Adventures of HawkLunch: HawkLunch scurries around camp

Posted: Sun Jun 13, 2004 3:19 am

During a lull between troubleshooting, our intrepid explorer stepped out of our lab to take a look around camp.

The first stop: the outside of Lab 4 (our lab!).

If you think that it looks like a double-wide trailer, you’re right. Only it’s a super-cool Trailer of Science. It has four labs, four offices, a room for giant ovens, and a giant utility closet.

The second stop: the Toolik sauna

Yes, a sauna. Men have exclusive use from 7:30 – 8:30 p.m.; women from 8:30 to 9:30. Everyone shares after 9:30. HawkLunch was afraid to go in (sweating makes his fur mat).

The third stop: Home sweet tent

Comfortable and spacious accommodations for a human and a squirrel.

The fourth stop: the penthouse

HawkLunch climbed to steps to one of the tallest buildings at Toolik Lake, the penthouse…. and discovered that it is in fact the outhouse.

The fifth stop: the shower trailer

Peeking his head inside a trailer a couple trailers down, HawkLunch spotted the trailer that makes Toolik Lake feel like the Hilton… almost. Warm showers are available… but staff and researchers are asked to limit their showers to every other day and only then to leave the water running for a couple of minutes. Conserving water is hugely important at Toolik; though there’s plenty of clean water to use, used water or “grey water” has to be shipped out. Because water is so heavy, it is very expensive.

The sixth stop: the tool shed

A home mechanic’s dream tool shed… It’s like someone went to the hardware store and ordered one of everything. HawkLunch is more artistically inclined than mechanically inclined and so wandered on.

The seventh stop: The office, dining hall and kitchen

The unassuming front is probably to fool the casual squirrel from figuring out the bounty that lies within.

The eighth stop: The camp incinerator

HawkLunch and other squirrels have long known that there is no such place as “away”. Humans at Toolik Lake seem to have figured it out too. All trash is sorted into three categories: burnable, non-burnable and metals. The burnable trash is burned here.

The ninth stop: Runway

If you’ve been to the airport, you may have a picture in your head of what a runway looks like. Get that picture out of your head. The runway here was a dirt road deep enough to hide a squirrel den.

The tenth stop: the mailbox

The mail carrier has a LOOOONG way to drive to get here. (Editor’s note: it’s a joke mailbox, just like the joke Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence radio transmitter behind Lab 4.)

The destination: the hill on the other side of camp

To the uniformed, the vista offers little change. A little closer to the ground, HawkLunch appreciates the diversity of life on the tundra, including many different kinds of lovely blossoming flowers.

On the way home: an Arctic cousin!

One amazing thing about Arctic squirrels (called sik-siks, after the sound they make): In the winter they hibernate so deeply that they will not wake up; their body temperature lowers, their muscles lock, their metabolism slows to a standstill. They become little squirrel-sicles. Every couple of weeks, they shake themselves awake to warm up, then go back to sleep and wait for spring. (Editor’s note: not being a squirrel, I don’t know if any squirrel dreams, much less squirrels who hibernate.)