Thursday was officially our last day out in the field. We were all tired and sore--me more than the rest thanks to the lunges I did.
We collected our traps (in the rain) and then finished clearing the final bit of our trail. After finishing that bit we had lunch and returned home early (before 3pm).
Friday was nice because we didn't have much work to do. There was to be a survival skills training followed by survival skills application (in the field). I am confident that there will be a new reality series about me surviving different situations in the wild where I purposefully get lost and then survive and get myself out of situations.
Mid-afternoon was another application exercise. We were to walk along a large portion of the beach (where I videoed a run of mine) and determine if there were signs of mammals using field signs.
For well over 2 hours we transected the beach--scouring the beach looking for signs of animals (poo, fur, feeding signs, footprints, skulls, sightings). We found LOTS of poo; scat mostly of fox and coyote. The most fascinating find was mink footprints!
Here is a video we made for our students, school, district, and ourselves. We didn't have much time so there isn't as much as we wanted to include but I really like it. I hope you do too.
video
Sunday, April 27, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Wednesday 4-23-08
No running today. Didn't sleep well so I didn't feel like crawling out of bed to exert additional energy. I'm really tired. Each day we're going full throddle from dawn until dusk; sometimes past dusk (like for beaver watching).
This morning we checked our traps. It had lightly rained last night so the ground was still damp when we set out. As I finished checking trap 4, I stepped on one of my massive boulders and my feet went straight out from under me and I landed square on my butt with a big thud. The poor animal in the trap I was carrying went flying behind me. I was a little shaken because I landed so hard but I was most worried about the poor animal in the trap that just went on an amazingly scary roller coaster ride. To make matters worse, I got myself turned around. As I was trying to collect myself and figure out where I was I discovered a trap. Gazing at it but not recognizing it, I saw Erin. She informed me that those were her traps. I told her that they didn't look familiar (duh). I turned to my right and started off that way. She then told me that I was going the wrong way. It didn't process and I was really confused. I was so completely turned around that I thought I was headed out and I wasn't. Somehow I had gone from her right to her left side.
I had recaptured a vole from the previous day. When it was time to release him Erin went with me. She was worried about me (as was the rest of the group) and didn't want me to get lost again.
We made maps today. We were given GPSs and instructions what to do. I was definitely intimidated since my only experience with GPS is my Garmin. We were divided into two groups. I was with Kathy. We were supposed to record coordinates every 10 meters. Kathy suggested we do lunges to measure the distance. Like an idiot I agreed. After an hour of lunges my legs were dead. Her reasoning was that I needed the exercise (there is lots of ice cream and cake) since I hadn't run.
I can't believe we're almost done. Tomorrow is so busy I don't know how we're going to fit it all in.
Here is another video of me with one of my voles. I've posted more slideshow photos. Enjoy this YouTube video--it is dated but has become a staple with us.
This morning we checked our traps. It had lightly rained last night so the ground was still damp when we set out. As I finished checking trap 4, I stepped on one of my massive boulders and my feet went straight out from under me and I landed square on my butt with a big thud. The poor animal in the trap I was carrying went flying behind me. I was a little shaken because I landed so hard but I was most worried about the poor animal in the trap that just went on an amazingly scary roller coaster ride. To make matters worse, I got myself turned around. As I was trying to collect myself and figure out where I was I discovered a trap. Gazing at it but not recognizing it, I saw Erin. She informed me that those were her traps. I told her that they didn't look familiar (duh). I turned to my right and started off that way. She then told me that I was going the wrong way. It didn't process and I was really confused. I was so completely turned around that I thought I was headed out and I wasn't. Somehow I had gone from her right to her left side.
I had recaptured a vole from the previous day. When it was time to release him Erin went with me. She was worried about me (as was the rest of the group) and didn't want me to get lost again.
We made maps today. We were given GPSs and instructions what to do. I was definitely intimidated since my only experience with GPS is my Garmin. We were divided into two groups. I was with Kathy. We were supposed to record coordinates every 10 meters. Kathy suggested we do lunges to measure the distance. Like an idiot I agreed. After an hour of lunges my legs were dead. Her reasoning was that I needed the exercise (there is lots of ice cream and cake) since I hadn't run.
I can't believe we're almost done. Tomorrow is so busy I don't know how we're going to fit it all in.
Here is another video of me with one of my voles. I've posted more slideshow photos. Enjoy this YouTube video--it is dated but has become a staple with us.
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
Tuesday 4-22-08
Tick check--none today that I'm aware of yet (yesterday's count was 3).
This morning's run was longer than planned because I sort-of got lost. I didn't realize it until it was time to return home.
I struck out from the house toward Henry Conrad road (where I filmed on the beach). I had run past this road, to a house with a large red barn, once before for an out and back total of about 6k (measured by the van). Our runs have to be in the morning and unless I want to get up before 6am, they have to be fairly short (due to my current pace). Today's run was to be approximately 45 min to an hour. Ran down Hwy 331 (I use the term highway loosely--that is just the name). Hwy 331 is a two lane road that does not see much traffic. It is scenic and drives along the coast.
Either way you go is incredibly hilly. It reminds me of Chappel Hill or Cat Spring but the hills are closer together and the flat parts are next to non-existent. Choosing a direction is basically choosing whether or not I want to run on the beach.
I chose the beach run but wanted to stay on the main road. As I ran I passed Henry Conrad road and continued on. Shortly afterward there is a road on the right called Back Rd. I took it because it looked fairly flat.
Running down this road was nice; only two or so houses and nice scenery. I saw a raccoon and a friendly snowshoe hare as I ran. The hare seemed to want to run w/me because it did not speed up; it just stayed with me. It finally had enough of me and cut in front of me (slowly). Apparently my lack of speed and heavy foot fall did not intimidate it.
Continuing down the road I wondered when a bear would come out of the forest. It was terribly quiet and very wooded. It was still in the 6am hour so there wasn't traffic; I was running alone and really enjoying it.
At 6:40 I decided it was time to turn around. Since Christina (scientist) was coming at 8am I needed to leave time for a shower and breakfast. Sharing two bathrooms with 4 other women requires time and patience (and planning).
The return trip wasn't bad. The hills were much smaller and less frequent. It reminded me of running the Tour de Bayou at Allen Parkway & Shepherd. As I ran, I looked to my left because there was a clearing. I saw something that looked familiar--Christina's horse and the house where she boards it. I thought it was odd and started thinking about how weird it was that I could see it since it was past my longest long run house. I didn't worry and kept running.
I arrived where I could turn left or go straight. Since I hadn't turned when I entered the road I continued forward, worrying about my choices now. I saw a sign for folk art and realized that I was indeed too far.
I retraced my steps (luckily just a few) and turned on that road. It led to Hwy 331--my way home. The town sign for Cherry Hill was there so I definitely knew I had run too far. I knew where I was but I couldn't remember how far I was from my red barn.
After a few hills I saw my red barn and realized that I was definitely going to take longer than expected.
I closed in on Henry Conrad Rd and was excited to be nearing the house--about 1 more mile. Before I arrived, I encountered the loose dog from the other day.
I forgot to post about it. There had been a mean dog loose--it looked like a bulldog. Not the short and cute English bulldog. It was taller. Now that I think about it, it was a pit bull. It tried to chase me but I turned around and yelled it so it left me alone.
Back to my story--I saw this dog in the middle of my lane (I was running toward opposing traffic). I stopped to figure out my plan of action as it approached. As I was about 75 yards from it, it turned toward the woods. At that point I realized it wasn't the dog; it was a fox!!!! The fox had seen me and wasn't in a hurry but it walked into the woods. I wish I had carried my camera with me. I know that by the time I opened my camera the fox would have been in the woods. Still, I wish I had given myself the opportunity.
