Mink Days

My minking days are over.... almost. I´ve still got to trap the animals who are still alive so we can replace their transmitters with ones that will last longer ('change their batteries', so to speak). I am also immersed in data entry if that counts as minking - but I am no longer out in the snow at night: and you know what, I kinda miss it already....(shhh don´t tell my boss!).

So, here are some memories of the past 5 months of mink tracking. I would post photos on my 'flickr' but seems I´m having some teething problems with this technology (no surprise to those who know me!).... so yes, it took ages to upload...

White Christmas in Niceland

Christmas night is when the last of the 13 Icelandic Santas that arrive on the days preceeding Christmas day get to Iceland. I wish I could explain more but I don´t fully get it either - I do know that you have to be good or risk being devoured by an enormous, evil black cat who searches for bad children, which is owned and encouraged to eat children by the wicked mother of all the Santas, some extremely unpleasant and enormous (again) ugly old hag.

So, in some fear of being eaten myself, I spent Christmas Eve (24th) with my bosses and their family. The meat is ptarmigan or Icelandic Rjúpa - apparently birds are imported all the way from Scotland because birds here have been over-harvested by hungry (greedy?) Icelandic hunters at Christmas-time. The bag is one bird per person these days, and the hunting season much restricted. (Can anyone tell me whether Scottish birds are over-harvested??.... I think maybe so....). Anyhow, unfortunately Rjúpa tastes quite delicious....

And the tree has REAL candles burning on it! I was impressed. But maybe there´s danger of losing your presents before you´ve even had a chance to open them...?

On Christmas Day we had respite from rain and wind: it had snowed! I went out on the local Berserkjharaun lavafield (there´s a saga about the Swedish Berserks that were maltreated then murdered out there - cheery tale for Christmas, sorry about that).











Boxing Day (26th) was grim, dark and wet again! This was the view on my hike this time. ha ha.



... but I did manage to find this in a lavafield.... (er, the thermal pool, that is - the feet are (unsurprisingly) my own)

Gleðileg jól

December 23, 8am

Howling rain -
followed by
howling snow -
followed by
damp, howling wind
was Iceland at Christmas.

No streambed safe shelter.
Silly scientist
tossed about like paper.
Out of reach,
Out of touch,
Out in Kolgrafafjörður.

In the shaking headlights of my quavering truck
debris flies past.
Maybe an airborne mink
(or two?)
- who knows.



Well, it was all a bit crazy attempting telemetry this morning - the SW wind roared as it gusted down the valley from over the local 800-1000m peaks. It was pretty dramatic and flattened me a good few times. I am trying - desperately now! - to 'finish' this last mink before Christmas.... She has been a wiley one and seems to like playing hide and seek in the dark with me. Not good for data-collection!

Of course, that was this morning and tonight it is dead-calm. Phew! - it´s nice to be able to walk the streets upright once more.

Had a big thaw and heavy weather recently, which has drowned out the snow and made any unvegetated ground into sloppy Christmas puddin´consistency. That´s exactly what it is like! And makes me feel very festive in the early hours of the morning.

As for what´s next weather-wise, here´s the Christmas forecast.




Handy to be able to check both news in English and weather at the same time. Hmmm...I wonder what 'manly dry' might be?

(explanation: my TV has funny reception)

Anyhow, I sent an email round to most folk - here´s to a very happy Christmas!

Gleðileg jól og heillaríkt komadi ár

I brave Reykjavik

After discussion with others and perusing a few blogs more sophisticated than my own I have attempted to get with the times. So, this post introduces 'The Flickr' (Flicka, Flick-... whatever the hell it is). I´m struggling to get it to look fancy but we shall see! Of course, those new to this blog will discover it in this most modern and dynamic form anyway...

There are some beautiful blogs out in cyberspace. In contrast, my blog is not very artful, or even very up-to-date, but hey, I’m not too concerned. It started as a source of pics to share with the folk back home whilst I was on my overseas trips. It will likely not evolve much past this! I haven’t any fancy laptop, and don’t enthuse about being in the office out of hours: I'm afraid this is as good as it is gonna get.

Excuses/defence over, I was in Reykjavik last weekend, for a pre-xmas, present-driven trip to the concrete jungle. T'was my first urban adventure since I´ve been here, and the contrast with rural Iceland is a big slap in the face. But it was great, as I needed a bit of a break from the mink (....the darkness, the cold, etc.). I stayed with Annie Rhiannon, who is a blog-maestro in my opinion, and a friendly Welsh lass to-boot, who gave me a lift when I was hitching here on first arrival... As I staggered into her house she immediately handed me a beer and got a bath of Icelandic dimensions going for me. This was followed by a (very unIcelandic) curry, (very Icelandic) Glögg (spiced/mulled wine) and a party til 5am with some sort of clubbing experience at around 3am. Not sure about my 'country mouse' stamina for northern latitude night clubs heaving in the wee hours, but the trip out of the country was a great escape for me. It was all good. I didn’t get any decent photos as the light is pretty dim these days (and weather not great this w'end).

















Lastly... but not at all leastly....I was also - finally - ice climbing last weekend (before the partying, I should add). After a while of looking for like-minded enthusiasts in Iceland since I’ve been here, I reveled in sharing the great and glorious Icelandic outdoors with a German called Bernd (who had responded to my ad. in the city bouldering wall). Though I made a roooight royal mess of this exquisitely beautiful waterfall, and I’ve slightly knackered up my knee, it was worth the pain! This day out was at a spot called Hvalfjörður, which is where the 198m Glymur waterfall is found: Iceland’s highest.

....and then there was snow

We´ve been experiencing a cold-snap since I got back from the UK last week. Here's a few photos to make you shiver!






















Here´s how I get to spend the cold nights if Mr. Mink is napping close to the highway (the book is by a certain E Shackleton - makes my complaints of frosty toes pale...). The telemetry antenna balanced delicately on the steering wheel can make driving slightly hazardous if the mink decides to up and go. I´m sat in swathes of clothes, which restricts my movement - if you can imagine it, I move rather like a robot. I often sit over on the passenger side to stretch out the old leg-bones (is this starting to sound cushy? I think so. Hmmm). Then, it´s all action stations if the mink takes off, and I leap over to the drivers side in one balletic move (er, perhaps more like Michelin Man....).




















And in minus conditions, there is always the open air pool to enjoy... esp the 42 C 'hot pot' - ahhhh