So, it’s cold out here at the BBC Research Station. Days like this, when it rains (ad infinitum), the chill never leaves you, it just builds over the day. I’m grateful for the little heated room where I can eat lunch on rainy days. Note to self: no Clif bar lunch on rainy days – the respite is just too short!

Setup is moving along. I’ve re-built the frame for the camera stand last week with David Baldwin’s help with the initial re-framing. I reinstalled the roofing and reassembled tarps for windblock/indirect light filter. With the help of Dave Rose and Abbey, the circular tanks I’ll be using this year have been placed. Yesterday I plumbed them (fun) and scrubbed them clean (not so fun – one tank had a healthy crop of lichen in residence and another had beautifully chaotic snail tracks in the algae dried to the inside!).

Today, however, was …tedious. What I thought would be an easy, quick, mindless activity turned out to be a long, painful, mindless activity. Thank iPod. I was drawing gridlines in the bottom of each clean shiny tank. Well, clean except for the silicone sealant near the drainpipe that required a surprising amount of scraping with a razor blade. Despite the cramped muscles, I am pleased with the results – one step closer to the experiments!

I also have a total of 6 cutthroat trout so far. I need another 28 for my plans to be complete, but I am hopeful!