16 April 2017 A squirrel and a sauna

Last night I decided to try a new sleeping bag combination. I'd been sleeping inside of my fleece liner inside of the sleeping bag all zipped up, but it is quite constricting and I like to spread out while I sleep. I took one of the extra sleeping bags the camp has available and used that on the bottom of the bed, then opened up my sleeping bag as much as possible (it's a mummy bag) to put over the top. The fleece liner does not open more than halfway, so it was not as good as it could have been - which would have been more like a real bed - but it was still a better option for sleep than the nights before. I also decided to make a trip to the heated outhouse, also known as "The Tower", at 3am, despite the cold. It's not so bad really. The worst part was struggling with my sleeping bag liner afterwards. I was also surprised that it was starting to get light outside at that time, with a nice red on the horizon.

We met at the lab at 8:30am to get set up for the day and then went to the special Easter brunch at 10am. We missed out on the Easter Egg Hunt earlier, but the brunch was amazing, like all the meals here. They even had homemade truffles, nougat, toffee, you name it.

The weather was windy again at the field site, but not as bad as yesterday. We each grabbed a handful of traps and started to walk the area, looking for squirrels to catch.

We also had some practice using the map of the burrows to figure out where we were. We ended up setting a total of seven traps at three burrow locations. On a better weather day we will set many more, but this was a nice slow start to the learning process. We used pieces of carrot to entice the squirrels into the traps. Apparently it is a favorite food and they are not trap shy.

I got quite warm on the tundra, despite the wind, due to being so well bundled up. We sat down for a short time before checking the traps, and in that time I did manage to get chilly again. While we sat we watched a herd of ten caribou wandering nearby.

When we checked the traps we found that we had caught one squirrel. Our first squirrel of the season!

He made the characteristic ground squirrel chirping sound when we walked up, and periodically thereafter. We collected a fecal sample (aka poo) that had dropped on the snow, and placed the cage inside a black plastic bag to help keep the squirrel out of the wind and direct sun. It also helped him more relaxed.

We also saw a man hunting the caribou with a bow and arrow. At that point we were ready to get back to the field station with our squirrel, as it seemed unlikely that we would catch any more today. We sat for a bit, so as not to disturb the hunt, but finally made our way back to the truck a more inconvenient way (for us). We had to walk through some deep snow and it can be hard going.

Back at camp, we took a short snack break and then returned to the lab to process the squirrel. This entailed anesthetizing him so that we could safely collect data.

We recorded his weight along with head diameter and length measurements.

We had already recorded where and when he was trapped. Next came the ear tags. He received an ear tag that would identify him by a four digit number as well as two small wires color-coded for 2017, so if he was caught again, they would easily know when he had been caught before. He was also given a PIT (passive integrative transponder) tag, which is an implant similar to the microchips that cats and dogs receive. It can be read with a handheld device so the squirrel can be easily identified. The final step was to take a blood sample. We put this in the centrifuge, a machine that spins test tubes extremely fast to separate the contents by weight. In ten minutes we could see the different layers represented by the red blood cells, white blood cells and plasma. It was exactly like the diagram I recently showed my students when we studied the blood system. In this case, the plasma can be used to analyze hormones in the blood and the white blood cells can be used for DNA extraction.

Once the measurements were taken, we waited with the squirrel until he woke up, and then put him back into the trap on a bed of shavings so he would be comfortable. We also gave him food and some more carrot, which would also be a source of water for him.

Dinner was a super-delicious Easter ham with potatoes and green beans. Cupcakes with buttercream frosting as tall again as the cupcake itself was for dessert. Tonight was also one of the nights when the sauna is open. Mens hours are 6-7:30pm, women from 7:30-9pm, and then it is open for everyone from 9:00pm on. I skipped the sauna on Friday, out of both shyness and not really knowing how it worked. After dinner, Helen was heading over to make sure there was a fresh log on the fire so it would be warm when she went during open hours. She happily took me along to see where the sauna was located, how it worked, etc. I left with her to go pick up my bag on my way back to my room, and along the way decided to just head back and give it a try. No one else was there, and it was women's hours besides, so I stripped down, grabbed a towel and braved it out. And it was good. It was about 130˚F/54˚C and I spent about 20 minutes inside, looking out at the frozen Toolik Lake and lying down relaxing. I even used one of the pitchers of warm water and some biodegradable liquid soap to have a proper wash without using up the shower water supply. I'm not a great relaxer, but I gave it my best go. It was a great first attempt at being brave and relaxing, all the while knowing no one would probably come in. There are only five other women here at camp and I was pretty sure four of them weren't coming. I was right. I walked home feeling like I would never be cold again, and as I sit here in my room typing this, I can assure you I was wrong. Time to go to bed and wrestle with that fleece liner.