Sojourn North

Reality beats sci-fi any day

2009-12-16T12:38:00.005-07:00

I just stumbled across the Boston Globe's Advent collection of photos taken from the Hubble Space telescope. This fantastic photo above is of the NGC 6302 nebula, view the others in the Globe's advent collection and tour around the Hubble site to see more beautiful and amazing imagery in their galleries and learn more about discoveries they've made and about modern astronomy.

At long last...but not quite

2009-12-15T12:23:00.004-07:00

To any friends and family who check back in here now and then to see if I'm still posting -I'm working on it and am trying to decide if the blog will continue in the new year. (Obviously this past year hasn't been great for blogging.) It's not that I've not had bloggable events over the year, it's been a matter of making the time for a blog with, perhaps, diminishing returns.

At any rate, today I came across a great video of animals doing cool things and wanted to share the video. Also see this link (and especially the link in its first paragraph, if you enjoy a bit of Monty Python) for more details.

On the serious side of things.

2008-10-13T10:53:00.012-06:00

To date, I’ve avoided political discussion on my blog. Today however, I am making a minor exception. As most of you should know, Canadians are voting in a federal election tomorrow. In my opinion, other than by paying our taxes or serving in the military, voting is one of the most patriotic things we can do as citizens. To be sure that I’m fully informed before casting my ballot tomorrow, I’ve spent some time comparing party platforms by way of the internet and party websites. This has been helpful and informative, both in assisting me to make my choice and happily, in giving me some light-hearted blog fodder. I bring this up, not to criticise any particular party or out of any partisan bias, but simply out of curiosity and desire for reader feedback on a serious matter in federal politics:

Punctuation and grammar

in a federal election campaign!

Here are some screen shots clipped straight from party websites:

The Green Party of Canada believes in punctuating headlines. And sentence fragments.

The Conservative Party of Canada agrees (occasionally).

The New Democratic Party of Canada does without such punctuation and prefers contractions usually reserved for colloquial speech

(who'll??)
while the Bloc Québécois is thrilled to have you reading their website, en français!

The Liberal Party of Canada challenges you to comment on these grammatical styles.
Please, have at 'er!

(Or perhaps that should be: Blogger invites comments. Now!)

Winter? Yep, it REALLY is already

2008-09-28T09:56:00.011-06:00

We now interrupt this irregularly scheduled appearance of vacation photos to bring you....

a photo of our balcony this morning.

Just in case you didn't really believe me when I said that our fall is done and we've begun winter, I've now given you proof in all its glorious fluffy cold whiteness in a 2 dimensional electronic voyeuristic sort of way. So, um, there!

In other breaking news in Northern Town, ManNorth and I were astonished to have been awarded the Green Thumb award, meaning that of those who voted over at our community greenhouse, most of them thought our garden was the best. Now, I've no idea how "best" is defined for although we had a pretty garden, that was quite bushy and green with willow bird and sweet pea accents, we didn't think it was terribly prolific. However, we are pleased as punch to have the Thumb, replete with its dirty nail and all, to display in our garden next year as next year's garden is going to be even better!

Apparently our tomato harvest was more than most people were able to grow this year. We're just pleased to have fresh tomatoes that don't cost $1 each or more!

Now that the mercury has dropped below zero, the temperature inside the greenhouse has likewise fallen and most plants have frozen, died or are in the process of doing so. We spent a few hours yesterday helping to clean up before winter lock-up and to bring home a few of our potted plants that were in need of some attention and/or eating.

Some of those potted plants look admittedly scrawny and it was due in part, to my forgetting to water them and then to massively over water them. The huge bouquet is made up of the last of our parsely and the final few blooms from our sweet peas. I'll make some tabouli with the parsley and just enjoy the scent of the sweet pea flowers, more so now that we've moved into winter.

Vacation photos the first

2008-09-24T20:31:00.011-06:00

A few weeks ago my folks came waaay up North and West for a visit and we ventured south to meet them. Along the way back, we decided that since we were so close we might as well pop over to Alaska and visit the small town of Chicken (named chicken apparently, as the residents couldn't spell ptarmigan). That there is Alaska (and the wee border crossing over at the green buildings on the right):

Just as we approached the border the engine light of our rental vehicle came on and as ManNorth and I had already been stranded just a few days earlier by our first rental vehicle we decided that we would cross the border but leave Chicken for another visit. The quizzical look on the border guard's face was rather amusing when we answered the question "How long will you be in the United States?" with "About 3 minutes." (To answer your obvious question: We had a problem with our first rental while making the long drive south to meet my folks. That vehicle was replaced 24 hrs later after we'd slept in it 100 kilometers from the nearest service station and about 300 kilometers from the nearest town. The ever so understanding operator of the rental company considered that to be a cheap hotel room. At least the scenery was nice.)

Looking back on the return to Canada from Alaska on this highway, one will see this:

Do be safe though, if you navigate this particular road. There are some steep parts and some sharp curves. No one was in this vehicle when we stopped to check but it was a sobering reminder to have a ready foot on the brake and a sharp eye on the road.

Along the way we also encountered this wonderful sign which I very nearly sent to The Grammar Vandal or to the Grammarphile but then selfishly kept it here for my blog.

Amusingly, someone else had noticed the apostrophe error and decided to write a bit about it. Unfortunately, they made much less sense than the sign did:

Some one must have taken note however, as by the time we actually reached the ferry the next sign looked like this.

Below is the ferry we were using to cross the mighty Yukon river. I think this particular passenger is comfortable with a higher level of risk than me.

More photos to come...

Good-bye fall, hello winter

2008-09-23T08:28:00.003-06:00

I admit it.
I’ve become a terrible blogger, posting one day and not again for months. (Has it been quite that long?)
I've no idea how busy people can still find time to keep up a blog in addition to all their activities. I'm not managing this blog particularly well but it's not time to call it quits just yet.

For any of you who still bother to check in (and I really don’t know why), life goes on in Northern Town with some happy new developments for yours truly. My job has become permanent and I’m now an ‘ologist in the full sense of the (um, truncated) term. Whoo hoo!

Occasional field activities have kept me busy this fall and now that winter is beginning, plans for the spring are already in order. I don’t know yet what all that will entail, as it will as always, be determined by the funds I can raise for the various projects we have in mind.

What’s that you say, YESTERDAY was the first day of fall? Heh. Yes, maybe for those of you in the south, but up here in Northern Town the majority of the leaves have fallen and the last day of technical summer was celebrated by an 18hour or so snow fall, which has since melted and been replaced by the occasional snowflake determined to be all it can be among a crowd of raindrops.

Other than winging my way through the skies around Northern Town by helicopter (although I’m grounded by all the clouds this week), and watching my to-do list of office activities grow larger than I could fit on my whiteboard, ManNorth and I also took a week off in order to properly celebrate a visit by my parents who ventured north just in time to see a final spectacular display of the north’s fall colours and enjoy the last week of mild temperatures along with the odd caribou and grizzly sighting. (Mom & Dad, it was wonderful to have you visit. Next time, come in February!!)

That’s it for today. More stories to come...

He's SSSSSSuper!

2008-07-29T17:46:00.012-06:00

I think that I may have forgotten to mention ManNorth's superhero status to all of you.

Hmm. Yes. I think I have, owing to it being secret and all. (Of course, this is no surprise to those of you who have met him, but we don't speak about it much publicly, owing to the superhero secrecy oath he had to take, which is itself secret. SHHHhhhhhhhhh.)

I really can't explain further as I'd completely give it all away but I can share this wee little bit about one aspect of his superhero pursuits: they involve fire...and the coordinated putting out of really really big ones.

Like this one depicted below by unknown and unnamed hapless citizens who now have the good fortune to have ManNorth (da da da dum) on their side.. or at least between them and the fire. (Er, actually, he has minions to do that for him, but I'm getting a bit sidetracked here.)

I'd give photo credits to the photographers if I knew who they were...but they arrived by secret post along with super secret messages that couldn't be decoded.

Yep. I'm feeling rather proud of him today and missing him no small amount. I'm also hoping that he's taking lots of photos too before he jets off back to me here in Northern Town (hopefully) next week.

The pleasures of summer

2008-07-28T22:11:00.013-06:00

It's berry picking season in the area around Northern Town and I'm determined to stock up on as many as I have time to gather before the berries start to drop. This weekend after ManNorth unexpectedly left on a two week posting to the south (more blogging to follow), I took the opportunity to share the berrypicking time with other friends from NorthernTown and went picking on Saturday and this evening after work. (It's always a good idea to avoid going out alone, even near town and I'd assured ManNorth that I'd stay safe as bear encounters are rare, but possible in the area. That, and spending time with friends is fun!)

I've found that there is a special technique necessary to be speedy and gentle enough to avoid jarring the bush and knocking off all the fruit in pursuit of an individual berry.

Now, when one (womannorth) isn't particularly good at this technique, the berries are each as small as a pea and there is a limited amount of time to do the picking, one may resort to alternate methodology:

Berry rakes and campfire waterbuckets!

Now this is the way to do it! Simply scoop up the berries, raking the teeth of the scoop through the entire plant. Is this cheating? No, I don't think so. This is an efficient way to collect lots of berries quickly. (Of course, after Saturday's excursion, I found I spent almost an equal amount of time indoors cleaning all the twigs and leaves from the berries that the rake had also collected. However, that was time indoors while seated on a comfortable couch and protected from the myriads of black flies and mosquitos determined to render me a dry carcass. This was a fair exchange, I thought.)

Don't believe me? Here's a horrible 20 second video I took today as an example. (Horrible, because of the poor technique admittedly, but most horrible because of all the bugs. Obviously.)

Now that I've mentioned of the local wildlife, of which I am certain you were simply fascinated by, you miiiiight just be interested in seeing another animal that had also been enjoying the berries. (Actually, there were at least 6-8 of them, but this was the only one that stuck around after I startled them to cluck at us in annoyance and disapproval from a perch atop a spruce tree. )

It's a ptarmigan!

(Can't see it? Look at one of the tree tops near the right hand side of the photo.)

This is how one sneaks up on it to get its photo.

It was on to us.

C'est finite!

Heh, heh. It's kinda cooold.

2008-07-23T18:18:00.002-06:00

There was ice on a pond next to ManNorth’s workplace this morning and frost on the vehicles in our parking lot. Temperatures dropped overnight (despite the 24hours of daylight) to -1C.

This makes me laugh just a wee bit for a few reasons:

1. Because it’s just so ridiculous to be seeing ice in July at the same time one is contemplating going out to pick wild blueberries and ward off hoards of mosquitoes.

2. Because it’s not really that unusual, given that we live 200 kilometres north of the Arctic Circle

3. Because making headlines in the news over the past few days was how darn warm another arctic community that is 320 kilometres south of the arctic circle has been for the past few days and how much has been made of this temporary warming in that community and how everyone is speculating that it is related to climate change and global warming etc etc..

Now, I certainly don’t deny that our climate is changing but what often gets forgotten is how variable weather can naturally be. For instance, when cold arctic air blows south to chill Northern Town and create sheets of ice on wee duck ponds, the air has to come from somewhere. The thing to remember is that where it came from isn’t suddenly a vacuum, devoid of air, but is being replaced with air from somewhere else, whose air is also being replaced.

So to just speculate a wee bit here, not knowing the actual patterns of air movement that caused this but, as a result of low pressure systems sucking in air from high pressure systems, creating something known as global winds and pressure gradients, could not one tell a simple story of cold air in Northern Town coming from the arctic which sucked up warm air from the south to pass through TemporarilySwelteringOtherArcticTown to replace it?

But one is speculated to be evidence of global warming while the other one just has sucky cold weather? Mmmm?

Yep, this makes me chuckle, just a tiny bit.

Brrrrrrr!

2008-07-21T20:22:00.006-06:00

What was that I was saying the other day about it being warm enough for T-shirts and shorts?
Yes, well that was a short time ago. (Ahem.)

I must not have been paying much attention to the weather these past few days because today's high was a balmy 11 degrees Celsius (53 Fahrenheit), only 3 degrees below the 24-hour high and tomorrow's high is forecast to be a lovely 8 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit).

Compared to a typical daily average temperature in January of about minus 27C, don't these warm July temperatures in Northern Town just make you think of piña coladas and Hawaiian lei or something?

Hmm mmm, says half the town as they wish they were in Hawaii...

Of course, ManNorth and I are faring well and didn't mind needing to pull out a wool sweater or two this evening!

(Mom & Dad, don't worry: It will be looooooovvveeely when you come to visit in September.
Just remember your sweaters and your gloves and hats, 'kay?)

Garden denizens

2008-07-19T09:11:00.011-06:00

Using willow twigs as plant stakes is fine, but what they are really great for is for making things. Things like baskets or, in the case of my garden, birds!

One day after seeing willow baskets in the greenhouse that had been made by someone to hold their hanging plants, I began thinking about how the pliable twigs could lend themselves to other uses, such as for sculpture. I thought that I probably could create a bird for my garden by winding willow twigs together. So, I had a lovely walk through the woods one evening with a pair of pruning shears and a large bag to collect my twigs and then came home to spend a fun weekend on the couch surrounded by twigs, pliers and thread (which I used sparingly and only for the really ornery twigs that wouldn't stay in place).

What do you think? Here is bird #1(for which I was happy that it simply looked bird-like):

and bird #2 (I love her feet!):

and bird #3 (He's a bit more difficult to spot when visitors try to find all four birds.):and bird #4 (For some reason, it's this one's belly that I'm most proud of.):

I ran out of both my willow branches and my weekend after finishing the hummingbird but still intend to get some more branches for a big raven or owl to perch up on the top of the frame and maybe also have a go at creating a squirrel who could run along the edge. We'll see about that (as I created these birds more than a month ago and have yet to make more) but for now, I like the unique contribution they make to our garden. I've also been asked to do a workshop on making willow birds and may do so, but secretly, I like the idea that only my plot has them in it.

Welcome to our garden!

2008-07-17T21:43:00.016-06:00

Naturegirl (who truly takes amazing photos) recently posted about the trials and tribulations of gardening in small spaces (i.e. a small shady backyard) and I realized that I've not shown any photos of our garden space here in the far north. With 24 hours of sunlight each day for almost two months straight, plants grow wonderfully, so long as they are watered and warm -conditions which an attentive gardener and the shelter of a greenhouse can provide.

I'll save the photos of our sad, sad looking balcony plants for our home archives and take you all on a tour of our community greenhouse where ManNorth and I were fortunate enough to have rented a small plot for our own garden this spring and summer. These plots are a hot commodity in NorthernTown and we missed getting a plot last summer by only a week after our arrival last year. Although we were on a waiting list, no spaces opened up for us until this spring.

We began working our plot at the end of May and had planted our seeds and seedlings that we had started indoors (in small flats and empty buttermilk cartons, of all things) by the beginning of June. Working the plot initially meant breaking up the somewhat frozen soil, mixing in lots of compost and watering, watering and watering again.

Here's what our plot looked like then:

The tall bushy plant on the left is actually a tomato plant we had started indoors almost a year ago. Since it started producing flowers and fruit in the winter, we figured it had earned the right to join the garden, irregardless of its tall, leggy twisted shape. The plants in the foreground to its right are some of the pepper plants that we had also planted the summer before. These had begun flowering and fruiting under our grow lights in the winter and were still producing new flowers. About halfway back and in this order from the front to the rear of the plot are the tomato, bean and cucumber plants we had started in milk cartons full of soil. The twigs poking up all over the place to stake and support all the plants are willow switches that we gathered up from piles cut and discarded by road crews, clearing the snow from roadsides all winter. (Unfortunately, the twigs were all still alive and not only put down roots, but flowered and grew leaves. To avoid a garden full solely of willow bushes next year, we've pulled out most of the twigs and have stripped the leaves from the few that remain.)

As you can see from the photo of the greenhouse below, we'd gotten a bit of a jump on all the other gardens.

This is what the greenhouse looks like now, only six or seven weeks later:

The blue barrels, which act as water reservoirs, are filled in the spring when the pipes are still frozen by a greenhouse member who is also a volunteer firefighter (as all the town firefighters are). He'd arrive with the fire truck and hose and pump water from the truck to fill all the water barrels for us. Since the pipes have thawed, garden hoses are used to fill the barrels and gardeners use small green watering cans to then move the water from the reservoirs to their gardens. This is an organic greenhouse, so all members agree to leave the Miracle Grow (TM) at home and fertilize only with organic compost or organic fertilizers. The same goes for pesticides, although I've yet to see more than the occasional spider or fly in the greenhouse so pesticides aren't at all necessary.

This scarecrow above, planted in a communal garden and next to a disfunctional fountain hidden in some rocks, is not only pointing directly at our plot (now sporting a dark brown wooden frame), it is wearing a face I sewed for it, an old purple shirt I no longer needed and my old field hat (Hey now, no comments are needed from the peanut gallery: it was hot, sunny and for my field work I was literally bending over plants in cow pastures for 14 hours a day. The hat was wonderful). The pants were already a part of the scarecrow which had been created by someone else and then sadly neglected since last year. I'd grown tired of stepping over it as it lay on a walkway in the spring, sans head, and decided that I'd spruce it up a bit.

Here's our plot as it looks now, complete with a frame that ManNorth and I built and stained.

And from another angle:
The lettuce and swiss chard are in the front (I've had to cut back the swiss chard after they began bolting and so they are slightly hidden by the lettuce) and our enthusiastically growing zucchini plants are hiding the peppers that are still flowering and fruiting behind and under them. The tomato plants have grown almost as tall as the frame.

Here are our greens close up:

(On the left is a row of parsley, basil, thyme and onions)

And from the back, here are our cucumber plants (which have yet to produce more than one 2cm long cucumber):

I planted sweet peas at the edges of the frame near the middle of the plot simply for the visual pleasure of them and for their gorgeous smell!

Above are our volunteer peas which must have grown from seed dropped from the garden in our plot the year previous. We didn't weed them out and they now tower above our beans and cucumbers. I don't think that they are snow peas but if one catches them before they get too big, the husks are also edible and somewhat sweet.

I've many garden photos and will post a few more soon, especially of some unique decorations that now populate our garden...

Weather in our neck of the woods

2008-07-16T06:52:00.007-06:00

A few days ago Grammarphile left me a comment asking about the weather up here.

In short, yes, we get to wear shorts, but only shortly. ;)

It is currently about 11 degrees celsius outside and given the cloud cover, today's high is likely not going to reach above about 22 C, at around 6pm or so.

Last night when I rode my bike home from the greenhouse, it was cool enough that my jeans and jean jacket were comfortable but I could have done just fine with just the jeans and my T-shirt.

A few weeks ago for about 4 or 5 days, we had temperatures in the high 20s which felt sweltering compared to the usual refreshingly cool temperatures the rest of the summer.

Incidentally, the sun will set over Northern Town for the first time in four days, although only for a few minutes! With some increase in the amount of dimness and darkness at night, the temperatures will continue to drop further and further each night so that my morning walk to work is likely to continue involving a light jacket. (We had our first snowfall in the third week of September last year so summer is rather short. Fall celebrations start happening in August!)

So that was the (relative) short of it. Here's the long of it:

For comparison, here are the annual temperatures in Windsor, Ontario where I grew up:

A May Post

2008-07-09T06:10:00.004-06:00

No time this morning for a story so here are two photos I took in the middle of May.

