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.