My last post

So this will be my last blog entry from Churchill... But before i get into that, i'd first like to send a shout-out to Carol Gorie from Waterloo...Thanks for the card, it was so sweet, and we've been bragging to everyone at the Studies Centre about our "fan mail" :P It's great to know that people are reading and enjoying our blog!

Next, to fill you in on the goings-on at the Studies Centre...it has been super busy and crowded here these days. In addition to the regular researchers, there are two student groups staying here at the moment, totalling ~80 occupants. It's a bit hectic, but it's also fun, because one of the school groups is the Guelph field course, so we're in the company of some good friends and acquaintances.

One of these is Dr. Larry Weider, who has been studying the Churchill rock pools for over two decades. We got the chance to help him in the field the past two days, rock-bluffing, hunting zooplankton, and asking questions.

Larry is unmistakable in his usual bright blue jacket, toting his tupperware and dip net. Here he is with Amanda the rock pool protege.

Unfortunately, the weather has been sorta crummy recently. We've either been working under dark, cold, and dangerously windy conditions...

or a thick fog that makes it hard to see polar bears at a distance.

We could hardly see the bluff from our usual parking spot on the road!

Sooo foggy. Normally we would re-consider sampling under these conditions. But we were given a special task that had to be done by a deadline. This task is to collect zooplankton, keep them alive, bring them to Guelph, and ship them to Nova Scotia for a professor at Dalhousie. So with the help of Larry this morning, we collected the critters and now have a "zoo" on our lab bench.

Tomorrow i will be taking these on the plane with me to Toronto. Then i will be baby-sitting them over the weekend before putting them in the mail. Hopefully they don't run out of oxygen...or completely devour each other.

Well... that brings me to my Goodbye. I am leaving tomorrow morning, a couple weeks earlier than my fellow Planktoneers, because i will be in a friend's wedding in a few days! I am excited to go home and to have my own space again, but i will undoubtedly miss Churchill so much. Churchill has been my summer treat the past three years... I don't know if i will be back again. It's sad to think that next year, i won't be planktoneering on the rock bluffs, or looking over the tundra for caribou, or scanning the sea ice for bears.

But then again, maybe i will be.

The end of this trip also signifies the end of my time as a MSc student, so it is sad in that way too. I've learned so much and done so many new things the past two years, i don't really want it to end. (Karl, how did this happen??) But, what a way to end a chapter. I know i've been tremendously lucky.

Well...here are some parting shots...
Amanda, Erinn, i will become a Follower of this blog now and stay up-to-date on the Churchill fun! I will be thinking of you all the time!

Goodbye...and may the arctic adventures continue.