A belated spring post

2008-07-01T20:44:00.008-06:00

As I've missed writing about the arrival (and departure) of spring here in Northern Town, I've some catching up to do. The next few posts will try to remedy that as well as throw in some current news now and again.

So, without further adieu, waaaaaay back in April, when the landscape looked like this photo below (taken by ManNorth on one of his regular super-hero flights to check out the changing landscape) and community members were still building quinzees

and spruce bough shelters during ice fishing excursions, we were busy preparing...

...for our garden in the community greenhouse. We purchased a few small plastic flats to start our seedlings. The beans got off to a roaring start while the lettuce, tomatoes, swiss chard and various herbs took their time. Meanwhile, the peppers that we started last summer and which had begun producing fruit finally began to ripen. We realized that we had mistaken hot pepper seeds for bell peppers eeds (we saved both from fresh peppers we'd purchased at the grocery store) but were, and are, happy to have such festive looking and tasty hot fruit.

Daylength at the end of April was noticeably longer and already longer than most days much further south. (Of course, relative to a month of no direct sunlight in the winter, this may not mean much to any of you.) The photo of the peppers and tray of seedlings was taken at 11pm and illuminated by outdoor light. This is what the sky looked like outside at the same time as the sun slowly set.

Next post(s), stories from May.

Summer Ruminations -A word from ManNorth

2008-06-30T20:27:00.003-06:00

I have often said that the North is a fine place to live but I wouldn’t want to work there, for when one works the mind is focused on work and little else. Seldom do we ever take time to step back from our personal grindstone and, according to Keats, “look into the fair and open face of Heaven”. In the cities far to the south I have met people who have never left their place of birth, who find no need to step outside their safety zones, who have built for themselves a wall so high that even if they had the inclination to do so, could not climb over; who look but do not see. Many people look, but few ever see; there is a subtle difference here. For seeing is akin to experiencing, and when you experience something, you understand it more fully and completely. If one spends all of life in a city, then the full extent of one’s experience is limited to that city. In a city, any city, one sees houses with televisions and central heating, grocery stores and hospitals, cars and trains. There is nothing at all wrong with that, of course, other than the fact that one’s experiences will be extremely limited. One’s worldview, one’s belief system will be skewed. But then believing is seeing.
People in Winnipeg believe that they live in the coldest city in Canada; this claim has been supported by the news networks too, hence the nickname “Winterpeg”. Yet all it would take is for one to do a little research before they see that this isn’t true. (For those who don’t have the time for this, Yellowknife is the city with the coldest winters, with an average nighttime temperature during December, January and February of -29.9 degrees Celsius. It is also the coldest city with a mean annual temperature of -5.4 degrees Celsius. Winnipeg, in fact has the sunniest winters and a mean annual temperature of +2.6.) But, even if this myth were true, the full extent of most people’s outdoor experience is standing at the bus stop for 20 minutes while rushing from one heated building to another.
It saddens me to see how urbanized we have become, and Canada is one of the most urbanized nations in the world. In our pursuit of happiness, our quest for the good life, we have left something behind, some essential part of us, our ability to see. And to fill this gap we have surrounded ourselves with icons of our own creation.
But, lest the reader think that I am being overly critical of the urban dweller, allow me to really stick my neck out and say that no more is this lack of seeing apparent than in the north. Case in point, years ago while I was preparing to leave on a six month winter expedition along the west coast of Hudson Bay, a young teacher stopped me in Churchill, Manitoba, offering me her insight and expertise. I listened kindly for a moment to her words of wisdom, but when I had asked about her experience outdoors, she said rather emphatically, “Well I live here!” Yes, I thought, you live here, in this house with a television, central heating, a grocery store and a hospital next door. You have a train to bring in supplies and daily jet service should you need it. You have all the amenities of the south. You also have a mortgage, 3 children to raise, car payments and utilities and in order to pay for all this you work. I have witnessed this same scenario unfold numerous times during my travels in the north, the most recent of which was just the other day. A colleague of mine was talking about the weather and summed up by saying to me, “You haven’t lived here long enough to know the weather like I do. I live here. I know.” While it is true that he has lived here longer than I have, what he failed to see is that weather is a global phenomenon, that the weather in Northern Town is not unique, that I am older than him and therefore I have seen more “weather” than he has. He could not see this. He lives in a house with a television, central heating, a grocery store and a hospital next door. He has two monster trucks and a dog, a hefty mortgage and bills to pay. In order to afford this he has to work. His house may be located in the north but he is really living in the south, with all the accoutrements of modern life.
The north of course is changing, has changed. It is no longer the Old North of my youth where a man could truly disappear for a year or more. The advent of modern transportation and telecommunications has shrunk the north. These days one wouldn’t think of traveling on the land without a GPS and Satellite phone. The north of today is filled with big screen televisions and satellite dishes, cell phones and the World Wide Web, cultural centres with weight rooms, swimming pools and saunas, hockey rinks and racket ball courts. In the stores you can find cans of pop and bags of chips as well as the latest fashions, and teens can walk the streets with their hats on backwards and iPods in their ears oblivious to the sounds of Nature. Just like in the cities.
We humans are cultural animals and we bring our culture with us where ever we go. This give and take of cultural diffusion is the common thread that binds us all together. But, I wonder how few will ever step back; leave their modern influences, their cultural idolatry, cut the umbilical cord of society’s infrastructure, and if only for a moment, wander free and unfettered. How can we ever see the true immensity of the natural world, or be humbled by that sweet solitude when we know in the back of our minds that society is just a phone call away?This weekend my wife and I are going canoeing, not far but far enough, to some distant hills across the lake. We will find ourselves “some pleasant lair of wavy grass” and just sit for a while and look out over the delta. I wonder what we will see.

© ManNorth, Summer, 2000

Yes, yes, we're alright!

2008-06-30T19:49:00.004-06:00

Whew!

I can't believe that I've not posted since April.

No, I take that back. I know full well that I've not.

I've felt guilty.

I've missed you all.

I've missed sharing stories with you.

I've been busy.

I've finally been all of the first three and a little bit of the last all at once and so here we are,

kicking off year two off this blog.

I've many stories to share from the past TWO months (good grief, and apologies all around) so my thanks to those of you who have ventured back here to check up on me.

I've also discovered that I had a whack (A whack, I tell you!) of "sent" emails that never got sent and darned if I can't figure out why they won't send and how to send more. This isn't with gmail of course, but an apparent problem with my computer/email account that I paid/pay for.

Keep sending email as I can read 'em -I just can't reply as of yet.

ManNorth has been itching to post on the blog for a while and he's gone and written a post, complete with a photo illustration so momentarily, I'll put up his article.

(Hurray, two posts in one day!)

I'll leave you with this tidbit that might keep you guessing. Kudos to those of you who guess correctly.

Last month ManNorth and I saw FOUR of these fly past our apartment balcony. We heard their loud calls (hint, hint) long before they flew past and so we dashed out onto the balcony in our robes as they went by. (ManNorth of course, pointed out that this is the first time since we moved here that I've thrown caution to the wind and ventured out without being, ahem, properly attired. And it was worth it:

photo copyright TPWD

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/huntwild/wild/species/

I just wish we'd had time to grab our camera!

Northern Groceries Part II

2008-04-16T21:09:00.015-06:00

Subtitled: Other foods that may gross you out but really are rather good (mostly).

A few weekends ago, ManNorth and I (or is it ManNorth and me? -Grammarphile, you're making me nervous!) checked out a spring carnival that was happening in Northern Town and was entirely located on the frozen river. Spring, of course, being essentially the same as winter here, only with carnivals and a wee bit more sunshine.

Check out the wooly fringe on the hood of the woman in mauve!
(I was hesitant to snap a photo of her from the front without her permission and was too shy to ask.)

I love the winter clothes for kids here in Northen Town.

A competitor in the log sawing competition. The man with the microphone broadcast the event to the onlookers (when he wasn't singing songs by Johnny Cash).

Sadly, we missed the sled dog races, which for some reason were held farther down the river. Bystanders who witnessed the races had to drive down the ice road to the race start and then follow along behind the dogs. I've no idea why they couldn't start and finish at the main event site as for all of the rest of us on foot, we couldn't see a thing that was going on and of course, found ourselves spending time until other events started by eating unusual foods.

We checked out some of the tents that were set up on the ice, replete with warm wood stoves, and found that some of them were selling more than just hot dogs and candy floss. How about eating some of these loveable (and edible) animals:
I've tried caribou soup before as it is served for free at a band office near my workplace every Wednesday. (It's wonderful!) I note that the advertisement is for reindeer soup, which may be legally sold as it is probably from farmed reindeer. Currently caribou hunting is tightly regulated and the meat cannot be sold. I've eaten moose and elk before; they were prepared in a fantastic marinade and then roasted medium rare. MMMMmmmm. (This, from me and I was once an ardent vegetarian!!) Until this carnival weekend however, I'd never had muktuk, nor expected that I'd ever willingly eat part of a beluga whale, especially the skin and some of the fat under it.

I drew the line at Eskimo ice cream, which is much different than Indian ice cream in the south.
Indian ice cream is made with sugared whipped buffalo berries (also known as soap berries or soupallilie) which whip up into an egg white like frothy mixture. With the addition of sugar, this is a nice treat, but without the sugar, is rather like eating whipped soap, replete with a soapy aftertase. Eskimo ice cream is whipped whale fat with berries added for colour and flavour. Somehow the idea of simply eating spoonfuls of lard, no matter how prettily coloured, just wasn't appealing to me. I did try the muktuk, which was boiled and not served raw as is traditional.
This was not so Mmmmmm as the caribou soup, but not disagreeable either. It was sort of fishy tasting, which I hadn't expected and it was okay salted. I had a few cubes from a container purchased by a friend. I think that fulfilled my calorie allotment for the entire week! I admit having some reservations about eating all these animal products and not because I'm squeamish. I'll try most kinds of food, but where I draw the line is eating animals whose populations or species are endangered. This isn't the direction I really wanted this blog post to go, so I'll leave off a discussion of the ethics of consuming wildlife or animals in general for another time.

For now, I'll just say to most of you, "Ew, you eat chickens?"

;)

Northern Groceries Part I

2008-04-12T15:57:00.000-06:00

I've been intending to write about northern groceries for a while now and this post will be the first of (hopefully) many. ManNorth and I aren't vegetarians (although I was once for a few years) and occasionally include meat in our diet usually in the form of chicken or turkey, although we get most of our protein from eggs, legumes and TVP (textured vegetable protein). Northern Town occasionally offers unique opportunities to include other sources of protein in our diet.

Like these loveable animals:

(image blatantly taken from http://mercury.bio.uaf.edu/courses/wlf201/)

In February I was invited to lend a hand with a harvest from a Muskox herd that lives on Banks Island. I'm not sure just how I would have helped but I was certainly willing to volunteer in any capacity that I could in order to see the event. Harvest, in this case of course and as is commonly used in the north, refers generally to the managed killing and use (for meat and/or hides) of local wildlife. Aboriginal peoples have constitutionally guaranteed harvesting rights for certain species in areas to which they have land claim agreements, and this harvest of muskox is part of the management of this particular herd and provides and employment to the local community. I wasn't able to participate after all though, much to my disappointment, because of certain guidelines that dictated that only local people were to be employed for the harvest and I would have had to have been flown in (along with a few other approved participants from Northern Town).

The harvest has long since finished and the meat has been finding its way to other communities, including ours. We were fortunate to recently get about 6lbs of frozen ground meat for free from a friend and will be purchasing more while it is still available in local stores. Efforts are being made by DIAND (Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development) to market the meat and qiviut (muskox wool) in stores to the south. (Here's a suggestion for your local grocer!)

A local grocery store is selling it for $$3.25 per 2 lb bag, which is about one half to one third the price that (frozen) ground beef sells for here, and I believe, is even less than the cost of beef much farther south. The meat is extremely lean and when we fry it up, not a drop of fat needs to be drained from the pan and if anything, we need to watch it closely to ensure it doesn't dry out and over cook. The taste is just slightly gamey but isn't at all disagreeable. We've been told that if we let it thaw and drain in a collander before cooking, that the gamey taste goes away.

Interestingly, various aboriginal people in the area of Northern Town may view muskox meat quite differently than ManNorth and me. Some people (like those that have harvesting rights for the Banks Island herd) may consume muskox and regard the animals as a good source of meat, although caribou is much preferred. Others may regard muskox that they encounter on the mainland as invasive (they aren't) and distain muskox meat, except in emergencies. There is also often a shared concern about effects of competition by muskox on caribou in areas of overlapping range.

Muskox are endemic to this area but because of overhunting in the 1800s, numbers declined dramatically across Canada, causing local extinctions of particular herds by 1900. Declines were so serious that in 1917 the Canadian federal government restricted hunting of muskox, prohibited trading of their hides and put them under complete protection. Slowly, the herds have recovered in number and have again begun to occupy historic parts of their range. With the recovery of the various herds, hunting restrictions have been relaxed and quotas increased.

The population on Banks Island has recovered so well that the population size is approximately 60-70,000 animals. Although an annual quota of 10,000 animals exists, current harvest and subsistence use rates (ranging from only 200-2,000 animals annually) are not nearly high enough to slow the current rate of growth. There are concerns that the population may begin to suffer from effects of overcrowding. In spite of this and the large size of the herd, resource managers have elected not to cull the herd due not only to substantial financial costs and logistical difficulties of such an endeavor but primarily because of an unwillingness to waste the culled animals since processing the meat and hides from the number of animals necessary in this type of cull would be all but impossible.

Although the various populations are described as herds, muskoxen don't form large groups like caribou do and tend to associate in small groups of about 15 animals, led by a dominant bull or cow. Herd size and composition vary with season, range conditions and the number of bulls in the population. When harassed by wolves, the small herd usually runs to higher ground or an area of shallow snow, led by the dominant animal where they will stop and group together behind the dominant bull into a defensive circle formation with the calves protected in the centre and the adults facing out towards the threat. This defensive tactic works well against wolves, but makes herds vulnerable to human hunters with guns and easily herded for harvest elsewhere.

(Image also taken from the internet. I've lost the link to provide appropriate credit)

In the case of the Banks Island harvest, small herds are rounded up by people on snow mobiles and herded into a series of circular corrals, shaped rather like a snowman. New animals are herded into the base of the largest corral and as animals are selected for harvest, based on age and sex, are moved successively through increasingly smaller corrals until individual animals are examined. Wildlife biologists collect needed biological information about each animal as well as ensuring, along with other observers, that only healthy bulls in the age category targeted (2-3 years of age) are killed. Selected animals are dispatched with a single gunshot to the head. The carcasses are immediately processed in a facility on site and the ground meat is frozen and ready for shipping within hours of processing.

This may be distasteful to some of you, but for many local people, a muskox harvest is important to their economic well being, and may be of some benefit to a herd that may suffer from overcrowding... Your thoughts?

Happy Vernal Equinox!

2008-03-20T13:50:00.001-06:00

Today in Northern Town marks a day, like everywhere else in the world, in which day length is equal to the length of night. (This is actually not quite true: day is longer by about 14 minutes. The wikipedia entry I linked to has a good explanation for this.)

Today the sun is up and doing its best to shine through an ice fog that settled over our town during the night. The fog creates a lovely bright hazy effect, causing the sunlight to scatter and refract more than usual on an otherwise cloudless day. Combined with the normal reflection of light from our ever-present snow, sun glasses are needed even if one is facing away from the sun.

Although our calendars mark today as the first day of spring, all you bright readers out there surely realize that the timing of spring will vary according to latitude, as well as altitude. This means that although the fruit trees are in full bloom down on Vancouver Island, up here in Northern Town, it is winter as usual; our spring won’t come for a few more months. Break-up probably won’t happen on the rivers until the end of May and the beginning of June will see the first flowers begin to bloom, pushing through occasional clumps of snow left melting in the shadows.

This morning it was -39C without a bit of wind to blow away the ice fog. Our forecast predicts a warmer weekend, with highs of about -20C. Community members are glad as there is a carnival happening in one of the nearby hamlets (in celebration of the spring equinox, as best I can determine) and participants won’t be nearly as cold as they might have been as they enjoy the weekend’s events.

ManNorth and I won’t be heading to Western Hamlet to watch the sled dog races, snow mobile races nor to join in a potluck or dance a jig at the community dance. We’ll wait for Northern Town’s own celebration to come in a few weeks’ time when we’ll likely watch some of the sled dog races down on the river.

Yesterday I had a meeting in this nearby hamlet and after the meeting was done, joined a co-worker who wanted to visit a relative who lived there. We were treated to freshly cooked whitefish (luk zheii) and I ate baked fish eggs, or ik’in, for the first time. Unlike caviar, they weren’t “fishy” tasting at all and were so rich that only a few fork-fulls filled me up for the rest of the evening. (Of course, the homemade donut I was also served helped too!)

I had a rather embarrassing experience just before the meeting when I used the women’s washroom facility after our long drive along an ice road to Western Hamlet. I didn’t think to look before it was too late and when I needed it, I couldn’t find the toilet paper, and so made use of a box of tissues that was sitting on the tank of the toilet. Unfortunately, a handful of tissues emerged with the pull of a single tissue and having inadvertently handled them all, I wasn’t about to try to put any back. All of them were added to the toilet whereupon I discovered that the toilet wouldn’t flush. I took the back off the tank, thinking that perhaps the handle had disconnected from something and discovered that the tank was almost completely empty.
I moved to the sink to wash up and realized that not only was there no water for the toilet, there was also none running from the faucet. As there were no warning signs up on the door to the washroom, I thought that the facility manager should be advised of the problem and so although embarrassed about leaving behind obvious evidence of use and not being able to wash my hands, I sought out the manager (who is also a council member) I had just met for the first time minutes before. I explained the problem and then was mortified to discover that the building “has no water”, and that this was known to the general public and it was expected that I knew this too. I also learned later that even if the water had been on, no one in Western Hamlet flushes toilet paper or tissues and that the wastebasket next to the toilet should be an obvious clue to this. (There was no wastebasket in the washroom I used.)

Sigh.

The reason I attended this meeting was simply to introduce myself to the council members. Although not for the reasons I’d intended, at least now I know that they’ll remember me.

Sunday Stroll

2008-03-18T07:28:00.015-06:00

On Sunday, ManNorth & I went snowshoeing for a few hours. I don't have time to tell the entire story so here are some pictures to do some of the job for me. We began by travelling along the length of a lake used in the summer as an airstrip for float planes. At the end of the lake we turned off onto a snow mobile trail that took us through forests of Dr. Seuss-like knobby spruce trees along a high ridge, down into a protected valley (where the trees were bigger and less misshapen) where we hopscotched between smallish pond sized lakes and the trail until we got out to an enormous lake framed by forested rocky outcrops on one side and almost barren rocky slopes on the other. We ventured out across the snow covered ice until we could see most of the lake and then turned around to rejoin our track for a short while until we found another track to take us part of the way back to our starting point at the float plane lake.

