Reptiles at Risk

Norfolk County...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on November 30, 2007 at 12:00 AM

Crystal, Steve, and I are in Norfolk County this week. This is a great area to talk to people about Ontario's reptiles, since it is one of the last strongholds (if such a thing exists) for the endangered Carolinian population of the black rat snake! There are also fox snakes, hognose snakes, Blanding's turtles, and many other species at risk in the area.

Steve's been with us for a little while now, though this is his first week on the road doing programs. Things didn't work out with Mallory- she ended up taking another job, so Steve has filled our last staff position. The staffing challenges have made it tough to keep up with everything, but we're getting by. Some time soon, I hope to get some staff profiles up on here!

I think the cold weather has finally come on strong enough that we have to quit using our travel trailer. We've been lucky to be able to stay with friends and family this week, but our accommodation budget is going to start getting more of a workout in the very near future!

A tiring week in Essex...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on November 23, 2007 at 9:36 PM

We're back from what felt like a long week in Essex County and parts of Chatham-Kent. The school programs went well, and we have started doing our evaluation surveys this week after much delay on that. We've had some challenges though, especially with the cold, snowy weather. Our trailer is still leaking when it rains, and our propane furnace is having some challenges. Even worse, last night we ran out of propane, and when I switched to the electric heat we melted part of an extension cord. Having a 30 m cord all bunched up in a small compartment is not a good idea! Oh, the joys of life on the road... Luckily, there were lots of smiling, happy kids holding snakes to keep our spirits up!

Chatham area...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on November 16, 2007 at 8:18 AM

This week, Crystal, Robin, and I are in the Chatham area. It turned out that this was a busy week for the schools in the area, and it was very difficult to schedule them for a program, so we've only ended up doing 4 schools over 2 days. Although Rondeau Provincial Park had generously provided us with a campsite for the week, it didn't make much sense to drive our big van and trailer down here for such a short time. So instead, we're at a hotel for a night, for only our second time in the history of the project! Oh, the luxury...