Today we did more poo collecting and more trap checking (morning & late afternoon). I caught nothing and I am definitely tired of walking through the wild blueberry bushes. My shins & arms are raw.
I can't believe that it is Tuesday. There are only a few days left of this trip and I will definitely miss it. We are headed out for beaver watching again. We will return to our first place--where a fisherman was sitting last night. Apparently that spot is a 'hot spot' for beavers.
I have some videos--mainly for the kids but if there are any exciting ones, I will post them.
This morning's run was longer than planned because I sort-of got lost. I didn't realize it until it was time to return home.
I struck out from the house toward Henry Conrad road (where I filmed on the beach). I had run past this road, to a house with a large red barn, once before for an out and back total of about 6k (measured by the van). Our runs have to be in the morning and unless I want to get up before 6am, they have to be fairly short (due to my current pace). Today's run was to be approximately 45 min to an hour. Ran down Hwy 331 (I use the term highway loosely--that is just the name). Hwy 331 is a two lane road that does not see much traffic. It is scenic and drives along the coast.
Either way you go is incredibly hilly. It reminds me of Chappel Hill or Cat Spring but the hills are closer together and the flat parts are next to non-existent. Choosing a direction is basically choosing whether or not I want to run on the beach.
I chose the beach run but wanted to stay on the main road. As I ran I passed Henry Conrad road and continued on. Shortly afterward there is a road on the right called Back Rd. I took it because it looked fairly flat.
Running down this road was nice; only two or so houses and nice scenery. I saw a raccoon and a friendly snowshoe hare as I ran. The hare seemed to want to run w/me because it did not speed up; it just stayed with me. It finally had enough of me and cut in front of me (slowly). Apparently my lack of speed and heavy foot fall did not intimidate it.
Continuing down the road I wondered when a bear would come out of the forest. It was terribly quiet and very wooded. It was still in the 6am hour so there wasn't traffic; I was running alone and really enjoying it.
At 6:40 I decided it was time to turn around. Since Christina (scientist) was coming at 8am I needed to leave time for a shower and breakfast. Sharing two bathrooms with 4 other women requires time and patience (and planning).
The return trip wasn't bad. The hills were much smaller and less frequent. It reminded me of running the Tour de Bayou at Allen Parkway & Shepherd. As I ran, I looked to my left because there was a clearing. I saw something that looked familiar--Christina's horse and the house where she boards it. I thought it was odd and started thinking about how weird it was that I could see it since it was past my longest long run house. I didn't worry and kept running.
I arrived where I could turn left or go straight. Since I hadn't turned when I entered the road I continued forward, worrying about my choices now. I saw a sign for folk art and realized that I was indeed too far.
I retraced my steps (luckily just a few) and turned on that road. It led to Hwy 331--my way home. The town sign for Cherry Hill was there so I definitely knew I had run too far. I knew where I was but I couldn't remember how far I was from my red barn.
After a few hills I saw my red barn and realized that I was definitely going to take longer than expected.
I closed in on Henry Conrad Rd and was excited to be nearing the house--about 1 more mile. Before I arrived, I encountered the loose dog from the other day.
I forgot to post about it. There had been a mean dog loose--it looked like a bulldog. Not the short and cute English bulldog. It was taller. Now that I think about it, it was a pit bull. It tried to chase me but I turned around and yelled it so it left me alone.
Back to my story--I saw this dog in the middle of my lane (I was running toward opposing traffic). I stopped to figure out my plan of action as it approached. As I was about 75 yards from it, it turned toward the woods. At that point I realized it wasn't the dog; it was a fox!!!! The fox had seen me and wasn't in a hurry but it walked into the woods. I wish I had carried my camera with me. I know that by the time I opened my camera the fox would have been in the woods. Still, I wish I had given myself the opportunity.
Today we did more poo collecting and more trap checking (morning & late afternoon). I caught nothing and I am definitely tired of walking through the wild blueberry bushes. My shins & arms are raw.
I can't believe that it is Tuesday. There are only a few days left of this trip and I will definitely miss it. We are headed out for beaver watching again. We will return to our first place--where a fisherman was sitting last night. Apparently that spot is a 'hot spot' for beavers.
I have some videos--mainly for the kids but if there are any exciting ones, I will post them.
Monday, April 21, 2008
Monday 4-21-08
Back to 'work' today, so to speak.
Today I didn't get to run (again). :( I did get up with every intention of running though.
I was up at 5:45am. I had a few edits to do for my school blog so I figured I would do that quickly and then head out the door. I realized that things were going slowly when I noticed that it was 6:45am--my run was finished before it started. I made sure I saved my blog posting every chance I could so that I didn’t have any problems. I finished typing and pressed the preview button. Nicely done, I thought to myself. As soon as I pressed the post button the trouble started. I received an error message so I continued to press post until it completely went away—as though I had not spent the previous night and all morning typing. Arrrrrggh. I’m not sure what I’m most upset about—all that typing and organization or my missed run for nothing.
Today we journeyed to a new place—East Port Medway. This place is much closer than Cook’s Lake so it was nice to have a short drive rather than an hour or so in the 15 passenger van (along narrow, bumpy, hilly, and winding roads).
Our group did a quick transect; this means that we walked about a mile through the area we would be studying. We were divided into two groups; one starting at one end and the other group starting opposite and walking towards the other group. This worked well. We were looking for signs of animals—poo, foot prints, remains (food), habitat disruption (beaver gnawings), fur, among other things. We really saw a lot of things. We quickly learned that there is a prolific pooping coyote (or several) as there was coyote poo everywhere.
Later in the day we did some quadrats (not to be confused with quadrants)—where we stake out a 10meter by 10 meter area and search for poo. We would line up side by side and walk toward the other end. We only picked up and counted snowshoe hare poo. If we found other poo we just identified it and told the scientist. In one 10x10 area, there were 2464 pieces of poo!!!!
After our late lunch we still had quite a bit to do. We set up the traps and then had to place them. Walking through woods (with ticks) where there is no path is difficult. I managed to get a tree branch to poke me directly in the eye. My eye seems to be scratched because it hurts quite a lot and I can’t see anything in it.
While setting out our traps I found a porcupine den!!!!! They only sleep in the dens during the winter—apparently it is still considered winter because it was obviously still residing there from the amount of poo. I took a video of it that I will post shortly.
After dinner we headed out to one of the beaver lodges. Apparently these guys are very reliable so we were excited. We were bundled up but ready. With temperatures in the 20s I wasn’t sure how long I would last. Luckily I decided to wear multiple layers.
As we drove up to our destination we noticed a guy fishing in the exact spot the beavers were supposed to be. We knew that would ruin our chances of watching for them so we went to another lodge; one that hadn’t been observed before. We stayed for 30 minutes and only saw a muskrat. I say only as though I am disappointed—I’m not. It wasn’t a beaver but it was really cute watching it swim.
Today I didn't get to run (again). :( I did get up with every intention of running though.
I was up at 5:45am. I had a few edits to do for my school blog so I figured I would do that quickly and then head out the door. I realized that things were going slowly when I noticed that it was 6:45am--my run was finished before it started. I made sure I saved my blog posting every chance I could so that I didn’t have any problems. I finished typing and pressed the preview button. Nicely done, I thought to myself. As soon as I pressed the post button the trouble started. I received an error message so I continued to press post until it completely went away—as though I had not spent the previous night and all morning typing. Arrrrrggh. I’m not sure what I’m most upset about—all that typing and organization or my missed run for nothing.
Today we journeyed to a new place—East Port Medway. This place is much closer than Cook’s Lake so it was nice to have a short drive rather than an hour or so in the 15 passenger van (along narrow, bumpy, hilly, and winding roads).
