I had a few wants when picking my sit-spot for my blog posts over the semester. 1) I wanted it to be high up or on a hill that way I could see all around me and what animals were there, the trees rustling in the breeze, and bees and insects buzzing all around. 2) I wanted it to be close to my dorm room for more convenient access, sadly I don’t have a car, but if I did, I would probably have left campus to go somewhere else. It would have been exciting to go to a more exotic or off-campus location, but in this case, I am glad not to have a car because I get to see the nature at Hollins in all of its wonder. Also, I chose to sit close to my dorm room in case there was an emergency or something that was happening on campus; I could get back to my room more efficiently. So I chose to sit behind Tinker House because there is really only one footpath and it goes to Randy and none really ever uses it, and there is tons of life around that area from what I observed for my first day. The other question where on this hill would I sit? I wanted to well first find a place with shade so that way I wouldn’t sweat while I was out there. I also had to keep in mind where could I see most of the valley behind Tinker. I was also looking at the things that will change in the coming months from summer to fall to winter. Trees are surrounding me that’s leaves will change color and fall off, the grass may change, and the bug and animal population will probably decrease due to the cold weather.

 

So I picked my spot in the middle of two massive trees which I do not know the species up but before the next blog will have researched both of them to better understand how they will change over the next couple months. Everyone probably reading this is what does make my spot enjoyable? Well, first, I can see everything! I am facing 236 Degrees SW, and can pretty much see what is happening all around me. I went out on Sunday, September 16th, and the weather was probably around 83 degrees with a slight breeze. The sky was a bright blue with a few big fluffy white clouds, and the air smelled like a mixture of horse poop, dirt, and healthy air which smells like nothing.  My spot was directly in front of where I am sitting there use to be another tree because there is a stump where the tree once stood. I did find that quite interesting it is not one of my three things to focus on, but I may focus on it separately to see if when the winter comes does it ice over, or change color, or does it just stay the stump it is.

Also the vegetation was different when it was closer to the big trees around me, which I found was quite interesting. As farther away, you got from the trees the fewer flowers or bright green it became. I do want to find out more why that is because it just fascinated me how the colors, and flowers shifted. That will also be something I want to research more closely to see why that is. A little bit more about my spot I had a friend come out with me who I used her phone as my compass since I 100% didn’t want to be turned on I wanted to be completely turned off. She did notice a difference in temperature when the sun was behind some clouds, and a breeze was going to than the sun was shining down on us, and there was no breeze.  Which makes sense, but the temperature probably drops a couple degrees when that did happen. I did see some incredible animal sightings while I was there. I saw a bunch of different squirrels, heard crows and another kind of bird which I do not know the name of. I also saw and listened to a lot of flies, bees, and wasps around me. They were probably trying to collect that last bit of pollen for the winter.

 

I have to say I am very excited to write my first blog post. This project, I think, will give me time to not only relax in nature but to really give me time to think about the world around me. Last year I did not really get out much, and I didn’t like that. I have to say this time for my blog it was nice to have company because I am not an outside person what so ever and to have someone there to share the same experience with me is an excellent addition. To really sit there and turn myself off from the internet and the world around me was so actually an incredible stress relaxer. I think the spot I chose is perfect for me to observe the whole landscape of behind Tinker and slowly emerge and get accustomed to the outside. I have to say for having a lot of learning problems and distractions that I focused really well outside on the tasks and the questions which rarely happens I am so happy and excited to do this throughout the semester.

 

For my 3 things I deiced that I would pick for my blog post is 1) the big tree and its leaves to see how they change over the semester different colors and when they start to really fall off, 2) I am really interested in the squirrels and how there are so many on-campus and do a lot of them leave once winter comes around I am curious about that 3) The grass I know sounds odd, but I want to see if the grass changes the way it looks when it gets to be a little cooler.