When Elliot said "Today we're going to drop off a few things at the research site." I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Just yesterday, Elliot and I drove by the site in the truck and he nonchalantly pointed out a small cabin structure in the distance that he called the control shed.
In reality, Elliot and I took turns carrying a 30 pound heavy-duty plastic tote 1.5 miles over narrow slanted planks and uneven plastic mats over thick sticky mud to a control shed even further than the one he pointed out yesterday.
I was so relieved when we arrived and we were able to set down the box, for good. We were in a lake basin with several muddy depressions. Three of these depressions will be the recipients of the soil chambers. As Elliott walked in front of me in the lake basin, he cautioned me to stay on the plastic mats because stepping on the soil could cause premature and immediate release of the methane and impact our data, at which time I promptly and accidentally tripped and fell into the soil. Thankfully, we weren't going to use that particular depression.
Stars and Stripes Forever
Today was not just epic because I fell into a lake basin almost jeopardizing the entire study, but also because it was Independence Day. And Barrow has it's own unique way of celebrating! I got to watch an egg toss game, a marathon, a parade (with candy being thrown from the cars, it was like Halloween on wheels) and my favorite, the Top of the World Baby Contest, where babies are dressed in authentic handmade native clothing, sometimes styled as an animal, such as a bird or wolverine.
The Independence Day celebration takes place over 4 days. Other events are an Eskimo dance, various adult and kid games, Eskimo baseball, and Umiaq races (traditional skin boats) where the top 3 finishing teams win a drum of unleaded gasoline!
Spamalot
The local grocery store is called AC. As you can see, I fit right in Barrow. A population of people who appreciate Spam! Just goes to show no matter what the temperature, Spam is a tasty treat!
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