Tuesday, January 31, 2006

Virus Alert

Hello Everyone,
Well Baker Lake is in Lockdown due to a virus going around, Last Thursday the Day Care and the Arena closed to try and slow down the virus's spreading. On Friday the health center asked the store to stop children under 12 from hanging around the quickstop as well as closing the public school. Saturday they cancelled a hockey tournament in town. Monday they closed the High School and asked us to stop children under 12 from entering the store. Its starting to hit our staff (we hope, either way they are asking to go home). Christopher hasn't left the house in 5 days and is starting to go a little stir crazy, but as yet we are all still healthy, knock on wood.
Take Care,
CG

Monday, January 30, 2006

Crayon privledges



Hello Everyone,
Wel Christopher has been thoughly taught the responcible use of crayons, this means he can now use them unsupervised. And yesterday Dad had no reservations about letting him go for a nap with his crayons. For future reference Dad is going to make sure he has a coloring book as well... well when he gets his privledges back that is, he nailed three of four walls.

Sunday, January 29, 2006

Busy week

Hello everyone,
Its been a busy week so I haven;t been able to update. We had a retail specialist come up to train myself and the retail manager, So that meant late nights and Long days. I've seen alot of qustions posted so over the next couple of days I'll get around to answering them and add a couple of my own idea's. Thanks
Take Care
CG

Monday, January 23, 2006

More Photo




Just a couple more photo's from today
Take Care
CG

New scientific findings




Hello Everyone,
We f finally have proof that bad hair is genetic, don't blame the humidity, blame your father.
Take Care
CG

Sunday, January 22, 2006

On the eve of a Election

Hello Everyone,
I just wantedt to talk about the election since I've been avoiding it until it would be too late. I've voted in every election since I came of age. Not because I felt any particular fever for any party or any great issue that I felt would change the world.I never voted based on any party affiliation either, just for whom I felt could do the job that was needed. I'm not voting this time. I don't see a point in it, None of the candidates say anything I care for, or believe they will follow through on those issue's. I don't want the Liberals to get away with their crimes but I have no faith in the others either. What I'd like to know is that at what point in a politicians career do they lose thier integrity completely? Do they realize it, is it a slow corruption of the beliefs they got into politics to defend or is it a single point where they choose the wrong path. I don't believe any of these fine men entered into thier political careers whith anything but the best intentions but I think the very nature of the beast (power and politcs) corrupts them to this point.
Now for years I've wanted to do this but I've never had the platform, I'd like to thank BC for giving up thier interests and voting as spoilers for the last few elections. These fine people sit in thier homes and watch to see if their vote can stop a majority then rush out and attempt to stop it. These are the people who give up personal opinion for the good of the country, and so Thank-you. Please pay particular attention tommorrow.
Now that my scepticism and dis-illusionment have been expressed, I like to thank all you people who are going to take up the slack and go out and vote for me tommorrow, pick a good one. Well, just pick one and we'll all hope for the best.
One last thought, Does anyone still hope for a majority government? For the last few years I've been unable to find a single person who wanted a landslide, for that matter I haven't seen anyone interviewed on TV express this idea either. Maybe we should just change democracy instead of voting by percent we should just vote for 1st, 2nd and third (don't get me started on fourth). 1st place gets 38% second gets 35% and third gets 27% of the seats. Thats going to be the next great revolution in democracy. Well it will be for tonight.
Take Care
CG.

Sunday musing

Hello Everyone,
THe storm is over and other than being pretty cold it wasn't much to write home about. It did force the water and sewer trucks off the road which was inconvient. It also causes for poor sleep as the doors have a habit of blowing open when the wind gets above 60. I though that this was due to the age of our house but apparently it happens to everyone. Since the houses aren't built on concrete they shift ALOT seasonally, this means the door frequently fit poorly, hense they blow open. With a wind like that it is also very hard to find items big enough to baracade the door effectively.
I'm in retail for the next month so it feels like I'm back home, not alot to learn but I've been working with the retail manager to show him other ways to merchandise his store. Looks like I have to go make dinner, I'll be back later.
CG

