Hello Everyone,
Happy Birthday Dad,
these are just a couple of photo's of christopher goofing around yesterday. I got to see the army guys today, I guess they don't like caribou too much as they came in just before close to get some pizza's and chicken from our take-out. I hope if we ever invade Russia, they deliver pretty late.
Take Care,
CG
The Army is back in town to forward thier cold weather training. Here's the c130 at the airport. The plane is larger than the terminal.
Hello Everyone,
As you can see my son is having substance abuse problems, now he's a pot head and has a drinking problem. Hopefully he can overcome these problems with little difficulty.
We set a new personal record today, -57 with wind chill. The blizzard is still going on and I have found a new pleasure in life. As sick as it sounds its wonderful to come home during a 4 day blizzard and smell that distinctive odor that means your house was pumped out and you can quit conserving water... Yeahhh!!!! Today I was thinking about vacation down south and it occured to me how fast we all adapt. The idea of being outside in +30 C seems alien and somehow wrong, how can you people in the south stand such absurd temperatures? If we were meant to live in hot enviroments we'd be cold blooded creatures.
Take Care,
CG
Hello Everyone,
Another week has come and gone andI'm still in Nunavut in the middle of winter. This week I found out I'll apparently be doing a couple of reliefs in a couple of stores as well as attending the best practice school in Rossville Manitoba. This means that somewhere around May I'll be leaving the family here and travelling a bit. Each relief is 1 month and Rossville is 3 weeks, so apparently I won't be around much this summer. The other good news? I got this week is that I'm going to be in charge of the H & R Block services in our store for the next month and a half. Yeah, I just love taxes... Ok I'm not convincing myself, is anyone buying this?
Did you know you can get a hangover without drinking? I get one every couple of weeks when I fail to drink enough liquid before going to bed. I think its due to the low humidity here, It causes you to dehydrate very quickly during the night then you wake up and Hello, you have a hangover. The only good thing about alcohol free hangovers is they tend to go away faster.
We had another blizzard over the last couple of days but it was a pretty uneventful one, nothing new to report, other than -53 is still very cold. I did finally wear my goggles yesterday, It was taking about 2 minutes till you started to feel your face going numb, and eyes freezing is a very uncomfortable feeling.
Christopher and Melissa are doing well. Just before the storm hit the temp got upto -11 and they went out to enjoy the fine weather. Sledding and snowballs were the task of the day.
Oh yeah, One great thing about this storm, my father sent us a security bar that goes frm the floor to the door handle and last night the door remained closd all night. Thanks Dad.
Take Care,
CG
I would like to thank-you for the time you have spent with us. As you near the end of your journey rest assured that you have helped many, you have guided some and influenced others. Being the eldest sister you helped raise the wonderful woman I call Mom, and I must thank you for that. I hope that wherever your next journey takes you, it takes you there in a state of peace and tranquility knowing you lived a eventful and joyful life, and that you gave much to those who will continue to love you and your memories will live within us for a very long time. We love you and wish you all the strenght and spirit for your future travels.
God Bless,
CG
Happy Birthday to my mother who now professionally draws a well earned government cheque.
We Love You.
CRG & MG & CRG
XOXOXOXO
P.S. I promise not to tell the government your really 29 ;)
Just a couple of photo's on the way to and getting back from daycare. It was a beautiful day -30 and no wind.
CG
Hello Everyone,
First off yes we managed to avoid the flu going around. I felt like garbage for a couple of days, however it was never as bad as those I saw who picked up the bug. It seemed that those who got really sick didn't get a flu shot. I'm hoping that this is the reason we were spared, previously I have never seen any sign that it works. As for medical facilities, we have a nursing station in town. That is a location that has several full time nurses that do various diagnostic procedures, some prognosis, and order medical evacuations. A doctor does visit periodically (monthly I think). For equiptment they have a x-ray machine, I'm not sure of anything else. They also have a dispencery for medication, however scripts must be filled in Rankin and sent to baker for individuals. The nurses can dispense common medications, getting the confirmation of a doctor if nessassary.
