Returned to Halifax for the night

Here's an update on life doing bat research:

Currently reading: Pedagogy of the oppressed, second time around.

Typical day: run around trying to radio-track bats to their day roost. This often involves Laura and I going through thick forest, through walls of trees, fields of thorns and huge dead logs until we find the tree where the bat, in this case Bella, has chosen to roost. It's possible that Bella is determined to ruin our lives and scar up our legs. We may set up equipment or check out possible new maternity colonies as well.

Typical night: If trapping, head out at around 6:30 or 7pm, arrive at site, set up traps, continue to radio track previously caught bats as they move throughout the night and check nets for new bats. Once new bats are caught, we sample them (tissue and fur samples, PIT tags a.k.a. microchips) and then decide if they are to be radio-tracked (only looking at females, so the males are released without radio-transmitters). Around 12 or 1am, traps come down and we continue to monitor the other radiotracked bats until about 3 or 4am, whenever they stop moving and find their night roost, and then we are able to go home and sleep.

I feel like I haven't had time to stop and think, to work on my project or just play catch with Jake. Struggling for a balance, but there are new people coming on board so things are looking up.

The people we've met have been amazing. The lady at the sugar maple farm near where we work has stayed out with us to trap bats, let us use her facilities to process the bats inside, and has even helped us characterize the tree roosts. There is another man who has helped us find out about trails and possible new colonies, as well as offer his home, water, laundry facilities and anything else we could possibly ask for. The place we are currently at has electricity but no running water, so we had become very smelly and it was nice to have the opportunity to grab a shower.

In summary, we've been living on an old farm in the middle of no where, can't even see the neighbours, Jake runs around free, and life has been good. I really wanted to come back to the city, but as the day approached, I didn't feel the need to go back, and now that I'm here, I'm just picking up dog food and heading back tomorrow (although to a new site for a couple days, then back to Tatamagouche).

Until then,

let your heart be free

-alicia