Life Goes On...

Hello there and welcome back to blogtime with Sarah!  I've been absolutely wretched in performing my duties as your host, my humblest of apologies :)

Mostly, there really just hasn't been much happening so I didn't feel the need to post on here the menial little details of my life.  I can't just be like "Hi, I had salad for lunch.  Thanks for stopping by!"  It would get ridiculous!

Truly, there is not much to report on.  Artur left on the eleventh, and with him went my adventures too.  It is much harder to make oneself get up and get moving out in the wide world when you do it alone.  And that's as much as I am going to say about that sad little bit.

That being said, my classes do make me get out there at least a little bit.  Both my Wildlife and Ecology classes are going wonderfully, both with the field trips and in lecture.  I've heard from some fascinating people working for the Alaska Fish and Game Department in my Wildlife class.  Those guest speakers covered the human involvement in the changing ecology of Alaska, as well as an in depth discussion on Moose :)  It is absolutely superb to hear from people so passionate about their work.  I know most of you wouldn't find a lecture on the migration pattern of moose too terribly exciting, but I found it to be riveting.  The man who spoke was so enthusiastic about his studies that I think even you might have been at least a little interested (by you I mean the part of the world not making their life's work being the studies of animals and the intricacies of their lives).  My Ecology class spent a frigid morning earlier this week studying the different milieu of of trees within our own campus.  The North Campus has 1000 acres devoted to just being a forest, which can conveniently be used by the students for our studies :)  We learned the influences on the environment of being on either a north facing slope or a south facing slope (the south gets more sun and tends to be drier).  We started our wandering looking at some relatively young aspen that were growing in a section that had been cleared 50 years ago when the school was built.  Those trees grew so quickly that one couldn't tell it had ever been cleared (unless you knew that the aspen weren't the apex species for this particular environment [that comment is mostly geared towards you Travis as I don't think anyone else will know what it means :)  ] )  I thought it was cold when we started there. Ha.  It was about 42F.  We took a few measurements of slope and aspect, cored a tree, and moved on to the paper birch/white spruce mixed forest on a north slope.  Because it was on the north slope, it dropped about ten degrees.  We took the same measurements and moved on to an all white spruce section of the campus.  This area has been untouched, which was abundantly evident when compared to the previous places we'd seen.  And did I mention it was cold at the other plots?  Pft!  It went from cold to frigid as we moved further and further into the forest.  It looked like something out of a movie with tons of little hills and gullys making the landscape all humped up weird and creepy.  Moss covered everything making for a spring mat to walk on, and dead horsehair draped along the banks on either side of the path, lending an eerie quality to everything.  All we needed was a little fog and the scene would have been set for some haunting movie.  The further in we got, the colder it got.  I had noticed that I seemed to be extra clutzy, as my feet couldn't seem to stay put.  I finally realized that the wood chip covered pathway we were walking on had become frozen, and I was walking on something a little like cubes of ice :)  We reached the black spruce portion of the forest, the last part of the lab.  There were these crazy dips in the ground with the trees growing at odd angles or fallen over completely.  We found out that it was from the permafrost layer, which is normally six to twelve inches down, and rapidly thawed and the earth collapsed in those areas.  It was a cool 25F or so in the black spruce forest.  Needless to say we took our measurements in a jiffy and made our way back to the sun as quickly as possible.

This upcoming week for Ecology we are going to do a stream ecology lab that involves wading out into a river about an hour drive from town.  The instructors are graciously providing us the use of some wader....but I don't imagine those will do much to insulate!  If I thought this past week had gotten cold....this upcoming one is only getting more so, which I suppose is the nature of the changing season.  Tomorrow we may be getting some snow by noon!  If not tomorrow, then it is definitely expected by the end of the next week.  I am so not ready for that experience yet.  I mean...come on....it's still September!   I've got all the clothes...but my brain just hasn't wrapped around that concept yet.  I get to test my booties though, so I'm a little excited for that.  They are mega awesome ;)  I cannot imagine trying to do my streams ecology in the snow....we don't get waders for our hands, and those have to dunk in the water to take our readings.  The professor told us our hands will be happier under the surface of the water than above it, as it tends to be warmer if you have to break through ice as its an insulator...but I do eventually have to take those hands out!