Travel was easiest along snow mobile trails, although we did slog across country, breaking trail through 2 feet of snow for part of our route, as my sore legs today can attest to. The balaclava I wore was designed to be used by someone riding a snow mobile, not by someone engaged in aerobic exercise, as I was on my snowshoes. Although it protected my nose from the biting wind nicely, I found myself needing to adjust it to get more air than I could intake through its screen over my mouth during the more strenuous parts of the trail.

A curious fox walking a circuitous route left a zig-zagging track as it explored unusual lumps of snow that could hide carcasses that could be scavenged.

ManNorth kept up quite a pace and was glad for his breathable wool clothing which showed off the frost he generated in the cold air.

We stopped for a break and had hot coffee, cheese & crackers at the edge of a narrow creek.

My snowshoes cast pretty shadows on the snow during our snack break.

With a better camera and lens, I might have been able to capture the many tiny cabins that line this lake. Most are shut up for the winter, although tell-tale snow mobile tracks suggest that some are visited occasionally, perhaps as winter camps during hunting or ice fishing excursions.

Flocks of redpolls flitted through the trees as we snow-shoed (sp?) along the trails. A group alighted in some alders and willows near us, giving us a chance to see them up close. The birds are unusually skittish, compared to birds in the south, and refuse to be called in, although I’ve tried “spishing” for them repeatedly. Of ten photos we took as the flock moved through the scrub, only one frame successfully captured on of the birds peering briefly at us before flying off with the rest of the flock.

Scattered occasionally under alder bushes was evidence that windblown alder seeds also provide food for redpolls. Look for the marks a wing made as a bird alighted (or flew away).

Foxes, birds and snow machines weren’t the only passers-by to leave trails in the snow. Our tracks cut across tiny sastrugi formed by the wind into pretty ridges and wave-like patterns in the snow covering the lakes.

Halllooo out there!

2008-03-12T20:11:00.002-06:00

Hopefully a few of you are still venturing back to check in here now and then in spite of my infrequent posting of late. I’m not sure why, but I seem to have hit a blogging wall where I really don’t feel that I have much to say or anything to write about. If there are things that any of you are curious about related to my life up here in Northern Town (or ManNorth’s), please feel free to ask. You could give me some ideas for future blog posts!

Some of you have been wondering about my new job. I’ve been enjoying it but am not sure just how much I’m ready to blog about it. For now, here’s an introduction to one aspect of it: what do I call it?

My position is an interesting one, in that it is a casual interim position with full time hours filling in for someone who is away and will be so for many months to come...and may or may not come back. No one seems to really know. My predecessor may come back this summer, but if she does, they also know that she has plans to go away again in September, which doesn’t really facilitate her filling a full time job here particularly well. There’s a long story which explains why she can be away and then leave again and still keep her position, but I won’t be telling it now.

I’d love to have this position officially and permanently but until I do, my name is not the one on the door, my files not the ones in the full to bursting enormous office file cabinets and my notes and books not the ones on the office shelves. All of this has meant that I’m not quite sure at times how I really fit in and when it’s appropriate to claim the job as mine. For instance, should I put my position title in my email signature or not? Will people (who know) wonder at my presumption when they know that I’m not the official –ologist on staff? I’ve even felt that I was doing something underhanded when on Monday and with my supervisor’s full approval, I replaced absent -ologist's (AO's) phone message and voice mail with my own message and name.

We been doing an end of the year inventory this week and I’ve needed to determine what equipment is stored in my office. The funny thing is that I don’t even know how to refer to my office. Do I call it mine? Do I call it AO’s? Do I call it by the name of the position we both fill? It’s strange. I’ve been calling it by all three names and feeling either like an imposter or simply awkward and silly as a result. While I debate such inanities with myself however, all the tasks that AO would be doing if AO were here have been given to me and we share the same job title in our job descriptions.

You might advise to just use the title and not worry about it but I've actually found it necessary when I introduce myself and my position, to qualify my stated position by saying that I’m “standing in for” or “here until” or “filling in for” AO until she returns. And yes, this is actually sometimes necessary, given the unusual politics in my workplace. (I’ll explain that later. Maybe.)

In the interest of brevity, which I seem to sorely lack, I’m going to finish with this: I enjoy my job and am thrilled to have it. I just don’t know what to call myself when I’m in it!

That stuff doesn't work up here

2008-03-03T19:39:00.013-07:00

Guest Blogger: ManNorth

I must say that I enter into this “Blog” with a bit of trepidation, as when one begins to voice one’s opinions there often follows a host of counter opinions, and certainly I, over the last two score years and a bit, have made certain observations that have left me not only questioning the opinions of others but their sanity as well, particularly concerning the natural world, which is universal - although, that is just my opinion. But, as Darwin said, “Nature breeds awful doubt”, and I have doubted. So when seemingly reasonable people tell me, with an air of authority, things the like of which could not possibly be true I have to take a step back and question whether it is best to keep my fool mouth shut or wade into the thick of things, offering up my humble opinion for sacrifice. These days I prefer the former to the latter; we choose our battles after all, and nature in the end will win.

None the less, with the coaxing of my wonderful wife, who is perhaps a little tired of me coming home and bemoaning yet another offence to reason which I have encountered, here is my first blog entry.

There are two kinds of people: those who talk and those who know. Those who talk, talk and those who know… well you get the idea. It takes time to really get to know something and longer still before that something can stand up to scientific scrutiny. Some people, on the other hand, are rather impatient and seldom have the time or the inclination to bother with such things as facts, so they prefer to talk instead, and as any salesmen can tell you, it’s not so much what you say as how you say it that counts. People up north tend to be gifted talkers, but I myself can do with a little less talking. And herein begins my rant.

Upon landing a job in the far north one would think that the subject of the weather would eventually enter one’s mind, what with the north’s mythical cold and unendurable darkness, and that any new-comer would be overly concerned with how to deal with such meteorological problems. Indeed, as I write this, it is -30 C with a wind-chill of -43 C (more on this wind-chill stuff later). But then I rode my bike the 5km home from work on Friday, across the lake ice, through the bush and finally down the river, all while facing a stiff wind and still find myself capable of mashing the key pad into legible words. The weather, in fact, was the furthest thing from my mind, and there was no pre-requisite shopping spree at the local sporting goods store for the latest in cold weather haute couture. I have been north before and was well prepared to face what ever the weather threw our way. I don’t mean to sound flippant here; only to state fact: I have been on 6 major self-supported Arctic expeditions, 3 of which were on the sea ice and all were solo. I have covered thousands of km on foot and canoe without seeing another human being. This, I feel, gives me a rather unique set of qualifications, but still I’m no expert. Leave that to the talkers.

During the winter months my job demands that I patrol by snow machine the largest river delta in Canada, and before doing so, I was ordered to buy some “proper” winter gear. When I told my supervisors that I had indeed my own gear which I have been using for 25 years and therefore trusted, their rebuttal was to shake their heads and say “that stuff doesn’t work here”. Of course no one ever elaborated as to why it did not “work here” and I was left rather perplexed thinking that perhaps here the laws of physics were somehow different and that maybe everything I knew about thermodynamics was wrong. So, after lengthy deliberations with said supervisors, I broke down and purchased, (read was told to buy) among other things, a Canada Goose Parka (ask anyone who knows), and a Woods 5 Star sleeping bag (blue in photos below).

Now, Woods has been around for over a century and has made some half decent gear in the form of heavy canvas tents and packs designed for prospectors and other stalwarts of the old school. I even own some of their equipment myself. My Uncle used a 5 Star sleeping bag over 30 years ago. Back then it didn’t even have a zipper; instead it was festooned with snaps to close its rather cumbersome canvas fabric and wool blend blanket liner. Then, as now, it had no hood. When I was in Boy Scouts, the Scout Leaders all had 5 Star sleeping bags too, but like my Uncle their winter camping excursions were limited to heated cabins. In fact, the venerable 5 Star sleeping bag has followed me throughout my life and I will admit that there is a certain rustic charm at rolling out a 25 lb bag and crawling in; the same kind of impractical charm as a chuck wagon or a Commodore 64. So, although I have never owned one myself I have used them on various occasions.

The Woods 5 Star has a temperature rating of -40 C, which at first glance should mean something, but without a hood or drawstring this claim is highly suspect. My sleeping bag (red one in photos) also has a -40 C rating; the same one which I was told does not work here. It was made by The North Face 25 years ago and yet aside from some stains here and there, still retains its 12 inches of loft. It weighs roughly 5 lbs in total; 3.2 lbs of which is 700 fill goose down. I have used it on every one of my winter expeditions (outside, in the Arctic, not in a heated cabin), any one of which lasted 6 months or more with temperatures plummeting to -50 C and below. Therefore I trust it.

My new 5 Star, on the other hand, weighs about 20 lbs, has a reported 3.5 lbs of duck down (fill power conveniently unspecified). It has 5 inches of loft. Minus 40 C? I think not. The only caveat is that I did not have to pay for this with my own money and we wound up with a new quilt for the bed, which is all it seems to be good for. But, then that’s my opinion.

The North Face Inferno

Woods Arctic 5 Star

A final note: since the purchase of my first North Face sleeping bag reviewed here, the company has recently changed hands so many times that it no longer resembles its original incarnation. So, although I have high praise for my old North Face gear, I cannot say the same for the current brand as a whole.

Monday Update

2008-03-03T19:02:00.005-07:00

It's been a busy week and a half since I began my new job. There were days of meetings, a few deadlines to meet and reports to begin and finish and despite my rookie status, I think that I managed admirably and have a few compliments from my supervisor in support of this. The pace should slow down a bit for me this next week although I'll be working overtime a few hours each day to bank time so that I can devote them to completing my Prairie Project without too large a pinch on my pocketbook. There'll be more to say as I familiarize myself with my new position and many new adventures to report on as my schedule unfolds this spring and summer.

In other news, ManNorth is working on his own blog entry as I write this and we hope to have his inaugural post up by tomorrow night or Wednesday. You wouldn't believe how hard it's been to get him to finally post but he's in a fine mood to rant, er, I mean, to write. I'll let his post speak for itself and only add that it's been fun being with him as he writes and chuckles to himself now and then. Check back in soon and look for it.

Finally, and I admit, this isn't terribly newsworthy but it's better than reporting what I ate for lunch (a can of peas eaten out of the can with a spoon), the tomato plants that I started from seed last summer have decided that they'd better attempt to reproduce before they wither entirely away and I have a single ripe cherry tomato ready to harvest. We'll try to share it between ManNorth and me but there's not much to go around. Thankfully there are 7 more tiny tomatoes still green and ripening and some new blossoms just opening.

Our bell pepper plants have also finally begun to produce fruit and have stopped dropping all their blossoms. Curiously, all of the new peppers are long and thin instead of big and round, but we're not complaining as we're just glad they're producing.

In a month or so, we'll plant a flat of new vegetables and hope that they'll be ready for transplanting to our garden plot at the greenhouse in May. We're confident that with all the summer sun, we'll get a much better harvest than from our wee apartment veggies under their small grow lights.

On Ignorance

2008-02-26T20:58:00.004-07:00

I was party to an interesting conversation the other day and it centered on a theme that I’ve heard before in various places and by many people. It goes something like this according to the proponent:

If I don’t understand how something works, then nobody does and nobody can. Anyone who says they do understand this can’t be right and is therefore not to be trusted.

-A corollary of the above statement may also often be this: -And although I’ve nothing but hearsay and (wild) speculation to back up my position, I won’t try to find out if I’m wrong or if they’re right.

This sort of perspective can relate to any number of topics and in my experience, is extremely difficult to change. Adopting a different perspective would necessarily entail acknowledging ignorance in that area and accepting that someone else may know a great deal more about the topic of interest and that that’s okay.

For some people this different approach is a wonderful perspective to have as it allows one to challenge oneself to learn more. How else can one expect to learn and grow unless one recognizes that they don’t know everything and that they don’t need to be personally threatened by someone who knows more than they do?

As in the conversation I listened to, this can present serious challenges for the knowledgeable party who must inform (for various reasons) a less knowledgeable person about the relevant topic. If this occurs in an academic situation, usually no one bats an eye, as this is the typical state of affairs between an instructor and a student, but out in the public sphere authority isn’t so easily granted and may be challenged even when it is deserved. How to answer that challenge without making a bad situation worse may take no small amount of finesse or the challenge may be dismissed or avoided altogether. Sometimes, it’s just not worth it.

It's not you. It's me.

2008-02-21T20:41:00.006-07:00

Although I accepted one job offer and have already started work, I didn't phone up the other company to decline their (soon to be formal) job offer immediately until I'd actually signed a contract for my new job. That happened today and so I just got off the phone with the owner of the rejected company to let them know I won't be working for them and I must say, I am glad to have that over with!

The owner was surprised, particularly as when he answered my call he'd jumped right into the salary and benefit details of the job before I could stop him and was also hoping that I'd be free for a curling tournament tomorrow that he'd already penciled me in for as a way of meeting some of his clients. He was obviously disappointed and caught rather off guard. He briefly tried convincing me to change my mind, declared that I'd have so much more fun with his company and then in response to my extremely awkward and flimsy attempt at honesty, without being too honest about why I turned his job down, he was gracious and understanding. He wished me well, said that I needed to do what was right for me and then invited me (and ManNorth) over to his house for coffee any time we felt like dropping by.

It was like an awkward high school break up and I'm still feeling badly, like I just broke some poor kid's heart. Is that a normal reaction to turning down a good job offer? I feel like such a bad person somehow. I do think though, that I made the right decision for me.

Northern DINKS

2008-02-20T21:07:00.006-07:00

Now, before all of you get concerned about this post's title, it's not what you think it means. I was laughingly instructed by ManNorth this morning to describe he and I as of today, as a couple, as DINKS. (As in Double Income No Kids).

That's right all you internets, I'm employed and I started work today!

Hooray!!!

Here are some of my first day of work highlights:

-My computer refused to give me internet access and the IT guy can't come in until (maybe) sometime tomorrow to see why it's acting as though it knows me.

-I was asked to play harmonica in the company band. (Thankfully, I only fell for the joke for a few seconds. Okay, maybe it was a minute and I spent that time panicking at the thought of my nonexistent musical skills and tendancy to slobber the few times I've tried the harmonica. My horror must have been obvious for my new boss quickly let me know, with some concern, that she was only joking.)

-I served myself and drank coffee from a pot of coffee that was so old that no one knew when it had been brewed or that the (obviously unplugged) machine even had coffee in it. I did wonder at all the CoffeeMate floaties refusing to sink and disperse after adding the whitener and should have realized that it doesn't dissolve in cold liquids. (Note to self: bring my own milk to work). After spitting it out, I drank water the rest of the day.

-I'm now an -ologist (!), albeit a "casual" one. (Hint, hint)

WomanNorth's own Super Tuesday

2008-02-19T08:45:00.006-07:00

Finally I have something new and wonderful and scary and intimidating and a million other adjectives to report. I have a big decision to make: I've just been offered work in Northern Town by two different companies. Both are attractive for different reasons and both very much want to hire me!

One will give me work experience that I would LOVE to be doing in the region of Northern Town and is likely to provide connections to other potential future employment (and employers) of the type I see as ideal for me, although the position, albeit temporary, sounds rather close to ideal already. However, it is only as a casual employee without the benefits and job security of a full time position. The hourly pay is quite reasonable but may not be as much as the other job is offering. I'd be replacing a current (and valued) employee away on maternity leave and there may not be work for me with this company when she returns, potentially this August. There is a possibility though, that she won't return (so I've been told) and there is also the possibility of another attractive position opening in the company in the next month that I could apply for when it comes up. I could qualify for that position although it would be advertised and I'd have to compete for it. The work involved for the casual work will be in a field in which I have relevant training but the specific work involved is new to me both subjectively and geographically, mostly owing to me being new to this area of the world. I interviewed with this company (although I'd not intended to -long story there) 5 weeks ago and just heard back from them today although they promised to get back to me within two weeks of the inital meeting. They have work that they would like me to start on immediately before the end of the week and preferably, tomorrow (as they have a deadline they need to meet and the work I'd do for them would help them meet it)!

The other job will give me as many hours as I want to work (although they'd like to hire me full time immediately), likely a good salary, job security and benefits and will consist of work that is much more loosely related to my current experience and training than the other position. The environment of this position may be very fast paced, and stressful at times with looming deadlines, occasionally needing my weekends and evenings and be quiet and slow paced with little to do at other times. It will not offer nearly as much time out of the office and in the field as the other position but field work (when it comes) is likely to be quite varied, both geographically and subjectively, and not always within my field of expertise (although if I'm willing to spend lots of time away from Northern Town, they have a position for me which would specifically use much of my academic training). This job will involve much less active science (i.e. very little) than the other position and the subjects I'll be working on will not be for me to decide and the data owned by someone else. I don't see this job as being one that I would like to make a career in but it will give me valuable experience should I choose to find other work in a few years. However, some specific (and very attractive) experiences that the other job may offer will not be possible in this position and these would also be a significant advantage in finding alternate (ideal) work down the road.

I found myself accidentally interviewing for this position (long story there too) initally a few weeks ago and it was followed up two weeks later with a formal interview via a conference call and meeting last Friday. The job offer, although promised, won't come until after I speak with yet another person from their company. I've been assured that I'll be getting an offer regardless of this third interview which is more to discuss some specific experience that I have and how it may (or may not) be useful to the company in its operations much farther south than Northern Town. No date has been set for this conversation and thus, I don't know exactly when I'll be getting the formal offer to accept or decline.

I'm unfamiliar with the work environments for both positions and both represent significant challenges to me in different ways. I find both positions somewhat intimidating but am confident that I'll be a valuable employee in either position.

On top of all of this is a significant committment to finish an incomplete project from Prairie Town, one which I've irresponsibly neglected but needs to be finished as soon as possible, both for me and for others. Both employers would like me to finish this but (obviously) want my focus to be on the work I do for them. Completion of this project is not essential to either employer but it is to me and leaving it incomplete will also negatively impact my career options later, should I look for other work or seek other positions within each company. Finishing this project will be of significant advantage to me should I need to compete formally for a job with first company should the employee I'd be filling in for not return to her job.

Time may be provided for this project with the first company should I choose to work only part of the week for the next month or two but they'll need me for full time work come spring and summer and some of those periods will involve long periods away from Northern Town and ManNorth.

At the second company they'll hire me part time if needed but would prefer me to work 4 days a week until I finish my own project (during the three consecutive days off per week and after hours) after which I'd be employed full time. If they hire me, I'll immediately be sent south for a few weeks of full time training before coming back to work my 4 days a week until my project is done and I can work full time. There may be occasions where they'll need me to be away for long periods (ie. 4 weeks) but not as frequently as in the first job.

I know I've been vague, but if any of you have any suggestions that would help me make this decision, I'd be happy to hear them.

I'll never look at a cough drop the same way again

2008-02-18T17:52:00.010-07:00

Perhaps it's just me and my strange associations, but doesn't anyone else out there also think that the Vicks drops showering down all over the unsuspecting world in the current Vicks television commercial look an awful lot like Oobleck?

(As in Bartholomew and the Oobleck.)

I keep waiting for the part in the commercial where the Oobleck-Vicks Drops finally land in big gloopy sticky messes, trapping everyone where they are until finally King Derwin says he's sorry for trying to mess with the weather and it all mysteriously evaporates.

It'd be hard to sell a product that way. I guess the folks at Vicks edited that part out.

