Siteseeing...

I just thought about my affinity for science fiction. Maybe that's the genre my thesis will be put in... Being able to put Sci-Fi writer on my CV would be great, but that might come at the expense of being able to write MSc (twice). Since I started, I've had a nagging feeling that I've been making it up as I go along. Maybe that's why the boss came out this week to check on me!

My sis in the process of winning the world Duathlon Champs in 2010

Before I start wittering on about my week, I feel I need to return a few plugs I've been getting for my Blog. My sister, the world famous Ironman Triathlete managed to double my audience overnight by tweeting my blog. You can find out about her at www.catmorrison.com. A true athlete in the proper sense of the word. Several time world champion at crazy endurance stuff, and almost as smart as me... Currently rehabilitating gammy Achilles, so good luck getting back to killing yourself soon!

You too could work here. With her!

Also, thanks to my supervisor for being more interested than me in promoting my work within the university and more extended hydrology community (fear of having to present and a preference to fly under the radar). She is currently seeking someone who can work on other research in this really terrible location. To make up for that you can be based in wonderful Saskatoon! Could be MSc, PhD, postdoc or research assistant. If you know a bit about hydrology, and can put up with regular trips to Kananaskis (tough, I know), you can get in touch with her. Dr Cherie Westbrook, info here - http://homepage.usask.ca/~cjw842/


The Centre for Hydrology is where I'm based at the University of Saskatchewan. They are doing a lot of interesting work in hydrological type things. It's all very technical to me, so I'll not try and explain stuff. Go here to have a look if you are interested -  http://www.usask.ca/hydrology/

A nice picture to break up all this text.

Finally, the Global Institute for Water Security who are the source of all cash! The Global Institute is concerned with developing tools and techniques in managing the worlds freshwater resources in a sustainable way. My main interest is to help do my bit to ensure that I can always get enough water to make a cup of tea! But if you want to get more serious, you can learn more about what the institute is doing here - http://www.usask.ca/water/

Plugging over!

Just another pretty picture.

Well, another week down and a total of 48 wetlands visited. A much more relaxed feeling this week. Monday morning was set aside to go and collect the GPS points of where we ran the GPR the previous thursday (too many acronyms, I know. It's a Canadian thing. They also have a a strange habit of pronouncing them as words even though the words they come out as often sound nothing like the acronym looks. For example, shirk which would be SHRC. So from now on I think I'll refer to the GPR as "Gipper"). That done, we decided to take Gipper out since the forecast rain hadn't appeared. We have two sites quite nearby, site no. 510 and site no. 4. We checked out 510 before hauling Gipper down. That turned out to be a good plan, because the area I though we could use it was shin deep in water. It was a wet weekend, hence why our only activities were shopping, cinema and blog writing. There was another area on that site which I thought might be a good possibility for running Gipper, but I wasn't sure if it was peat, so we abandoned that site and headed to the other.

Site 4. Nice.

Site 4 is one of my favourites. Right next to the road, and not to much wading to get around. There is also something that looks like an old infilled beaver pond about 10m from where we park. What makes me happy out here is a bit different from normal... Anyway, you can often get an idea of where an old pond is because the is a kind of triangular shape where the vegetation is less dense and lower than the surrounding vegetation, with the downstream edge of the triangle being raised slightly. It's not always right, but it's a good hint. It was one of these that we decided to use Gipper on. So we laid out 4 transects, and I got setting Gipper up, while Jeff cored along the transects. We were frozen out here as well. Which wasn't the biggest problem. The bigger problem was that I had forgotten to make sure that this area was actually peat. It was not. I should

Nice trace. Pity it's not peat.

probably get my research objectives tattooed to my hand. So that turned the Gippering into a practice session. Since it was all laid out, we ran it anyway. The traces looked pretty good. Jeff had measured a frost table dropping lower along our first transect, and the trace seemed to show this. Amazingly, I may actually be able to work this thing! Interpreting may be  a different matter.


Job done, we packed up and headed back to the field centre. About two minutes along the road, a massive thunderstorm and torrential rain hit. Deciding not to stay and try and take Gipper further down the site was a good idea! It also meant we got back quite early, and I had time to go and pick my bike up from the shop. I was amazed to hear that they found no leaks in my brake system, and that bleeding them again seemed to have worked. Maybe it was a bad bleed after all they said. Shocked I was, that this might be the case. I'm still reserving judgement until I've had a proper ride.

The wrong clothes...

Top of the Highwood Pass...

Yup. Pretty snowy.