Our group did a quick transect; this means that we walked about a mile through the area we would be studying. We were divided into two groups; one starting at one end and the other group starting opposite and walking towards the other group. This worked well. We were looking for signs of animals—poo, foot prints, remains (food), habitat disruption (beaver gnawings), fur, among other things. We really saw a lot of things. We quickly learned that there is a prolific pooping coyote (or several) as there was coyote poo everywhere.
Later in the day we did some quadrats (not to be confused with quadrants)—where we stake out a 10meter by 10 meter area and search for poo. We would line up side by side and walk toward the other end. We only picked up and counted snowshoe hare poo. If we found other poo we just identified it and told the scientist. In one 10x10 area, there were 2464 pieces of poo!!!!
After our late lunch we still had quite a bit to do. We set up the traps and then had to place them. Walking through woods (with ticks) where there is no path is difficult. I managed to get a tree branch to poke me directly in the eye. My eye seems to be scratched because it hurts quite a lot and I can’t see anything in it.
While setting out our traps I found a porcupine den!!!!! They only sleep in the dens during the winter—apparently it is still considered winter because it was obviously still residing there from the amount of poo. I took a video of it that I will post shortly.
After dinner we headed out to one of the beaver lodges. Apparently these guys are very reliable so we were excited. We were bundled up but ready. With temperatures in the 20s I wasn’t sure how long I would last. Luckily I decided to wear multiple layers.
As we drove up to our destination we noticed a guy fishing in the exact spot the beavers were supposed to be. We knew that would ruin our chances of watching for them so we went to another lodge; one that hadn’t been observed before. We stayed for 30 minutes and only saw a muskrat. I say only as though I am disappointed—I’m not. It wasn’t a beaver but it was really cute watching it swim.
Sunday, April 20, 2008
videos from the trip
I realized that I'm using way too much space by inserting videos. I'm going to put them on Google video and then have a link here. I'm working on that now so the posts may change a little--hopefully just the videos. You'll have to excuse the narration and commentary. I have my kids in mind but when I hear it I sound like a complete idiot! Obviously I should not attempt to get a job that involves narration.
I'm going to add them as I can so some links may not be active yet.
Tuesday
1. placing a trap
2. me placing another trap in the forest
3. frogs at fire creek
4. short frog video
Wednesday
1. me removing my first vole
Thursday
1. me releasing a vole
2. another vole release
Friday
1. checking traps in the rain
2. our first mouse
3. Christina holding the mouse
5. Brie releasing the mouse
6. Erin's big time at the bar
Saturday
1. me showing you my run along the beach (with the ocean & freshwater ponds)
2. a beach view closer to our house
3. hill song
4. last hill before our house (you can see more ocean at the bottom)
I'm going to add them as I can so some links may not be active yet.
Tuesday
1. placing a trap
2. me placing another trap in the forest
3. frogs at fire creek
4. short frog video
Wednesday
1. me removing my first vole
Thursday
1. me releasing a vole
2. another vole release
Friday
1. checking traps in the rain
2. our first mouse
3. Christina holding the mouse
5. Brie releasing the mouse
6. Erin's big time at the bar
Saturday
1. me showing you my run along the beach (with the ocean & freshwater ponds)
2. a beach view closer to our house
3. hill song
4. last hill before our house (you can see more ocean at the bottom)
Saturday, April 19, 2008
Friday, 4-18-08
Friday was a half-work day. That was a good thing since it was raining. The idea of spending an entire day working 'in the field' while it was raining really wasn't terribly tempting.
Naturally I wore my jacket that didn't have a hood that day; everyone else had their hoods on and kept a little drier than me. I decided that the rain wasn't too bad. It was steady so it wasn't too bad; sort of like running in the rain.
We checked our 100 traps again. My first 10 traps produced 1 vole. It was a recapture--I get the feeling that this curious little mammal had learned a new source of food and shelter.
After we saw everyone's traps, we collected our 10 traps (each). We couldn't collect them while we were checking them because we had to release the animals where they were trapped. If we had moved the traps, we would have lost our frame of reference and may not have every found the vole's territory.
We then moved to our next 10 traps. I hit the jackpot. I had 4 traps full. The bad news was that I had to navigate my way through fallen trees and dense underbrush with four little cages.
While emptying the traps, we discovered we had finally caught mice!!! We had three mice. Of course the videos will be posted.
Triumphantly we returned home with our mice videos. This was the day we were going to contact our school classes.
What a disaster that was.
We had been able to contact our classes the previous day--at the very end of the day--to tell them that we would be calling some time between 12 and 1:30pm. That is all we were able to say so there was no preparation time. I had no idea what I would say.
Naturally when I called it was a novelty and they just wanted to say hi rather than listen or ask questions. I think the videos when we're out working are a much better tool for communication about what we're doing because there is less disruption in the classroom and we can continue doing our jobs in the field.
Dinner was early--Chris cooked--because we were headed out for a night of laundry and 'pubbing'. Liverpool is about a 30 minute drive from the house so off we went.
The laundromat was crowded--almost all of the dryers were full. One dryer in had a pair of boxers with red lips that said something like "hot lips" or something. We were hoping someone would show up to claim them. After 20 minutes waiting for our wash cycle, we decided that we could leave the dryers going and head off to explore the 'town'.
There really wasn't much to see--sort of like exploring Montgomery or a smaller town. We walked to a boat ramp and stared across the river. After wasting time we headed back to the laundromat/gas station/store/restaurant to check for Hot Lips (and our laundry).
Our laundry was done but no one was there to claim the boxers. We folded our clothes and as we were preparing to leave, in walked two young men in their late teens. They claimed all of the dryers (approximately 8). I suspect that they were doing laundry for the entire family. They threw all of the clothes into large trash bags and hopped into a waiting cab. So much for our mystery.
With laundry complete, it was time to hit the pub. Upon entering the bar, we discovered there was a band scheduled to play--Train Reverie or Train Reverie (check out the website--they were great, eclectic folk). The band had hired some guys to make a documentary of the tour they were doing. They were video taping and taking lots of pictures. Erin, the teacher from Arizona, dared Brie to ask about being a videographer (sp?). After some double and triple daring being exchanged, Erin headed over to the video crew (two guys) and started to talk to them. After several minutes she had the (very expensive) video camera in her hands and was filming the band!! Shortly after that she made her mark on the evening--I'm sure we completely embarrassed the quiet scientists who were with us. I was going to post Erin's surprise performance but the file was too big.
The drive home was dark and dreary--the rain had started again and everything was slick. They don't have street lights here so you drive slowly and look carefully. As we neared home we quickly came up on a young (yearling) porcupine slowly crossing the road. They have absolutely no rush in their step. As our 15 passenger van careened towards him, he continued walking his slow and methodical pace across the road. Chris braked heavily and attempted to straddle him (swerving would have either flipped us or put us in the deep ditch--neither would have produced a good outcome for us). I didn't see him and I also didn't feel a bump of us hitting him. Christina (other scientist) was worried that we had hit him; luckily Chris saw him continuing his walk as though nothing had happened.
It was late when we arrived home (after midnight) but we all got out the computers and sat at the dinner table downloading pictures. I'll see what I can post.
At the moment no videos will upload. I'll try to do another post.
Naturally I wore my jacket that didn't have a hood that day; everyone else had their hoods on and kept a little drier than me. I decided that the rain wasn't too bad. It was steady so it wasn't too bad; sort of like running in the rain.
We checked our 100 traps again. My first 10 traps produced 1 vole. It was a recapture--I get the feeling that this curious little mammal had learned a new source of food and shelter.
After we saw everyone's traps, we collected our 10 traps (each). We couldn't collect them while we were checking them because we had to release the animals where they were trapped. If we had moved the traps, we would have lost our frame of reference and may not have every found the vole's territory.
