That is NOT Going in the Truck.

Has it really been two days since my last post? It seems as though they are starting to meld together quickly now. A few more posts and I’ll be back! Whoa. Things to look forward to in the future include going on a paddle boat (saw it leave today and I really want to look into going on it), going on a hike on the other side of the river, and the Dawson City Music Festival.

We all just finished a delightful dinner of fresh Arctic Charr. Oh my, it was amazing. It was caught and prepared this morning, and then we put it on the grill with oil, salt, pepper, and lemon. With salad (with local veggies) and pasta (that included local mushrooms found in the field), it was quite the dinner. And Mathias and I didn’t even ruin it by having ice cream a few hours ago when we returned from the field. There is one place in town and although it doesn’t serve homemade ice cream (it is Nestle), they do make their own waffle cones each day. And dip some of them in chocolate. So the lack of homemade ice cream is almost worth it.

We spent the morning doing more cataloging. If you follow me on Twitter, you would have seen a video I posted today about the process, made by Tyler. Here it is for anyone else that would like to see it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3H5bOFxGTk&feature=youtu.be

This video was shot over the span of many, many hours, even if the sun doesn’t change angle much. Notice that I do change clothes too, and that’s because it was actually shot over two days.

I have more wildlife to add to my Yukon sight-seeing collection. A porcupine! He was right by the road on the way home and very cute. Others in the group have reported moose and baby, bears and babies, porcupines and babies, and a lynx. No wolf sightings. Don’t think mountain lions are up this way either.

Yesterday Mathias and I headed into town to try and find some important things at the hardware store. The store looks a little puny on the outside, but it is huge inside! There was quite the selection. We bought them out of Rubbermaid containers at 23 dollars each. We paid with a purchase order from the Yukon Government. Meaning, they gave us the total, we filled out this form, and that was that. Actually, the same works at the grocery store right now. We check out, fill out a form, and go on. It is quite the system and everyone uses it around here. Beth was excited that she didn’t have to leave us cash for a month.

Mathias and I also saw the sensational Dawson City Airport yesterday when we dropped Hailey off for her return home and picked up some air freight that arrived for Duane. There was one counter, one person for the airline Air North, the only airline there. I felt a little bad taking up the guy’s time for the air freight when he had a (small) line of customers checking in for their flight, but he didn’t mind. Something noticeably absent in the airport: security screening. I hear that if they are going on another flight from Whitehorse, they have to go through security there. There was also a teeny little customs office for the once-a-week flight from Fairbanks.

Duane, Paul, and Fabrice came back from their Northern fieldwork today. Laundry was the first priority for them. Second priority was seeing all of our finds, including all of the tusks! Duane also mentioned that this is the most extensive collection/cataloging of Klondike fossils being undertaken in many, many years. I’m so lucky to be a part of it, especially because two weeks ago I knew squat about bones, fossils, and the Klondike. Wow.

And finally, a new bone contest! I have finally figured out the blog settings, and now anyone that would like to participate in the contest may. Sorry about that last time...So that you don’t have to look back at previous posts, here are the kinds of animals we have been finding (not in any order): caribou, bison, horse, mammoth, mastodon, saber-tooth cat (awesome), arctic fox, ground squirrel, sheep. If you guess any of those, you will have a 1 in 9 chance of being right. At least 50% right, because you also need to guess what part of the animal it is. Here’s a hint, it’s not a toe bone. It’s also darker at the bottom because it is wet. That has nothing to do with identification. If you have any questions about it, let me know. Let the commenting begin!

Cheers!