend to "help". I have a new respect for field work, as it is a very physical, labor-intensive job usually in remote, hot places involving climbing ladders and gathering large rock samples into zip-lock baggies. Its dirty work, folks, but someone's gotta do it.