We then moved to our next 10 traps. I hit the jackpot. I had 4 traps full. The bad news was that I had to navigate my way through fallen trees and dense underbrush with four little cages.
While emptying the traps, we discovered we had finally caught mice!!! We had three mice. Of course the videos will be posted.
Triumphantly we returned home with our mice videos. This was the day we were going to contact our school classes.
What a disaster that was.
We had been able to contact our classes the previous day--at the very end of the day--to tell them that we would be calling some time between 12 and 1:30pm. That is all we were able to say so there was no preparation time. I had no idea what I would say.
Naturally when I called it was a novelty and they just wanted to say hi rather than listen or ask questions. I think the videos when we're out working are a much better tool for communication about what we're doing because there is less disruption in the classroom and we can continue doing our jobs in the field.
Dinner was early--Chris cooked--because we were headed out for a night of laundry and 'pubbing'. Liverpool is about a 30 minute drive from the house so off we went.
The laundromat was crowded--almost all of the dryers were full. One dryer in had a pair of boxers with red lips that said something like "hot lips" or something. We were hoping someone would show up to claim them. After 20 minutes waiting for our wash cycle, we decided that we could leave the dryers going and head off to explore the 'town'.
There really wasn't much to see--sort of like exploring Montgomery or a smaller town. We walked to a boat ramp and stared across the river. After wasting time we headed back to the laundromat/gas station/store/restaurant to check for Hot Lips (and our laundry).
Our laundry was done but no one was there to claim the boxers. We folded our clothes and as we were preparing to leave, in walked two young men in their late teens. They claimed all of the dryers (approximately 8). I suspect that they were doing laundry for the entire family. They threw all of the clothes into large trash bags and hopped into a waiting cab. So much for our mystery.
With laundry complete, it was time to hit the pub. Upon entering the bar, we discovered there was a band scheduled to play--Train Reverie or Train Reverie (check out the website--they were great, eclectic folk). The band had hired some guys to make a documentary of the tour they were doing. They were video taping and taking lots of pictures. Erin, the teacher from Arizona, dared Brie to ask about being a videographer (sp?). After some double and triple daring being exchanged, Erin headed over to the video crew (two guys) and started to talk to them. After several minutes she had the (very expensive) video camera in her hands and was filming the band!! Shortly after that she made her mark on the evening--I'm sure we completely embarrassed the quiet scientists who were with us. I was going to post Erin's surprise performance but the file was too big.
The drive home was dark and dreary--the rain had started again and everything was slick. They don't have street lights here so you drive slowly and look carefully. As we neared home we quickly came up on a young (yearling) porcupine slowly crossing the road. They have absolutely no rush in their step. As our 15 passenger van careened towards him, he continued walking his slow and methodical pace across the road. Chris braked heavily and attempted to straddle him (swerving would have either flipped us or put us in the deep ditch--neither would have produced a good outcome for us). I didn't see him and I also didn't feel a bump of us hitting him. Christina (other scientist) was worried that we had hit him; luckily Chris saw him continuing his walk as though nothing had happened.
It was late when we arrived home (after midnight) but we all got out the computers and sat at the dinner table downloading pictures. I'll see what I can post.
At the moment no videos will upload. I'll try to do another post.
4-19-08 Saturday run
Today was beautiful again. I slept in until 7am and then decided that was enough procrastinating so I got up and went for a run.
My intention was to run long & slow today. As I went, I decided that my legs were tired and scrapped any goals of a long run and after about a mile, turned down the beach road for a more scenic run.
The temperature was near perfect for running--I had my gloves, long-sleeved shirt, and shorts. The sun was shining and the I can't think of how to improve on that. I ran longer than I expected I would--one way was about 30-40 minutes.
Today is a 'research-free' day. We're headed back to Halifax for a day of fun. The hamlet of Cherry Hill, where we're staying, is about a 2 hour drive away from Halifax.
I know our PIs (Principal Investigators--the research scientists leading our team) have plans for us to see a museum. I'm not terribly big on museums so hopefully it isn't Halifax's version of the Louvre.
I made a few short videos for everyone so I'll post those now and then will fill you in when we return tonight.
My intention was to run long & slow today. As I went, I decided that my legs were tired and scrapped any goals of a long run and after about a mile, turned down the beach road for a more scenic run.
The temperature was near perfect for running--I had my gloves, long-sleeved shirt, and shorts. The sun was shining and the I can't think of how to improve on that. I ran longer than I expected I would--one way was about 30-40 minutes.
Today is a 'research-free' day. We're headed back to Halifax for a day of fun. The hamlet of Cherry Hill, where we're staying, is about a 2 hour drive away from Halifax.
I know our PIs (Principal Investigators--the research scientists leading our team) have plans for us to see a museum. I'm not terribly big on museums so hopefully it isn't Halifax's version of the Louvre.
I made a few short videos for everyone so I'll post those now and then will fill you in when we return tonight.
Halifax was great. We arrived before lunch and toured around all day. First we toured the natural history museum. It was quite small and I really enjoyed that. After viewing all we could there, we set out in search of food. After several false starts (not everyone accepts AmEx or Master Card--just Visa) we found a restaurant. Little did we know that it would be a very long time until we saw our food.
The head chef had not shown up since Tuesday and the restaurant was not coping well. Their 65 year old sous chef was now having to burden the responsibility of his job plus the head chef's job. Granted--it was a sports bar so it wasn't intricate meals he had to worry about. Our food took well over an hour after we ordered it. We left the place between 2:30 and 3pm and headed for some shopping and sightseeing.
With 5 people you have to agree on things to do and see--we did quite well in that area. Our problem was things we wanted to do were clear on the other side of town from each other. As I said last Saturday, we were lucky that the town wasn't that big. An example: we walked from the sports bar (one end of town) to the boardwalk (other end of town) and then to the Dairy Queen (literally across the street from the sports bar). Just for the record--I did not ask them to go there; it was someone else.
We had agreed to meet our scientist crew (who were shopping for toilets for their new house) at 8pm so we needed to have dinner and find the museum parking lot where they dropped us off. We ate at the Five Fishermen; excluding the fact that I don't like seafood, it was good. Everyone said they were dying for lobster (again, not me) yet after the waitress spoke of the specials they all ordered the fish special. No one had the lobster. Oh well.
I had the opportunity to introduce my new friends to the Newfoundland world of Screetch and was explaining the 'ceremony' that I went through (Screetching).
Thursday, April 17, 2008
Thursday Trapping and Tree trimming
I'm exhausted!!!!!
We were out at Cook's Lake again today. Tomorrow will be our last day there (I think). We arrived and checked our traps. As usual, my morning trap check came up empty. No small mammals were lured into my traps.
There are 100 traps, each of us is responsible for 20 traps. They are divided in half. We placed half of our numbered traps on one side of the jeep trail, and the rest on the other side. Our areas were measured out so that we were approximately 100 meters apart. I cover section B.
Anyway, my section seems to be the least popular area for small mammals.
After we finished checking the traps, we moved on to cover poo. We created quadrants that were 10 meters by 10 meters. If you can imagine how searchers look for a missing person--walking side by side--that is how we looked for poo. Our goal was to collect the snowshoe hare poo. If we found other poo, we were to document it but not pick it up.
We did 5 random quadrants and discovered some very interesting info: the hares were not prolific everywhere. Some areas were covered with hare poo. Other areas had little to no poo at all!!!!
After lunch, we moved on to trail clearing. Have I mentioned that there are 5 of us? Four of us are on the fellowship and one person is a paying client. All of us are female. The research scientists are a couple. Chris, the only guy in this group, is currently sick so he wasn't there. His partner, Christina was with us--a total of 6 girls. I'm quite impressed with the work we accomplished.
