Adventures in the Sketchmobile with Shaughna and Andrew!

Hello everyone this Shaughna and Andrew!

Once again setting standards from the lovely town of Churchill~!

Today really started in the early hours of the morning (like 1 o’clock) when we all got an amazing chance to see the northern lights. It was cold, buggy and spectacular.  And I spent a lot of the time blinding everyone in the aurora dome with the every now then camera flash. But it was all a good time. 

The Northern Lights!
After rising very early in the morning, we drove away in a van dubbed... well the name isn’t really appropriate for a blog so we shall refer to it as the Sketchmobile! It was a bumpy ride ..... and when I say bumpy, I mean REALLY FREAKEN BUMPY! I was fearing for my life. I think we should have worn helmets.  AAAAAAAAnyway, once we arrived at the forest fire site, we got down to business.  We loaded out of the wonderful Sketchmobile and everyone got into our extremely spiffy looking bug gear, showering ourselves in lots of bug spray. Of course we still managed to amass a huge amount of bug bites.  But the work was very interesting.  We examined several sections of different sections of the forest floor, looking for different species and types of moss and plants that we could identify for part of a lab.  We got to see a lot of the difference species we have been learning about this week as well as getting a chance to find and identify some new ones.

Everyone looking great in their bug gear~!

      

Reindeer Moss!

Then afterwards we got back into the Sketchmobile, and headed off to a healthy full growing boreal forest so we could make a comparison between the two about the number of different species in each. My favourite plant we got to see was the Labrador Tea.  Mine was the reindeer moss.  Once back at the center, we gulped down our lunches very quickly and reviewed what to do for our labs.  Then we worked in the caf for a good three hours .....(in which Harry managed to hurt himself a couple of times and work was not happening as much as we really wanted.)

It's the Sketchmobile!!

The outside

The scary ceiling.

Aaaaaaand the back.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One of our many views in Churchill

Then after dinner and short bit of free time we got a chance to listen to Caroline, who is a Dene elder speak about her culture and life. She also brought along all kinds of different beaded works and things made of caribou. It’s really cool they use EVERYTHING from the caribou to make stuff.  It is amazing how the Dene use every part of the caribou, from the sinew to the hide.  Nothing is wasted.  We had fun trying on mittens and playing a game that involves pieces of bone and hide on a string attached to another piece of bone. I got the hang of it on the second try! Although others were not as successful *cough*Larissa*cough*hehe. Although Troy found a way to fail but still make it look “stellar”, to quote the man himself.

 Success! for Harry

 Troy shows us how it's done

And now we find ourselves at the end of another fascinating, swaggerific day in Churchill.  We will finish off by listing the many lessons we learned today. 

Lesson #1- When sitting in the back seat of the Sketchmobile, wear a helmet!

Lesson #2- Labrador tea is poisonous, no matter what Harry says. (Troy)

Lesson #3 – When you have TWO FREE HOURS don’t learn the words to a song about  narwhals  (no good can come from this!!!)

Lesson #4- 5 pin bowling was invented in Toronto by a guy from Guelph.

Lesson #5- Peat moss can hold up to 20times its dry weight  in water!!!

These were so soft.

check out my mitts.

This was Andrewand Shaughna signing off from Churchill Manitoba!