Chocolate-eating mice, Banff hot springs, and wading in Barrier Lake

It’s getting harder and harder to come up with new material for all of you to read, but I will do my best. I have three brief things to mention this week.

Chocolate-eating mice: At the beginning of the week, we were visited by two girls from Europe who are working with mice as well at the other University of Calgary field station. One girl is from Switzerland and the other is from the Netherlands. We shared ideas from our own respective projects and gave them advice on theirs. To thank us for our help, they left us some delicious Swiss chocolate. Crisia and I ate most of it since Nikhil doesn’t like dark chocolate. One of the pieces of chocolate was left out on the desk in our trailer by accident. A couple days later, I found it and noticed that it had little teeth marks all around the edges. It would appear that in addition to eating dead bees (Nikhil killed a huge bee, and it disappeared before anyone could throw it out), the mice in our trailer also eat chocolate. I hope they didn’t get sick.

Banff hot springs: Nikhil’s girlfriend Ashlynn came to visit him this week, so for the most part he was off with her while Crisia and I spent a lot of time accomplishing nothing back at the field station when we weren’t trapping. I think I spent most of this time napping. Friday night, when Nikhil and Ashlynn were in Calgary, we decided to go to the Banff hot springs because we had a day pass into Banff for one of our cars that would expire at the end of June. Just as we were getting ready to leave, we couldn’t find the pass. We thought that maybe Nikhil took it with him in his rental car because he had gone there earlier in the week, so we spent most of the evening cursing him. We decided to go anyway because we were already ready, and Kurt and his friend Denise were waiting for us. Tracy couldn’t come because her parents were visiting.

It turns out that without the pass, it costs $17.80 to spend a day in Banff national park, which is absolutely ridiculous. Because I was forewarned, I knew what to expect at the hot springs. This doesn’t mean that I wasn’t disappointed when I got there. When I think of hot springs, I think of a very natural setting with cliffs surrounding a pond of sorts. What we got looked like a pool. Although the atmosphere itself was rather disappointing, the pool itself was very relaxing and kept at 39 degrees Celsius. If you could see through the steam without your glasses, you could see the mountains in the background. It started to rain while we were there, so that made it feel even nicer. We were lucky that it wasn’t crowded. Apparently sometimes there is standing room only. I guess it’s not high tourist season yet.

When Nikhil came back, we had determined that he didn’t have the pass into Banff either. The only thing we can think of that may have happened to it is that when Paul, Crisia’s friend, came to visit, he left it in his rental car when he returned it. Since Nikhil had to pay when he went, and we used it to go to the springs, and Crisia went to Banff with her friend Meghan yesterday, we have spent almost $60 to simply enter Banff between all of us. I will also be going in again when Eliott comes next week (yay for Eliott coming and boo for spending another $20 to go into Banff).

Wading in Barrier Lake: I woke up this morning to the sight of snow falling. At the field station, there were huge chunks of snow falling and just barely sticking. Five minutes away from the field station, Crisia had to kick around snow to locate her traps, while her car was buried in even more snow as plows went by. Crisia, Kurt, Denise, and I were bored during the day since none of us could do any work, so we decided that since it was so wet out and since there was only so much amusement to be had from rolling around in desk chairs, we would test out the thigh waders that are hanging in the lab. For those unfamiliar with what those are, they are rubber boots that go up to the thigh often used to wade in shallow water. The waders in the lab varied between size 10 and 11 for men, which made them very interesting to walk in. We also borrowed raincoats from the lab, so we all looked like complete dorks (well more than usual anyway). We spent a lot of time splashing around in puddles and swampy areas next to the road. Before we even got to the lake, Denise sunk into the sand past her knees. It took us maybe 45 minutes to get her out. We found places to go into the lake without sinking, which was fun. Kurt and Denise found rocks to skip, and Crisia found out that we could seesaw on newly exposed logs. All in all, it was a very amusing time. If I get the pictures from this, I will put them up.