Our tools were hand saws and clippers. We cut down so many trees (secondary forest, not the primary trees). The trees were 20+ feet tall but only 6 or so inches in diameter. That was still a lot of work!!!!!
We were exhausted from the trail clearing and went to check our traps again at 4:45pm. After checking 18 traps, I was getting discouraged. But trap #19 had a vole. He was a recapture but I didn't care.
We're a bit concerend that we haven't caught any other small mammals (mice, groundhog, shrew, bog lemming). There are several barred owls that we see frequently. I hope they don't have their eyes on our voles. They voles run quickly into a hole when we release them so I know they're ok. Maybe that is why they keep showing up in our traps!!! Safety, warmth, and food.
Tomorrow we're headed back to the traps for the last time. We'll collect them before lunch and then head back to the house for a 'live from the field' with our classes. I hope this goes well.
Well...my goal is to get to sleep before 12:30am so I must sign off now so I can post pictures and video.
:)
Paige
We were out at Cook's Lake again today. Tomorrow will be our last day there (I think). We arrived and checked our traps. As usual, my morning trap check came up empty. No small mammals were lured into my traps.
There are 100 traps, each of us is responsible for 20 traps. They are divided in half. We placed half of our numbered traps on one side of the jeep trail, and the rest on the other side. Our areas were measured out so that we were approximately 100 meters apart. I cover section B.
Anyway, my section seems to be the least popular area for small mammals.
After we finished checking the traps, we moved on to cover poo. We created quadrants that were 10 meters by 10 meters. If you can imagine how searchers look for a missing person--walking side by side--that is how we looked for poo. Our goal was to collect the snowshoe hare poo. If we found other poo, we were to document it but not pick it up.
We did 5 random quadrants and discovered some very interesting info: the hares were not prolific everywhere. Some areas were covered with hare poo. Other areas had little to no poo at all!!!!
After lunch, we moved on to trail clearing. Have I mentioned that there are 5 of us? Four of us are on the fellowship and one person is a paying client. All of us are female. The research scientists are a couple. Chris, the only guy in this group, is currently sick so he wasn't there. His partner, Christina was with us--a total of 6 girls. I'm quite impressed with the work we accomplished.
Our tools were hand saws and clippers. We cut down so many trees (secondary forest, not the primary trees). The trees were 20+ feet tall but only 6 or so inches in diameter. That was still a lot of work!!!!!
We were exhausted from the trail clearing and went to check our traps again at 4:45pm. After checking 18 traps, I was getting discouraged. But trap #19 had a vole. He was a recapture but I didn't care.
We're a bit concerend that we haven't caught any other small mammals (mice, groundhog, shrew, bog lemming). There are several barred owls that we see frequently. I hope they don't have their eyes on our voles. They voles run quickly into a hole when we release them so I know they're ok. Maybe that is why they keep showing up in our traps!!! Safety, warmth, and food.
Tomorrow we're headed back to the traps for the last time. We'll collect them before lunch and then head back to the house for a 'live from the field' with our classes. I hope this goes well.
Well...my goal is to get to sleep before 12:30am so I must sign off now so I can post pictures and video.
:)
Paige
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
videos from tuesday
I'm having troubles. It shows my videos when I'm posting the blog and then when I view it (like you would) nothing is there.
I'm about to copy & paste from my school blog.
hopefully the videos from Tues show up (you've seen one).
I'm about to copy & paste from my school blog.
hopefully the videos from Tues show up (you've seen one).
Wednesday--vole day!
As usual, this is done after everything else is finished. I've almost finished my school blog--the video is giving me so much trouble. I can see it when I click the preview but when I view my blog page it doesn't show up. I posted the videos to youtube. I'm not thrilled that I am now part of this public domain but I wanted my kiddos (and friends) to see the videos I made.
it is 10:45pm. I've been up since 6am (I went running again--we measured it in the car; I ran 6k today) and I'm just beat. We did quite a bit of work today and my brain is shutting down. Sorry for rambling more than normal.
We checked our traps that we set yesterday (each of us set 20 traps). I caught nothing in the morning--everyone else caught at least one vole. I was a little sad by this since the voles are very cute and I wanted to hold one. I should be saying something about the scientific significance of finding one in my personal grid but I don't feel like that--I wanted to catch a vole.
After our morning trap checks, we had to return the traps to the exact location as before (and release the voles to the same spot as well).
Once the traps were returned we had a poop test. We had to determine what it was, how many animals (how many piles) or if it was just a strand (pooping on the run, so to speak).
I did ok on the test--I missed a deer pile somewhere in the 10x10 meter grid (in the leaf filled forest).
We washed up, had lunch and then did some very physical labor--we cleared a path. We literally had to use garden tools and our hands (legs, arms, and anything else) to cut down trees. I'm not talking the 4 foot diameter trees. These were smaller--they were still 10-12 feet tall but they were only 6 to 8 inches in diameter. None the less, it required a lot of work. I'm tired just thinking about it.
We did that for a few hours and then about 5pm we checked our traps again. This time I was the one with lots in my traps. I had 4 full traps! That was the daily record! They were all voles (no mice today) and they were fairly healthy. Some of them were pregnant. They were all adorable. I'll try to attach the videos but I will also include the youtube links like I did for the kids. Hopefully that works.
Tomorrow we're headed back to check the traps again. I'd like to see a mouse this time but would be happy with more voles.
Enjoy!
I didn't post some of these pictures because I took pictures of frog porn!
I caught 4 voles today!!!!
this last video is of me about to release a vole. Naturally the memory card ran out just as I was opening the bag. You don't get to see me actually release it--I really did though. I promise I didn't keep it. :)
it is 10:45pm. I've been up since 6am (I went running again--we measured it in the car; I ran 6k today) and I'm just beat. We did quite a bit of work today and my brain is shutting down. Sorry for rambling more than normal.
We checked our traps that we set yesterday (each of us set 20 traps). I caught nothing in the morning--everyone else caught at least one vole. I was a little sad by this since the voles are very cute and I wanted to hold one. I should be saying something about the scientific significance of finding one in my personal grid but I don't feel like that--I wanted to catch a vole.
After our morning trap checks, we had to return the traps to the exact location as before (and release the voles to the same spot as well).
Once the traps were returned we had a poop test. We had to determine what it was, how many animals (how many piles) or if it was just a strand (pooping on the run, so to speak).
I did ok on the test--I missed a deer pile somewhere in the 10x10 meter grid (in the leaf filled forest).
We washed up, had lunch and then did some very physical labor--we cleared a path. We literally had to use garden tools and our hands (legs, arms, and anything else) to cut down trees. I'm not talking the 4 foot diameter trees. These were smaller--they were still 10-12 feet tall but they were only 6 to 8 inches in diameter. None the less, it required a lot of work. I'm tired just thinking about it.
We did that for a few hours and then about 5pm we checked our traps again. This time I was the one with lots in my traps. I had 4 full traps! That was the daily record! They were all voles (no mice today) and they were fairly healthy. Some of them were pregnant. They were all adorable. I'll try to attach the videos but I will also include the youtube links like I did for the kids. Hopefully that works.
Tomorrow we're headed back to check the traps again. I'd like to see a mouse this time but would be happy with more voles.
Enjoy!
I didn't post some of these pictures because I took pictures of frog porn!
I caught 4 voles today!!!!
this last video is of me about to release a vole. Naturally the memory card ran out just as I was opening the bag. You don't get to see me actually release it--I really did though. I promise I didn't keep it. :)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Tuesday trapping set up 4-15-08
We had a fantastic day today. The weather was great--I have no idea the temperature but it was nice and sunny. The snow is mostly melted so things are looking up.