Hrrm. They want me to put WHAT on my face?

2008-02-15T14:57:00.005-07:00

Cheese and chocolates weren't the only things finding their way to the North household in time for Valentine's day. ManNorth thoughtfully bought me two bars of lanolin soap. In spite of them being pink, I'll certainly use them as the cold of Northern Town and Northern Region has a way of drying out the skin and lanolin soap will be wondeful for remoisturising. My nose is thankful.

We wondered a bit though, about one of two samples included in the shipping box:

Dry skin? Smear some sheep placenta on it. That'll do the trick!

(With apologies to my veggie or vegan readers.)

A pair of meese

2008-02-15T06:30:00.003-07:00

With intentions of stirring up thoughts of visiting us here in Northern Town, or perhaps just a wee bit of jealousy, here are a few photos ManNorth took yesterday from his office window.

What's outside your window?

I cardiovascular organ you

2008-02-14T06:21:00.000-07:00

I gave you my heart, as a sign of my love

And I thought that you’d keep it from harm.

But you put it to work, in a flask in your lab

And I find, to my growing alarm,

That you’re growing another, and more after that,

In a regular cardiac farm!

But then, when I saw them, in sterilized jars

Neatly ordered, in columns and rows,

I thought that, perhaps for the first time in history

Anyone looking now knows

And can see, with the placement of every new heart,

How much greater my love for you grows.

-Digital Cuttlefish

ManNorth's valentine treats

(He ordered them weeks ago and they arrived early.

We've since eaten all three tins of chocolate

and are doing our best with the cheese.)

Wednesday reading

2008-02-13T08:18:00.004-07:00

This morning I'd like to direct you all to a few blogs of note:

Are you into photography and have an appreciation for the challenges involved in getting great photos? Get yourself on over to Kids and Nature and ply photogirl with all questions photographic...and check out her seriously good photography (of kids and nature, no less).

Steph over at When I Drop Dead has been cooking up a storm and has just posted instructions for making goi cuon, also known as Vietnamese summer rolls. If they're half as good as the samosa recipe she posted a few days ago, I'll be regularly emptying Northern Town of its rice paper and vermicelli noodles.

Steph also brought another great blog to my attention and as I've been quite impressed with it as well, I'll also send you all on over to Hark! A Vagrant (and/or KateBeaton.com) where Kate Beaton's comic strips, often with a Canadian flare, are sure to impress, amuse and educate. Her collection of history comics is fantastic and I've loved them all. Tesla!! (I made sure to show ManNorth Kate's recent comic about Sandford Fleming as the Man's been sporting a beard of his own of late, though not nearly as full as Fleming's.)

Have you ever wondered what it's like to be a scientist or an engineer? Over at Being a Scientist and a Woman, Sciencewoman has just been joined by Alice Pawley, an engineer and a woman. Together they'll be blogging about their work and their experiences as women in their fields. I expect their blog to be renamed now that they've merged but for now, Being a Scientist and a Woman is where to find them. Go say hi!

Have fun reading!

Some things you just don't forget

2008-02-12T07:15:00.000-07:00

The recent news that the Toronto School Board is going to create an afrocentric school, despite much controversy and reports about the decision around the world (see here and here for instance), led to a discussion between ManNorth and me about how and when children learn about racial and cultural diversity and hopefully, also about the need for equality and kindness in their interactions with others.

Although I'm certain that my parents did their best to teach me to be a good kid, respectful of others, cognizant of diversity and desirous of equality for all, what made me really understand how hurtful racist behaviour can be was seeing the result of it firsthand, caused by none other than me.

It was in grade two when one of my classmates told me a joke at recess that seemed funny at the time. I can't remember the details now but it involved 4 people on a plane, the need to quickly jump out and only 3 parachutes. A Chinese man was the butt of the joke although I'm sure that the other 3 passengers were also racist stereotypes. I don't know what possessed me to pass it on, other than that I actually remembered the entire joke (which is rare for me to this day) but I did. In spite of knowing it wasn't a nice joke, I told it to David P. who then told it to Andy H, a cute little kid of Chinese heritage. Andy broke into tears, David (who didn't give me up) was severely disciplined by Mrs. F. and I felt terrible.

Andy wasn't a close friend of mine (although by grade 5 I had a HUGE crush on him) but he was my classmate and I liked him and I had done something that was cruel and made him feel sad and horribly aware of a difference he had from many of his classmates.

That was the moment that the lessons about racism made sense and it wouldn't have occurred if I'd had only classmates of the same heritage as me. I'd like to think that I would have treated any child equally, irrespective of their skin colour, if I'd never had a chance to be friends with kids who looked different than me, but I can't be sure.

I hope that the new school in Toronto is a success and is of help to kids who need it but I can't dismiss the positive impact that exposure to classroom diversity had on me and is likely having for thousands of other children in classrooms today.

Hey! It's a lookout!

2008-02-11T07:39:00.001-07:00

On Saturday ManNorth and I went on a small adventure that gave me a chance to check a few “firsts” off my list. Here’s a smattering of them, along with some photographic evidence.

1. I travelled the farthest north I’ve ever been.

2. I both melted and added to the ice of a winter ice road. (Hey, when one’s had too much coffee and there isn’t an appropriate facility for hundreds of miles around, what else is one going to do?) No, there’s no photographic evidence of that. Here’s another section of the road instead.
3. I crossed a section of Canada’s northern tree line and was surprised at how abruptly it ended. See the trees on the closest two hills on the right? There’s only one on the next hill and then nothing but tundra. 4. I drove on, walked on, ate and drank the Beaufort Sea (also known as the Arctic Ocean). (Drinking occurred after I hacked off a piece of ice from a pressure ridge, had it freeze to my tongue and then melt. It wasn’t as salty as I thought it would be. Eating was accomplished by chewing some of the ice.) 5. I climbed on a pressure ridge made of sea ice and marvelled at how much it looked like a frozen wave. (The formation of the ridge necessitated relocating a portion of the winter road onto the southern side of the ridge. You can see the old section of the road on the left side of the photo below.)
6. I saw my first pingo 7. ..and then I saw a whole bunch of them. 8. I discovered that although groceries are expensive in Northern Town, prices aren’t bad compared to those of Northern Hamlet. 9. I was asked, quite loudly and enthusiastically, if I was “Spikin?!?” by a happy woman wearing beautifully beaded sealskin boots on our way into the Northern Store in Northern Hamlet. “No,” I answered rather confusedly, although I wondered if perhaps we were or should be.

Big Red even experienced a few firsts, one of which she was quite familiar with, although never this far north:
1. She was the farthest north she’d ever been.
2. She got to drive on the Arctic Ocean. 3. She got stuck the farthest north she’s ever been and for a truck that has been stuck pretty much any where she goes, this wasn’t a particular surprise, although we’d hoped she’d forgo the thrill of it in Northern Hamlet.
(She capitalized on the opportunity to get stuck while making a sharp turn from Northern Hamlet back down a steep and narrow slope onto the ice road. In spite of her winter tires, they wouldn’t grip enough to back out of the snow bank she was close to sliding into, which she’d ended up in because her turning radius was too big, she has only rear wheel drive and the steeply angled road was made of ice. Before we could pull out the tire chains, two friendly and bemused locals helped her & us out, with a friendly tip to ManNorth that the trick of winter driving here is to avoid the snow banks. I completely forgot to take a picture to the very great appreciation of ManNorth who had been the one behind the wheel.)

One of the men helping us out informed us that a local hunter had just taken a polar bear quite close to town a few days ago, making it a total of three bears successfully hunted by the community this winter. He chuckled and said that it was lucky to take a bear so easily without having to go far and that it was good that someone was having fun in the cold. (Not the bear, of course.)

Last but not least, here’s my favourite story from our weekend adventure:
While driving around doing the secretive-touristy thing through Northern Hamlet (which involves looking like lost tourists while wandering around and hiding one’s camera while taking photos on the sly), we found a road that seemed to be taking us to one of the nearby pingos. I was keen to get a closer look and was pleased when the road abruptly ended at the edge of a small pond with a pingo perfectly framed between two low hills. Tourists who come this far north are sure to visit at least one of the nearby pingos and so I wasn’t the least bit surprised to see that the local residents had decided to capitalize on the tourism and create the road and lookout to the nearest pingo for their occasional tourists.

I did wonder though, at the material used to create the barrier, believing for a moment that they’d used whatever scrap metal they had on hand.

Of course, ManNorth was shaking with laughter at my shout of “Hey! It’s a lookout!” and my musing about the barriers for we’d just arrived at Northern Hamlet’s sewage lagoon. “Can’t you smell what you’re standing in?” ManNorth inquired with a huge smile as I took a look under my feet at the brownish ice and a second look at the “lookout barriers”.

Hmm. That explained what the big truck leaving the lookout had been doing just before we drove up and why part of the lagoon was still steaming.

I won't leave you with that lovely image of the lagoon. Here's a favourite photo of the sea ice and another taken on our way back home.

Friday News Brief

2008-02-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

The sun is now rising at 10:45 AM and setting at about 5PM in Northern Town. I'm eagerly anticipating long sunny days and planting our veggies in a to-be-rented plot in the community greenhouse.

It's cold here in Northern Town ('twas -42C early this morning) and ManNorth and I are particularly glad that the cost of heating our apartment is included in our rent. When we first moved into our apartment we were surprised that our access to the balcony was through a single, poorly sealed metal door. We would have sealed it off completely for the winter with insulation and a plastic window cover over the entire door frame but we use the balcony to store extra frozen food, such as our Christmas turkey and our buttermilk haul. Unfortunately, this means that we lose a lot of heat through the balcony door. We've installed weather stripping around all four sides of the door in addition to a single length of weather stripping that was already in place, which has made an enormous difference, but we still end up with this some days:

(The three snowy balls perched along the bottom trim are actually entirely made of frost that has accumulated on the top of flat headed screws that are flush with the trim.)

Tomorrow ManNorth and I are having an adventure and taking Big Red....out onto the Arctic Ocean (providing we can get enough gas for the trip)! ManNorth is very excited to show me the sea ice and to have a winter picnic with the pack ice for a backdrop. I'll do my best to post a few photos from the trip on Sunday.

Sometime early next week I'll be getting some important news that may very well change things for me in Northern Town, in mostly very good ways. For now, I'm jumping every time the phone rings...

Stay tuned for the updates!

Ta da!

2008-02-07T10:03:00.001-07:00

“Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Must to thy motions lovers’ seasons run?”
-John Donne

We’re hoping that the new curtains we put up yesterday in our living room and kitchen will not only block the sunlight streaming through the windows in the middle of the night this summer, but will also help to insulate against the cold in the winter.

Yes, yes. I did quote Donne just now. ManNorth quite likes Donne’s poetry which provides one justification. I also didn’t think that Churchill’s iron curtain speech would be an appropriate segue into this post’s topic. ;)

We purchased the curtains in late August but stubbornly refused to pay for the single kind of expensive curtain rods that were available in town (or to purchase ugly, cheap and flimsy aluminum rods which was our other option) and devised our own plan that would require lumber to be brought up with us from Prairie Town during our New Year’s trip and a wee bit of creativity and elbow grease from us. Of course, we not only love building things and projects that we can do together but also making these projects more complicated than they need to be so this fit right in!

We knew exactly what we needed when we came up with our design. We wanted to block sunlight that would shine up towards the ceiling along the top edge of the curtain rod as well as providing a good base from which to hang our blinds. It would be nice too, if the contraptions could also serve as additional shelving. Something like this:

(Excuse the coffee stain.)

ManNorth did the honours and cut the boards I’d marked, routed the decorative edges and used our jigsaw to cut the s-curves in the side supports.
I had great fun routing out ¼ inch holes to counter sink all the screws and less fun using our hacksaw (of all things) to cut all the doweling to cover said screws. I had the most fun putting it all together and then staining both units. The “red mahogany” stain was supposed to be a bit reddish but it came out simply dark brown, which was also just fine. Staining wood is one of my favourite things as I love seeing the grain come out as the stain goes on. I wish I'd known though, that wood glue doesn't pick up stain well and a few areas along the joints now show all the glue that I smeared on the wood when I tried to wipe it off after it leaked out when I attached all the boards. Ah well.

...and voila! Scratch another project off our to-do list.

For the curious, here are the materials used:
Tools: router, jigsaw, hacksaw, drill (which also doubled as a screwdriver), hammer, sander.
Lumber: 2 8ft X 9 inch X ¾ inch boards, ¼ inch doweling, 4 wooden drawer knobs (cheaper than buying finials), 2 5ft mop handles (I couldn’t find any doweling long enough), 8 ½ inch wooden craft “buttons” (to cover the mounting screws instead of doweling because they can be popped out when we need to take the shelving down)
Misc. Gear: 32 1 ½ inch wood screws (plus 4 de-headed 1 inch screws to attach the wooden drawer knobs/finials to the ends of the mop handles that were used as curtain rods), wood glue, wood filler, plastic gloves, wood stain, brush, varathane, patience, absent neighbours.

I've got a what?

2008-02-04T09:36:00.000-07:00

This weekend the Man and I took our truck, Big Red, out for a spin to do some errands and simply to run the truck as we don’t drive it often. It’s been COLD lately –dipping down into the -40’s (C) before windchill and generally staying in the high -30s and we’ve been impressed with Red’s ability to handle the cold. She needs a few minutes to warm up and is a bit sluggish for the first minute or so of driving, after which, she’s just fine. We do plug in the engine block heater and the battery warmer whenever she’s not in use, but not everything can be plugged in, of course. This is a picture of what she usually looks like while parked in our lot and in our parking space which is on an incline, as the apartment building is on a hill.
After we’d driven her for a few minutes and I’d wondered why the apparently smooth road felt so bumpy, I discovered something new that happens when the mercury drops to the chilly temperatures common in Northern Town in February.

Square Tires!

Yep. The tire pressure was on the low side and the truck had been parked on an incline, putting a fair bit of the truck’s weight on the back tires. As it was so ridiculously cold (-39C that morning and -41 overnight), the tires had frozen...and kept their frozen shape as I drove off, bouncing the truck every time the flat side of the tires rotated around. ManNorth explained the problem and the moniker as we spent some time trying to inflate the tires after the squareness had worn off, so to speak, during the drive. It’s a problem that will be hard to avoid. Correct tire pressure will help, but only warmer temperatures (or a heated garage) will really do the trick.

Pancake anyone?

2008-02-02T08:43:00.000-07:00

There's nothing finer on a cold (-39C) weekend morning than sleeping in, being brought a hot mug of coffee to sip while reading in bed and having one's spouse get up specifically to whip up a batch of buttermilk pancakes.

Living Green in the Great White North –Recycling

2008-01-29T18:54:00.000-07:00

Last spring as we prepared for our move north, we talked about what life was probably going to be like here. For ManNorth, this wasn’t going to be new, having lived in northern areas of Canada for much of his life. For me, having grown up in a suburb of a big city and moving away from another one, I knew that there would be quite a few novelties.

Among other things unique to living in a remote area and in a small town, I knew to expect our grocery bill to rise significantly (and one of these days, I really will finally blog about that) but I hadn’t anticipated encountering a challenge to my daily routine involving living greenly, as it seems to be put by the media these days. I wrote earlier about using cloth shopping bags in place of disposable plastic bags to reduce my use of petroleum products and the number of bags I send to the local landfill and I mentioned how ManNorth and I seem to be the only non-plastic bag shoppers in Northern Town. The idea of course, is that a simple way of reducing the amount of trash being sent to our landfills and incinerators and also ideally reducing the amount of energy needed to create new products, is by removing what can be reused or recycled from our waste, and this of course, involves much more than simply using cloth shopping bags. Recycling programs exist in most Canadian communities, but what type of recycling they offer will vary from place to place.

In Prairie Town, I was an avid recycler, keeping all products that could be recycled out of our trash and even going so far as to rip the little plastic windows out of mailing envelopes so that I could put the envelopes in with my paper recycling. Prairie Town had a decent system for recycling cardboard, paper and aluminum and glass food containers, usually by placing a few huge storage bins for each type of recycling in the corner of a mall or grocery story parking lot and leaving it to the city residents to collect and drop off their recyclables. We could even be paid back the deposit fees incurred when we first purchased specific products if we returned the correct items to a recycling station. Deposit returns were offered for most beverage containers, such as aluminum pop and beer cans, juice and alcohol bottles as well as some plastic containers at provincially run stations that also provide employment for persons with disabilities. In addition, these stations also take some other plastics such as milk jugs as well as old paints and computer and electrical equipment for recycling although without any rebate to the person dropping them off.

For those wishing to be paid back for their empties or who simply believe in the benefits of recycling (or who just don’t want to see those items being buried in a landfill), this system isn’t perfect, but it allows them to recycle most items that can be recycled. For a fee, some independent companies in Prairie Town offer to pick up these types of recycling items at the roadside once a week, saving their customers the hassle of dropping it off themselves at the various stations and bins. Some of these companies also recycle more types of plastic than the provincially run stations, which can be an added benefit, given that customers must pay for the pick-up service. The convenience factor of roadside pickup was certainly was attractive but so was the monetary rebate from doing it myself and I so I usually waited until our recycling bins and boxes were full to overflowing before I hauled them all out for one big and slightly sticky and smelly errand run.

In Hometown back east, recycling was more commonplace and also expected of citizens as curb-side home pickup of recyclables by the town was the norm although no one but the town received payment for recycling anything, unless bringing in aluminum pop cans directly to a recycling depot. (Some enterprising souls have occasionally decided to steal cans from these curb-side bins, thus ensuring that the cans were still recycled but preventing the town from benefiting financially from the recycling rebate. I believe that a few of these people have since faced charges of theft for these actions.)

"To the point, to the point", you say. (I'm getting there!)

I was curious about what kind of recycling (if any) occurs in Northern Town. I did notice that some of the metal waste bins placed along sidewalks in a few parts of town do have special slots for aluminum cans and glass bottles so that passers-by can choose to recycle their beverage containers instead of throwing them out, but there aren't many of these and they are designed solely as a convenience for people walking by. There is neither recycling pickup or bins available at our apartment and although the town newsletter routinely reminds citizens to break down their cardboard, no mention is ever made of where to recycle it or even where to bring recycleables in town.

Who empties the bins, where do the bottles and cans end up and what the average home owner does with their recyclables wasn't initially clear when we first arrived. I searched online for recycling in Northern Town and could only come up with links to a dysfunct Recycling Society that folded when overworked volunteers gave up trying to create a recycling station in town after a grant application was denied. I had driven past a building marked Northern Town Bottle Depot however, and after a visit I learned that they collect the bottles and cans from the waste bins around town and are open to receive them from people willing to drop them off. Hurrah, I thought. Now I would have a place to bring my recycling.

Of, course, the words BOTTLE Depot, hadn't really sunk in.

Here in Northern Town, not as many items can be recycled as is common in the south. Most "recycling" (I'll explain the scare quotes at the end) consists of liquor, wine & beer bottles and aluminum pop or beer cans. I was pleased to see a flyer from the Bottle Depot that reminded customers that there are a few other beverage containers that can be recycled and for which a deposit return is offered of a few cents per container:

However, ManNorth and I don’t buy pop, get our juice as frozen concentrate in cardboard cans and although not as a rule, have a dry home as ManNorth doesn’t like alcoholic drinks and although I do, I’ve yet to actually buy or consume any here in Northern Town. This means that none of the products we typically recycle, including cardboard, paper, glass jars and food tins have a place to go, other than to the local landfill.