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Weather Accuracy

Hello Everyone,
Well We're in the middle of another blizzard, however I'd like to talk about weather prediction. According to the weather line (1-866-558-5551) this storm arrived on time and within expectations. However Last night I thought I see how bad it would be so I started surfing for answers. According to the weather Network, we were going to recieve clear skies, no wind, and moderate temps for the next 5 days. According to Accuweather we might recieve some flurries on Friday with moderate winds and temps. It is now -35 With 40kph winds gusting to 60 kph with a wind chill of -56, Its been snowing for 12 hours. All these weather guys who are professionals should get together so they at least are all wrong or all right, You never know what is going to happen when you have so many different views of whats on its way. Anyways, thats my 2 cents and We'll let you know how tommorrow is, Thats when its supposed to get really nasty.
Take Care
CG

Sunday, January 15, 2006

I assure you this is my wife




I think these are the first photo's of full winter wear.

Sunday Musings

Hello Everyone,
Well, Its started to cool down in the last couple of days, We've been hovering in the -30's in the daytime and -40's in the nighttime, With windchill thats left us in some cold temps (-50's). I had too break out the gloves again just to get to work. I put them away for around the last month while we've been enjoying temps that only peak in the low -30's, Oh well it'll get worse before it gets better.
My training has taken me to the butchershop for the last couple of weeks and its been fun although I'm starting to seriously question the lenght of the training program. All area's of the store have very minor variations of the same principals, making spending time in each one a little tedious at times. I've communicated this to Home Office in hopes of speeding things along a little bit, hopefully I can get to the next location a bt earlier.
The days are starting to get longer, but one thing about short days that I've learned to appreaciate it that every day we can watch sunrise as well as sunset without getting up early. Once again Melissa and Christopher have colds, lots of complaining, and Christopher's energy level increases when he's got a cold so thats a additional challenge. Thats all for now,
Take Care,
CG

Assorted pictures




Tuesday, January 10, 2006

Firefighting in the Far North

Hello Everyone,
Ok well lets talk about firefighting in a resourse limited community. A few years ago several houses burned down due to the fact there was no firefighting equiptment in town other than the occasional fire extingisher. Since then the municpality has aquired a pumper firetruck. This truck is available for use during about 3 months in the summer. It can't be used in the winter as even 50 feet of hose is useless in temps below -30, the water starts to freeze in the hose and clogs the nozzle in short order. Also, since there are no fire hydrants or in ground water avaiable its capacity is limited. Unfortunately due to the age of the pumper truck (over 30 years old) it cannot be hooked up to the water trucks so it has to syphon its own water.
So what happens in the winter you may ask, the house burns down is the answer. Due to the extreme temperature the fire has a very limited chance of spreading as when the flames try to spread they lose too much temperature to remain alit. Basicly the drill is to evacuate nearby houses cover thier fuel tanks with snow and hope for the best. I don't know if this is techically the proceedure however this according to the locals is the way it happens. In asking I couldn't find out who was in charge of the firetruck, Its in a garage near the hamlet office and no one I talked to seemed to know who has the keys. Here's hoping for a firefree winter.
Take Care,
CG

Q & A as well as Lost thoughts.