Potluck, Orthodontist, and Pirates

On Tuesday, some of the other researchers hosted a potluck for all the researchers who were around. They are from the University of Calgary, so we don’t see them around very often since they have to option of going home occasionally. The food was excellent. Since we brought half of the party with us, we also brought half of the food. Crisia and I made some cupcakes from a box. Paul and Tracy helped with the icing. Nikhil made his signature curry chicken. Edith made her famous brownies, and Kari made a strawberry and spinach salad. Tracy made banana bread even though she promised us potatoes, and Kurt made his famous homemade bread.

Kim, Darryl, and Amallia were there. Amallia put on quite a show by singing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star and the ABCs. She also Care-Bear-stared us for good measure. Our hosts were Hilary, who studies ungulates, Joanna, her sister and field assistant, Tyler, whom I think studies beetles, and his field assistant Josee. Although Hilary and Joanna are sisters, it is hard to tell because Hilary is tall with straight, dark hair, and Joanna is shorter with curly, red hair. Joanna’s music was playing in the background; it would appear that we have very similar musical tastes since a lot of what was playing was by The Arcade Fire and The Shins. I happen to be wearing my shirts from both those concerts right now. Josee was born in Quebec; she is also a huge Harry Potter fan. She, Edith, and I shared our theories on the new book that is to come out.

Just before we were about to leave, Pierre, who works for Parks Canada and who was invited to come by Tracy as he jogged by her cabin, showed up. He is a very worldly guy from Quebec City; he told us all about his backpacking trip to India. He is staying at the field station for the summer. Those of you read my previous post may remember that I mentioned another guy from Quebec City named Louis who was stuck here during the gas leak. Louis is Pierre’s friend, and that day he broke a window to get into Pierre’s trailer and took some beer and some Doritos. Pierre didn’t seem very angry about it; he was more amused than anything else since it makes for a good story.

On Thursday, I had to make a trip into Calgary to go see an orthodontist. I had forgotten my retainer in Montreal, and it turns out that my mom threw it out since she thought I left it because I didn’t need it. This was the craziest orthodontist office I had ever seen. I thought my orthodontist was rich. There were action figures everywhere. There was a greater than life size Superman bursting out of a phone booth, a life size Spiderman, and a Yoda telling you that not wearing your retainer was a sure path to the dark side. They had a PS2, a Gamecube, and an X-Box in the waiting room, as well as a touch-screen log in system. There were 5 chairs for patients, and each of them had their own computer and a Nintendo DS or DS Lite for patients who had to wait. They also had a fancy coffee machine that I got to take advantage of. I arrive half an hour early for my appointment; within 10 minutes, they had me seated at a chair and did the mold of my teeth, and 20 minutes after that, my retainer was ready.

I was hoping to meet up with Eliott’s aunt and uncle that day, but they both work, so Nikhil came with me instead. Nikhil and I went to see the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie. I had heard mixed reviews of it, so I went in with fairly low expectations. In the end, I rather enjoyed myself. The beginning was very confusing, and there was too much Orlando and not enough Johnny even though when Johnny Depp was there, there was often at least 5 more of him for no apparent reason. I liked Keith Richards as Jack Sparrow’s dad although it was only a very small part. I thought it was pretty cool that he played the guitar briefly. Keira Knightley wasn’t bad, but starring with Orlando Bloom makes me think less of her performance. Orlando was slightly less annoying in this movie than in the previous ones. I think I liked it better when he had cool hair and didn’t talk much rather than the ugly mustache and the self-righteousness. The movie was really long, but it didn’t drag on, as the action was pretty much non-stop and entertaining. Overall, the movie was better than the second one, but not as good as the first.

Work, Canmore, Calgary, Gas Leaks, and Hockey

I have had a fairly busy week, so I will just give a brief rundown of everything that might be interesting that has happened.

