The House & other Arctic musings

Scenes from the fishing derby

Thought I'd put up a couple of Leah's photos from this past weekend.  Hard to live blog the fishing derby when you're stuck at home waiting for clients to never arrive.

The only fishing photo. Leah's mother fishes while Travis and friends push each other on a sled around the ice (typically he's the one being pushed).

A tea break on the trip home, near a very small 'berg.

Tea

For my son, there is never such a thing as a bad day spent out of doors, especially with friends.

As the travelers get closer to home the tea gatherings get larger and larger, as more groups catch up, or are caught up to.

Coffee to go

For an update on the Javagrind, which failed on its second use, please go here.

Earlier this winter I bemoaned (to no one in particular) "what this country needs is a hand operated coffee mill for camping." What I didn't realize at the time was that one already existed.

The GSI Javagrind ($17.50 at Mountain Equipment Co-op) is a small hand cranked coffee mill (burr mill), and I ordered one as soon as I had learned about it. I also ordered GSI's Java Press french press at the same time, but more on that a little later.

First a short primer on why you'd want to grind your own coffee out on the land anyway. Coffee spoils rapidly and there are two rules you should follow if you want to drink good coffee, be it at breakfast in your house, or while sitting at a stream pouring forth from a canyon while you watch a Peregrine Falcon stoop at Snow Buntings. First use freshly roasted (good quality sustainable) coffee. Once the roasting process has started coffee begins to oxidize and break down.  The second rule is grind your coffee just before brewing. The process of spoilage really accelerates once coffee is ground, and (it was surprising to me until I did a quick experiment at home) the difference is noticeable quickly. Think about it in these terms, say you enjoy a fine wine and want to have some on the land, would you uncork the bottle and pour the wine into a plastic container to sit for days before you drank it? Or would you take along a corkscrew.

But back to the coffee mill, it is solidly built, though a little larger than I imagined. This isn't a major issue with me, because once again I don't backpack that much. The body of the grinder is stepped so it can sit right on brewers or containers of different diameters. A rubber dust cap sits over the mill and exit port proper, so it would removed and the entire mill is set down on what ever you are using to catch the grounds. The coffee beans would then be measured into the mill (whole beans measure out the same as the finished grounds - which is darned convenient) through a large sliding door on top and the handle cranked until all the beans have been ground. The handle reverses for storage. It all comes apart for ease of cleaning, although be careful as there are some small parts, springs and washers.

I found the grinder easy to use and quick. The coffee ground to a consistent size which is adjustable by means of a thumbscrew. Worked like a charm actually.

I wish I could say the same for their french press, but I can't. The GSI Java Press ($20.00 at Mountain Equipment Co-op) was disappointing. It is simple in design and seems robust enough for camping, the body and plunger are plastic and it fits into a neoprene sleeve, which functions as an efficient insulator to keep the coffee warm and at the same time protects the brewer.  The problem is with the plunger of the French Press, which creates the "seal" with two plastic split rings. The seal was not very good, in fact the plunger "plunged" on its own about halfway just by force of gravity. After the coffee had steeped for the four minutes I could push the plunger the rest of the way with very little resistance. I suppose that one should expect a little bit of sludge in their coffee while camping, but I prefer leaves and pine needles and will look for a better brewer to take with me.

The other aspect of the Java Press that I didn't like was the webbing handle. I realize, of course, that this is a piece of equipment meant for camping and portability, but it was awkward to pour with, and I just gave up and grabbed the body of the press to pour with it.

So all in all the Javagrind is good piece of equipment that I'm looking forward to using in the great out doors, the Java Press not so much. I'm looking for another press to take with me.

Oh, and in case I haven't made this point often enough, no matter where you drink you coffee - at home or in the great outdoors, make a point of drinking sustainable coffee, coffee that's gentler on the environment and better for producers. Many of the neo-tropical migrants, those birds that give us so much joy during the spring, summer and fall, are losing critical habitat to non-sustainable, monoculture coffee. For a wealth of information on coffee and the environment I urge you to visit my friend Julie's blog, Coffee and Conservation. Everything I learned about coffee I learned from her.