Other than school, there isn't much going on.  I eat.  I sleep.  I do homework mostly.  The roommate drives me insane, and I'm desperately searching for a way out to a new and potentially better living situation.  If you haven't yet heard my rant on the idiotic being that I have to share living space with, don't ask.  You'll get more than an earful.  I'm currently looking for a job on campus, to try and soak up some of the free time I have.  Hmm...what else?  Oh!  If you're squeamish, skip on to the next paragraph.  I've been having problems with one of my eyes lately.  I finally got my glasses, life was good and I could see what the profs were writing on the board!  And then the irritation starts out of the blue earlier this week.  My eyes periodically get red and irritated, as does everyones I'm sure, which was why I didn't think anything of it when it started.  When I woke up in the morning, my eye would be fine, but by three in the afternoon it would start to get irritated, by six it would be super red, and the later the night progressed, the more it felt like every time I blinked my eyelids were scraping my eyeball.  I finally took a close look at my eye, and noticed a small (2-3mm) off white bump on the whites of my right eye next to the iris (colored part of my eye)  I freaked out.  But, as it was 1 in the morning, not much I could do.  I decided to give it a few days, see what would happen.  The same pattern would go on for the next two days, and unfortunately it has noticeably doubled in size and is now starting to grow over onto my iris.  I went to see the doctor on campus, and she was stumped and so referred me to a local eye doctor.  I called on Friday, and of course no appointment could be made until Wednesday.  Sigh.  I mean, come on guys, this is my eye!  Important to me, I'm rather attached to it, and you can't see me til Wednesday?  The lady I talked to didn't sound worried..but really, what does she know about growths on eyes?  She's a freakin receptionist.  We'll see on Wednesday what the doc has to say...meanwhile its growing. Ugh.

It's safe to read on now if you skipped over the last paragraph :)  I'm done with the icky story.  I went to the biggest bonfire I've ever seen tonight on campus.  Today was an event called Starvation Gulch.  I've no idea what the story behind the name is.  Anyways, the student body gets together on this day, takes donations of pallets from the local stores in the community, and builds giant structures out of them.  At around 10pm, they light em up.  They are judged on appearance pre-fire, post-fire, biggest flame, and longest burner.  The fire department helps thing along with some fuel accelerant, and whoosh!  Big fire!  It was 20F even when I left my dorm, all bundled up as best I could, but I wasn't cold for long.  I stood maybe 100 feet away from the blaze, and the fire made wind that whipped my hair all over the place, and geez it burned!  My face felt like it was shriveling up.  There were four separate structures, and their flames easily reached fifty feet in height.  It was amazing, and incredibly smokey.  I left once sparks started flying about, as I didn't feel like having my hair burn.  I'm rather fond of it.  There were also way too many drunk people out, and I'm pretty sure drunk people and fire usually don't mix very well, so I skeedattled.  That brings me here, typing to you now.  I miss my family terribly.  I love you all.  Artur, I miss you most of all (sorry family) and a little under three months seems like far too much time to wait.  my wait has been made better by some love sent from home.  My best of friends Trista and Zach sent me a care package that was much appreciated.  You two know me and my likes so well, and the loved was most definitely felt.  I basked in the glory of it all the way up here :)  I adore you both!  I know you love me most as your  package got here first ;)  Soon to follow was a care package sent from my loving family.  My eldest sister Heather wrote on the outside of it to make sure I knew it was mine in the post office, and she succeeded in make the PO lady laugh.  I do make all the male moose go Whannhh!  As a note to any future package senders, I suggest sending it by USPS only to my PO Box, as shipping with fed-ex and ups make things difficult (they can't ship to po boxes).  If any of you miss me terribly, call me!  Text me!  I'd love both.  I'm starved for any and all attention :D  And with that, Good night, I love you all!

Denali

Life has finally settled into something resembling a routine.  I had two whole days of school before a holiday weekend.  So tough ;)  Most of them look to be promising.  My English class I cold do without, as my instructor happens to be this pompous hippie type who annoyed me upon opening her mouth.  It was an unpleasant first class that was spent writing an essay the whole time.  Blah.  My Friday was tons better, as my more interesting classes were then.  My principles of Ecology is taught by the most adorable middle-aged man on the planet.  Biggest science nerd, so excited about his topic, and so nervous in front of people.  He tried so hard to convey his enthusiasm for the topic without stuttering and umming too much.  Adorable.  I am very much looking forward to how this course will unfold.  The labs sound super intriguing, and 8 of the 12 are field trips to places of interest for ecology in Alaska.  And our professor promises that the labs will be brought indoors if it gets below -20 degrees, as that is the same temperature that they cancel recess for the elementary school kids.  Good grief!  How is that normal?  I went out and bought myself some Caribou booties that are good for forty below.  Can't wait to try them out tromping through the snow.