Hello Everyone,
Sorry I haven't been updating lately, I guess I took some time off to recover from christmas but I'm Back. One of my friends has been reporting to me that the blog couldn't been seen last week, Did anyone else experience this? So far I've only had the one person having trouble. Now to Rosalie's questions, TV is only available through Bell's starchoice system, Its the only service available up here. They won't do installations up here but you can set up your own equiptment and use thier service. As for reception, I'd have to say its a bit better than we got in Tillsonburg. As for the leaders debates and elections, I can't say I care one way or the other about the state of Canadian politics right now, they should all be in jail, I would be if I did what they are doing. We don't get alot of interation here, I still don't know who the candidates are up here, My idea's are only formulated from what the media feeds me from the leaders campaigns.. Which means I will not be voting, I don't vote based on Media information and I don't have any other info.
As for driving, The store has a truck available for occasional need and thats about it. There are no other vechicles at this location, a couple of the guys from work have offered me thier personal snow machines however I haven't taken anyone up on this yet, The only place I'm really anxiuos to get to is the other side of the lake to find some Muskox, and I'm not going that far without a guide so I haven't been bothered to set it up yet. I have a Nunavut Drivers licence, its the same as all of Canada, you must have a transfere your licence within 14 days of moving, So thats what I did, 5 months ago, I'm still waiting for the actual licence to arrive (This is a northern rush job). There was a problem with my application, I got a call about 2 months after I applied that I hadn't signed one of the forms, when I went to do it the Woman had about 50 licences scattered around her desk, I got the feeling she was waiting for her desk to hit critical mass before any actual work was done.
Fuel for homes is above ground and natural gas which comes in yearly with the store barges, I can't tell you how much or what cost, I don't pay any bills so I don't know. Gas prices (for vechicles) up here for this year are $1.45 per liter (Don't quote me, but its in that neigborhood). As for Ice roads (or winter roads as they are more commonly cllaed). These are used more in the tree zone, they are essentially frozen rivers, so there must be a river going where you want to go. The only rivers in this area head to Hudsons Bay, also the distances up here are too dangerous to use winter roads, the greater the distance the more dangerous of being stranded in isolation. As for the status of the winter roads, its a mild winter so yes they are late this year down south however I wouldn't attribute it to global warming, I'd attribute it to a mild winter. I still don't fall for the media science of global warming, until I can read some valid scientific data regarding this I won't fall for it. Unfortunately the records don't exist to give us a valid background to see if there is actually something long-term happening. Thats it for now, Later today I'll write a little about firefighting up here.
Take Care,
CG

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

Forgotten thoughts.

Hello Everyone,

Happy New Year to all our family and friends.

I just wanted to clear up a couple of leftovers from last year. I know some of you are aware of another blog that mentions our water and sewer system up here, but I thought I'd give you a similiar review although mine will be correct. All water taps ad fixtures appear normal and operate the same way as they do down south, however there are no sewers or inground plumbing available due to permafrost levels. In each dwelling there are a couple of tanks hidden away usually below the floors, one is water and the other is sewage, both have pipes allowing access from the outside. In normal circumstances the water tank would be approx 1/2 the size of the sewage tank (in our house they have a little problem where the water tank was replaced but the sewage tank wasn't, as a result we have 1000 gallons of fresh water, and 500 gallons of sewage space). Now these tanks are filled or emptied on a regular basis depending on a few things, how large your tanks are, how many people live in your house, and who you are. We recieve 3 pump outs and fills a week, I've heard of as many as 5 but most are 1 a week. The Hamlet has 4 trucks of each type which operate 7 days a week from about 7 am to as late as 10pm depending on how long it takes to finish the route. Now running out of water is bad, running out of sewage is worse. If you run out of sewage room then your water switches off as well (after all there is no where for the water to go). When your water truck arrives it simply hooks up and fills the tank. When the sewage truck sucks out your tank you know it. Your house will shake with the vibration and soon the smell will start to waft around your house. When you are pumped out all your tiolets will be dry, if you have your sinks or tub plugged the plugs will get sucked down as well. The other main concern with this process it that both these trucks have 2 settings, suck and blow, If the sewage truck uses the wrong setting you are going to have a problem that will involve cleaning your house from the ceilings down to the floors. In our house we have alot of water, I've never seen it go below 3/4 full, however we only have about 4 days of sewage room with normal useage. Now this is cutting it close, we have 3 days between our friday truck and our monday truck, there have been storms that stop the trucks as long as 10 days, so before you do laundry or have a relaxing bath, check the weather against your next delivery, Bad weather=bad hygiene. Ok thats about it except for your stink pipe. Stick pipes are a fact of modern sewage systems, they have them on southern houses as well as Northern, they allow gasses and smells to escape as well as equalize pressure from all that flushing. Up here these pipes freeze and your house will smell periodically because the smell can't escape.
Opps something happened to my font... oh well. There are lots of things you can do to defend against the stink and people do them, no big deal.
Now from the hamlet side, they get the water from the lake and process it before loading it on the trucks. Raw sewage however is not processed, it is released into the river east of town unless tests show it is drifting into the town system, if that happens it is dumped west of town. Simple enough, this is one of the reasons that there are limited chemical products avaiable for purchase. Ok I think thats it for B.L. water treatement system, any questions?

Take Care
CG