Laser is in. Disc Golf. Muskox are scraggly

I would to introduce.... the new laser! That's what is in the 990 lbs crate on our favourite new gantry. We got it mostly into place on the table yesterday, so that's when the pictures here are from. We had to go truck-gantry-dolly-gantry-table as the gantry wouldn't fit through the doors inside with the laser. Fun times. We had to build a frame around the bottom of the laser to be able to lift it off the crate. The laser sits on a heavy aluminum plate, and I learned how to tap a hole (make a hole with threads for a screw) to attach it to the frame.



Muskox!!!! On our drive up to the lab this morning, we saw a whole herd of muskox close to the road, so naturally we got as close as we could and then got out of the car to take pictures. They are so scraggly and so funny!
Distracted photo of three of us waiting for Bernard to hurry up and figure out how to set the self timer so he could be in the Success Photo of the Laser In Place picture. This one was funnier than the right one.
And here are the 4 of us who have been hauling the laser around for the past 3 days:


We have hit a few snags such as the laser feet not fitting in the spacers we had custom milled to fit them. We ended up having to re-drill the holes and grind them out with a dremel tool.

After that we put the chiller in, put the wires and hoses for it under the floor and did other small jobs that had to be done. We should be hooking up gas lines tomorrow or Monday, depending on weather. If it's terrible, then we'll work tomorrow but if not, we're going rose rock hunting! I'm pretty excited about that, especially after our fun time last night.

After supper yesterday, six of us went out to play disc golf. I'm slightly better at this than I am at mini-putt, which as some of you know, is not saying much. Add to this the fact that the frisbee golf course is set along a creekbed and the sides of hills and slopes up to a ridge. It's an awesome course with some really neat holes (sticks stuck in the ground that you have to hit). Some you have to throw over the ridge to a hole you can't see, and others you have to send over cliffs to a hole below, without getting your disc in the river. Pretty awesome! It was fun to get outside and play for a few hours and go hiking to see what's behind the station.

It's really pretty here, and there are lots of small pieces of ice in the fjord, but it is mostly open water. The people who work at the station for several months are planning a bonfire in the next few days to burn up some of the rotten, warped etc wood from old projects. Perfect time for a polar dip! So Mum, I know you were joking about it, but I just might try it if it goes ahead...