We learned how to set and bait the traps and then we placed 100 traps (20 per person). We did the traps systematically in a grid pattern. Every 10 meters we would place a trap. We were instructed to think like a mouse--they run along things for protection instead of a straight line.
We really didn't see mammals today. I saw several birds--some type of raptor, a chickadee, downy woodpecker, a nuthatch, and a Canadian jay. We did see FROGS. I love frogs so I took lots of pictures and a video. Unfortunately some of the video didn't survive. :(
We check the traps tomorrow to see if we caught anything. They said that our odds are low for two reasons--our scent is fresh on it and the season is bad. Many of the small mammals are starving right now. If they're alive they will be happy to find our food. I plan to video things in case I trapped something. We will return the mammal and trap to the exact place we had it for territorial purposes.
I'm making this short because it is after 10:30 and I'm super-duper tired. I'm downloading pictures (slideshow again) and videos for you!
Enjoy!!!!!
Paige
We learned how to set and bait the traps and then we placed 100 traps (20 per person). We did the traps systematically in a grid pattern. Every 10 meters we would place a trap. We were instructed to think like a mouse--they run along things for protection instead of a straight line.
We really didn't see mammals today. I saw several birds--some type of raptor, a chickadee, downy woodpecker, a nuthatch, and a Canadian jay. We did see FROGS. I love frogs so I took lots of pictures and a video. Unfortunately some of the video didn't survive. :(
We check the traps tomorrow to see if we caught anything. They said that our odds are low for two reasons--our scent is fresh on it and the season is bad. Many of the small mammals are starving right now. If they're alive they will be happy to find our food. I plan to video things in case I trapped something. We will return the mammal and trap to the exact place we had it for territorial purposes.
I'm making this short because it is after 10:30 and I'm super-duper tired. I'm downloading pictures (slideshow again) and videos for you!
Enjoy!!!!!
Paige
Recap of Monday--scat day
I had planned to post last night but was up until 10:30 or so trying to go through all of the comments from my school blog. Those kids really know how to follow direction. They're so cute--so many good comments (I had threatened them).
Hopefully I can recapture yesterday so that I can share it with you.
My fellow teachers and housemates are: Breann (Bre), Erin, Kathy, and Roslyn. The first three are teachers who were awarded the fellowship like me. Roslyn is an Aussie who has been traveling everywhere for the past several months. She is not a teacher; she is just traveling for a while. Everyone seems to get a long fantastically. We are sharing a house--an 80 year old, two story house. There are three bedrooms. I am rooming with Kathy. Since Roslyn is not a teacher, we agreed that it is fair to let her have her own room.
The research scientists leading this assignment are a couple--Chris (British) and Christina (German). They are hysterical. They really do have a wealth of knowledge up in those heads of theirs. They share their knowledge well and do a very thorough job instructing us or educating us on procedures.
Sunday was a very long day. Every one's flight arrived with exception of Kathy's. Her flight was delayed and then she missed her connecting flight from Toronto. The delayed flight was to arrive at 4pm. When she missed it, the next flight wasn't to arrive until 7:45pm.
At 5pm we agreed to drive 20-30 minutes for some food (they called it a snack, I called it dinner). We found a pub that smelled delicious so why pass it up? The fist things on the menu caught my eye: fried pepperoni and chips and curry. Mmmmm...at the table, the rest of the group agreed that both sounded really good. In the end half of us ordered the pepperoni and the others ordered the fries with curry. Both were delicious. After our fine dining experience...err, I mean snack...we traveled back to the airport.Kathy's flight finally arrived and we found her--minus her baggage. It had not arrived with her (along with about 10 other people) so we left the airport w/out the luggage.Our drive was over 2 hours of hilly, dark driving. The van was quiet so it felt like an eternity.We arrived at our house after 10pm. Whew. I really did not know what the accommodations would be like so I was pleasantly surprised that we were staying in a real house.
Christina showed us the upstairs and explained that the house had two bathrooms--one up and one down. The upstairs bathroom worked just fine but did not flush well. After that, she explained that the heater (which was not on) worked just fine--downstairs. There was no heat upstairs.
We lugged our stuff upstairs to our rooms and started to unpack. We had about 20 minutes until 'dinner' was served. We were called down for pizza about 10:30 or 10:45pm. Since I'm not a cheese eater I did not partake in dinner. Luckily I was still full from the snack we had at dinnertime.
I was excited for Monday because I wanted to explore the area. Before everyone else got up, Bre and I got up and went for a run. We ran approximately 3 miles to Henry something road. It leads down to a public beach. The beach was beautiful; there were river rocks everywhere and on the other side of the grassy dunes there was a freshwater oasis. We saw lots of sea urchins on the shore (I'm guessing the birds had eaten them). It was a great run.
after breakfast we had a power point introduction to field research. Scat and learning to recognize it was the topic of the day.
We traveled down to Broad Cove and walked along the boundaries of the beach for 15k. The beaches here are nothing that I've seen before. Apparently the winter wind and storms blow the beach away and only leave rocks--it is hard to imagine bringing the family to the beach. During the spring and summer, the sand returns and there is a beach again.
Our goal was to identify signs of mammals (mostly scat) and boy did we have some samples! Knowing what was in the woods around us was amazing--coyotes, bobcat, fox, otter, seal, beaver, muskrat, porcupine, and bear (that is all I can remember right now).
We saw a cute little muskrat swimming in a freshwater pond. He was a fair distance away so the pictures aren't that detailed.
My favorite part of the day was when the dog (Lycos--belongs to the scientists) found a porcupine!!!!! It was a yearling so he wasn't huge. He scurried up a tree and we surrounded him trying to take pictures.
While attempting to get a better angle, I found the remains of a porcupine and bear poo. Christina said that the porcupine was probably either dead or dying since bear usually don't hunt porcupine.
My pictures aren't great--it was hard to see him--but you can sort of see him if you know you're looking for him.
We returned to the house, exhausted, ready for dinner. I was able to get online and update my things.
I am able to receive emails but currently can't send them. It is so very frustrating. :(
Well....the scientists just arrived for breakfast (it is 8:30am). Until later, enjoy the slide show.
Hopefully I can recapture yesterday so that I can share it with you.
My fellow teachers and housemates are: Breann (Bre), Erin, Kathy, and Roslyn. The first three are teachers who were awarded the fellowship like me. Roslyn is an Aussie who has been traveling everywhere for the past several months. She is not a teacher; she is just traveling for a while. Everyone seems to get a long fantastically. We are sharing a house--an 80 year old, two story house. There are three bedrooms. I am rooming with Kathy. Since Roslyn is not a teacher, we agreed that it is fair to let her have her own room.
The research scientists leading this assignment are a couple--Chris (British) and Christina (German). They are hysterical. They really do have a wealth of knowledge up in those heads of theirs. They share their knowledge well and do a very thorough job instructing us or educating us on procedures.
Sunday was a very long day. Every one's flight arrived with exception of Kathy's. Her flight was delayed and then she missed her connecting flight from Toronto. The delayed flight was to arrive at 4pm. When she missed it, the next flight wasn't to arrive until 7:45pm.
At 5pm we agreed to drive 20-30 minutes for some food (they called it a snack, I called it dinner). We found a pub that smelled delicious so why pass it up? The fist things on the menu caught my eye: fried pepperoni and chips and curry. Mmmmm...at the table, the rest of the group agreed that both sounded really good. In the end half of us ordered the pepperoni and the others ordered the fries with curry. Both were delicious. After our fine dining experience...err, I mean snack...we traveled back to the airport.Kathy's flight finally arrived and we found her--minus her baggage. It had not arrived with her (along with about 10 other people) so we left the airport w/out the luggage.Our drive was over 2 hours of hilly, dark driving. The van was quiet so it felt like an eternity.We arrived at our house after 10pm. Whew. I really did not know what the accommodations would be like so I was pleasantly surprised that we were staying in a real house.
