Where did the time go???

It has been quite a while since I posted anything ... my apologies! As we near our departure date from Toolik on the 22nd, things have gotten really busy. I am going to try to write a few posts just to catch you all up a bit on the Toolik happenings! So last I wrote, I mentioned the first big snow.... It was so cool to see the Brooks Range completely blanketed by snow.

I also had quite a few nice icicles hanging off of my tent in the morning!

Aleah posing with our frozen mop! Makes mopping the floor slightly more difficult ...

We had to go out to sample the East Lakes as well as pull in some of the science gear that was deployed out in the lake the first snowy day. We add nutrients (phosphorus and ammonium) to the E-lakes in low quantities to study the effects of nutrification of these waters. In the center of both of the two lakes is a solar powered nutrient "dripper" that adds the nutrients at a steady rate. So in addition to sampling, our goal was to pull in these fairly large floats that housed the two drippers. Although chilly, we had fun with the snow.

Shilo standing next to the mini snowman in our boat we made before heading out on the water.

After we got the second dripper in to shore and were about to head home, a snowball was thrown and then the snowball fight commenced! That evening, we had some unfair snowball throwing post-sauna even! I was all warm and aleah sneaked up behind me and stuffed a snowball down my shirt! Revenge .... I must get revenge ....

That night, the moon was so bright and beautiful! We are actually getting a fair amount of darkness these days... Walking across the pad late night is starting to get a little creepy. Time to pull out the head lamp!