Reptiles at Risk

Val Marie, Saskatchewan, and the CBC...

Posted by Jeff Hathaway on July 27, 2008 at 1:46 AM

We're back in Val Marie, having delivered another program in conjunction with Jessica the snake researcher, and Sherry from the Val Marie Ambulance. This one was for the local community, at the theatre in town before the Friday night movie. It went very well, and it was
great to speak to so many local ranchers about the reptiles in the area. Many of them raised their hands when asked if they'd seen short-horned lizards on their land, which was pretty cool!

Before coming back here, we headed off to Regina, to send Sean home, and pick up James for his rotation on the road. Everything at the airport went smoothly. We also fit in an interview with CBC radio while we were there- they gave us nearly nine minutes on the morning show. A CBC TV crew was also supposed to meet us at the airport, but they were delayed, so instead they caught up with us at the local Canadian Tire. We did a short interview in the parking lot for the evening news, though we have yet to see how it turned out. It is always great to have the media help get positive messages about reptiles out to lots of people!

It was sad for us to see Sean off, but also great to see James again. I'm sure we'll feel the same when we send Lenny back from Calgary, and welcome Sara to her portion of the project!

Minor mechanical difficulties continue to plague us, but so far nothing really major. We got the vacuum pump replaced in Maple Creek at Cypress Motors Ford, and it is nice to have power brakes again! We had a new trailer tire installed in Leader, due to a wayward piece of metal. Our trailer lights are finicky, and I'm in the process of rewiring them. Good thing we don't drive much after dark. And, our forward diesel tank is leaking, so we currently are using just the rear tank. Perhaps we'll get a chance to fix it in Alberta, since we do have a little down time coming up later in the week.