Christina showed us the upstairs and explained that the house had two bathrooms--one up and one down. The upstairs bathroom worked just fine but did not flush well. After that, she explained that the heater (which was not on) worked just fine--downstairs. There was no heat upstairs.
We lugged our stuff upstairs to our rooms and started to unpack. We had about 20 minutes until 'dinner' was served. We were called down for pizza about 10:30 or 10:45pm. Since I'm not a cheese eater I did not partake in dinner. Luckily I was still full from the snack we had at dinnertime.
I was excited for Monday because I wanted to explore the area. Before everyone else got up, Bre and I got up and went for a run. We ran approximately 3 miles to Henry something road. It leads down to a public beach. The beach was beautiful; there were river rocks everywhere and on the other side of the grassy dunes there was a freshwater oasis. We saw lots of sea urchins on the shore (I'm guessing the birds had eaten them). It was a great run.
after breakfast we had a power point introduction to field research. Scat and learning to recognize it was the topic of the day.
We traveled down to Broad Cove and walked along the boundaries of the beach for 15k. The beaches here are nothing that I've seen before. Apparently the winter wind and storms blow the beach away and only leave rocks--it is hard to imagine bringing the family to the beach. During the spring and summer, the sand returns and there is a beach again.
Our goal was to identify signs of mammals (mostly scat) and boy did we have some samples! Knowing what was in the woods around us was amazing--coyotes, bobcat, fox, otter, seal, beaver, muskrat, porcupine, and bear (that is all I can remember right now).
We saw a cute little muskrat swimming in a freshwater pond. He was a fair distance away so the pictures aren't that detailed.
My favorite part of the day was when the dog (Lycos--belongs to the scientists) found a porcupine!!!!! It was a yearling so he wasn't huge. He scurried up a tree and we surrounded him trying to take pictures.
While attempting to get a better angle, I found the remains of a porcupine and bear poo. Christina said that the porcupine was probably either dead or dying since bear usually don't hunt porcupine.
My pictures aren't great--it was hard to see him--but you can sort of see him if you know you're looking for him.
We returned to the house, exhausted, ready for dinner. I was able to get online and update my things.
I am able to receive emails but currently can't send them. It is so very frustrating. :(
Well....the scientists just arrived for breakfast (it is 8:30am). Until later, enjoy the slide show.
Sunday, April 13, 2008
Sunday, 4-13-08 Run in Halifax
Halifax is small.
I learned this as I was running this morning. The hotel employees unanimously suggested that I run along the boardwalk. Sounded good to me because I had my camera and was ready for something to see. The weather was foggy and between 3 and 4 degrees C (not quite 40F).
I'd predetermined a run time of about an hour and a half because I had to eat breakfast and then had an airport shuttle to catch.
I ran for a little while, snapping a few pictures as I went, and then noticed I was entering the port authority area. I didn't worry because I was on a road and as long as I was on a road I was not going anywhere illegal. I started to see hard hat signs but disregarded them; there were high security fences and I could not get in that area. Finally I came to a dead end--I had to enter the port area or turn around. Since I was unprepared in the hard hat department I turned around. That little jaunt was only a mile or so and I had planned out my run strategy--run for 40+ minutes and then turn around. This was more like run for 20ish minutes and turn around. Oh well...there would be more the other way.
As I retraced my steps I did find more. I found lots of little shops I had not seen previously. Apparently they were closed too because I came upon Cows--one of my favorite Canadian ice cream stores. They had a big sign that said 'closed for the season, see mooooo in the spring'. Hmmm...I could have sworn that spring came in March. With it being mid-April I wonder when 'spring' comes? June?
Carrying on, I could see lots of sea urchins and sea stars in the water so I took pictures of them--not sure how well they'll come out because of the overcast conditions.
I reached a casino and then realized that I had again reached the end of the line. The only thing left to do was turn left and run a box around the city. I chose to just retrace my steps again, so back to the port authority it was. By the time I did that and returned to my starting point it had been a little over an hour. Not wanting to retrace any more steps I called it a day.
Now I'm headed down for breakfast and will await my ride to the airport where I will meet up with my Earthwatch comrades. We will then travel to our assignment!
More later...
Paige
I learned this as I was running this morning. The hotel employees unanimously suggested that I run along the boardwalk. Sounded good to me because I had my camera and was ready for something to see. The weather was foggy and between 3 and 4 degrees C (not quite 40F).
I'd predetermined a run time of about an hour and a half because I had to eat breakfast and then had an airport shuttle to catch.
I ran for a little while, snapping a few pictures as I went, and then noticed I was entering the port authority area. I didn't worry because I was on a road and as long as I was on a road I was not going anywhere illegal. I started to see hard hat signs but disregarded them; there were high security fences and I could not get in that area. Finally I came to a dead end--I had to enter the port area or turn around. Since I was unprepared in the hard hat department I turned around. That little jaunt was only a mile or so and I had planned out my run strategy--run for 40+ minutes and then turn around. This was more like run for 20ish minutes and turn around. Oh well...there would be more the other way.
As I retraced my steps I did find more. I found lots of little shops I had not seen previously. Apparently they were closed too because I came upon Cows--one of my favorite Canadian ice cream stores. They had a big sign that said 'closed for the season, see mooooo in the spring'. Hmmm...I could have sworn that spring came in March. With it being mid-April I wonder when 'spring' comes? June?
Carrying on, I could see lots of sea urchins and sea stars in the water so I took pictures of them--not sure how well they'll come out because of the overcast conditions.
I reached a casino and then realized that I had again reached the end of the line. The only thing left to do was turn left and run a box around the city. I chose to just retrace my steps again, so back to the port authority it was. By the time I did that and returned to my starting point it had been a little over an hour. Not wanting to retrace any more steps I called it a day.
Now I'm headed down for breakfast and will await my ride to the airport where I will meet up with my Earthwatch comrades. We will then travel to our assignment!
More later...
Paige
Saturday, April 12, 2008
Saturday, April 12th, Arrival in Canada
So here I am, sitting in my hotel room in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I've just finished eating my delicious Canadian version of the Chocolate X-treme blizzard from DQ. My hypothesis was correct; the are just as good here. :)
Reflecting on my day so far seems like something that happened so long ago. To recount my adventure so far I must start with Friday.
I didn't leave school until after 5:30pm. Trying to finish grading a million lab journals and enter grades plus planning for a two week absence was a feat I didn't think I would be able to do. My students are in capable hands with the substitute I have chosen. My fear is leaving for two entire weeks. I've never had to plan detailed lessons for two weeks.
But I digress...
Friday when I arrived home I knew I would not be getting to bed early. I had already started packing. I had made notes for myself--things to find, things to pack, flight information to find, etc... Mom graciously brought over take out for Frank and I. When she arrived, I had been home only about 30 or so minutes. She knew how hectic everything was and coaxed me to keep packing. I scarfed down the yummy Chinese food and disappeared.
I checked in for my flight early and decided that I was taking two checked bags (for bringing more back). Now I just had to pack everything into those two bags. In total, I would have four bags--two large checked bags and two carry-ons; my camera in one, and laptop in the other. Earthwatch said to pack only what you could carry; I took them literally.
Knowing that my flight was at 6:30am, I reserved a taxi for 4:30am pick up. I was able to finish my preparations and get to be before 10pm.
Rising with the alarm clock, my day began at 3:15am. I treated it as a normal day and got into my normal daily schedule--get dressed, feed the dogs, eat breakfast, read the paper. Doh! The paper wasn't delivered yet. It was early.
Frank was up early so we could spend a little time together--he even made biscuits. Yummy.