Tuesday, apart from working in a continual downpour, was pretty successful. 5 Sites visited, south of the Highwood Pass. This drive had nothing to recommend it on tuesday, although returning to it on Thursday it was really very pleasant. My good friend Kenny reminded me of a Billy Connolly truism; "There's no such thing as bad weather, just the wrong clothes." Something that rings very true when  you forgot to pack your waterproof trousers! Still, I was better off than Jeff, who didn't pack a waterproof jacket either! Well, it's not too cold when you keep moving. And at least we were leaving the higher altitude sites to another day, as the drive back over the pass was through heavy snow. The wrong clothes also appear to help you move faster, as we managed to get through our list of 5 by 2pm. So a nice early finish again. Which was good because Mrs Boss woman was arriving on wednesday, and we needed to do a bit of cleaning of the man pit!

Working like a beaver.

The good Doctor was due in at Calgary airport at 7:07am, which meant a bit of an early start. Ooof. I hate mornings. Jeff was also flying out from Calgary that day as well, so good timing in a way, but not that good as his flight wasn't till 4.30. Ouch. Calgary also needs to work on it's signage. We managed to miss the turn off for the airport and were a good way out of the city before we turned around. We were both looking for the sign and both didn't see one. Smartphone activated, we headed back, and sure enough there is as sign. It's a tiny one and it is right at the turn off. No wonder Albertans change lane suddenly quite a lot. Actually, I think I may have to add a supplemental about Albertan drivers. Terrible they are. Pardon the digression. Our lateness of arrival at the airport was compounded by the fact that Dr Westbrook had decided that she didn't really want her phone with her and left it on Saskatoon. So sshe couldn't call to ask where we are, and we couldn't let her know we were running late. All these scientific minds at work. you'd think common sense would be, errrr, more common.

Canadian Moose - much larger than its Scottish counterpart.

With the airport dealt with, it was back to the field centre, and working out how best to use my supervisors time. Part of my site visitation is assessing for suitable places to take Gipper for a walk on. I've found 5 that seem to be good, but I worry that my selection is not very scientifically based, and has more relation to them being very easy to get to! It is a big consideration since Gipper is a portly beast, but shouldn't be the only one. So I felt that going back to these sites and getting a second opinion would be useful. Cherie seemed pretty pleased with them. Which is either a good sign, or a sign of someone pretending to themselves they've not wasted a bunch of money funding a half assed researcher! Possibly a bit of both. Other than driving about and soil coring, which is mostly boring (yes, I did just do that), it was a pretty successful couple of days

Very huggable.

Ruff.

The ideal pet for your kids.

wildlife spotting. There was a Golden Eagle (maybe, certainly a big hawk), deer, 2 moose, a wolf, a toad, a beaver (only the second one I've seen!) 1 adult and two baby grizzlies, and what Cherie is convinced was a wolverine. I'm not so sure. It didn't have metal claws and an Australian accent. We also saw a wild Albertan redneck driver. Who drove past us at about 100 on a gravel road and kicked up a huge stone which almost punched through the windscreen. Pricey.

Croaaaak.

Mmmmm, Bruski!

Today has been pretty quiet. Not much office work, and I'm not trusted to go out on my own. I had a wee investigative bike ride along the widowmaker trail. Rather disappointing given it's name, and is only 3km long. It follows the widowmaker kayak course which looks much more fun. I want to try it! Apart from that I've been looking at the trail map to see where I can go tomorrow and test my brake out. Maybe Prairie View trail over to Quaite Creek trail for a 20ish km blast. Or maybe do the Baldy pass trail without the ridge nightmare! After that, I have found a curry shop in Cochrane which has a promising menu and hopefully I can have a curry worthy of the name! I may even have the Irn Bru with it!


 

SUPPLEMENTAL - OBSERVATIONS ON ALBERTAN DRIVERS

They won't move back into the slow lane unless you are almost touching their bumper. Even then only 50% of the time.

They tailgate.

Combining the tailgating and not moving over creates ridiculous traffic flow situations where there are up to 20 cars crammed into a 150m length of 2km of otherwise empty double lane highway.

Select Albertans overtake on gravel roads purely to try and smash your windscreen.

They cut in and out of lanes very quickly.

Most cars are sold without indicators (signal lights).

You are not a real man if you don't have a big truck.

I'm sure this list could grow indefinitely.



If you read this small rant, here are some more bear pictures as a reward.

To pacify a bear, stab it in the rear with a red ballpoint pen.