New research site

ITEX site near the coast, sunny for one second and then foggy for the rest.

ITEX, International Tundra Experiment is another project that I am working with, which is in a new (for me) area of barrow that is closer to the shore line.

Flowering.

It is a pretty neat area, flat and lots of tundra with 100+ plots of land about 2 ft wide that are being studied, some control and some experimental. The experimental areas are plots that are allowed to be "heated" up and measurements are being taken to see the what may happen to the rest of the land during climate change.

First Image: Foggy conditions, the crappy board walk.
Second: OTC - Open Top Chambers for the experimental
Third: The control plots.

This area is further removed from people than the tram lines that I have been working on, which have nice boardwalks in place and a heated control shed. At the ITEX site there are only small parts that have boardwalks that are smaller and not so friendly. During my first time out, early into the day, my left foot slipped in between the two tracks of the boardwalk and became stuck in the middle as the rest of my body weight fell on to it. Needless to say , this hurt and I had to still complete the measurements for the next 4 hours. By the end of the day I was having trouble walking and could not bend my left leg backwards at all, and I had to really slow down and be extra careful as I twisted it once more after the first fall.

Local Hospital.

Upon returning I noticed that the back of my knee was bruised and my leg was a bit swollen, so I iced it and took some pain medicine which helped out a lot. However sleeping that night was not good due to the shocking pain I felt when I mistakenly moved it. Luckily, everyone let me sleep in (10:00 am) when I woke up and I radioed from my bed to Santonu to see if he had left to the field or not and if he found help, I was happy to hear that he had help and that I could rest for the morning and work on data in the lab. I slept the whole day and did nothing, which felt great, however the day was horrible because I woke up with a terrible headache (light and sound would shoot pain into me), a stiff leg, pain in my left foot and waist. The headache did not go away for at least 6 hours and the pain in my foot and waist is still very much there. I have been getting better with each day, but I am still feeling worse toward mid-day and evening.

Happier with my own knee brace.

I can only walk so much and I cannot bend my knee fully yet. I could not find a knee brace at the town store and so I went to the hospital and there I had a nurse check my leg who told me that I had pulled a tendon and gave me a free brace. She told me to return in a week should I still feel bad. I will certainly do so, I am worried about the next time I scheduled to go to the field. I am happy to hear that we will be getting a local high school student to help us but I will be going back to the ITEX site to repeat the same measurements. I am not looking forward to this at all. Last week I went to the field everyday and I believe that the same setup is happening this week too.

The King Eider Inn.

I was able to go and check out some other places around town on the day that we went to the hospital, such as the King Eider Inn. It is a very nice, clean and small hotel near the airport. They require you to take off your shoes before entering and they have a few rooms and one large beautiful "Presidential Suite" $$$. I wanted to stay there so bad! It has a four person hot tub (I have not see a tub of any sort for a month!) and a sauna. The people there were very friendly and showed Amorita and I the rooms even though they knew that we were not staying there.

Santonu, Amorita and I in front of "Stuaqpak", which means big store.

After this we went to Stuapqak and bought some food supplies in where a few items will ring up a big bill!

Santonu in front of the Gun section which is next to the kid toys!

I have been eating a the northern most Mexican restaurant in the world called Pepe's! The place is famous and so is the owner who was on the Johnny Carson Show.

Pepe's Mexican food.

Later that night we watched a movie "Kill Bill vol. 1" as we watch a movie every Saturday night on the projector in the Conference room.

Movie night replaces climbing day.

I am bummed out that I will once again miss out on the climbing wall, I am getting weak and I miss my little fox dog. Other than that things are still going well! - Good Night.

Foxy kissing Matt. wait... Matt kissing Foxy! - Photo by KARLA

Foxy and her fox pups. - Photo by Photoshop