Sunday Musings

Hello everyone,
Another week has come and gone. Not much different than any other week up here. The other day we were talking about the enviroment up here and I was amazed at the locals way of life. As we discussed local families, various things kept reappearing in all the histories, "oh, his brother froze to death on the land", "Oh, his mother was killed by a Polar bear". It was astounding, there was literally no family we discussed that didn't discuss one of these tragicies in some way. We don't have Polar bears this far inland however we do have grizzlies and many people do go to local communities such as Rankin, Arviat and Chesterfield Inlet regulary and this is where the attacks happen. I can't think of a similiar force in the south that touches as many lives as the enviroment here, not drunk driving, crime, or any other than disease which occures to the same degree up here. Its not that daily living is any great challenge, its just that you pay for a mistake alot more drasticly than in other area's, when your vechicle breaks down here, there are bigger problem that what garage to go to for repairs, Do I wait here, How can I keep warm, what can I eat, Which way is town, Whats the weather going to do, what if I get injured, How long will it take anyone to find me? These questions have drastic conseqences. A elder went on the land for a day trip on Thanksgiving day, despite three weeks of intesive searching they still haven't found her (at Rankin Inlet). These are things the locals accept as life but they are very different for myself, I find it amazing and intimadating, the acceptable tragidy factor is amazing.
I've been meaning to talk about local wildlife as to whats around here so here it goes. There are grizzly Bears however they roam the land around town and rarely venture near town. A couple were chased away from the airport this summer however none have made it into town in recent memory. There are wolves, these too tend to avoid town, you can hear them at night. These do come near town but predominately avoid it unless the weather is bad, They realize that every house has a rifle in it and thier hides are worth a couple of hundred dollars. During storms they will come into town and take the occasional dog or scavange when they can. They pose no large threat to a adult as there aren't any stories of the pack coming into town, which would be dangerous to anyone. We have weasels, these are long ferret like creatures that are predominately in town during the winter, They are white in color and about a foot long. We have Sic Sic's which are large ground squirrels, they are about 6-10 inches in height and lack the long tails of southern squirrels, they more closely resemble small ground hogs of the south. We also have artic hare's which are BIG white rabbits at this time of year. We see more of these than anything else right now. You can also see artic foxes in town occasionally, these animals are a couple of feet long and pure white in color. For food for almost all these creature we have a lemming like creature that scurries benieth the snow, I haven't seen these animals yet.
Thats all i have for now
Take care
CG