Eureka K2 XT Tent - First Impressions

Earlier this month my K2 XT tent arrived from Eureka Tents. It is probably going to be a while before I actually get a chance to use it, and thus really review it, but here are a couple of early impressions.

The Eureka K2 XT is one of Eureka's four season expedition tents, a four pole dome with a vestibule. It comes in at just over 5 kilograms (11 pounds, 12 oz according to their information), which is lighter than the tents I've been used to in the last little while, but I don't do much backpaking these days. It packs up fairly small, this picture is with my size 9s to give you an idea of the size.

As soon as it arrived (yes I'm pretty much the kid at Christmas whenever anything new arrives) I set it up in the Great Room. I only briefly skimmed the setting up instructions (a set comes with the tent and is also available as a pdf online), not because I'm a guy and instructions are for the weak (well maybe just a little) but because I wanted to see if there was a logic to the set up, and determine its ease of set up.

Set up was easy, the four poles are all of equal length (a fifth pole is used to stiffen the vestibule), they slide easily into the pockets and snap into grommets. The fly is easy to add also, and connects with velcro tabs, and fasteners. The vestibule pole is external and snaps into place.

The tent is roomy, with a surprising amount of head room, and while I'm older now and would like to be able to stand up in tents I certainly don't expect that in a tent built for this purpose. The tent will be very roomy for two people, and you can easily fit three snugly inside.  Travis and I will have plenty of room for our trip to the Peregrine canyon this summer.

On first blush it seems quite well made, but I'll leave more of that for when we get it out in the field. I like the large array of organizer pockets on two walls, and details paid to ventilation. I like the fact that there is zippered access to the vents in the fly. The vestibule is roomy, and will easily accommodate extra gear and boots.

All in all, my first impressions are positive, and I look forward to getting it out on the land.  The K2 XT is available online from Eureka tents for $469.90 US (it is one of their most expensive models). There is a wide range of tents to choose from.

Lost in Space

The Arctic Bay Rocket Program suffered a major set back this evening, as what goes up apparently doesn't always come down.

Travis, Hilary and I went out to fire the rocket one time this evening, saving the rest of the motors for when more people could join us.  Although the winds were calm, it was snowing somewhat reducing visibility. I followed it up, but was momentarily distracted by Hilary screaming (for some inexplicable reason the launch scared her this time).  When I looked back up, expecting to see a bright yellow parachute, all I saw was falling snow. 

A search party was organized, but failed to find the (mostly) white rocket on the (mostly) white ground. This may be the last known photograph of it, sadly.

100

Way back when, the first Blog Carnival I had ever heard of was the (now sadly defunct) Tangled Bank. I submitted a post to one Tangled Bank edition, but it was the second Blog Carnival that I submitted a post to that really captured my imagination. The inaugural edition of I and the Bird, took place back in July 2005, a short time after I started out on this journey. My submission, Qarsauq, was about a bird that will soon return here, whose call from high overhead I anxiously await.

I didn't miss making a submission for the longest time, perhaps a year, and still make an effort to send one off regularly. I even hosted a couple of editions, #12 and #71, taxing my brain to come up with a theme that would be original and entertaining, and I think succeeding at least once. But regardless of whether I submit or host I make a point of visiting each and every edition as it comes out.

And they keep coming out, for this edition is the 100th one to be published on the web. And that says buckets about the carnival, in a world that seen the start and demise of hundreds of carnivals in that time. That also says buckets about the force behind it, the team at 10,000 birds (although I think the bulk of the credit goes to Mike, the originator, and I don't imagine you'll hear much disagreement from Charlie and Corey). It is the longest running natural history carnival out there and well worth your visiting.

Now in some ways I'm preaching to the choir, that those of you who have kept reading to this point, already visit, and I also know that some of my readers eyes start to glaze over at my first mention of "bird" in a post. But consider this, there are some eighty posts in this edition, with some stellar writing, and some stellar photos of incredibly beautiful birds from around the world, many of which I had no idea existed until now. I have found, throughout the years, very good blogs that I visit regularly, including blogs who only occasionally touch on the topic of birds. It is well worth your time to check out this edition (it will take awhile to wade through, eighty posts is a lot of posts) and subsequent editions.

