Off to the field we go.

The work has begun, or should I say the volunteer work has begun, and so have the long hours. We were told that the hours would be long as there is much data to collect and record throughout the day, then we have evening wrap -up and lectures.

Each day starts with breakfast at 7:00am, followed by a briefing on the type of work we will be doing throughout the day. After the briefing we will then head out to the field until returning to the CNSC for lunch at 12:00. After lunch it is back into the field until about 5:00pm when we return for dinner and the evening programs which will be either summary of the days events, data entry, lectures or a combination of all three, usually lasting until 9:00pm.

Today's morning session we stayed indoors for instruction on how to use hand held GPS systems, palm pilots to enter data, how to take soil coring samples of permafrost, and a procedure in taking measurements on small seedling trees in order to determine their rate of growth and age.

After lunch we headed out to a tree plantation and began measuring the height of 55 trees to determine their height, approximate age, and how many lateral branches they had. To complex to explain in a blog. When I say height and measurement, I am not talking giant California Redwoods, I am talking small seedlings that can range in size from 5cm to 17cm. Clipboard pts for converting cm to inches.

We did have about 30 minutes after dinner where we drove out and had an opportunity to see the sunset over the Hudson Bay, nice setting and there is a ship out in the bay that ran a ground several years ago, which made for a nice sunset picture with the ship in the foreground. So, I offer 10 clipboard points for the first person who can tell me the name of ship that sits in the Hudson Bay just offshore from Churchill and tell me what permafrost is. Good Luck!

I hope everyone is doing well. Enjoy your Monday off.