9 July, 2001

The sun gleams dimly through the mist

Along the boreal shores

Of the Bering Strait

R.H.

Weather for the day: Today started out very sunny, in fact it has been very sunny since last night, in fact there is sunlight for over 23 hours and 30 minutes. It still boggles the mind to look outside at any hour of the night. It started to get colder and colder as the day wore on. It also became very windy, in fact by the end of the day I wondered if it was really summer. The fog also rolled in, it really rolled in! Ah yes, just another typical day in the Bering Strait.

Wild life seen so far: loons, sandhill crane, common eider, western sandpiper, herring gull, common murre, black billed magpie, crows (many), ravens, snow bunting, gray whale, reindeer (hundreds), and of course sik siks (Arctic ground squirrels). Other people on the team have seen seals and 18 musk ox (the sole surviving members of "ice age" oxen . A moose was reported in town last night.

We added a new member of our crew today, Wesley, a Wales resident. Wesley is very nice and really knows a great deal about excavating and he area, because he lives in Wales.

It was a good day to work even though it was cold. We excavated away the day. I worked in 2 units today (1 square meter). I finished off my quad S1E1 and moved on to S2E1. Today I did not find much, some bone (faunal), and some ceramic. I did find 3 sik sik holes. They are everywhere, some people consider them pests, I think they are very cool. You can read more about Siksiks in tomorrow's journal, so stay tuned.

I went to the IRA office today to work on my journal. I would like to thank them for their help in letting me use their computers. And I would like to thank all of my friends that are writing to me.

Today's culinary tip is being provided by John. We had a "dangerous" encounter in the kitchen at 10:00 P.M. PB2 + GC+J+CC=lots lots of calories. Answer of what this is will be posted in tomorrow's journal (please stay tuned).

Julia is doing her daily measurements at site 079 North Trench

In the distance is Large Diomede Island, in the far distance is Siberia