Winter Storm Warning

Hello Everyone,
We woke up today to a winter storm warning and accumulations of upto 15 cm today. Luckily the temp remained high enough that the snow melted on the ground, but it was interesting calling the weather office today and hearing that. BTW, All planes were cancelled today due to the storm... Gettin nervous yet Tina? A $3,000 dollar trip and the most exotic thing you'll see is Winnipeg, you thought June was safe, WAAAHHHAAAAHHHAAA. Actually I'm sure you'll be alright, See you Saturday.
CG

June at the Beach

Hello Everyone,
As everyone know's, June's our first chance to welcome summer by hitting the beach and playing in the sand. As you can see Christopher go a head start by a couple of days and spent the afternoon building castles in the sand and soaking up some rays.

The Seasons are Changing

Hello Everyone,
Well Its been a long time coming but winter is losing its daily battle to stay. The thaw has begun in earnest, daily temps are aound or above zero. The seagulls have returned and the Ravens have left. The Sic Sic's are coming out of thier holes (arctic ground squirrels). Snowmobiles are being parked closer and closer to the lake daily, Since the snow is dissapearing in town and snowmobiles don't do well on dirt people leave thier snowmobiles at the receeding snow line. So now we have a mobile parking lot that moves a couple of feet a day.
We had our share of sorrow this week as well, Bennie (our big cat) had to be put down. When we arrived here he was over 20lbs and a pretty happy cat. Since we got here his weight fell to about 8 lbs, he also lost controls of his bowels, since he wasnt' getting better we decided it was better to let him go. We have had him for over 10 years. We'll miss him.
Take Care
CG

Land of the Midnight Sun...

Hello Everyone,
Well, Its truely the land of the midnight sun, Its Midnight and I'm writing this on the deck, I can see details at approx 5 km's. Attached are a couple of standard northern photo's, actually one is of Willow Ptarmigan. which is a non-flocking bird, which makes these shots more interesting. The other photo, Is I guess the best dressed boat in Baker, I believe the skins are Caribou, however they are of a large size and they are near the art dealers shed (he only hunts young Caribou), So they just might be Muskox. I'll look into it and get back to you.
BTW these photo's were all taken between 9:30 and 11:00, tomorrow I'll be attending a gaming party, which may run late (being of old age, I don't stay up late anymore) this will give me a opportunity to take some photo's beyond Midnight, (and I also place my second liquor order since my arrival).
Take care,
CG.

P.S. My thoughts and wishes go to those down south who seem to be suffering a plague of ill fortune, Remeber, the fates have a plan, its just convoluted in the translation.

Deima

May in Baker

Hello Everyone
Well, Its been a fun month with the temps flirting with zero for most of the month ( and above a couple of times) its been fun to get out after a long winter. The games have been fun. Christopher won the only game he played which was called sock bracelets, In which socks had been cut so only the elastic cuffs were left, Then a group of three year olds sat in a circle and rolled a die when they roled a one they had to run to the center and put as many of the sock cuffs on thier arms as they could before the next child could roll a one, christopher got 12 which isn't bad considering he didn't really "get" the game. Melissa created the snow face pictured above.
As to Donna's ever so subtle requests for medical information... I really can't commit to any illness's and their relativity to southern illnesses, There is cancer, however it doesn't seem that different to the percents down south. we lost a elder this week to Cancer, however she was 93, which has to be a factor. I guess that it's not discussed as freely as down south. Illness is discussed not causes. I wouldn't say as many "young" people suffer from the disease as there should be with the incredibliby high rate of smoking and users of other tobacco products. Many people who suffer from Harsh diseases such as these tend to "dissapear" since treatment is not available up here for these types of diseases. Overall, I'd have to say that it is my uninformed opinion that disease rates are lower up here than down south. Diseases I would expect to see in higher numbers, such as Down's syndrome, liver disease, Alzheimers, and throat, mouth and lung cancers would be lower than lifestlye would have one presume. And that is my 1 cent worth.
Now, since I don't want a bunch of advertisments to the left of this article to switch to cancer treatments I am going to load the board to keep it northern focused: arctic, tundra, northern, polar, bear, ice, snow, wolf, bunting, sled, dog team, cold, winter, iceberg, seal, whale, caribou, buggy, igloo. Ok that should do it.
Take care
CG

2nd set from Hamlet Days

More photo's from hamlet days

Hamlet Days

Hello Everyone,
We're in the middle of Hamlet Days here. Here are some photo's of todays events. I'm too tired today o explain the games but I will by week end. This sunshine is too much for me, it doesn't get dark till after midnight and today I wok up around 4:00 am and it was already light out. everyone else is doing well with the light but its reducing my sleep daily.
Ammendum May 15- Hamelet Days is a week long event consiting of daily games and events for the town to celebrate the arrival of spring. This year the events and prizes have been doubled since the easter games had to be cancelled due to the illness that was going around town at that time. Some of the events have been traditional dress contest, parade, best float (ski-doo and kamatik), as well as all sorts of outdoor events. These photo's were from Tuesdays events, there was a marathon for the young people where they ran about 18 miles across the snow and ice covered lake. while they were running there were events going on back at the starting line. A couple of the pictures show the eginning of the 55 gallon barrel race. In this event, you put a empty barrel on your kamatik and drive it as fast as you can through the course, if the barrel falls off you have to run back and put it back on your sled then return to racing, the first one accross with thier barrell wins.
Another event pictured is the non-motorized version, same thing except you put a empty 5 gallon jerry can on a caribou skin and run to the finish as fast as you can while keeping the can on the skin.
The other picture is the begining of the marathon, about a mile into the event, as you can see not everyone was capable of running the event who entered it, as several are already walking. About 20 people ran the whole event.
The final picture is of a Elder who ran the last game we are going to talk about. About a 100 people stand in a circle. Several dice were passed around the circle and when they go to you you tried to roll a 2, If you rolled a two you ran to the center of the circle and pulled a piece of clothing out of a bag, this continues till all the clothes are gone (there may be another step here, but I missed it), next everyone continue's rolling in hopes of getting a 4, when you get a four you run to the middle of the ring and try a traditional game. You have to get a piece of whale bone onto a piece of whale rib, the first person to do it three times wins. I know I described it poorly, but its difficult to descibe, I'm attaching photo's to hopefully provide a better idea.
Take Care
CG

Arctic Bunnies

Just a couple of shots of the arctic hare's up here.
Take Care
CG

Just for Grandmom

Hey I'm just the messenger, Christopher wanted me to put this picture up in the "picture place for Grandma". So here it is.