Well, We have a conservative government. For my current position that isn't good news as the conservatives don't spend money on the North or aboriginal communities traditionally.
We do sell alot of ice cream in our store, The inuit have a preoccupation with anything sweet. I've never seen anyone in the south use 12 sugar in a small coffee however here its not uncommon. The locals love sugar and chocolate. As for selling local game, we do it on a very limited scale. We don't sell fresh caribou, we do sell caribou jerky (tastes like cardboard dipped in liver) and if available we will take all the whale meat we can get but this commidity usually sells out before it gets inland. I think that fresh caribou wouldn't generate that much for us as its readily accessable to the locals (I have about 6 lbs in my fridge right now thanks to Brian our butcher who went hunting yesterday). We have a licence to sell wild game, but you have to purchase all game through a licenced outfitter which increases costs. We do sell alot of Artic Char, which we haven't tried yet, but it comes in frozen from our outfitter.
Insurance isn't a big thing here, If your house burns down, the community will assimilate you fairly easily. The idea of homelessness up here takes a different meaning. If your homeless your dead. There are people who are very under-housed, cramped, sharing, without services etc. Even pensions and other forms of investiment for old age are not common here, locals year pull all funds available out of any long term funds for the cash. Once again the community will cover elders needs or assist them in spending thier money. Elders money seems to be a community fund.
Ok thats all for now, Back to the books.
TAke care.
CG
Hello Everyone,
Still managing to keep busy. We've decided to reset all the planograms for all the retail sections of the store so I've been keeping busy all week as we build the standards that will hopefully be held for the future of the store. Today I have to do my homework and complete my FAC. I need a FAC in order to sell guns, so the option of whether I want one or not is mute.
Did you know:
That the Baker Lake Arena has no cooling equiptment, they have a concrete pad for ice and when the temp get low enough they pour water on it, In this manner they have a 8 month ice surface.
That your front yard makes a good freezer for your caribou and muskox kill's, when you want some meat you just go outside and cut off a slab. I presume this does not add to local wolves as the meat is solidly frozen therefore doesn't smell too much. Apparently it leads to a pretty gruesome spring thaw.
That a pan with boiling water in it will take about 13 minutes to start to freeze when left on your porch.
That the tent featured in "The Day After Tommorrow" will not keep you warm in -50 C degree weather, The tent used on the land at this time of year is a prospector tent. Which is a large canvas tent built using solid poles and elevated off the ground atop a wooden floor, for more detail follow the link at the top of this post (click on the title Sunday Musings to see the tent in our catalogue). I'm not sure but I'd bet while in one of these tents you still wouldn't be taking off all your snow gear as they did in the movie.
-40 C is not that cold as long as there is not wind, even 15 kmph will turn -40C into a very cold experience.
50% of the people up here don't have bank accounts, thier cheques get cashed at the Northern.
Air cooled engines don't like -40, You take a great chance of cracking your block if you can get the engine to start. Most vehicles up here have most of thier air intakes blocked or sealed to avoid too much cold air. If you forget to plug in your vechicle once, you can buy another battery or wait till spring.
Its easier on your vechicle to let it run if your going to be less than 3-4 hours wherever your going, You see alot of vechicles running all over town rather than letting them cool down.
Sidewalk salt doesn't work below -30, and when I say doesn't work, I mean not even a little bit.
Skin that has frozen will turn black in about 2 days, and is a more common facial accessory than a beard.
Rubber on your tires turns VERY hard in -40 and leads to alot of blown tires.
20 lbs of winter clothing feels like a tee shirt and shorts when the wind gets above 60 kph.
Ravens can apparently switch off the blood flow to thier feet in the winter ( I know the scientific problems behind this, but I also know those little exposed feet wouldn't survive here without something strange happening).
There WILL be 6 more weeks of winter, Its a safe bet there will be another 4 months.
Thats about all the random thoughts I have at this moment, I know I have alot of questions still to answer and I'll get to them today.
Take Care
CG
