working working working

So I've gotten to the point where I'm working so much that I'm not being very productive.  But deadlines and live animals do not wait!  I have one week to finish revising my paper that was accepted for publication.  I have my fish to take care of daily...this is a constant stress as I worry my fish will all be belly up before the end of my experiment.  And I will be helping with a field ecology course in the Catlins the first week on Feb.  During which I will leaving my fish in the hands of a couple of labmates...scary!  Robert has promised me we can drive everyday to find cell phone reception so I can check in on my fishes.   After so many weeks, the chances of a disease hitting my tanks increases...a constant worry!  I can't wait until it is over!  Then maybe I can take some weekends off this summer!

Kitty kitty kitty

So here's the kitty living under our house.

I think she's been there for a couple of months.  She is extremely skittish and would run on any encounter with a human.  I started feeding her earlier this week.   She warmed up to me quickly!  I came home early yesterday to meet the guy putting a new window in.  I scared her when I walked into the garden but then she realized who I was and came back to watch me.  I went and got her some food and she let me pet her (I didn't see any fleas) and even let me pick her up!  She laid by the back door when I was in the house.  Her hair has been cut with a scissors in the past so she's obviously belonged to someone in the past...I'm guessing a student let her go at the end of the school year in Nov.  Anson says he'll more than likely be allergic since it's a long-haired cat.  I'm going to try to find it a home else I guess I could try to keep it as an outside cat but I think it will need a warmer place to sleep in the winter.  Maybe I can come up with some sort of outdoor cat box.  I don't know.

My officemates

Rebecca, Anson, me and Robert on our new couch

Tagging fish

Common bully in anaesthetic

Fish in my home-made fish-holding device

Now I'm injecting a tag...which is soft when I inject it but then hardens into a plastic-like line of color.  The color and location of the tag determines the fish number.

Then they get a day to recover and I infect them with my parasite.

Wow, where does the time go?!

Well, I managed to infect 120 fish by Christmas, plus 2 because a couple died.  I think I'm getting carpel tunnel from squeezing a pipet bulb too much!  Thankfully Christmas came along when it did cause I was getting burnt out!  The holidays were great.  I had a party on Christmas Eve with about 25 other foreigners and we did a White Elephant gift exchange (where you bring a gift from home).  And for Christmas dinner I went to Rachel's...other than that I was lazy.  And I couldn't ask for more!  All I've done is come in everyday to feed my fish and clean tanks once in a while.  I'm cat sitting for some friends now.  And am back to running...I was working too much to even fit in a workout!  But no more, I say!  This damn cold town, with it's damn cold houses has allowed me to put on too much weight this year and I'm getting to the point of not fitting into most of the pants in my closet!  This is a problem!  But it seems summer has hit this week (who knows how long that will last) and I'm getting back to jogging on the beach.  This mornings jog was great...I went to a different beach than normal since it's closer to where I'm cat sitting.  And the horse farm nearby was exercising the horses with those tiny one person carts.  Well, I'm off to feed my fish and then home to do some gardening.

More infections!

So my next experiment is off to a good start! I've infected 19 fish and have only 101 more to go!  And I'm behind on every other aspect of my project!  Arghh!  Too much to do, not enough time!  Luckily I HAVE to leave the lab by 6 tonight because I'm babysitting for one of the lecturers...great kids and they spoil me with a fabulous dinner!  But my life is now revolving around my snails producing my parasites and me getting them into fish as fast as possible!

Thunder Storm and 007 excite me!

Yesterday was exciting...we had a thunder storm!!  They are rare here and this was the first one since I've been here!!  I sooo miss the lightening and thunder!  It rains here so much that you get sick of it, but yesterday it was wonderful!  Despite the fact that by the time I walked to my truck, I was soaked and had to sit through the entire James Bond movie with wet jeans.  The movie was great and a large group of us went...or several small groups met up at the theater.  And ahhh, Daniel Craig.....sigh...

Gobble Gobble

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast last night!!  Pot-luck style at Jen's house.  Wayne got me a turkey through his work...he thought it was huge and I said it's the smallest turkey I've ever cooked at 10lbs.  But there was plenty and I also made pistachio salad.  And we had all the typical fare:  homemade bread, salad, green bean casserole, candied yams, cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, gravy, pumpkin pie and even rhubarb cake!  I hadn't had turkey in over 1.5 years and it was everything I imagined I missed!!  YUM!

Videos from traveling with Kristi

McLean Falls in the Catlins


Kea at the Kiwi Birdlife Park in Queenstown


Fur seal colony at the entrance to Doubtful Sound from the Tasman


360 around Doubtful Sound

Water activities...

Wow! What a couple of wonderful, fun-filled weeks with Kristi! This past week we went white water rafting on the Shotover river by Queenstown. BTW, I will do my best to NEVER stay in Queenstown again...at least not at the cheap backpackers unless I'm ready to party hard! Too many young partiers for me...god, I'm getting old. It was hilariously horrible. And since we had to rise at 6:30 am for the rafting, we did not get much sleep! It had rained a lot the previous day, so the rapids were rated 4+! And it was great...I'm ready to go again! Then off to Te Anau, where we went to the glow worm caves and spent the night at a great lodge/backpackers (same place Leah and I had stayed). Then we drove to Manapouri,  and what a fabulous 24 hours! We took a boat across Lake Manapouri and then got on a bus to take us down to the sound. We got on a bus of 27 other Americans, all Master Gardeners, most from Arkansas. They were great! So enthusiastic and they pretty much adopted us as part of their group and called us their MN Girls. It felt good to here all those American voices, especially that southern drawl. The ship, crew, food, accomodation, scenery, wildlife, people were incredible! This was by far the best thing I've done in NZ to date! We got settled in, then went kayaking and even jumped in the sound for a quick dip. Kristi stayed in as long as possible...me - well, I jumped in, swam around to the ladder and got out...that was enough! Then hot soup and out on the deck to take pictures and out to the Tasman sea where we saw lots of Fiordland-crested penguins, fur seals, a few dolpins and lots of sea birds! We were much colder during this time than when we were swimming! But we stayed out on the deck so not to miss any of the amazing wildlife! Dinner was incredible! Afterwards our charismatic nature guide gave a slide show presentation, and then off to bed so we could rise early! I was up before the engine revved up. Again out on deck so not to miss anything...more penguins the second day, even a few blue penguins. It's was a rare sunny day in Doubtful. I'll post photos as soon as I can! I took Kristi to the airport yesterday...so sad! I'm still recuperating, unpacking, washing clothes and linens. I should be getting to work, but the day is beautiful!