This is why the office closet on the other side of the room is mostly full of folded cardboard boxes and one box full of paper recycling and why a huge plastic bin and a box are full of used food tins and glass jars in our storage room. I just can’t bear to send them to the landfill and so we’ve decided to store them until we drive them south to be dropped off in a community that will actually recycle them. We won’t make a trip just to drop them off, which would defeat the purpose of saving energy by recycling them, but will bring them if making a trip for another reason. In the meantime, as they continue to pile up, I’ll admit that I’ve thrown out a few cardboard boxes and recently an entire garbage bag full of crumpled newsprint that I used to cover our floor while staining our newly built bookshelf, but I didn’t like it and it didn’t feel right.

The obvious reason that more goods don’t get recycled in Northern Town is that more energy and money would be spent trucking them south than could be recouped from recycling them there, so they are all added to the waste in the landfill. Other communities without road access don’t even have that option and I doubt that anyone would use the space allotted on flights out of their communities for hauling recycling, so no doubt all of their recyclables inevitably end up as trash buried in a landfill.

I don’t know what other people in the community do, nor if they are bothered at throwing out products that could be recycled. I suspect that most people shrug their shoulders and are glad that they don’t have to think about it, since these kinds of recycling aren’t possible here anyhow.

The idea that most people here don’t bother with any sort of recycling has some support as evidenced by a recent discussion by town council in the fall. The issue under debate was whether to continue to allow people to pick through the garbage at the town dump in order to find aluminum cans and liquor bottles which they could then cash in at the bottle depot. A woman who runs the bottle depot in town felt that it was worth it to allow the garbage to be accessed as a significant number of recycling getting to her center was coming from the dump and not from the few small recycling/garbage bins scattered around town.

I spoke with her last week and she said that the town decided to prevent anyone from retrieving recycling from the dump for fear someone would get hurt and the town would be liable.
She shared with me that most people can’t be bothered to even pick out aluminum pop cans from their waste and mentioned the reliance on door to door recycling drives by local community groups to raise cash. (I’ll say that again. The only way to get most of this community to recycle is to pester them at home!)

She also told me that the glass beverage containers collected in the towns recycling bins and by her depot all get dumped into a huge compactor, crushed....and then added to the landfill.

So what do you think? Do you recycle? Do you have any ideas for ManNorth and I regarding our recycling? How important do you feel recycling is and is it worth it for small northern communities to do so? Have at ‘er and let me know!

New aquisition revealed

2008-01-29T09:25:00.000-07:00

Some of you were quick to respond to yesterday's post and Lauri nailed it (although I think Mom and Janet both knew what it was as well)!

We've been given a canoe and are now eagerly anticipating spring break-up and a chance to go exploring out in the delta and down other rivers in the valley. ManNorth's predecessor left it behind and as the person who bought it neither claimed it nor paid for it, it's now been officially given to us.

The boat has a crack that needs some repair work but ManNorth is confident that it won't be a problem to fix. We also need to buy some paddles as well as a pfd for me (personal flotation device -not a pdf, which although providing some good reading, wouldn't exactly help keep me afloat).

I'll try to get ManNorth to knock the snow off and take a new photo but for now, this edited photo will have to do. Just imagine the snow all gone and a lovely forest green canoe leaning on its side against the shed on the left.

Also, for those of you not familiar with gallumphing, as mentioned by my mother in the comments to the previous post, it is a beloved sport from my childhood wherein the sole participant carefully stands on the rear gunnels (or the aft seat) and bounces up and down, arms outstretched for balance. The motion propels the canoe forward at surprising speed, somewhat related to the bounce frequency and depth. Directional changes are difficult and take a skilled gallumpher to pivot the canoe mid bounce. Gallumphing usually ends with a large splash and the need to climb back in. We likely won't be doing any gallumphing as the waters here are generally much too cold to risk a dousing. (If I ever do try it out here though, I'll be sure to get photographic evidence for all of you! I think my mother has a photo of me gallumphing at about age 8. If she finds it, I'll post it here.)

I'm not sure what we'll christen our new canoe and it may take some time before we get a feel for her personality and can think of a suitable name. A contest to name her could also be fun however, and with a suitable prize, perhaps I could convince some of you to make some suggestions. I'll let you know come spring as she'll need a name before her first voyage with us.

Huzzah!

2008-01-28T17:02:00.000-07:00

ManNorth came home with exciting news today:

We've been given a gift of something that we've really wanted.

Wanna know what it is? I won't be telling without a few of you venturing some guesses.
Perhaps these hints will help:

1. The previous owner also once held ManNorth's position and left it behind when he moved away by air.

2. Its only use in a desert would be to provide shade or shelter of some sort.

3. ManNorth owns one of these already but the cost of moving his here from where it is being stored in Yellowknife is about equivalent to the cost of buying a gently used one.

4. It can only be used for about 3 months of the year in our location.

5. We'll need to buy a few particular implements to make use of our gift properly. Two of those will be worn. Two of those will be tools.

6. It needs some repair work that will involve cutting, sanding and filling and patching with fibreglass.

7. Here's a photo of our gift as the final hint:

Grab a kleenex

2008-01-21T09:05:00.000-07:00

When you're ready for a break today, have a look at these two videos. I don't suggest viewing them one after the other as their impact may be best felt without any influence of the other. Come back after a while to see the second one.

This is neat

2008-01-20T13:30:00.000-07:00

Something fun for your Sunday: The recent warm temperatures in Northern Town have also warmed the snow, reducing its density and letting it streeeettttttch. I'd intended to post a photo (yet to be taken) showing the accumulated layers in the snow pack that I've left undisturbed on one half of the balcony (to the left of the centre post) all winter. I won't get to show you that photo however, because overnight the warming pile slowly bent over and has slid almost entirely off the balcony rail. It reminds me somehow of a snail or slug, twisting and drooping but yet still stickily hanging on.

Nhah Nhah!

2008-01-20T09:54:00.000-07:00

This is new!

Northern Town is experiencing a surprising warm spell that is forecast to last for much of the week before dropping back to seasonal norms in the high (or should I say low?) -20s and -30s. Yesterday afternoon’s temperature of -14 C felt tropical in comparison to last week’s low of -41 C but already this morning, the temperature in

Northern Town is only -4 C (with a wind chill of -9)!

Here’s the kicker. Check out these simultaneous temperatures:

Prairie Town is -22 C (with a wind chill of -32)
(~ 18 degrees latitude to the south)

Home Town is -12C (with a wind chill of -23)
(~ 26 degrees latitude to the south)

It’s not been this warm here since about September. I won’t be at all surprised to see the T-shirts come out on Northern Town residents today, especially if we reach a forecast high of -1 C this afternoon. The ravens were displaying and croaking (in song?) yesterday, perhaps celebrating the warmth or just making fun of all you southerners experiencing a bit of northern cold!

This reminds me to tell you that there will be an upcoming post on staying warm by none other than ManNorth. It may not go up before the cold snap passes down south, but look for it coming soon!

In the meantime, layer up and get out the wool!

Living Green in the Great White North - Cloth Shopping Bags

2008-01-18T11:56:00.000-07:00

I've decided to write an occasional post about living "greenly" in the north and unique challenges to this that we encounter. Today's topic: shopping bags!

In a time of increased awareness of the detrimental effects of pollutants and waste created by humans and a growing sense of individual responsibility, small changes to our lifestyles may help to make a difference (although see this article for an introduction to one of many related caveats which I won't be discussing today). Growing in popularity by conservation-minded folks are alternatives to plastic bags to carry one’s purchases. Touted as being “ecofriendly”, reusing shopping bags or other containers makes sense at a time when reducing unnecessary consumption can reduce the amount of waste in our landfills among other benefits. In particular, reducing use of petroleum products, such as plastic bags, can be an environmentally friendly thing to do.

I’ll admit straight off that nothing is cost free. We are consumers by nature and by consuming anything there is always going to be a negative cost somewhere to someone or something. By opting to use cloth bags, one is a part of the financial and environmental costs of using land and growing the plants used to make the fabric, actual manufacturing of the fabric and in creating the bag and shipping it to the seller. The idea of course, is that by reusing the bag (or other container) the relevant environmental costs are incurred less frequently and thus overall to a lesser degree, than those incurred by getting a new bag every time one goes shopping and for each product type purchased. By choosing a cloth container (or other readily biodegradable material) over a petroleum product, one is also reducing (not eliminating, mind you) dependency on fossil fuels and the environmental costs incurred through their use. I’m a fan of this strategy and cringe whenever I see products touted by advertisers as being attractive particularly because of their easy disposal.

The “use it once and throw it away” sort of products make me cringe and make me angry. I’m not talking facial tissues and toilet paper here either, which for sanitary reasons and the high environmental costs of laundering, I’m all for using and then throwing out, although I certainly don't require them to be bleached white in order for me to purchase them.) I am talking about such things as using aluminum foil instead of a pot, or a disposable plastic bag for steaming your food in a microwave or a disposable tissue to wipe your floor when a broom will do the trick. Occasional use of these products I understand, but reliance on these sorts of products is wasteful and in my mind, irresponsible. Plastic grocery bags are one of these kinds of products. They are too thin to ever be used more than once and usually only serve to move the food from the store to the consumer’s vehicle and from the vehicle inside their home. One use and then they are trash.

Ah, but they can be recycled, I can hear you saying.

Yes, that’s true. In my experience in both Prairie Town and Home Town, some grocery stores offer to recycle plastic grocery bags and in Prairie Town, one grocery store even charges their customers who opt to use the store’s branded plastic grocery bags. (I’m not sure that this is at all related to attempts to be environmentally friendly so much as it is simply an attempt to recoup the costs of producing the grocery bags. Nevertheless, it can be an incentive to the consumer to bring their own bags or boxes or to buy the newly marketed tiny green cloth “ecobags” for sale in the store.)

They can also be reused to contain household garbage or, a favourite of mine while dog-sitting, for scooping up doggy doo while out exercising the dog. Admittedly, those aren't altogether terrible uses for them, but far far more don't get reused or recycled and far too many end up simply as waste.

In Prairie Town ManNorth and I did our best to carry our groceries in cloth bags and only resorted to plastics bags after forgetting our cloth ones. Usually no one batted an eye at the cloth bags and we never had to worry about plastic handles tearing and spilling our groceries in the parking lot. (The ones with long handles are great as they can be carried over the shoulder, making it much easier to carry a full load. But I digress.)

When I go shopping, I carry the cloth bags rolled up and stuffed into my satchel (those who know me would never call it a purse!) and I happily pull them out at hardware stores, grocery stores, or wherever I buy anything that could remotely be carried in a cloth bag. In Prairie Town, usually no one was surprised if I declined their plastic bags and pulled out my own to bag my own groceries but I have gotten the occasional odd glances at places like Canadian Tire or in bookstores for instance, where presumably the trend to bring your own bags hasn’t quite caught on. I DID get astonished looks in Prairie Town when needing more groceries than I could carry in my cloth bags and thus using my camping backpack and loading it up full to ride home on my bike.

So how well do the cloth bags go over here in Northern Town? I’ll give you one guess!

Yep, I ALWAYS get funny looks when I decline plastic bags in any store in town, no matter if it is a grocery store or not. Strangely enough, the clerks at one of the three grocery stores in town always look put out when I smile and say “No bags please. I have my own.” I even save them the trouble of packing them, which gets me through the till faster as they can ring up my purchases while I bag but they don’t seem to appreciate it much and generally just stare sourly at me. At the second store, I get a smile and cheery conversation while I bag and they scan and at the third store, they barely notice I’m even there, bags or no bags, until I hand them my payment.

At the two hardware stores in town, I’m actually becoming recognized because of the bags even though I'm an infrequent customer there! “Oh yes, you’re the one that doesn’t want bags” a clerk recently declared, smiling at me after I declined the proffered plastic bag for the paint brushes and stain we’d purchased.

Doesn’t anybody else here do this?

This past summer I would occasionally see people walking home with bags and bags of groceries, stopping to repack them as handles broke or looking genuinely pained as the thin plastic handles bit into their palms. I’d confidently march by with my bag (or two or three) comfortably slung over my shoulder and holding about as much as they were carrying, thinking of them sympathetically, but also thinking that they should pay attention to a good idea! (Or use a backpack!)

I want to hear from all of you. Do you use plastic grocery bags? (If so, what do you do with them all? Do you crochet clothing, mats or bags out of them? Do you feel badly about using them or are you fine with it?) Do you use boxes or plastic bins? Do you already use cloth bags? How do clerks or other customers respond if you bring your own container? Would you consider using cloth bags or another alternative to carry your groceries and other purchases? If not, why not? Do tell!

-----------------------

5:30 PM Update:

Okay, now this is odd. The very day that I get around to blogging about cloth shopping bags and how no one in Northern Town seems to use them, what do I find in my postal box this afternoon but two of these:

They were each part of two 81/2 x 11 inch flyers describing a few ecofriendly products for sale at NorthMart. With every $50 purchase and a coupon, customers can get a free reusable shopping bag. I don't know if these are cloth or plastic but am mildly impressed although I think the flyer was unnecessary waste. A few large signs in the store could do the trick along with coupons ready at the till.

Guess which of the three grocery stores described above is giving away the bags:

Heh. The one with the clerks that would get put out when I used my own cloth bags, which, admittedly aren't nearly as spiffy as the one their store is now giving away. I find this funny.

I'll let you know if their reaction changes the next time I shop there and I'll also keep a watch for other customers using them there and at the other two grocery stores. I wonder if those stores will follow suit?

New Year's Trip Day 1. Part II

2008-01-17T10:52:00.000-07:00

We pressed on from Big City through the late afternoon and into the evening as we headed northwest, hoping to make it to our next provincial border before stopping to sleep but a close encounter with a moose, who we hoped made it across the highway unscathed, general tiredness and multiple loaded logging trucks travelling at 100km/hr on dark narrow and snowy roads when we felt comfortable travelling only at 70 km/hr meant that we stopped early at a small town a few hundred kilometres shy of the border.

We drove around the town looking for a dark parking lot to use, as we planned to sleep in our truck, but all were either too busy or lit too brightly so we headed down the highway to a dark and empty rest stop and pulled in. Luggage was moved into the cab and our mattress pads laid out on the truck bed. We snuggled into our sleeping bags and read together for a little while by flashlight until we were sleepy enough to turn in. The darkness and quiet were broken just as we were ready to fall asleep by a transport truck who pulled in directly behind us, shining its headlights into our truck and rumbling loudly.

Darn!

Eventually the driver turned off the headlights but his/her running lights and running engine disturbed our sleep throughout the night. We might have gotten used to the sound of the engine if it didn’t shift in pitch every few minutes! Rumble rumble rumble RUUUUUUUMMMMBLE rumble rumble rumble....

Okay, okay. You’re wondering about how we managed to sleep comfortably and stay warm? Well, we had our camping mattresses (mine described earlier in this post) as well as our winter sleeping bags. Although I'd brought appropriate sleeping attire (mostly lycra and fleece) I couldn't be bothered to change into it and so I just climbed in with the clothes I had on, using my down vest as a pillow and leaving my coat inside the cab. I also wore my down slippers over a pair of wool socks as my feet tend to get colder than ManNorth's in the same conditions. I'm not sure what ManNorth wore in his sleeping bag. He tends to overheat easily and so usually just strips down.

Here’s a photo of our sleeping bags laid out during our holiday for our niece to inspect. Guess which one she’s actually in!

This one!

(I should say though, that we took multiple photos and she tried out both so perhaps she was in the blue one for the first photo. The drawstring around the head area is pulled tight in the first photo..) The point is that the bags have about a foot of loft such that even with someone in them, it’s hard to tell if they’re occupied. They have lots of down and large baffles, making them very insulating and warm. I’ve comfortably slept in mine in -38 to about -40C and ManNorth has used his during his arctic adventures in much colder temperatures. (Yes Mom, we were just fine. Really!)

Northern News flash

2008-01-16T15:03:00.000-07:00

This just in:

Over 3,000 reindeer are missing from an island about 150 km from Northern Town.

Herders who are responsible for maintaining the herd arrived at the island to check in on them and to ensure that the herd hadn't crossed the ice to the mainland.

They arrived too late, the herd having left the island to go gossip with the mainland caribou. If tongue wagging is all they're up to, the herders and wildlife biologists will get over it because caribou never believe what reindeer have to say but if they get up to any carousing or passing of disease from the domestic reindeer herd to the caribou they'll be suspended from school and made to attend lectures on abstinence and safe se...

Er. It will be bad.

Herders searching by snow mobile have so far found only a few hundred animals. If I see any strolling down the river to warmer climes or in cahoots with the local caribou, I'll be sure to let you all know and to have them ask where Santa hid the rest of the holiday gifts I'd wished for.

In the meantime, perhaps their wagging tongues might be a hint as to where to find them...

Or was that wagging tails?

New Year's Trip. Day 1. Part I

2008-01-16T11:52:00.000-07:00

Before I begin the description of our trip, forgive me for this brief aside as I'm not sure when I'll have occasion to mention this particular topic again: If any of you are ever passing through Prairie Town, be sure to drive through some of the oldest areas of town and in particular through the residential area on the western side, near the government buildings by the lake. The homes are beautiful and many have their original leaded windows which have a curious and tell-tale glint from their uneven panes that adds to the homes' charm. Tall elm trees lining the streets are lovely to drive under, shading the thoroughfares and giving the neighbourhoods a wonderful green lushness in the summer. Of course, if you are a home owner of one of those lovely homes, as are an aunt and uncle of mine, you have a bone or two to pick with those trees who also drop branches frequently, rain a fine mist of sap down on your home and vehicles in the spring and are frequent targets of insects whose worm-like larvae descend on fine silk-like strands in the hundreds and thousands onto everything, to be walked into, stepped on and squished and to munch munch munch away on the greenery. That said, and as a non-home owner, I still love those trees!

My aunt and uncle were good enough to put us up during our brief stay in Prairie Town when we came to get our truck and we bid them a warm farewell after coffee and breakfast, sad to say goodbye but eager to get on the road and to home. We’ll be back again one day, and hopefully they’ll also be able to pay us a visit here.

About a block or two away, I remembered that I wanted to record the trip’s mileage and so took a snapshot of the odometer at the first red light we stopped at. Note the truck already has a few miles on her but we were sure she was up to the task. I'll post our final odometer reading in the last blog post about the trip for comparison. This also reminds me to tell you that with only a few exceptions, the trip photos were all taken from inside the truck while we were driving so the quality is a bit grainy, there is occasional blurring from the motion of the vehicle and odd splotches in strange places due to dirt or snow on the windshield and windows. Of course, you all wanted to imagine what the trip was like from our perspective, so perhaps this isn't too bad a way to show it to you. If the photos are exceptionally blurry, like the one below, you can just imagine that you're tired and in need of more coffee, as we likely found ourselves at the time.

A few hours later, the sun was just about to rise and light up the prairies. Prairie Town was one of the sunniest places I’ve ever lived in and I always did enjoy the bright winter days. Here is a picture of a prairie field along our route at daybreak just before the sun rose above the horizon.