The taxi was prompt and I was quickly in the car, headed for the airport. As expected at 4:30am, there was no traffic to worry about and we easily made it to the airport without hassle.
Once at the airport it was a breeze. I only had to sit and wait for my flight. Finally something where I didn't have to plan or pack.
I tried to get some sleep on the flight to New Jersey but only managed a few brief lapses into the unconscious. Next on the agenda was to find the connecting flight to Halifax.
Naturally my gate was just about the farthest gate they could have chosen. I had an hour layover so I was not worried about missing the flight. I lugged my two carry-ons through the extra hot airport and sat at my gate for the 11:45am flight.
I was one of the last to board the express jet to Halifax because I was the first seat. It was just me up there--a seat for one! Woo hoo!
So, there we sat. And sat. And continued to sit. Because I was literally next to the entrance, I had a front row seat to the cockpit. I overheard the pilot speaking with the lone flight attendant. Apparently the weather in Halifax was causing lots of concern. We would have to add lots of fuel and in turn would need to lose 'weight' from the plane. Volunteers were offered vouchers to take Sunday morning's flight. Since I already had hotel reservations I did not want to be charged so I did not take the voucher. In hind sight, that was stupid of me. $500 voucher, hotel, dinner, and breakfast would have easily won. I was afraid that straying from the plan would cause an unseen crisis.
Over an hour later, we finally were given clearance for take off. It was an uneventful flight and the weather had mostly cleared by the time we arrived.
The weather was drizzly and very overcast.
My taxi driver was a character! He impressed me with his knowledge of black and white movie trivia as he drove me to my hotel.
The scenery was beautiful as we drove. The trees, rocks, and overall groundcover were exactly what I expected. It is so different from home. I wanted to take pictures but the rain and moving car hindered that idea. My taxi driver was also a tour guide. He drove me around to a few sights. I didn't realize that the fare was a flat fee so as he drove me around I wondered just how high my total fare would climb.
I'm staying the night at the Coutyard. I have a nice room that is overlooking the harbor. If the weather were nicer it would be beautiful. If I were capable of capturing a picture in this weather--that would be a miracle.
I walked around the area, looking for a souvenir shop. Apparently this place is a ghost town until later in the spring. Almost every place I saw was closed--at 5pm on a Saturday. I did find a rum runner store so I bought a rum cake.
My long term goal was to walk to the Dairy Queen I had seen as we drove to the hotel. It was about a mile or so from the hotel. As soon as I saw it, I started laying a bread crumb trail so I could retrace my steps back there. My main fear was money--I had $20 US cash and two credit cards (AmEx and MC). Since most stores only accept Canadian dollars, I was hoping that they accepted plastic. From the beginning of my blog you can see that they did take my plastic.
Now I'm free until 11am tomorrow when I catch the airport shuttle to meet up with my Earthwatch crew. We're headed out to the actual sight tomorrow afternoon. All I am sure of is that we're staying in a hamlet--something smaller than a town. :) more updates on that when I get there.
I'm planning to get in a run tomorrow since I have time. I have my small camera so I'm planning to take it with me. Too bad I couldn't find a magnet or other souvenir. My pictures will have to suffice.
Until tomorrow.
Reflecting on my day so far seems like something that happened so long ago. To recount my adventure so far I must start with Friday.
I didn't leave school until after 5:30pm. Trying to finish grading a million lab journals and enter grades plus planning for a two week absence was a feat I didn't think I would be able to do. My students are in capable hands with the substitute I have chosen. My fear is leaving for two entire weeks. I've never had to plan detailed lessons for two weeks.
But I digress...
Friday when I arrived home I knew I would not be getting to bed early. I had already started packing. I had made notes for myself--things to find, things to pack, flight information to find, etc... Mom graciously brought over take out for Frank and I. When she arrived, I had been home only about 30 or so minutes. She knew how hectic everything was and coaxed me to keep packing. I scarfed down the yummy Chinese food and disappeared.
I checked in for my flight early and decided that I was taking two checked bags (for bringing more back). Now I just had to pack everything into those two bags. In total, I would have four bags--two large checked bags and two carry-ons; my camera in one, and laptop in the other. Earthwatch said to pack only what you could carry; I took them literally.
Knowing that my flight was at 6:30am, I reserved a taxi for 4:30am pick up. I was able to finish my preparations and get to be before 10pm.
Rising with the alarm clock, my day began at 3:15am. I treated it as a normal day and got into my normal daily schedule--get dressed, feed the dogs, eat breakfast, read the paper. Doh! The paper wasn't delivered yet. It was early.
Frank was up early so we could spend a little time together--he even made biscuits. Yummy.
The taxi was prompt and I was quickly in the car, headed for the airport. As expected at 4:30am, there was no traffic to worry about and we easily made it to the airport without hassle.
Once at the airport it was a breeze. I only had to sit and wait for my flight. Finally something where I didn't have to plan or pack.
I tried to get some sleep on the flight to New Jersey but only managed a few brief lapses into the unconscious. Next on the agenda was to find the connecting flight to Halifax.
Naturally my gate was just about the farthest gate they could have chosen. I had an hour layover so I was not worried about missing the flight. I lugged my two carry-ons through the extra hot airport and sat at my gate for the 11:45am flight.
I was one of the last to board the express jet to Halifax because I was the first seat. It was just me up there--a seat for one! Woo hoo!
So, there we sat. And sat. And continued to sit. Because I was literally next to the entrance, I had a front row seat to the cockpit. I overheard the pilot speaking with the lone flight attendant. Apparently the weather in Halifax was causing lots of concern. We would have to add lots of fuel and in turn would need to lose 'weight' from the plane. Volunteers were offered vouchers to take Sunday morning's flight. Since I already had hotel reservations I did not want to be charged so I did not take the voucher. In hind sight, that was stupid of me. $500 voucher, hotel, dinner, and breakfast would have easily won. I was afraid that straying from the plan would cause an unseen crisis.
Over an hour later, we finally were given clearance for take off. It was an uneventful flight and the weather had mostly cleared by the time we arrived.
The weather was drizzly and very overcast.
My taxi driver was a character! He impressed me with his knowledge of black and white movie trivia as he drove me to my hotel.
The scenery was beautiful as we drove. The trees, rocks, and overall groundcover were exactly what I expected. It is so different from home. I wanted to take pictures but the rain and moving car hindered that idea. My taxi driver was also a tour guide. He drove me around to a few sights. I didn't realize that the fare was a flat fee so as he drove me around I wondered just how high my total fare would climb.
I'm staying the night at the Coutyard. I have a nice room that is overlooking the harbor. If the weather were nicer it would be beautiful. If I were capable of capturing a picture in this weather--that would be a miracle.
I walked around the area, looking for a souvenir shop. Apparently this place is a ghost town until later in the spring. Almost every place I saw was closed--at 5pm on a Saturday. I did find a rum runner store so I bought a rum cake.
My long term goal was to walk to the Dairy Queen I had seen as we drove to the hotel. It was about a mile or so from the hotel. As soon as I saw it, I started laying a bread crumb trail so I could retrace my steps back there. My main fear was money--I had $20 US cash and two credit cards (AmEx and MC). Since most stores only accept Canadian dollars, I was hoping that they accepted plastic. From the beginning of my blog you can see that they did take my plastic.
Now I'm free until 11am tomorrow when I catch the airport shuttle to meet up with my Earthwatch crew. We're headed out to the actual sight tomorrow afternoon. All I am sure of is that we're staying in a hamlet--something smaller than a town. :) more updates on that when I get there.
I'm planning to get in a run tomorrow since I have time. I have my small camera so I'm planning to take it with me. Too bad I couldn't find a magnet or other souvenir. My pictures will have to suffice.
Until tomorrow.
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