Dr. Free-Ride: So, you went on a field trip today to a lagoon.

Younger offspring: Yeah, I went to [Name redacted] Creek and [Name redacted] Lagoon.

Dr. Free-Ride: You know, I’m going to redact the names to protect your privacy. Tell me what you saw on your field trip that was interesting.

Younger offspring: I saw a lot of things on the field trip. Some I didn’t know what they were called. I saw caterpillars, dandelions, cattails, and I have in my pocket some cattail leaves and some tules.

Dr. Free-Ride: So you do.

Younger offspring: (consulting notes made during the field trip in a photocopied “Creek Guide”) Also, I saw poison oak, blackberries, cattails, tules –

Dr. Free-Ride: I think you mentioned those already.

Younger offspring: — other –

Dr. Free-Ride: Other? What “other” did you see?

Younger offspring: Well, I forgot exactly what I saw, but it wasn’t on this list.

Dr. Free-Ride: That’s a good reason to check “other”.

Younger offspring: I also saw a willow tree with a lot of poison oak in it, a cottonwood tree, and eucalyptus, and Himalayan blackberry.

Dr. Free-Ride: I notice on that page that they have different categories of plants.

Younger offspring: The different categories are native creek trees, non-native trees, native creek plants, and non-native plants.

Dr. Free-Ride: Did you talk about those categories?

Younger offspring: Well, we talked about what native and non-native mean. Non-native is not from this state, country, or continent.

Dr. Free-Ride: At least not originally.

Younger offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: But once it gets here, sometimes it does very well, huh?

Younger offspring: Uh huh.

Dr. Free-Ride: Sometimes it has very little competition in the new niche.

Younger offspring: Uh huh.

Dr. Free-Ride: Do you know what a niche is?

Younger offspring: No.

Dr. Free-Ride: It’s sort of like a set of conditions in the environment, a set of conditions that let an organism get what it needs to grow and reproduce.

Younger offspring: I also saw mushrooms, and doves. I heard woodpecker calls and also a turkey call. We also learned how to make the … nut-something woodpecker call.

Dr. Free-Ride: Hmm. Not nuthatch?

Younger offspring: I don’t think so. But it sounded like this. (Does “horse-lips” three times.) Only with more of a whistle.

Dr. Free-Ride: Interesting.

Younger offspring: We also saw a ladybug, an alligator lizard, and a crawdad.

Dr. Free-Ride: Cool!

Younger offspring: And tadpoles.

Dr. Free-Ride: What stage of tadpole-y-ness were they? Were they starting to sprout legs?

Younger offspring: No, they were still fully tadpole.

Dr. Free-Ride: I see.

Younger offspring: And, once we got into their classroom, we got drops of water and put them under a microscope. What I saw in mine was a dead ostracod, some sediment, duckweed, and an Alderfly nymph.

Dr. Free-Ride: Oh, was the nymph alive?

Younger offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: Awesome! But that was the only thing alive in your drop of water, as far as you could tell?

Younger offspring: As far as I could tell.

Dr. Free-Ride: Did other people see different things in their drops of water?

Younger offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: What were some of the other things they saw?

Younger offspring: I don’t know what they’re called, but they’re other types of critters. Also, the dead ostracod wasn’t really small, it was big.

Dr. Free-Ride: What is an ostracod?

Younger offspring: Ostracod, I think, means “big”. [Wikipedia disagrees].

Dr. Free-Ride: So, is it like a bug?

Younger offspring: Here’s a picture.

Dr. Free-Ride: I see.

Younger offspring: You can only see it big under a microscope.

Dr. Free-Ride: So it’s relatively big. It’s bigger than the Alderfly nymph.

Younger offspring: Uh huh.

Dr. Free-Ride: And duckweed — is that a plant?

Younger offspring: Yes.

Dr. Free-Ride: What was the main thing you learned from this visit to the lagoon and the creek?

Younger offspring: We learned about the watershed, and I made a promise. (Reading from the booklet:) “I promise to keep our creeks and watersheds clean and healthy. I promise not to litter. I promise to protect wildlife and the environment. I promise to teach and encourage others to do the same. I will remember our motto, only rain down the storm drain!

Dr. Free-Ride: Wow.

Younger offspring: And now it’s official, I have my badge.

Dr. Free-Ride: So you do. Any other interesting things you saw or learned?

Younger offspring: I saw poo, I saw mosquitos, and I learned that mosquitos lay eggs in the water. And they grow into mosquito larvae, and then they grow into mosquitos and fly away from the water.

Dr. Free-Ride: Did you learn about any critters that eat the mosquito eggs or larvae?

Younger offspring: I think maybe fish do.

Dr. Free-Ride: So, if we got rid of all the mosquito eggs, some fish might end up very hungry.