Hours later we were crossing our first provincial border, which curiously, runs through the middle of the city so that each half is governed by two different provinces, one of which has no sales tax. I can't imagine that stores in the other province/half of town are able to compete very well with the stores on the western side. We took a photo of the small sign indicating the provincial border as we passed over it and through an intersection. (The wee green sign in the top right of the photo.)

We also discovered that if you want a clean Canadian loo, this town (or at least one half of it) is the place to, erm, go.

The landscape changed again as we travelled north into aspen parkland. Now the agricultural fields were regularly (and increasingly) interspersed with woodlots and aspen forests, full of usually small, knobby aspen trees, unlike the tall stately aspens that are logged in the transition zones of the boreal forest and which we would see cut and loaded on logging trucks for a few of the following days.

As we chugged our way into one of Canada’s major cities (photo below)

we were dismayed to discover that there were no gas stations lining the highway, which we had expected. A tiny sign indicated a gas station nearby and so joined by a few other vehicles, we ventured off the highway and down a narrow country road to fill up at a small gas station a few kilometres away. An old man in a tiny grey car who had joined the caravan played frogger with the transport trucks and zipped across the highway, his life preserved only by his car obeying exactly his command to accelerate. Knowing Red to be slow but steady, we bided our time and crossed when it was safe, hoping not to encounter a crumpled grey car farther down the road.

As we passed through the city, I was sure that I had spotted an old acquaintance of mine from home in the east. It’s a funny thing that when I travel, I am always prepared to run into people I know, even though I’ve no reason to expect to see them and never do. Perhaps it is just that while travelling (and particularly through airports), one passes so many people, that one is bound to see familiar faces that look similar to people we actually know. Perhaps that was it but knowing that this person had actually moved to this city recently, gave this encounter at least a chance of more than zero on the probability scale!

If you happen upon this blog, Rex, were you driving a white or silver car with the first three digits of your license plate RJB at 4:30 pm on January 3, 2008 in Edmonton? We were in a big old reddish maroon truck. You and I locked eyes for a second and then I watched you merge from the north, briefly join us on #16 and then zip across a few lanes of traffic to exit at a left turn to head south, somewhere just east of 170 St. If it wasn’t you, you have a twin more used to city driving than ManNorth or me!!

Need I say more?

2008-01-15T17:17:00.000-07:00

Actually, yes, I do!

There was a beautiful ice fog covering the town and the surrounding land today. ManNorth was working outside today and took some photos. This is what it looks like in high humidity and low temperatures around here! (Photos coming soon -he's on his way home.)

I'll speak for him and repeat one of his platitudes (to which I hold) to head off at least one of your likely inquires in reply to this post, possibly asking us about finding this temperature cold. (Which of course it is, but one can prepare):

"There's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." -ManNorth, time interminable

When (and Where) solar energy is not an option

2008-01-15T11:51:00.000-07:00

People in southern climes wishing to wean themselves from a dependancy on fossil fuel powered vehicles may dream of solar power to fuel their cars year round, but this far north, short winter daylength and long periods of darkness mean that this could only be possible in the summer when the sun stays up for almost two months straight. This can certainly be capitalized on in the summer (and is by at least one company in town) but for much of the winter, we're rather out of luck. Although the sun has finally returned from its month long hiatus from the north and the days are slowly growing longer, solar power won't help our town much in its new dilemma at the moment . Why ever not, you ask?

For the simple reason that our town is running out of gas. Literally.

Apparently the company charged with shipping up enough gas to the town only sent about half of what was needed before the rivers began freezing up and the barges that carry the shipments couldn't run. Owners of gas stations are accusing the company of keeping things secret until now, although they would have known by ice-up (back in the fall) that not enough diesel and regular gasoline were sent.

This means that gas is being rationed and will also likely be jumping dramatically in price. ManNorth biked to work yesterday and had always intended to keep cycling/walking/snow shoeing to work but this will be added incentive to minimize use of Big Red. We're also glad that we filled two large jerry cans as an emergency supply while enroute from the south where the price was cheaper and those have now been used to top up Red's supply.

Gas station owners have the option of paying to have fuel trucked north but this will obviously increase the cost as the expense is passed along to the consumers. I'll be interested to see if this changes any of the town residents' fuel consumption and driving habits. ManNorth and I are continually boggled at the fact that so many residents drive what is only a 5-10 minute walk to their workplaces or for shopping on our main street. (Many of them also drive back home for their lunch, creating a wee rush hour at the town's sole traffic light beginning and ending at noon and one pm. Perhaps as fuel prices increase (or should fuel become unavailable) a few people may consider packing a lunch or (horrors!) walking to and from work occasionally.

The town also has a suburb of sorts out in the delta where some local residents maintain cabins and access them by snow mobile in the winter and by boat in the summer. Thinking of them, I wonder how the fuel will be rationed: will such residents get priority over mainland residents? Will there be a fixed limit per address or per employer vehicle? I don't know yet, but will post again when I find out.

Where to begin?

2008-01-15T10:28:00.000-07:00

It’s been a while since I’ve last blogged and I’ve so many different stories to tell that I’ll have to break up events of the past few weeks into multiple short blog posts. Today’s post will simply set the stage so that you understand my recent neglect of my blog and hopefully want to check in again to read more:
Since I last wrote, ManNorth and I headed waaay down south (and east) to my hometown to visit with my family, made a side trip across the border into the US to see more relatives and then flew to Prairie Town to pick up our pickup (sorry, I couldn’t resist) that we had had to leave behind when we moved to Northern Town by air last June. After a dinner with family and a day’s flurry of errands in Prairie Town, we were off on our next adventure, driving our truck over 4,000km home to Northern Town with hopes of ManNorth making it back to work on time. (This was a concern, given that we were driving through the mountains in winter and a few mountain passes we’d be travelling through are often closed in the winter due to poor weather and road conditions.)
Suffice to say, all went well. Big Red (our truck) behaved herself and we arrived home with a few days to sleep and relax by building and staining a 8 X 4 X 1 ft bookshelf from inexpensive lumber we purchased in Prairie Town (Northern Town doesn’t sell fencing lumber as no one seems to need or want fences.)
Stay tuned for more details of the trip and news from Northern Town.

'Tis the season

2007-12-18T09:33:00.000-07:00

For giving of gifts and attending after work Christmas parties!

I recently joined ManNorth for his work holiday party. His department, along with at least 2 or 3 others, all got together for a big potluck at one of the departmental offices. After the meal, which included some roast moose that I mistakenly thought was a delicious roast beef dish, and much chatting, the gift exchange began and I immediately regretted the gift I’d added to the pile. It still makes me feel a bit sad, even four days later.

Allow me to explain: The gift exchange was one of those kinds where all the gifts are wrapped and assembled together. All the gift givers get a number, one for each gift given. The person with the number one picks a gift and opens it and the second person has the choice of taking the opened gift or choosing a new one. If an opened gift gets taken, the person who lost it gets to take a gift (not from the person who took from them) or opens a new one and so on until there is one gift remaining and everyone has been stealing gifts back and forth trying to end up with the one that they want without anyone taking it from them. The exchange ends when someone opens the last gift. There was a preset value to the gifts and no one was to spend more than $20, although I think a few gifts had to have cost more than that. As local prices are two or three times higher than in more southern locales, $20 doesn’t go very far here and as we’d rather keep our $40, we both opted for homemade gifts that we valued as at least $20 each.

I reused some of our blank newsprint packing paper from the move to wrap up a large tin of homemade fudge that ManNorth had made and prettied it up with a holiday ribbon. The paper was bland and crinkled, but in a homey, pleasing way. My gift was similarly wrapped but with a plain blue ribbon as that was all the decoration I had left to embellish it.
I realized though, that in this style of gift giving, gaudy advertising with sparkles, bright ribbons and holiday colours are necessary for getting one’s gift picked to be opened. My poor little gift sat there like the unpopular child being passed over as teams are being picked for a school yard game. What no one knew, though, was that under that plain wrap, my gift was the best of the bunch.

I had chosen to give four hand drawn and coloured cards that I had made, using themes from around Northern Town and in the nearby mountains. Each had taken a few hours to complete and had been done when I needed to relax and unwind. In spite of only using a permanent marker and a set of 24 coloured pencils, I was particularly pleased with how these had turned out and selfishly and perhaps a bit vainly, imagined them being opened to a chorus of oohs and ahhs and my person being raised just a wee bit in their estimation. (Which could be a good thing, particularly as I’d like to find future employment with one of the departments that was participating in the party.)

Stay with me here, as I wrap this up, no pun intended: Imagine the chaos of all the most valued gifts (which were mostly tools –saws, electric screwdrivers, compasses and jackknives etc..) being passed around like hot potatoes with the occasional mug or coffee blend changing hands and then someone, finally, takes a chance on opening my lowly looking gift.

“What is it?” someone exclaimed, anticipating a new gift to steal.

“A box of cards” was the somewhat sullen reply, to everyone’s immediate disappointment and dismissal, and the next gift was being opened before the cards were even looked through by the receiver, who was obviously disappointed to be getting them, although I’d been careful to label the package with a decorative script describing them as “original art cards” to make the point that these weren’t just standard printed cards from the local store.

That’s the chance one takes at these sorts of exchanges. If one happens to open a box of pink and purple frilled orange hand towels embroidered in violent blue lettering advertising Jenny’s kitchen in sunny California (!), they’re stuck with them and won’t be able to steal a better gift unless someone else decides Jenny’s kitchen is where it’s at and takes them.

All my hard work had been for nought, my ego remained unstroked and the recipient didn’t want the cards, and was disappointed at not being able to compete for the electric screwdriver or ratchet set he’d been watching change hands. I briefly considered stealing them back if I got a chance, partly out of sympathy for him and partly in response to my offended inner artist, but as I’d put my name on them (all other gifts were anonymous) and had already been introduced to the group, it’d be sort of a tacky thing to do. I ended up as the proud owner of a much sought after set of hand saws that ManNorth and I actually needed and ManNorth’s fudge was being passed around the room for everyone to try after two children, in their attempt to help the recipient open the package, spilled the fudge all over the floor. (Most of it was still edible and everyone declared it yummy.)

My hope is that the cards were later taken out of the protective clear plastic covers I’d put them in and examined in detail, the recipient finally realizing that he had indeed, received the best gift, and decided to keep them for himself, perhaps even framing them. Or perhaps, his wife saw some value in them and did the same, or used them for their holiday cards and the final recipients think they’re just wonderful.

I’m kind of glad that I’ll never know.

I should have given them to one of you, my faithful readers (Hmm. I seem to be channeling one of the Bronte sisters here. The gift/team picking theme had me thinking of plain Jane Eyre for some reason) Or I could have given them to other friends or family members who might value them , at least, for coming from me rather than from a random stranger.

Sigh.

ManNorth and I walked home chatting about the intricacies of gift giving and how much pleasure can be had from the giving of a gift, relative to receiving one. I took pleasure in creating those cards and knew I’d given a good gift. I just should have given it to someone else.

I’m glad though, that I scanned each card before I wrapped it up and I’ll show you the front of each card here. The images aren’t quite true to the originals as some hues weren’t picked up in the scan and they’re much more washed out than the real things (especially the lighter hues), but hopefully you’ll get the idea. Consider these my holiday gifts to you, my readers. Enjoy!

Viburnum edule

(lowbush cranberry)

Northern Highway

Campanula lasiocarpa

(Mountain harebell)

Winter at Big Lake

A farewell of sorts

2007-12-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

The rising sun

Blesses my mind

With joy.

The setting sun

Blesses my heart

With peace.

The Rising Sun

-Sri Chinmoy

I've been thinking about the sun this week and am confident that I'll still have joy and peace tomorrow when the sun will neither rise nor set here in Northern Town. There are still a few weeks of twilight remaining as we ease into a month of darkness and I've been enjoying watching the sky change from black to deep blue and varied shades of purple, pink and gold during the few hours when the sun nears the horizon to peek out and then descends to fade away again.

For those who appreciate this sort of information, here's a clip from the NRCC's website and their sunrise sunset calculator for Northern Town. Note that the sun reaches its zenith today at 2:46pm local time (we're on daylight savings time) and sets less than half an hour later.

ManNorth has the camera today so I won't be able to share a photo. Instead, I'll share are a few I took this past weekend as the sun rose (and set) while we were out exploring on our skis. The temperature was a frosty -30C but I still managed to overheat and had to shed one of my wool sweaters.

Looking north at midday.

The sun reaches its zenith over Big Lake

Leaning trees along the shore at local noon

Cold? Bah! Never with head to toe wool!

A favourite view from south of Northern Town at midday.

I think my brain is cross eyed

2007-11-29T11:45:00.000-07:00

Or, at least that's how it feels trying to do this:

Look at the image. Is the dancer spinning clockwise or counter clockwise?

Now, concentrate and make her spin the OTHER way. Then try changing back again once you do it.

I can do it if I focus on her planted foot, but it's really hard to change between directions!

Go to this link http://www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,22556281-661,00.html for the original article, complete with brief descriptions of right brained (clockwise viewers) vs left brained (counterclockwise) dominant thinkers. (Although I'm still not quite convinced of one "side" of the brain being dominant over another and wonder if this specific effect -in this moving image) isn't due more to handedness, although we'll leave discussion of that for another day.

My favourite almost 7 year old

2007-11-16T11:58:00.000-07:00

One of the disadvantages of living so far away from family is that I don't get to see family members doing this very often:

Thankfully, my niece is the only one who clambers around her grandparents' walls like this.
I'll let you know if her grammy tries it when I'm home at Christmas this year!

Acknowledging my inner stickler

2007-11-15T13:52:00.000-07:00

I needed some scrap paper last night and found myself rummaging through an overflowing recyling bin during my hunt. I came across a newsletter published by town council a few months ago. The town has since switched to an electronic format (although they have yet to enable the internet link) so I can't enjoy the free monthly newsletters in quite the same way. ManNorth shook his head in astonishment when he found the newsletter shortly after it had arrived in our postal box and after I'd read it. And edited it. Profusely.

I couldn't help myself! I felt ready to march over to town hall and volunteer my editing services, if only to keep some sanity. Doesn't the mayor know what a run-on sentence is it looks like this and doesn't he know when to add proper punctuation and proper use of capitals or breaks between sentences or paragraphs and why oh why didn't anyone think to proof the newspaper before it was printed? I didn't volunteer my editing services of course, but bad grammar, spelling and run-on sentences drive me a bit nutty sometimes and usually when the writer should know better. This isn't to say that my writing is without error, as I know it certainly isn't and I've found both grammar and spelling mistakes in this very blog, but in a newsletter representing the people governing my town, I expect a wee bit better, and I don't think that this is asking too much.

I used ManNorth's handy scanner-printer-photocopier-in one (!) to scan the front page of the newsletter with my edits intact for this post but found them hard to read so I redid most of them on my computer. (Yes, there were more than I'll be showing and I had to just circle mistakes instead of actually correcting them in order to save space.) I admit that seeing the page dripping in figurative red ink on my screen brought tears to my eyes (figurative, not literal) and no small sense of accomplishment. Now, I'm not a mean person, and I think it more important that there is communication between the town council and the town's residents, but proper grammar, makes it better communication, with less potential for misunderstanding. (Hence, IMHO, my abhorrence of the current fad of texting and reducing everything to abbreviations and shortform. LOL! Sometimes NAOLPKT we've no idea what they are saying. NRN!)

It's been some time since I was employed as a teaching assistant and marked essays and exams and in a small way, I miss the tiny boost to the ego that correcting papers can give. (Aren't I horrible?) I once completely emptied two red pens while marking a batch of undergraduate essays and although I felt a bit badly as the essays became rather aesthetically unappealing in appearance -owing in small part to my horrid penmanship and use of rollerball pens, I felt that I'd done my students a service and one that was my duty. And it was fun.

Today I add to my blogroll a few links to blogs written by others with an inner stickler, as Lynne Truss so aptly explained it in her book, Eats, Shoots and Leaves. (I must thank my mother who knows me well enough to have bought me two of Lynne's books which I've gratefully added to my library as both comic relief and handy reference.) I'm not about to start an entire blog to fulfil the needs of my inner stickler but I'll happily visit such blogs now and again when I feel the need. I've sent a copy of the newsletter to Red Pen, Inc but don't know if the grammarphile will use it for her blog fodder, hence this post. I don't know if The Grammar Vandal actually advocates carrying around a permanent marker for impromptu corrections, but one might wish they would. Apostrophe Abuse is a fun, if distressing, read. Those apostrophe's just show up anywhere people 'think' they might want to 'hang! (Yes, those were all intentional apostrophe mistakes just now!) Finally, one might pay a virtual visit to Literally, A Web Log if they, like me, are bothered when others literally use the term literally when they mean figuratively. I mean, I just literally have a cow when others do that. Don't you?

A final word: although obvious grammar mistakes do bother me in published work, such as in books, articles and advertising, I really don't mind when encountering grammar mistakes in casual writing, such as in friendly email or in blog comments. I'm certainly more interested in what the author of such writing has to say than whether it is grammatically correct or not. (So please, keep commenting and writing me email without fear of offending my inner stickler!)

Without further ado, with the intention of comic relief, I present the front page of the newsletter, redacted (click to enlarge):

Another first!

2007-11-12T16:14:00.000-07:00

The ManNorth is currently fending off blows at a defensive tactics training course and I'm watching in the growing darkness (the sun's down and it's just 5PM) as a woman slowly maneouvres around a nearby parking lot on her snow mobile, presumably for the entertainment of the toddler seated in front of her. Other snow mobiles have been zipping up and down on the snow covered gravel shoulders of mainstreet and I can hear the buzz from other machines that are racing along the nearby river. I have yet to see anyone wearing a helmet, although their use is required by law in town for anyone riding an ATV or snow mobile. Outside of town, helmet use isn't legislated and users typically move at much greater speed than the 40km/hr limit in town. Ah well, 'tis their noggins at risk and not mine!

Yesterday, I was pleased to see a novel (to me) use of a snow mobile: for training sled dogs! We were on a cross country skiing excursion along the river when a couple with a team of dogs raced up to us and we could see that the dogs were pulling a snow mobile instead of a sled. As we watched, the team slowed down and made a U-turn through a set of posts driven into the river ice and dashed back the way they came, passing between another pair of posts as they went. The ManNorth managed a few photos before they disappeared downriver.

I was rather pleased as this was the first dog team I've seen in action since we moved here and I've been anticipating them all summer and fall, particularly when hearing or seeing the local dogs yipping and barking from their kennels. We turned down an offer of free puppies a few weeks ago and will wait until we have a house and space to accomodate a few dogs. -Or perhaps a sled dog team of our own.

Cue oldies song: "DreeeeEEEEEeeeam, dream, dream, dream ...."

In the photo above, the team has just passed between the posts and are beginning their turn. The female passenger has jumped off and out of view on the right to replace a post that was knocked over.

Above, both people are back on the snow mobile and the team is racing back to the next set of markers.

They're a wee bit faster than me on my skis!

I'm at least moving on the ice, unlike this beached hulk, abandoned long ago on the shore.

