My whole class of employees got laid off when a certain governor took office in Virginia and got rid of all the visiting professors he could. People asked me when I started at my current job if I was coming in with active grants, and I thought it was a joke. I lost valuable years of productivity.

I'm in a similar boat, I graduated with my PhD in mid-2020, before the vaccines were available. The first few years of my career were absolute chaos. I was frequently prohibited from entering labs, from driving to the field, from attending meetings, and so on. I lost jobs due to budget cuts.

This reminds me of the kinds of observations made by @slavojiek.bsky.social

I don't like AC much either, but my main alternative was CA! I do think I might at least run LOI on a few samples of this.

I think the 2nd horizon may have had some fines and organics added since it was laid down as the topdressing. It wouldn't have been pure sand, but mostly, with limits on size classes as an engineered mix. The worms seem to be burrowing deeper, consuming the buried Ap and excreting it on the surface.

That's also assuming the top layer has a low enough carbon content that it's not an O horizon. I'm new to thatch, but it did feel a little greasy and seemed a bit like Oe materials, despite having inherited a fair amount of sand as it formed.

I'm partial to ^A-^AC-Apb-Btb, assuming this field was tilled at some point prior to becoming part of the MSU turfgrass research center.