New Year, New Things

I am in a gear upgrade mode this year.  A good portion of my field gear(tent, camp stove, cooler) has seen multiple seasons of hard wear and tear.  While still in good condition, the time approaches that an upgrade would be a good thing.  Spending weeks at a time out of a tent in all variety of weather conditions really puts a lot of stress on the fabric and the supports. There is also the factor of size.  When you are trying to do paperwork or enter date into a tablet or laptop in a tiny tent that also holds all of your gear, it can wear on the sanity pretty fast.  This year I will be dispersed camping at locations so no picnic tables around to do work unless I bring one with.  I very well may splurge on a 3-person tent for this field season just for some extra comfort in the field. 

I am going to get a second loupe for my field kit as well.  I currently have a 10x for seeing close up parts of plants.  Unfortunately, I need a 20x magnification on occasion to be able to identify some plants when certain identifying features are missing. A grumble is always heard from me working through a dichotomous key and get stuck with a "using a 20x lens do you see this feature." 

Current mood: #upgradingweasel