Since Yeen Ten was here to give us each advice on our own respective projects, we took advantage of her help and were all very busy with work until she left. As for my own project, I’m to hold mice in rooms at different temperatures and then take tissue samples after they have been there long enough to test for the presence of stress hormones and to see if there are differences in their carbon and nitrogen stable isotope signatures. I’ve established a protocol, and my rooms are all set up with the appropriate temperatures and light regimes. I have 21 out of 30 mice, and I can get started as soon as I find out how much blood I need and when to take it from a professor in Toronto. All I can do now is sit back and wait for his email and catch more mice.

On Tuesday, we went in to Canmore for an oil change. We took advantage of this time to walk around and do some shopping. I pre-ordered the 7th Harry Potter book at a book store there and bought some fudge. We had a nice lunch at a coffee shop there. After some small groceries, we also went to Tim Horton’s for the first time since we left Ontario. Tim Horton’s is actually more expensive there even though taxes are less.

On Wednesday, Crisia, Yeen Ten, and I drove into Calgary to run some errands before taking Yeen Ten to the airport. This was surprisingly fun, as we got a lot done quickly and enjoyed ourselves doing it. While Yeen Ten did what she needed to do at the university, Crisia and I went shopping in the morning, as she needed to pick up a new hard drive for Kurt. We came away with supplies for an herb garden. After a brief trip to Canadian Tire to pick up fuses for the radio and heater that I broke in the Ark as well as a light timer, we spent a good amount of time perusing MEC. It’s really rather hard to shop there and not spend a ridiculous amount of money when so many things could be of use out in the field. Afterwards, we went for coffee to pass the time until Yeen Ten had to catch her flight. We were going to set some traps to catch mice for me when we got back and then meet the others at Woody’s to watch the game, but the traffic caused us to get back a little later than anticipated so we went straight there to watch a rather nerve-wracking game. All but Nikhil were cheering on the Senators. Damn Leafs fan.

The rest of the week was a rather lazy one for all of us. We planted our seeds for the herb garden. Crisia and I spent an afternoon on the beach by the lake. I actually got a little sunburned since I refused to go in my room to pick up my sunscreen because Nikhil was napping. I wasn’t sunburned nearly as much as Crisia though. Tracy and I had some Mariokart time, which Kari watched, refusing to play. Crisia’s friend Paul came late Friday night for a weeklong visit, while Nikhil took off to Calgary for the weekend to visit his relatives.

I spent much of Saturday alone since Nikhil was gone, Crisia was off with Paul, and everyone else was doing fieldwork during the day. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, I was watching TV on my laptop and chatting with Eliott online. I heard some heavy breathing and stomping over the sound of my show. Suddenly Darth Vader and his twin brother, Darth Vader 2, showed up at my door and told me to leave the building. These were actually firefighters in gas masks, and there was a gas leak in the lab building and the nearby lodge. They made a perimetre around the buildings, so I couldn’t even go back to my trailer unless I wanted to do an hour long hike in my flip-flops.

I spent sometime conversing with two of the cooks and Gary, our caretaker, getting eaten by bugs until we went inside a nearby dormitory. We were soon joined by Kim, a researcher, Darryl, Kim’s husband who looks like Matt Damon, their very cute 2 year old daughter, Amallia, and Erin, Kim’s field assistant. There was also Louis from Quebec City who works in the village and who got stuck looking for a friend who is staying in a trailer here.

Kurt and Tracy soon came back. Luckily for them, the route to their cabin was not blocked off. I helped them do some work for Kurt’s project, which involved gluing styrofoam balls to sticks and sticking them in the ground to dry. I made their walkway look like the entryway to a gingerbread house.

Soon enough, we were allowed back in the buildings, and Crisia, Paul, Kari, and Edith returned. We all went out together to watch the game at Woody’s. This game was far more exciting with a happier end result than the last one.

Today is Sunday, and once again, I am left alone while everyone else is gone. That is why I finally have time to put up a blog post.

Updates: I have added several new pictures to my Wildlife in Kananaskis album. There are some pictures of a friendly golden-mantled ground squirrel Crisia, Kurt, and Tracy met on a hike and a couple pictures of a kill site of an elk from one of my trapping sites.