Flowers and Bears - Oh my

Big ol' Grizzly Paw. Grr. This block scares the shit out of me; I once saw a Grizzly (perhaps this very one...) eating a young black bear here. Quite the experience. Apparently, male black bears will kill the young of females to make them go into estrous again so that they can breed with the female: the definition of spreading your seed, I suppose. Anyway, and the Grizzly we saw was highly likely eating the remains of this charming ritual.

Lupinus spp.

Apparently several lupines are known to have caused fatal poisoning in animals, so all species should be considered poisonous; apparently the moose (?) like to graze the tender tips of these lupins in the Nass Valley (Nisga'a Core Lands). In this picture there is also some fireweed (Epilobium anustifolium) and bracken fern (Pteridium aquilinum).

It's always a real treat when my plot includes a bird's nest, especially when it contains eggs. The two structures amaze me: Can you imagine how long it must take for the little bird to gather up snippets of twigs and grass to form a bed for its progeny? And, how does mother nature make sure a perfectly thin and beautifully rounded shell to protect the growing embryo? So cool.

Catch Up

Well, I'm a little bit behind the times and need to recap the past two weeks of my life for you, now, don't I? Well, here goes something...

The week before last was spent lounging in a motel, watching crappy TV...naw, we worked hard, promise! We were in a motel though. Terrace was the place to be. It was actually alright. The first two days were in the helicopter, flying with two of the best pilots in the world: Mike and Ian at Quantum, in Terrace. The first day we went down to the Falls River area. I saw a porcupine (aka Mr. Porky), which made me laugh, and it was a beautifully misty day with smatterings of sunshine and rain and clouds that drifted in and out of the valley, hiding and revealing the lovely waterfalls that decorate the steep hillsides. The second day we went over to the Big Wedeene River, near Terrace as well but had to abort our mission within about an hour because the block that we were going to work on wasn't quite ready for us!

After another day's work around Terrace, we hussled out to Prince Rupert for a day's flying into Silver Creek (just next door to PR), traipsing around in the multi-layer cutblocks (see the photos on my Flickr page). In one of the blocks there was a huge section of "culturally modidfied trees". These CMTs were cedars that had had their barked stripped in one section over the years. The bark would be used to make baskets, etc. Anyway, check it out...!

Working in Silver Creek is a bit amusing because it's within cell range of PR. That always throws me for a loop: you think you're in the middle of nowhere, but in all reality...!!! That evening we went and had sushi at the BEST sushi joint I've EVER been to. It's called Opa's Sushi. It's in Cow Bay, in Prince Rupert...if you're ever there, don't miss it. That and their rolls are SO cheap and SO good. Mmm! It's also super cool because it's housed in an old fish net loft so the building's all wooden, and not painted on the inside or finished in any fancy way at all really; the beams are all exposed and it smells like the ocean and wood and sushi all rolled up into one.

After sushi dinner we sauntered across the street to Cowpuccino's! One of the three-way tie winners for the best cafe in Canada, in my humble opinion. It's so funky. And, they make the best baked goods in this eentsy-weensy kitchen. So, if you're a sweetie-o-holic, you'd feel right at home here. Hannah grabbed three treats for the road; I succombed only to a measly chocolate oat bar and could hardly finish it (I'm not very hardcore in the world of sweeties)...but, it was so good.

The next shift of work took place in the buggy Meziadin. This is the campground we stayed at: Meziadin Lake Provincial Park. We even went for a dip, two times! (It was COLD!). The work this past week was good, albeit somewhat buggy. Behind my left ear looks like a chicken-pocked warzone...not very pleasant. And, I suffered a lopsided black-fly collagen injection, a la Goldie Hawn in some movie way-back-when. That was interesting!!! And, I'll include a picture for a little self-mortification effect:

The bug net was my best friend this shift. Hannah's being laying on the deet...I wonder how long that'll last for! That stuff melts plastic...I'm not so sure that it's fit for human use!

Anyway, time to go roll some sushi for myself and the hungry pregnant lady. Mangoes, smoked salmon, short grain brown rice, accompanied by some delicious tofu and eggplant a la ReBar...very high culture, let me tell you!

Hopefully the crew out at the Oilers game tonight comes home satisfied!!! Drop me a line...anytime! -L.

Geranium erianthum

"Northern Geranium"

'The name "geranium" when translated means crane's-bill or stork's-bill and refers to the fruit with its central pointed column of fused styles that resemble the long bills of cranes or storks.' -Plants of Northern British Columbia (p. 210)

This Is What Rain Looks Like...

Pretty cool, eh? Thought so.

We went to the Nass Valley (North/Northwest of New Aiyansh; North of Terrace & the Nisga'a Lava Beds Provincial Park) for most of the shift and went to the Meziadin for the last day (just north of the Nass). It was pretty all over the place, weatherwise. But, overall, it was quite wet!!! ..which is good for the flowers?!!! (or something like that.)

There was a Grizzly Bear on one of the blocks we worked on, but I missed it :( I suppose that's a good thing, but it would have been a nice 'National Geographic Moment'! Instead, I indulged in taking some flower photos in my, ahem, spare time, which you can peruse on Flickr at your leisure because I'm feeling too lazy to upload them onto Blogger...Flickr's faster!!!

Anyway, it was nice to be back in the nasty Nass: it's where we seem to do the majority of our work so it felt like home sweet home, especially after having to try and navigate a few different road systems over the past few weeks that I was unfamiliar with. (Always mildly unnerving...the thought of beginning work on the wrong block!!! Thank goodness I live with a map fiend, and I'm a bit of one, too...otherwise, lord only knows what could have happened out there!)

Highlight of the shift, or more likely the most unsuitable thing for me to be writing about (but, in hindsight, I thought it was pretty funny so I'll share it with you, but mind my crude sense of humour, puh-lease). So. It finally happened. 'It' being one of those bush nightmares (except it didn't turn out all that bad...I'm here typing, anyway)...the world as your toilet: the world as animals habitat: the world as a bear's habitat, or moose, for that matter. When we were working in the Mez (bug capital), I'd finally hiked my tired butt up a nice hill and there was a breeze on this little ridge. Breezes keep the bugs at bay (but only sort of, in the Mez) so it was as good a time as any to finally take my morning crap that I'd been delaying because I didn't have the energy to fight off the bloodthirsty black flies. Ah. Relief. Woof. Shit, I say (pardon the pun, if it is one). Jasper starts barking his snout off...and my pants are around my ankles. Oops. Bear or moose, I do not know, but it did go crash-bang, that's for sure. Scramble scramble scramble. I safely make it out of there. Walk 100 metres down on my line, and then continue :) Thankfully that area doesn't need to be planted so no one should find my hurredly buried #2. So, I've always wondered when that was going to happen: my privacy being 'invaded' by another creature. Don't they know how to knock? Maybe that's why Jasper was barking so much!

On that note... -L.