A few hours later, we'd changed out of our drenched clothing (we'd worn a few too many layers for the mild -10C that it was) and were rehydrating with hot chocolate as we enjoyed a day old newspaper, flown in on the afternoon jet. (Hurray for the Globe and Mail!)

Friday news brief

2007-10-26T08:48:00.000-06:00

Our final buttermilk tally is 101 litres, most of it now frozen in boxes and cartons on our balcony. That's over $400 of free milk! Hurrah!

The sun isn't rising until almost 10:30 in the morning as we count down to the time when it doesn't rise at all (see ticker in sidebar). I think this is pretty darn cool, and am really glad TheMan North has as many lights on his bike as he does and am glad for the chains he's put on both tires as they really help grip on the ice and snow. Yep, he's still riding it to work and back, although one of these days he'll start snowshoing or skiing instead. (Thanks muchly to Steph and The Boy, as we used your wedding gift to buy the supplies to make the chains.)

There's been a meme circulating around some of the blogs I read now and then and it asks blog owners to post 5 phrases (with or without quotation marks) that return their own blog as the first listed in a google search. Phrases that put Sojourn North at the top were: loud sinus clearing event, TheManNorth, curious corvids under a tarp, "que maniacal laughter" and "shopping for a skidoo at your local grocery store". Only the last two phrases needed quotation marks.

We've had a few mornings with heavy ice fog here in NorthernTown and the hoar frost has just been INCREDIBLE! I took some photos midday after the first frost and thought you just might enjoy a few of them.

Afternoon diversion

2007-10-24T15:26:00.000-06:00

Needing a diversion and have about 7 or 8 minutes?

Grrl Scientist over at Living the Scientific Life (Scientist Interrupted) has an amusing video of capricious twins giving people a rather surreal experience.

When you are done that, and in the mood for, um, something entirely different and involving snails, Grrl Scientist has another video up with an excerpt from Microcosmos (although the music has been switched from Puccini to "Sexy Boy", by Air). If you aren't in the mood for a tragedy/yummy meal, stop watching when the grasshoppers come on...

Enjoy!

Should this bother me?

2007-10-22T08:14:00.001-06:00

Our new government issue health cards finally arrived and we were both struck by something printed on the paper the cards were attached to. Read this exerpt and see if it doesn't raise an eyebrow or two:

So my question is this: Why is my government recording ethnicity in order to provide health care?

-And they aren't really doing so for me, as I'm only designated by the letter N, which encompasses thousands of possible ethnicities from around the globe excluding the other four listed.

So that rules out health issues related to specific ethnicities as an explanation and suggests that it is simply related in some other way to the most common aboriginal groups likely to be in our area. (But what about other aboriginal groups recognized by our government that don't fit one of these categories? What label do they get and why?)

Perhaps it simply relates to different treaty agreements that each of these four groups have with the government, for which I have one last question: We're all Canadians. Why would this result in differences in health care for any of these 5 groups. We SHOULD all get the same care..

Hmm. I'm not terribly bothered by this and there is likely a simple explanation but I find it vaguely unsettling somehow.

Addendum

2007-10-21T13:07:00.000-06:00

My apologies everyone: I got the numbers wrong in my last post and my town isn't swimming in nearly as much buttermilk as I'd thought. Phooey.
Like the childhood game of telephone, the size of the accidental order grew as the story was passed along to me such that I was off by a factor of ten. There were only 1,200 litres accidentally ordered, which was still a big enough amount that the story made the national news (which is sort of amusing in its own right).
To spin the story another more personal way, we're now the proud owners of 6.8% of that order! Including a few litres that TheManNorth consumed and a bit that was added to our pancakes this morning, we have 81 litres (about 21 gallons) of milk stored out on our balcony.
I think that's still deserving of this blog, no?

And, no, it's not just sitting out in the snow, as the ravens would be sure to shred the containers open and we'd end up with buttermilk icicles. It's secured in a very large plastic container and a cooler. If we get more, it will be in the snow, but hidden from curious corvids under a tarp currently covering my bicycle.

Got Milk?

2007-10-19T11:29:00.000-06:00

We do!

Que maniacal laughter....

We've recently acquired 14 litres of buttermilk and plan to get at least as much, if not double that amount more, all for free! Hurrah! (Normally we'd have to pay over $4 a litre.)

Have you plundered a dairy you ask? NooOOOooo silly reader, we're one of a few thousand beneficiaries of someone's big mistake: A local grocery store accidentally added a few additional zeros when ordering more supplies recently. They were alerted to this when a transport truck arrived in town with their order in the form of Twelve thousand litres of buttermilk (instead of the 12 litres or so they'd intended on purchasing) and the store is giving it away for free instead of throwing it out. Today I asked a clerk how much of the order has been given out since it arrived last week and she said that approximately half of the order remains and that it is moving slowly. However, considering that the store typically only sells 4 or 5 litres a week, getting rid of 6, 000 litres, albeit for free, in the same time seems rather quick to me.

Along with most of the town, we're now hunting up buttermilk recipes, other than for use in pancakes, for which TheManNorth has a killer recipe of his own. (Feel free to share favourite buttermilk recipes of your own or send me a link, if you like.)

Why couldn't they return the order? Aside from the lengthy time it would take to do so is that there wasn't time to make arrangements for it before highway transport became impossible. The ferries that carry highway traffic across two local rivers have just stopped running as the rivers are icing up and the only way in and out until the ice is thick enough for the ice roads to be ready (about a month from now) is by air.

Triple point, double word score

2007-10-14T17:48:00.000-06:00

I’ve not said it enough: We like our apartment and we are happy to be in this building. In spite of occasional dirt in the hallways and stairwells, we really have few complaints. We love the high ceilings and the hardwood flooring (even if it is laminate). We like our many windows and our view of the river and distant mountains from the balcony and from one of the windows (if you look from just the right angle). We like the easy access to the town center and to walks by the river and around the lake. Other residents are usually quite friendly in passing, greeting us cheerfully and even occasionally surprising us with tidbits about their lives, such as the couple down the hallway, who we learned while holding open the door while he and a friend carried their new couch in, that it was purchased in order for “her to have something cushy to laze on while watching Gray’s Anatomy”. Thanks. That was nice to get to know a bit more about you. I’m sure she appreciates you sharing with us her fondness for lounging and medical dramas.

We don’t see or hear much from our neighbours or others in the building and although we’ve never met them, today I’d like to direct the remainder of this post to the neighbours with whom we directly share interior walls or ceilings and floors:

Neighbours to our east:
We wanted you to know that we don’t mind, terribly, the occasional repetitive booming noises from the other side of our home office wall as you fire away at electronic villains since your video games aren’t played at times likely to disturb us and are only an hour or two in length. It sounds like you have fun. We hope you don’t mind our taste in music (if indeed, you hear us playing it on our computer) and we want you to know that we intentionally keep it turned down, so as not to bother you.

Neighbour to our west:
When you blow your nose in your kitchen, it makes the most peculiar sound. Although amused, we are also concerned for you, given the daily frequency of such loud sinus clearing events over the past few months, and think it might be time to see a doctor. We’d also like to compliment you on your musical tastes. Although we rarely hear anything but nose blowing from your apartment, the few times your music has been heard, we thought it a fine thing that you shared Womannorth’s fondness for Nick Drake and Leonard Cohen.
We play Scrabble occasionally and have some skill thinking of adjectives with high point scores. We play with a dictionary handy for challenges and are pleased to learn new words with each game. Although we hope our apartment is quiet from your side of the kitchen wall, we hope that if you hear anything, it is our laughter as we enjoy the game.

Neighbours Below us:
You seem to be neighbours of extreme differences. The usual silence of your apartment is only ever broken by sounds of your arguing, slamming of doors, stomping and shouting of overly colourful words, particularly at late hours. Today we’d very much like to offer a few reminders and pointed words of advice:

1. No matter whether you believe you are in the right, you automatically LOSE an argument (i.e. become a loser) the second that you shout “F*** you” at your partner (or anyone, for that matter). If she happens to shout it back at you (instead of spending the next hour sobbing, as she sometimes does), shouting it again, repeatedly and with emphasis, does not and will never win you the argument, nor does it ever make it right for you to say it to her. What saying this to each other does say is that you are a hateful person who doesn’t care a whit about the person you are arguing with and suggests that you are intentionally trying to hurt them. This is no way to resolve anything. That you do this to someone you live with, and presumably should care about, makes your behaviour all the worse, and is horrible and repugnant.

2. We don’t know why she puts up with you and we think the best thing for you both (and certainly for her) would be to immediately go your separate ways, or at the very least, to seek counseling and learn how to respectfully disagree with each other.

3. Should you never learn the true meaning of respect, you might consider giving each other the silent treatment (although it is as equally unproductive at resolving conflict as your current swearing/shouting strategy) but at minimum, your neighbours would benefit.

To him: We’d become hopeful when your apartment was quiet the last few days and we’d hoped, for her sake, that she had moved out. (That we briefly overheard her shouting back at you this afternoon suggests otherwise, unfortunately.) We were infuriated that you woke us up in the middle of last night, while you shouted obscenities at her for over an hour by phone and we were horrified that she didn’t hang up on you. We could understand less of your hurtful invective when you switched to shouting en francais by about 3AM, but we could still hear you and you were still keeping us awake.

4. As explained above, in these specific ways (as this is all we know of you), you are a hateful and horrible loser. Please add banal to the list of descriptives we’ve judiciously applied to you. If you insist on waking up your neighbours and disrupting their sleep at all hours of the night to show your partner what a sorry excuse of a person you are, you might consider picking up a dictionary or thesaurus. If we had to choose, we’d rather overhear complaints of you not treating her as quixotically as she might like and you responding with complaints of her repetitive cloying remonstrations than hearing you include “F***” as a prefix to every other word you say.

So, to Uncaring Rude Neighbours below us: learn what love and respect truly mean or separate, be silent or add some new adjectives to your vocabulary. If asked, we’d be happy to share some with you.

Celebrations

2007-10-09T12:02:00.000-06:00

It was a festive and happy long weekend. Not only was it Thanksgiving, but it was also our first anniversary and TheManNorth’s birthday. On Sunday we went on a celebratory hike in the cold and wind (-16C with windchill) to explore the local cross country ski trails and discovered that we’ll have to work on mastering our control of downhill descent if we are to use the trails and get down some of the high steep slopes safely later this winter. We paused to watch redpolls flit through the trees and to examine lily pads frozen into the ice of a small lake.

After ariving home, we sipped hot tea and busied ourselves with food preparation. TheManNorth cooked up a delicious turkey dinner for our anniversary/Thanksgiving meal, which we ate with great gusto later that night and I assembled a three-layer black forest cake (which I suspect was equivalent in calories to the entire anniversary dinner) for his birthday the following day. We'll be munching on leftover stuffing and turkey for days to come and also enjoying the spicy cranberry sauce TheMan whipped up from scratch (although from dried cranberries and not the deliciously refreshing frozen wild ones I munched on during yesterday's hike).

As “was his want” on his birthday, we had cake and coffee for yesterday's breakfast and then went out exploring again, burning off the calories by following a 10km round trip route along the river bank and across country through the woods that TheManNorth will follow to work by ski or snowshoe as soon as there is enough snow cover.

We were lucky enough to spot a weasel as it ran among the alders and willows, stopping to peer at us from atop an old beaver dam, its white coat standing out against the exposed mud and shrubbery but providing good camouflage in the snow. The snow also provided a great record of some other local fauna. We were surprised to find that a grizzly bear had crossed our path in the forest not long before us, imprinting one paw's print over another. It's been well below freezing for some time now, and we speculated from its route, that it might be heading east, to den in the hills some 20km or so from town. Perhaps it was the same bear that had wandered the riverbank while the mud was still soft and before a recent snowfall.

Fox, raven, and ptarmigan prints were in abundance as were multiple tiny mouse crossings and occasional prints of solitary mice scampering through the snow.

We stopped to watch a rare length of open water at a creek draining from a local lake, the water trickling under ice overhanging tiny waterfalls to disappear under thicker ice covered in snow. We picked our way across the creek, along beaver dams and from tussock to tussock, using walking sticks we'd scavenged from driftwood along the river.

We're keen to try that route again and although snow mobiles and dog teams also frequent the riverbank (and river) in the winter, we hope that most of the route will remain as quiet and solitary as it was yesterday.

You know you are in the far north when...

2007-09-21T10:33:00.000-06:00

It’s still summer (technically before the fall equinox) and you wake up to SNOW on the ground outside (and in the air currently blowing by your window).

The local temperature is 27 degrees Celsius colder today than the temperature in the Canadian town you grew up in.

You are counting down the days till the sun won't rise (note the new ticker in the sidebar) and until you can drive your vehicle onto the arctic ocean (!!).

Choices at your local grocery store inclue ground muskox, frozen arctic char or caribou jerky.

All the local buildings are up on pilings to keep the ground under them from melting.

Skidoos are parked in your apartment’s parking lot along with (or instead of) the cars and trucks .

It’s perfectly normal to go shopping for a skidoo at your local grocery store (where else?!).

Polar bears and caribou may wander through or near your town. (A polar bear did so more than a month ago; I'm looking forward to seeing the caribou although they are already in the area according to local hunters who have been stocking their freezers with them.)

Wool clothing has been de rigueur since JULY.

And did I mention that it's still summer and it's SNOWING?

Rorschach test anyone?

2007-09-18T09:15:00.000-06:00

Nothing to say...so here are some pictures TM took last week:

The seasonal change is so fast here! Since these photos were taken only a week ago, most of the deciduous trees have completely shed their leaves and as of two days ago, the mountains in the west are covered in snow. TM is just itching to get out his snowshoes!

Some people have all the luck

2007-09-12T10:24:00.000-06:00

I'll have to tell The Man to look more closely at debris sticking out from the river banks as he boats upriver today and in the future, as he might just be staring at bones of an ice age animal and not simply old branches or tree roots.

As reported by CBC news, a man had an astounding find at a location about 100 km from our home as he was walking along a riverbank and found bones (including a skull), skin and even guts protruding from the permafrost. A paleontologist is going to have a look at the remains and the location the animal was found and suspects that the find is likely a steppe bison–the same animals represented in Paleolithic paintings on the cave walls at Lascaux and more commonly unearthed west of our region in what was once Eastern Beringia. (Follow the link above to Lascaux for wonderful photos of the paintings. Eg. Look in the Main Gallery for paintings such as the Back to Back Bison or in the area of The Shaft of the Deadman for a depiction of a speared bison fatally wounding a man.)

To the right is an image from a museum exhibit of a specimen recovered in Alaska.

Living here just gets better and better!

Um.. Er... Do I HAVE to?

2007-09-05T08:53:00.001-06:00

A note to my readers: This post has nothing to do with living in the north.
After creating my last post and its annoying title (to me, at least), I simply needed to get out a wee rant about blogging and advertising the results of one's supposed creativity.

Is it just me, or does anyone else HATE having to think up titles for blog posts, or even subject headings for email? I always feel as though I should be able to think up something witty that sums up the message in one brilliant label. Most of the time I have difficulty and can't think up anything that is remotely witty or properly descriptive but yet the title or subject box likewise can't (or shouldn't) remain empty.

I find this ANNOYING.

And in a similar vein, I always hated trying to come up with titles for artwork that I'd created in high school art classes. I understand why there are so many "untitled" pieces of artwork in galleries if those artists are annoyed at having to summarize their piece in one word or in a short phrase and so leave out a title altogether but as much as a similar frustration may keep artists from titling their pieces, I admittedly do get annoyed when viewing a piece that is untitled.
A title (or subject heading for an email) IS useful to the viewer or reader of the piece. It allows the reader to understand what the artist was getting at and particularly for blogs or emails, to prioritize whether they want to invest their time in viewing or reading the piece, put it off for later or to ignore and delete it altogether.

As much as I can acknowledge this and also appreciate informative, witty titles to email and blog posts, it is a part of blogging that I despise when creating my own posts.

So, in summation, be forewarned ye readers: I make no promises about the originality, wittiness or even existence of properly titled posts, now or forever in the future.

Oh, and the same thing goes for labels that blogger so kindly invites bloggers to add to their posts. Uh, blogging? annoying things about blogging? uncreative titles? Nah. I'm leavin out the labels for this one!

Er, okay. Rant over.

The times, they are a changin'

2007-09-03T12:20:00.001-06:00

The sun is now setting and rising at times more typical of southern climes (as of today, the sun is rising at 7:25AM and setting at 10:18PM ) and daylength will continue shortening until we reach the perpetual darkness of December. (Although I love sunlight, this seems an exciting part of this adventure too.)
Autumn is also now in full swing and night temperatures have been dropping to just below freezing. Today’s high may reach 11C but for now (middayish), we’re just at 6C and TM is celebrating the return to wooly sweater weather and relishing the thought of coming winter snows.
Although I miss the fall colours and smells of Ontario’s hardwoods, the north has its own fall magic. The blueberry and bearberry bushes are shades of red, burghundy and purple and the birch, poplar and willow provide wonderful contrasts of yellow against the red shrubs and the green spruce. The familiar spicy smell of decaying leaves is just beginning as the first of the poplar leaves begin to fall and settle among the shrub layer and over the mosses and lichens. The local fireweed plants remind me of the flame-licked colours of Ontario’s sumac: brilliant reds giving way to bright orange and yellows all on the same plant or even on the same leaves.

TM took this photo on his way home from work on Friday.
Scenes like these make me smile!

And this does too:
I love watching the ravens. I suppose most residents here regard them as pests as they’ll soon rip open any garbage bags left out and unattended but I love them for their curiosity, intelligence and wonderfully varied calls. Sometimes as in this picture, a raven will perch on our balcony and peer at our bikes or look in the windows. I’m sure I’ve watched one chattering to its own reflection sounding as though it was gargling water. This was the first time I had a camera handy when one paid a visit but I only managed the single photo before my movement alerted it to my presence and it flew off.

