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Category: Work Posts

Back on the Road

September 23, 2011
Work Posts

I was back on the road this week, down in Frelighsburg, Quebec.

Our site is located at an Agriculture Canada Research Sub-station located about 5km from the Vermont border.

The monitoring site. Environment Canada has been in the news a lot these days with the looming program and job cuts, it’s always better to fly under the radar.

One of the many butterflies around the site.

I’ll be back down there in a couple of weeks to finish an installation with some American colleagues who are doing a co-located study.

Chalk River Site Visit

July 7, 2011
Work Posts

I did a short trip up to our Chalk River, Ontario site this week to fix some equipment. The site is located on the AECL property, security is tight, no cameras are allowed on site. I headed up on Wednesday to overnight in Pembroke and then on to the site Thursday morning. On the way back to Toronto Thursday, the van I was driving broke down in Northwood, ON. It turned out to be the main grounding cable broke/corroded off the terminal, so it wouldn’t allow me to restart the engine after stopping to gas up. A mechanic from Cloyne was able to diagnose the problem and get the van started using a some of vise grips, it allowed me to get to their garage where the grounding cable was replaced.

Chalk River map

Anglers Trail Resort

June 24, 2011
Work Posts

We were staying the night at Anglers Trail Resort. Don’t let the name fool you, it is a resort if your idea of a resort is a 70’s cabin sitting on a lake in northern Saskatchewan. It sits on the shores of Lac La Plonge.

Lac La Plonge

We were there on the longest day of the year, so it was light out at 11:00pm. This shot was the next morning, not much difference.

Lac La Plonge

The resort is at the end of the road. The dog on the right kept bring rocks and dropping them at your feet to play fetch.

Anglers Trail Resort

The place was full, the lake has pike and lake trout.

Lac La Plonge

Our ride for the trip was a GMC Yukon with a 167 litre fuel tank, we couldn’t figure out why the gauge was barely moving.

GMC Yukon

The last time I was here it was -20 deg C, someone asked me if I’d rather have the cold or the blackflies, I’ll take the cold anyday!

Blackflies, Mosquitos, and Lady’s Slipper

June 22, 2011
Work Posts

From Saskatoon, it was on to Prince Albert and then up to Pinehouse Lake the following day. After a brief stop in Pinehouse Lake to meet with the local conservation officer, it was into the bush.

Pinehouse Lake map

When we got out of the vehicle, the blackflies descended around us. As we moved into the bush they were joined by the mosquitos. They actually weren’t that bad, I didn’t have to use my bug jacket, as long as you were moving it was okay. But once we got to where we were going, it was time for the bug juice. Here is one of the trees we marked.

Tree marking

On the way out we spotted some Pink Lady’s Slipper (Cypripedium acaule).

Lady's Slipper

Lady's Slipper

Further along we came across a Spruce Grouse (Falcipennis canadensis).

Spruce Grouse

We had lucked out with the weather and bugs, not so much with the roads, due to all the rain they had received the gravel roads weren’t so good. The last 100 km is gravel/dirt roads and it took over 90 minutes. It was back to Beauval for the night.

Back on the Road

June 21, 2011
Work Posts

After a ten week stay at home, I’m back on the road this week. I went through Saskatoon again today on my way to Prince Albert. Tomorrow it is on to Pinehouse Lake for a meeting with our Public Works project manager at our new site. Not looking forward to the black flies and mosquitos. The challenge will be finding the trees that I marked back in December.

Prince Albert map

Amphibian and Reptile Ramble

May 15, 2010
Old-RainwaterWork Posts

I have been spending a lot of time out near Owen Sound for work lately. We are starting a new precipitation monitoring site at the Kinghurst Nature Reserve near Chatsworth. The property is owned by Ontario Nature and this weekend they were having an amphibian and reptile count. As part of our outreach program, I was there to give a demonstration of our equipment and talk about why we are there and what we do. Here I am with the Mark Carabetta, Conservation Science Manager for Ontario Nature waiting for some rain. It turns out his wife works at the ROM with Mom and Dad’s old next door neighbour.

Richard and Mark

Afterwards I joined the group and went looking for Reptiles and amphibians. One of the Ontario Nature people is currently working on the Ontario Reptile and Amphibian Atlas. Joe Crowley is a wealth of information when it come to snakes and frogs. Here he is with a garter snake.

Joe Crowley

I spotted a water snake in the water and next thing you know he was in the water catching the snake.

Water snake

Catching a snake

Note the wet sleeve.

Water snake

This little girl wanted to hold every snake they caught.

Girl with snake

Here is a Ribbon Snake having a little swim.

Ribbon snake

A bigger Water snake, there were lots of Garter, Water and Ribbon snakes around the water’s edge.

Water snake

The Nature Reserve has a large wetland area and one of the more impressive old growth forests in Ontario.

Kinghurst

Wetlands

There were also lots of leopard frogs in the grass.

Leopard frog

And some Green Frogs.

Green frog

Green frog

This was a Pickerel Frog.

Pickerel frog

Here is a small Red-bellied snake.

Red-bellied snake

Most of the people there were birders and knew all the calls of the birds.

Bird

Some lichen in full bloom.

Lichen

Another ribbon snake. The cloudy eyes indicate that it will shed its skin soon.

Ribbon snake

Part of the property is an old farmstead, there is still a well on the site. Mark said if you pump it long enough the water will come.

Water

One last leopard frog before I left for home. The rest of the group were going to look for salamanders and more snakes. They were camping at a nearby conservation area and then they were coming back on the Sunday.

Leopard frog

The Rock in February and Happy to Be Off!

February 20, 2010
Old-RainwaterWork Posts

I spent the first week of the Olympics in Stephenville Newfoundland. It was bad enough trying to stay awake in Mississauga with the 3 hour time difference, try the 4.5 hour difference. Suprisingly, the winter out there has been similar to ours, a little bit more snow, but not as much as usual.

Stephenville, NL map

I was scheduled to be back early Friday morning, things were going to plan, settled into my priority seat. There were electrical problems with the system, so they tried the Airbus equivalent of the Ctrl-Alt-Del. After a few attempts, they announced the flight was cancelled. When they cancel a flight due to plane problems in Toronto, they just shuffle things around and voila, a new plane, you’re good to go. In Deer Lake, when they cancel a direct flight back to Toronto on an Airbus 319, you’re pretty much screwed as there are no other planes.

Eventually they re-booked us on a 12:15 pm flight to Toronto, not bad, only about six hours to wait. Through the morning, things got worse, 12:15 turned into 13:00, than 14:00, then 14:45 and finally 15:15.

Delayed flights

There was some consolation when they announced over the PA that the plane had left Montreal. The ground technician covering up the engines, as they were expecting some weather to pass through.

Cancelled flight

It was almost 12 hours later than my original arrival time, but it was good to be home. A lot of people on the flight were going to destinations beyond Toronto, so they were scrambling to rebook their connecting flights. Many were going to the Olympics and down south. When the second plane arrived, it was starting to look like Pearson.

Deer Lake Airport

Updated From Here To There

March 31, 2009
Old-RainwaterWork Posts

I finally updated the work blog. I added my trips to Longue-Point-de-Mingan, Experimental Lakes Area, Regina, and Esther. I still have a couple of trips before the end of March, one to Happy Valley-Goose Bay in Newfoundland and State College, Pennsylvania.

Esther

Goose Bay

March 13, 2009
Old-RainwaterWork Posts

I was in Goose Bay, Labrador this week for a few days. There was so much snow, people had mini ski slopes on their front lawns. See my work blog for the photos.