The class that looks the best though is my Wildlife 101.  There are no lectures, just guest speakers from various and assorted wildlife biologist professions come to talk about their jobs.  We've got activities to do every Saturday that include duck banding, telemetry, behind the scene tours of the large animal research facility, and study skins (the skinning of a bird and learning how to mount it properly for a museum).  I realized how much of a science nerd I was when I tried to show Artur how exciting it was, and he was just kinda grossed out by it.  

This past weekend was awesome fantastic.  Artur and I rented a car on Saturday, took care of the necessaries in town (I found the barnes and noble!) and went to Denali National Park on Sunday.  The picture above was taken there.  In the past week everything that can has started changing into its fall colors, which has just been utterly amazing to watch.  I've never seen the colors change before!  Daily my campus has been turning more golden and orange.  It looks beautiful mixed in with the still vibrant green of the evergreens.

On to the most exciting part of the whole trip!  I had my first Moose Sighting!!!!!  I have been eagerly awaiting a glimpse of these huge creatures, and had been disappointed thus far.  Lo and behold, as we made our two hour drive into Denali, there one was!  Right there on the side of the road!  And alive!  It was a cow just munching on some leafy things next to the black top, calm as can be with a car driving right next to her.  Way awesome.  We saw a few other critters while in Denali, what I think was a ground squirrel, a wild Dahl sheep, and one measly little fish that looked like a mix between a lion fish and a sucker fish in the river.

Once we got into Denali, we stopped by the visitors center, grabbed a few maps, and started the 15 mile drive out to the Savage River.  We were told it was a great place to hike through some more open country.  We were not disappointed.  The Savage River is located right at the end of the public road through Denali (they only allow a select number of tour/shuttle buses through after mile 15 for reasons they list as being "eco-friendly'.  What it really means is that they make you pay to be able to see Mt. McKinley since you cannot see it before mile 15. It happens to be the tallest peak in North America.  Bastards).  The hike we opted for was along the river.  There was a path the was maintained for the first mile.  It was nice and easy and pleasant.  The first thing I did was play in the water of course.  It was sooooo cold (outside was about 48).  My shivering in my light coat soon turned to being pleasantly warm from the non strenuous hike.  We reached the end of it in a short amount of time, and instead of crossing the bridge and coming back down the other side, Artur and I being the adventurous sort of people we are decided to see where the river went.  The was a trail (kind of) that went on for a bit, so we thought it would be easy-peasy.  Hah.  My pleasantly warm soon turned into hot n sweaty.

Parts of the hike made me feel more like a little mountain goat than a human.  This was the point at which our "trail" really just turned into game paths (when we could find them) and tromping through the landscape whichever way looked easiest.  The views we got along the way definitely made the hard trek worth it.  I just couldn't get enough of stopping and staring (which I suppose is the point of the whole hike.  you kinda forget sometimes to look up and not at your feet)

Now Mom...if you're reading this please do not take notice of how close to that precarious looking edge of rock I am.  The view from it (you can see it below) was wonderful!

After much poking from branches and unexpected scrambling down slippery rocks, we came to this.  The both of us just stopped and gaped at it for a good five minutes.  Breathtaking doesn't even begin to describe what the landscape was like.  Artur did what he could to take amazing pictures (which he does a truly Fabulous job of) but to be there in person is sooooo much better.  The hike down the slowly zigzagging river was somewhere two and a half miles, only one of which had a regular trail, another half mile had an ok trail, and another mile of just pushing our way though.  It took something like three hours to get to this point.  I was ever so grumpy and sore and dreading the trek back and so perfectly happy all at the same time.

No trail in sight!

We stayed on that last ridge overlooking the next valley for twenty minutes or so before heading back.  I was ever so thankful for the long days of light out here.  It was six when we turned around, and the hustle back to the car took two hours and we still had plenty of light left.  We were treated to an amazing sunset on our drive home, and three more moose!  A bull this time with two cows.

When at last we got home around eleven, I was pretty sure every single muscle in my body had been used during the hike, down to my fingers, as they all hurt.  The hot shower that followed was heaven, both for the amount of filth on me (it was sprinkling on and off all day, which made for much mud and slippery falls into said mud!) being washed away and the soothing effect it had on my poor abused body.  My bed, lumpy and small as it is, was bliss.  I slept for eleven hours and it was glory :)  Today I've done a whole lot of nothing, despite my best intentions.  I even managed to get a three hour nap in there too.  Hopefully tomorrow I will be fully recovered to start with the school routine again at 8:15 am with my ecology lab.  Want more pictures of Denali? Check out my facebook, the link below should take you directly to the album with all 33 pictures in there.  Its to bed for me, so good night!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=73966&id=1073527832&l=ad888cab61