Yesterday from our balcony, we watched an interesting interaction between a red squirrel and a raven in a nearby birch tree. The raven watched the squirrel as it dashed up and down the trunk opposite the raven, once almost landing on the bird as it raced around and leaped among the branches, occasionally stopping to nibble at bunches of leaves or dried catkins. The raven appeared to try pecking at the squirrel once or twice and vocalized occasionally with warbling croaks but though the squirrel could have made a getaway to other trees or across the ground, it always returned to the trunk in the vicinity of the raven. Eventually the bird left and the squirrel immediately explored the area of the branch the raven had been perched on.

comedy and tragedy

2007-08-27T09:01:00.000-06:00

The point of this blog is to share a small bit of our lives living here in a northern town and sharing our adventures and thoughts as we discover more about what living here entails. This weekend was a bittersweet mix of such a life.
On Saturday The Man and I decided to go for a casual stroll on the trail around the lake just behind our apartment. It's a lovely walk that includes a boardwalk winding through wooded thickets, a bridge across a creek that feeds into a nearby river, lovely views of the lake and waterfowl feeding in the shallows, climbs up wooden staircases to an overlook of the lake and view of the town, chances to munch on wild cranberries, blueberries, currants and rosehips and simply, an enjoyment of all that a walk in the woods should offer. Although it is close to town, portions of the trail feel as though they might be miles away and provide a nice solitary respite from living in a population centre.
Sometimes we've brought our cameras and binoculars and have snapped many photos (yet to be developed, sorry) of plants and animals we've enjoyed seeing but for this walk we left it all behind, ensuring of course, that we would see something we'd wished we had the binoculars or camera for.
Not 5 minutes down the trail, after pausing to watch a small flock of LBJs (little brown jobs, or small, unidentifiable brown birds -especially so sans binoculars) flit through the alders and from the upper branches of one spruce tree to another, we were distracted by the sounds of something falling through the foliage. The Man looked up, and expecting to see a red squirrel throwing down spruce cones for later storage and munching, said as plainly as if he was pointing out mail in a mailbox, "It's a bald eagle." Following his gaze I looked up to see the adult eagle calmly peering down at us from a spruce bough not 30ft away. And of course, we didn't have a camera! Amusingly, what we had heard was the bird defacating and the glop falling and splatting on the foliage below. (Thankfully, not on us.) It was a good thing though, for we likely wouldn't have noticed the eagle otherwise.
The bird watched us for a moment or two until I slowly removed my sunglasses for a better look. That must have been enough attention for the bird, who then turned slowly and swooped down over and across the lake, suprising a small group of ducks who quacked and skittered for cover as the eagle passed over.
After this lovely sighting the walk was going to be memorable enough but it was truncated unexpectedly around the next bend in the trail when we discovered a portion of the boardwalk had been set on fire and was still smoldering. While The Man began digging up the burning boards and peat, assisted momentarily by 500ml of water from a passing cyclist's water bottle, I returned to our apartment for a bucket and a hammer. While I was gone, the cyclist helpfully refilled his bottle from the lake but as 500ml at a time wasn't going to do much for the effort, he continued on his way after a few friendly words.
I hauled 4 or 5 buckets of water up from the lake and The Man dug up the fire pit and ripped out a few more boards to expose the bits of fire slowly snaking under the boardwalk and into the burning peat. Within about 30 minutes the fire was completely out and the area was sufficiently soaked and muddy, as were we unfortunately. We walked back up the hill to our apartment and rewarded ourselves with bowls of chocolate ice cream.
The Man made a phone call to the town office to let them know about the fire, but as it was the weekend, there was no answer and as the fire was out, he decided to wait until this morning to let them know there would be some repairs needed for that section of the trail.

Yesterday afternoon we learned that the fire we put out may have been one of a few drunken stops by a group of youth that ended tragically in a drowning down by the town dock shortly before we'd left for our walk. We had heard sirens shortly before we left but didn't know what they were in response to. On previous walks on the trail around the lake we've seen evidence of past fires, all within a short stretch that is easily accessed from a cutline leading down to the trail from a single street on one side of the lake (the street that runs past our apartment). We've seen trees hacked at for their bark or branches, ashes and half burned branches and scattered beer cans and bottles nearby on the trail. On one occasion midday, I passed a couple too drunk to stand or speak clearly but determined to finish their bottle and mumble to each other as they lay in a thicket along the trail.
We've not heard more about the drowning other than that the group of youth that had been drinking decided to go for a swim and a young woman began having trouble. Two of her friends tried to pull her up and out onto a barge moored at the dock but she sank under and they somehow lost hold. As of yesterday her body still hadn't been found.

Tragedies like these are of course, not unique to small northern towns, but it is in small centres that such events are likely to somehow connect, however directly or indirectly, to more of the residents, whether through direct involvement, relationship or as in our case, perhaps simply through other indirect consequences influencing perfect strangers.
Likewise, seeing people drunk on the street, or passed out in the bushes, is simply more likely when the living centre is small and activity concentrated to one main street or a few park trails, for instance, as compared to large cities where similar events occur, but the average citizen won't encounter them directly.

This morning I have seen a fire engine and a few police vehicles pass by as they drive down our town's main street. I hope that they have recovered the body. I don't know the woman that drowned, nor her friends and family that are undoubtably suffering the pain and loss of such a horrible event and I am saddened to think of their hurt.
This morning the LBJs are also flitting among the sunlight and shadows of the birch trees just outside my window and the rising sun is gaining strength and breaking up the fog that covered the hills and lake this morning. Behind the birds and past the trees on the other side of the main street I also I have a small view of a hill leading away from town and the scattered birch and poplar trees are bright yellow among the spruce. The wind breezing past my window is fresh and cold in contrast to the warm sun on the trees. Life is bittersweet sometimes.

It's official. We have darkness.

2007-08-10T08:10:00.000-06:00

After almost 2 months of 24hr daylight, we finally have darkness. A whole hour of it and some civil twilight on either side. (The Man informed me that civil twilight occurs when the sun dips below the horizon but doesn't descend more than 6 degrees.)

Do check out this site. It provides not only astronomical information for your locale but for any others you might be interested in. The best part of it is at the bottom of the page (after choosing stargazing and your city of interest) where the earth's shadow is shown. If you check in occasionally throughout the day you can watch it slowly progressing around the globe.

I copied this image taken at 8AM my time this morning.

It's a bit astonishing how heavily populated (and artificially lit) areas show up while they are in complete darkness. Look how large cities in southeast Asia show up! Until just recently the top of that shadow was just passing below where The Man and I live. Now it's brushing by ever so slightly and more so each day. I've also noticed that Antarctica is finally getting some sun and is progressing to longer and longer days as ours shorten.

A few months from now and I'll be posting photos of the aurora borealis taken during the (dark) daytime hours.

It's lovely honey. I'm just so thankful I don't have to wear it.

2007-08-09T13:15:00.000-06:00

Subtitle: What hues are you?

A quick story before coming to the point of this post:
At an early age it was apparent to me that girls who were overly concerned with their new dresses and other clothing, staying clean and being pretty had far less fun than those who were willing, as I was, to climb that tree, get in that creek, risk the mud and catch those frogs (turtles, crayfish, etc…). Likewise, while pursuing those activities I found that running shoes, jeans and t-shirts were far more practical and comfortable than tights (shudder!) and dresses. Perhaps I romanticized my own image of a tom-boy but I likewise began to refuse all apparel associated with my vision of weak, scared girly girls. Out were any shades of pink or other pastel colours. Shoes could only be boys’ (as the girls’ shoes were always white or pink) and legs were only to be covered with pants, never skirts. I even refused to join the girl guides in grade 5 when I discovered that blue dresses with hemlines near the knee were the rule and pants were not allowed. (Thankfully, for girls like I was, now the rule seems generally to be simply blue clothing selected from an assortment of approved casual apparel.)

Since those early years, I’ve found that dresses aren’t the torment they once were and I happily own and wear them on occasion although my favourite pants and jeans get worn far more often. My closet contains a few shirts that one might otherwise label a pastel colour but by and large, my wardrobe is still dominated by the cool side of the spectrum and by deep dark rich colours (e.g. navy, burghundy, deep purple, black, deep green etc..). With the exception of a fleece sweater that I’d describe as a dark cranberry and was once called pink by a dear friend (who became momentarily less dear as I protested the pink label with great enthusiasm and shock at her mistake), I own NOTHING pink.

I think I look better in strong colours and that light ones wash me out. (Even my wedding dress wasn’t white for that reason! Why bend to a fad set by Queen Victoria and wear white when so many other colours suit better!?)

And I admit it, I simply don’t care for pink. In my mind, it will forever be associated with Barbie, Mary Kay Cosmetics and an unwillingness to step off the pavement out of one’s high heels into hiking boots and a back country trail.

So last week, when out of the blue (so to speak) The Man asked me if I liked pink, I snorted my tea out through my nose and aghast, denied such a ridiculous notion. His face fell and I immediately realized that he’d bought me something pink for my birthday. I think I did a pretty poor job of trying to make him feel better without outright embracing the notion of a pink addition to my wardrobe. He didn’t say much and I felt sort of badly. (But PINK! ? Gah! It’s sort of like me asking him to wear pleated slacks. With a Hawaiian print shirt.)

However, because I love him, I decided that I would TRY (ever so hard) to wear whatever it was that he had bought. (At least once.)

So it was with some relief that I opened my birthday gift to discover that the fuschia/bubble gum pink gift was a Thermarest camping mattress and not a new blouse! It coordinates with my red down sleeping bag in a cheesy, Valentine’s day sort of way, which makes me think of chocolate (a good thing if chocolate can be had) and most important (obviously) it’s entirely functional: It will keep my backside insulated from the cold ground and is designed for winter camping, it doesn’t have a big blister in it as my other (deep green & black) mattress that I bought myself years ago does and it packs down smaller and lighter than my other mattress. It’s a GOOD thing! (as Martha Steward might say in her pastel coloured blouse).

Perhaps I may start associating this particular shade of pink, with the pleasures of camping and hiking. Just maybe!

Only a day's drive away...

2007-08-09T12:14:00.000-06:00

Yesterday was one of those days where family members phone you up to wish you well and ask you how it feels to be aging. It always feels rather like the day before they phone when I was officially a year younger.

To celebrate this particular milestone and, in my view more importantly, a much needed holiday for The Man, we took advantage of a long weekend and went on a short road trip (by our standards at least). During this “short” trip, we managed to pass over the arctic circle twice and travel over 2000km by the time we arrived back home. The woman who checked our rental vehicle in thought she’d made an error while calculating our mileage. We reassured her that she hadn’t lost her math skills and yes, we’d enjoyed our drive.

The scenery was beautiful and it was wonderful to see such diversity of gorgeous country within a day’s drive of home. We ferried over three rivers, drove through tundra, taiga and forest (and did some berry picking –yum!) along a looooong gravel highway taking us through multiple mountain ranges until we finally stopped driving south and hit pavement and our turnabout point at Dawson City, YT. We toured through town and wandered through shops looking at the touristy gold rush kitsch and lovely log cabin homes back up the hill from the main streets. I particularly enjoyed watching the swirling blue eddies of the Klondike spinning by as they converged with and became the muddy waters of the fast flowing Yukon.

The Alaskan border beckoned and as we were so close, we decided to drive a further 120km or so to the border via the Top of the World Highway. There are a few white-knuckle, guard rail-absent turns beside precipitous drops along the way but as I wasn’t the one driving, I quite enjoyed it! We drove halfway before stopping to camp and got up early to complete the drive before other vehicles were likely to be on the road after the border opened. The sun was just peeking through the mountain tops and as it climbed higher, it illuminated the heavy grey clouds in changing shades of pink, orange and yellow. The light was soft, the air fresh and to our great pleasure, some of the local fauna put in an appearance.

Before descending back down to Dawson we had seen a family group of 3 grizzlies, between 15 and 20 caribou (including bulls, cows and a calf) and even a porcupine which waddled away and refused to turn around for a proper photo. The bears behaved and did us the favour of reappearing on our return route when we had cameras at the ready and our photos didn’t record blurry bear bums bouncing away in the distance as at our first encounter.

By the end of our trip a cow moose, a fox, mink, shrew, multiple rabbits, as well as ground and red squirrels had also been checked off our list. Many of the birds we saw flitted away before we could get a look at them but among the many Canada jays, herring gulls, ravens and grouse we also saw a red crossbill, and saw and heard ptarmigan (what fantastically weird calls they have!). To top off our bird sightings was a group of sandhill cranes foraging along the banks of the Peel River. Although unlikely, it was a bit thrilling to think that we might have seen these very birds flying over our home in Saskatchewan before all of us migrated north.

And no, we didn’t actually cross the border to Alaska as we didn’t want to wait the hour before it opened. The Man hopped across the barricade for a photo while I wondered when the guards would come out to shoo him back over.

Oh, the travesty!

2007-07-20T10:16:00.000-06:00

This week the Man’s job requires him to carry a cell phone with him at all times.

*Yes, we know: This is absolutely shocking news.*

(Albeit to him, more so than to you.)

And not only must he keep the cell phone charged and turned on, he’s EXPECTED TO USE IT.
Of course, you reader, must empathize with him. He, who eschews all things technological when he can, being put upon this way. And, this is in addition to a requirement to also use …

wait for it…

a satellite phone and a GPS on frequent occasions.

(The Man would now have me remind you that both have failed when needed and it was only because he had of course, brought his compass that things turned out all right.)

However, now that The Man finds himself not only regularly using a computer and watching old versions of The X-Files on television now and then but also using the (deep breath) C-E-L-L-U-L-A-R phone, and other such atrocities, he’s concerned that this signifies he may next find himself wearing ….

slacks.

Of course, I laughed uproariously when he told me this (as did he) and only later remembered that a garment bearing suspicious similarity to slacks was, in fact, imposed upon him at our wedding and is currently hanging in his closet. (Although, thankfully they aren't quite the same styling as sported by our Rock, Paper, Fist gang above.)

Sorry darling, but your worst fears are being realized.

Next, it might be polyester…

Of insects and wildfires

2007-07-14T14:07:00.001-06:00

July has been fairly warm in our locale (Yes V., I'm glad I brought my summer clothes!) and The Man has been keeping busy flitting about the countryside in helicopters, boats and pickup trucks. He took these photos last week while training some firefighters and keeping tabs on the wildfire situation:

(Yes, that IS snow in that last one on the right. The permafrost is pretty close to the surface although it was 27C here the other day, so I can't imagine much snow is now left.)

And closer to the (unburned) ground, here are a few photos snapped while I spent a morning with The Man and a large bottle of DEET. In order of appearance by common name and latin name, respectively: Indian Paintbrush -Castilleja raupii, Northern Labrador Tea -Ledum decumbens, Labrador Lousewort -Pedicularis labradorica, WomanNorth -Dousedindeetum fewbitesum.

I really do need to have a look at YouTube one of these days in order to show you the video associated with this last photo which I clipped from the digital video, if only for the deafening buzz of the hundreds of mosquitos risking imminent squishing by getting fresh with me. In situations like this, I have nothing but good things to say about insect repellants that contain 98% DEET although they have melted little holes in the plastic coating of my binoculars where my fingers rest and I hate putting repellant on my face. I think that concentrations this high are now illegal for current manufactured repellants, and probably for very good health reasons, but we happened to have a few bottles of the old powerful stuff stashed with our gear. The stuff worked well, although the headnets did come out for a little while until the sun climbed a bit higher and the insect numbers dropped in the heat.

Thankfully, the constant winds have been keeping the insect numbers quite tolerable in town so I can leave my mosquito netting at home when I walk to get our mail.

However, a recent walk around this lake

just behind our apartment (and bordering town) was quite tolerable only after patronizing the makers of DeepWoods Off! and downing my mosquito head net.

Adjusting to apartment living...

2007-07-04T10:09:00.000-06:00

After performing well for the past week or so since we got our line hooked up, our phone has mysteriously decided to stop working. No dial tone -only loud static.
After fiddling with all the plugs and walking back and forth a few times to local pay phones to test it, as instructed by the phone company, I had to ask for someone to come to our apartment to check the phone line. Although our building is secure, according to the landlord, the outside buzzer doesn't work and so tenants frequently prop the outside door open when expecting visitors. Since I didn't know exactly what time to expect the repair person this morning, I walked downstairs to latch the front door open so that I wouldn't have to spend my morning sitting outside waiting for them to come by.

Walking back up one of our two disgustingly dirty apartment stairwells, I was attacked by not one, but twenty dustbunnies who commonly lie in wait among the dirt and gravel that line the stairs. I barely escaped with clean lungs and a light coating of dust after fighting my way through. I had had enough! Armed with a broom, dustpan and garbage bag, I ventured back to conquor them all. The dirtier it gets, the less people seem to care, thought I (as evidenced by the cigarette butts and miscellaneous garbage that had been growing in number over the past few days.) But I DO!

No sooner had I swept two flights of stairs, thrown out the bag of garbage and dustbunnies and returned triumphant to our apartment to close the door, only to hear the tell-tale sound....of a broom sweeping the stairwell!

Gah!

I went out and spoke with the girl doing the sweeping to ask how often the stairs get swept. "Twice a week", she said brightly.

No. I don't think so. Those bunnies reproduce quickly, but given the size of the population I'd just exterminated, they'd been at it for longer than a week. I explained that I'd just swept, not knowing how often management did so and that the dirt had been driving me crazy. Perhaps she could mop the stairwell instead of resweeping?

She didn't say but instead, inquired rather hopefully as to whether I'd swept the other stairwell too?

140 Years Young

2007-07-01T11:58:00.000-06:00

Happy Birthday Canada!

We love you but can't remember much about you...

It seems Canadians are increasingly becoming ignorant of our history (Canadian’s self-knowledge dismal, poll shows) and we’ve been called “civic slackers” by the executive director of the Dominion Institute, which commissioned the poll and is pressing Canada’s citizens and government to take some remedial action. A surprising number of those polled couldn’t name our current prime minister, give the first two lines to our national anthem or name the Charter of Rights and Freedoms as the part of the Constitution that protects the rights and freedoms of Canadians and didn’t know what provinces initially joined confederation in 1867, among other facts that should come easily to Canadian citizens. I agree with the recommendation to make taking a Canadian history course mandatory in high schools across the nation (astoundingly only three provinces require this), or at the very least, make passing a citizenship test mandatory for high school graduation.

So, educate yourself.
Visit the government of Canada’s website for links to all things Canadian, from a Canadian perspective. You could visit the government of Canada’s heritage website and learn such things as how to properly fly our flag, when our flag was first flown what provinces initially joined confederation in 1867 and when the other provinces and territories did so and when the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms was signed.

You could browse the CBC’s Canada day website for more links to all things Canadian and special festivities happening today. See the Canada Day live coverage from Parliament Hill, for example.
As for me and The Man, we’re celebrating with homemade pancakes (and yes, maple syrup) and some exploratory cycling around our new hometown.

Happy Canada Day!

I didn't realize I was smiling...

2007-06-29T09:36:00.001-06:00

While walking back to my apartment yesterday afternoon a man passing by asked me if I knew that I was smiling.
I certainly felt particularly contented and happy at the moment but hadn't realized my face showed it. I've occasionally had people point out my involuntary smiles which surprises me on one hand but not on the other: I'm generally a happy person. Why wouldn't I be smiling?
A woman who works in my department building sometimes calls out to me from the end of hallways: "Hey Smiley! Whacha smiling for today?" I usually don't know.

Yesterday I was smiling because I'd just met a dog named Newt, because the cumulus clouds overhead were stupendously beautiful, the sun was out and it had taken me (only!) a total of 15 minutes to walk to a grocery store, purchase a bag of onions and return to our new apartment where one of the onions was added to a scrumptious chick pea curry.

Photos by The Man

2007-06-28T12:03:00.001-06:00

I had intended to post a few photos of our new hometown and our apartment before and after we filled it with our things....but as a result of living partially dependant upon tempermental electronic technology, I may have lost the digital photos. (At least until I learn where to get the film roll in the other camera developed.)

You'll have to content yourself for the time being with a few photos that The Man took while enroute to do some field work. (He's getting all the fun with his new job!) We're guessing the bird is just an oddly coloured bald eagle but if any of you ornithology types out there have a better suggestion, let us know.

Enjoy!

And so it begins...

2007-06-19T09:03:00.000-06:00

Hooray! (i think)
Thus begins the occasional posts relating our adventures, mumblings, and musings.
I hope to enjoy this particular part of the adventure, although admittedly, I still cringe to use the word (?) "blog".

More to come...(and perhaps with a few photos, once I figure out how this works!)