Happy Hundredth I and the Bird. I look forward to the next hundred editions.

Springing forth

Things are beginning to heat up up here. Not weatherwise, although it did manage to hit zero today, which is probably a first since September or October. But the birds definitely know that spring is a foot. A little more than a week ago I saw the first Glaucous Gulls of the season, and counted 21. Three days later I counted 34, yesterday it was 97 and today over 200.  I've yet to see an Iceland Gull this year, there are always at least a couple. This was the closest, but I still couldn't turn it into one despite my best efforts.

I also saw my first Snow Buntings of the year, even though there apparently have been some up since the middle of April. The males have started to arrive and today, while Hilary napped in the truck, I sat at First Bridge and listened to two staking out their territories in song. Soon all of the tundra and rock fields will be alive with bird song, but as I sat there I drank in the exuberance of the season. It was renewing, and I was so caught up in it I didn't even reach for the camera next to me when one lit on a nearby rock and poured forth his best effort.

No where was this exuberance more evident than with the Ravens. Most seem to be travelling in pairs these days, but in the afternoons there seems to be a loose gathering of them all on the lower southern slopes of King George Mountain. It is almost impossible to take it all in, and even harder not to be buoyed by it all. Ravens singing, displaying, raising their "eyebrow" crests, puffing their chests out, unfurling their neck ruffs. Fights took place as they always do, I saw at least three out there, the birds locked together tumbling towards earth. None were as spectacular as the one I witnessed last week, the birds tumbling together from an impossible height, easily more than 500 feet, already locked together when they came into view through the office window. They tumble and I stood to follow them to the ground, and at the last possible moment they released, and saved themselves from the up rushing tundra.

Several birds at this conclave were having snow baths, relishing the warmth, primping themselves, others walked together, looking for all of the world like a couple out for a stroll in the park. I saw two gathering feathers, another sign that Spring's renewal is upon us. All too soon the pleading croaks of fledgling will resound throughout town.

Small wonder that Spring inspires poets.

Help?

I wonder if the hard core gull people out there can offer an opinion on this bird. The relatively smaller bill and reddish eye ring say "Iceland Gull" to me, however the wings don't seem to project enough beyond the tail and it seems a bit large to my mind (I know you can't tell from the photo but it appeared intermediate in size between "typical" Glaucous and Iceland Gulls).
Here, by way of a bonus, is a typical flying away from the camera shot of Glaucous Gulls.

The smile

From the our first Spring together. It was her smile that first made me sit up and notice the incredible woman who is my wife, especially when it was for me.

Old slides

While looking for an elusive slide of Andean Condor for the last post, I came across a box of slides from the Arctic Cruise I led in 2000, and scanned some to share.

Bylot Island through the late night fog.

Iceberg off Pond Inlet at the same time.

Iceberg, Bylot Island and Cotton Grass.

Although  this isn't a spectacular photo it is of a spectacular place, Prince Leopold Island. Prince Leopold is a small island off the tip of Somerset Island, mostly ringed by vertical cliffs rising almost 900 feet from the sea. It is bird sanctuary, and listed as an Important Bird Area of Global Signficance. It is home to some 86,000 breeding pairs of Akpa (Thick-billed Murres Uria lomvia), 62,000 breeding pairs of Northern Fulmar (Fulmaris glacialis), 29,000 breeding pairs of Black-legged Kittiwakes (Rissa tridactyla), Black Guillmots, Glaucous Gulls and other birds. Sailing past it was one of the highlights of my life.

Whither the Condor?

This past week saw the death of California Condor #286, another blow to the Condor recovery program. I've never seen a California Condor in the wild, and truth be told those in the wild currently aren't truly wild, helped along by us. I have, however, seen Andean Condor in the wild, and my life is far richer for it. I hope that one day I can say the same about the California Condor, but sadly suspect that that day may not arrive.

There has been a lot written about the California Condor in one of the corners of the internet that I hang about. But the reason my thoughts turned to California Condor #286 today, is this bit by pinguinus of Great Auk or Greatest Auk. It is as good of a piece of writing as you'll find on the internet. Put down the coffee and go have a read.