The Bay has Frozen

Hello Everyone,
The good news is the bay froze last night, so in a couple of days it'll be thick enough for machines. The bad news is yesterdays loss of a local man (24 years old) has left me without cashiers, as all my cashiers are related to him and need time off to grieve. A loss in a community this size is felt by everyone and the repurcussions resound thoughtout town. The north has a higher loss rate than anywhere else in the community with the largest killer of children being suicide. Everyone has had someone in their family take the easy way out. Its a shame as the community takes these events much harder than their southern counterparts. The town will shut down for the funeral, all stores, government offices and private bussiness's will close for the event. I believe the suicide rate up here is something like 350% higher than the rest of the country. amazing considering the size of the communities we are dealing with here.
Take Care
CG

Out of the Blue (and into the Fire)

Hello Everyone,
Well today was a very interesting day. For years I've been looking for a old friend I wanted to make ammends with and hopefully rejuvinate a old friendship, however due to the nature of his name and the time involved I was always unable to find him. Well today he sent me a email, he's found my Blog and followed that to me. Its amazing how small the world has become now the World Wide Web has allowed us to communicate with others of like minds across thousands of miles. Thats why I like the map to the side of this blog, I find it amazing how people from across the world end up here, Different worlds meet in the internet and hopefully make us all a little bit larger in our small part of the world.
On other note's, I found out we have to do a inventory next week. This came as a fairly unpopular surprise, as I was hoping to get some time off once the new guy arrived to unwind and relax, now I just have to wind it up a little tighter. I have three trained office people, 2 locals and Melissa, One of the locals is off to Iqaluit for student parliment next week, the other local suffered a loss of a family member today so she'll need some time off, and Melissa is nursing Christopher back to health so I'm basicly screwed. Now I have to sit in the office all day and wait for customers to serve as the gret Northern Bank. Well, thats what I came to the north for, to live a ordinary life in a extrordinary way.
Take Care,
CG
PS. Temps are finally getting down to seasonal norms and the water in the bay seems to be "thickening up"

Chicken Pox

Hello Everyone,
Well, as usual life gets in the way of the best laid plans. Yesterday we got the call from daycare to pick up Christopher, because he has spots all over. A quick trip to the health centre confirmed, Christopher has chicken pox. So now Mommy and Christopher are going to get some time at home.
So far, Christopher is doing well, with a pretty mild case. And so far no real side effects, no scatching, fever or any of the unpleasentness. Hopefully it'll continue to be a mild case.
Take Care
CG

Polar Bear season

Hello Everyone,
November 1st mark the opening day of Polar Bear season. Now I know many southern's are saying, "hey Wait, you can't hunt Polar Bear's, They are endangered". Well, you can hunt Polar Bears. They are not endangered, they are on a watch list. The reason they are on a watch list is not alot is known about them and thier numbers, there has been recent concern about the bears in Churchill as they seem to be heading north, but there isn't alot of long term data on thier numbers or what recent enviromental changes are doing to the population. Now, even southern's can hunt Polar Bear's, for a hefty price (that americans are very happy to pay). As a non-resident you can buy a Polar bear tag for around $15,000, they you must hire a local certified guide to go with you (another $15,000 to $20,000) and finally if you'd like to take your catch with you out of territory I'll cost you approx $20,000.
The majority of bears harvested are done locally by Inuit hunters. Each community get's a number of tags based on its population and economic circumstances. Removed from this number is any bears that were killed in the off season for personal protection reasons, and killing a mother with cubs takes three tags from the communities number. This is why whenever possible locals will chase bears away instead of shooting them. Many local hunters need Polar bear skins for econimic reasons. for example a wolf skin will bring the hunter about $250, and hunting wolves is very challenging as they must be chased for miles before the hunter can get a good shot. Polar bears skins pay about $100 a foot but the bigger the skin the larger the payout, a 12 foot bear will get about $2,000 and above 12 foot is aprox $700 a foot. so one bear can feed a extended family for a month. Bear meat is also eaten so there isn't alot of waste. This community recieved 15 tags this year. Other communities may be unable to collect thier tags unless they can afford to visit another community to do so. For example Baker lake gets its allotment of tags, however there are no Polar bears in Baker, so the hunter must fly out of the community to use thier tags, and this is done rarely.
Should everything go well with my new helper arriving Sunday I hope to go out Polar bear hunting next Thursday, provided my buddy doesn't get one before then, If he does we'll have to go after some caribou or wolf (wolverine if we're lucky).

Still no sign of ice on the Bay, so the bears will still be pretty far inland, hopefully.
Take Care
CG
PS. Check out that sunset tonight, Wow